“And I still hold with that attitude. But we’re running out of time.”
Brevowski didn’t care for the unnecessary reminder. “Do I still have until July fourth, or has that changed?”
“The timetable hasn’t changed. You’ve still got a few weeks, but everyone would be a lot happier if the matter of my running mate were concluded tomorrow.”
* * *
Erikson ended the call after listening to a few more of Brevowski’s assurances, but he was feeling far from reassured.
Luring Brevowski away from his career as an FBI agent a few years ago had not been very difficult. He was personally dissatisfied with recent policy changes, and he was in serious financial trouble due to a costly divorce and several bad investments. The consortium had originally hired Brevowski as a troubleshooter/investigator because of his reputation for clean, thorough investigative work and extreme discretion. But it was beginning to look like the straight and narrow path could be a dead-end on this one.
His backers had mostly economic reasons for not wanting to see Jones one seat away from the presidency. His reasons were more personal—he simply couldn’t trust the man not to upstage him. Despite the party’s desire to present the definitive balanced ticket, Erikson firmly believed that there were some liberal viewpoints that not only shouldn’t be endorsed, but shouldn’t even be discussed by a loyal Republican. Homosexual rights was one of those issues that Jones openly supported, but his opinion that the United States should convert to a flat rate income tax system bordered on treason as far as Erikson’s friends and family were concerned.
The media liked Jones far too much, which translated to his radical ideas getting publicity, and it was impossible to predict what the masses might insist on if they were prodded hard enough.
They could not risk letting Abraham Lincoln Jones anywhere near the White House… even if the slogan guys would have a heyday with a ticket combo of “Uncle Sam” and “Honest Abe”. No, the party’s second choice would be much more malleable.
Erikson concluded that it was necessary to have a backup plan ready in case Brevowski’s neat and tidy method failed to bring results. It was time to call in a different sort of professional… one who was not so squeamish about swift eliminations.
* * *
“I feel like I’m in a damn straitjacket,” Terrell complained, tugging at his shirt collar.
As they entered the elevator that would take them to the mezzanine, where the senator’s cocktail reception was being held, Luke shared a grin with Maria. “If you weren’t built like a tree, you might have been able to find a jacket big enough for both your shoulders.”
Maria reached up and straightened Terrell’s bow tie. “You may be uncomfortable, but you look mahvelous, dahling. We all look mahvelous!” She turned and posed as though modeling the gold strapless gown that showed off her tan skin and ample bosom.
Maria wasn’t beautiful in a classic sense, but Luke thought she was one of the funniest ladies he’d ever met. If he hadn’t known her profession in advance, he would have guessed at least a hundred different lines of work before imagining her as a law enforcement officer. According to Terrell, however, she had an outstanding performance record and every officer on her squad highly respected her.
The long drive to Sacramento had given Luke plenty of opportunity to form an opinion of her, and his conclusion was that Terrell had finally found a good match. Maybe Maria was that soul mate he was always looking for.
As they exited the elevator, a tuxedoed security officer directed them to the registration table. After showing their invitations and identification, their names were checked against the guest list. More tuxedoed guards scanned them with metal detectors—partly to make sure none of the guest law enforcement officers had disobeyed the order to leave all weapons behind.
From the clearing area, they were escorted to a long receiving line at the entrance of a large, fairly crowded room.
Luke shook hands with several men and women, all of whose names and positions were completely erased from his mind the instant he saw the goddess standing near the end of the line. Statuesque was the first word that came to mind. She had the look of a high fashion model. The slinky, emerald green, sequined gown perfectly complemented her hair. It was the color of rich mahogany and the chic twist styling showed off an exquisite face of perfect features.
Terrell nudged his arm to get him to move down the line. “Hey!” he whispered. “Did you step in gum or what?” His gaze followed Luke’s. “Oh-ho. I should have known. If there’s a beautiful woman within a hundred yards, your radar activates. But you better put a clamp on it this time, man. I think that one’s probably out of your league.”
“What kind of thing is that to say to your best friend?” He nodded politely to the woman he was meeting then his gaze slid back to the redhead.
“First of all,” Terrell said in a low voice, “she’s got Attitude, with a capital A. From the way she keeps scanning the room in between greetings, I’d say she’s one of the people in charge of this little get-together. But if that’s not enough to discourage you, the man on her left is Brandon Ross, the actor. As pretty as your face is, you can’t compete with that.”
Luke shrugged. “That doesn’t mean anything. She just may be ready to meet an average guy off the street.”
Brandon Ross looked exactly like he did on television. As Luke moved closer to him, he realized how impressed some of his students would be to hear about this encounter. It wouldn’t matter to many of them that he’d met the man who was probably going to be the next vice president, but slapping palms with Jack Morgan, Private Eye, well… that was very slick. Personally, however, he was more interested in meeting one of the two ladies in between them.
Finally, he had met Brandon Ross and was standing in front of her. As he offered his hand, he gave her his most charming smile.
“Good evening,” she said, with the same smile she was giving everyone else. “May I present Senator and Mrs. Jones.”
