Conspiracy (9 page)

She finished the hearing at noon and was loading her briefcase and documents in the trunk of a rental car when she saw Boyd approaching across a dusty parking lot. It was a bright and sunny March day. He was wearing sunglasses and walking with a self-confident stride. For the first time it struck her how handsome he was. She was no longer the state's lawyer.

"Listen, Miss Ferrari," he said in a soft, polite voice.

"You can call me Taylor."

"Okay, Taylor then. I'd like to take you on a little tour around the valley this afternoon and let you know what our business is really about."

He had snowed her with his bright red Lamborghini and lunch at Auberge de Soleil, accompanied by bottles of white and red wine from Mill Valley, followed by a tour of the large chateau that he lived in on the property. Sally was off in San Francisco for the day, buying for her antiques shop, he explained as they stopped in front of the master bedroom. He draped his arm around her shoulder, leaving no doubt about what he had in mind. She found him more attractive and charismatic than any man she had ever met. He was perfect, but for one fact: He was married. When she pulled away, he didn't press her.

After that day she didn't see him again until he was in his first term in Congress. She was on the staff of the House committee that handled environmental legislation, and he was a committee member. From the start he made an impression on people for his visionary positions. After he was reelected he offered her a job as his chief of staff. She was tired of being pushed around by more senior staff members, so she accepted.

"Great," he said. "You'll be a real asset for a young congressman with higher ambitions."

She smiled. "And what higher ambitions might the young congressman have?"

"There's a small white house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I'd like to live in it one day."

"My, what a modest fellow."

"My dad used to tell me that if you never shake the tree, you don't get any apples. He also hired the best young wine-maker he could find when he began Mill Valley."

"I don't crush grapes."

"But you can help me crush Republican congressmen who are trying to bury me before I get started."

She laughed.

"So you accept the job offer?"

She paused to think. Working for him, she might be able to do something significant and make a difference. "The answer's yes, as long as you stick with your agenda. If the idealism goes, I go."

The idealism never went, but she had become restless, which was why she took Harrison's job offer at the law firm.

Charles had never hit on her again after that day in Napa. Nor had he done anything illegal; she was certain of it. Someone was trying to smear him.

Taylor tried to concentrate on the Mississippi briefs. She was confident that on the merits she should win the appeal, and the injunction halting construction should be lifted. What was making her nervous were the rumors she had been hearing that one of the local officials against the project was a close friend of the chief justice of the state supreme court. She would have to do a good enough job, she reasoned, that they couldn't decide against her even if they wanted to.

Taylor picked up a pen and began outlining her oral argument. When she was almost finished, the telephone rang. It was Doris. "He just got back from lunch."

Less than a minute later Taylor was in Harrison's office. "Well?" she asked nervously.

He pulled the plastic cigarette out of his mouth. "Bottom line," he said sounding sympathetic, "is that there is an investigation under way on Senator Boyd."

She was seething. "That's absurd and unfair."

"Well, that may be, but it's being handled by an assistant U.S. attorney by the name of C. J. Cady. I can't help you there. I don't know Cady."

"I do. We've gone head-to-head twice in environmental criminal cases."

"And?"

"I think I finally have a good break. We got along. I always found him to be professional, decent, and fair. Not a zealot like some of those guys." She had once kidded Cady about being too polite and preppy for the current legal world inhabited by sharks, but she was aware that he could be as tough as he had to be. She also knew that beneath that good-looking face, friendly smile, and wavy brown hair was a sharp legal mind and a determination to get at the truth. Knowing her enemy would be an advantage.

"Doerr wouldn't tell me anything about the substance or status of the investigation."

"Why not?"

"He swore up and down that he has no idea."

"Oh, c'mon."

"Actually, I believe him, but it doesn't matter for our purposes. We still have Cady to deal with."

"We? I'm delighted that you want to join me in the engine room of the
Titanic."

"That's what friends are for. Anyhow, maybe we can still head this thing off."

"Who do you think's doing this to the senator and why?"

"That's a harder question. The obvious choice is Hugh McDermott and the Republican crowd. Hugh has some lovely fellows working for him, like that psychopath Pug Thompson." Harrison shrugged his shoulders. "On the other hand, you've got Boyd advocating your nuclear-power approach. Those people will do anything, as you and I know." He paused. "And God only knows what other groups you've managed to alienate."

"The answer is plenty of them, including most of the special-interest groups in this town. The antiabortion crowd, the gun lobby, and the radical right, to name only a few. We knew that we'd make lots of enemies by presenting a program to take the government away from special interests and return it to the people. We were prepared to—"

"That's my point. There's no way to determine who's behind it at this time." He stopped to think for a minute. "Have you told Boyd what Cooper reported to you yesterday?"

"Not yet. The senator's in the Midwest. I didn't want to do it by phone."

"My advice is that you get to Boyd ASAP. Repeat to him what Cooper said and make him tell you everything that might be a problem from his Napa days. You're better off knowing what you're dealing with right now before it's public."

"I'm going to be with the senator Saturday in St. Michaels. I'll talk to him then."

"It's a mistake to wait two days. These things move fast when they start rolling."

She considered his advice. "Let me think about it. I want to do it the right way so I don't upset the senator and destroy the momentum he has going in the campaign."

Harrison shrugged. "That's your call. Now I'm going to tell you something you won't like to hear."

Taylor looked at him apprehensively. "What's that?"

"How well did you know Boyd when he was back in Napa?"

"Not well. We met once. He was a witness for the wine producers when I was with the state in an electric power proceeding."

"Did you ever hear of anything that might be a problem?"

She shook her head.

"Any business problems before he went into politics?"

"Nothing I've ever heard about, and I traveled with him extensively in Napa during each of his campaigns after I joined his staff."

