A Primary Decision

by Dr. Kevin Leman

  “I know you do. And I love you, Elizabeth.”

  Their tender kiss was framed in the light of the sun setting over the ocean.

  CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION

  In between spending time with Will and Laura’s kids during their last day at Chautauqua, Sarah had made some preliminary calls to rally the parties she’d need to swiftly launch into the February primaries. She’d have the immediate financial backing of the Worthington family, but she’d need to raise additional funds. Her father and Will had promised their help and connections. They’d already started making some phone calls on her behalf.

  Once Sarah had announced she was running, Ava had been strangely quiet. She’d kept herself busier than usual in the kitchen and with the activities of her grandkids. Twice Sarah had tried to broach the subject of the conversation that she’d overheard, but both times she and her mother had been interrupted.

  Sarah hadn’t been able to reach Sean in the last 24 hours. But his unavailability made her smile. It meant her brother was busy with Elizabeth, and that was a good thing. Still, she wanted him to know her plans before anything hit the press. And it would very soon, she knew.

  Nothing about the Worthingtons stayed private for long.

  Her thoughts flickered back to the conversation between her mother and Thomas. Clearly, her mother wasn’t ready to talk. Sarah knew she couldn’t force the conversation, and she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answers to the questions that brewed.

  A SECURE LOCATION

  He phoned the man. “The ante has just been upped. Sarah Worthington is about to announce she’s throwing her hat into the presidential ring in the February primaries.”

  “Ah, so she’s going to give the other Democratic candidates a run for their money,” the man reasoned.

  “No. She’ll run as a Republican.”

  “A what?” The man’s tone was incredulous.

  “A Republican,” he repeated.

  “That means—”

  “Yes, directly against the current sitting president.”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and then a click as the man hung up.

  37

  CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION

  Sarah exited her bedroom the next morning, bag in hand, and was surprised to find her father waiting for her.

  “I always knew it would be one of you kids,” he said simply.

  She didn’t have to ask what he meant. “But you didn’t expect it to be me, did you?” she fired back.

  “No, I didn’t. But before you get any more heated, hear me out,” he commanded in his best lecturing voice. “Princess, I want you to listen to me.” His tone gentled. “You know I’m proud of you, right?”

  She nodded. Yes, she knew in theory, but he’d never really stated that.

  “All you’ve accomplished—” His voice broke. “Well, those things are just added on top of who you are. Not only as a Worthington but as a person. Achievements don’t make you who you are. I don’t ever want you to fall into the trap of thinking that. I went down that road once and—”

  What exactly was her father trying to say?

  He cleared his throat. “I’ve been watching as your expertise develops in so many areas. And you’re right. It is time for a Worthington—a Worthington woman—to run the country.” He chuckled. “Your mother has been running things in this family for years. It’s time to broaden the scope.” Tilting his head, he added, “And you’re the one to do it. It makes sense.”

  Sarah’s bag dropped to the floor. Stunned at the turn in the conversation, she stared at her father.

  He had softened somehow. As he gazed at her, she saw he’d suddenly seemed to age. His hands were shaking.

  The changes in her strong father unnerved her. First after Sean had disappeared. Now even more so.

  “I’ve always loved you.” Thomas’s words to her mother flickered back into her consciousness.

  Did the conversation she’d overheard have anything to do with her father’s weakness now? Compassion flooded over her. She reached toward her father and hugged him hard. “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you too, princess.”

  Their embrace was the warmest she could remember. When she at last drew away, she was surprised by the dampness on her father’s cheeks before he turned his head.

  “I’ll carry your bag to the car,” was all he said.

  But she knew he meant much more than that.

  Two hours after Sarah left Chautauqua, Will was packing the Land Rover to return to New York City. Laura handed him another overstuffed bag.

  He shook his head. “How exactly is it that we always have way more going home than we came with?”

  Laura shrugged. “You know, Grandma and Grandpa.”

  At that minute, Will’s cell rang.

  “Hey, big brother,” Sean said in a mysterious tone. “I have some news.”

  “Ah.” Will quirked a brow at Laura. “And this news—does it have anything to do with Elizabeth? And a certain ring Mom said she gave you? Not to rush things, but when’s the big day?”

  Sean laughed. “My brother. So practical and to the point. You probably already have your Google calendar pulled up.”

  “Not yet, but I will soon.” Will’s words ended there, because Laura snatched the phone from him.

  “Well, Sean, it’s about time. Now give me Elizabeth.”

  Will rolled his eyes and tried to grab the phone back.

  Laura frowned and slapped at his hand. “Don’t even think about it.” Her face brightened. “Elizabeth!” she squealed into the phone.

  Will sighed. So it was a done deal at last. All he needed to know was the date and he was good. But the girls? They’d be running for a couple of hours with the “what did he say, what did you say, where did it happen exactly?” replays. Shaking his head, he headed for the kitchen. He’d use the landline to tell Drew they’d be a little belated heading back to the city.

  SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

  Sean waited patiently through a record two-hour phone call with his family. Between Laura, Ava, and Elizabeth, he’d barely gotten a word in edgewise. But he didn’t need to. The women in his life were all happy. Things between Elizabeth and himself were settled. That’s what mattered the most.

