Dev Conrad - 03 - Blindside (7 page)

‘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

T
hat night I had a highly erotic dream of a silver car and a license plate number. I was following the sleek machine on a narrow asphalt road through a dense forest in dangerous rain. I would speed up to eighty, once even to ninety, but I could never get close enough to catch her. The dream became a sweaty nightmare when my car plunged off a cliff, accompanied, all the way down, by the almost melodious sound of a woman laughing with great perfumed pleasure.

In the morning, my clock displaying 6:47, I called Kathy's number. She was yawning but awake.

‘I apologize for this, Kathy.'

‘Sure you do. I can hear it in your voice.'

I smiled. ‘Actually, I do. Unfortunately, I need some help and that kind of takes precedence over everything else right now.'

‘You're not even close to the record. At one of the places I worked, the boss would call me at six to tell me he was picking me up for breakfast at six fifteen.' Another yawn. ‘So what's going on?'

‘Do you have any contact with the local police?'

‘There's a detective I used to date when I'd come back here from Washington. It was never a big thing but he was always a lot of fun. I've asked him for a few favors from time to time.'

‘Good. I need a license number registration checked as soon as possible.'

I could tell she was smiling now, too. ‘Can I at least wait until eight thirty when he gets in?'

‘Hell, no. Call him right now. Even if he's in the shower.'

A sweet, girly laugh. ‘Probably not a good idea. He got married six months ago. I doubt his wife would appreciate a call from one of his old lovers, especially before seven in the morning. So what's the license number?'

After putting some coffee on, I picked up my cell phone and started going through the messages I hadn't responded to yesterday. The first one was the one I wanted least. Better to get it over with. I jabbed the right numbers.

Helen Ward answered. ‘He's been waiting to hear from you. Can you believe all this? Just a minute.'

I hadn't said hello and neither had she. The old-time consultants had wives who acted like the wives of senators and congressmen. They were just as ready for battle as their spouses. She hadn't been unfriendly just now but all that mattered to her was that her son's campaign was in serious trouble. No other subject was allowed to enter her conscious mind.

Tom came on. ‘I didn't sleep for shit last night. We got the news just before midnight.'

‘Join the club. Jeff didn't leave my hotel room until two o'clock.'

‘He's ducking me, the little prick. He doesn't want any advice from the old man.'

‘I don't have anything new to report, Tom. But I told you I'd check in.'

‘Helen's climbing the walls.'

‘I don't blame her.'

‘Where's David Nolan in all this? He's handled things for Jeff all their lives. I hate to say this but I trust his judgment more than I do my own son's.'

So he didn't know about Jeff and David's wife. He was seventy-four years old. He was overweight and drank a lot. He also kept the tobacco industry rich. He still smoked those small Chesterfields that had killed Bogie among many other millions. He'd had a stroke a few years ago. He knew about the murder. But he didn't know about the adultery. Or the blackmail. I wondered how much was too much to put on a man like him.

‘Yeah. I got to talk to him. Real steady as she goes. Jeff's lucky to have him.'

‘Just a sec.' He cupped the phone. I heard an angry voice. Helen. When he came back on, he said, ‘Helen heard me say that about trusting David's judgment more than Jeff's. I thought she was upstairs. It always pisses her off when I say that. She says I'm being disloyal. To me I'm just being realistic. Our boy has a lot of good qualities.'

At the moment I couldn't think of any but theoretically I suppose he did. I mean if I really thought hard about it I could probably think of a few. Maybe.

‘Burkhart's probably been jacking off all night,' Tom said.

‘I'd imagine so.'

‘You see those photos of him at the Creationist Museum? Little kids riding that animatronic dinosaur. The Europeans have always regarded us as hillbillies and by God maybe they're right. Riding dinosaurs, for God's sake. You think they really believe that shit happened?'

‘Oh, yeah.'

‘I don't know what the hell's going to happen to this country.'

‘It's already happened, Tom. That's the hell of it.'

SEVEN

Y
ellow crime scene tape was the brightest color of the gray and cold fall day. Rain had turned the once colorful leaves sullen. A squad car sat next to the back door. The downstairs was a symphony of whispers. Mrs Rosenberg waved to me. It was obvious she'd been crying.

I climbed to the second floor. Apparently the no-smoking law was no longer being honored. I saw a couple of junior staffers hurrying toward me, both of them bearing cigarettes. They nodded and hustled on by.

David Nolan's office was empty. I stood in it for a few minutes and cursed Jeff Ward. There are moral politicians and immoral politicians. You'll find both on both sides of the aisle. You'll also find the sociopaths on both sides. Power attracts them. They feel it's their due. The hell of it is some of them vote your way, so if you want to keep the country safe from being overrun by the robber barons and the madmen you have to reluctantly support them.

I suppose Nolan had felt that way about Jeff Ward. He'd known him so many years he had to see what kind of a man Ward was. He had to have excused a lot in the name of friendship. Or maybe he drank a little of the heady wine himself. Washington is a gaudy young whore. She can make you feel important and in some respects immortal. You want to keep going back and back. It's the only place where you can get the magic wine. But then your ticket in, who has been your lifelong best friend, sleeps with your wife and you're forced to look not just at him but at yourself as well. How could you not see this coming with a man like Jeff Ward? You'd covered for him so many times with the wives of other men, why would it be any different with you?

Kathy Tomlin came in wearing a crimson sweater, black pencil skirt, and black heels. ‘David was supposed to be at an advisory board meeting this morning but he didn't show up. That's really not like him. I'm worried about him. He's just such a decent guy. He really is.' She came closer to whisper. Her perfume made me fall in love with her. So did the finely-made face. A true pleasure to contemplate. ‘Unlike another guy I could mention, I mean. David told me about Jeff and his wife. He is such a bastard. How could he do that to poor David?'

I wanted her to keep whispering to me but she had the nerve to lean against the door frame. ‘If that ever gets out—'

‘You think David might ever—'

She shook her head. ‘No way. Even if he hates the messenger, he believes in the message. Burkhart is a fascist and I know we're not supposed to use that word because he isn't
technically
a fascist but that's what he is to me. I just wish we could get something big on him.'

I said, ‘This campaign is so dysfunctional I don't know how you won two elections.'

‘David Nolan. That's how we won two elections.'

Lucy came into the room looking as if she had absorbed the shock of Waters' death and was forcing herself to come back to the world of the living. She had even tricked up a nervous smile for us.

‘Am I interrupting?'

‘No,' I said. ‘We're just trying to plan the day. How's the press conference coming along?'

‘Pretty well. I've got both the nun and the relative. A little old lady whose voice trembles when she speaks.'

Kathy caught the moment. Grinned. ‘Shameless, Dev.'

‘That's what they pay me for. And even if we pull it off that won't stop the questions. Did Waters take drugs? Was he gay? Did he belong to a terrorist organization? The local hate radio boys and girls will be slandering him every time they're on mike. And they'll use that slander to paint our whole campaign.'