Dev Conrad - 03 - Blindside

by Ed Gorman

  I went and got myself another beer. By the time he got up he’d quit calling me names. I sat down and sipped at my beer and watched him.

  ‘I’m calling my old man and you’re gone – out the door, believe me.’

  ‘You going to tell him about the hooker? Now get your ass back here. We’re not done talking yet. And the next time you throw a tantrum I’m going to do what you want me to do – I’m going to make a reservation on the next plane out and leave you on your own.’

  He had too much scorn and pride to admit that he didn’t want me to do that. But with great dramatic reluctance he did upend the chair and come back and sit down.

  ‘I’m trying to figure out how big the circle is – who else knows you’re being blackmailed?’

  He said it so casually I half wondered if it was a joke. ‘My wife.’

  ‘You told her everything?’

  ‘I had to. She reamed my ass out of course for being with a hooker. She knows I run around but I usually stick with women who keep themselves clean. She’s scared of AIDS. I had to tell her so she’d help me with the money drop. I couldn’t ask anybody else on my staff to do it. I didn’t want anybody else to know. And I just explained to her that if she didn’t do it we wouldn’t be going back to Washington, at least not in the congressional sense. I mean, I could always go to K Street. But being a congressman’s wife has a lot of social perks.’

  ‘She likes Washington, huh?’

  ‘She comes from a very social family. Washington reminds her of how she grew up, I guess. I knew that if I told her I might lose the seat, she’d help me.’ I didn’t like his smile. ‘I know how to handle her.’

  To his credit he fought for all the right causes – and I believed he was sincere about them – but he was removed from the real world as most of us define it. His money and his mother-spoiling had made him more like a tourist than a resident. And it also sounded as if he’d married a woman just as vain and foolish as he was.

  Then, by God, a whimper; a real whimper. ‘Why the hell did David have to walk off now?’

  In true sociopathic fashion, he just couldn’t imagine why anybody whose wife he happened to be planking decided to leave the castle. ‘You really don’t see why he did it?’

  ‘If you mean his wife – it was just a whim on both our parts. She’ll straighten out. She’s just got some kind of weird fixation on me. That kind of thing always passes. I tried to tell David that but he was too pissed to listen.’

  There was no point in pursuing it, though now that he’d mentioned Nolan I wondered if there’d been any news about him. I asked Ward.

  ‘He’s probably getting drunk somewhere. He does that sometimes. He gets real down about something then disappears for two or three days. Ends up sleeping it off in some motel somewhere.’

  ‘Tomorrow night’s the debate. You going to be ready for it?’

  ‘I thought you were only going to be here for two days.’

  ‘I can always leave.’

  ‘No, no – it’s just – I know you’re helping me. I have to admit that. But you’re like my boss and that pisses me off. I don’t like to be told what to do.’

  ‘I’m making suggestions. You don’t have to follow any of them. I’m not the “boss.” You’re the candidate. You make the final decisions.’

  ‘I guess you’re right.’ He drank mightily of his brew. ‘This is the first debate in my career where I won’t have David at my side.’

  ‘He’s good.’

  ‘If he’d just understand that it didn’t mean anything to me.’

  I wanted to laugh. Or smash his head in with a brick. Whichever came first. ‘You know how stupid that sounds? You’re sleeping with a man’s wife and you’re telling him that it doesn’t mean anything. Now you’re not only insulting him, you’re insulting his wife as well.’

  He shrugged. ‘Maybe you’re right. I know I’m not real sensitive sometimes.’

  You have to look at these guys and wonder if they’re of the same species you are.

  ‘All right. I need to get to work and I’m sure you’ve got things to do. I want to start working on the source of this DVD. I’ll keep you posted up until what time?’

  ‘Around midnight. We usually watch one of the late shows in bed.’

  ‘I probably won’t have any news tonight but in case I do, leave your cell on.’

  At the door, he said, ‘I could really lose this, couldn’t I?’

  This was just now occurring to him? ‘Not if we’re smart.’

