Yuck. “Senator Forrester? I don’t want to.”
“You need to. It’s time.” He picked up his phone. “Get me Bob Forrester.”
I chose to be annoyed. “Wait a minute.”
“He can help you against the governor.”
A powwow with Senator Forrester was not something I’d really been anxious to schedule. All us rich and powerful types, even marginal ones such as I had once used to be, had passed beneath the shadow of his loftiness. Not that most of us would ever be accepted socially.
“If I want help, I’ll ask.”
“Governor Bright may ask him first.”
My growing impression was that Bright headed the sleaze faction of state politics and Forrester headed the snob faction. “Would they work together?”
“They never have. Your father prevented it.”
Melvin had been able to move back and forth between the two factions so easily.
The phone buzzed. “Yes?” Fred said to it. Then, “I’ll hold.”
“I have a question,” I said. “I met Big Bob at Melvin’s townhouse in Washington about ten years ago. He wouldn’t shake my hand. He obviously despised me, and Melvin, and everything to do with us. Was it personal or was it just general contempt?”
“Both.” Fred chortled a bit. “He doesn’t care much for anyone beneath him, which would be everyone. Newly rich upstart industrialists are especially painful to him.”
“That doesn’t sound like a good personality trait for a political career.”
“Yes, most patricians don’t dirty their hands with politics.”
I could see the vague outline of something. “So Bob Forrester is ambitious?”
“Extremely. There is a driving force in certain people.” Fred was philosophizing. It was soothing to him, after the seismic tremors I was causing to his world, to contemplate the unalterable nature of humans. “And anyone who is driven can be manipulated.”
Yes, the outline was becoming clearer. It was Melvin’s hand. “So there was a deal.”
Fred smiled. His pupil was learning quickly. “Of course there was.”
“Melvin sold him the Senate seat. What was the price?”
“It was more a rental than a sale. The rules are that the Boyer machine will get him elected, and he is not to build his own organization. He is to do as he is told. Outside of that he is free to preen and strut as he wishes.”
“That sounds like Melvin might have wanted the seat back.”
“Possibly.” Fred stretched out the last syllable like a piece of taffy. “Mainly, it was to keep Forrester from becoming too powerful. But he may have wanted to keep the seat under his control for other reasons.”
“He would have gone back to Washington?”
“No. He wouldn’t have. But he could have been saving the seat for someone else.”
As if it were a bus seat instead of a seat in the United States Senate. Why was Fred looking at me that way?
“You don’t think…”
“I have no idea. But you will be thirty before the next election.” A light was going on in his head. “Your father might have changed his will in your favor as part of a larger plan.”
My head was going dark. “No. He changed his will because Nathan Kern asked him to.”
“Your father never did anything at someone else’s request. Perhaps Nathan did request the change. But Melvin wouldn’t have made you his principal heir unless he chose to himself.”
“Fred. The man hadn’t spoken to me in three months. First he leaves me a billion dollars. Now you’re adding a seat in the Senate. Don’t you think he would have clued me in?” What am I doing here? Melvin’s scorn for me was one of the great constants in my life, something I could always count on. Fred must be on drugs.
“Calm down, Jason.”
“I am calm. You’re the one who’s raving.”
“He would have discussed it with you. He did things in his own time.”
“Except when he didn’t, like getting himself killed.”
“A rare exception.”
“Right. And I bet he won’t let it happen again. I don’t think we’re talking about the same person.”
“I knew him much better than you.”
“Yes. Exactly. Exactly. He and I didn’t know each other at all. He had no plans for me.”
“Then I won’t argue. But why does it upset you?”
“I am not upset.” Why was I so upset?
“Then when you are, it must be quite a sight.”
“It is, believe me.”
Fred’s attention shifted to the phone. “Yes, this is Fred Spellman. I’m still here.” Pause. Then the final connection. “Bob. Thank you for taking my call.”
And here was another Fred. Yes, it was still the same large object, no mistaking it, but the voice was respectful, deferential, submissive. In other words, completely fake.
“Yes, I’m here with Jason Boyer… That’s right. He’ll be in Washington this afternoon and tomorrow, and he asked me to schedule a short meeting, if there is a convenient time… Yes, just to introduce himself to the important people in state politics, the people his father knew… All right, yes, that would be fine. I’ll tell him. I appreciate it very much, Bob. Thank you… Thank you. Yes.”
He set the phone down and stared at it with pursed lips.
“Disagreeable.” He looked up at me. “You may have your secretary call his to arrange a time.”
I had taken a deep breath. I was no longer upset, not that I had been anyway. “Is he seeing me because I’m rich and powerful or does he want to renew the deal?”
“The former. If you mention the deal, he will be offended and say he never heard of such a thing. But he knows he has to meet you, and he is wondering what you will do. He may feel that, at this point, the seat is his by right of his social position and tenure, and that you have no choice but to support him. I expect he will treat you as an important constituent and nothing more.”
“But I can toss him.”
“You could choose to not support him, which would make it very difficult for him to run again.”
“Whatever. Do the voters get a say in any of this?”
“No. They are only allowed to choose between the party nominees, and the nomination processes are completely controlled.”
“There are two parties.”
“Each party has been allowed one Senate seat, and the candidates were approved by your father. He also chose every governor and representative in the last twenty years. No election has been close.”
“I guess it’s what I expected. Just like the state contract deals. Does it matter that it’s rotten?”
“It is at least consistent. And it has been completely legal. The nominating process is straightforward: the biggest organization wins.”
“I believe it stinks.”
“I don’t care what you believe. Look at the fools who get elected when no one is in charge.”
I shrugged. “Okay. Never mind. What should I say to Forrester?”
He took his deep breath. “He can be as irrational as Harry Bright, but he is much smarter. He will be receiving information from his allies in the state senate, and he likely has indications about what is happening between you and the governor. You should talk about foreign affairs, talk about the economy, talk about the weather, and not use this as an opportunity to discuss political deals.
But include one sentence about Harry Bright using the word ineffective, and he will know why you came. At this point, your main interest is to discourage any alliance between them. After your conversation, Senator Forrester will understand that he would be doing so against your wishes.”
“Will he follow my wishes?”
“In this case, you both realize no precedent is being set. If you were giving him specific instructions, you would be much more forthright.”
