David waited a moment. "Is there something I should know?"
"I think I'll let Charlie tell you. I'll give him a call." She brightened. "Now, young man, you are not going anywhere until you eat at least one of those sandwiches!"
PART TWO: The Golden Boy Returns
CHAPTER SEVEN
EIGHT YEARS LATER
Kasi Panchal did her best to refrain from rolling her eyes at work. She was used to working with the public and putting on a game face. She was used to pushing down her feelings, and she was even used to being publicly, unfairly dressed down. Incompetent managers were in every industry, and it was funny how all of them seemed to know that what they needed to do was put the blame on the most competent person.
But Jesus, it was one thing to be dressed down by a campaign field director and another thing to get a tongue lashing from an assistant manager at the Macy's women's department.
She reminded herself that she was getting paid more to sell women's separates than she'd ever been to figure out which doors Paloma Castillon needed to knock on.
She reminded herself that she really needed this job in order to pay the rent.
She reminded herself that she had quit the last two jobs like this, and because of it she'd been forced to move in with her cousin.
She reminded herself to stop reminding herself how exciting it had been to work on the campaign trail three years ago. It had been so exciting that she'd left six months after Castillon had been elected.
She reminded herself that she hadn't been smiling, laughing and having fun the entire time she’d been working for Castillon, even if she hadn't smiled, laughed or had any fun in the last year and a half.
This was where she was now.
Her manager was speaking to her in that condescending tone so many assistant managers use. She knew that Kasi had a college degree; so did everyone else on the floor who had been hired in the last three years. Her manager was lecturing Kasi on the procedure to log in a return. It was something Kasi had mastered in the first hour of her training, but there was no point in repeating that she had done it properly. The item was gone because one of the other salespeople had taken it. It didn't take a genius to figure that out, but it was easier to blame Kasi for making a mistake than to admit that someone was guilty of theft.
Of course it occurred to Kasi that she was being set up to take the fall for the thefts, but she wasn't worried. Her manager was petty and incompetent, but she wasn’t malicious. She wasn't trying to get her fired but Kasi would put this in the documentation she’d been keeping since she started working there. She wasn't looking for drama, but she'd make sure her ass was properly covered on the way out.
Because that was what she really remembered from her time in politics.
Kasi had let her manager go through the motions—she was pretty sure there was a manual that detailed everything that needed to be said in most of these situations—then went back to work sorting through the racks. Once she was sure no one was looking, she angrily shook her full head of dark, thick hair and quietly groaned.
She was lucky to have this job, she thought as she quickly moved the clothing to the proper racks. She knew her coworkers couldn't stand that she worked so fast, but there was nothing Kasi hated more than working slowly when she didn't have to. Working quickly allowed her mind to wander. Of course, the downside was that she was usually left with a lot of time to ponder anyway, and even the fake busywork her manager could sometimes find for her wasn't enough to occupy her completely. Sometimes she wished she could get her boss to agree to send her to shipping to help with the boxes. Physical labor would definitely take her mind off of things.
She had worried when she'd first taken the job that she would run into someone from City Hall, but that had been an unfounded fear. Civil servants didn't shop at Macy's anymore. The new crop of aides bought their items at H&M if they were going to shop on their lunch break, and even that was slumming for them. Then there were the old-timers—people who'd taken their jobs in the Seventies and, God bless them, were still there. They were looking for value, but they wouldn't come into Macy's either. They'd go to Marshall's or TJ Maxx, even if it meant more digging. She looked at the racks of sales and triple discount items she'd just sorted. If only they knew.
There was, of course, one person she knew from her old job who came into Macy's, but that was different. He came to see her and made no pretense about it. She swallowed. It was nice to be remembered and to remember that time, even if…
"I could have been someone," she muttered out loud, knowing no one was there to hear her. But those bridges are burnt, so let me do the job, go home, make dinner, listen to Vijay’s day, wash up, go to sleep and do it all again tomorrow. Welcome to the rest of my life.