  Elizabeth’s face was radiant when she got off the phone. “Wow, they were pretty excited,” she told him.

  He chuckled. “They’ve been waiting, or more like pushing, a long time for this day. They finally got their way.”

  She elbowed him. “Their way? You saying it wasn’t your idea?”

  “No, it was always my idea. I just strung them along for a while so they’d think I was going with their idea.” He laughed. “We haven’t even had time to set a date—”

  “As soon as possible,” Elizabeth said.

  Sean lifted a brow.

  “What? Now you’ve got cold feet? Too late for that,” she teased him. “Seriously, I don’t need or want a big event. I just want you. No big crowds. No grand high-society wedding. Just simple.”

  “Then how about a week from Saturday? You’ve got the ring. I’ve got the girl.” He grinned. “What’s to stop us?”

  Elizabeth smacked him in the chest. “Nice try, but that’s a little too fast.”

  “So when are you thinking?”

  She mused aloud. “I have a four-month research project with Dad that starts in a week. The grant we have won’t allow us to change the time frame. It’ll be done around the first week of June. But then I’d be able to take a few months completely off.”

  “How about the end of June then?” He waggled an eyebrow. “I’m sure Mom and Jean would be happy to help pull things together. Just tell them what you want and don’t want. You could hang out in Chautauqua with Mom when you’re done with your research project until time for the wedding.”

  “You’ve got a deal.”

  Sean smiled. “How about on the water? Our favorite place to be?”

  She nodded
. “I always wanted a ride on the Summer Wind.”

  “Perfect. Lake Chautauqua it is. The season will be open by then. All we have to do is say the word and Mom will get it booked. Privately too. The owners will do anything for her.”

  “Like keeping quiet about it?” She frowned. “I don’t want our wedding to be a media field day.”

  “There’s a solution for that too. I just remain an eligible bachelor in the eyes of the tabloids for now. So long as you don’t mind them concocting stories about my single status and the rumors of who I’m currently seeing or not seeing, we’re good. They won’t know anything about you until after we’ve returned from our honeymoon and someone catches us holding hands in public.” He shrugged. “The shock waves will skitter around for a while as they try to figure out who you are. We’ll give them some straightforward answers to cut off the gossip at the knees, and eventually it’ll all settle down.”

  “And our honeymoon?”

  “Oh, you can leave that up to me.”

  EN ROUTE TO NEW YORK CITY

  Sarah was getting ready to merge onto the I-80 express, crossing into Pennsylvania, when she got a call from Sean. After fumbling for her Bluetooth, she said, “About time you called me back.”

  He laughed. “Pushy. Got something on your mind?”

  “Yes. I’m going to run for president.”

  There was a pause, then, “You’re serious.”

  “Darn right I am.”

  “Good for you. You’re just the kind of candidate Americans can rally around. Ronald Reagan was a baby of the family too. Smart, charismatic, and people loved him. Just like you.”

  “Wow, I had no idea you thought so highly of your sister,” she teased. “Then will you be my campaign manager?” She paused. “Even if I run as a Republican?”

  There was only a slight hesitation in the conversation. “Would I let you choose any other? But Republican? You sure?”

  “Positive.”

  “I don’t mind playing the other side of the field. Always was in the middle myself too—just not publicly. The switch in what the public thinks about Worthington politics may give us an added media kick too. If nothing else, it’ll confuse the other candidates for a while.” He chuckled.

  “See, you’re already talking like a campaign manager,” she said.

  “But I have one stipulation.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “I get two weeks completely off, starting the last weekend in June. In fact, you can’t be busy that weekend either.”

  “Okay, I’ll check my calendar to see if I’m open.”

  “No, you won’t,” he insisted. “You’ll be there.”

  “There, where?”

  “Chautauqua. The Summer Wind.”

  “Oh, a little family cruise?”

  “Yes. But something more too. A wedding. Mine.”

  38

  SEOUL, KOREA

  Sean peered out his hotel window at the night sky. Since his engagement a few days ago and Sarah asking him to be her campaign manager, he had been at lightning speed. His mother and Jean were working their magic on the details of the upcoming wedding. Jean had booked the Summer Wind under her own name, as well as some other arrangements, so the tabloids wouldn’t get a whiff of the news.

  As Sean and Elizabeth had agreed, they didn’t want a reporter-infested wedding—except for Jon, that is.

  Only a few people were on the guest list—the Worthington family, Leo Shapiro, Jon, Drew and Jean and their kids, Darcy, and . . . Thomas.

  He paused, reflecting on that last decision. Elizabeth had suggested it. They’d gone rounds on it. But he knew in his gut it was the right thing to do.

  Still, at a quiet time like this, he wrestled with that decision and the implications of it—for himself, for his family. Yes, he now understood why the affair had happened and why Thomas had chosen to stay away all these years. But where did Sean want to go from here? Did he want an ongoing relationship with his birth father?

  That, he didn’t know.

  He sighed. Best to focus on completing this last trip for Worthington Shares before hitting the campaign trail with Sarah.

  Speaking of that, he checked the time on his cell phone. He had calls to make.