  The grin belonged to a younger man. A more decent one. ‘That’s exactly what David would say. He’s never let me down.’

  I just nodded. I was sick of him and sick of myself for being so pompous about him.

  Twenty minutes later Kathy Tomlin called me.

  ‘Have you been watching TV?’

  ‘No. Been working.’

  ‘Something’s going on. Lucy and I always keep monitoring the stations and Channel News Update just claimed that tonight at ten they’ll have an important story about one of the candidates in this congressional race. Have you talked to Jeff?’

  ‘He was here until just before seven.’

  ‘And he didn’t say anything about this?’

  ‘No. And he would’ve. We went over a lot of things. I’m sure he doesn’t know anything about this.’

  ‘Well, he doesn’t pay attention a lot of times. David always does that for him.’ Lucy said something in the background. ‘Lucy and I have a terrible feeling about this.’

  ‘Tell her so do I.’

  ‘Is there anything we can do?’

  ‘See if you can get anybody at the station to tell you what the story is. You know anybody there well enough?’

  ‘I knew one of the sports reporters in college.’

  ‘There you go.’

  ‘I don’t know how he feels about me. I kept turning him down for dates.’

  ‘It’s worth a shot.’

  ‘Lucy is waving hi.’

  ‘I’m waving hi right back.’

  ‘Are you really?’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  I still didn’t have the name of the private investigator. I’d tried Nan Talbot’s cell phone and her work phone and her e-mail but couldn’t get a response.

  I was more worried than I’d let on about this ten o’clock announcement. In a Florida district once Sylvia Fordham had pulled this same stunt. She’d managed to get herself a live interview on a ten o’clock newscast. She’d accused the opponent of a dalliance with one of his office women who’d proved to be an illegal immigrant of Hispanic extraction. Sylvia gave good TV. Her man had been three points behind when that little red light went on and she started talking. Same time next night, polling indicated that they were one point behind – inside the margin of error, of course.

  I was surprised by how accessible she was.

  ‘I thought you’d wait to congratulate me until after the ten o’clock show, Dev.’

  ‘I’m calling to tell you you’re making a big mistake and that you don’t know what the hell you’re dealing with, Sylvia.’

  ‘Right. So we’re going to blow your man out of the water and I’m making a big mistake?’

  ‘You’re at headquarters. That’s only six or seven blocks from my hotel, the Royale. Get over here fast.’

  ‘I’m not sure if we should start sleeping together, Dev. We might start talking in our sleep and give things away.’

  ‘Knock off the bullshit, Sylvia. You know me and I know you. We don’t like each other but we’ve both been in the same game for a long time. I know when you’re serious and you know when I’m serious. Now I’m telling you that there’s something you need to know before you go on that newscast tonight.’

  ‘What the fuck are you talking about, Conrad?’

  ‘My room is 538. I just took it. There’s no possibility it’s bugged. Get here as soon as you can.’ I clicked off.

  Nan Talbot didn’t e-mail me. She phoned.

 
; ‘God, I’m sorry this has taken so long. I got stuck in this city council meeting because the reporter who usually gets stuck with this stuff is covering a basketball game. I hate sports so I told him I’d cover for him. Anyway, I apologize and I’ve got that private investigator’s name for you. You got a pencil?’

  ‘Ready.’

  ‘Lyle Gaskill.’

  ‘Lyle Gaskill. You got anything more on him?’

  ‘Just a cell number. I tried it. No longer in service.’

  ‘Well, this is a good start. I really appreciate it.’

  ‘Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner. Say hi to Lucy. Remind her we’ve got a guy for her.’

  ‘The Nan Talbot Dating Service.’

  ‘Now that isn’t a bad idea.’

  ‘Thanks again.’

  Not only was private eye Lyle Gaskill’s cell phone out of service, so was he. I Googled him and found that forty-six-year-old Lyle Clancy Gaskill from Chicago had died five months ago of an aneurysm. He had been stricken while playing with his three children in his backyard and rushed to a hospital where he died later that night.

