I went and got myself another beer. By the time he got up he’d quit calling me names. I sat down and sipped at my beer and watched him.
‘I’m calling my old man and you’re gone — out the door, believe me.’
‘You going to tell him about the hooker? Now get your ass back here. We’re not done talking yet. And the next time you throw a tantrum I’m going to do what you want me to do — I’m going to make a reservation on the next plane out and leave you on your own.’
He had too much scorn and pride to admit that he didn’t want me to do that. But with great dramatic reluctance he did upend the chair and come back and sit down.
‘I’m trying to figure out how big the circle is — who else knows you’re being blackmailed?’
He said it so casually I half wondered if it was a joke. ‘My wife.’
‘You told her everything?’
‘I had to. She reamed my ass out of course for being with a hooker. She knows I run around but I usually stick with women who keep themselves clean. She’s scared of AIDS. I had to tell her so she’d help me with the money drop. I couldn’t ask anybody else on my staff to do it. I didn’t want anybody else to know. And I just explained to her that if she didn’t do it we wouldn’t be going back to Washington, at least not in the congressional sense. I mean, I could always go to K Street. But being a congressman’s wife has a lot of social perks.’
‘She likes Washington, huh?’
‘She comes from a very social family. Washington reminds her of how she grew up, I guess. I knew that if I told her I might lose the seat, she’d help me.’ I didn’t like his smile. ‘I know how to handle her.’
To his credit he fought for all the right causes — and I believed he was sincere about them — but he was removed from the real world as most of us define it. His money and his mother-spoiling had made him more like a tourist than a resident. And it also sounded as if he’d married a woman just as vain and foolish as he was.
Then, by God, a whimper; a real whimper. ‘Why the hell did David have to walk off now?’
In true sociopathic fashion, he just couldn’t imagine why anybody whose wife he happened to be planking decided to leave the castle. ‘You really don’t see why he did it?’
‘If you mean his wife — it was just a whim on both our parts. She’ll straighten out. She’s just got some kind of weird fixation on me. That kind of thing always passes. I tried to tell David that but he was too pissed to listen.’
There was no point in pursuing it, though now that he’d mentioned Nolan I wondered if there’d been any news about him. I asked Ward.
‘He’s probably getting drunk somewhere. He does that sometimes. He gets real down about something then disappears for two or three days. Ends up sleeping it off in some motel somewhere.’
‘Tomorrow night’s the debate. You going to be ready for it?’
‘I thought you were only going to be here for two days.’
‘I can always leave.’
‘No, no — it’s just — I know you’re helping me. I have to admit that. But you’re like my boss and that pisses me off. I don’t like to be told what to do.’
‘I’m making suggestions. You don’t have to follow any of them. I’m not the “boss.” You’re the candidate. You make the final decisions.’
‘I guess you’re right.’ He drank mightily of his brew. ‘This is the first debate in my career where I won’t have David at my side.’
‘He’s good.’
‘If he’d just understand that it didn’t mean anything to me.’
I wanted to laugh. Or smash his head in with a brick. Whichever came first. ‘You know how stupid that sounds? You’re sleeping with a man’s wife and you’re telling him that it doesn’t mean anything. Now you’re not only insulting him, you’re insulting his wife as well.’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe you’re right. I know I’m not real sensitive sometimes.’
You have to look at these guys and wonder if they’re of the same species you are.
‘All right. I need to get to work and I’m sure you’ve got things to do. I want to start working on the source of this DVD. I’ll keep you posted up until what time?’
‘Around midnight. We usually watch one of the late shows in bed.’
‘I probably won’t have any news tonight but in case I do, leave your cell on.’
At the door, he said, ‘I could really lose this, couldn’t I?’
This was just now occurring to him? ‘Not if we’re smart.’
The grin belonged to a younger man. A more decent one. ‘That’s exactly what David would say. He’s never let me down.’
I just nodded. I was sick of him and sick of myself for being so pompous about him.
Twenty minutes later Kathy Tomlin called me.
‘Have you been watching TV?’
‘No. Been working.’
‘Something’s going on. Lucy and I always keep monitoring the stations and Channel News Update just claimed that tonight at ten they’ll have an important story about one of the candidates in this congressional race. Have you talked to Jeff?’
‘He was here until just before seven.’
‘And he didn’t say anything about this?’
‘No. And he would’ve. We went over a lot of things. I’m sure he doesn’t know anything about this.’
‘Well, he doesn’t pay attention a lot of times. David always does that for him.’ Lucy said something in the background. ‘Lucy and I have a terrible feeling about this.’
‘Tell her so do I.’
‘Is there anything we can do?’
‘See if you can get anybody at the station to tell you what the story is. You know anybody there well enough?’
‘I knew one of the sports reporters in college.’
‘There you go.’
‘I don’t know how he feels about me. I kept turning him down for dates.’
‘It’s worth a shot.’
‘Lucy is waving hi.’
‘I’m waving hi right back.’
‘Are you really?’
‘Pretty much.’
I still didn’t have the name of the private investigator. I’d tried Nan Talbot’s cell phone and her work phone and her e-mail but couldn’t get a response.
I was more worried than I’d let on about this ten o’clock announcement. In a Florida district once Sylvia Fordham had pulled this same stunt. She’d managed to get herself a live interview on a ten o’clock newscast. She’d accused the opponent of a dalliance with one of his office women who’d proved to be an illegal immigrant of Hispanic extraction. Sylvia gave good TV. Her man had been three points behind when that little red light went on and she started talking. Same time next night, polling indicated that they were one point behind — inside the margin of error, of course.
I was surprised by how accessible she was.
‘I thought you’d wait to congratulate me until after the ten o’clock show, Dev.’
‘I’m calling to tell you you’re making a big mistake and that you don’t know what the hell you’re dealing with, Sylvia.’
‘Right. So we’re going to blow your man out of the water and I’m making a big mistake?’
‘You’re at headquarters. That’s only six or seven blocks from my hotel, the Royale. Get over here fast.’
‘I’m not sure if we should start sleeping together, Dev. We might start talking in our sleep and give things away.’
‘Knock off the bullshit, Sylvia. You know me and I know you. We don’t like each other but we’ve both been in the same game for a long time. I know when you’re serious and you know when I’m serious. Now I’m telling you that there’s something you need to know before you go on that newscast tonight.’
