Oath of Office by Michael Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

exchange for a master’s degree and a faculty position at an agricultural college. Before the scandal hit, she had enjoyed meetings in his office, surrounded by framed photographs of America’s farmland.
    “Agent Ochoa said you wanted to speak with me. Is it about your case?”
    “Please. Have a seat.” Evans pushed closer to the table. “I was at your event today.”
    “You were?” Kim asked. “I didn’t see you there.”
    Again, that laugh, but this time there was an undisguised tinge of bitterness. “Well, I kept to the background,” Evans said. “Not that it matters.”
    “How so?” asked Darlene.
    “I guess I’m still surprised how little anyone recognizes the guy who, for two years, was ninth in the presidential succession order. Once you’re not a player in this town, well, you’re not a player—except, of course, to the press corps. Now, those guys still have no problem recognizing me. Scandal sells papers. This morning, though, they were too focused on you to notice me. Everyone knew the president had blown off the event. Not even an appearance by Farmer Pornpone, as the tabloids are calling me, could pull their attention away.”
    Darlene reached across the table and cupped Evans’s hands in her own. “You know you have supporters out there, Russ. Not everyone believes the charges against you.”
    Evans managed a pale smile of appreciation. “Nice of you to say, Darlene. Unfortunately, whoever paid off the girl gave her enough to keep her lies coming, to say nothing of the impact of the box of kiddie porn that investigators found in the back of my closet.”
    “Sorry if I’m out of place,” Kim said, “but what were you doing in that hotel room? We’ve heard all kinds of rumors and—”
    Evans held up his hand. “No, don’t be sorry and don’t you worry about it,” he said. “My lawyer asked me to keep my side of the story away from the press until he heard what the U.S. Attorney had against me. Now that we know they’re calling off the prosecution because they can’t find the woman who filed the complaint, I’ll tell anybody who’ll listen—not that it will help get my job back. You see, my son, Derek, has been in trouble since his teens. Drugs and such. I haven’t spoken to him in nearly three years until I got this anonymous phone call telling me he was holed up at a motel just outside of D.C., and that he was in some sort of trouble. I think you know that Derek’s mother and I have been divorced for some time. I decided not to tell her about the call until I knew what was going on.
    “I got to the motel as fast as I could and knocked on room twenty-four as the caller had instructed. The door opened up and I found myself alone in a hotel room with a very young, and very naked girl. A hidden camera on a tripod recorded everything. She literally threw herself at me, pushed me backwards onto the bed, and kissed me several times before I could throw her aside.
    “I knew it was a setup and a very volatile situation. I probably should have called the police right then and there, but instead, I ran and called my attorney. I had no idea there was a camera hidden in the room. Later I found out the room was registered in a bogus name the day before, and the clerk who was on the desk at the time told the police it probably was me. The girl said she had done business with me before, and that I liked to have her undress me. But this was the first time I had asked to have the camera there. When the police looked at the film cartridge, the part showing me shoving her off and running away was conveniently missing.”
    “What about the box of photos in your closet?”
    Evans could only shrug and shake his head.
    “Sure sounds like a setup to me,” Kim said after a moment’s pause.
    “Even if they drop the charges, I’ve lost.” Evans’s voice broke, and for the first time he seemed close to tears.
    “Martin was very reluctant to accept your resignation, Russ. You know that,