by Geonn Cannon
Ari said, “I agree with you. I do. But even if he’s just going through the motions, he’s making the right decisions…”
“He’s a rapist, Ariadne.”
“I’m not saying I like this, Dale. It’s making me sick to my stomach just thinking this way. I don’t want to believe I’m the kind of person who would just look the other way. But there aren’t any good choices. Either we do nothing and someone we despise gets into office to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Or we turn it in, and we have some hateful prick who wants to round up all the non-whites and gays and put them in a fenced-off area. In the grand scheme, as reprehensible as it is, what Irwin did is—”
Dale snapped, “Don’t you dare call rape the lesser of two evils. Even if it was just this one instance, we can’t just let it go. We can’t just ignore what he did to this woman.”
“I know. But we…” She ran her hand over her face. “When Irwin found out Wilcox had this video, he responded with violence and threats. He said that he’d reach out even from prison. If I turn it in, he’ll come after us instead. You. Mom. Diana. You’d all be put at risk.”
Dale said, “We have to do the right thing.”
Ari took the flash drive from her and looked at it. “We have to do it the right way. With the least amount of risk to us.”
“Right.”
Ari handed the drive back. “Don’t watch more than a few seconds. It’s bad enough I had to see it. I don’t want that in your head.”
“Okay.” Dale stood up and bent down to kiss the crown of Ari’s head. “I love you, puppy.”
“I love you, too.”
Dale let her hand linger on Ari’s shoulder before she finally took the drive out of the office. Ari opened her drawer, wishing she had the private eye trope of a liquor bottle in her desk drawer. She stood up and went back to the clock, then wandered over to the couch. She remembered the first day she’d awkwardly taken off her shirt so Dale could massage her shoulders after a transformation.
“Bra, too.”
“I don’t think that’s—”
“C’mon, Ariadne. You want to feel better or do you want to be modest? I’ve seen bigger boobs than yours before.”
Ari smiled. She’d never had to be fake with Dale, never once had to lie about who or what she was. Dale knew Ari was canidae from the moment they met. She went to the door and looked out at Dale, backlit by the window. Dale looked up when she realized she was under scrutiny.
“Someone shot you in the head once.”
“Someone drugged you and tied you to a table. He was going to dissect you.”
Ari said, “I got drugged and attacked you.”
Dale nodded. “I remember.”
“All that, and we’re still here.” She walked around Dale’s desk and bent down to embrace her from behind. “We’ll figure out how to do the right thing, and do it safely.” She kissed the top of Dale’s head, and Dale put her hands on Ari’s arms where they crossed her chest. “Irwin said he was the woman’s boss. Look at his campaign staff first. We’re going to take this bastard down.”
“Hell yeah, we are.”
“Do you want me here when you watch it?”
Dale shook her head. “I think I would rather be alone for something this heinous. I’ll need you later, though.”
“I’ll need you, too.” She kissed Dale’s head again and let her go. “I’m going to check out Irwin’s campaign headquarters. It’s somewhere downtown. Text me if you find anything.”
“Will do. Good luck, puppy.”
“You too.”
Chapter Nineteen
The Michael Irwin for Governor Campaign office was on the border of Capitol Hill and First Hill. It occupied a space surrounded by empty storefronts and buildings blocked from sight by a honeycomb of scaffolding. It reminded her of the Doozer constructions from Fraggle Rock, so she held onto that bit of childhood nostalgia to get her mind off what she had seen on the flash drive. The entrance to the building was plastered with campaign signs and a poster of the man from the video, and she grimaced as she went inside and found herself surrounded by even more representations of him.
The folding tables and temporary offices only took up a small fraction of the space. To the left and right were tables with T-shirts, buttons, lawn signs, and other swag with Irwin’s name waited to be distributed throughout the city. A handful of volunteers occupied a phone bank that separated the front of the room from the private staff offices.
Dale had texted while she was parking. “The woman is named Kathleen Tully. Campaign fundraising dept.” She included a picture from the website so Ari would be better able to identify her. She was looking at the picture when a volunteer with a large IRWIN button pinned to her blouse swooped in. The girl looked to be in high school, maybe college, on loan from a cheer or pep squad based on the size of her smile and the depth of her dimples.
“Hi there! Are you considering a vote for Michael Irwin as our next governor?”
Ari said, “Actually I’m here looking for someone. I think she works for the financial department. Kathleen Tully?”
“Kat? She’s the head of fundraising.” She turned and pointed toward the back of the room. “Straight back there, next-to-last room on the left. Have a button!”
She deftly removed a button from the pocket of her slacks and moved to pin it to Ari’s blouse. Ari blocked the girl’s hand before she could make contact, saving her the trouble of throwing out the shirt later. The girl looked surprised but didn’t press the issue.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine! Some people don’t want the holes in their clothes. Do you want a bumper sticker?”
“No.”
Ari walked past her and stepped around the phone bank. Six phones were in use, which meant six Seattle citizens currently being conned out of their money to help send a rapist to the governor’s mansion. An hour ago, she might have been one of them. Ari tried to contain herself before she flipped over the table and scared off everyone wasting their time as volunteers for the monster.
