They must have been arguing about that damn loan, I thought. ‘I’ve wanted to tell Robert to dump his brother but that’s easy for me to say. Blood’s blood.’
‘I know. I still feel guilty about leaving my husband and I shouldn’t. I used to feel superior to all those women who put up with abusive spouses. I didn’t put up with it for long but I still think about the days when it was good.’
‘You have a history with him. That’ll be with you a long time. Maybe for life.’
‘You sound as if you know what you’re talking about.’
‘I do. I was a terrible husband. I didn’t abuse her physically or anything like that but I was always on the road as a consultant so in a real sense I deserted her. By the end she was a stranger to me. I’d forced her to be one. There’s a part of me that can’t let go of that. Can’t ever forgive myself.’
‘Are you in touch with her?’
‘We have a beautiful daughter in common who lives in Boston and is about to marry the intern she’s lived with the past few years.’
A yawn. ‘Sorry.’
‘Was that a comment on my life story?’
A giggle this time. ‘Hardly. But aren’t you as exhausted as I am?’
‘Yeah. In fact, I’m probably going to hit the bed as soon as we hang up. And as soon as you agree to have dinner with me tomorrow.’
‘I’d like that. Thanks. And by the way, Ben’s press conference will be in front of the county courthouse at nine tomorrow. He said he likes early ones because the reporters are hungover and not as sharp as they’ll be later in the day.’
‘Ben’s a genius.’
‘And a very nice man. I like him.’ Another yawn. ‘God. Sorry.’
‘See you tomorrow.’
For once the demons didn’t come to wake me up. Usually I go through a list of those I’d done wrong and a list of those who’d wronged me. Sleep is at a premium on those nights.
Tonight I dropped off quickly.
Eleven
Ben Zuckerman appeared on TV promptly at nine a.m. looking well-rested, relaxed and well turned out in a boardroom gray suit. He wore a stony expression. Don’t fuck with me, buddy, or you’ll regret it. He stood in front of the courthouse without notes of any kind.
There were at least fifteen upright microphones in front of him and at least twice as many hand mikes being pointed at him. As the camera panned the press, familiar faces were seen. Network faces and recognizable ones. This was the big time. A US senator involved in the murder of a beautiful woman.
‘I know we’re all busy here so I’ll keep my remarks brief and allow only five minutes for questions. I would ask you to remember that this situation is less than twenty-four hours old so despite all the rampant speculation nobody — and I repeat — nobody knows anything for certain yet. With one exception. Senator Robert Logan, my client, categorically denies having anything to do with the death of Tracy Cabot. And I emphasize the word “categorically.” He is innocent of the charges some of the media have accused him of. I would ask the press to do their job responsibly. The senator and I are well aware of why this story has dominated every news cycle. But we do ask for you to be fair and wait for solid facts before making any implications about his role in this tragic event. Now I’ll take questions.’
Then came the deluge.
Was Tracy Cabot his mistress? How long had the senator known her? Why would she be at his cabin if the senator didn’t know about it? Did the senator have an alibi for the time of her death? How about the reports that the senator had a long-standing reputation as a womanizer? Had the senator taken a lie detector test? Would the senator step down in light of the suspicions the press had about him?
Ben answered each question forcefully but quickly. Yes and no were his favorite responses but when he had to go into detail, as in his answer to the query about the senator’s rep as a chaser, he used his words to chide the press. ‘I’ve known Senator Logan for ten years, going back to the time he was in the state legislature. In all that time I never once heard anyone refer to him as being any kind of ladies’ man — which he definitely is not. This charge surfaced last night on the network whose sole purpose is to destroy every single member of my party. And their weapon of choice is always character assassination. When you make a habit of cheating on your spouse — and this goes for men and women both — people eventually know about it. And talk about it. Ask anybody who’s known Senator Logan for any length of time and they’ll tell you that that charge is ludicrous and false.’
He’d needed to vent and by God he’d vented.
‘Now let’s let the police do their work and I’m confident that they’ll find that Senator Logan is innocent of all these suspicions. Thank you very much for your time.’
‘He’s really good,’ Jane Tyler said.
We were sitting in the small conference room of her small office building that had room for Jane and three other lawyers. The walls were covered with historical photos of the area at the turn of the last century and the walnut conference table itself also seemed to be historical. Only the chairs and the dark blue carpeting and the plasma TV mounted on the east wall were recent. She aimed the remote dagger-like at the screen and it died.
‘He’s very good but he knows that what he said won’t make any difference to most people. If you polled across the country now at least fifty percent of people would say he was guilty.’
‘Have you ever considered the possibility that he is guilty?’
‘Of course. But it’s extremely unlikely.’
‘He was definitely involved with her.’
‘That we can’t deny.’
‘I mean, maybe more than he’s letting on.’
She wore a burnished-yellow silk blouse and a black skirt revealing fetching legs and ankles. Her dark hair was slightly mussed from the rush we’d made from the car into the Hardee’s where we’d grabbed our breakfast and dragged it to her office. I’d called her from my hotel room and asked if we could have breakfast and watch Ben together.
Now, the Hardee’s sacks in front of us, she said, ‘I called a friend of mine at the police department.’
‘Hammell will probably fire whoever it is if he finds out you’ve got a confidant inside.’
‘It’s the one and only female patrol officer who’s unhappy with how the boys’ network treats her.’
‘And she says what?’
‘She says that when she signed in this morning the county attorney was just pulling into the lot and Hammell and his number one were standing outside to meet him. And then they all shook hands and hurried into the building. She said it was like watching a TV show. You know, everything so urgent and everything.’
‘But she doesn’t know what it’s all about?’
‘No. She says it always takes a while for news to filter down to her level. It doesn’t sound good.’
‘No, it doesn’t.’
She sat down, finally, across the table from me. ‘I need to get hold of Ben and tell him about this.’
A knock on the door. A middle-aged man peeked in and said, ‘I just saw Mrs Havers’ car in the parking lot.’
‘Bob Raimi, this is Dev Conrad.’
‘Nice to meet you, Dev. Want me to cover it for you?’
‘No. She’s eighty-two years old. She has her grandson drive her into town. That’s a forty-mile trip one way. She’s used to seeing me.’
‘All right, then. Nice to meet you, Dev.’