Stillwatch (6 page)

BOOK: Stillwatch

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“Make yourself comfortable, Pat,” he directed. “There’s a call Ihave to return.”While he was on the phone, Pat had a chance to study him closely. He wascertainly an impressive and handsome man. His thick, carefully barbered stonegray hair contrasted with his youthful skin and probing dark eyes. She knew hehad just had his sixtieth birthday. The party his wife had given at their ChevyChase estate had been written up in all the columns. With his aquiline nose andlong-fingered hands that tapped impatiently on the desk top, he reminded herof an eagle.He hung up the phone. “Have I passed inspection?” His eyes were amused.“With flying colors.” Why was it, she wondered, that she alwaysfelt at ease in a professional situation and yet so often had a sense ofalienation in personal relationships?“Glad to hear it. If you weren’t sizing me up, I’d be worried.Congratulations. You made a great impression on Abigail yesterday.”A quick pleasantry and then he was down to business. She likedthat and wouldn’t waste his time leading up to the problem. “I wasvery impressed with her. Who wouldn’t be?” Then she addedsignificantly—”for as long as I had the chance to be with her.”Pelham waved his hand as though to remove an unpleasant reality.“I know. I know. Abigail is hard to pin down. That’s why I told themto put together some of her personal material for you. Don’t expectmuch cooperation from the lady herself because you won’t get it.I’ve scheduled the program for the twenty-seventh.”“The twenty-seventh? December twenty-seventh!” Pat heard hervoice rising. “Next Wednesday! That would mean all the taping,editing and scoring will have to be done in a week!”“Exactly,” Luther confirmed. “And you’re the one who can do it.”“But why the rush?”He leaned back, crossed his legs and smiled with the relish of abearer of momentous news. “Because this isn’t going to be just anotherdocumentary. Pat Traymore, you have the chance to be a kingmaker.”She thought of what Sam had told her. “
The Vice President?
”“The Vice President,” he confirmed, “and I’m glad you have your ear tothe ground. That triple bypass last year hasn’t done the job for him.

My spies at the hospital tell me he has extensive heart damageand if he wants to live he’s going to have to change his lifestyle. Thatmeans he’s virtually certain to resign—and now. To keep all factionsof the party happy, the President will go through the motions of havingthe Secret Service check out three or four serious contenders for thejob. But the inside bet is that Abigail has the best shot at it. When weair this program we want to motivate millions of Americans to sendtelegrams to the President in Abigail’s behalf. That’s what the programmust do for her. And think about what it can do for
your
career.”Sam had talked about the
possibility
of the Vice President’sresignation and Abigail’s candidacy. Luther Pelham clearly believedboth were imminent
probabilities.
To be at the right place at the righttime, to be there when a story was breaking—it was the dream ofevery newswoman. “If words leaks out about how sick the VicePresident is . . .”“It’s more than leaking out,” Luther told her. “I’m carrying it onmy newscast tonight, including the rumors that the President isconsidering a woman replacement.”“Then the Jennings program could sweep the ratings next week!Senator Jennings isn ’t that well known to the average voter.Everyone’s going to want to find out about her.”“Exactly. Now you can understand the need to put it together fastand make it something absolutely extraordinary.”“The Senator . . . If we make this program as bloodless as sheseems to want, you won’t get fourteen telegrams, never mind millions.Before I proposed this documentary I did some extensive surveyingto find out what people think about her.”“And?”“Older people compared her to Margaret Chase Smith. They calledher impressive, gutsy, intelligent.”“What’s wrong with that?”“Not one of the older people felt they knew her as a human being.They think of her as being distant and formal.”“Go on.”“The younger people have a different approach. When I told themabout the Senator being Miss New York State, they thought it wasgreat. They want to know more about it. Remember, if Abigail

