"And she campaigned with some of the most popular councilors in the city."
"And hedged her bets in the mayoral race," Charlie said pointedly.
Now Kasi rolled her eyes. "Would you have done any differently when you were running for the seat if there had been an actual contested election? Should she have pissed off the progressives who were going to vote for David, or should she have pissed off the rank-and-file voters whose hands Cervino shook at every event he could get to? Of course we had to stay out of that one."
Charlie leaned forward. "Then maybe your people shouldn't have said differently."
"I never made any promises—"
"But Paloma did," David said quietly. "I dropped her name everywhere I could, but she didn't keep her end of the bargain. But in the final days of the race she did manage to work Cervino's accomplishments into her speech."
Kasi thought for a moment. "That wasn't me."
"Of course not," Charlie said mockingly.
"I said she needed lines and talking points; I didn't say I wrote all of them or even most of them."
"Then who?"
Kasi sipped her drink. "Kelly's people."
Silence. "Kelly's people made promises too," Charlie said at last.
"I'm sure they did," Kasi answered.
"Time out," Zainab said, making the T-sign with her hands. "Okay, Castillon screwed you, and it sounds like you're looking for an apology, but maybe you're looking at the wrong person. And it's irrelevant."
"Zainab, I appreciate the vote of confidence," David began, "but I am not the right guy for the Seventh District. I know Boston very well, but Cambridge and Somerville are different animals. And Chelsea, Everett and Randolph? I'm not going to play there."
Kasi frowned. "You're assuming everyone in those last three can't handle an Asian-American? You don't think any of them are immigrants?"
"I know they are," David said emphatically, "but I didn't pull myself up enough by the bootstraps, and neither did my parents. They came here with college educations and then got their grad degrees. Because they could afford to or they had people back in Korea who could afford it for them. It's not the same as someone who works three jobs so they can pay for the mortgage on their home and then send their kids to private school because the school districts they're in are terrible. And I can reach those people here, but I've lived here."
"Yeah, Paloma's going to be so much better," Kasi muttered.
"It's like you said," David replied. "She's what they want to see."
"She's just not going to do anything for them—or us," Emily said with a scowl.
Charlie smiled. "What did Castillon do to you?"
"Nothing," Emily said. "Absolutely nothing, and that's my point. What has she done since she got in except make some noise about women's issues and grandstand about big issues like licensing and bilingual education that everyone knows aren't going to go anywhere because they're in the state's purview?" Silence. "What?"
"If all voters paid as much attention to what's going on as you do, politicians might have to work harder," Charlie said appreciatively.
"Pay attention?" Emily repeated incredulously. "I'm just skimming Globe headlines. People aren't even doing that?"
Kasi chuckled. "And Charlie you're full of it; Paloma is an outlier and you know it. Councilor Curley busted his ass."
Charlie pointed. "And that's because the people in Mike Curley's district pay attention and expect nothing less."
"And you worked hard too," Zainab said quietly to David. "Whether people were paying attention or not."
"Oh, someone was always paying attention," David said under his breath.
Zainab frowned. "What are you talking about?"
He would continue to spare Zainab the stories about Lucy. "I didn't usually get one dime that didn't have the expectation of progress attached to it," was all he said.
Charlie looked at Kasi. "As opposed to everyone else's donors." They both laughed, then David joined in.
"If you're going to be a prisoner of your work ethic, at least recognize it," Zainab admonished.
"I worked hard because I believe in it, but I don't believe in myself as a rep."
Emily was tired. "So what do you believe in?"
David inhaled. "I still think I can be mayor."
"And that’s why you came back," Zainab said slowly.
"Then you should run," Kasi said softly. "Because Cervino is done."
CHAPTER TEN
Cities, like families, have open secrets. As in families, they can be a unifying force: on at least one matter, everyone is on the same page.
One of Boston's open secrets was that Angelo Cervino was not well. He had been a highly visible mayor who went to every event, election year or not. Then, gradually, he was showing up less. At every event, it was whispered by those who had caught a glimpse of him before that he was not well. But very few knew that he was done.
David and Charlie were sitting in the bar hours after Zainab and her friends had left. Charlie was on his fourth drink and David kept rubbing his mouth.
"You sure you want to do this?" Charlie asked. "Because this time there would be even more competition."
David pointed a finger at the air. "On the upside, I wouldn't have half of Cervino's laser-like focus on me, so there's a win right there."
Charlie shuddered. "Yeah, there's something." He took another swig of his drink. "Here's something else: Donnelly is not running."
David raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. He's going to get back on the Council."
"He doesn’t want to be mayor?"
"That's what his daddy wants," Charlie said knowingly, "and Donnelly gave it the old college try. I’m surprised he wants to be on the Council after what happened last time, but I guess he liked it a little better than he let on."
"It’ll let him get his kids to school," David said quietly. "He's a lucky SOB."
"And you know how he got that way? By not being a workaholic."
"Oh, get off it. You can't shut up about Paloma's lousy work ethic either."
"It's true," Charlie said with a shrug. "We put you and Paloma together, we get a real person."
