by Aviva Gat
While Brandon had left the political atmosphere for his company, his mind still worked like a politician, which meant trying to turn around a situation to gain sympathy (i.e., votes) from the public. Did you once smoke pot? You’re a friendly person voters can relate to. Did you fail a few classes in high school? You’re an inspiration for all those struggling in school. Were you raped? You can give strength to other women who are afraid to come forward.
Madeline knew that Brandon was thinking this. She could release this photo. Set up a press conference and give a speech about being sexually harassed at her hotel by a black man. This would lead to outrage in her constituency and wide support for the poor young mother who couldn’t even do her job without being attacked. It would give fuel for her SAVER Bill, which would be spoken about in context of how black criminals are treated. Should she do this, her blackmailer would be beaten. He couldn’t release the previous photos to the media—people would see them as more proof of her harassment. No one would believe she was unfaithful. Her campaign relaunch would be stronger than ever, as women would rally behind her—now a champion for harassment survivors everywhere. This was a sound political strategy. Madeline knew Jane would give her this same recommendation and she knew Brandon would stand behind her and hold her hand as she told the world of her assault.
But could she do that? To Brandon? Even if Brandon didn’t believe her, he would stand by her. He knew their success relied on them being a united couple. His company benefited from the publicity of his wife’s career. It would only benefit more as she climbed up the ladder. And his family—longtime supporters of the Republican Party—also benefitted. He had cousins in office. A nasty divorce would only make his family angry. Could she do it to Hunter? Surely he would be hunted by the press, the police, the angry public. If the police found him, his encounter with them would give Madeline much to talk about in promoting her SAVER Bill—how she still had compassion for her assailant and wished he be treated fairly. He would be ruined. No one would listen to his protests, his explanations. No one would believe a black man from Harlem over a beautiful white female from a wealthy Californian suburb.
As Madeline began to see it, either her life or Hunter’s would be ruined. But there had to be another way. She always believed that if you don’t like your options, create a new one. That was what she would do now, she decided. She wasn’t sure if this new option would work. If it would avoid her ruin, but it was worth a shot. This option began with her telling Brandon—not everything—and ended with resolving the blackmail case one way or another.
“I wasn’t attacked,” Madeline said to Brandon, who didn’t understand what his wife was about to tell him. “Let’s sit down.” He complied and sat across from Madeline at their square kitchen table and folded his hands in his lap and Madeline began her story. Because that’s what it was: a story.
“The man in this picture is named Hunter,” she started. “We were involved when I studied at Columbia. He is also a politician, a city councilman in New York.” Up until then, Madeline was truthful as she was trying to decide what to say next. Then the truth started to bend off a tangent. “The blackmail is also against him. Someone wants to use him to ruin my career. When I was in New York this week, we met to talk. But nothing happened. He walked me to my hotel room and we hugged, but nothing happened.” Madeline rationalized to herself that she wasn’t lying, nothing had happened the night before with Hunter even though they were so close.
Brandon narrowed his eyes at her, a look showing that he was deciding how much he should believe, how much of a chump he was going to be. He loved Madeline, he truly saw her as the love of his life, and it didn’t hurt that his love helped him succeed.
“OK,” was what he said. He stood up from the table. “I have to get back to work. There’s a meeting in the office I need to get to.” Madeline nodded and he left the kitchen, grabbing his laptop from the living room and walking out the front door. Madeline sat quietly trying to examine whether her husband believed her or if she had lost him. She didn’t have much time to think quietly, as soon her phone rang.
“Hope you got home all right,” Jane started as soon as Madeline answered the phone. “Sorry to bother you, I know you wanted some family time when you got home, but I have Officer Austin on the other line. He says he wants to talk to you about a picture. I told him you were busy and that we didn’t get any pictures at the office, but he said he thought you’d want to talk to him.”
Chapter 25
Madeline had never been to the offices at the Fraternal Order of Police. The headquarters were near the local police station, a small two-story building with a training center for policemen in the first floor and halls and offices on the second. In the hallway were headshots of the organization’s members, smiling men in their uniforms and badges. Followed by Jane, Madeline walked down the hall toward Officer Austin’s office and knocked on the open door.
“Yup,” he answered, looking up from a file he was reading on his desk. “I didn’t know running for office included so much paperwork.”
“It’s important to have a good team for that,” she smiled, hoping to find some common ground. He motioned her to come in and she sat across from him. Jane stood in the doorway texting away on her phone.
“I’m not sure you want her in for this,” Officer Austin motioned to Jane. She took the not-so-subtle hint and stepped outside, promising to be available if needed. She closed the door behind her.
“I understand you want to speak about a photo of me,” Madeline said.
“Yes, let’s cut to the chase, neither of us want to spend time chatting about the weather,” Officer Austin said. He opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out the photo that Madeline had received that day: she and Hunter embracing outside her hotel room. Then, he pulled out a second picture: Madeline walking in the Langham, with Hunter walking on the sidewalk. He then paused as Madeline looked at the pictures. “The third picture I’d rather not pull out. It’s not decent.”
