“You’re a lobbyist. You used to be with a big outfit, represented Fortune 500s. About ten years ago, you and a man named Daniel Buchanan started your own firm.”
“Did it mention any of our current clients?”
He cocked his head. “No, is that important?”
“What do you know about Buchanan?”
“The report didn’t say much about him, but I did some digging on my own, nothing you won’t know. Buchanan is a legend on the Hill. Knows everybody and everybody knows him. Fought all the big battles, made a ton of money doing it. I assume you didn’t do so badly yourself.”
“I did well. What else?”
He stared at her strangely. “Why do you want to hear something you already know? Is Buchanan somehow mixed up in all this?”
Now it was Faith’s turn to scrutinize Lee. If he was playing dumb, he was doing an exceptional job, she thought.
“Danny Buchanan is an honorable man. I owe him everything I have.”
“Sounds like a good friend. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“People like Danny are rare. A true visionary.”
“And you?”
“Me? I just help implement his vision. People like me are a dime a dozen.”
“You don’t strike me as so ordinary.” Faith took a sip of coffee and didn’t respond. “So how does one become a lobbyist?”
Faith stifled a yawn and sipped her coffee again. Her head was starting to pound. She had never needed much rest, galloping the globe, catching only plane catnaps. But right now she felt like curling up under the table and sleeping for the next ten years. Maybe her body was reacting to the last twelve hours of horror by shutting itself down, throwing in the towel.
Please don’t hurt me.
“I could lie and say I wanted to change the world. That’s what everyone says, isn’t it?” She pulled a bottle of aspirin from her bag, popped two and washed them down with coffee. “Actually, I remember watching the Watergate hearings when I was a kid. All those very serious people in that room. All these middle-aged men with wide ugly ties, puffy faces, over-easy hair, talking into these clunky microphones, and all the lawyers whispering into their ears. All the media, the whole world focused right there. What the rest of the country apparently found appalling, I found extremely cool. All that power!” She smiled weakly into her coffee cup. “My demented soul. The nuns were right about me. One in particular, Sister Audrey Ann, truly believed my name was a blasphemy. ‘Dear Faith,’ she would say, ‘live up to your Christian name, not down to your devilish urges.’”
“So you were a rabble rouser?”
“It’s like if I saw a habit coming my way I just turned evil. My dad moved us around a lot, but I did well enough in school, even if I raised hell outside it. I went to a good college, ended up in Washington with all those memories of absolute power dancing in my head. I didn’t have the faintest idea what to do with myself, but I knew desperately I wanted to get into the game. I did a stint on Capitol Hill for a freshman congressman and caught the eye of Danny Buchanan. He snatched me up, saw something in me, I guess. I think he liked my spirit—I was running the office with all of two months’ experience behind me. The way I sort of refused to back down from anyone, even the Speaker of the House.”
“I guess that is impressive for somebody right out of college.”
“My philosophy was, after the nuns, politicians weren’t much of a challenge.”
Lee cracked a smile. “Makes me glad I went to public school.” He glanced away for a second. “Don’t look now, but the FBI is circling.”
“What?” She whipped her head around, looking everywhere.
Lee rolled his eyes. “Oh, that was good.”
“Where are they?”
He lightly smacked the tabletop. “They’re nowhere. And they’re everywhere. The Feds don’t walk around with their badges pinned to their foreheads. You won’t see them.”
“So why the hell did you say they were circling?”
“It was a little test. And you failed.
I
can spot the Feds, sometimes, not always. If I ever say that to you again, I won’t be kidding. They will be there. And you can’t react the way you just did. Normal, slow movements. Just a pretty woman on a holiday with her boyfriend. Understand?”
“Okay, fine. But just don’t pull that crap on me again. My nerves aren’t well rested.”
“How are you paying for the tickets?”
“How should I pay for them?”
“Your credit card. Under your other name. Don’t want to flash a bunch of cash around. You buy a one-way ticket with cash leaving today, that might be a red flag for the airline. Right now, the less attention, the better. What is it, by the way? Your other name?”
“Suzanne Blake.”
“Nice name.”