"You like the senator a lot. Don't you?"

Taylor's face reddened. "We're not having an affair, if that's what you mean."

"Actually, it wasn't. All I'm saying is that if you like the man and you ever find out that what he did was bad, embarrassing, or even criminal, you should encourage him to withdraw from the race, rather than getting dragged through the mud."

"You can't be serious."

"I wish I weren't. Remember Abe Fortas?"

"He wasn't running for president."

"The principle's the same. I'm telling you this as a friend. For a man to lose the presidency is one thing. To get destroyed in the process is another. It's called cutting your losses. You give up the office to save the man."

"But the senator didn't do anything wrong."

"You wanted advice. I'm giving it to you straight."

"You're making me sorry I came in to see you."

"What can I tell you? People play hardball in this town."

* * *

He answered his own phone: "Cady here."

"C.J., it's Taylor Ferrari." There was a long pause. "You still there?" she asked.

"A voice from my past," he said in a guarded tone. "I should never have let your client off with a five-hundred-thousand-dollar penalty."

"Of course, you could have gone to trial and lost. Speaking of which, congratulations on your Russian gangster case."

"Thanks. What's up?"

"I'd like to talk to you this afternoon."

Cady was flabbergasted. He knew from the newspapers that she was Senator Boyd's campaign manager. She must have found out about his investigation. The matter had just gone from strange to bizarre.

"Sure. Come at three o'clock," Cady said.

* * *

Walking into Cady's office, Taylor remembered once again how striking he was. He was handsome not because of looks but because of the force of his convictions. Adopting a light tone, she pointed to the picture of a rustic mountain cabin in the woods and said, "Now that the Russian case has ended, I figured you'd be out in Mendocino playing tennis and hiking."

"Yeah, well, I've got one or two things to wrap up here," he said. "Once I'm through with them, that's where I'll be. I don't imagine you've spent much time rafting at your place in Aspen either this fall."

His words set off a pang of longing. She'd love to be in a raft on the Colorado right now, with the spray flying off the water, her weary body aching and the sun beating down on her in a gorge between red-rock walls.

"Which reminds me," he added, "last spring when we were wrapping up the Warden case, you and I talked about doing some rafting together in West Virginia."

She smiled. "That was before the election took over my life."

He didn't respond. She had opened the topic. The ball was in her court.

"Listen, C.J.," she said, beginning tentatively. "I appreciate your agreeing to see me. I want to talk to you about your investigation of Senator Boyd."

"What investigation?" he replied, deadpan.

"The one you're conducting."

"Sorry, I can't respond to that. We never talk about ongoing investigations." His voice was polite but professional. "We never even confirm or deny that an investigation is under way. It's Justice Department policy. You know that."

She took a deep breath. "This isn't an ordinary case. The presidential election is at stake. Whoever got this ball rolling did it for political purposes, to knock the senator out of the race and to get Webster reelected."

Cady raised his eyebrows. "What makes you think there's an investigation?"

"I have a source in the media. I can't say more than that."

Cady locked eyes with her. "Listen, you're a sophisticated lawyer. Even if there is an investigation, which I won't confirm, I can't talk about it. That shouldn't surprise you. So I'm wondering why you wanted to see me."

"If you tell me the subject of your investigation, I think I'll be able to satisfy you that there's no factual basis for you to proceed."

Cady sucked in a deep breath and blew it out with a whoosh. He was sympathetic. So far this whole business had the smell of fish that had been dead for three days. A mysterious file in the dead of the night. Leaks to the press. It wasn't fair to stonewall her completely. "All I'll tell you is that it concerns Senator Boyd's first election to Congress. I'm being generous in saying that much."

"Thank you. I appreciate that. Of course, I'd like you to call off your investigation."

He gave her a tight smile. "That's a large order. Personally, I like and respect Senator Boyd and his program, but you know I can't do that."

"You're
going to decide the presidential election.
You'll
be taking the choice of the next president away from the American people."

He had already considered that point. "If Senator Boyd violated the law, the American people have a right to know that."

"That's precisely my point. He didn't violate the law."

"But unfortunately, I can't take your word for that. Neither would you in my place."

Taylor was feeling waves of frustration. "Listen, C.J.," she said, "I've been in Washington ten years. I know there are plenty of corrupt people in this town. They are in it for the power and the ego trip, but Senator Boyd isn't in either category. You've got to believe me."

How often had he heard that line? "What makes you certain he's different?"

"I've known him for a long time, and we've worked closely together. You don't think I'd put my whole career on the line if I didn't think he'd make the country better?"

Cady didn't dismiss what she said out of hand. Still, how well did anyone know another person?

Taylor pushed on. "The senator gave up a good business to go into politics. He did it so he could help the people of this country. His record in the House and Senate has been outstanding. Even you'd have to admit that."

"This isn't about his voting record."

"What is it about?"

"Whether he committed a crime."

"Doing what?"

"I told you that it concerns the senator's first election to Congress, and that's all I can tell you."

"That makes it hard for me to respond."

"Nobody's asking you to respond right now. You'll get a chance in the normal course."

She was exasperated and her face showed it. "But this isn't a normal case, dammit. A man's running for president. You're about to wreck his life and hand Webster the White House for four more years. All based on some half-assed rumor of something that might have happened ten years ago."

"It's my job to find out if something did happen."

She decided to take a different tack. "C'mon, C.J., you left a large firm to do something good. That's what you told me."

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

"So we both want the same thing: to do what's right for the country."

"Agreed, but at this point it's hard to determine what that is."

"You know there's something sordid in this business. A dirty trick. You're too smart not to know that."

He thought about what she had said. "As always, you're persuasive, but at this point I can't tell what's right."