Alan spoke first in a pleasant tone. “We don’t usually see you this early in the morning, Dad.”
Brandon Fraser’s words were biting. “I don’t often open my morning paper to such a disappointing headline.”
“You mean the bridge?”
“What else do you think I could mean?” The older man’s attitude was one of accusation. “So you’ve managed to blunder this as well!”
“Just a minute, Dad,” Alan said placatingly. “I can’t see how you hope to place the blame on me. It’s Senator Lafferty who is upsetting the apple cart. He’s deliberately trying to throw chaos into our present plans so North’s crowd can take over. S.C. wants the steel contract for the balance of the construction. He’s never gotten over being turned down by my committee.”
“Are you suggesting that a man of S.C. North’s stature would be interested in battling with you?” Brandon Fraser demanded with incredulous disgust.
“The issue may not be exactly that simple,” Alan said in a voice showing his growing anger. “But it does amount to that, I suppose. As the present chairman of the bridge authority, I’ve stood in his way. He intends to get rid of me.”
“You flatter yourself in thinking you have that much importance!” Brandon Fraser snapped.
“I think I’m keeping things in perspective,” Alan told him. “I refuse to join the local cult of S.C. North worshippers. I am fully aware he is a human being the same as the rest of us, with all the weaknesses which are universally shared.”
“Your philosophy is more impressive than your record of success,” his father said in his cold rage. “My only solace is that I had a son who, if he’d lived, would have done me proud; not wound up in a mess like this.”
“Isn’t that a fairly wild guess on your part, Dad?” Alan asked evenly.
“What are you saying?” Brandon Fraser sounded startled.
“I’m telling you that it’s ridiculous of you to pretend to know what Brian would have done had he lived. It’s time you realized that!”
“Are you trying to cast reflections on my dead son, your brother!”
“I’m asking you to stop deceiving yourself,” Alan said quietly.
There was a long silence from the other room. Judith could picture the two men standing there facing each other.
“So that’s your defense,” Brandon Fraser said at last in a voice scarcely above a whisper. “You are trying to hide behind Brian in death as you did in life. You’re a second-rater, and you always were one!”
Alan made no reply to his enraged parent. A moment later Brandon Fraser rushed out of the room and made straight for the corridor without glancing or looking back. The door slammed closed after his angry exit. Judith sat at her desk, stunned.
Alan came out to offer her a rueful smile. “Well, I made a start. I’m not sure that I managed it very tactfully.”
“You defended yourself as you had a right to do,” she told him, still indignant at the behavior of the elder Fraser.
Alan nodded. “He didn’t know how to take it. It was a novel situation for him. I don’t think I’ve ever given him a straight opinion before.”
“It will do him good.”
“He certainly reacted strongly,” Alan said.
“Let him think it over,” she suggested, “get used to the idea that you can stand on your own feet. Next time he may not be so ready to attack you.”
The young lawyer’s face was grave. “I hate to hurt him. That’s why I’ve always refrained from mentioning Brian until now.”
“It’s past time,” she assured him. “You have to hurt him to help him.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” he said, doubt in his voice.
The balance of the morning was an anticlimax after this scene. Several clients showed up for appointments, and the Mayor called and promised he would drop by right after the lunch hour. Judith applied herself to her work and tried to get the unpleasant scene between father and son out of her mind.
She was also nagged by her doubts. It wasn’t too hard to put up a brave front for Alan’s benefit, but she couldn’t deceive herself so easily. She had the conviction that things were going to be more difficult before they became better. And while Alan had made a good beginning, she was still not so sure that he wouldn’t revert to type and, when things got really bad, simply turn his back on them and walk away.
She would have liked to have marched into Brandon Fraser’s office and given him a lecture about his cruelty to his son. But she could see that this would be pointless.
The lunch hour was over and most of the routine work safely looked after when Mayor Jim Devlin entered the office with his usual jaunty smile.
Coming over to stand by Judith, he gave her one of his fond glances. “I spotted you out among the peasants last night,” he said. “I had no idea I’d charmed you so you’d come to watch me preside over the council.”
