Victor slept through most of the drive to Llanview.
That was fine with John. It allowed him time to think...about who the hell had really been responsible for shooting the guy.
Suppose Todd did order a hit. He paid Louie to do it...
There was a big problem with that. The murder attempt would have been premeditated, with Todd having had time to think - cold-bloodedly - about possible consequences. In that situation, he surely would have demanded the hit man provide his own gun. He never would have let him get his hands on one registered to Dorian, that could be traced back to her safe, and ultimately to him. Even if he'd expected a different gun would be used in the shooting, he wouldn't have risked giving Louie the traceable one.
Try the other possibility. Suppose Todd was completely innocent. Louie shot Victor for reasons of his own, after Todd gave him the gun...
There were problems with that, too. What motive would Louie have had? How would he have intended to kill Victor if Todd's gun hadn't fallen into his hands?
Assume for the moment that Louie was someone else's hired hit man. And he had another gun he could have used...
It still didn't work. Why would Todd have behaved as he did if he was innocent? He'd initially claimed he'd given his gun - not yet fired - to Louie. It was hard to believe Louie, on his own, had thought of framing Tomas and managed to plant the gun in his room. He'd probably never heard of Tomas! In any case, Tomas had gone missing before Todd's gun was found in his room and determined to be the "murder weapon." Todd's cell phone history told John he was having Tomas held prisoner. And he'd had him forced to make a bogus "confession" - the enforcer being, of all people, the vicious Malcolm Baker.
Todd's actions seemed to indicate that he'd known his gun was the "murder weapon" sooner than he should have known, if someone other than he had fired it. Louie could have told him...but why?
Those actions were criminal in themselves, and spoke volumes about Todd's character.
The only possible excuse: Suppose he knew for a fact that Tomas was behind the attack on Victor, but had covered his tracks so well that he could only be brought to justice by "framing" him...
Impossible. Tomas was a trained assassin! If he'd wanted Victor dead, he wouldn't have hired Louie. He would have done the deed himself, probably with his bare hands.
And when Todd was arrested, he hadn't insisted he was innocent. He'd acted like a guilty man who'd known all along - fatalistically - that he'd ultimately be found out. Perhaps that was why the frame had been so clumsy, Tomas's imprisonment a stopgap measure that obviously couldn't have gone on forever. Todd had been like the boy sticking his finger in a hole in a dike - knowing, on some level, that it wasn't a long-term solution, and he wouldn't be able to come up with one.
I have to consider another possibility. What if Victor's memory is screwed up, and Todd was the shooter? Victor thought he was telling me the truth, but he can never be trusted, because he is what he is...
More problems. Victor was perfectly sane. He was only unreliable when his actions - or, yes, his memories - were being affected by the Manning-Baker Mob's programming. They'd had access to him when they snatched him after his supposed "death." So when they programmed him to impersonate Walker Laurence again, they could also have programmed him to protect Todd if he was ever in a position to do so.
But why would they have done that? Todd had never been their ally. They'd substituted Victor for him, back in 2003, because he hadn't been a person they could manipulate.
Todd and Baker had joined forces recently. But Baker had been working for Todd, not the reverse. He'd undoubtedly taken on the job just to pick up some pin money ("pin money" by the standards of the very wealthy). He would have been shrewd enough to keep evidence of Todd's involvement, so he could blackmail him in the future.
But could Baker have foreseen that when he was overseeing the reprogramming of Victor? Foreseen that Todd would seek him out, to hold someone prisoner?
It struck John as highly unlikely.
And whenever he thought in detail about Victor's programming, he was reminded that there was still another unsolved puzzle. He'd put together enough pieces to assure Allison's capture - and possibly, save both Victor's and Tea's lives. But he still couldn't fathom why the Mob would have wanted to free either Mitch Laurence alone, or Mitch Laurence and a "cast of hundreds."
He continued mulling over the twin dilemmas, shooting and prison break, throughout the drive to Llanview.
By the time he pulled up in front of Victor's house, he believed he had the answer to one of them.
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He delivered a weeping Victor into the arms of his wife. And even as she held him, rocked him, and murmured sweet nothings to him - in Spanish - her eyes were fixed on John's.
Those eyes told him, as clearly as if she'd spoken, I understand that he'll need help. It's okay - I'm on board for the long haul. Just let me take care of him.
John signaled Tomas that he needed to talk to him in private. Then he explained quickly, "You'll have to let Tea know this. Victor did something while he was away - something seriously illegal - that he doesn't even remember."
"Shit. Did he kill anyone?"
"Uh...not directly."
"Oh, that's encouraging!"
"Look, I just have to warn you. Bo gave me permission to bring Victor home, but he doesn't know about this other thing yet.