"Ha!" David guffawed at the thought. "I think her dance card's full."
Charlie chuckled knowingly. "That and I think your new friend Ms. Panchal would explode."
David inhaled as he thought of Kasi’s curtain of thick, dark hair and her perfectly smooth skin. "What's her story?" he asked, hoping he didn’t sound smitten.
"I don't know for sure. Her parents came here to study in the Eighties. She was something like president of her class at Burlington High and then went to school for Poli-Sci. She started working for Paloma a little after she graduated, and everyone wondered why someone with her skills was working for a local candidate when she could have gone onto bigger and better things. No offense."
"Yeah, why would that offend me?" David asked sarcastically.
"I think the plan was to move onto something national, but six months after Castillon's election she was gone."
"Back to Burlington?"
"No," Charlie said slowly. "She lives in Boston; with a cousin, I think."
David thought for a moment. "Where did she go to school?"
"UMass Boston, I believe."
"Interesting." David nodded to himself. "Wrong to assume that she's made a couple of enemies?"
Charlie pointed. "I don't know much, but that's what's weird. It's not so much that she's persona non grata among Castillon's people as it is that they are to her. And really, it might be just Paloma."
David smirked. "What do you think Kasi caught Paloma doing?"
"Oh man! There's so much to choose from."
"Alright, so do you think bringing her on would be a liability?"
"Hypothetically speaking, assuming there is something to bring her onto, I don't think we would have a problem with Paloma's staff, but there might be one or two donors who won’t take our ca
lls."
"Can we make up for it with other donors?"
"Hypothetically, yes, but we're already going to have to go out of state if this is an open race because everyone and their mother is going to be asking."
"She seems to still have some eyes and ears in City Hall."
"Unless those people are going to work for your hypothetical campaign, that's useless."
"Work for a mayoral campaign from City Hall? Isn't that illegal?" David asked drily.
Charlie held a hand up. "Let it go."
~~~
Kasi had been out much later than she had thought she would be, but she woke up with ease the next morning. "Are you humming?" Vijay asked when he came into the kitchen for coffee.
"Don't be stupid," Kasi snapped, but she had been.
She made it through to lunch break without being tempted to tell anyone off, but her mood considerably soured when she read her text messages at lunch. Meet me was all it said, but she groaned.
"News travels fast," Kasi said as she sat down in the restaurant. Her companion from the other night had tea and her favorite cookie waiting for her. She looked at it, annoyed.
"You doing something social? That's newsworthy."
"Unless it's with you. Or can you be sure there are no eyes and ears here?"
He waited a moment. "You go to a function like that, you can bet there's going to be someone Cervino knows."
Kasi rolled her eyes. "You caught me. I went with two friends and we met with Hwang."
"And now you have friends? Even bigger news."
Kasi's eyes flashed. "I don't want to dance now. You know exactly who they are and how I met them, and you know that I was talking to Charlie Gavin as well as David Hwang. You can guess what happened. You want official confirmation? Fine; it happened."
He sighed. "What did you tell them?"
"Nothing that Charlie wouldn't have been able to figure out for himself by tomorrow night."
"He's an ambitious SOB, isn't he?"
"Isn't that par for the course for a campaign manager?"
"Not Gavin. Hwang."
Kasi shrugged. "He does feel bad about it."
"This is going to be a very interesting race."
"Aren't they usually?"
"Not like this. Put it this way: he'd find running for Todaro's seat less dramatic."
Kasi narrowed her eyes. "Really? I thought we had an understanding: I'm not stupid, and you don't make promises you can't keep. Cervino's capital just might extend to Cambridge and Somerville, but Everett? I don't think so and neither do you."
"He could help more there than he could here."
Kasi smirked. "There's a difference between could and would."
"Did anybody help him get elected?"
"You mean other than the former mayor who handed him the keys to the city on his way out of town?"
"You're right; we'd all be much better off if Cervino left now and put Houghey in charge. He's the head of the council now."
Kasi blinked. "And we're also not supposed to blackmail each other."
"That's all the help Cervino got, and he had to earn every election after that. On his own."
"He was the incumbent. He had to not screw up to earn the vote."
"Want to know how hard it is not to screw up?"
"Fine. Hwang would be well-advised not to count on an endorsement from Cervino in this race. I somehow have a feeling he wasn't going to ask him for one after what happened."
He leaned forward. "Yes, Kasi. Wouldn't it be interesting if he knew exactly what happened?"
Kasi didn't move. "I didn't do that and don't you make it sound like it was my idea."
"You knew that it happened and you knew what it did."
"I knew after it happened. There's a difference."
"Did you tell anyone? And how long did you wait to quit your job afterward?"
"Would you like me to fix that now? Because there's a difference between Cervino heading to some plush gig at Harvard or Boston College and him fighting off federal subpoenas. And I'm assuming you wanted to work in the new—" Kasi stopped. She looked to the side at nothing in particular, then turned back and puckered her lips. "That's why Cervino doesn't want to endorse. He wants his people to stay in City Hall no matter who gets elected."
