“He wouldn’t hurt me!” Erica cried out.
“What are you doing?” Billie asked Sherise.
“I’m going home.” Sherise reached for her jacket on the hook next to their table. “My life has just been threatened. I’m not in the mood for tea.”
“Oh, for . . .” Erica couldn’t believe this. “No one is threatening you, Sherise. Sit down.”
“Sherise . . . ,” Billie began to implore as she stood up.
“No.” Sherise held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t try to talk to me. I can’t really take any more of either of you.”
“What did I do?” Billie asked. “I’m trying to—”
“Stop!” Sherise was waving her hands frantically. “I can’t take this anymore. I need to go home, where I feel safe.”
“Sherise!” Erica called after her as Billie sat back down.
Billie’s phone, resting on the table, made a ping sound as a text message came across. Billie reached for it, looking at Erica.
“You shouldn’t have said that, Erica.”
“It slipped out. She’s not in danger. He just meant if she kept her mouth shut, nothing could be confirmed.”
“You know it could mean anything with Jonah.” She noted the message from Michael about their date later that night.
“I regretted it right away.” Erica noticed Billie’s expression. “Who is that from? Michael?”
Billie nodded, smiling. “We’re going out tonight. Dinner at Komi.”
Erica was impressed. “Wish I was dating someone that had the money to take me there. You really like him, don’t you?”
“He’s amazing. I can’t stop looking at that painting he got me. It’s so sweet. It’s so not what I’m used to.”
“You know we have to meet him,” Erica said. “No point in your going much further until we’ve met him. He has to meet our approval.”
“He will,” Billie said. “You’ll like him. I don’t know about Sherise.”
“He’s got a good education and a lot of money?” Erica asked. “She’ll like him. Besides, she’ll be happy that you just have someone to make Porter jealous as hell when he finds out.”
“He already kind of has.” Billie recalled the situation when Porter asked about the gift brought to her office. “He was an ass, as usual.”
“But this is your chance to be an ass right back,” Erica said.
“You sound like Sherise.”
Billie knew what she had the power to do, but Tara was always in the back of her mind. She needed Porter if she was ever gonna get Tara back in her life again.
Erica reached for her dessert, but she changed her mind. She couldn’t really eat another bite. She only had Sherise on her mind.
“What am I going to do about her?” she asked. “I’ve really fucked up making her scared now. I just added to her worries. I have to call her.”
“Give her some time,” Billie said. “No matter what she said, it is hormones. But from now on, don’t say anything to her unless it’s good news. She can’t really take it right now.”
If you want something done right, do it yourself, Sherise decided. This oft-repeated phrase never rang more true for her than it did now. After realizing that she wasn’t going to get any help from Erica in stopping Jonathan T from finding out about her and Jonah’s affair, Sherise was going to take on yet another task . . . and would do it herself.
First thing that morning, she checked LaKeisha’s phone for her private schedule after LaKeisha stepped out to the ladies’ room. She got lucky right away. There was a blocked-out section between two to three in the afternoon. No names, no locations, no subject,just a block out. She kept an eye on LaKeisha; and, as expected, at a quarter to two, she headed out. Sherise followed. Fortunately for her, LaKeisha was walking to her destination, so no cabbies to try and explain her stalking to.
LaKeisha walked into a local dive called Ed’s Bar and took a seat in a back booth. She sat down alone, so Sherise knew this was her time, before the other party arrived.
The look on LaKeisha’s face as Sherise slid into the booth right next to her was surprise. For once, LaKeisha was speechless.
“You need to be better than this,” Sherise said.
LaKeisha slid a little farther down the booth. “What are you doing here?”
“I followed you,” Sherise said. “You’re at too high a level in this game to be pulling these stunts, LaKeisha. You know better.”
“What stunts?”
“You’re meeting the PI, right?” Sherise could see from the expression on her face that she was right. “Jonathan whatever?”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you.” LaKeisha fiddled with the silverware on the table. “He’s the best PI on the East Coast. He’s taken down the most powerful . . . How dare you follow me?”
“I know you’re mad at me,” Sherise said, “but hear me out. He should have never come to the office.”
“I’m protecting Northman,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
“You’ve already exposed him. He’s been spotted at headquarters. He’s tied to Northman now.”
LaKeisha looked as if she regretted her choice, but then she suddenly shrugged. “Well, I can’t change that. I’m meeting him outside of the office from now on. You should leave.”
“This is a messy move too,” Sherise added, setting her purse down to let LaKeisha know she wasn’t going anywhere. “This is too close to HQ. I was able to follow you, just on a hunch. You don’t think the Matthews people have a person outside our office looking for someone to follow?”
LaKeisha just made a little groaning sound. She didn’t like her mistakes being pointed out, especially if she couldn’t refute them.
“What is he looking for?” Sherise asked. “Sex? Of course that’s what he’s looking for. Bad move, LaKeisha.”
“How so?” LaKeisha asked, annoyed.