“You want me to drop out of the race.” Madeline stated. “Is that what this has been about?”
“Well, of course that would make my campaign a lot easier,” he began. “But these aren’t from me. I received these pictures today in the mail with a letter. The letter said I was free to use them however I wanted.”
Madeline looked at Officer Austin in front of her, unsure if she should believe him.
“I do have a good team,” he said. “And it was my campaign manager who opened this envelope. He suggested we go public with it. Tomorrow morning, before your reelection campaign launches. That way you wouldn’t even have a chance to start running. You’d be buried in this. The press loves a scandal and they would love watching your marriage crumble. It would be sensational—Madeline Thomas the perfect candidate, the perfect woman, is not so perfect. Not to mention the congressional ethics committee could have a field day. Do you have any enemies there? They’d probably investigate you to see if you used public funds for your extracurricular activities, or if you were using your sexuality to gain favors from someone—not sure who, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before the press found out who this man was. Of course your SAVER Bill would also go down the toilet, people would think you were biased, working with the black community against the police. It might get you black votes, but your white supporters would be gone.”
“So should I start preparing my response?” Madeline replied calmly. “Write a concession speech about why I won’t run for reelection?”
“Maybe also start calling divorce lawyers,” Officer Austin said with a smile and a wink. “Talk to all the good ones first so your husband can’t hire them.”
The pair sat quietly facing each other for several moments, both in deep thought of their next words. Madeline knew she wouldn’t speak first. She would let Officer Austin continue, which he did after the pause started to drag on.
“But I am not going to do that,” he said. “I’m going to squash your campaign fair and squar
e. You can deal with your marital problems on your own time.” He pulled an envelope out of the desk drawer. “The third picture is in here. You can take them. I won’t be using them in my campaign, but I thought you should know that someone has them and is willing to use them.”
Madeline was still. She looked at the pictures and envelope in front of her, but hesitated to take them. “So you’re not blackmailing me?”
“Blackmailing you? I am an officer of the law, ma’am,” he said. “I uphold the law and arrest those who don’t. I wish I could give you more information about who sent these or why they want me to destroy your campaign, but I don’t have any.”
Madeline nodded and grabbed the pictures from the officer’s desk. She thanked the officer and wished him good luck on his campaign as she let herself out of the office, into the hall where Jane was waiting, still texting away on her cell phone.
“So, what do we need to do to keep his mouth shut?” Jane asked when she saw Madeline. Madeline shook her head and the two of them got in their separate cars to drive to the office where Madeline’s team was working hard on her reelection campaign launch.
Since finding out about Officer Austin’s campaign, they had completely replanned their strategy. They scheduled a new event for the following evening with donors, supporters, community leaders and colleagues where she would officially announce her campaign. The previously planned event—still a week away—would stay and serve as a ‘thank you’ to her supporters who had helped her thus far while also motivating them to keep the momentum up.
In the next 24 hours her team needed to send out a press release and contact all the local and national reporters to ensure their coverage. They also needed to convince important donors and supports to be available for appearances at her event last minute.
Madeline also had to review her new speech that painted her as a professional, someone with a proven track record of making good on her promises—this would juxtapose her with Officer Austin who was inexperienced in politics. The speech wouldn’t mention his name (a rookie mistake Austin had made by mentioning hers) because any mention gave him recognition and recognition—both for good or bad reasons—led to votes. Her speech would focus on the change she had started and her vision for the future.
Later that evening, after her staff had notified the press of her reelection launch and newspapers were starting to print articles leading up to it, Madeline sat in bed reviewing her speech. Brandon was already asleep next to her. They hadn’t spoken since he saw the picture earlier. By the time Madeline had come home he was already in bed. Madeline took that as a good sign, at least he was still in their bed.
Between gazing over at him and at the papers in front of her, she found herself reading and rereading the same lines over and over. She told herself to concentrate, stay focused, but she couldn’t, she kept checking her phone, reading the headlines with her name in them: Thomas to announce reelection campaign, Thomas to run again, Thomas/Austin battle to heat up. She usually didn’t read the news on her phone (she’d wait for the morning Binder) unless something big was happening. The news on her reelection was not big enough to warrant her attention, drawing it away from what needed it more, but she was looking for something else. She was looking for the scandal to break. Surely her blackmailer had seen the recent headlines, that she had moved up her campaign launch. Did that mean the deadline for her to pay had also moved up? She would keep refreshing her newsfeeds until she would know.
She kept scrolling until she saw the headline. Her speech would need to be rewritten.
Chapter 26
Black male killed by Police
16-year-old Jay Flynn was shot and killed by an on-duty police officer Wednesday evening in Harlem. Flynn was on his way home from school when approached by the police officer who asked to see his I.D., according to Flynn’s friend Damon John who was walking with him. Flynn questioned the officer why he was stopped and when he opened his jacket to take out his wallet the police fired his gun, John said.