He raised his eyebrow. "Angelo wants to take care of people."
"And what a great way to make sure he maintains some kind of hold on the city."
"Jesus…whomever he is, the new mayor is going to bring in his own people somewhere."
Something clicked. "Fine. I got it."
He relaxed. "Good. Make sure Charlie does too."
She tilted her head. "Why is this so important to you?"
He waited a moment, then smirked. "If Cervino were going to run in this, he could beat everyone who's going to come up—except maybe Hwang. And maybe—maybe—Hwang deserves to win."
She did not miss a beat. "I'm disappointed. I didn't think you had a conscience, much less a guilty one."
"Maybe I'm talking about someone else."
~~~
Kasi met with Charlie Gavin after work the next day. "I have two messages for you: Cervino is not going to endorse, and he doesn't feel his endorsement would matter anyway."
"Hmm," Charlie said, rubbing his chin. "Is that why he's not running again?"
"No," Kasi said emphatically. "I think he's genuinely ill. And let's not kid ourselves: if he ran again, he'd win."
Charlie scoffed. "Not much has changed since 1984."
Kasi wrinkled her brow. "Wasn't Fletcher mayor then?"
"I was thinking of a different election."
"Ha!" Kasi answered. "But at least the presidency has term limits." Her eyes widened. "Dear God. Charlie, tell me David's going to leave term limits alone this time!"
Charlie put up his hands. "I don't control his policies."
"But you can remind him of what works and what doesn't," Kasi pressed. "Tell him to jobs, affordable housing and being prepared for climate change disasters. Things are enough of a state of flux without him trying to make us into a European city."
Charlie chuckled. "I think that will sound better coming from you than me."
"Sorry, Charlie, I already have a job."
"Would I be off-base suggesting that sorting women's clothing at Macy's isn't a great use of your talents?"
"Oh, but it's so much more exciting than that. I get to process returns and help with inventory as well. For which, most importantly, they pay me."
"We'd pay you."
"I make ten dollars an hour. A horrible excuse for a salary, but more than what you'd pay."
Charlie looked up as he ran the numbers in his head. "If you worked forty hours a week, that would be four hundred dollars, but you never work forty hours a week because your manager would get fired for letting anyone do that. I'm going to guess you make three fifty a week."
Kasi held her breath. "And I will keep making it after the campaign is over."
"I'll give you four hundred a week."
She blinked. "I get health insurance too, believe it or not."
"I will personally see to it that any medical expenses you incur while campaigning, because of the campaign or during the campaign will be covered."
She widened her eyes to keep herself from grinning. "I don't have a car. If I have to work after the T stops running someone is driving me home."
"Everyone does that."
"And if I have to run to something before the T starts running—"
"We will have a fleet of Quick Wheels at our disposal, and at least one of them will be accessible to you."
The idea of giving notice at her job was intoxicating, but she'd learned not to indulge her fantasies. "And you will make sure I do not have to interact with Castillon in any way, shape or form."
Charlie scratched his chin as if he were thinking. A smile formed on his lips. "She's running for Congress; I doubt that would even come up."
"Good."
"But what about her staff?"
Kasi thought for a moment. "No commitment unless I agree to a specific person."
"Okay, but then someday you are going to have to tell me what happened."
Kasi bit the inside of her lip. "After this campaign."
"Anything else?"
Think of something. "I'm going to need two weeks."
"Can you come into the office after work?"
"Sure," she said, trying to appear nonchalant.
Charlie grinned. "Then welcome aboard, Field Director."
For the first time in a long time, Kasi smiled too.
~~~
Kasi gave her notice the next day. Her manager spent ten minutes reminding her that she had hired her when she'd had fifteen candidates behind her and that she'd given her fifty cents an hour more than she had to. Kasi thanked her, but told her she needed to move on. Her manager scowled and walked off. By lunch time she pulled Kasi aside to tell her that a replacement had been hired and that she could leave, effective immediately. Kasi did her best not to leap with joy.
She called Vijay as soon as she left.
"Kasi?" he asked. "Everything okay?"
"Everything is fine. Just wanted to give you the opportunity to take me to lunch to celebrate."
"Really?" he asked, amused. "And what are we celebrating?"
"My new job with David Hwang's campaign."
"It's about time, cousin! I'll buy you anything you want."
"See you soon," Kasi said as she hung up. She texted Charlie next.
Excellent! Meet me tonight in the South End.
What's up?
Donor meeting. Just look competent—I'll take care of the rest.
Kasi arrived at Vijay's office twenty minutes later. Before Vijay could walk over to her, a tall, dark haired man with broad shoulders intercepted her. He put out his hand. "You must be Kasi Panchal."
Kasi stood back and looked at Vijay. "I am," she said as she gingerly took the man’s hand. "And you would be?"
"Michael Abbot," he said as he shook her hand. "I understand David Hwang is taking another run at City Hall."
She dropped her hand. "I didn't realize this office liked to talk politics so much," she said as she looked at Vijay, who was now standing next to her.
The Golden Boy Returns (The New Pioneers Book 5) Page 7