But it had been something else I was looking for. There was a beautiful picture of Angela on the desk, but I’d wanted to see what he had of his first wife, and I’d found nothing, and nothing of his sons. I guess I hadn’t really expected any, so I didn’t know why it hurt. Maybe I felt he owed me something for what I was going through.
We left the house in a different confusion than we’d come.
“A penny for your thoughts.” Stately Boyer Manor was fading into the distance behind us.
“I don’t want more money,” I said.
“What should I offer you?” Katie said.
“No. I mean that’s my thoughts. You owe me a penny.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Some stretches of the road were tawdry with old gas stations, run-down diners, and tacky souvenir shops. These were in contrast with the stretches that were tawdry with new gas stations, plastic fast-food restaurants, and bland strip shopping centers. “I’ll think of something else to give you.”
“I don’t want anything.”
“Are you being surly?”
“Half.”
She took note of the clenched jaw and pursed lips. “What’s the other half?”
“That bothered me, Katie.”
“Being at the house?”
“It made me feel like I was Melvin.”
“What does that mean, anyway?”
“It means doing things that I never thought I’d do. I’m violating something inside myself.”
“What have you done?”
“I’m having a feud with the governor.”
“I’ve never liked him.” We were passing through farms and villages now-much more scenic than the coast.
“I’m starting to dislike him a lot more,” I said. “And when you’re Melvin, you don’t just dislike a governor. You do something about it.”
“What do you do?”
“That’s what the world is wondering.”
9
“So. Have you come up with some type of plan?” Fred was set very far back in his chair, at as great a distance from me and my recklessness as he could get.
“Yes, some type of one.”
“What type?”
I laughed at the richness of his disdain. “And you still want to negotiate with the terrorists?”
“He is a governor, not a terrorist.”
“Explain the difference.”
He shook his head. “Tell me what you’ve thought of.”
“The governor is corrupt. I’ll expose him.”
Fred blinked. “A good deal of his corruption has been as your partner.”
“Not my partner.”
“With the Boyer businesses. You know what I mean.”
“But not with me.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I was in Melvin’s office this afternoon. I have enough evidence to sink Bright and half his administration with him.”
Fred’s mouth was open, but it took a while for words to come out.
“Of course you do.” He could have added “you idiot,” but it was there without being spoken. “You can’t use any of it.”
“I can.”
“You’ll destroy your own businesses.”
“No. Somebody on my side will take the fall-whoever deserves it. I’ve been looking through Melvin’s papers and I’m starting to figure out who that is. But of the two biggest crooks, one is in the governor’s mansion, and the other is in his heavenly mansion.”
Fred Spellman was reeling. “This would destroy your father’s reputation.”
“Where he is, he doesn’t need it.”
I had managed to disgust Fred, although there was also admiration in his look. “Where did you get this idea?”
Where, indeed. There were two answers to that one. The first was that it was obvious. Only a twisted, corrupt mind could have failed to see a plan so straightforward and honest.
But the second answer was corrupt, and much more twisted, and it was the real answer. The idea was a witch’s brew: eye of newt, wart of toad, smoke of Nathan Kern, essence of Oedipus, hot blood of Boyer.
The main ingredient was the opportunity to get back at Melvin for every wrong against me. For ignoring me for twenty-eight years, for building an evil empire and then getting murdered and leaving me as his chosen replacement emperor. But add a pinch of Nathan’s sanctimony concerning power and corruption for thickening and body, a dash of the prospect of Governor Bright’s demolition for flavor, and a splash of hydraulic brake fluid as a little extra spice, and it was a potent concoction. Heat it over a hot temper and it was irresistible.
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“This is a bull in a… a…” Analogies were failing him. “In a dynamite factory. A herd of bulls.”
“Calm down, Fred. Let’s just talk about it a little.”
“Then say something reasonable.” He wasn’t buying it. But he had to listen to me.
“I’ve taken over from Melvin and I’ve found out what he was doing. Now I want to make it right.”
“You’re much too young and inexperienced to try something like this.”
“That’s why I’m doing it. I’m young and idealistic.”
That brought a fairly violent snort. “You are nothing of the sort.”
“I might be.”
“Your businesses are implicated. Melvin was not the only one involved. Bright will name names. He’ll try to take everything you have down with him.”
I shrugged. “Then they’ll go down. They’ll only be getting what they deserve.”
“These are your highest officers and managers.”
“Not the highest. One rank down. I’ll pay fines. I’ll help them as much as they deserve. The businesses will survive.”
“Maybe.” Fred had had enough. “Maybe they will. You wouldn’t know. That is your greatest risk. Yes, you might cause significant damage to the governor without damaging yourself. But you would be removing the shelter your businesses currently enjoy. I am no businessman, but even I can guess what might happen.”
“I can guess, too. They’ll have to adjust.”
“And with your immense business experience, you will lead them through this adjustment. Or will you have rid yourself of them first?”
“I won’t answer that.”
“You have no answer. You are proposing a reckless, foolish, lunatic plan.”
“Yours is no better.”
“Yes it is. Of course it is! It’s realistic and prudent. It’s what Bright is expecting, and he’ll come to an agreement. What gives you the right to dictate to the governor?”
“Apparently someone has to. It’s my job as king, isn’t it? The man is a criminal.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
We were stuck. I didn’t want to just walk out, but I wasn’t going to argue.
“Okay, Fred. We’ll send out a warning. I’ve started looking through Melvin’s papers, and I have some concerns to discuss with the governor. Or Clinton Grainger. Or that police detective, Wilcox. You tell me how to do it. That’s about the same level of threat he’s thrown at us.”
Fred was scowling. “It’s still leading into very dangerous territory.”
“We’re already there.”
“I’ll consider it. But I’m not advising you to do this.”
“You’ve made that very clear, Fred. Remember what I said before. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still in the locked room and the man is still shooting at me.”
“In your analogy, do you also have a gun?”
“In this case, yes.”
Three days in my life had now passed since I had taken the throne. It took God six days to make the world, and then he needed a day off. I figured I was on the same pace. Another three days like these, and I would have about demolished everything he had done. Wait… not what God had made, just what Melvin had. God, Melvin- it was easy to get them mixed up.
What was the point of being rich if you still drove home from work every night just like any working peasant? I was stuck in traffic, and it wasn’t helping my attitude.
Katie was right. We needed a better place to live. I didn’t care what our guests and admirers thought, but to me the house felt vulnerable. Anybody could walk in the front door: a reporter, a murderer, whoever. I was surprised we hadn’t had one of them knock on the door yet.