“We are very sorry for the loss of Jay Flynn and are investigating the incident,” said Harlem Chief of Police Martin Sanders in a statement. According to the statement, one shot was fired at the ground as a warning shot. The bullet ricocheted and shards hit Flynn in the chest and face.
Flynn and John were both rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Flynn was pronounced dead in the ambulance. John was treated in the hospital and sustained minor wounds on his right arm and shoulder.
The police statement says that warning shots are only fired if suspects resist and show signs of violence toward the officer. Chief Sanders said the ricochet was an unfortunate occurrence and that the officer had not intended to injure the suspect.
The officer, whose name has not been released, placed the call for backup and the ambulance after the bullet was fired. Chief Sanders said the officer will be on leave until the incident is investigated.
When Madeline finished reading the story, she silently closed her phone and slipped out of bed. There was work to be done, a response to be drafted and she needed her full team working on it overnight. If only her SAVER Bill had been implemented already, she thought, this was exactly the kind of incident she believed her bill could avoid. If only that officer wasn’t so afraid of African Americans and that young boy wasn’t so skeptical of the officer’s intentions.
By the time Madeline made it downstairs to her kitchen table, Jane had already texted her three different versions of the news story she had just read. Madeline called her chief of staff, who sounded wide awake even though it was already after 11:00 PM. Jane said all the team members were on the way to the office and would figure out everything before their upcoming event the following night.
Madeline too would head into the office, she said. She couldn’t do much from home anyway. She quietly slipped back upstairs to get dressed and then jumped into her car to drive. As she drove her cell phone rang and who it was didn’t surprise her at all.
“I guess you saw the news,” Madeline said instead of hello when she answered.
“Saw the news? I just spent the entire evening in the hospital with Damon. He and Jay used to go to the community center when they were younger. Before they got involved with, you know, different activities,” Hunter responded.
“So are you calling to tell me that my SAVER Bill is still a waste?” Madeline asked. As she spoke, she heard her phone beep notifying her of another call on the line. It was one of her colleagues in the senate who supported her bill. While her head told her to hang up on Hunter—she needed to answer that call—she wanted to hear what he had to say.
“Actually no,” he responded. “I think I can help you. I saw your reelection campaign launch is tomorrow and I’m actually about to step on a redeye to California. Rhonda’s there with the kids and we have a court hearing tomorrow morning. Bitch sued me for divorce across the country to screw me over. Anyway, I thought if you want, I could give a talk about your bill at your event.”
Madeline’s phone kept beeping. Jane was calling again. Another senator who opposed her bill. Madeline should be answering these calls. “Sure,” she said quickly.
“Great, I think my perspective could be really useful for your campaign, seeing as this shooting was in my district and, well, I’m black. I guess if I help you win you won’t forget me forever,” Hunter said.
“Hunter, I have to go,” Madeline responded. “Send a speech to Jane, my chief of staff, and she’ll set everything up.” Hunter seemed like he was about to keep talking but Madeline quickly hung up the phone.
“Madeline Thomas,” she answered the next call that came through. It was another senator who had been on the fence about outwardly supporting her bill. But this incident seemed to change his mind. When she arrived at the office, Jane was waiting for her in the parking lot. She had drafted a statement for the press, as journalists had been calling to get Madeline’s response to the incident. As they walked to the elevator, Madeline read the statement and gave Jane a
couple comments before giving her approval. Jane also proposed she personally speak with the New York Times journalist who called, after all, that paper had been friendly to her, despite her being a republican. Madeline agreed and was handed a phone with the journalist on the line when she entered her office. She answered a few questions, plugged her talking points about the SAVER Bill and why her reelection was now so much more important.
“This must hit you close to heart,” the journalist said after asking all the usual things that Madeline had expected.
“These events always hit close to heart,” Madeline responded to the unusual statement. “Every incident like this is heart wrenching and avoidable.”
“Yes, but this one specifically for you,” the journalist continued. “I hear you knew Jay Flynn’s mom.”
“What? Keisha Flynn?” Madeline knew the name from the news. “I can’t say I knew her.”
“She used to go to a community center up in Harlem,” the journalist said. “Where you volunteered when you were at Columbia. She said you took her friend to get an abortion.”
“Oh,” Madeline responded.
“Let me ask you, Mrs. Thomas, how come you never talk about your experience volunteering in Harlem? Especially when the bill you are championing significantly affects the population you volunteered with? It seems like your experience volunteering would make you a much more reputable source for this bill. But it’s never come up in your campaigning.”
Madeline thought for a minute on how to respond. She didn’t like when journalists approached her with unexpected questions. Jane’s job was to ensure that didn’t happen. “Well, as you see, I dealt with some sensitive situations while there. To protect people’s privacy, I don’t really discuss what I did there.”