The Silenced. Heather Graham

late—or so early, whichever it might be. The buildings she loved by day seemed like massive living creatures at night, staring at her with a strange malevolence. She loved the White House, the Capitol building, the Mall and, maybe more than any of them, the Castle building of the Smithsonian with its red facade and turrets.

      They suddenly seemed to be looming hulks of evil. It was the hour, of course.

      She told herself she was being ridiculous.

      The ringing finally stopped and Lara got her friend’s voice mail. Of course. Why would Meg be up at 2:30 a.m.?

      But Lara could at least leave a message that might save her friend from worry when she disappeared.

      “Meg, it’s me, Lara. I wanted to let you know I’m going home. Home, as in getting out of DC and heading for Richmond. I’m going as soon as it’s daylight. I’ll talk to you when I can. Love you. Don’t say anything to anyone else, okay? I have to get out of here. Talk soon.”

      She clicked the end button and slipped the phone into her bag. Meg was her best friend. They’d both been only children—and they’d both wanted siblings. They’d decided once that they’d be just like sisters. And they were.

      She wished she’d managed to get ahold of Meg, that she could’ve heard her voice.

      She walked briskly along the dark and empty sidewalk and yet she was certain she could hear all kinds of noises. Furtive noises.

      Get a grip, she warned herself. She wasn’t prone to being afraid—not without good reason.

      Yet the night...scared her. And for no real reason.

      Maybe because what she suspected was bone-chilling?

      She considered calling 9-1-1. And saying what? She didn’t have an emergency. She was stupidly walking around on dark city streets, suddenly afraid of trying to make her way home in the early-morning hour.

      She reminded herself that she was near the White House, for God’s sake, the Capitol, the Smithsonian buildings—and the Washington Monument. Despite the darkness and the shadows, she was fine.

      She’d just never been in the area so late. Then again, there’d never been a night quite like this one. She was so upset about what she suspected that she hadn’t thought about the time when she’d made her indignant retreat. She hadn’t had the sense to be afraid as she dashed out.

      She hadn’t thought to call a cab, either, and there weren’t many of them on the streets right now.

      She mulled over her fears about what was going on, the situation that had caused her to stay so late, spend so many hours talking. Of course, she and Congressman Walker had often stayed at the office late. Not this late, though. Well, maybe, but he always saw that she got home safely. And most of the time, she’d left feeling exhilarated.

      She had adored him. She worked on media and communications, but she was also an adviser, a problem-solver.

      It was about a month ago that she’d first begun to feel uneasy. She’d wanted to call Meg then, but hadn’t. Meg had been in the middle of her FBI training. So she’d gone home to Aunt Nancy’s for a day and then done a quick circuit of the things she and Meg had done as children and during their breaks at college. She’d followed what they called their trail. All places that were cheap and historic and wonderful. And she’d left a message in the hollow of the broken marker in the Harpers Ferry graveyard, as they’d done when they were kids. One day—who knew?—she might go back to pick up the message. If her suspicions proved groundless.

      She was angry with herself. She wasn’t naive. She’d just wholeheartedly believed in what she was doing. Then she’d begun to realize that there were little erosions in those beliefs—which had become big erosions.

      She thought about her friend again, wishing Meg had answered her phone.

      They’d been such dreamers. Meg had always focused on law enforcement, she on law and governance. Her love of history and the story of America had made her understand and value the importance of good government, and she still believed in the passion for justice and freedom that had forged her country. There had been painful lessons along the way; among them, a bloody Civil War, which had taught Americans some of those lessons.

      Longing to work in DC—to fight for justice and equality herself—she’d found Congressman Ian Walker, who was a dreamer, too.

      And an idealist. One who did, however, recognize that in a country where different people had different ideals, compromise was often necessary.

       What to do, oh, Lord, what to do...

      Today, she’d been shocked, absolutely shocked. Before that, she’d thought she had simply been imagining things. And then today, she was faced with all the talk about Walker’s Gettysburg speech, what he should say—now that Congressman Hubbard was dead.

      She should’ve been more careful. She shouldn’t have suggested that she was worried about the fact that such a decent man had so conveniently died.

      Leave. Go home. That made the most sense. Get the hell out as soon as possible. Go home to Richmond, figure out the proper thing to do about the situation here, decide what she really wanted to do with her future.

      It was crazy, she told herself angrily, to give up her passion because of this.

      But she hadn’t given up. She just needed a change for a while; there was still goodness in the world, and lots more opportunity, and she needed to sample some of it. Then, one day, perhaps she’d come back, using her skill with words to champion the right man or woman again.

      Once she found safety, should she tell the world her suspicions? She had no proof. She’d be laughed out of court; no lawyer would take her on.

      She could always approach her media contacts. Throwing the hint of suspicion out there could change everything.

      There was also the possibility of being sued for slander, since she had no proof.

      There was Meg, but she had to reach Meg first.

      And the faster she walked, the more afraid she felt.

       Get out of Washington! It’s a nest of vipers!

      She still believed in the dream. In men and women who couldn’t be bought.

      But there were other things she could do.

      Take a job with a media company or PR firm in Richmond. What about Harpers Ferry? Tourism there grew every year. Then again, Harpers Ferry was small. Maybe Richmond would be best. And she loved Pennsylvania—especially Gettysburg! They’d gone there so often, she and Meg, and made interesting friends.

      No! Not Gettysburg. Not after tonight!

      She needed somewhere far, far away from DC.

      She did love the Blue Ridge Mountains. There were smaller towns out that way, towns that flourished because of tourism. She could find work with a tour company or something. Anything except this.

      Baltimore?

      Maybe she needed to go much farther afield than the states of Virginia, Maryland or West Virginia.

      She looked around the shadowed streets, walking as swiftly as she could. She’d worked very late before now—well, till one in the morning, anyway. She hadn’t been nervous those other nights, not at all. Congressman Walker was a good man; it just seemed now that he was a man who could be swayed, who could be fooled and manipulated into changing his views and his policies—into working with others to undermine what he had once believed in.

      But she still felt that he was, at heart, a good man.

      No matter what she’d learned today. No matter what she’d expected. No matter how disappointed she was. She had to believe he was a good man.

      Was he really innocent of any knowledge of a man’s death?

      She could