More Than an Echo (Echo Branson Series) (32 page)

My headache had returned. I either had a whole lot or a whole lotta nothing.

Feeling defeated, I decided maybe the boys could find something, so I e-mailed my notes to them with a note.
Guys- I hope you’re up to this task. The numbers I sent might be sections of Smiley’s favorite novel, Dante’s
Inferno
. I’ve been banging my head against the wall for an hour, and I can’t come up with anything. Maybe you can. Princess.

If anyone could decode Dante’s lines, those three would. I decided after my press conference with the mayor I would see what my fellow thespian could come up with. Maybe he could sort this out. Maybe I was so far off track I could never get back on it. At least I had one thing going for me; I still had a press conference to attend.

“Come to watch a pro in action?” Carter said when he saw me at the Center.

“Something like that.”

“Why don’t you sit with me? I will lend you some much needed credibility.”

I was not in the least insulted. In the journalism field, there is a definite pecking order. If Carter could get me in the door, I would’ve sat on his shoulders if it meant getting the mayor’s attention.

When we took our seats, I looked around and finger-waved to a few people I knew. There were camera crews, light guys and print media there. I didn’t stand a chance in this crowd. Sure, I was with a damned Pulitzer winner, but there were also daytime Emmy winners as well as other power journalists who had been around the block long before I was born.

Carter had gotten a seat right in the center. The podium stood in the middle of the stage with three chairs on either side of it. When the crowd quieted down you could see everyone jockeying for space. The truth was, I was really excited to be there.

When the mayor’s press secretary came out, I got butterflies in my stomach. He was just a mayor, but there was an energy swirling around the room that swept me up in it like Dorothy’s tornado.

“Just wait,” Carter whispered. “His mother will be coming out in a second. Everyone thinks it’s bizarre the way she goes everywhere he goes, but I’m sure it’s a cultural thing.”

“Of course it’s a cultural thing, and not necessarily a bad one.”

“Oh, it’s bad,” he replied, straightening his bright red silk tie. “The old bag goes everywhere with him. It’s weird. Look. There she is.”

I watched an elderly Chinese woman walk out and sit on the chair closest to the podium. Her keen, clear eyes slowly inspected the crowd, like a mother bear surveying the territory before her cubs can play there. Her eyes made a slow, methodical pass over every face. When her eyes locked onto mine, I knew
exactly
why she was her son’s greatest adviser, and why she creeped people out.

“Weird, huh?” Carter whispered. “Almost like she’s looking at
you
, Branson.”

I said nothing, but kept my eyes on Mrs. Lee. Only when her son came out did her intense gaze shift from mine.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, loosening his maroon tie. Mayor Lee possessed the carriage of a higher ranking official than just mayor. He stood erect as he looked out over the standing room only crowd, confident, poised, yet not arrogant or challenging. His hair was like shiny black tar on his head, and caressed his expressive eyebrows. He looked like a man who had come to claim his second tour of mayoral duty. “Thank you all for coming. I know some of you are here to help me win reelection while others of you would love nothing more than to help me out the door. Well, I would like both sides to know that I am not bowing down to any kind of external pressure from you, my opponent, or the ugly rumor mills. I am proud of the work I’ve done and will continue as long as the people of this great city allow. We only just started making some of the necessary changes that will keep this city in step with the changing times. I intend to see those programs to fruition. To that end, I’m willing to answer whatever questions you may have. But let’s be civil, shall we? Try to keep the mudslinging to a minimum.” He smiled, but the truth behind that smile spoke volumes.

“Sounds like he knows you’re gunning for him,” I whispered to Carter.

“Yeah, well, watch and learn.”

I did. All the big names asked questions about gay marriage, domestic partnerships, the possibility of Microsoft returning to the Bay Area, jobs, the security of BART in light of recent terrorist activities and ways to clean up the downtown business district. One by one, Mayor Lee patiently answered every question. I found it incredibly interesting that he had yet to call on Carter, whose hand kept shooting in the air as if he had a spasm.

When the mayor finished with a question about parking, I figured it was time for me to throw my hat in the ring, so up went by hand.

“What in the hell are you doing?” Carter demanded under his breath. “Put your fool hand down.”

“Not a chance. Why do you think I came here? To watch you?” I didn’t hear his caustic response because I was too focused on Mrs. Lee. She motioned to her son, who bent down to listen to her. When he stood back at the podium, he was staring right at me and pointing. Carter stood up.

“Mr. Mayor...”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ellsworth. I was not motioning to you. I would like to hear from your colleague in the beautiful red suit.”

The look on Carter’s face was worth my weight in gold. His head slowly turned toward me, eyes blazing, nostrils flaring.

I turned from him and smiled at the mayor as I stood up. “Mr. Mayor, Echo Branson from the
Chronicle
. Are you aware someone has been abducting our homeless people right off the street and after repeated requests for an investigation into these disappearances, your police department has refused to get involved?” My heart was banging so loudly in my ears I could barely hear myself. My mouth had that dry,
I’m too nervous to speak feel
, and my palms were all clammy.

He frowned for a moment. “Miss Branson, you wrote the article with that photo of the homeless animals, didn’t you?”

I nodded and felt a blush rise from my shoulders to the top of my head. “Yes, sir.”

“Wonderful story. Fabulous photographs.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll let the photographer know you thought so.”

He leaned forward on the podium. “So let me get this straight. You are saying that even after the article and requests for help, our police department still has done nothing about these missing people?”

I nodded. “I’ve done everything I can as a journalist and concerned citizen to get someone to help me figure out what is going on. I’m here because I’m hoping you can help. They may be homeless, sir, but they are our citizens, nonetheless. They deserve the same actions you’d give to someone living on Nob Hill.”

