Engines and werewolves

Chapter 24

“DAMMIT!” THE PRESIDENT HAD BENT DOWN TO PICK UP A copy of his speech for the night’s event and the pain had shot up to his shoulder. “I think it nicked a tendon, Gloria.”

Gloria Luke manl sat in one of the wide, plush chairs with which the President’s wife had decorated the Oval Office.

The First Lady had good taste if not a lot else. She was nice to look at, but a little light in the intellect department. No challenge to the President’s power, and an asset in the polls.

Her family background was impeccable: old money, old ties. The President’s connection to the conservative wealth and influence segment of the country had not hurt his standing with the liberal contingent in the least, however, owing mainly to his charisma and skills at consensus-building. And his good looks, which counted for a lot more than anyone cared to admit.

A successful President had to be able to talk a good game, and this President’s batting average was up there with Ted Williams’s.

“I think I need to see a doctor.” The President was not in the best of moods, but then neither was Luke manl.

“Well, Alan, then exactly how would you explain a stab wound to the White House press?”

“What the hell ever happened to doctor-patient confidentiality?”

Luke manl rolled her eyes. He could be so stupid sometimes.

“You’re like a Fortune 500 company, Alan, everything about you is public information.”

“Well, not everything.”

“That remains to be seen, doesn’t it? This is far from over, Alan.” Luke manl had smoked three packs of cigarettes, and drunk two pots of coffee since last night. At any moment their world, her career, could come crashing down. The police knocking on the door. It was all she could do to keep herself from running screaming from the room. As it was nausea continuously swept over her in vast waves. She clenched her teeth, gripped the chair. The image of total destruction would not budge from her mind.

The President scanned the copy, memorizing some, the rest he would ad-lib; his memory was phenomenal, an asset that had served him well.

“That’s why I have you, Gloria, isn’t it? To make it all better?”

He looked at her.

For a moment she wondered if he knew. If he knew what she had done with him. Her body stiffened and then relaxed. He couldn’t know, that was impossible. She remembered his drunken pleadings; oh how a bottle of Jack could change a person.

“Of course it is, Alan, but some decisions have to be made. Some alternative strategies have to be developed depending on what we find ourselves faced with.”

“I can’t exactly cancel my schedule. Besides, this guy can’t do anything.”

Luke manl shook her head. “We can’t be sure of that.”

“Think about it! He’ll have to admit to burglary to even place himself there. Can you see him trying to get on the evening news with that story? They’ll put him in a rubber room in a New York minute.” The President shook his head. “I’m safe. This guy cannot touch me, Gloria. Not in a million years.”

They had worked out a threshold strategy on the limo ride back to town. Their position would be simple: categorical denial. They would let the absurdity of the allegation, if it ever came, do their work for them. And it was an absurd story despite the fact that it was absolutely true. Sympathy from the White House for the poor, unbalanced and admitted felon and his shamefaced family.

There was, of course, another possibility, but Luke manl had chosen not to address that with the President just yet. In fact she concluded it was the more likely scenario. It was really the only thing allowing her to function.

“Stronger things have happened.” She looked at him.

“The place was cleaned, right? There’s nothing left to find, right, except her?” There was a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Right.” Luke manl licked her lips. The President didn’t know that the letter opener with his prints and blood on it was now in the possession of their felonious eyewitness.

She stood up and paced. “Of course I can’t speak about certain traces of s****l contact. But that wouldn’t be linked to you in any event.”

“Jesus, I can’t even remember if we did it or not. It seems like I did.”

She couldn’t help smiling at his remark.

The President turned and looked at her. “What about Burton and Collin?”

“What about them?”

“Have you talked to them?” His message was clear enough.

“They have as much to lose as you, don’t they, Alan?”

“As us, Gloria, as us.” He fixed his tie in the mirror. “Any clue to the Peeping Tom?”

“Not yet; they’re running the plate.”

“When do you think they’ll realize she’s missing?”

“As warm as it’s been during the day, soon I hope.”

“Real funny, Gloria.”

“She’ll be missed, inquiries will be made. Her husband will be called, they’ll go to the house. The next day, maybe two, maybe three tops.”

“And then the police will investigate.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that.”

“But you’ll keep on top of it?” A trace of concern crossed the President’s brow as he thought swiftly through various scenarios. Had he f****d Christy Sullivan? He hoped that he had. At least the night wouldn’t have been a total disaster.

“As much as we can without arousing too much suspicion.”

“That’s easy enough. You can use the angle that Gabriel Sullivan is a close friend and political ally of mine. It would be natural for me to have a personal interest in the case. Think things through, Gloria, that’s what I pay you for.”

And you were sleeping with his wife, Luke manl thought. Some friend.

“That rationale had already occurred to me, Alan.”

She lit a cigarette, blew the smoke out slowly. That felt good. She had to keep ahead of him on this. Just one small step ahead and she would be fine. It wouldn’t be easy;

he was sharp, but he was also arrogant. Arrogant people habitually overestimated their own abilities and underestimated everyone else’s.

“And nobody knew she was meeting you?”

“I think we can assume she was discreet, Gloria. Christy didn’t have too much upstairs, her gifts were slightly lower, but she understood economics with the best of them.” The President winked at his Chief of Staff. “She had about eight hundred million to lose if her husband found out she was screwing around, even with the President.”

Luke manl knew about Gabriel Sullivan’s odd viewing habits from the mirror and chair, but then again, for the assignations he didn’t know about, didn’t get to watch, who knew what his reaction would’ve been? Thank God it hadn’t been Sullivan sitting there in the dark.