The pass was so smooth, he was already shaking hands with Mrs. Jones before he realized that the goddess hadn’t exchanged names with him, so he spoke clearly enough for her to hear his own introduction. “How do you do, ma’am. I’m Lucas Madigan. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She was almost the same height as Jones, but her dark hair and eyes made her appear much more vivid than her fair husband. She had a well-maintained look about her that Luke associated with wealthy middle-aged women.
“Are you also an actor, Mr. Madigan?” she asked with what looked to him like a flirtatious smile. “You look familiar.”
“No, ma’am. I do all my performing in a classroom.”
“As a teacher or a student?” the senator piped in, drawing Luke’s attention so that his wife could turn hers to the next guest.
Luke took another small step so that he could properly greet his host and answer his question. As he met Senator Jones’ eyes, he was struck with the strange sensation that they’d met before, but then he rationalized that the man had been on the news quite a bit lately. Unlike Brandon Ross, however, there was a considerable difference between what the senator looked like on television and in person.
The senator’s reaction to meeting Terrell was unexpectedly enthusiastic. “So you’re the famous Detective Harris. Your sheriff assured me that if anyone can solve that horrible homicide down there, it’s you. I’d like to speak to you a little more later on in the evening.”
“It would be my pleasure, sir,” Terrell responded seriously, then drew Maria forward. “This is another one of our decorated officers, Sergeant Maria Fernandez.”
As Maria began thanking the senator for inviting her, the goddess obviously noted the bottleneck and intervened. “Please help yourself to cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. They’ll begin seating for dinner in about another half hour.” With that gentle hint, Luke, Terrell and Maria moved along.
After Luke and Maria had their fill of teasing Terrell about how famous he
was, they turned their attention to identifying the truly rich and famous among the attendees. For a few minutes they tried not to gawk then decided to walk up to one of the bigger names and introduce themselves. After that, the reception was a lot more fun.
“What did you think of Mrs. Jones?” Maria asked her two escorts.
“She looks like a politician’s wife,” Luke said with a glance in her direction.
“Why?” Terrell asked.
Maria leaned closer to confide the gossip she’d heard. “Somebody at work said they read something about her being involved in a sex orgy.”
Both men’s brows shot up, and Luke asked, “Recently?”
She giggled and shook her head. “I think they said it was when she was in college.”
“Don’t tell me,” Terrell replied with a grin. “This hot news flash was in a supermarket tabloid.”
“Don’t be such a snob. Some of those papers have really good stuff in them.”
“Oh yeah,” Terrell agreed. “Like how all the women in Peru give birth to alien babies.”
By asking a dozen different people, Luke ascertained that the redhead was Ellery Winters, the senator’s aide, but not much else as she was new to his staff. It occurred to him that some politicians might have hired the lady for more than her organizational skills. From what he had heard about the man, however, Jones was as pure as an altar boy, which was one of the reasons he was being singled out by the Republican Party.
Their bold tour of the reception room eventually led them to a group that included the senator’s brother.
As Maria shook Theodore Roosevelt Jones’ hand, she asked, “How did your parents decide which presidents you and your brother would be named after?” The question was innocently posed, but the lengthy pause that followed it and the look of discomfort on the man’s face suggested otherwise. As soon as he began speaking, however, it was completely clear why he might prefer not to be asked questions at all.
“I w-w-was born fffirst, so mmmy father named mmme after his fffavorite president, like his fffather named him. So mmmother got to name Abraham after her favorite.”
Fortunately, someone new walked up to greet Theodore, and Luke, Terrell and Maria quickly slipped away.
“Well,” Luke murmured. “Now we know why the older brother didn’t go into politics.”
“No shit,” Terrell replied quietly. “But isn’t it weird how much they look alike? Almost like twins.”
Luke and Maria nodded their agreement. As he had when meeting the senator, Luke had the fleeting thought that there was something very familiar about the brother.
Too soon, the doors to the grand ballroom were opened for the banquet to commence.
Maria gasped and grabbed both men’s hands as she saw the elaborate table centerpieces made of flowers and glass prisms that caught the light from the glittering chandeliers and threw it back as rainbows throughout the room. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life,” she said.
Luke agreed that it was pretty impressive, but he was looking around to see where the senator’s beautiful aide would be sitting. He didn’t know how he was going to manage it, but he was determined to have another pass at her before the evening was over.
Once they were seated at their assigned table, they quickly realized that, although they’d been invited as “special guests”, they were corralled with other law enforcement personnel at one of the tables farthest from the dais. Luke could no longer see her, but he assumed the redhead would eventually be at one of the tables on the dais.
At each place was a fancy printed menu that stated who would be speaking between each course. The welcome and introduction of important players was done by two stars from a popular television sitcom. After the appetizer, thanks were gushed by the director of the AIDS research project that would benefit from the proceeds of the affair. After the salad course, Senator Jones had his turn.