"I'll try to talk him out of arresting Victor. If it came to a trial, Tea could surely get him acquitted on grounds of diminished capacity. But the ordeal that would precede that might leave him more damaged than he already is."
Tomas sighed. "Okay. Thanks for the heads-up."
John didn't have to ask whether he'd be sticking around.
The men shook hands. Parted as friends.
But as John drove on toward the station, he thanked his lucky stars Tomas wouldn't be sticking around as his boss.
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Two hours later - after a long lunch with Bo, during which all that was explainable had been explained - John was ready for his next challenge.
After hearing the full story, Bo had promised to try to prevent Victor's being linked to the prison break. He'd made a quick call to Richard Evans - with whom he shared an infant grandson - and learned that Evans hadn't yet told anyone else what John had told him. They'd agreed to keep it to themselves, and let the record show that the prison break had been instigated by Walker Laurence...who'd turn out to be a very elusive fugitive. If the truth ever did come to light, there'd be no proof they'd known all along.
As for Fish's promotion, it was already in the works.
And John - with Bo's consent - was once again face to face with the man who still knew more than he did.
Malcolm Baker.
"I hear you've had another 'great triumph,' " Baker said snidely. "Brought about the capture of the last of the escaped convicts - a puny woman! Congratulations."
"Believe me," John told him, "I'd rather be sending you to prison, to do life without parole.
"But..." He looked steadily into the other man's eyes. "We both know that's not going to happen. The CIA will pluck you out of here any day now, and you'll be free as a bird."
"True."
"So there's no reason for you not to tell me whether a theory of mine is correct."
"I suppose you're going to force me to listen to it." Baker sounded bored.
John knew he wasn't.
"I don't think I'll have to force you.
"To begin with, let's go all the way back to last March. It was your people who tried to kill Victor then, right? Because there were signs the programming you'd done was weakening. Nothing major - he still believed he was Todd Manning - but some of his decisions weren't going the way you wanted, and you saw that as a dangerous sign.
"And of course, if you killed him, Irene would have inherited his estate."
Baker was trying to keep his face an expressionless mask. But he hadn't expected John to know a will with that provision had been in place that long ago. His eyes gave it away.
And he knew it. So he said sarcastically, "True. And we would have succeeded in killing him, if not for you and Tomas. The two of you seem to spend a lot of time protecting a man you dislike!"
"Yeah, ain't that a bitch?" John let himself smile.
But then he pounced. "And it was you guys who tried again in August!
"Yeah, I know. Irene was in jail, you in Federal custody, when the shooting took place. But you'd begun setting things in motion when Todd escaped. And at clutch time, your agents on the scene improvised well.
"They saw the publicity about that homeless guy, Louie, having saved Todd's life. So they offered him more money than he'd ever imagined, to kill Victor. The reason they chose to go that way, rather than do it themselves? They thought the killer might be seen, or Victor might live long enough to tell someone who'd done it. If it was Louie, that 'new friend' of Todd's, the obvious guess would be that Todd had hired him. So you guys might, in a way, be killing two birds with one stone. Getting rid of Victor and Todd.
"Instead, something happened that no one could have foreseen. When Louie was leaving after having shot Victor, he spotted Todd arriving, with a gun in his own hand! Louie thought fast. Hid, and waited to see what Todd would do. When he backed out quickly after finding the body, it must have been obvious he'd panicked, and hadn't called 9-1-1. So Louie followed him. Caught up with him while Todd was contemplating throwing his gun in the river...and talked him into giving it to him.
"That was in the evening, and the autopsy on Victor wasn't going to be performed till the next day. So your agents had plenty of time to set up what they did next.
"They butted in on the procedure that was expected to be an autopsy, posing as the real CIA. So they could switch bullets, without the medical examiner's realizing it! They replaced the one removed from Victor with one from Todd's gun, so that would appear to be the murder weapon. They'd fired the bullet through something, so it'd be properly deformed. Hell, they may even have killed a stray cat with it. The police wouldn't run forensic tests - we'd never doubt the bullet sent us by the ME was the right one.
"Everyone was surprised when the ME discovered the jostling before that intended autopsy had started Victor's brain and heart working again. The phony 'CIA' guys realized it would be fairly easy to fake his death, with the stipulations he'd been programmed to put in place, in case Irene ever wanted to snatch him. So they pressured the ME into going along with it.
"I'm guessing they figured the main reason Irene had wanted him dead, aside from claiming his estate, was that his programming seemed to be wearing off. If they kept him alive - in your group's facility, under your control - you'd have the option of reprogramming him.
"Meanwhile, Todd had been traumatized by finding the body. If he'd gotten there first and started waving his gun around, Victor might well have talked him down. But as it was, he knew he'd gone there intending to kill Victor. He'd seen the body. And he hadn't called 9-1-1.
