After Midnight Read online

  Nikki didn’t like agreeing with him, but he was probably right. All the same, she wondered at what it was already costing him to adhere to his new policy. The first casualty was Derrie. She wondered how many would follow.

  Mosby Torrance sipped wine as he stood in front of his lofty window overlooking the traffic of nighttime Washington. He was barefooted, wearing a silver and gold robe that emphasized his blond good looks.

  He felt triumphant over Haralson’s victory against Lombard in Charleston. Now Lombard had his hands full trying to defend himself. The very action of keeping Lombard’s family occupied would keep Mosby off the line of fire as the campaign escalated.

  He couldn’t afford to let Clayton lose the election. The Democratic contender was mild-mannered, but still a liberal who had no sympathy with Mosby’s position on the real major issues like tax incentives for industry and a bigger military budget and supporting the lumbering industry. He needed all the support he could get from the House, and Clayton was shaping up very well as an environmental candidate and a strong national defense ally.

  Mosby needed that wedge on his team, because he didn’t support environmental programs; he supported industry and expansion and growth to provide much-needed jobs for the unemployed. Privately, he thought that Clayton did, too, but it was politically correct at the moment to be an environmental candidate. And until Mosby had coaxed Clayton into helping him with the timber bill, the congressman had a spotless record of environmental championship. It had been a shame to blot that record, but Mosby had needed Clayton’s support. Besides, the Lombard scandal was going to make everyone forget that Clayton hadn’t helped the spotted owl.

  Mosby leaned his head wearily against the cool glass. It was good not to have the Lombards after him. He was older than Clayton, raised in a generation with stifling attitudes toward anyone different from the norm. His parents had hidden his flaw from other relatives. They had made Mosby ashamed of it. Because of his upbringing, he’d always had to hide what he was. No one would have understood. At least, that’s what his parents had said. Often he’d wondered what Nikki would have said, if she’d known. He’d had to steel himself not to show desire for her, not to let her know, ever, how attractive he found her. All he could have given her was a travesty of the real thing and, inevitably, she’d have wondered why he couldn’t function as a man. It was better this way, he told himself. Much better.

  He was dignified and very conservative on the outside, and that won him votes. But inside, he was a frightened, insecure man who dreaded the new climate that threatened to expose any politician who kept a secret. Mosby had exacted many sacrifices. He would do anything to keep his private life secret, and he had; he’d married Nikki. He winced, remembering. It had been hopeless from the very beginning.

  His fist clenched on the glass. Poor Nikki. Poor, poor Nikki, to be so much in love and have all her dreams shattered. He’d engineered that sight she had of his private life, that fiction of himself as a gay man. He’d known that it would drive her away, and it had. But he also knew that she’d never become serious about anyone since their divorce, and he knew why. He regretted hurting Nikki most of all.

  It was all over long ago, he told himself. He just had to live with it, and with the fear of exposure. The thing now was to get Clayton ahead in the polls while keeping the pressure on Lombard. That last part was Haralson’s idea, just as it had been Haralson’s idea to go to South Carolina and help with Clayton’s campaign. In fact, Haralson said that he knew the truth about Mosby and wouldn’t hesitate to give it to the media if Mosby didn’t send him to Charleston to help Clayton.

  He scowled. Haralson was a wild man just lately, into all sorts of shady things that Mosby had tried not to notice. But the man was like a loose cannon. Mosby had a bad feeling about his obsession with getting something on Lombard. He didn’t know why he should. After all, Lombard was no friend of Mosby’s, with his family sticking its nose into his past. But just the same, Mosby didn’t like the idea of doing anything illegal. Perhaps he should take a closer look at Haralson’s methods. If worse came to worse, there might be a way to nudge Haralson into a corner and keep him quiet about what he knew of Mosby’s worst secret.

  He picked up the telephone and dialed a number.

  While he waited for the connection, he remembered his first year in the Senate, a young idealist with so many hopes and dreams that an unfortunate bit of publicity—a hint about his sexual preferences—had almost ended. His marriage had saved him, at Nikki’s expense. But even marriage would no longer protect him, not if Lombard got wind of his past. The dreams and ideals had gotten lost in the shuffle to protect his secret, until now it was almost second nature to him. Perhaps his three terms in the Senate had jaded him, he thought miserably. He lived in a closed society, despite his frequent trips to his home state to keep in touch with his constituents. But the longer he lived in the Capitol, the more distasteful the outside world became to him. He was safe here. For the time being, at least. As long as he had Haralson out of his hair for a few weeks while the campaign picked up steam. He’d have to find some leverage to use against Haralson if it became necessary. If he dared, he’d warn Clayton about him as well, but that wouldn’t be wise at this point.

  “Hello,” came a quiet voice on the other line.

  “I need a favor,” Mosby said. “I want you to do a little digging for me, strictly on the QT.”

  There was a pause. “Okay. Shoot.”

  He gave the man Haralson’s name and background.

  “Isn’t this the one who’s working for Seymour down in Charleston, the one who just exposed some nasty mess concerning Kane Lombard?” the man asked.

  “The same.”

  “Well, well. Now isn’t this interesting?”