“I was swept away by your performance,” she assured him.
“And almost down the courthouse stairs as well,” Alan said, coming out of his office to join them. “If I hadn’t come to her rescue when the meeting ended, they’d have trampled her underfoot.”
“Unruly crowd!” the Mayor agreed. And with spread hands, he added, “Well, it worked out just about as we expected.”
“As you expected,” Alan corrected him.
“I thought Senator Lafferty was in fine fettle,” the Mayor said. “North must have made the stakes for this job plenty high.”
“When do I get my official notice from the council?” Alan wanted to know.
“My secretary is working on the copies now,” the Mayor said. “Copies of the petition and the council minutes will be in the mail and should reach you the first of the week.”
“So we’ve got a little time,” Alan said.
“None to squander,” the Mayor warned. “I hear the Governor is going to clear the slate to give this matter his urgent attention.”
Alan frowned. “So whatever is done had better be done quickly.”
The Mayor walked over and seated himself in a chair, his soft hat pushed to the back of his head, looking more like a sports commentator than the Mayor of a fairly large city.
“I’d say you’d have to streak down the field plenty fast to save this game,” he said.
Alan smiled wanly. “You’re the coach. Got any ideas?”
“I wish I had,” Mayor Devlin said, his expression thoughtful. “I’ve read the petition over and gone into the background of it all. Beyond the fact they’ve waited past the proper time to make the complaint, you can’t put your finger on anything wrong they’ve done.”
“So it seems,” Alan agreed.
“The Senator is slick,” the Mayor went on. “He’s made this a truly righteous cause.”
“Of course we know that’s not so,” Judith interrupted. “It’s only that S.C. North wants to defeat Alan and get the steel contract.”
Mayor Devlin’s head was on one side, and he gave her one of his thoughtful smiles. “We know that, but we’ve got to think how this looks to the public. And I can tell you the Senator has rigged up a mighty righteous appeal. If only we could catch a hint of some ulterior motive.”
“I think I follow you,” Alan said.
“But it’s so pure!” the Mayor went on. “Almost too pure!” He gave Alan a stern glance. “There must be something!”
“It could be the Senator’s first honest venture,” Judith said with a strong note of duobt.
“Preposterous!” the Mayor said, standing up. “It’s a point of honor with him to be crooked.” He began to pace slowly back and forth. “I’d say we have only one chance to defeat them; just one chance to show them up before the public for the charlatans they are. And that’s to find out what private trickery the Senator has been up to in this deal.”
“If there is any,” Alan said.
“Has to be,” the Mayor assured him. “I told you dishonesty is inherent in the man’s nature. That’s how he got in trouble with S.C. North before. He tried to include some extra gravy for himself when he was doing some dirty work for the big man. North let him go and almost didn’t take him back.”
“You think he may be repeating himself this time?” Alan asked.
The Mayor paused to give him an encouraging glance. “I’m almost sure of it. But unless we can dig up something, we’re not going to get far. And the Senator is running scared these days. He’ll be bound to have his tracks covered cleverly.”
Judith considered. “Just what could he gain on the side?”
Mayor Jim Devlin pursed his lips. “Well, let’s think who would benefit most by the North End spur. Number one, there’s the big shopping plaza. Now if the Senator should hold any shares in it, or be the recipient of a yearly retainer from them, it wouldn’t look so good. We’d have a strong point of self-interest right there!”
Alan nodded quickly. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find out if he’s associated with the company which owns the plaza.”
“I’d work on it,” the Mayor told him. “And for a second try, see what you can find out about that big housing project they’re building just on the other side of the shopping center. If the Senator has any connection with it, I’d say it would be just as good material to use against him.”
Judith shook her head dubiously. “As you say, he’s probably covered his tracks well.”
“Dig deep!” the Mayor suggested. “What we need is something to show the Senator isn’t riding into battle pure in heart and on a white charger. We want to smear him the same way he manages to smear anyone who opposes him or North. And I think if we work hard enough, it can be done.”
“Knowing the Senator’s feet are undoubtedly solid clay, it’s worth a hard try,” Alan agreed.
