“He will be governor on Tuesday. The impeachment bill has been written and will be debated Monday.” Fred breathed in, and out. “Would you instruct the state senate to vote it down?”
“Would you?” Forrester sneered at the thought. “Of course not. Even if I had a reason to, Harry Bright is far past rescue. But now there will be anarchy. Malden won’t impose order. Someone will need to.”
“Jason and I have discussed this, of course.”
Yes, Jason. Remember him? He’s part of this.
The senator did not turn toward me. “Melvin Boyer might have had influence. His son does not.”
I was at least looking at him. Fred waited for me. He was realizing that my silence was not from respect for my elders. It was even causing Forrester a little unease.
“The strengths of the Boyer family have not changed,” Fred said. “The assets and organization are still intact. The governor made the mistake of not realizing that.”
“Is that a threat?” Four bullets, point blank at Fred’s vest.
Fred’s cigar smoke deflected them. “Of course not, Bob.”
“The governor is a fool. Don’t think you’ve done anything impressive by exposing him. Anyone could have done it; it was no show of strength.”
“If that is how you see it…” Fred shrugged.
“And a show of strength is necessary, and so I will be meeting with Malden and senate leaders tomorrow morning.”
Your strength, Senator? Listening to this was pure jet fuel for the fire.
“We should discus that,” Fred said. “I’ve made a few phone calls already.”
“I’m aware of your calls, and there is nothing to discuss. I want you to stay out of this-you and your… your client.” His voice was rising, so that the galleries and television cameras could catch every word. “Your actions this week have destroyed any credibility the Boyer name might still have had and clearly demonstrated this young man’s incompetence and immaturity.”
“I really don’t think the theatrics are necessary.” For Fred, the speech had just been the beginning of negotiations, the senator stating his opening position. Nothing personal, only business. “You know as well as I…”
“Excuse me, Fred.”
It was time. I turned toward the senator.
“Bob.”
He turned to me. A long, thin stream of blue-white smoke spewed from his mouth. Fred’s plume was thicker. He had turned to me, also, with a stern warning in his eyes. I turned my back on both of them.
The terrace outside the French doors had a granite rail. It was ornamented with statuary, and I was suddenly pleased to see my little stone friend there! Maybe he had followed me from the church, or maybe it was his twin. His hand was up and he was looking right at me. It was a portent-a sign that fate was with me.
“Eight years ago, Melvin gave you your senate seat.” I said it loud enough for him to hear me, with my back to him. Maybe Katie and her hostess could hear me, as well. Eric was not in sight. “If we’re discussing incompetence, you were the one who was incapable of winning an election on your own.” I turned, and we faced each other. “When you were given the office, there were conditions. And you have not been released from your obligation.”
He was furious, his own cold anger finally hot. “Young man, I have already told you-”
“Shut up.” We locked eyes. “I expect respect, not condescension.” Who would ever have stood up to him like this, against his money and power and pride? Which of us was stronger now?
“You brazen upstart.”
“I didn’t come this evening for you to reprimand me, or to listen to your conceited tirade. I came to discuss Governor Bright. You thought your show of arrogance would frighten me, and it was quite a show. But you were wrong.” We were still eye to eye, and I wasn’t sweating. “You made a big mistake, Bob, and it’s going to cost you.”
“You are making the mistake.” He was not backing down, but at least I’d become someone he had to speak to. “Do you think your money can buy you anything you want? You are wrong. I owe you nothing. I am a United States senator, and I have wealth to match yours.”
“Bob. Jason.” Fred saw the need for an adult to intervene. “You’ve both had a chance to express your frustrations. Now, let’s get past this and move on to the business at hand.”
“I think this is our business for this evening,” I said. “We are deciding who will be the next senator, and it won’t be a cozy deal. It will be whoever is strongest.”
“This is ridiculous.” Forrester made a quick glance at the ceiling, as if he had just lost patience with the encounter. But he’d blinked and we both knew it.
“I want you to announce that this will be your last term.” I looked out the window. The little statue was still smiling at me. I must be doing well.
“I will do no such thing.”
I slowly turned back to him. “Are you sure, senator? Do you really want to fight this out? Do you want to see the crowds turning against you? Do you want to read the antagonistic editorials? Face the hostile reporters?”
“Stanley Morton would never treat me like that!”
“How much of his company do you own? And picture the campaign. It won’t be like last time. Maybe there will be scandals. This pedestal you’ve got yourself on will be real easy to knock over. Do you think your precious president or anyone else will care what you think when they see your whole state turning against you? Just imagine what it will feel like when everyone around you is watching you fall and laughing at you behind your back, or maybe to your face. And now you’re an old man, too, and you’re tired. Do you have the stomach for this fight, senator?” The words were flowing out of me-I didn’t even need to think, they just came.
I gave him plenty of time to answer. He didn’t, so I did.
“I didn’t think so.”
Fred was looking straight ahead, not at either of us, just waiting. Forrester had lost focus, too.
“You’re as evil as your father,” he said.
“I am my father’s son.”
There was a sound, between a gasp and a sigh. I looked back and saw Katie standing in the open doorway. She was staring at me, her mouth open in shock at the words my mouth had just spoken.
“We’re done here,” I said to her. “Fetch Eric.”
She collected herself. “They just went to see the Rolls Royce. They’ll be a few minutes.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “I’ll wait outside with you.”
I didn’t look back into the room. She moved aside to let me pass and followed me out onto the terrace. Gladys was seated on a bench near the doors.
“He can’t mean that” came from the library.
Fred’s voice rumbled, “He means what he says, Bob.”
“This is outrageous. Of course I won’t step down.” But he knew what the future would be and that he would surrender rather than face that humiliation, and in his voice I could hear the splintering and cracking of his soul. It brought a swift image of Harry Bright, alone at his podium.
Katie was close enough for just me to hear her. “What…?” It was a continuation of her sigh. She was trembling, also, not from the cold, and there was fear in her eyes, of me.
“We’ll talk later.”
We stood and waited. The earth turned and I was its axis. If I had lifted my hand I could have commanded the stars to blacken or the land to be moved, but I chose not to. It was enough to have extinguished this one star.
Fred approached. “We will discuss this tomorrow,” he said. “I would suggest doing it this evening, but your state of mind would make it a waste of time.”
“I’ll call you,” I said.
“You are very effective in tearing down,” he said, his own state of mind not very steady. “You should try building up for once.”
“I’ll do what I want.”
He paid his respects to Gladys and left. Katie was stranded beside me-Gladys had heard all and there was no possibility of even a stilted and formal conversation. I doubted they’d been having more than that anyway.
The hostess stood and went. Katie gave her a tight nod and smile, which were not answered.