The Echo of the Whip by Joseph Flynn Page A

the murder of Vince Foster. More than one official investigation ruled Foster’s death a suicide. That didn’t stop the smear campaign. There’s no end of people today who will tell you to this day that the Clintons had the man killed. And then there were all the old Arkansas scandals and the bimbo eruptions. All that set the stage. So when the special prosecutor said Billy Boy had perjured himself and obstructed justice by denying under oath that he got a blowjob from a White House intern, the Republicans in the House impeached him.”
    “As you say, it’s all part of a process,” Tall Wolf said. “If the other party’s candidate wins the White House, you de-legitimize him.”
    “Or her,” McGill said.
    Mira nodded. “Yes, exactly. If you prosecuted every politician in Washington, including more than a few women, who lied about having sex with someone other than a spouse, you’d have time for nothing else. But in Patricia Grant’s case you have a president who puts the woman who murdered her husband into a prison cell with the woman who kills her.
    McGill said, “There’s never been another case like that.”
    “No there hasn’t,” Mira agreed.
    “It’s about more than de-legitimizing the president this time, isn’t it?” McGill asked.
    “Yes,” Mira said. “Patricia Grant left her old party, spurned it and then won reelection by one electoral vote that many people still think was stolen. This time they want revenge.”
    “Does that figure into Whelan’s master plan, too?” McGill asked.
    Mira sighed. “That’s the hell of it; I don’t know. I read Ed’s original treatise in its traditionally published form: ink on paper bound in leather. Damn handsome presentation for some truly ugly ideas. But the thing is, he kept revising and amending his work to keep up with the times. What I’ve heard is the latest edition is a digital file, an e-book. That’s what he thinks I stole.”
    “But you said you haven’t,” McGill said.
    “So why does Whelan think otherwise?” Tall Wolf asked.
    Mira looked sheepish and took a sip of her ice tea. “I was part of a televised panel discussion, me and three other talking heads, and the topic of the 2016 presidential election came up. We all agreed Jean Morrissey as the sitting vice president would get the Democratic nomination. The others debated whether the GOP would unite with True South behind a single candidate this time or split the vote again like they did in 2012. When it came my turn to opine, I said, ‘I sure would like to know what Edmond Whelan has up his sleeve.’”
    McGill recognized the significance of that. “I’d never heard of Whelan until a day or two ago. My guess is most of the American public never has either. You were outing him. Revealing him as a power behind the scenes. He wouldn’t have liked that.”
    “He didn’t,” Mira said. “I heard from him directly for the first time in years. He started cursing me and I replied in kind.” She sighed. “I told him it was time I threw a monkey wrench in all his finely calibrated plans. You see why I’m sure Ed is behind the theft of my embryos?”
    McGill and Tall Wolf looked at each other.
    Not saying a word, they agreed with Mira’s assessment.
    McGill turned to his client and said, “Guys like Whelan don’t do their own dirty work. Do you have any idea of who might have pulled off the theft for him?”
    Before she could reply, Tall Wolf added, “One more thing to think about: If you’d wanted to steal his e-book, how might you have done it?”
    She answered Tall Wolf’s question first, albeit with some reluctance.
    “I hate to admit it, but I’ve kept loose tabs on Ed over the years. I told myself it was for my own protection, in case I ever wanted to use one of the embryos we created together. Truth was, there was more to it. I wanted to see if he’d crash and burn without me. So I can give you a list of the people he associates with most closely. And I know some of