trying to do here is set the tone for the questions. They’ll still come at you but they’ll look like insensitive assholes for doing it. A good share of the public hates the press. They’ll be on your side to some degree. Especially if we get a woman and especially if she looks maternal in any way. You know that she really cared for Waters and just can’t get over what happened to him.’
‘And this’ll work magic, I suppose?’
‘No. But it’ll make Burkhart’s smear job more difficult to pull off. We’ve made the whole thing about Waters. The press’ll be wanting to find some connection between Waters and his killer. Drugs or something. Or that he was gay or an addict of some kind.’ I thought about his Captain America poster. I suppose that was a kind of addiction but one he well deserved. He’d been a lonely man. ‘If you can find any kind of charity or cause that Waters worked for be sure to mention that, too. Soup kitchen, walks for cancer, that kind of thing. Start putting out press releases on anything good you can come up with. And be sure to mention a few of them at your press conference.’
‘He worked at this soup kitchen, I guess. He liked this old nun. He brought her around one day to meet everybody.’
‘That nun should be at your press conference. One side of you the relative, the other side the nun.’
‘I’m glad you’re not cynical, Conrad.’
‘That’s what I’m paid for. Being cynical. Burkhart’s a bad guy with a lot of dangerous ideas. He has millions of dollars behind him already from the far right and lobbyists ready to give him a lot more if he wins. I want to stop him. You do what you need to. And you’ve run some pretty rough campaigns yourself.’
He helped himself to another beer. Walked over to the TV set and turned up the volume. ‘I guess it’s too late for any more news tonight.’
‘Shouldn’t your man Nolan be up here helping us figure this thing out?’
For the first time the natural arrogance of the B-movie face fell into uncertainty. I wondered if something had happened between Nolan and him. They were a famous duo in certain political circles. Where the hell was he?
‘You know, I almost started laughing when you came up with that nun thing,’ he said. ‘This sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit. The grieving relative and the nun.’
‘Desperate times. Now why isn’t Nolan up here?’
‘Family matters. He needed to be home.’
I doubted that. Nolan was a political junkie. A murder in the parking lot of campaign headquarters and he goes home after the police interview him? ‘What’s so important at home?’
‘How the hell do I know? And what’s so important about Nolan? You believe all that bullshit about him being the “brains” of my campaign? I don’t need Nolan. He could quit tomorrow and I’d be fine.’
‘Yeah? That’s all you’d need. Your number one man quitting after a murder.’
‘I didn’t say he’d quit. I just meant that nobody’s irreplaceable. What the hell’re you trying to do to me anyway? You don’t think I’ve got a million fucking things on my mind?’
There was something he wasn’t telling me. Even the mention of Nolan had agitated him more than Waters’ death seemed to.
‘So what’s going on with you and Nolan?’ I said quietly.
He started to get angry, then thought better of it. He walked back to the table and sat down. ‘Nobody knows anything about this. And I mean my old man. You tell him and you’ll be sorry. I promise you.’
‘Cut the threats. Just tell me what’s going on.’
‘Well, his wife and I-’
‘Oh, shit.’
‘You didn’t even let me finish, God damn it.’
‘You don’t have to finish. Let me open my laptop here. I can write it out for you. Save you some time. I may not get all the addresses where you two shacked up but I bet I can get everything else right. I’ll bet she’s got a nice ass, right?’
‘Very funny.’
‘He’s your best friend since grade school and you’re schtupping his wife? Very nice.’
‘Things happen to people.’
‘Things like this don’t happen unless the two people involved want them to happen.’
‘She’s always had her eye on me. Even back in college.’
‘Oh, I forgot. You’re irresistible. Also you can’t help yourself when women throw themselves at you. Even your best friend’s wife.’
‘Don’t get sanctimonious on me, Conrad.’
‘I’m not. I’m being cynical again. I like your father. When I think of my dad I think of your dad. I want to make your dad happy by seeing that you win. So I’m thinking what happens if Nolan decides to go to the press? You’re toast. Not only do we have a murder to deal with, now we have an affair. You know how many people will hate you for betraying your best friend and the guy who helped you win two terms in Congress? You’ll be finished, asshole. Burkhart won’t have to say a word. Nobody will. Because you’ll have done it to yourself.’
I went over and got my own beer from the fridge. The cold air felt good on my face. Cleansing. I was in no position to judge him morally. I was in a perfect position to judge him professionally.
When I was seated again, I said, ‘So where do you stand with Nolan?’
‘He isn’t speaking to me.’
‘Since when?’
‘Since two days ago. He won’t answer my calls and when I see him he just walks away. He knows I won’t start a scene in front of the others. I can’t afford to. He might say something.’
‘I’ll talk to him.’
‘He doesn’t give a shit about you. Nobody here does. They resent my old man for forcing you on us.’
‘You want to talk to him, then?’
The frown was petulant. ‘I’ve already told you he won’t talk to me.’
‘Then I’ll talk to him. By the way, when did he first figure this out?’
‘Five days ago. Bryn was typing a letter to me on her laptop upstairs when one of their daughters hurt herself on the driveway. Bryn ran down to help her and forgot all about the laptop. David came home and saw it and read it. I’d written her this really sexy e-mail about us making love and she was responding. I was stupid even to send it.’
‘Brilliant.’
‘Well, fuck you.’
‘You want me to tell you congratulations?’
‘People make mistakes.’
He was hopeless.
‘Have you talked to Nolan about it?’
‘The one time I was able to talk to him I tried to tell him that I don’t really give a shit about her. That it was just a little fling. Hell, he’s had little flings. But he wants to make this big deal out of it. You know, make himself a martyr.’
‘I doubt any of his flings were with his friends’ wives. There’s a difference.’
‘Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.’
He was a peach all right. A real fucking peach.
‘So we’ve got the murder and now we’ve got Nolan.’
He stared at his bottle of beer and then started peeling the label off with his thumbnail. ‘Well, since we’re playing Come to Jesus, Conrad, I guess I should tell you about one other thing.’
The headache cut down like a sword through the exact middle of my skull. What the hell was he going to tell me now?
‘I,’ he said, ‘am being blackmailed.’
PART TWO
SIX