“No one cares about that anymore,” Sherise lied. “Yes, it’s titillating and all that, but it doesn’t stick. After Clinton, no one thinks it can keep a man from governing well. It only matters when it can be targeted as hypocrisy, and Jonah has never been one to preach family values.”
“It’ll put a chink in his armor,” LaKeisha said. “We need that.”
“He’s a VP candidate,” Sherise said. “Sexual chinks in his armor won’t be relevant. No one believes he’ll be running the country for at least another eight years. That stuff fades after weeks.”
“Well, I think—”
“You’re not thinking,” Sherise interrupted. “The key to bring Jonah down in a way that will hurt Matthews is to find something illegal or at least so professionally unethical that it compromised security. Stay away from the personal stuff. Make him dangerous to America, not just to his wife.”
Sherise could see that what she was saying was sinking in a little bit.
Just then, the man earlier identified as Jonathan T showed up at the booth. Both women turned to him. He saw Sherise and his weathered face held a disappointed frown.
“I’m out,” he said.
“Wait!” LaKeisha called after him just as he turned away. “It’s okay.”
He turned back, looking at LaKeisha with uncertainty. “You said I’m only dealing with you from beginning to end. If anyone else says otherwise, then it’s a trap.”
“I know.” LaKeisha gestured for him to sit down. “This is Sherise. She works with me. She has some good ideas.”
He eyed Sherise as he slowly sat in the booth across from them. She eyed him right back, not showing a hint of concern as her gaze never left his.
“Sherise,” LaKeisha began, “this is Jonathan—”
“Jonathan is enough,” he said quickly. “You know how I feel about meeting new people. I thought I was clear at our last meeting.”
“Fine,” Sherise said. “We can skip the niceties. What are we here for?”
The PI looked at LaKeisha, who gave him a nod. He sat back in the booth, looking
around the restaurant.
“Don’t worry,” LaKeisha said. “I’ve told the waiter not to bother us until I ask for him.”
“Like I told you the other day,” he stated, “I have a source that gets me access to legal records that are not, I guess, public.”
“How not public?” Sherise asked.
“Like they haven’t officially been filed yet.”
Sherise found that impressive, but also alarming. “How could you possibly get those without getting access to—”
“I was told I wouldn’t be questioned,” he said, sounding frustrated.
“Sorry,” Sherise said. “Go on.”
“I found something interesting,” he said. “Mrs. Nolan wrote up papers for divorce, with Shali and Miller, divorce lawyers to the rich, citing ‘infidelity.’ ”
Sherise swallowed, gripping at her knees under the table. “Did she name a . . . a third party?”
“No,” he answered.
“I find it hard to believe she cited ‘infidelity,’ ” LaKeisha said. “Everyone cites ‘irreconcilable differences.’ ”
“They do now,” Jonathan answered, “but this was twenty-five years ago.”
Sherise felt herself breathe again.
LaKeisha made an annoyed smacking sound with her lips. “Who gives a shit about twenty-five years ago?”
Sherise pulled herself together, able to focus now that this information didn’t involve her. “LaKeisha and I were just discussing that the focus shouldn’t be on his dalliances past or present, but rather—”
“She’s changing the mission now?” Jonathan asked.
“No.” LaKeisha put her hand on Sherise’s over the table in a gesture telling her to back off. “We’re considering new ideas, but we aren’t abandoning this. I just want something more recent. Unless it produced an illegitimate child, twenty-five years ago doesn’t bother me.”
Sherise didn’t like the direction this was going. She thought of Erica and what could happen to her if Nolan’s affair with her mother came out. She’d been so busy thinking of herself that she kept forgetting how vulnerable Erica was.
“He’s had several affairs,” Jonathan said. “There’s no question about that. The secretary of state’s wife, the daughter of the minority whip in Congress, and the French ambassador’s exwife—”
“Those are rumors,” Sherise said. “We can’t dabble in rumors. It’ll only reflect badly on our side.”
“I don’t do rumors,” he said angrily. “My sources are concrete and I always find the evidence I need.”
“So, recently then,” LaKeisha said, “what do you have?”
Sherise wanted this to stop immediately, but she also wanted to hear what he knew.
“He had an affair with someone about eighteen to twenty months ago,” Jonathan said. “I think it was someone in government or connected to government.”
“That sounds good,” LaKeisha said. “I hope it was a powerful woman.”
He shook his head. “Don’t think so, but I was able to get hold of a private schedule.”
“How?” Sherise asked.
“He keeps it on his phone,” Jonathan answered. “Those phones link to transmitters, and the phone companies keep records of what those phones store.”
Sherise removed her hand from under LaKeisha because she didn’t want her to sense it shaking.
“What else have you found?” LaKeisha asked.
“I also have my contacts at local hotels who give me access to cameras.” He looked around before leaning in. “You think they get rid of those tapes or tape over them? They do for the most part, but in D.C., no, they don’t. They keep everything on D.C. hotel cameras. Nature of the location.”
Sherise thought of the times she had met Jonah at the hotel. She’d been sure to cover up in a hat and glasses, never looking up, so a camera couldn’t get her face. Was that enough?
