Access to Power (35 page)

“It was an accident,” she said. “Have you got a lighter? I know you smoke, Frank. I could smell it on your clothes the night you took me to dinner. I liked that night. I liked it a lot.”

He struck his lighter and she leaned into the flame. He watched as she noticed his hand trembling, then saw her smile and steady it with her own.

“You knew about the affair?” he asked.

“Women like that give Mel the impression that he’s powerful and in control. He likes feeling powerful. He likes to think he’s in control. It was an accident. He broke her neck, Frank.”

“I think you’ve missed something, Juliana. Something important. Mel dressed her up to look like you. From what I saw, he got off by punching her in the face.”

It was clear the idea had never occurred to her. She smiled as she considered it.

“He didn’t mean to do it,” she said finally. “Things got out of hand. He lost control. He panicked, that’s all.”

“So you hired Raymond to clean it up.”

She had a faraway look going and smiled again. “Someone was threatening us with the pictures. Someone was blackmailing us and holding us hostage. Mel saw your partner outside the house. We thought it was him. We couldn’t be sure how much he knew.”

“Maybe it was the affair. Maybe the beatings or even the murder. What about Olson?”

“We made a mistake. It turned out to be Olson. He hated you, Frank. I should’ve seen it sooner, but it worked out in the end.”

She was gloating over their good fortune. Frank took a step closer.

“How much did you pay Raymond, Juliana?”

“Is it important?”

“What about the U.S. Attorney?”

She smiled confidently. “He’s greedy. He wanted more.”

Leftover images from the debate surfaced—Juliana in the dressing room with Stewart Brown. He could see her taking off her clothes and opening the slob’s pants.

“What about Brown?” he said. “Did you pay him off, or were you doing him for free?”

Her eyes stirred. She didn’t answer the question, but at least her smile was gone.

“Where’s the girl’s body?” Frank asked.

“Somewhere near the water, I think. Somewhere far away. What difference does it make now?”

His eyes drifted from the campaign button pinned to her dress to Mel Merdock’s silhouette on the curtain towering above them. Juliana had beaten him. She laughed and he could feel her hand on his shoulder, her lips kissing his neck.

“Listen to them cheering,” she said. “All those people, Frank. There’s no amount of money that can match that. There’s not even a drug.”

He turned around and looked at her eyes. They were shiny and glassy and he thought he could see her madness smoldering in them. When he glanced at the monitor, he noticed Merdock walking off stage. Ten cops were helping him through the crowd to the lobby as he waved, laughed, and shook everybody’s hand.

“They’re giving us an escort, Frank. It’s too bad you lost your business. You lost everything, right? When the U.S. Attorney gets here, you’ll spend the rest of your life in jail.”

He didn’t move, taking the hit without reacting. He stood there like a dead man again.

Juliana laughed at him. She dropped the cigarette, grinding it out with her toe. Then she reached inside her bag, used a breath spray, and turned to him for one last look.

“It’s too bad you turned on me, Frank. We could’ve had some fun.”

She parted the curtain and walked out.

Frank adjusted the gun in his pants, following her off the stage and through the crowd into the theater. The chanting was louder than ever as Merdock disappeared into the lobby. Through the darkness Frank could see the U.S. Attorney and ten men shoving their way toward him from the other side of the room. It was a big room and Frank took comfort in knowing that they were too late. Way too late.

He turned back to Juliana, watching her pass all the smiling faces, the outstretched hands, the power and joy washing over her. He followed her into the lobby, people wall-to-wall. Merdock stood just ahead of them with the cops clearing a path to the door. When Merdock turned around and saw them, he became nervous, looking away from Frank’s dazed stare and smiling at Juliana as she stepped forward. She put her arms around her husband and they kissed. They were together now, both of them relieved.

Linda pushed her way through the crowd, closing her hands around Frank’s arm just as Juliana and Merdock stepped through the front door.

“Let it go,” Linda said. “Let it go.”

Frank looked at her but said nothing. They walked outside and found Merdock and Juliana standing before a stretch limousine, waving at a sea of faces chanting their name. Thousands of people were waving back at them in the darkness, lighting matches and candles. The police were even providing a motorcycle escort.

