lecture or argue about his wife’s desire to have a career of her own. She just listened.
At the end of the night, he walked her to the door of his office. He felt like a teenager on his first date. There was nobody around; he could have probably kissed her good night. He was attracted to her, yet he wasn’t sure if she was attracted to him. He’d never cheated on his wife, and he held back. Well, not completely. “I’m going to be in the Cities in a week. Maybe we could get together for a drink?”
“I’d like that.” She left him her home number and leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
Claire was all he could think about for the next week. On Friday, he got into town and immediately called her. They agreed he would stop by her place for a drink. When he got there, they were in bed within fifteen minutes. She was everything he dreamed she would be. She was an energetic, aggressive, even wild lover. He’d never been with anyone like her. He felt twenty-four, instead of forty-four. She made him feel like a man again.
As a senator, he had always made frequent trips home. He loved his state, and it was good politics to be seen at home, lest it appear you become more a resident of Washington, D.C., than Minnesota. Having met Claire, he made it a point to get home each weekend. He made the trips home three-and-four-day weekends with plenty of political events to cover the visit. But most late nights were spent with Claire.
He would have to talk to Jordan. Hines knew all about Claire. He was the only one he’d told about it. He didn’t know if what he had with Claire would last. He wasn’t sure long-term relationships with a woman like her would work. She had a career of her own and was not the type to be the supportive, stay-at-home wife to a senator. But she had made him feel alive again. He wanted to spend as much time with her as he could to see if it might work. But if nothing else, he knew that his marriage was over. It was time to have that conversation with his wife. He thought she might be having the same feelings. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Then there would be the political fallout. He and Jordan would have to plot out how best to handle the divorce from a political standpoint. It wasn’t unheard of for politicians to get divorced. What he didn’t want was a scandal. If he did it soon, with four years left in his term, any short-term political damage could be repaired, especially if the divorce was handled right. As he entered the lobby to his office, the receptionist indicated Jordan was waiting for him inside. As he walked into his office, Hines, with a concerned look on his face, motioned for him to close the door. The senator closed the door and asked, “What’s up?”
“Claire’s dead.”
Chapter Five
Mac and Lich spent the afternoon interviewing people at Channel 6. First up was Station Manager Mary Carpenter. Carpenter hired Daniels three years earlier from a station in Denver, where she had worked for two years. Prior to that, Daniels had worked in Salt Lake City. According to Carpenter, while it hadn’t been officially announced, Daniels had taken a network job in Washington.
Carpenter was unaware of anything special or unusual Daniels had been working on or investigating. In fact, when they heard she had been found dead, Carpenter had asked around, but nobody seemed to know much of anything. It hadn’t been unusual for Daniels to work the background of a story unbeknownst to Carpenter and then bring it to her or a news producer.
Mac asked, “We’d like to get a list of stories she’s worked on, as well as a list of anybody who sent threatening letters, e-mails, messages, or things of that nature.”
“We’re already working on it,” replied Carpenter.
Interviews with the rest of the station staff were similar. Daniels was well-respected, worked hard and was the total perfectionist. As with Carpenter, all were unaware of whom she was dating.
Tim Mullany was Claire’s most frequent cameraman and her closest friend at the station. They had worked together since she came to Channel 6. He was a fifteen-year veteran at the station, had worked with numerous reporters over the years and stated that Daniels “was easily the best I’ve worked with. She was a total perfectionist. Yet she did it in a way, the perfectionist part, that wasn’t offensive.” Smiling, Mullany continued, “She was here three years and had a lot to do with the work ethic picking up around the station.”
“Was she seeing anyone?” Mac asked.
“I’m pretty sure she was.”
“Do you know who?”
“That I don’t know. Claire kept her dating private. She never told me about the people she dated, and I never really asked. It was none of my business.”
“She made it into the tabloid pages a lot,” Lich said.
Mullany nodded, “Claire was someone that people were interested in. She was a beautiful woman, and she dated some fairly well-known people in town, an athlete or two, some fairly prominent business people. She tried to be discreet about it. I kind of admired that.”
Joe Elliott came to the conference room next. He was the sports anchor for Channel 6. He’d arrived at the station at the same time as Daniels and the two had dated briefly. If Daniels made the men’s heart’s skip a beat, Elliott made the ladies swoon. He had been a college linebacker at Indiana and didn’t appear to have let the years get the better of him. He looked like he could go out and play now. Mac got right to the point, “I understand that you dated Claire Daniels awhile back?”
Elliot smiled, “Yeah, we came to the station about the same time. We didn’t really know anyone and kind of struck up a friendship.”
“It was more than friends though?”
“Yeah, I was certainly attracted to her right away, and I had just gotten divorced and was looking to get back into the swing of things. Claire was at the right place at the right time.”
“Why didn’t it last?”
“I certainly had no intent of getting into any sort of relationship at that point. And our relationship, if you want to call it that, was pretty intense, but wouldn’t have lasted.”
“Intense how? Sexually intense?”
Elliott cringed, looking as if he wanted to stop the conversation. “I wish I wouldn’t have used that term. Claire’s was, is, my friend, and I can sense where you’re going with the question. I’m not sure what nature our relationship was or took has anything to do with what happened to her. I mean, it was two and a half years ago.”
Mac leaned forward in his chair. “I wouldn’t ask the question unless we thought it relevant. And you’re right as to where I’m heading. As uncomfortable as this is, I need to know if she was into anything kinky or out of the ordinary.”
“Does this have something to do with how you found her this morning?” asked Elliott, going into reporter mode.
Mac stayed neutral. “Again, I wouldn’t ask unless it was relevant.”
Elliott looked away at a picture on the wall for what seemed like a couple of minutes, thinking about what he wanted to say. “Claire was no repressed Catholic school girl, that’s for sure. She wasn’t promiscuous, but she liked sex, a lot. Told me she always had, from the time she was a freshman in college. Said she even made a sex tape with an old boyfriend her junior year. She used to joke she’d end up like Paris Hilton if that thing got out. And she exuded sexuality. It was almost intimidating when she came onto you, like a sexual freight train, this pulse you would get from her.”
“Was she into anything kinky, weird, anything like that?” Lich asked.
“Weird, no. Kinky, a little. She wasn’t into anything like whips, chains, anything like that. But she was intense, energetic. I’d even say a little wild. I used to say, ‘And woman say men are loud.’ I mean, you knew when she had an orgasm.”
“You said I was right about kinky. How was I right?”
“She liked different positions mostly. I remember she told me once about a shirt her friend had which showed these two little devils, male and female, in all kinds of different positions. She said she wanted to try them all. We