“I got my valets who know exactly who and what is on those tapes and just hold on to it for the right payday.”
“So get it,” LaKeisha said. She looked at Sherise’s disapproving stare. “Then we’ll talk about that other stuff.”
“We have to be careful,” he warned. “Jonah Nolan is a ruthless man.”
“This is true,” Sherise said. “And that is what we need to be focused on. How he deals with people, destroys lives, and—”
“Later,” LaKeisha insisted. “Just get me definitive proof right away. We need to hit while he’s still got the media’s main attention.”
“I promise you,” Jonathan said, “I’ve got plenty.”
Sherise knew she had to get rid of Jonathan, but she wasn’t going to do it on her own. Jonah had to find out about him; and if Erica wasn’t going to do that for her, she’d have to let him know herself.
The trick was not letting it get back to her. She had to get LaKeisha to tell her who else knew about Jonathan. So if it came to it, she could pass the blame. And then, she had to find out who Jonathan really was, so she could get something substantive to Jonah.
She hated Jonah with a passion, but he didn’t fuck around. Jonathan would be dealt with. How, she didn’t know, and that wasn’t her problem. Could he just be replaced with another Jonathan? Possibly, but Sherise would cross that bridge when she came to it.
Billie let the praise and accolades sink in as she sat at the table in the conference room. She was in the room with Gil, Lane, and two other company lawyers. On the phone, conferencing with them, was Porter, another associate at the firm, and the partner in charge. She had just told them all that she’d been able to get an extension to review the complaint and request, which they had all—especially Porter—thought was impossible. Billie imagined the look on his face and wished they had Skyped this meeting just so she could see it.
“Okay,” she finally said. “Thanks, but getting back on track, I think we need to focus on framing our argument based on Seton versus Wilson because . . .”
She stopped when she heard some whispering on the other line. It was faint, but she’d recognize Porter’s deep voice anywhere. Just moments after her silence, the whispering stopped. She looked at Gil, who frowned, and then back at the phone.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “was someone speaking?”
“No,” the partner said quickly. “Go ahead.”
“Sounded like someone was talking,” Billie insisted. She should let it go—and if it had been anyone else’s voice except Porter’s, she probably would have. “What did you have to say, Porter?”
“Me?” Porter asked. There was a pause. “No, I . . . I was just—”
“Just what?” Billie asked as she sat back in her chair. “Go ahead.”
Porter laughed and Billie could tell it was his nervous laugh. He rarely used it; but when he did, it meant he was uncomfortable.
“I was just saying,” Porter said, clearing his throat, “that there’s gonna be a price to pay for that later down the line.”
“A price to pay for getting that extension?” Billie asked.
“He didn’t mean that exactly,” the partner interjected.
“No,” Porter offered. “I just . . . I mean, I’ve never heard of anyone getting a big favor like that from the FTC and not having to give up something big or have it come back to haunt them down the line. I’ve never been able to.”
“Well,” Billie said, slowly and calmly, “I guess I’m just better at this than anyone else . . . or you.”
Sitting in the chair next to her, Gil leaned over nervously into the phone. He laughed before adding, “And that’s why we’re so happy to have her. So, can you guys just do your work on Seton versus Wilson and get back to us by the end of the week?”
“Of course,” the partner said, his voice sounding a little uncertain.
“Thanks guys! Talk to you later,” Billie said before reaching down and pressing the END button.
She looked up at Gil, noting the awkwardness of his expression.
“Don’t worry,” she said, trying her best to
seem unfazed. “Porter and I joke with each other like that all the time.”
He seemed relieved because he sighed and smiled a little bit before getting up. “Well, let’s hope they do their job.”
“I’m sure they will,” Billie said. “You guys go ahead, I’m gonna read through my notes a bit.”
As the others left the room, Billie waited for the last person to close the door behind her. Something is weird, she thought. The way she felt right now. She felt powerful. She felt aligned. Things were going so well with Michael and her career was back on track. Everything was working in her favor, except Porter, who still wanted to be the thorn in her side. However, she shot him down, and it felt great. It felt right. She was in control of her life again. The sooner Porter figured that out, the better.
Erica was grateful for the privacy of an office. So far, she’d been shoved in rooms or out in the open area of Nolan headquarters with several other aides and random campaign staff, most of them volunteers. She was asked to complete the graphics on the e-vite for the big fund-raiser that was next week. All of the important donors, of course, got a formal invitation in the mail. Everyone else, the small donors and courtesy invites, would get what she was just completing.
She was just about to finish everything when there was a knock on the door. She realized that right away she was hoping it was Alex. She hadn’t seen him since that morning. He’d told her he had a busy day, so they couldn’t do lunch together like they usually did. It bothered her that she was so eager to see him again, especially after last Saturday when the girls teased her about him.
Without waiting for her permission, the door opened and Jonah stood in the doorway. He looked fresh, even though she’d known he’d been in television interviews all day long after the latest Gallup Poll announced that his joining the ticket was the main reason for Matthews’s rise of four points among voters.
“Hi, Jonah.” She smiled at him for a second before turning back to the computer.
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