by Lis Wiehl
“I do miss you.”
“I’m sorry if I went a little crazy last fall, Mom. I was just so worried about you.”
“I know you were, honey. And I love you for it.”
“I hope you don’t put me through it again.”
“I hope I don’t put either of us through it again. But you never know.”
“Oh, you’re impossible!” Jenny cries, throwing her arms around Erica’s neck and giving her a big kiss.
There’s a rap on the door and Moy enters.
“I’m going to go see how my future stepdad is holding up,” Jenny says, heading out.
“Hey there, my friend,” Erica says.
“Well, here we are.”
“Another adventure together.”
“Do you want your big day to be unsullied by news updates?”
“I’m a junkie. Sully away.”
“Celeste Pierce Ortiz tried to hang herself in her prison cell this morning.”
“Jeez.”
“I guess when you’re the most reviled woman in American, doing six life terms for treason and accomplice to murder, oblivion looks pretty attractive.”
“Ironically, I heard through back channels yesterday that Mike Ortiz is in much better shape. The deprogramming seems to be working. But he’s still a broken man,” Erica says.
“That man was in way over his head. So the saga is winding down. You must be so relieved.”
“I’m relieved that Chen Lau was expelled from the Chinese government and that the MSS was forced to take responsibility for the Buchanan bombing and all the murders that followed. President Winters brought Beijing to heel. She’s tough.”
“Just imagine if Ortiz had won,” Moira says. “The MSS would have been running the country.”
“Through Lily Lau.”
“I still can’t believe she got to take the shortcut to hell.”
“Look at it this way—she saved the taxpayers millions of dollars,” Erica says.
“It’s true. Her trial would have made the Simpson case look like Judge Judy on a slow day. She was a fascinating psychopath.”
“Power is such an intriguing thing. I’m never sure if having it or getting it is what turns people into monsters.”
“Which came first, the chicken or the evil? Say, listen, my station agreed to send me to Davos to cover the climate summit.”
“Such great news. We’ll get to hang. Between reporting on the planet’s slow death,” Erica says.
“Let’s hope it is slow. There are going to be a lot of heavyweights there. A lot of power.”
“By the way, have you met George Yuan yet?”
“I have. He introduced himself.”
“And . . . ?”
“Some definite chemistry there.”
“Yes! I sat you next to him at dinner.”
“Thank you, Dolly Levi.”
The two old pals smile at each other, and Erica half wishes she could blow off this Popsicle stand and spend the afternoon walking around the park with Moira, talking and laughing.
And then the music starts and Erica’s heart leaps into her throat and it hits her—This is really happening. I’m marrying Greg.
Jenny races in and grabs Erica’s hand. “Come on!”
“Wait a minute, you can’t start without the minister!” Moy cries, rushing out ahead of them.
Now Erica and Jenny are walking down the aisle, past Nancy Huffman, Eileen McDermott, George Yuan, Mark Benton, Josh Walters and Lisa, and Josh’s lucky new girlfriend, Greg’s family—everyone is beaming at Erica, and she realizes she’s beaming back and there’s Greg, standing, waiting, looking impossibly handsome with his smile that holds so much love and promise . . . love and promise.
She reaches him and they look into each other’s eyes, and Erica’s happiness is leavened with just a touch of trepidation. Is happiness, lasting happiness, even possible in the age and world they live in? In any age, in any world?
Then she looks out at the gathering and over at Jenny, who is beaming like a searchlight, and she realizes that fleeting happiness may have to be enough.
Moy begins the service. “Friends, we are gathered here today—”
Then, from the back of the room, there’s a small commotion. Moy pauses and heads turn—a woman has just arrived. She’s blowsy and overly made-up, squeezed into a too-tight red satin dress, tottering on high heels. As she makes her way to a seat in the back row, she starts to cry.
Moy continues, “—for a joyous reason. Two wonderful people met, fell in love, and are sealing their commitment to each other with this ceremony.”