Kathleen Tully’s office was marked with “FUNDRAISING,” and she was seated behind her desk. She had a cell phone in one hand while she wrote with the other. She looked up when Ari appeared in the doorway and, in a single gesture, managed to convey ‘come in, sit down, just one moment’ without missing a beat in the conversation she was having. Ari stepped inside and closed the door. Kathleen noted that, eyed Ari, but continued speaking. Ari took a seat across from her.
“Okay, I have to go. There’s someone in my office. Okay. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” She hung up and smiled at Ari. “Hello! How can I help you?”
Ari said, “My name is Ariadne Willow. I’m a private investigator. I want to be as tactful as possible, but I know what happened between you and Michael Irwin.”
Kathleen bit her bottom lip and turned her head to the side. “I’m not sure what you mean. We dated for a few months, but when the campaign started, we ended things.”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the assault.”
The shift in Kathleen’s expression was subtle but noticeable. She sat up a bit straighter and placed her hands flat on the table.
“I think you should go.”
“I don’t—”
Kathleen stood up and moved around the desk. “I’d like you to leave. We don’t have security, but I know one of our volunteers can escort you out.”
Ari stood up. “If you think I’m here for blackmail or extortion, you’re wrong. I just want to make sure he pays for what he did.”
“He didn’t do anything, Miss Willow. We used to date. And yes, maybe he got a bit… aggressive, but it was nothing we hadn’t done in the past.”
“You said no.”
“How the hell do you know what I said?”
“There’s a video.”
Kathleen said, “You bugged my apartment?”
Ari said, “I didn’t… wait, your apartment? A private investigator named Cla
rk Wilcox hid a camera in a hotel room. That’s the video I have. How many times has he forced himself on you?”
“I think you should go now before I call the police.” She opened the door, put a hand on Ari’s shoulder, and began guiding her out. “What happened in that hotel room is a private matter. I don’t want you dragging my candidate’s name through the mud just because it will make you feel better.”
“Your apartment and the hotel room. How many other times were there? How long do you think it will be before he does it to someone else who works here, if he hasn’t done it already?”
The same girl who had greeted Ari when she came in moved to intercept them. “Miss Tully? Is something wrong? Was I not supposed to let her in?”
“It’s fine, Helen, it’s…”
She had started to let her gaze slip over the girl, but something made her stop and stare. Ari watched Kathleen’s face and saw the expression shift again. Her anger was still present, but her eyes softened as her thoughts turned to things she’d obviously tried to never think about. Helen kept a hopeful look, unsure if she was in trouble or not. Ari stepped closer to Kathleen and lowered her voice.
“If he gets away with it once, then he’ll keep doing it. How many times do you think he’s already gotten away with it? How many times are you going to let him get away with it?”
Helen now looked confused. “Miss Tully?”
“It’s fine, Helen,” Kathleen said again. “I just… there’s actually something else Miss Willow and I need to discuss.” She let go of Ari’s elbow and stalked back toward her office. Ari followed.
Kathleen was holding the door and slammed it shut as soon as Ari was inside. “Damn you.”
“I understand where you’re coming from. Believe me, I do. Until this morning, I was planning to vote for the guy myself. But he can’t just get away with something like this.”
“Let’s say we go to the police. I accuse him of forcing himself on me. It’s a huge scandal, I become a punchline on the late night circuit, and in a few years Mike runs again anyway because people have short memories.”
“Maybe if it was just your word against his. But this video doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Believe me, no one will be making jokes about this.”
Kathleen covered her eyes and then swept her hand over her face. “I just wanted it to go away. I don’t want to keep reliving it in every deposition and talk show.” She lowered her voice. “It just needed to be something that happened.”
“And right now it might be happening to Helen. Or one of those other volunteers out there who don’t feel like they can say no to someone like him.”
“Why are you here and not this… the other guy, the one who planted the cameras?”
“He’s dead.”
Kathleen’s face paled. “What? Was he…”
“No. He wasn’t killed, not technically. He tried to blackmail Irwin, and someone threatened him. He was scared enough that he decided it was easier to kill himself.”
“Threatened?” She looked toward the door and then rolled her head on her shoulders. “Jesus. It was Zahn.”
“Who is that?”
Kathleen said, “Leonard Zahn. He’s a fixer. Well, he’s the director of fast-response. Usually that means he’s the guy who keeps an eye out for potential controversy and squashes it before it can become an issue. But in his case, it’s just an empty title. He takes care of problems and Mike keeps his hands clean. I thought it was just…” She sighed angrily. “Hell. I didn’t want to think about what his job was. I didn’t want to know.”
Ari said, “I didn’t come here to force you into anything. If you want me to drop it, if you don’t want to be involved, I’ll let it rest. But it should be your decision.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip, a wrinkle forming between her eyebrows. “I know it needs to come to light. I can’t just ignore it and hope he never does it again. But… God. Everyone here has worked so hard on this campaign. I know it’s only been a few months. But everybody put their hearts and souls into this. And now it’s all going to be thrown away. I guess it’s sort of a blessing that it’s happening so early.”
