Primary Justice

by Dave Conifer

  This was getting serious. Who the hell was on that stretcher that came out of the office? The way the team of EMT workers was moving, it didn’t look urgent. Whoever it was, they were heading for a cold slab, not a hospital bed. That was scary. She had a sudden, sinking feeling that if she wanted to see Fargo again, she better do it soon. Instead of going home, she drove through the streets of North Philadelphia until she reached the exit for I-95 and headed north for New Hope and Lambertville.

  ~~~

  Just in from Ohio, Mike Minot was surprised at how long it had been since he’d come back to New Jersey, given that his home state would hold one of the primary elections on Super Tuesday. His campaign team was counting on grabbing a lot of Jersey votes, but they all knew that regardless of his track record and popularity during eight years as the governor, a victory by a Republican in the Garden State was never a sure thing.

  The next day, Election Day, was going to be a busy one. If Minot remembered correctly, he’d be making an appearance in rural Cumberland County before moving on to Princeton, then up north in Morristown and finally a private meeting with campaign donors in New York City. And that was all in one day. After that he’d vote and then return to campaign headquarters near Trenton to await the results.

  Surrounded by a phalanx of campaign officials, Minot was ushered off the plane after it docked at the gate in the private terminal at Philadelphia International. Although the ultimate destinations of the trip were over in Jersey, he and his team would remain encamped across the river at the airport Marriot for the rest of the day. He’d already been handed a busy itinerary of strategy meetings, mealtime chats, a slot for some late afternoon racquetball and even some time with a masseuse. His request for an unscheduled gap beginning at three o’clock had been met, he noted with approval. Now all he had to do was shake his campaign team long enough for a different meeting, one they knew nothing about.

  ~~~

  So far his hostess didn’t seem impatient for him to finish his business and leave, but Willmar decided that when she returned with the glass of water she’d offered, it was time to pick up the pace and get to the serious questions. Even before she’d taken a seat after placing a veggie tray and a pitcher of water on the table, he broached one of the most important topics he’d wanted to cover.

  “So Eileen worked for Governor Minot, huh? Was she a politics junkie?”

  Jackie scowled and shook her head. “Not really. None of us really understood how that happened. Especially working for that guy. I couldn’t stand him.”

  “What was she doing for him? Going door to door?”

  “No, it was all office work. It was right after she finished her degree at Rowan and she hadn’t found a job yet. Some of her college friends joined the campaign. Eileen thought it might count as work experience and help her get a real job.” She shrugged. “When you have a degree in English lit, I guess you have to look for every edge you can get.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Willmar said, smiling. “I barely got through high school.”

  “Where’d you go?” she asked.

  “I’m not from Jersey. West Key High School in Ohio.”

  “Oh. Well, anyway, it’s funny. She didn’t care for his politics, and trust me, she was no Republican, but she loved working for him. You have to remember, at the time he was just some young, unknown guy coming out of nowhere. He wasn’t the Michael Minot we know today. It was a small group of young kids, mostly. It might be that she just liked hanging out. I don’t know. She really loved it.”

  “She must have been good if they gave her a paid position.”

  “That was after he won the election. I don’t know if you’re trying to be clever or just being polite, but we don’t need to dance around it,” she told him. “I already told you she had something going on with Michael Minot. I think that’s why they hired her full time. She never, you know, connected those dots for me, but that’s what I think happened.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be sneaky,” Willmar said. “Honestly. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing about your sister.”

  “Don’t worry about being so careful. I’m fine with all of it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have said as much as I have already.”

  ~~~

  Slipping away from his people was easier than Minot expected, once they were all checked in and squirreled away in their own rooms. From the privacy of his suite he called the front desk to get Ryne Colfax’s room number and then took an elevator ride. It was nice to go someplace without an entourage for a change.

  The men shook hands briefly before Minot pushed past him into the room. By the time he’d removed his jacket and tossed it onto the bed Colfax had locked the door and followed him in. “Talk to me,” Minot demanded. “What’s happening?”

  “I’m sure you know it didn’t go well this morning,” Colfax said. “Those were your people, not mine. I had nothing to do with it.”

  “What about on your end? I thought I could count on you to snuff this out. Anything to report?”

  “The paperwork’s gone through and everything’s starting to fall into place. When that’s done, if anybody spots Fargo anywhere in the country he’ll be grabbed as a fugitive. The trouble is, nobody’s seen him. We just don’t know where he went. Too much time passed before we could put out the BOLO. There’s no way to know how far he’s gone. We rushed this before we had it set up right.”

  “Is that so?” Minot challenged.

  “It is,” Colfax replied. “By the way, I’ve also got people on the lookout for Richard Willmar, the private eye who’s been asking most of the questions. The guy they whiffed on this morning.”

  Minot gazed out the window, looking across the river at a marina on the Jersey side. It looked familiar. He thought he remembered approving a state grant to help build it. If he remembered correctly, there was also a hotel and some kind of condominium project. He probably made some kind of speech there. “Willmar. Good,” Minot said approvingly. “I’m more worried about him than that white trash punk he’s working for. Willmar knows where to look and what to look for. I know we lost the other guy. Do we have any idea where Willmar is?”

