Ed Gorman - Blindside

‘Thanks for that update, Sylvia. You want a drink?’

‘What’ve you got?’

‘Beer or bourbon.’

‘Bourbon. And some water.’

‘Sit down at the table. I’ll turn the screen around so we can watch it together.’

‘I race over here and you’re offering me drinks. Where’s the urgency?’

I made her the drink and brought it back to her. Then I went to the TV. The DVD was already loaded. I stood next to the screen with the remote. ‘This is what you’re going to break on the ten o’clock news tonight.’ I clicked play.

I didn’t watch the screen, I watched her face. And a fine patrician face it was, too. She disappointed me. She selected a mask of indifference and left it on for the length of the interview with the prostitute who enumerated all the ways that our congressman was a kinky devil.

I stopped the DVD after the segment about Jeff Ward.

‘I’m curious about where you got your copy, Dev, but not all that curious. It’s a fait accompli. We preview ten seconds of it tonight at ten. Of our copy, I mean. At least you and Ward won’t be shocked.’

‘In most circumstances this would be a game changer.’

She sipped her drink and made a face. Then she pointed a long royal finger at the glass. ‘The urine of homeless people?’

‘Such a delicate flower.’

‘You really need to spend more than a dollar ninety-eight when you buy a half gallon of bourbon, Dev. Now what’s this bullshit about “most circumstances”?’

‘Just sit there, delicate flower, and watch.’

I hit play again. On came the woman who claimed that Rusty Burkhart, family values Burkhart, had not only visited her on many occasions but had also beaten her on three of them. She showed photos of the condition he’d left her in.

No mask this time. This was the real Sylvia Fordham. She was on her feet with the first mention of her client’s name. She kept walking closer, closer to the screen. When the Burkhart segment finished, she dropped her head to her chest and stayed silent for several seconds. ‘You bastard.’ She walked back to the table and sat down. Her gaze was elsewhere. She was making all the same calculations I would have in her situation. ‘Somebody was playing both sides.’

‘Looks that way.’

‘I knew Rusty was having some kind of trouble but he wouldn’t tell me anything about it. He just kept saying it didn’t have anything to do with the campaign.’

Burkhart was smart; even though she was working for him at the moment, he wouldn’t want anybody as treacherous as Sylvia to know he was being blackmailed. You could never be sure what she’d do later on with the information.

‘He’s being blackmailed. The same as Jeff Ward.’

‘Who the hell’s behind it?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘And of course you won’t tell me how you got hold of it.’

‘Not yet. Not until I know a lot more. And of course you won’t tell me how you came by yours of Ward.’

‘One of the nice things about being a national figure known for digging up dirt is that people offer you things you wouldn’t know about otherwise. A private detective in Chicago offered it to me for a pretty hefty amount of money. Naturally, I couldn’t say no. He didn’t bother to tell me where he got it, and I don’t care.’

‘You need to make a decision here, Sylvia. If you go on with the Ward segment at ten o’clock, tomorrow morning I go to a local TV station and play the Burkhart for them.’

‘All Burkhart did was push her around a little.’

‘She says it was more. And anyway, Burkhart is God’s man in the race. What’s he doing in a whorehouse?’

She reached down. The sound of her purse opening. The sound of her digging around. Her fashionable hand appeared holding a package of fashionable French cigarettes and a lighter. ‘Don’t give me any bullshit about not smoking.’

‘If the hotel sends me a bill, I’ll send it to you.’

‘Are you trying to scare me, Dev?’

‘Not about smoking. But about going on at ten, I am. This is the kind of war that isn’t going to do either side any good.’

‘Afraid we’re going to kick your ass with your wandering boy?’

I sat back in the captain’s chair and watched her light her cigarette. ‘You really want to risk it, Sylvia?’

‘I’m not afraid of you, Dev. You should know that by now.’ She exhaled a trail of blue smoke. How beautiful cancer is in a certain light.

‘And I’m not afraid of you. So if you’re going to the studio, you’d probably better get going. I’ve got other things to do.’

A hint of alarm in the eyes. ‘So I just walk out of here?’

‘You just walk out of here.’

‘What changed your mind?’

‘You did. I thought I could make you see that this DVD is a wild card for both of us. What the military calls unintended consequences. You blow something up and you’re never sure what’s going to happen afterward. We’re blowing something up here, Sylvia. Maybe it’ll be to your advantage, I don’t know. But then it could also be to Ward’s. I guess we’ll just have to see.’

She managed a laugh while she sipped her drink. ‘You’re doing this very well, Dev. You’re a good poker player. But I know you’re bluffing. You’re terrified of me going on TV tonight. We’ll be on the air first with our story. And first matters in a case like this.’ The shrewd, professional gaze. ‘By the time I get to the door over there you’ll be on your phone. Pure panic. I’d be the same way.’ She sipped her drink. ‘Sorry your bluff didn’t work, Dev. But it was a good bit — how much we both have to lose if I go on tonight. You’re good, but not that good, dear.’

But I was tired of it. Tired of her. Tired of the game. Tired of me. ‘You talk too much, Sylvia. So do I, for that matter. I appreciate you coming up here. I still think you’re making a mistake, but maybe not. I think this election should be about what kind of government we need. Burkhart’s a racist and couldn’t care less about anybody who isn’t rich and powerful. We both know what kind of man Ward is. We’re not talking about angels here. But at least Ward votes the right way.’

‘I’m glad I brought a lot of Kleenex.’

‘I guess the public’ll just have to decide which is worse — a kinky congressman or somebody who beats up hookers.’

She gathered herself and stood up. ‘We have one interest in common, Dev. We both want to find out who’s behind this blackmail.’

‘I agree.’

She moved to the door in a graceful sweep. ‘Watch me at ten o’clock. This’ll go national, Dev. My price’ll go up even higher. Maybe someday you’ll come to work for me.’

After she left I called Lucy and asked her to get Kathy so the three of us could talk. For once I appreciated the tinny music designed to make my wait more pleasant. I was on an elevator. I was going up and up and up to a better place. Any place but this one would be a better place at the moment. Then I heard Kathy say ‘Dev?’ and my elevator crashed back to reality.

‘I’m back,’ Lucy said.

‘Sylvia Fordham and I tried to come to an agreement about her ten o’clock interview. She’s going through with it so expect all hell to break loose. We need to get Ward and his wife ready for the cameras tomorrow morning.’

‘What’s going on, Dev?’ Kathy asked.

‘I can’t discuss it on the phone.’

‘This pisses me off, Dev. We have a right to know.’

‘Yes, you do. But now’s not the time.’

‘You really want his wife?’ Lucy said, trying to forestall Kathy coming back on me. ‘That always looks so cruel. They just stand there suffering.’

‘I don’t want to send him out there alone. I don’t like it either, but we don’t have any choice. Neither of their daughters, though.’