"He was so haunted by guilt feelings that he came to believe he had killed Victor.
"Your people had undoubtedly told Louie to turn Todd's gun in to the police. But he was either having regrets, or saw a way to make more money. He wound up either giving or selling the gun back to Todd - who, by then, believed it was the murder weapon.
"Todd had wanted to make a fresh start after surviving his ordeal with you. But now he - like Victor before him, in other ways - went on to do some rotten things because he thought he'd already, in his case recently, shown himself to be a man who did rotten things."
Baker feigned a yawn. "Are you through?"
"Drop the act, Baker," John said calmly. "I can read you pretty well. And I know everything I said was on the mark."
Baker shrugged. "Of course it was. Took you long enough to figure it out, though."
"Believe it or not, we do have other things to think about here. Other crimes, other criminals."
"I'm sure you do. But you know what, McBain?" Baker leaned forward, and his sudden smile showed his teeth. "I can read you too. And I was struck by something you didn't say.
"You didn't ask me where Louie is now. Whether he's happily enjoying his ill-gotten gains, or sleeping with the fishes.
"And the reason you didn't ask is that you'd trusted him, and wound up being disillusioned. Deep down, you hope we killed him! But you're ashamed to admit that, even to yourself."
After a long silence, John said tightly, "Go to hell."
Baker chuckled.
John took a deep breath, and tried to recoup. "Personally, I don't give a damn where Louie is. But if he still has the brain he was born with, he knows better than to hang around Llanview.
"And speaking of brains...where were yours when you decided that prison break would be a good idea? I can't see where it got you a damn thing."
He was guessing Baker hadn't realized the police knew about his organization's probable role in that.
If Baker was surprised, he didn't show it. "That may be true. An accident of timing. I had the misfortune to be detained here when I should have been meeting someone. But I hadn't invested much in the project. No great loss."
At one and the same time, John was appalled by the man's callousness, and encouraged by his willingness to admit involvement.
"So you admit you reprogrammed Victor Lord Jr., to make him impersonate Walker Laurence again?" John was recording the interview, just in case. If Victor ever should have to face charges, Baker's taped admission might help.
But Baker raised his eyebrows. "No," he said casually. "This time we made him believe he really was Walker Laurence. And genuinely wanted to help his brother Mitch."
John hadn't been prepared for that. "Wh-what? How could you do that? I know you and Irene convinced him he was Todd Manning, years ago. But you had the real Todd Manning - could somehow 'copy' his essence into Victor, using drugs and hypnosis. Walker Laurence has been dead for years!"
"Different situation." Baker was relaxed, savoring the memory. "He didn't have to really be much like the real Walker Laurence - just believe that was who he was, and know the necessary background. We'd researched that years ago, so he could impersonate Laurence.
"If we'd gotten him back at the end of the operation, I might have decided to reinforce the programming, keep him in the Walker Laurence identity, and train him to be one of my agents."
John couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"But the initial programming had to be quick-and-dirty," Baker continued. By now he was obviously enjoying the effect all this was having on John. "I only decided to try it in mid-November. And from the scuttlebutt I've heard around here today, I gather it wore off. Then he reverted to his true identity, gave it away to the person he was with - and either blacked out, or was so confused and bewildered that he was, briefly, as helpless as a baby. That was a calculated risk I was taking."
A bemused John shook his head. "Why was Mitch Laurence so important to you, anyway?"
"Mitch Laurence?" Baker smirked. "You really don't know much, do you? Mitch Laurence wasn't important at all! What would I want with a megalomaniac who thought he was God's Messenger?"
"But why -"
"Mitch Laurence was just our way in. The convict we could access through someone he and everyone else would accept as his brother.
"The convict who'd be sure to bring us the one I really wanted. Allison Perkins."
"For God's sake..." John was glad he'd been sitting all this time. If he hadn't, his legs might have gone out from under him. "Why did you want Allison Perkins?"
"I was interested in a manuscript she'd written. I'd heard a lot about it. An unauthorized biography of Victoria Lord, that's also a chronicle of Llanview over the years."
John felt his jaw drop.
After a long beat, he said, "Let me get this straight. You're saying you did all this - brainwashed Victor all over again, orchestrated a prison break that unleashed two hundred dangerous criminals on a city, wound up with two good people dead and three more who easily could have died - just so you could read a manuscript?"
Baker gave an exasperated snort. "Of course not, you idiot. I might not even have bothered to read the damn thing.
"Perkins had finished writing it early in November. People are being released from prisons all the time, and word leaks out...
"What I intended was to kill her, and do what she'll surely be doing within the next few days, even if she has to do it from a prison cell. Submit the book to a publisher. I was going to claim I was the author - because everyone who has read it says it's a surefire bestseller!"
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The End