  ~~~

  Willmar took a sip of water and scratched his head as he leaned back. “So, what makes you think she and Minot were romantically involved?”

  “What makes me think it?” Jackie asked. “I don’t think it. I know it. She told me straight out.”

  “Interesting,” Willmar said. “That’s an understatement. He was married at the time, right?”

  “And he still is. To the same woman.”

  Willmar took another sip. “Are you still okay talking about this?”

  “Absolutely,” she answered. “What difference does it make now?”

  “Do you happen to remember exactly when she told you this?” he asked. “Was it close to the time of the murder?”

  “It wasn’t just once,” Jackie explained. “It went on for a few months. I don’t know what he was saying to string her along, but she wasn’t happy about it. I think putting her on the payroll made her feel even worse. That was a bone he threw to her. She was probably hoping for more, but when he did that, it meant he was staying with his wife.”

  “And this was near the time of the murder?”

  “Very,” Jackie said. “I remember we talked just a few days before it happened. She was really upset about it, much more than before. She was at the end of her rope, and I think I know why. She never said this,” her voice now hushed, “but I think she was scared because she was pregnant with his baby and didn’t know what to do.”

  “What? Are you sure about this?”

  “I’m sure I think it,” she answered. “Either that or something was really wrong. She was getting wackier and wackier. She’d always been so sensible.”

  “Sounds like this all happened pretty quick,” Willmar said.

  “Exactly. I hardly had time to understand that anything was wrong. It’s easy to see, looking back, but it all happened so
fast.” She took a sip of water and placed her glass carefully on the table. “I shouldn’t say this, but for a while I thought she must be drinking a lot, or maybe even, you know, getting into drugs. Then I decided maybe she was pregnant and maybe it was hormones making her act like that.”

  “Nobody ever checked for that?” he asked. “Wasn’t there an autopsy?”

  “Not that I know of. Surprising, isn’t it?”

  “Less than you think,” Willmar said, wondering if he was saying too much. He already knew from the case reports that there had been very little post mortem examination of the body, and now he had confirmation of that from the family.

  “Anytime I see that man on TV I get the chills, even though I don’t know anything for sure. But I am sure that she was going to confront him about their relationship and she wanted my blessing.”

  “And did you give it to her?”

  “Are you kidding? Absolutely not! I told her the worst thing that could happen would be if he left his wife for her. She was naïve for her age. She didn’t understand that she was nothing but a quick and easy fuck buddy. How long before he got tired of her? Any man who could desert one woman could desert any woman. Especially a young campaign worker with no strings attached. No, I told her to quit the job. And quit him.”

  “And did she?”

  “I don’t think she had a chance. Two days later my father called me and told me she was dead.” She folded her arms. “I should have told somebody how she was acting. Maybe I could have made a difference.”

  ~~~

  Fargo was bagging up some garbage in the kitchen when he heard the tires. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the front door, ready to bolt out the back until he saw Joanie’s Honda. As happy as he was to see her, the look on her face when she climbed out of the car made it clear that something was wrong. It didn’t seem like a good idea to walk outside in the daylight, so he pulled the door open and waited.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, throwing her arms around him after stepping inside. He pushed the door closed and held her the same way she was holding him. Is she crying? What happened?

  “I was so scared they got you, Billy,” she said, her voice muffled because her face was still buried in his shoulder.

  “Why?” he asked. “I’m just sittin’ out here all by myself in the woods. Safe as can be.”

  “Something happened at the office,” she told him after pulling away. “There were police all over the place. I saw Ricky. He was okay, but they took a body out. It looked dead.”

  “Who was it?” Fargo asked.

  “I couldn’t see. Maybe we can talk to Ricky. It didn’t look like they were arresting him or anything. I wonder where he is.”

  Fargo let go of her and returned to the couch. ‘This whole thing sucks. I shoulda’ just minded my own business after I got out. Now it’s too late. I wish I never got you people mixed up in it.”

  “Don’t give up. Please don’t give up,” she begged. “Maybe we can just run away. Maybe that’s all they want.”

  “I thought of that. I’m not sure I could survive alone, being an ex-con and all.”

  “I said ‘we.’ I’d go with you, Billy. I swear to God I would.”

  ~~~

  “It’s time to get serious,” Minot said, walking away from the window and looking Colfax in the eye. “You’ve read the papers. I’m right up there. I can do this. All I have to do is avoid the quicksand and pick the right veep, and the nomination’s mine. If we don’t hit any speed bumps I think I can go all the way. And this is my only chance. But we have to go all out.”

  “What do you mean by getting serious?” Colfax asked. “What exactly are you talking about?”

  “You just have to look at our history to know that all great men, the great leaders, had to do some unsavory things to get to the top,” Minot continued. “Because there are always people who want to pull a great man down. I can take this country to new places, but I have to get to Washington first.”