Someone grabbed Frank, quickly ushering him down the steps into the parking lot beside a van. When Frank looked up, he saw Randolph and Grimes shaking their heads at him. Randolph spotted the gun in Frank’s belt and slipped it into his suit jacket. Then the photographer who had taken Juliana’s picture with the beaming man in the plaid sport jacket ran over. It was Bobby, the photographer Frank had met at the president’s fund-raiser.

Randolph tapped on the van’s sliding door and Dick Zain opened up wearing a set of headphones. He was the best bug man in the business and had swept Frank’s office for years.

“You get what you needed?” Frank asked.

Dick Zain laughed. “She’s still wearing the fucking thing!”

“We’re still rolling,” Randolph said. “We got it loud and clear. You okay?”

Frank nodded, picking up Juliana’s voice from a small speaker by the recorder.

It had been Randolph’s idea of hiding the bug in the campaign button. Bobby agreed to set the trap and hand it to her for the picture. The beaming man in the plaid jacket was a Metro detective working auto theft who thought the idea sounded like fun. It had been a group effort all around. As Dick Zain and Randolph made up the bug, Grimes prepped Frank on how to break a suspect down. Make her feel like she’s won, he’d said. Show her the evidence, that broken DVD, so she thinks she’s free and clear. Then she’ll start gloating and her ego will take care of the rest. Especially if she’s competitive, he said, if she’s a bitch. Then she’ll talk because she wants you to know she’s beaten you. That’s how most of them go down in the end, Frank. By their own hand.

Frank and Linda turned toward the crowd. Juliana and Merdock were just getting into the limo, waving and smiling at everyone for the TV cameras—the glory of it all. Then the U.S. Attorney stepped in with his team of empty suits, the one with blond hair grabbing Frank by the arms. The U.S. Attorney looked like he was ready to bark. Frank noticed the cops in uniforms silently moving in behind everyone.

“Search him,” the U.S. Attorney said. “Read him his rights.”

Randolph moved closer. “Get your hands off him, you idiot.”

“He’s under arrest, Lieutenant,” the U.S. Attorney said.

“No, he’s not,” Grimes said. “You are.”

The U.S. Attorney didn’t get it. Randolph gave the cops a nod and they seized the U.S. Attorney and his men in suits.

The limo pulled forward, looking for a way through the throngs of people. As the car inched past, Frank saw Juliana staring out the window at the U.S. Attorney being carted off. She turned toward the limo driver like she wasn’t sure at first. Two Metro cops were sitting up front in their uniforms. Frank noticed the cop in the passenger seat staring back at her, unable to hide his smile as he glanced at the campaign button pinned to her dress.

She knew. She must have known because she lunged for the door handle, ripping at it with both hands. She was locked in. Frantic. She turned to her husband, still oblivious to what was really going on as he waved back at a man and woman pressing their hideous faces into the glass before him.

“This is the greatest day of my life,” Merdock said with satisfaction.

Juliana’s campaign pin was still broadcasting loud and clear and Frank had heard it.

The greatest day of his life.

Frank looked at the TV cameras, the hellish crowd. When he turned back to the limo, Juliana was staring at him coldly. Her face had turned to stone and he saw fear creeping into her eyes.

“There’s your shot,” Frank said to Bobby. “Get it before it’s too late.”

Bobby dropped down on one knee, raised the camera and took the shot. When the crowd rushed forward, rocking the limo on it wheels and beating it with their fists, the kid spent the rest of his film.

“You think they’ve got any idea where they’re really going?” Randolph asked his partner.

Grimes laughed, still eyeing Juliana. “The TV people don’t get it yet, but it looks like she sure does.”

Frank watched as the royal couple disappeared into the rabble. He was alive again. Clean again. The monster he’d created, wounded beyond repair. The president would probably get the news from Stewart Brown in a few hours. It would be a rough night with his new consultant. Scheming. Posturing. His legacy turned to dust and tossed into the wind.

Frank felt Linda squeeze his hand and gave her a look. She moved closer, pressing her body into him. Her eyes drifted down to his mouth and then back again. As he gazed at her face, he noticed that her lips were parted and he touched her cheek with his fingers. Her skin felt soft and smooth and unexpectedly warm for a cool night in November.

“Where’s Jason Hardly?” he asked.

“Philadelphia. He’s asked me to marry him.”

“You should,” he said.

She nodded, even smiled, the smell of her skin intoxicating.

“Kiss me,” she said.

And he did. Pulling her closer and unable to let go.