  NEW YORK CITY

  “We found it,” Darcy announced to Sarah a few days after her return to New York City. “The cell phone.”

  “Hold it. You’re saying—”

  “Yes. The cell phone Justin was given as a contact.”

  “Where on earth—”

  “On a homeless man recently found deceased in an alleyway. He was known to hang out near the building where Justin died. The phone likely fell out of Justin’s pocket or he dropped it when he plunged off the building. The homeless man found it and stashed it in his pocket with other trinkets he’d scavenged. NYPD wouldn’t have thought anything about it except for the bulletin DHS had sent, saying they were looking for a phone in that area. The phone was smashed and still had traces of blood on it. Justin’s blood.”

  “His contact list? Any texts? Phone calls?” Sarah asked.

  “That’s where this gets good. Tech support was able to trace the few calls—all from a single number except for one. The single number was Carson’s cell. They back up his story. But the last call is from a different number. Another burner cell. Its ID number shows that it was shipped to the same store.”

  “So the two burner cells—Justin’s and the unknown caller’s—were likely purchased at the same time, from the same store,” Sarah reasoned.

  “You got it. A little visit to the store and a check of their records confirmed it. And there’s more.”

  “More?”

  “The clerk remembered the person who bought it. A big guy. Athletic. In a hurry. Pushy. We showed the clerk a few pictures.”

  “Let me guess.”

  “Yes, Stapleton. As soon as we can bring the clerk in and get his statement, we’ll have enough on Stapleton to get a warrant to search his apartment and to get that DNA test.”

  To make a mistake like that, Stapleton must have been desperate, Sarah thought. Power brokers like him didn’t make mistakes. They had others do their dirty work. But maybe this time the work had been too personal. He had too much invested to leave the odds in someone else’s hands. He’d had to take control himself.

  That action would be his undoing.

  A SECURE LOCATION

  “So the mudslinging has already begun,” the man with the deep voice said.

  “Did you expect anything else?” he asked. With no response to the rhetorical question, he went on. “Spencer’s camp is in defense mode. They’ll do their best to smear Sarah’s reputation. They’re already saying she betrayed his trust after he nominated her for AG. That she’s been working behind the scenes to dismantle his administration. Raising rumors about his involvement in the AF scandal.”

  “Which we now know are true,” the man replied.

  “Yes. Stapleton did visit the White House for a private meeting with President Rich before the bombing. The timing is right to have allowed him time to arrange for the purchase of the C-4, etc. And Stapleton had several interactions with Carson right after that. Carson has confirmed the nature of those conversations. Stapleton’s temporarily removed from the AF board. Will saw to that.”

  “So the noose is tightening on both of them.”

  “Uncomfortably so,” he told the man. “Sarah won’t back down. She’s got the power, influence, and brains to take this all the way to the top.”

  “That means Spencer’s campaign will get more vicious. He’s got too much to lose.”

  “Agreed. But remember—”

  “We hold the last card in the deck.”

  NEW YORK CITY

  “I’ve got the best present you can imagine,” Darcy announced to Sarah several days later. “The DNA is a match.”

  “So Justin Eliot was Stapleton’s biological kid.”

  “Indeed. Stapleton has his team of lawy
ers working overtime trying to explain that one. He finally admitted he had a little fling with a waitress he’d thought was 18 at the time. When she got pregnant, he took care of her and the kid financially. Said he felt bad that she didn’t have parents to look after them. Even took care of Justin’s schooling and medical bills when he found out the kid was bipolar. After Rebecca died, he says the kid disappeared. Couldn’t trace him.”

  “And that he had no idea the kid had become the Polar Bear Bomber, am I right?”

  “You win the lottery,” Darcy said sarcastically. “Finally admitted that he knew about the bombing—Sandstrom’s idea—but claims Carson did the dirty work, yada yada.”

  “What about the pens and handwriting?”

  “His lawyers are arguing that they’re circumstantial. That Carson is covering his own behind.”

  “What about the cell phones?”

  “Stapleton says he bought a couple cell phones. Who doesn’t buy burner phones, he says, from time to time? But he has no idea how one of them got into Justin’s hands or ended up with his blood on it.”

  “And you couldn’t track the whereabouts of the other cell phone—the number of the person who talked to Justin last?” Sarah asked.

  “Nada. If we could find that cell phone—”

  “Then you could close the loop on a murder charge.”

  39

  Will sat back in his office chair at Worthington Shares with a satisfied smile. His brother and sister had been hard at work. While the Rich primary campaign had focused on raising questions about Sarah’s background and integrity, Sarah had wisely sidestepped all that, choosing to zero in on the issues Americans in general were concerned about.

  Instead of bringing up the Rich administration’s failed election promises from his first term, which were many, Sarah offered practical solutions on taxes, America’s education system, increasing jobs for America, and immigration concerns. She reached into the hearts and minds of young people with her enthusiasm, honesty, and fresh approach. The public, tired of the usual Washington politicians, was responding positively to Sarah, while Spencer Rich’s ratings slipped day by day. People in their twenties who said they’d declined to vote in the last election because there were no candidates they felt good about were now showing up in droves at the Republican state primaries.