  FIFTEEN

  Sylvia always used it to her advantage, those sweet, earnest looks and that teenage slenderness. Would this gentle woman ever tell a lie? She brought with her night, chill, rain, and the unmistakable welcome scent of woman.

  ‘None of your bullshit, Dev. I want to know what the hell’s going on. I wanted to be with Rusty tonight. This is a big rally for him. We’re all set to slap you down once and for all and put that pussy hound you represent out of business for good.’

  ‘Jeff turn you down, did he?’

  She snorted. ‘Believe it or not, I turned him down one night a few years back. This was before I signed on with Rusty. We were at a Washington party. His dear little wife was sucking up to all the important people in the room, as usual. By now she must be wondering why she never gets invited to lunch. She’s beautiful but so are a lot of climbers in Washington. So she’s strictly B-list but she doesn’t know it yet.’

  ‘Thanks for that update, Sylvia. You want a drink?’

  ‘What’ve you got?’

  ‘Beer or bourbon.’

  ‘Bourbon. And some water.’

  ‘Sit down at the table. I’ll turn the screen around so we can watch it together.’

  ‘I race over here and you’re offering me drinks. Where’s the urgency?’

  I made her the drink and brought it back to her. Then I went to the TV. The DVD was already loaded. I stood next to the screen with the remote. ‘This is what you’re going to break on the ten o’clock news tonight.’ I clicked play.

  I didn’t watch the screen, I watched her face. And a fine patrician face it was, too. She disappointed me. She selected a mask of indifference and left it on for the length of the interview with the prostitute who enumerated all the ways that our congressman was a kinky devil.

  I stopped the DVD after the segment about Jeff Ward.

  ‘I’m curious about where you got your copy, Dev, but not all that curious. It’s a fait accompli. We preview ten seconds of it tonight at ten. Of our copy, I mean. At least you and Ward won’t be shocked.’

  ‘In most circumstances this would be a game changer.’

  She sipped her drink and made a face. Then she pointed a long royal finger at the glass. ‘The urine of homeless people?’

  ‘Such a delicate flower.’

  ‘You really need to spend more than a dollar ninety-eight when you buy a half gallon of bourbon, Dev. Now what’s this bullshit about “most circumstances”?’

  ‘Just sit there, delicate flower, and watch.’

  I hit play again. On came the woman who claimed that Rusty Burkhart, family values Burkhart, had not only visited her on many occasions but had also beaten her on three of them. She showed photos of the condition he’d left her in.

  No mask this time. This was the real Sylvia Fordham. She was on her feet with the first mention of her client’s name. She kept walking closer, closer to the screen. When the Burkhart segment finished, she dropped her head to her chest and stayed silent for several seconds. ‘You bastard.’ She walked back to the table and sat down. Her gaze was elsewhere. She was making all the same calculations I would have in her situation. ‘Somebody was playing both sides.’

  ‘Looks that way.’

  ‘I knew Rusty was having some kind of trouble but he wouldn’t tell me anything about it. He just kept saying it didn’t have anything to do with the campaign.’

  Burkhart was smart; even though she was working for him at the moment, he wouldn’t want anybody as treacherous as Sylvia to know he was being blackmailed. You could never be sure what she’d do later on with the information.

  ‘He’s being blackmailed. The same as Jeff Ward.’

  ‘Who the hell’s behind it?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘And of course you won’t tell me how you got hold of it.’

  ‘Not yet. Not until I know a lot more. And of course you won’t tell me how you came by yours of Ward.’

  ‘One of the nice things about being a national figure known for digging up dirt is that people offer you things you wouldn’t know about otherwise. A private detective in Chicago offered it to me for a pretty hefty amount of money. Naturally, I couldn’t say no. He didn’t bother to tell me where he got it, and I don’t care.’

  ‘You need to make a decision here, Sylvia. If you go on with the Ward segment at ten o’clock, tomorrow morning I go to a local TV station and play the Burkhart for them.’

  ‘All Burkhart did was push her around a little.’

  ‘She says it was more. And anyway, Burkhart is God’s man in the race. What’s he doing in a whorehouse?’