“Blow the whistle and let the game begin,” the Mayor said with a grin. “You may bring home the silver trophy yet!”
“I think you have a sound idea,” Alan said with fresh enthusiasm. “Instead of sitting around worrying about the dirty trick being played, we can gain more by using the same methods against them they are using on us.”
“It seems I have inspired you to low and devious actions,” Mayor Devlin said happily. “I can only promise you they have brought success to a host of people and wish you well.”
“Come by when you have any other underhanded inspirations,” Alan told him. “We have real need of them here.”
The Mayor nodded and went to the door. Turning, he told them both, “Remember! Dig deep!”
When he’d gone, Judith turned to Alan with a smile. “What do you make of all that?”
“I think he’s given us something to hope for.”
“You put that much faith in his suggestions?”
Alan nodded. “It’s all so basic we should have thought of it on our own. But then I guess we haven’t political minds. The main fact is that we know Senator Lafferty is a natural crook. He’s the weakest link in North’s chain, even though North has to make use of him.”
Judith began to feel a little of the young lawyer’s excitement. “So the first thing to do is check and see if we can connect the Senator with the shopping center or the housing project.”
“If we can do that, we’re in,” he said. “The Mayor is right. Our best way to win is by proving there’s, more behind the petition than a desire to protect the people of the North End.” He smiled. “We may have to dig in the mud some ourselves, but I have the feeling it will be worth it.”
“Where do you begin?”
“First, I’ll find out who is representing the shopping plaza in the legal field. Then we’ll dig to get a list of local stockholders.”
Millicent Barnes was delighted at the news that Judith intended to go to Pauline Walsh’s party. Her happy frame of mind was only slightly marred by what she had read about the petition to the city council concerning the bridge.
“I must say,” she told Judith dolefully as she stood in her room watching her try on one of her cocktail dresses, “that the newspaper accounts don’t put Alan Fraser in too happy a light.”
“They aren’t intended to,” Judith said, studying the dress in her mirror. “Don’t forget S.C. North owns the paper.”
“Well, I don’t see what that has to do with it!” her mother exclaimed.
“I thought I made it clear to you last night,” Judith said, glancing at her. And then, seeing the perplexed look on her mother’s pale face, she gave it up as useless. “Don’t worry about it!”
“But I can’t help worrying,” Millicent said. “If Alan is as smart as you claim he is, how could he have made such a blunder?”
“I think I’ll have to shorten this an inch or so,” Judith said, holding it up to judge.
“What I mean is,” her mother went on, “he ought to have made sure the public knew what he was doing. I’m sure the North End people would have protested at once if they’d had any idea the spur to their part of the city had been dropped.”
Judith sighed and quickly slipped the green dress up over her head. “I hope I have the right shade thread,” she said. “I won’t have more than time to do this if I’m going to wear it tonight.”
“The editorials called it the error of a young and inexperienced man,” Millicent said forlornly, sticking to the subject. “But they pointed out it had caused just as much trouble as if he’d done it deliberately.”
“Ah!” Judith said with satisfaction as she bent over the sewing basket in which she kept her thread. “I do have almost a full spool. I’m in luck for once.” And she took out a needle and the thread, prepared to hem the party dress.
Her mother meanwhile continued to fret about the newspaper stories. “I don’t think the paper would print anything like that if they didn’t think it was true. I’d say it looks as if he might lose his position as chairman.”
Judith was seated with her dress and threading the needle. “Don’t worry about it,” she advised her mother.
“Well, it could mean your job as well. I can’t help worrying.”
“It will be all right,” Judith promised, as she folded the hem and pinned it preparatory to tacking it up. “I don’t know why skirts have to be worn so high!”
Millicent Barnes looked happier. “We have to follow the styles, dear. I don’t know how many different skirt lengths I’ve seen fashionable in my time. And you should be glad you were invited to the party.”
“I’m not sure I should go,” Judith said as she began to sew.
“Why not?”
“I don’t know whether I’ll enjoy it. I’ve been away from that group so long I’m sure I can do without them.”
“It’s not healthy for you to stay in every night. You need some outside life.”