“Suzanne was my mother’s name.”
“Was? Passed on?”
“Both my parents. My mother when I was eleven. My dad six years later. No brothers or sisters. I was a seventeen-year-old orphan.”
“That must’ve been tough.”
Faith didn’t say anything for a long moment. Talking about her past was always hard, so she rarely did so. And she really didn’t know this man. Still, there was something about Lee Adams that was comforting, solid. “I really loved my mother,” she began. “She was a good woman, and long-suffering, because of my dad. He was a good person too, but one of those souls who always have an angle, a way to make a quick buck with these crazy ideas. And when his plan blew up, and it always did, we’d have to pack up and move on.”
“Why was that?”
“Because other people always lost money with my dad’s grand schemes too. And they were understandably upset about it. We moved four times before my mother died. Five more times after that. We prayed for my dad every day, my mom and I. Right before she died, she told me to take care of him, and me all of eleven.”
Lee shook his head. “I can’t even relate to that. My parents have lived in the same house for fifty years. How did you manage to keep it together after your mother died?”
The words somehow came easier for Faith now. “It wasn’t as tough as you’d think. Mom loved my dad, hated how he lived, his schemes, all the moving. But he wasn’t going to change, so they weren’t the happiest couple to live with. There were times I really thought she was going to kill him. When she died, it sort of became my dad and me against the world. He’d dress me up in the one nice outfit I had and show me off to all his prospective partners. I guess people would think, how can this guy be so bad, what with his little girl right there and all? When I got to be sixteen I’d even help him pitch his deals. I grew up fast. I guess that’s where I got my motor mouth and my backbone. I learned to think on my feet.”
“Quite an alternative education,” Lee commented. “But I can see how it would serve you well as a lobbyist.”
Her eyes grew moist. “On the way to every meeting, he’d say, ‘This one is the one, Faith, darling. I can feel it right here,’ and he’d put his hand over his heart. ‘It’s all for you, baby girl. Daddy loves his Faith.’ And I believed him every single damn time.”
“Sounds like he really ended up hurting you,” Lee said quietly.
Faith shook her head stubbornly. “It wasn’t like he was trying to rip people off. We’re not talking Ponzi schemes or anything. He sincerely believed his ideas would work. But they never did and we’d move on. And it wasn’t like we ever made any money. God, we slept in our car enough times. How many times do I remember my dad strolling into the back door of restaurants and walking out a little later with dinner he had talked them into giving him. We’d sit in the backseat and eat. He’d stare at the sky, pointing out the constellations to me. He never even finished high school, but he knew all about the stars. Said he’d been chasing enough of them his whole life. We’d just sit there far into the night, and my dad would tell me things would get better. Just down the road.”
“Sounds like a man who could talk his way into anywhere. Probably would’ve made a good PI.”
Faith smiled as she thought back. “I’d walk into a bank with him, and within five minutes he’d know everybody by name, drinking coffee, talking with the bank manager like he’d known him his whole life. And we’d walk out with a letter of recommendation and a list of local high-net-worth individuals for my dad to solicit. He just had that way about him. Everyone liked him. Until they lost their money. And we always lost what little we had too. Dad was a stickler about that. His money went in too. He was actually very honest.”
“You sound like you still miss him.”
“I do,” she said proudly. “He named me Faith because he said with Faith beside him, how could he ever fail?” On this Faith closed her eyes, tears trickling down her cheeks.
Lee pulled a napkin out of the holder and slipped it into her hand. She wiped her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve never really talked about this with anyone before.”
“It’s okay, Faith. I’m a good listener.”
“I found my dad again in Danny,” she said, clearing her throat, her eyes wide. “He has the same way about him. The pluck of the Irishman. He can talk his way into seeing anybody. Knows every angle, every issue. Refuses to back down from anyone. He’s taught me a lot. And not just about lobbying. About life. He didn’t have it easy growing up either. We had a lot in common.”
Lee smiled. “So from scams with your dad to lobbying in D.C.?”
“And some would say my job description hasn’t changed.” Faith smiled at her own remark.
“And some would say that the nut didn’t fall far from the tree.”
