She met his gaze. “I’m afraid, Jack.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid that you’re irrationally obsessed with this whole thing. First, a complete stranger meets you at the Golden Gate, and you take his word as gospel. Then, you’re convinced it’s Mark Dailey.”
“I know it all sounds odd.”
“Odd? It’s more than odd. And now you’re pulling up E-mail messages from an address that could belong to anyone, and you’re telling me it’s the First Lady communicating with a mercenary.”
“Katherine, do you know how many investigations I’ve done in my years as a reporter?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Thousands. And most of them started out with much less to go on than this.”
“I’m not doubting your professionalism. I just think you’re too personally involved because of your father.”
“Oh. I’m personally involved, all right,” Jack said. “And I’ve got bruises all over my body to prove it.”
“You’re on the wrong track. Carolyn is a great person. I won’t stand by and watch you attack my friend. This is wrong, Jack, very wrong.”
“Is this a deal breaker for our relationship?”
She stepped back. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”
Jack started to speak, then stopped. His gaze locked with hers, he clenched his jaw as he fought his emotions.
“The break will do us good,” she said. “We’ve been moving fast, probably too fast. We both need time to think.”
“You think that’s what this is about? That I need time to think?” Jack asked.
“It makes more sense than the alternative,” Katherine said.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t deserve this. I’ve never been anything but straight with you. And I’m getting sick of being accused of underhanded behavior. I don’t care if you think I’m off base on my investigation, but I do care that you doubt my integrity. I don’t use words like love, lightly. And I do love you. Try not to forget that, Katherine, while you’re thinking.”
He picked up his bag and walked out the door.
SEVENTY-TWO
Carolyn walked toward the Oval Office. Her footfalls echoed in the evening quiet. She’d given a lot of thought to Warner’s rejection of her War on Drugs proposal, and decided that she just needed to reason with him. Her program could build his legacy, a legacy she knew he cared about preserving. She intended to point out that killing her task force, to satisfy a personal vendetta, would only hurt his presidency.
She stopped in front of the Oval Office door, took a calming breath, then knocked.
“Come in,” Warner said.
Carolyn swung the door open, then gasped.
Edmund Lane pulled his cigar from his lips.
“Good to see you, Carolyn.”
Warner leaned back in his chair, set his feet on his desk, and crossed his ankles. “How can we help you?”
Cigar smoke hung thick and dense in the air. “Can I speak to you alone?”
“No.”
Carolyn met his gaze. “I wanted to discuss my press conference and your presidential legacy.”
Warner reached in his pocket and handed Edmund a dollar bill.
Edmund laughed as he took it. “You should never underestimate my knack for predicting human nature. She’s right on schedule.”
Carolyn felt the blood rushing to her face.
“You win, again.” Warner shrugged.
Edmund sat back and sucked on his cigar.
Carolyn stood silent. Humiliation tightened around her throat.
“Do you think she gives a shit about my legacy?” Warner asked.
Edmund smiled back. “Only if it saves her precious program.”
Warner swung his feet off his desk and stood. “Although I admit your press conference went remarkably well, I really see no point in having this discussion with you. My decision is made. Please excuse us, Carolyn.” He walked to the door and held it open for her.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” she whispered, finally regaining her voice.
“If you don’t like it, divorce me,” he said as he shut the door behind her.
Carolyn stared at the door unable to cry, unable to scream, unable to feel anything but the rage of a trapped animal. He knew she couldn’t divorce him without sacrificing everything she’d ever worked for and cared about. If this was war, she’d lost another battle. But I’m still standing, she thought, and as long as I’m standing I will fight.
SEVENTY-THREE
Jack sipped his beer. He hated spending Saturday nights alone, believing they were proof of his relationship failures.
Sitting in a bar wasn’t his style, but he refused to wallow in self-pity. So, he’d forced himself to go out, only to discover that surrounding one’s self with strangers only magnified the loneliness. Unfortunately, he hadn’t realized his mistake until after he’d ordered his meal. He resigned himself to eating quickly, then leaving.
What had happened to him? he wondered. He’d always been a loner, and he’d even enjoyed himself. Or had he? Regardless, he realized that that was before Katherine’s return to his life and before he admitted to himself that he loved her.
He stared at the photograph on the front page of the Washington Post. Katherine stood off to Carolyn’s right at a press conference that had taken place the day before at the White House. Even in newsprint, Katherine was stunning.
Jack reread the headline.
Crowd Cheers First Lady’s War On Drags
He’d known that Katherine and Carolyn were working on some major reforms, but with his policy of not mixing work with their relationship, he’d had no idea of the impact. He read on.
First Lady Carolyn Alden Lane is beating her own previous record as the most popular woman in history with numbers that surpass any other person in recorded time.
Even John F. Kennedy did not enjoy such outstanding popularity. Her latest attack on the drug trade is being touted as a brilliant plan with the kind of teeth that could end the reign of drug lords for years to come.
“By eliminating the market for drugs versus trying to eliminate the pushers, we are bringing this fight onto our own battlefield,” Carolyn Alden Lane said. With the polls climbing, legislators are quickly jumping on board to support the First Lady’s plans.
Jack knew that the fate of his relationship with Katherine relied on him. He’d been the one to walk out. Was he irrationally obsessed? No, too much evidence existed. He sipped at his beer, theoretically piecing the puzzle together. His father’s paperwork, Adam Miles’s journal, the tape, and the E-mail all tied Carolyn to Cain. Even though her investments with Mort Fields appeared to be legitimate, his father’s files implied impropriety. And suspiciously, Jack realized, his father’s last known business appointment had been with Carolyn.
Jack knew his father opposed Warner’s reelection to the Senate. And with the death of Bill Rudly, Warner had not only claimed the Senate seat, but had also become the senior Senator for Missouri, thus positioning him for his presidential bid.
Throughout history, people had been murdered for less. Power. Money. Love. The three main reasons people resorted to killing. But could Carolyn have ordered Cain’s men to murder his father? Jack wondered. What about the deaths of Adam Miles and Mort Fields? It certainly appeared that she’d ordered his elimination.
The whole scenario sounded ridiculous, Jack thought. Maybe Katherine was right. Maybe in his desperation to deal with, and solve, his father’s death, he was grasping at straws. He finished off his beer and ordered another. Regardless of what this investigation did to his relationship with Katherine. Jack knew he owed the truth to his father’s memory and to himself. He’d uncover it, or die trying.