The crowd tittered slightly at this, but his gaze silenced them. He took notes and then turned to his mother. I couldn’t tell if there was an exchange or not, but when he turned around she smiled politely at me. “Miss Branson, I assure you I will be in contact with the chief of police before the day is through. If what you say is happening, you have my word I will do whatever I can to get to the bottom of it, and I appreciate you bringing it to my attention.”

Nodding, I sat down. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”

The press conference went on and I could feel the heat emanating off Carter, who was no longer raising his hand. He was livid and could barely contain himself. The mayor never looked our way again.

When it was all over, Carter grabbed my elbow and pushed me through the crowd. We were practically out the door when what looked like a bodyguard or security stopped us.

“Excuse me, Miss Branson? Mayor Lee would like to see you right now if you have the time.”

“Me? Absolutely.” Turning to Carter, who was so stunned he’d turned mute, I shrugged before detaching myself from him. Following the bodyguard, I was surprised when he took me into a small conference room.

“He’ll be right in. Can I get you a coffee or tea, or something?”

“Thank you. I’m good.”

The mayor and his mother came in shortly after I sat down. Out of deference to Mrs. Lee, I started to rise, but she waved me back down. “Sit. Sit.”

I sat.

“I wanted to hear more about what’s happening with the homeless population. I would have done this at the conference, but...well...you saw how it was. There are those journalists who would like to put me into a meat grinder.”

I nodded. “I’m not one of them. I have a friend who is one of the missing men from the Tenderloin and I am really worried something terrible has happened to him.”

Mayor Lee started for the door. “I need some water. Can I get you anything?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” I said, wondering why he didn’t call for an aide.

When he left, Mrs. Lee turned her chair to me. For the longest time, she didn’t say anything. She just kept staring hard into my face with her probing brown eyes. I didn’t have to lower my shield to know what was going on.

Mrs. Lee was one of us.

“You know, don’t you?” she said softly, eyes never leaving mine. Her face was that of an apple head doll.

I gazed back into eyes which reminded me of Melika’s. “Actually, I do. It’s one of my gifts.”

She squinted her already tiny eyes and nodded. Dressed in a blue business suit, she did not appear anywhere near her reported age of eighty. “You’re quite strong. I sensed your presence right away even with all the others in the room.”

I didn’t reply, but I
did
understand now why she went everywhere with him and why Carter, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist hadn’t been called on; she knew which side of the political fence he sat on and purposely avoided him. What a wonderful ally Kai Lee had in his mother.

“I haven’t met an empath of your kind in many years, but you were not trained in the Orient.”

I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t, but I was taught very well by a woman in the Bayou.”

She continued to look in my eyes. “Yes. Yes you were. Good to respect your mentor. I felt you right off. But you are not here to compare powers, as much as I would like to. There are not many of us in this part of the country.” She closed her eyes a second and then slowly opened them. “The missing men. They mean something more to you than just your friend.”

“Bob is a friend of mine, yes. The others, though not friends, deserve no less attention. Because they are homeless, I can’t get anyone at the police station to listen to me. Nobody cares.”

“My son is very good at getting people to listen to him.” She leaned forward. “And he cares, but there are those who would prevent him from making this city a better place. I would like to help you. Can you help us in return?”

“Me help? How can I help?”

She glared in the direction of the auditorium. “That man. Carter Ellsworth. Mr. High and Mighty. He does not like my son or his politics. Whatever lies he is after, whatever dirt he is busy digging up, we would like stopped.”

I looked at her and wondered how strong a super
she
was. “Don’t you know?”

She waved the question away. “Of course I know. Knowing and stopping his self-serving ways are two different things. That man...people listen to him. People think he is wise, but he is not. He is a little man given a big stage with a large microphone. I do not want that man’s voice preventing my son’s reelection.”

Oh God.

“I am not asking you to silence this voice on your own. It will take more than one muzzle to silence that yipping dog.”

I nodded. “He’s not necessarily evil, Mrs. Lee, but he is incredibly myopic.”

“He is the kind of man who will put his needs before those of the people...of
my
people. I am not asking you to do anything immoral or against your own code of ethics, which I suspect is quite high. I am asking that you simply keep an eye on him and inform me if he is going somewhere dark and ugly.” She leaned closer. “This city needs my son, Miss Branson. It needs him more than it needs a self-absorbed journalist. Surely you understand that.”

“I do, and you have my word I will do whatever I can to make sure that Carter Ellsworth isn’t given that stage.” I paused. “I’ve actually been involved in that very endeavor, ma’am.”

“Good. We can help each other then.”

The mayor came back with a tray of water and sodas. “I hope my mother hasn’t strong-armed you into anything. Sometimes, she can get carried away.” He exchanged a smile with his mother.

I doubted that. I could sense a very calculating, precise woman who did nothing without thinking about every angle and every consequence. She knew even before he called me back into this meeting how it would end up. She sat there during that press conference and picked out the reporter she felt could do the most damage and then she made sure her son steered clear of him. Then, she studied us like bugs under a microscope, and she knew. In the time it took the press conference to end, Mrs. Lee knew all she needed to know—about me, about Carter, about anyone who possessed a threat to her son’s reelection.

“My mother has impeccable taste in people, and her judgment is seldom wrong. That is why we called you back. Tell me more about these abductions.”

It was easy to see why this man was so well-liked. He had a smooth, polished tone like that of a trained stage actor, no hint of Ivy League snobbery. His voice was more like warm honey. He also had very gentle eyes and hair that was graying on one side of his head. He had just turned forty, but what really captivated me was the warmth of his spirit. This man genuinely cared about his job and the people. Even if they hadn’t asked, I would have protected him from the likes of the Carter Ellsworths.