She bit into her bagel. “Since we’re into true confessions, how about your family?”
Lee settled back. “Four of each. I’m number six.”
“God! Eight kids. Your mother must be a saint.”
“We gave them both enough heartache to last ten lifetimes.”
“So they’re both still around.”
“Going strong. We’re all pretty close now, although we had some rough times growing up. Good support groups when things go haywire. Help’s only a phone call away. Usually, that is. Not this time, though.”
“That sounds nice. Real nice.” Faith looked away.
Lee eyed her keenly, easily reading her thoughts.
“Families have their problems too, Faith. Divorces, serious illnesses, depression, hard times, we’ve seen it all. I have to say sometimes I’d rather be an only child.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” she said with authority. “You might think you would, but trust me, you wouldn’t.”
“I do.”
She looked confused. “You do what?”
“Trust you.”
She said slowly, “You know, for a paranoid PI, you sure make friends fast. I could be a mass murderer, for all you know.”
“If you were really bad, the Feds would’ve had you in custody.”
She put down her coffee and leaned toward him, her expression very serious. “I appreciate the observation. But just so we’re very clear on this, I’ve never physically harmed even an ant in my entire life, and I still don’t consider myself a criminal, but I guess if the FBI wanted to put me in jail, they could. Just so we’re clear,” she said again. “Now, you still want to get on that plane with me?”
“Absolutely. You’ve really got my curiosity up now.”
She sighed and sat back, glancing down the terminal’s corridor. “Don’t look now, but here come a pair who look an awful lot like the FBI.”
“Seriously?”
“Unlike you, I wouldn’t even attempt to joke about something like that.” She bent over and fiddled with something in her bag. After a few anxious moments, she sat back up as the pair passed by without looking at them.
“Lee, depending on what they’ve found out, they may be looking for a man and a woman. Why don’t you stay here while I go buy the tickets? I’ll meet you at the security gate.”
Lee looked uncertain. “Let me think about that.”
“I thought you said you trusted me.”
“I do.” For a moment he envisioned Faith’s dad standing in front of him, asking for money. And damn if Lee wasn’t reaching in his pocket for his wallet.
“But even trust has its limits, right? I tell you what, you keep the bags. I need to take my purse. If you’re really worried, you have a clear view of the security entrance from here. If I try to give you the slip, you’ve got me dead on. And I’m sure you can run much faster than I can.” She stood. “And you know I can’t call in the FBI, now, can I?”
She eyed him for a moment longer, apparently daring him to challenge her logic.
“Okay.”
“What’s your new name? I’ll need it for your ticket.”
“Charles Wright.”
She winked at him. “And your friends call you Chuck?”
He gave her an uneasy smile and then Faith turned and disappeared into the crowd.
As soon as she was gone, Lee regretted his decision. Sure she had left her bag, but it only had a few clothes in it, the ones he had given her! She had her purse with her, which meant she had what she really needed: her fake ID and her money. Yes, he could see the security gate from here, but what if she just walked out the front door? What if that’s what she was doing right now? Without her, he had nothing. Except some really dangerous people who now knew where he lived. People who would take great pleasure in breaking his bones one by one until he told them what he knew, which was nothing. They wouldn’t be thrilled to hear that. Next stop: your standard landfill burial. That did it. Lee jumped up, grabbed the bags and headed after her.
There was a knock on Reynolds’s door. Connie popped his head in. Reynolds was on the phone but she waved him in.
Connie had two cups of coffee. He put one in front of Reynolds, together with two cream packets, a sugar and a swizzle stick. She thanked him with an appreciative smile. He sat down and sipped on his coffee while she finished her call.
Reynolds put down the phone and started mixing her coffee. “I would absolutely love some good news, Connie.” She noted that he also had gone home, showered and changed. Rambling through the woods in the dark had probably done a real number on his suit, she assumed. His hair was still damp and the wetness made it seem more gray than usual. Reynolds kept forgetting that he was in his fifties. Connie just never seemed to change, always big, always craggy, the weatherbeaten rock upon which she clung when the riptide gripped her. As it was right now.