  “What is?”

  There was a low chuckle. “I’ll tell you all about it in a few weeks. Haralson got careless. That’s all you need to know right now.”

  “This…carelessness. Is it to my advantage?”

  “Yes, indeed. And as you say, that message is on the QT. I’ll be in touch.” The receiver went dead with a gentle click.

  That sounded as if Haralson could find himself in water over his head very soon. As he’d said about the Lombards, if pressure was put on a man he was less likely to find time to smear anyone else. The best defense, in other words, was a good offense. Try that on for size, Haralson, he mused. Mosby put down his wineglass, relief draining away the fear. He slid the robe away from his body and walked, smiling, back to bed.

  The wheels of justice were slow, but relentless. Kane Lombard spent a lot of time with his attorneys and his production people and managers, trying to sort out the nightmarish complications of his own negligence. Both Will Jurkins and Ed Nelson came back to work. Nelson was feeble, but involved himself in the defense of his company. Jurkins provided the paperwork that showed CWC’s lack of efficiency and showed a reason for firing them. However, Kane couldn’t help notice that Jurkins had dark circles under his eyes and asked if the man wasn’t sleeping well. Jurkins had mentioned something about a sick child and had gone back to his office, looking haggard. Like the rest of the staff, Kane decided, Jurkins was feeling the pressure of public animosity. All of them had to pass through the picket lines daily, and only the security force kept them safe at all.

  The day of the primary came, and Nikki went with Clay to their local precinct to vote. Crowds were already standing in line at eight in the morning, and Nikki’s heart lifted. It did look as if he had the Republican seat firmly in hand.

  She had collaborated with one of Washington’s leading hostesses to concoct some sort of party that people would be talking about years from now. Assuming that Clay won the primary, there were other parties planned for Charleston, fund-raisers and banquets and social evenings to garner more support. Nikki expected to be worn to a frazzle, but it would be worth it. If only he would win the primary!

  “This looks encouraging,” she said.

  Clayton
didn’t agree. The turnout frightened him. He’d made a major blunder by supporting the timber bill, and he prayed that people were going to remember that he’d helped nab a local industrial polluter. Usually when so many people went to vote, it was because they were angry and wanted to get someone out of office. He’d actually known some old-timers who only ever voted against—not for—candidates.

  “Don’t look so nervous,” she chided.

  An African American lady next to them grinned. “That’s right, it’s not against the law to vote for the candidate of your choice.”

  Clay grinned. “Picked the best man, have you?” he teased.

  “Oh, yes, sir,” she said. “Going to have a new president this fall, so I figure we may as well get those other rascals out of there and put in some people who can get something done. I have no insurance. I can’t make my house payment this month. I can’t even afford to buy a new pair of shoes.”

  The woman looked down at them, worn on both sides and scuffed. “The plant I worked for moved down into the Caribbean so it could get cheap labor and make more money. It don’t bother the government that I wouldn’t have a job,” she added. “What a pity that we pay those people so much to represent us and they just forget how hard life is outside the capitol.”

  She nodded politely and moved on as her line shortened. Clayton had gone pale. Nikki touched his arm and tried to encourage him, but he felt bad. Why hadn’t he realized what was happening? These people wanted change because their economic situation was a nightmare. They weren’t going in that polling place to vote for him, they were going to vote him out of office!

  All those plants that had closed down their domestic operations and moved to other countries, all those jobs lost, all those unemployed people hadn’t seemed to register with him before. He saw the homeless people and he slipped them a dollar from time to time, but he never noticed that they had no house to go to. Where had his mind been? On the spotted owl, he thought, and on keeping Kane Lombard’s family off Mosby Torrance’s neck. He’d spent almost two years feathering his own nest and thinking of his own political future and satisfying his own ambitions. He’d forgotten that most important thing of all; that these people had elected him to represent their interests in Washington. How could he have been so blind?

  “Derrie tried to tell me,” he began.

  Nikki looked at him and her eyes asked a question.

  “I hope it’s not too late,” he said quietly.

  “What do you mean?”

  But the line moved, and so did they, and the question was drowned out by the low buzz of conversation.

  The polls closed at seven, but there were still lines of people waiting to get into the polling booths. Early returns gave Sam Hewett a tremendous lead in the Democratic primary, but on the Republican side, Clayton was running neck and neck with a well-known Charleston attorney. It was much too tight a race for comfort. It meant that voters were unsatisfied.

  “Will you stop pacing and worrying?” Nikki chided, sweeping into the hotel room in his headquarters in a blue-and-green-silk pantsuit that suited her dark complexion.

  Clayton, with his hands in his slacks pockets, standing flanked by Haralson and Bett, glowered at her. “Do you see these figures?” he asked.

  She handed him a cup of coffee in a foam cup. “You’re not going to lose.”

  Bett glanced at her. “You sound very sure.”

  Nikki smiled. “He’s the best man, isn’t he?”

  “Of course,” Bett agreed.

  “Then he’ll win.” Nikki moved her eyes back to the television screen. “It’s early yet, and these are small typically Democratic precincts they’re reporting. Wait until we get the urban vote. That’s where Clay’s strength is.”

