“My advice to you, Hugh, is get out of town—take a vacation,” Charles said. “Maybe in a couple of weeks she’ll have cooled off.” He got into his car and drove away. Traffic was bad: people coming back from their weekends.

—

STONE AND ANN watched the first part of the interview. “That was awful,” Ann said. “If she’d gotten away with that, Ed would be ruined.”

“We haven’t seen the next part,” Stone replied. “Ed may be ruined yet.”

Part two came on, and they watched, transfixed, as Pamela Hale backed Barbara into a corner, allegation by allegation, until Barbara fled the set, tripping over her microphone wire.

“I’ve never seen anything like that on television,” Stone said. “Hale just burned her down.”

Then Safer came back on and introduced Ed Eagle. “Ed,” he said, “you’ve just watched Barbara’s interview. What did you think of it?”

“I was absolutely stunned, Morley. It was like reading a false biography, written by your worst enemy.”

“Let’s go back to the beginning of this relationship,” Safer said. “How did you first meet Barbara?”

“I visited a women’s prison in upstate New York, where I had arranged to interview Barbara for some background on an upcoming trial. She made a very big impression on me.”

“A favorable impression?”

“Oh, yes. As you saw in the first part of her interview, Barbara can be a charming and fascinating person to talk with. I asked her to come and see me in Santa Fe when she got out and told her that I’d help her restart her life. She had another four or five years to serve.”

“But she got out sooner, didn’t she?”

“Yes. The State of New York, under a court order, was required to alleviate overcrowding in their prisons, and they adopted an early-release program. Barbara managed to qualify for it, and she turned up in Santa Fe a few weeks after our first meeting.”

With Safer leading the way, Eagle went on to recount the high and low points of their marriage.

When they were done, Stone switched off the TV. “He did it!” he said. “He made up the lost ground and then some!”

“With a lot of help from Barbara,” Ann pointed out.

—

CHARLES GROSVENOR KEPT trying his home number as he drove, and finally Barbara answered.

Chapter 60

Barbara picked up the phone. “Yes?”

“It’s Charles,” he said.

“Get home!” she said. “And right now!”

“What’s wrong, dearest?”

“Disaster! Catastrophe! Why did I let myself get talked into doing that interview?” Her voice was pitched higher than usual, and it wavered. “Hugh Gordon is going to pay for this.”

“Oh, come now, it can’t have been all that bad.”

“That woman knew everything, and I mean everything! She knew about Mexico, for God’s sake. How could she know about that?”

“Now, Barbara,” Charles said soothingly, “you’ve got to get ahold of yourself.”