Lou sighed aloud. “Why don’t you come with me, Millie.”

She followed Lou out into the corridor.

“Do any of these offices have windows overlooking the loading zone out back by the kitchen?”

Millie nodded. “All of them, except of course for mine.”

Lou opened the door to the next office he came to, letting Millie enter first. He watched her walk over to the large picture window, then saw her shoulders sag when she looked outside. Lou came over to stand beside her. The loading zone was a beehive of activity. Outside were police cars and several official vehicles from the FDA, DEA, and EPA. They were taking food out of the kitchen and loading it into FBI vans.

“The agents closed this place until they can get statements from your employees. They’re downstairs doing that now. They have a court order, but I told them they could wait to give it to you.”

“Why, aren’t you the foxy little fellow, Lou Welcome. Too bad I’m not a big fan of chicanery.”

“The FBI doesn’t need invoices when your food can be tested for the DNA of mutated termites.”

“Is that what Chester used to make his food? Bugs?”

Millie’s insouciance made Lou boil. “There’s a lot at stake here, Millie. Lives have been lost and destroyed because you closed your eyes to what was going on. You’re going to be found guilty—either by the law or the IRS.”

“Well, you should know something yourself, Doctor.”

“What’s that?”

“I may not be getting everything William was going to pay me, but there are plenty of top-of-the-line defense attorneys who love to eat at Millie’s.”

Chapter 54

CHAPTER 54

“I can’t make myself be happy,” Lou often liked to say to anyone who would listen, “but I can always make myself not be miserable.”

He sat alone in his modest living room, imagining what a shot of Jack Daniel’s would taste like right about then. Not that he was about to dash off to the bar, but he knew he was making the conscious decision to spend some time wallowing in his own melancholy.

On the surface, it didn’t make much sense.

He had friends, family, a job that mattered (hopefully, as soon as he sat down with the PWO board and Walter Filstrup, two jobs). He had helped save the health and lives of countless people, and had at least brought some closure and understanding to those poor folks killed in John Meacham’s office, as well as to Carolyn Meacham and her children. Cap and their young friend George were going to be okay, and in another day, Emily, Renee, and Steve would be headed home.

In addition, last night, Lou had driven to the White House to participate in one of the most momentous decisions in the history of American politics—the decision of a sitting president whether or not to resign.