  Bett was surprised. “How do you know so much about politics?”

  “I have three and a half years of college,” Nikki said. “I’m only a semester short of having my degree.”

  “I didn’t realize that.”

  “No, you were much too busy resenting my—how did you put it?—empty-headed hostessing.”

  It was a challenge from a face dominated by sparkling green eyes. Bett had character enough to admit when she was wrong. She smiled ruefully.

  “Sorry about that.”

  “Oh, we’re all guilty of making snap judgments,” Nikki said mischievously. “I won’t mention what I asked Clay about you when I first met you.”

  “Thank you,” Bett murmured sheepishly.

  “Clay!” Haralson called suddenly. “Look!”

  They all turned their attention to the television screen where new figures were being posted. The urban precincts were just beginning to be reported and Clay’s two-percent lead had just turned into a twenty-percent lead.

  “Hallelujah!” Clayton shouted.

  “See?” Nikki asked, smiling, “I told you so.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The celebrating went on all night. The Republican opposition conceded early on, and Clayton and Bett and Nikki bathed in the adulation from his supporters.

  At midnight, Clayton went on television to make his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination.

  “I want you to know that I’m going to fight hard to win this time,” he told the camera. “And I’m not going to sit on my record. I’ve had my eyes opened today about issues I haven’t confronted. People are out of work because of jobs going to other countries. We have such people, right here in our city. It’s time we did something about the economy and learned to balance the budget. I’ve seen the light. I’m going to blind you with it until I get back into Washington, and then I’m going to tackle a new agenda. The environment is still an important issue to me, but the thing is to get our people back to work. That’s going to be my number one priority. Thank you all for your support. Let’s go on and win in November!”

  The supporters cheered wildly. Clayton smiled, but there was a new fire in his eyes that everyone around him noticed. Bett saw it with trepidation, because she also represented a lobby that supported foreign expansion of American businesses. Her smile was a little strained as she contemplated the future.

  Nikki was oblivious to the other woman’s thoughts. Her eyes were on her brother, and she was bursting with pride. Her only sadness was what was happening to Kane Lombard. She knew that he wasn’t responsible for that dumping. But how to convince everyone else was the problem. It had to have happened while he was lying injured in her beach house. She wondered if he’d kept that quiet because he was trying to protect her reputation. After all, he didn’t know who she was. He’d think she was just a beachcomber.

  She often thought of him and remembered the joy of being with him. It had ended all too soon. He haunted her dreams, and made her sad. Not since Mosby had she felt quite so valueless. Apparently her only worth to men was as a decoration, and that attraction soon paled. Mosby had wanted a storefront. Kane had wanted a careless lover. She was suited to be neither.

  She’d seen Kane on television several times, and she’d felt sickened by the trials he was facing because of her brother’s supporters. She knew that Clay hadn’t engineered the incident, but he was certainly using it to his advantage. She wondered if it had made Kane hate him even more, and what form of retribution he might select in reprisal. It worried her so much that she almost telephoned Kane once to discuss it with him. But he didn’t know who she was, and she didn’t want him to. He’d surely hate her if he knew the truth, especially after what had happened. So many secrets lay behind all this sparkling hoopla of politics. Everyone had a skeleton in the closet. Some skeletons were even able to speak.

  The elder Lombard puffed angrily on his big cigar as he paced around his son Kane’s office.

  “Damned stupidity,” he muttered, glancing at his eldest son to make sure he was being listened to. “You know better than to run off on vacation and leave the business unattended. Think I’ve ever done that?”

  Kane didn’t answer. This speech was familiar. His father always
asked the same question. The elder Lombard didn’t make mistakes, always knew what to do, and was there on the spot with an I-told-you-so whenever he deemed it necessary.

  “In my day, we’d have had that employee drawn and quartered,” he continued hotly. “No questions asked, either, mind you. And the press would have been muzzled!”

  “You’re the press,” his son pointed out.

  The old man made a dismissive gesture with a big, wrinkled hand. His hands were almost out of proportion to his tall, spare frame. “I’m not that kind of press, I’m not easily led and fed lies. I print the truth!”

  “No, you don’t.”

  Fred Lombard glared down his thin nose at Kane. “I print it sometimes,” he clarified, “when I think it needs printing. The rest of the time people expect to be entertained, and they pay through the nose for it. Don’t you appreciate how to sell news?”

  “Sure. Put two heads on the victim and draw in a flying saucer on a photograph, blow it up, and cover the front page with it,” Kane returned.

  Fred chuckled. “Sure, that’s how you do it.”

  “You won’t win a Pulitzer.”

  “I’m crying all the way to the Swiss bank where I keep my money,” Fred returned. “No interest, but total confidentiality, and I like that. Don’t expect to inherit everything,” he added. “You have two brothers.”

  “I don’t need to inherit anything,” came the cynical reply. “I’m set for life already. I’ll have free room and board and three meals a day at Leavenworth.”

  “Bosh.” Fred waved the cigar at him. “They can’t put you in prison for something an employee did in all innocence.”

  “Illegal dumping is a felony, didn’t you hear the attorney?”