My turn again. “You’re absolutely right, Marcia. But this story is a lot deeper and darker than that.”

Marcia’s smile is tighter now. “Aren’t you supposed to be teaching criminal law at Yale?”

“I’m taking a sabbatical. For a story this big, it’s worth it.”

Marcia sighs. “Okay, Garrett. I’m all yours. Bowl me over.”

Garrett glances at me. I know exactly what he’s going to say next. And I’m pretty sure it’ll put the deal in the bag.

“Marcia,” he says, “our book will prove that Cole Wright, the First Gentleman of the United States, is a stone-cold murderer.”

CHAPTER
2

Marcia is stunned into silence. I listen to the traffic moving along Sixth Avenue until the editor says, “Garrett, excuse me, but I’m getting along in years. Please repeat what you said, slowly and clearly.”

Garrett enunciates every word: “Cole Wright, the First Gentleman, is a murderer.”

I can see Garrett warming up for the next stage of the pitch. “Marcia, like you said, people have gotten used to payoffs and political corruption. But we’re going to show that those at the highest levels of power in DC have literally gotten away with murder.”

I’m reading Marcia’s expression and body language. She’s getting excited and trying not to show it. “All right,” she says. “I’m listening. Who’s your source?”

“An employee at Dartmouth College,” says Garrett.

“Where you and Brea went to school. Am I right?”

“Correct,” says Garrett. “As did President Wright and her husband. They graduated before we started. Cole was a star on the Dartmouth football team.”

“So who’s this employee?” asks Marcia. “A professor? A coach? Someone in security?”

“A custodian.” Garrett plunges ahead. “Think about it, Marcia. Who knows everyone’s dirty secrets? Janitors and other low-level employees—like Frank Wills, the night watchman who foiled the Watergate break-in—they’re the ones who see everything, hear everything. And nobody pays them any mind.”

Marcia likes the fact that I have a law degree. I can see that I need to play that professional card now. “Judd Peyton is the custodian,” I say. “He’s legit, Marcia. He’s been working on campus for more than thirty years. Straight shooter.”

“And you first met Mr. Peyton at Dartmouth and stayed in touch with him all these years?” asks Marcia.

“No. We met Peyton at the campus signing for Stolen Honor,” I tell her. “He’d actually read the book.”

“He cornered me afterward,” says Garrett. “And we started talking about secrets. Like the ones I’d written about. Then he told me that he had a secret he’d been keeping for years.”

Marcia leans forward. “And that secret is?”

“The secret,” says Garrett, “is that Cole Wright allegedly sexually assaulted a girl while he was an undergrad at Dartmouth.”

Marcia winces. “That’s horrible if it’s true.” She pauses. “But it’s not murder.”