  She reached down. The sound of her purse opening. The sound of her digging around. Her fashionable hand appeared holding a package of fashionable French cigarettes and a lighter. ‘Don’t give me any bullshit about not smoking.’

  ‘If the hotel sends me a bill, I’ll send it to you.’

  ‘Are you trying to scare me, Dev?’

  ‘Not about smoking. But about going on at ten, I am. This is the kind of war that isn’t going to do either side any good.’

  ‘Afraid we’re going to kick your ass with your wandering boy?’

  I sat back in the captain’s chair and watched her light her cigarette. ‘You really want to risk it, Sylvia?’

  ‘I’m not afraid of you, Dev. You should know that by now.’ She exhaled a trail of blue smoke. How beautiful cancer is in a certain light.

  ‘And I’m not afraid of you. So if you’re going to the studio, you’d probably better get going. I’ve got other things to do.’

  A hint of alarm in the eyes. ‘So I just walk out of here?’

  ‘You just walk out of here.’

  ‘What changed your mind?’

  ‘You did. I thought I could make you see that this DVD is a wild card for both of us. What the military calls unintended consequences. You blow something up and you’re never sure what’s going to happen afterward. We’re blowing something up here, Sylvia. Maybe it’ll be to your advantage, I don’t know. But then it could also be to Ward’s. I guess we’ll just have to see.’

  She managed a laugh while she sipped her drink. ‘You’re doing this very well, Dev. You’re a good poker player. But I know you’re bluffing. You’re terrified of me going on TV tonight. We’ll be on the air first with our story. And first matters in a case like this.’ The shrewd, professional gaze. ‘By the time I get to the door over there you’ll be on your phone. Pure panic. I’d be the same way.’ She sipped her drink. ‘Sorry your bluff didn’t work, Dev. But it was a good bit – how much we both have to lose if I go on tonight. You’re good, but not that good, dear.’

  But I was tired of it. Tired of her. Tired of the game. Tired of me. ‘You talk too much, Sylvia. So do I, for that matter. I appreciate you coming up here. I still think you’re making a mistake, but maybe not. I think this election should be ab
out what kind of government we need. Burkhart’s a racist and couldn’t care less about anybody who isn’t rich and powerful. We both know what kind of man Ward is. We’re not talking about angels here. But at least Ward votes the right way.’

  ‘I’m glad I brought a lot of Kleenex.’

  ‘I guess the public’ll just have to decide which is worse – a kinky congressman or somebody who beats up hookers.’

  She gathered herself and stood up. ‘We have one interest in common, Dev. We both want to find out who’s behind this blackmail.’

  ‘I agree.’

  She moved to the door in a graceful sweep. ‘Watch me at ten o’clock. This’ll go national, Dev. My price’ll go up even higher. Maybe someday you’ll come to work for me.’

  After she left I called Lucy and asked her to get Kathy so the three of us could talk. For once I appreciated the tinny music designed to make my wait more pleasant. I was on an elevator. I was going up and up and up to a better place. Any place but this one would be a better place at the moment. Then I heard Kathy say ‘Dev?’ and my elevator crashed back to reality.

  ‘I’m back,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Sylvia Fordham and I tried to come to an agreement about her ten o’clock interview. She’s going through with it so expect all hell to break loose. We need to get Ward and his wife ready for the cameras tomorrow morning.’

  ‘What’s going on, Dev?’ Kathy asked.

  ‘I can’t discuss it on the phone.’

  ‘This pisses me off, Dev. We have a right to know.’

  ‘Yes, you do. But now’s not the time.’

  ‘You really want his wife?’ Lucy said, trying to forestall Kathy coming back on me. ‘That always looks so cruel. They just stand there suffering.’

  ‘I don’t want to send him out there alone. I don’t like it either, but we don’t have any choice. Neither of their daughters, though.’

  ‘I saw some internals that just came in,’ Kathy said. ‘We’re up with blue-collar voters. Burkhart’s rant against unions pissed off a lot of working people. And now we have to deal with this – which you won’t tell us about.’