“I don’t know,” Campbell replied. “But if she does go through with it, everyone who was there that night is going to get subpoenaed.”
Hutchinson closed his eyes and shook his head. Exhaling a long breath, he opened them again and said, “The first lady is not fond of the women the president surrounds himself with. Stephanie Gallo and Nikki Hale in particular. She resents the access Gallo has to her husband. It makes her feel like she has been cast aside. Wherever the president was on the campaign trail Gallo was always close by. In fact, she traveled with him more than Mrs. Alden did. Rumors of affairs have been rampant-”
“As have rumors of the first lady’s drinking,” interjected Campbell, wondering aloud about something many insiders had long suspected. “Some say that played a part in the president’s not putting her out front as much as other candidates do with their spouses.”
Hutchinson shrugged. “From what I saw, I’d say the stress was pretty hard on her.”
“How does Nikki Hale fit into all of this? Was she with the first lady that night?”
Whether Hutchinson was resigned to the fact that the information was bound to come out at some point, or simply needed a colleague to unburden himself to, Elise couldn’t tell. All she knew was that for some reason, Hutch had decided to come clean with her.
“Stephanie Gallo is a beautiful, powerful woman, but with all her money there is one thing she doesn’t have- youth. That was something Nikki Hale had in abundance, and it was her that the first lady most suspected her husband might be having an affair with,” he said.
“Did she have any proof?” asked Campbell.
“Not that I know of. I think she was going more on intuition than anything else. The president sure seemed to spend a lot of time alone with her.”
Elise looked at him. “From what I understand, she was one of the primary architects of his web campaign. Considering how influential it was and how much money it raised, I’d say she was an important player.”
“I’m not defending the first lady. I’m just telling you what I saw.”
“Well, what did you see the night she died? Was she with the first lady?”
“Yes, she was,” said Hutchinson as he turned away and looked off at the statue again.
“Why? What did the first lady want with her?”
“She had decided to confront her. She asked me to find Hale and bring her back to the guesthouse.”
“Wait a minute,” said Elise. “What was the first lady doing in the guesthouse?”
“She and the president had had an argument that evening over something. I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what it was about. All I know was that when I came on duty, he was still in the main house and she had moved to the guesthouse.”
“Okay, so you tracked down Hale and brought her back there.”
“No,” said Hutchinson. “She was with the president at that time, so I left word with Max to send her to the guesthouse whenever they were finished.”
“Then you went back and reported to the first lady.”
“Correct.”
“And how did Mrs. Alden take that piece of information?” asked Campbell.
“Not well,” said Hutchinson. “She grabbed a glass and a bottle of wine and went upstairs.”
“When did Nikki Hale get there?”
“About a half hour later.”
“What happened then?”
“I brought her up to Mrs. Alden’s room and left them alone.”
“Were you the only agent posted to the guesthouse?”
“There were other agents on the grounds outside,” said Hutchinson.
“But you were the only one inside,” clarified Campbell.
“That’s right.”
“Did you hear anything or see anything after that?”
Hutchinson was slow to respond. “Mrs. Alden asked if I would bring a glass upstairs for Ms. Hale.”
Elise looked at him askance. “That’s somewhat inappropriate, isn’t it? You’re there to protect her, not wait on her. Did you say no?”
“No, I didn’t,” said the man with a shake of his head.
“Why not?”
“Because it wasn’t a big deal, all right?”
Elise couldn’t help but feel that Todd Hutchinson had grown a bit too close to the first lady. Nevertheless, she let it slide. “So,” she continued, “now Mrs. Alden and Nikki Hale were up there drinking together?”
“Apparently.”
“Do you think the first lady was trying to get her drunk?”
“I think she was trying to get to the bottom of Hale’s relationship with her husband. She probably thought the wine would help,” replied Hutchinson. “You know what they say. In vino veritas.”
“In wine there is truth.”
Hutch nodded.
“Then let’s suppose the first lady was trying to loosen Hale up to get at the truth,” she said. “Did you hear any arguing? Anything like that?”
“Not at first.”
“So they did argue.”
“Yes.”
“How long into their meeting was it?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Twenty minutes, maybe a half hour.”
“Did you overhear any of the specifics?”
“No, I was downstairs. It was just a lot of raised voices.”
“Then what happened?” asked Elise.
“Hale came down the stairs and walked right out the front door. That was it.”
“That was it? Didn’t you think maybe you should try to stop her from leaving?”
“Why should I? I didn’t have any way of knowing how much alcohol she had consumed. Besides, I’m not paid to conduct field sobriety tests. I’m paid to protect Mrs. Alden.”
“And fetch wineglasses for her.”
“Fuck you, Campbell.”
“You couldn’t have at least radioed one of the agents at the gate?” she asked.
“How the hell should I have known she was going to get in her car? She could have been going back into the main house to ask Stephanie Gallo to put her up for the night so she didn’t have to drive back to wherever she was staying. Listen, from what I understand, Nikki Hale had a lot of experience holding her liquor. She didn’t tumble down the stairs or weave on her way out the door. Could she have been drunk when she left? Sure. Was it my duty to know? Absolutely not.”
“Does the president know all of this?”
“I would imagine the first lady filled him in,” said Hutchinson.
Elise tried to think of something else to ask him, but her mind was blank. She was missing something, but she couldn’t figure out what.
More confused than when she had started, she felt that she should wrap things up and let Hutchinson get home. She could think of only one other thing to ask him. “You said the president and the first lady had been fighting. Did he come to the guesthouse that night?”
“Yes,” he said. “After Hale left.”
There was something about his answer that bothered her. It came quickly-too quickly, and came off rehearsed. And as he was speaking, he turned back to look at the statue, and Elise thought she detected a telltale microexpression.
“So, what happened?” she asked. “Did they fight some more? Did they make up? What?”
“Nothing happened,” Hutchinson replied, and there the microexpression was again. This time she was certain of it. He was lying about something. That had to have been why he had looked away from her.
Elise watched his face closely and pressed her point. “What do you mean nothing? Something must have