The crying from the back row grows louder. People shift in their seats and take quick looks backward. Erica shuts her eyes for a moment, squeezes them tight, hoping that when she opens them the ghost will be gone. But she’s still there. She gives Moy a tiny but firm nod: Keep things moving.
“If anyone thinks this couple should not be joined in marriage, keep your mouth shut.”
The laughter drowns out the crying and Erica feels a moment of relief.
Greg takes out a small piece of paper and starts to read, “Erica, today I truly feel like the luckiest man alive. You are a life force who brings out the best in me. I just plain adore you and want to spend the rest of my life by your side.”
Erica takes a small piece of paper out of her bodice and then—
“I’m just so proud of her, so darn proud,” the woman says in a weepy stage whisper to the man sitting next to her, a cousin of Greg’s. He squirms, and people glance backward. She addresses the group. “I’m sorry. Pay me no mind; keep going. I’m just here because I love my baby. This is your day.”
Jenny tugs on Erica’s hand and whispers, “Mom, is that—?”
Erica leans down to Jenny’s ear and says, “Yes, honey, that’s your grandmother.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What are the similarities between the presidential campaign in The Candidate and a real campaign for the White House?
2. It’s been said that power is the greatest aphrodisiac. How does that play out in The Candidate?
3. How far would you go to get something you wanted? What is the furthest you’ve gone?
4. Celeste Ortiz is heiress to a great fortune. How has that privilege molded her character?
5. Erica isn’t sure if Greg, her fiancé, is having an affair with a colleague in Australia. Would you forgive your betrothed an affair? If you suspected he or she was having an affair, would you confront them or seek confirmation without telling them?
6. No matter how much success she achieves, Erica is haunted by the demons of her past. What are those demons and why are they so hard for her to overcome?
7. Erica, a recovering alcoholic, has a slip and drinks in The Candidate. How do you feel about this? Is it a sign of character weakness? Is it understandable considering the stress she’s under? Do you forgive her?
8. Erica’s relationship with her daughter Jenny remains volatile at times. Why is Erica so insecure in her mothering skills? Do you think she is a good mother? Does our culture put too much pressure on mothers to be “perfect”? What do you think is the most important attribute of a good mother?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dear Reader,
I acknowledge and thank you for bringing Erica Sparks and her adventures into your life. I love Erica’s strength of character and fortitude. Stay safe, Erica.
Thank you to all my friends at Fox, who continue to encourage and support my love of writing a good mystery. Thank you O’Reilly, from Wiehl. And Roger Ailes, for hiring a certain legal analyst and bringing me in to the world of cable news at the highest level. Thank you, too, to Dianne Brandi. And continued thanks to bestselling thriller author, Steve Berry. It is an honor to be your friend. You gave me the tools to combine the worlds of cable news and mystery in this novel. For invaluable editorial advice and insight, thank you Stephen McCauley.
I love this publishing team! They “got” the idea of putting Eri
ca right in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign. Something is amiss. Erica is on the hunt. Her life is in danger. And off we go. As “real world” events unfolded during the writing of this work of fiction, I was amazed by how many things struck me as coincidentally similar. This team “got” it and ran with it. Daisy Hutton, Amanda Bostic, LB Norton, Becky Monds, Becky Philpott, Jodi Hughes, Karli Jackson, Kristen Ingebretson, Samantha Buck, Kristen Golden, and Paul Fisher.
Special thanks to Todd Shuster, my book agent and friend for many years. The Candidate would simply not have happened without your guidance.
Thank you Sebastian, my collaborator and friend. I love your energy and spirit. Onward!
And always, thank you Mom and Dad. You are always my role models for following my moral compass.
All the mistakes are mine. All the credit is theirs. Thank you!
Lis
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHOTO BY KYLE WIDDER PHOTOGRAPHY
LIS WIEHL IS A NEW York Times bestselling author, Harvard Law School graduate, and former federal prosecutor. A popular legal analyst and commentator for the Fox News Channel, Wiehl appears weekly on The O’Reilly Factor, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Imus in the Morning, Kelly’s Court, and more.