Lancette rolled her eyes. She thanked him for his help and got off the phone. She logged on and saw the report had arrived. As she sent it to the printer, she again gazed at the television. One shot after another of flags at half-mast, throughout the capital, across the country. Then a picture of Nick Addis in the Oval Office holding an empty box and looking at the empty chair behind the desk. Then a slow-motion replay of Margaret Hanover and son moving toward the coffin.

She left her seat to grab the document from the printer. She noticed no one was standing on Memorial Bridge any longer. Regular traffic was moving across it. She returned to her desk to finish the report. Never has it been truer, she thought: No news is good news.

10 - The White House Situation Room—June 24

10

The White House Situation Room—June 24

Clarence Dunne tried to recall the kiss his wife gave him when he left the house that morning. This was his last day as chief of the White House security detail. Almost three decades with the Secret Service—and all was gone. Nothing—certainly not the kiss and the words “Honey, I love you”—would ever cover up that damn moment. Maybe his three sons—a doctor, an advertising copywriter, and a bookstore owner—could balance the ledger. But that was fanciful thinking. It would be a challenge for the rest of his life to keep the love, the kisses, the children out of a mountainous shadow. Where were you when … ? He would never be able to answer the question. Already the truth had become a sad joke: poor bastard was in the can wiping his ass when a lunatic waltzed into the White House and drilled the President. At the training lectures he was now set to deliver, the greenhorns would be watching him closely, looking for the toll taken and wondering why the hell they were being taught by the guy who blew it.

In the wood-paneled conference room next to the Situation Room, Hamilton Kelly was explaining that, per President Mumfries’s instructions, Jake Grayton, who was already in charge of the assassination investigation, would also be overseeing White House security.

“First step, a top-to-bottom evaluation of what the procedures have been,” said Grayton, who was sitting next to Kelly. He turned toward Dunne: “I’d like you to be in constant touch with the reviewers. You won’t be in on the writing of the final report, but—”

Of course not, Dunne thought. I’m the target. I’ll be blamed for failing to have foreseen the possibility.

“—your insights certainly will be invaluable.”

Dunne nodded.

“Not too much to be in charge of the investigation and security?” Brewster McGreer asked.