  “Whoa, whoa, slow down here,” Colfax said. “I’ve been there for you all along, and you know that. But--”

  “And you damn well better stay there for me if you know what’s good for you.”

  “—if you think Harry Truman and, say, Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan had to hire hit men and pay off crooked cops to get to the White House, you’ve got a warped view of history. We didn’t read the same textbooks.”

  “I’m talking about the parts that aren’t in the textbooks,” Minot replied. “But you’re right about the crooked cop part. If you cross me here, that’s all you’ll ever be remembered as. I guarantee it. And you may end up as Fargo’s cellmate.”

  “I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” Colfax said.

  “You don’t have a choice. Even if we back out, it’s too late,” Minot argued. “It doesn’t matter if I’m running for president or not. Once any of this comes out, it’ll be me that you’re sharing a cell with.”

  “Maybe it won’t come out.”

  “Like hell it won’t,” Minot snapped. “We have to stay on top of it. Once these clues start popping up, the pros will take over. There are reporters out there who get paid very well to do nothing but dig up dirt about people like me. Once it starts, there’s no stopping it. Don’t you see that?” he asked. “There’s only one direction we can go from here on in, and that’s forward. Anything else and I’m screwed.” He moved so he was toe-to-toe with Colfax again and glared at his face. “And if I’m screwed, you’re screwed.”

  “You can’t just knock people off left and right and expect to get away with it.”

  “Relax. We’re only talking about a few people that don’t even matter. If they disappeared tomorrow nobody would notice. We’ll just push it through like last time.”

  Colfax retreated to the window and watched a plane as it sped down the runway, the front wheels lifting from the ground as it gained speed. What he wouldn’t give to be aboard that plane right now. It didn’t matter where it was headed. “What are you proposing?”

  “That’s better,” Minot said. “Here’s what I’m putting on the table.” He walked over to the table and pounded on it with his fist. “Everything. Everything that needs to be done. Anybody who gets in my way, we find a way to take them out of the picture. Whatever it takes. That’s what we’re going to do. You and me. For the good of the country.”

  ~~~

  “So right in the middle off all this, she turns up dead. Did that raise any red flags about Michael Minot?”

  “At the time? Ricky, we weren’t thinking about red flags. My sister was raped and murdered. The cops said they found the guy who did it. His DNA was all over her. It all seemed on the level. I believed it. There was no reason not to.”

  “How about now?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “You haven’t convinced me that it didn’t happen the way the cops said it did.”

  “Did you know that Eileen and Billy met at a bar in Bordentown? That’s at least fifteen miles away from where they found her in Trenton. Does that make sense to you?”

  “Why not? It makes as much sense as anything else. She got there somehow. It could have been him that took her there.”

  “Or maybe a desperate politician did. Maybe one who just got elected governor and thought he was just getting started. One who knew he couldn’t win if your sister went public about the affair and the baby. Men who leave their wives after getting campaign workers pregnant don’t get re-elected.”

  “That’s a lot of maybes,” Jackie said.

  “This whole case is one big maybe,” he told her. “I’m sorry I’m coming on so strong about your sister. I don’t know what happened, either. I just don’t want Billy going back to jail.”

  “Why would he? He served his time, didn’t he?”

  “It’s a long story,” he answered. He spent ten minutes explaining the double crimes from that night, his theories about who was really responsible for them, and how those same people were now try
ing to hang the other one around Billy Fargo’s neck. “I just thought if I could prove they framed him the first time, it’d be easier to show that they were doing it again.”

  “Let’s say I bought into this. What exactly did you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Nothing, really,” he said. “You already helped. I just wanted some background, that’s all. And I think I got it.” He rose from where he was seated. “I’m sorry for being so blunt about Eileen. Thanks for being a good sport about it.”

  “Keep me posted if you can,” Jackie said. “I’d like to know what happens. It’s hard to believe my sister was involved in anything like this.” She opened the front door and Willmar stepped outside, but stopped moving after one step.

  “Uh oh,” he said. “I got troubles.” He motioned down the street with his head before slipping back through the doorway. “Check that out.” They both peered down the street. “That blue truck’s mine.” A state police cruiser was parked behind the truck while several troopers walked around it, one cupping his hands over a window so he could see inside. Another cruiser was blocking the exit. “This is bad. Real bad.”

  ~~~

  “Hold on,” Colfax said, interrupting Minot in mid sentence after checking his vibrating phone. “My troopers found Willmar in South Jersey. They followed him, but kept their distance. I think we’ve got him. They’re going to nail him for a busted taillight or something.”

  ~~~

  “This is real,” Jackie whispered. “I can’t believe it.”

  “How do I get out of here now?” Willmar asked. “Somebody just tried to kill me this morning. I don’t want to take any chances here if I can help it.” He watched helplessly as one of the troopers kicked at the back of the truck. That looked like a tail light. And a pretense. He’d seen that before. Hell, he’d done it himself.

  “You can stay here as long as you need to.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “But they might not leave without me. This road is a dead end, right? They’re covering the only way out. Those gentlemen mean business.”