“A blessing?”
“We still have eleven months until the actual election. Someone else can declare. The primary is in a few months, and after that it’ll be like he was never running.” She sat on the edge of her desk.
Ari sighed, relieved. “I was worried. I thought taking down Irwin would mean his opponent would just walk right in.”
“Eight months is a lifetime in politics,” Kathleen said. “It’s only been four months since Mike declared, and I feel like I’m losing my life’s work. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Because this… all of this… and because I didn’t want to admit it was… what it was.”
“Human nature, I guess. Easier to just ignore it. But he can’t be allowed to keep running. He can’t be allowed to become governor.”
Kathleen nodded.
“We still have to figure out what we’re going to do. We can’t just turn in the video to the police if this fixer guy… what was it?”
“Zahn. Leonard Zahn.”
“Right. We don’t know if he was operating on Irwin’s orders, or if he was using his own prerogative. Either way, he’s dangerous. I don’t want you or anyone else coming forward until we know you’ll be safe from retribution.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Ari said, “We’re not going to do anything. You’re going to either keep working here like nothing has changed, or you’re going to take a few sick days. I’m going to focus on Zahn and Irwin to see what I can find out. It’s what I do. When Wilcox called me right before killing himself, I have to assume this is what he was hoping I would do.”
“What if they do turn out to be dangerous?”
“Then they’re going to find out I can be just as dangerous.”
#
When Ari got back to the office, Dale was on the couch in her office. She had stretched out and covered herself with the blanket Ari used for naps, but she was awake and staring at the window behind Ari’s desk. Ari crossed the room and knelt in front of her. She fished under the blanket until she found Dale’s hands. Dale closed her eyes and burrowed against the pillow.
“I never want to see anything like that ever again,” she whispered.
“Me neither.” Ari leaned over Dale and kissed her cheek and temple. “C’mon. Get up. I want to take you somewhere.”
Dale shook her head. “I don’t want to go anywhere.”
“Do you trust me?”
Dale lifted her head to look at Ari, then sat up and accepted her offer to help stand up. They locked up the office and Dale followed Ari to the car. The radio started with the engine, but Dale reached down and shut it off. Ari drove south in silence, hitting the edge of a rain wall and staying inside it until they turned west. After a while Dale seemed to realize they had a destination and weren’t just driving randomly, so she sat up straighter and began paying attention.
Eventually Ari arrived at Alki Point beach. The rain had scared away most of the people who would have otherwise been sightseeing, and the strip of sand between land and water had transformed into a dark brown-gray quagmire. Ari twisted into the backseat to get their rain slickers. They squirmed into them, put up their hoods, and got out of the car. Dale came around the hood and held out her hand. Ari took it and guided Dale out onto the abandoned beach.
They sat together on the ground, not caring about their pants. Dale picked up Ari’s arm and slung it over her shoulder, sagging heavily against her side.
“This is where you came when you ran away,” Dale said. “When you were a teenager.”
Ari nodded. “I thought that was the end of the world. I didn’t think I’d survive.” The rain drummed on the edge of her hood. “I wanted to take you somewhere pretty. I didn’t think it would be raining.”
“The rain is perfect. It’s beautiful. I love
this. I needed this.” Dale lifted her head and looked at her. “Thank you, Ariadne.”
“I needed it, too.”
They kissed and then turned back to look at the water. Ari loved the way the Sound looked when it was raining. Dale was right; it was beautiful.
“Take him down, Ari.”
“All the way,” Ari promised.
After that they didn’t speak; they just sat and watched the rain pelt the water for a while in silence, letting it wash away what they’d seen.
Chapter Twenty
Dale found a picture online for Leonard Zahn and printed it out so Ari could put it up on the wall, giving them a target. It was professionally posed, apparently part of a photoshoot he’d done for a magazine. He was completely forgettable, a face that would be rendered nearly invisible in a crowd. Brown hair, average appearance. There was a multitude of photos of him from his website, and Dale chose one where he was wearing a suit facing the camera with his arms crossed, an intimidating pose to match Ari’s death stare.
It was even easier to find pictures of Irwin, but Ari asked her to look for one where he wasn’t smiling or posing. She spent most of the day after meeting Kathleen sitting in her office and staring at the images. She only turned her attention away to do research on the candidate. She read about Michael Irwin’s history of public service, his three years in the state Senate, and his campaign so far. Several articles mentioned that he was the front-runner for office even before he officially declared candidacy. He was well-liked and charming, and from Ari’s point of view, he held the right position on every issue.
Dale, meanwhile, was working on Leonard Zahn. He was a professional fixer, with a beautifully polished website that used beautiful graphics to hide the fact he never actually said what his job was. He called himself a Crisis Management expert, specializing in “personal, political, and business” matters. He was single, never been arrested, and his photo gallery showed him shaking hands with the current governor, various political figures, and a slew of liberal celebrities. Dale wondered if any of the people in the pictures knew what kind of man they were dealing with.