She grabbed a handful of suits and sorted them by size. She needed to stop remembering how much potential life once had and focus instead on what had actually been.
~~~
Kasi groaned again at the dinner table that night. "Vijay, why did you do that?"
He passed her some bread and she rolled her eyes. The two of them took turns telling the other that they didn't eat enough. Tonight it was his turn. She took it to shut him up and tore it into little pieces to distract him from the fact that she wasn't eating it.
"You never told me that when people started telling me things I already knew that I had to act surprised."
"But why did you have to get me involved? And why did you have to mention Castillon?"
Vijay frowned. "You've never met Emily. If I hadn't told her—or worse if I'd let her know there was a secret—she would have started digging for dirt on me, our entire family and probably our ancestors until she got somewhere. She almost outed an undercover cop, for God's sake!"
"Almost?" Kasi asked drily.
Vijay twisted his mouth as he tried to remember. "Richard said something about being short a few mouse clicks."
Kasi made a face. "Okay, anyway, if you can't keep your mouth shut, just don't talk about politics with anyone, alright? I want to forget that I ever met Paloma Castillon or even know who our governor is."
"Riiighhhtt," Vijay said slowly as he popped some bread into his mouth. "And that's why you practically beat me to get me to go vote. In the primary. Which usually get about twenty percent of the voters out."
"The primary is almost more important than the general!" Kasi exclaimed before she caught herself. She sat back in her chair in defeat. "Fine. I'm not going to forget who they are and what they do, but how about you not remind me how it is they do it?"
"How did I do that?" Vijay asked indignantly.
"By reminding me that this little exchange has been in the works for years."
"You said you heard about it last year!"
"I heard about it, and I didn't hear it from her people. For that to trickle down to me…the person I heard it from isn't from either of those camps either; for us to get it, it needed to be whispered about for a long time first. Like I said, years."
"Kasi, can I get you a mirror? Because the look on your face is almost exactly the one Emily had this morning. You can talk this down all you want, but you're still pissed."
"Fine, I'm pissed," Kasi agreed reluctantly. "But it doesn't matter."
"It sounds like it does, sort of."
"There isn't anything I can do about it."
"Then why bother voting at all?"
She scoffed. "They've got to have some reason to put people into the offices the higher ups have appointed them to."
"Do you really believe that?" She was silent. He grinned. "Then just have lunch with Emily and Zainab. Come on, you're too skinny—"
"I’m petite; you’re skinny,” Kasi corrected. “If I wasn't cooking for you you'd be skin and bones!"
"Fine, we're both too skinny. But Richard buys me lunch all the time."
"So I should let his wife and his cousin buy me a meal?"
"Emily's not his cousin. You're thinking of Jessie."
She n
arrowed her eyes. "No, I think I'm thinking of Miranda."
He looked away. "Yeah, she's not Richard's cousin," he mumbled.
"Whose cousin is she?"
"It's a long story. Anyway, look they can afford it. Richard was born with a silver spoon and sneezing dollar bills. And given how many times I've pulled all-nighters with him since we were sophomores, I think you can let his wife and my co-worker take you out to lunch."
Kasi looked at him for a moment. "You're really afraid of her, aren't you?"
"She's almost made Carlos and Richard cry a couple of times."
"Is she more frightening than I am?"
Vijay thought for a second. "You know how guys usually like the idea of two women fighting? If you two got into it, I'd leave the room."
Kasi threw up her hands. "How can I say no?"
~~~
Kasi worked downtown and had forty-five minutes for lunch. Emily worked with Vijay in Roxbury, and Zainab, when she wasn't at home in Back Bay, was in class in Chinatown. Lunch wasn't going to work, so Emily suggested meeting at the café near Vijay, Zainab and Emily's alma mater.