While he went on about the generous spirit of Americans and his optimistic view of where the field of medicine and the country in general were headed, Luke kept glancing at his watch. It wasn’t that the speech was boring. Jones was an inspiring speaker. Nor was he hungry for the entree or dessert. It was the last line on the menu-program that had him wanting things to move along—“Music and Dancing ‘til Dawn”.
Terrell had been called “famous” by the senator, and Maria had had her hand kissed by her favorite actor, so Luke thought it was only fair that he should have a dance with the goddess. He assumed the staff members would not be able to leave before the last guest departed, which meant, if he made the effort, he just might be able to have a few nearly private minutes with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
When the senator ended his speech, the entire room rose to their feet and applauded him. There was no question that every person there was ready to vote for him regardless of which party’s ticket he was running on.
As the swarm of waiters and waitresses brought out the main course, Luke noticed that, rather than sitting back down, Senator Jones and his wife were walking from table to table, apparently greeting the people who hadn’t been at the reception.
Maria swallowed her first bite of Veal Oscar and rolled her eyes with pleasure. “If I live to be a hundred, I will not forget this evening. I’m so glad you convinced me to come, Terrell.”
He grinned at her. “Not half as glad as I am.”
Luke smothered a chuckle. The original plans called for him and Terrell to share one room while Maria took the other. It looked like those plans were subject to change.
In between the entree and dessert, a popular soft-rock group performed a medley of new and old hits. Luke glanced at his watch again as the coffee was being served. At this rate, it was liable to be dawn before the dancing even began.
The senator and his wife were moving through the paupers’ section as the orchestra began tuning up. Luke thought Abraham Lincoln Jones looked as fresh as when the evening started, but his lady looked rather bored.
When Jones spotted Terrell, his smile seemed to brighten even more. “Here you are, Detective Harris. It took me five hours, but I finally caught up with you. I guess I wouldn’t make much of a detective.”
Terrell respectfully stood up, but as he did so, towering over the senator and his wife, the man’s pleasant expression faltered. Abruptly, Luke had a repeat of the sensation that he’d seen the senator somewhere before, but now he had the feeling that it was the serious rather than the smiling face that seemed familiar. Whether it was something about that serious expression or just the overly rich dinner, his stomach suddenly felt queasy. Thoughts of dancing with the redhead were still uppermost in his mind, however, so he had no intention of giving in to a little indigestion.
An idea popped into his head and Luke got up from his chair as well. “I heard you say you wanted to speak to the detective, Senator. I was just about to go in search of the men’s room. Perhaps I could escort Mrs. Jones back to her seat and you could have my chair for as long as you’d like.”
“How very thoughtful of you, Mr….”
“Madigan,” he supplied. “And it would be my pleasure.” He held out his arm to play the formal escort and she happily accepted his assistance.
“I am most appreciative, Mr. Madigan. These shoes may match my dress perfectly, but they were not made for marathon standing.” The smile she gave him was definitely flirtatious.
“Does that mean you’ll turn me down if I ask you to dance?” He held his hand over his heart as though it were breaking.
She giggled like a young girl. “That’s exactly what that means. However, since you’ve been such a gentleman, I’ll arrange it so that you can have the first dance with the lady you couldn’t keep your eyes off of earlier.”
Rather than try to deny that she’d seen right through his chivalrous intentions, he winked at her. “I don’t know about your husband, but you can count on my vote.”
The trek from one end of the ballroom to the other seemed to tak
e forever, and several times Mrs. Jones seemed to stagger a bit. Luke wondered if her shoes were really causing her problems or if she was slightly inebriated. Before he could make a judgment, the orchestra played the first notes of its opening piece and he caught sight of his target. It looked like she and Brandon Ross were about to head for the dance floor when Mrs. Jones stepped in front of them.
“I need a favor, Miss Winters,” she said, sounding quite worn out. “I promised this charming gentleman that I’d dance the first dance with him but my feet are killing me.”
Ellery gave Luke an awkward smile, glanced at Brandon Ross then said, “Well, I already—”
“Brandon,” Mrs. Jones said, cutting her off. “I’d consider it an honor if you’d escort me back up to my table and chat with me for a while.”
He showed every one of his perfect, capped teeth and offered his arm.
“Shall we?” Luke asked the lady, who clearly was not accustomed to being manipulated by Mrs. Jones.
“Oh yes, of course.”
Luke waited until they had joined the other couples on the dance floor before introducing himself. Once again he tried to enchant her with the look and smile that had worked for him a hundred times before. “I’m Lucas Madigan. I teach English lit at UNC in Charlotte.”
“Do you enjoy that, Mr. Madigan?”
“Please, call me Luke. And I was hoping my telling you that bit of information would make you feel obliged to tell me something about yourself.” She almost smiled at that, but not quite.
“I’m sorry. I assumed Mrs. Jones had already filled you in on who I was. You didn’t look the least bit surprised about her handoff.”
For the second time in a matter of minutes, Luke had underestimated a woman he wanted to impress. Perhaps Terrell was right about Ellery Winters being out of his league.
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