Cab nodded. ‘Yes, that’s the unanswered question. The FBI has been digging through his house and his computer records, but it doesn’t look like he left much of a trail regarding his motive. For now, they suspect he was afraid of being exposed for his role in the original murders.’

‘Do you believe that?’ Diane asked.

Cab rubbed his suntanned chin. ‘Oh, I’m sure that was part of it.’

‘But?’

‘But I think there’s more to the story,’ Cab said. ‘The police discovered something curious. About six months ago, Deacon visited Hamilton Brock in prison.’

‘Brock? Why?’

‘No one knows. Brock isn’t talking. He claims it’s another conspiracy theory aimed at pinning a murder charge on him.’

‘Are you suggesting that Deacon was secretly a member of the Liberty Empire Alliance?’

‘Well, there was nothing in his personal effects to suggest he was harboring a radical ideology, and it’s hard to believe he could have kept it hidden from Peach and others all this time. On the other hand, Deacon would have been a prime candidate for recruitment. An angry teenage boy. Parents dead. Disaffected. Maybe when he decided to kill his brother, he thought he could strike a blow for the Alliance by killing Birch, too.’

Diane looked thoughtful. ‘Do you think we’ll ever know the truth?’

‘The investigation will continue, but no one in the Alliance has an incentive to talk.’ He added: ‘What about you? I saw the headlines. I saw the crush of press outside. You’ve dropped out of the race.’

Diane nodded.

‘You’ve got a perfect excuse for doing so,’ Cab said, ‘after what you’ve been through.’

‘Yes, but I’m not interested in excuses. I did something wrong. I’ve hired an attorney to negotiate a plea to cover my actions involving Frank Macy. I imagine I may see some time in Club Fed. Or not, depending on whether they take mercy on a distraught mother.’

‘And on whether that bartender’s death in Pass-a-Grille was really a coincidence,’ Cab said. ‘Some of my friends in the police think you and Deacon planned the whole thing to bring Frank Macy down.’

‘I realize that. For what it’s worth, it’s not true. If Deacon killed him, he did it on his own, without telling me. I never would have been involved in murder.’

‘I believe you.’

‘Even so, this is the end of my public life. I’m out of politics. I’m resigning from the foundation, too. I told Tarla that she and I should take a long cruise somewhere, if I’m not playing solitaire in a women’s jail.’

‘She mentioned that. Somewhere with nubile brown men. She said once Garth is on his feet again, he could come along to apply the tanning butter.’

‘Oh, Tarla,’ Diane replied, shaking her head.