Kasi pursed her lips. That university had accepted her but her parents wouldn't pay for it or help her get any student loans. The scholarship she’d gotten for the state university had meant she had almost no school debt, even if she’d thought it was a big step down at the time. She would thank her parents now if they were still speaking.
Kasi walked into the café—whose idea was it to call anything Princess Cappuccino?—and saw a beautiful woman with large expressive eyes and dark golden brown skin tentatively wave to her. Kasi walked over. "Zainab?"
The woman smiled and stuck out her hand. "And you must be Kasi."
Kasi shook her hand and felt some of her apprehension recede. "As promised."
"Have a seat," Zainab said warmly. "And can I get you something?"
Kasi sat down. "How about a latte?"
Zainab grinned. "A girl after my own heart."
"So," Kasi said after she sipped her latte a few minutes later, "how long have you known Vijay?"
Zainab wrinkled her brow for a moment. "I think the first time I met him, he and Jordan were trying to put out an electrical fire."
Kasi's expression didn't change. "That could have been a couple of times."
"I think Carlos started it. Accidentally, I mean."
"Oh, that one," Kasi nodded knowingly. "I sort of miss the days when I wouldn't see Vijay for weeks on end and then only to take a nap and grab some clean clothes. Richard got really organized in the last two years."
"I promise, that wasn't because of me." Kasi turned to see a thin woman right about her age with dark hair, almond shaped eyes and light olive skin. "Sorry I'm late. You must be Kasi."
Kasi smiled in spite of herself. "And you must be Emily."
"That I am. Let me grab a tea—thank you very much, Zainab—and I'll be right back."
"So if not you," Kasi began as soon as Emily and her tea were seated, "whom do I have to thank for Vijay's more regular schedule?"
Emily forced a smile. "Michael Abbot, our COO. He has refused to let Richard run down any more rabbit holes. He makes Richard justify every purchase, and when he started worming out of that, he started making him come up with strategic plans every three months and then coming up with work schedules based off of that."
Zainab suppressed a laugh. "If you could have heard the things Richard said at first...I've never seen him so pissed off."
"Really?" Kasi asked. "And Michael is Richard's cousin, right?"
Zainab laughed harder. "Yes! And good thing because he might have fired him otherwise."
Kasi sipped her latte. "Nothing like family, right?"
Emily shrugged. "I'm not related to Richard, and I've managed to piss him off many times. I've even gotten him to throw things at me," she said with a hint of pride.
Zainab did a double take. "Wait, what?!"
Kasi chuckled. "I think I remember Vijay mentioning something about this."
Zainab’s mouth hung open. "And then what happened?"
Emily thought for a moment. "He hired Michael."
Zainab raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you weren't throwing things at him?"
Emily stirred her tea. "Z, since when do I have to throw things to make my point?"
Kasi already liked these two.
Zainab cleared her throat. "Well, now that we've wasted Kasi's time with that, why don't we get to the point, hmm?"
"Sounds like a plan." Emily turned to Kasi. "What is this I hear about Councilor Castillon taking Representative Todaro's seat next year? That's a sick joke, right?"
"No," Kasi said calmly. "It's just the latest punch line in the joke that is the state Democratic Party, with a little tweaking from national."
"What?" Emily asked as she leaned forward. "What does national have to do with this?"
Kasi looked around. "Here's what's going to happen: President Hamilton and Governor Kirk are tight from their law school days. Kirk has wanted to be in DC for years and Hamilton wanted him there with him. But Kirk committed to stay here for two terms. So he's done in 2014 and then he can be Hamilton's attorney general. Which is all well and good, but they have to make sure they have someone lined up for governor before he leaves. Todaro has been around for years—since one of the Fitzgeralds left the seat—and everyone thinks it's his turn."
"Well," Emily conceded, "I've liked just about everything he's done."
Kasi nodded. "He's been a good rep and he's smart. It is his turn, and maybe he deserves it, especially after what happened to him in the Senate race with that idiot Jason Powers. But the catch is that someone has to be lined up to take his place."
"And Castillon is the best they could come up with?" Emily hissed.
Kasi tried to put on her poker face. She wasn't sure it worked. "She came highly recommended."
"For what?" Zainab asked, genuinely confused. "She's a city councilor. What did she do before that?"
Kasi took a deep breath. "She worked in Senator Kelly's office as his political director."
"And what does that mean?"
"It means she figured out how to get blocks of communities to vote for Kelly."
"Alright," Emily said. "So she was well-connected if she did that for a while."
"Well," Kasi hedged. "She wasn't there for that long. She didn't work for Kelly's campaign until 2004, but that wasn't her first job."
Emily narrowed her eyes. "Then what was she doing before that?"
"She was working in Fitzgerald's office."
"Which one?" Emily pressed.
"The one Todaro took over."
Emily looked at Zainab. "Is that just a coincidence?"
Kasi grimaced. "When you're in something as incestuous as Massachusetts politics, 'coincidence' is a meaningless term. Welcome to Boston."
Emily looked at Zainab, who nodded. "How would you like to say that to David Hwang next week?"
Kasi did a double take. "Hwang?" she said at last, feeling her pulse race just a bit. "He was… He’s in New York."
Zainab’s eyes danced. "Nope! He’s coming back next week to give a speech at the Park Plaza for the Asian-American Civic Association."
"As a Korean-American, I feel it’s my duty to attend," Emily said with a wink, "and I think as an Indian-American you need to show your pride there as well."
It had been a long time since Kasi had gotten dressed up for something, and these two looked like fun.... "I don’t think I can afford the ticket."
"Oh, it’s on me," Zainab said quickly. "If you go, I’m your date."
Kasi realized she was grinning. "You two and David Hwang on top of it?"
"An offer you can’t refuse," Emily said conspiratorially. "Now let’s see if we can get him to yes."
"To what?" Kasi said, her caution returning.
"Running to replace Todaro."
Kasi gasped in disbelief. "Well, I wouldn’t want to miss this!"
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Everyone in Boston knew that if a restaurant wanted to open with a liquor license, an owner needed to budget for "the cost of doing business". It was one of those things that most people just accepted, but Roy James wasn't most people.
He owned several restaurants, and he knew how the game was played. But unlike most people who struggle to find merits in something they're forced into, James never lost his initial feeling of disgust.
He came to the FBI with information and agreed to a sting operation. By the time he was done there was video of a city councilor taking one thousand dollars in a "preacher's handshake" and a state senator stuffing twenty times that amount down her bra. People continued to stand by Councilor Charles to the very bitter end when he was sentenced to three years in prison and stripped of his job on the Council. But Senator Williams’ colleagues were shocked, shocked and practically packed her things so she could vacate the Massachusetts Senate that much more quickly.
By the time the court came to trial, Roy James didn't want to testify. The man who had initiated the investigation had to be called as a hostile witness for the prosecution. Why?
Because the FBI was only scratching the surface. There was still a case to be made against people deeper in the system, but almost inexplicably, their investigation came to a standstill. James refused to testify until he was served with a federal subpoena. He confirmed what everyone already knew: Williams and Charles had taken bribes so one more restaurant in Boston could have a bar.
But who else was involved? No one could be sure, but when the Globe made a request for information under the Fair Information Practices Act to the mayor's Chief of Staff Merrick Levar, it wasn't hard to guess. What a shame that Levar made it a habit of double-deleting his files and that his hard drive was missing.
The Globe might not have cared before, but this was the first time in Mayor Angelo Cervino’s career that he had a genuine fight on his hands, with not one but two popular city councilors running against him. Even though he did end up making good on his promise that he'd win more than fifty percent of the vote in the primary, he only just barely did so: fifty point one percent. Close enough, as they say, for government work.
The Golden Boy Returns (The New Pioneers Book 5) Page 5