Jennings is chosen to be Vice President, she’ll be second in commandof the whole country. A number of people who know she is from theNortheast resent the fact that she never talks about it. I think she’smaking a mistake. And we’ll compound it if we ignore the first twentyyears of her life.”“She’ll never let you mention Apple Junction,” Luther said flatly.“So let’s not waste time on that. She told me that when she resignedher Miss New York State title, they wanted to lynch her there.”“Luther, she’s wrong. Do you seriously think anyone in AppleJunction gives a damn anymore that Abigail didn’t go to Atlantic Cityto try to become Miss America? Right now I’ll bet every adult there isbragging that he or she knew Abigail when. As for resigning the title,let’s face it head on. Who wouldn’t sympathize with an answer likeAbigail saying it had been a lark entering the contest but she found shehated the idea of parading around in a bathing suit and having peoplejudge her like a side of beef? Beauty contests are passé now. We’llmake her look good for realizing it before anyone else did.”Luther drummed his fingers on the desk. Every instinct told himPat was right, but Abigail had been definite on this point. Supposethey talked her into doing some material on her early life and itbackfired? Luther was determined to be the power that put Abigailacross as Vice President. Of course the party leaders would exact apromise from Abigail not to expect to run for the number one spotnext time, but hell, those promises were made to be broken. He’dkeep Abigail front and center until the day came when she was sittingin the Oval Office—and she’d owe it to him. . . .He suddenly realized that Pat Traymore was watching him calmly.Most of the people he hired were trying not to swallow their own spitin the first private session in this office. The fact that she seemedtotally at ease both pleased and annoyed him. He had found himselfdoing a lot of thinking about her in the two weeks since he’d offeredher the job. She was smart; she’d asked all the right questions abouther contract; she was damn good-looking in an interesting, classykind of way. She was a born interviewer; those eyes and that raspyvoice gave her a kind of sympathetic, even naive quality that createda “tell all” atmosphere. And there was a smoldering sexiness abouther that was especially intriguing.

“Tell me how you see the overall approach to her personal life,”he ordered.“First Apple Junction,” Pat said promptly. “I want to go theremyself and see what I can find. Maybe some shots of the town, of thehouse where she lived. The fact that her mother was a housekeeperand that she went to college on scholarship is a plus. It’s the Americandream, only for the first time we’re applying it to a national leaderwho happens to be a woman.”She pulled her notebook from her purse. Flipping it open, shecontinued. “Certainly we’ll emphasize the early years when she wasmarried to Willard Jennings. I haven’t run the films yet, but it looks asthough we’ll pick up quite a bit of both their public and private lives.”Luther nodded affirmatively. “Incidentally, you’ll probably see afair amount of Jack Kennedy in those pictures. He and WillardJennings were close friends. That’s when Jack was a Senator, ofcourse. Willard and Abigail were a part of the pre-Camelot years.People don’t realize that about her. Leave in as many clips as you canfind of them with any of the Kennedys. Did you know that whenWillard died, Jack escorted Abigail to the memorial service?”Pat jotted a few words on her pad. “Didn’t Senator Jennings haveany family?” she asked.“I guess not. It never came up.” Luther impatiently reached for thecigarette case on his desk. “I keep trying to give up these damn weeds.”He lit one and for the moment looked somewhat relaxed. “I onlywish I’d headed to Washington at that time,” he said. “I thought NewYork was where the action was. I’ve done all right, but those weregreat Washington years. Crazy, though, how many of those youngmen died violently. The Kennedy brothers. Willard in a plane crash.Dean Adams a suicide . . . You’ve heard about him?”“Dean Adams?” She made her voice a question.“Murdered his wife,” Luther explained. “Killed himself. Nearlykilled his kid. She did die eventually. Probably better off, too. Brain-damaged, no doubt. He was a Congressman from Wisconsin. Nobodycould figure the reason. Just went nuts, I guess. If you come acrossany pictures of him or his wife in a group shot, edit them out. No oneneeds to be reminded of that.”

Pat hoped her face didn’t betray distress. Her tone remaineddeterminedly brisk as she said, “Senator Jennings was one of themoving forces in getting the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Actpassed. There are some wonderful letters in her files. I thought I’dlook up some of the families she’s reunited and pick the best one fora segment on the program. That will counteract Senator Lawrenceand her grandchildren.”Luther nodded. “Fine. Give me the letters. I’ll get someone aroundhere to do the legwork. And by the way, in your outline you didn’thave anything about the Eleanor Brown case. I absolutely want thatin. You know she came from Apple Junction too—the school principalthere asked Abigail to give her a job after she’d been caughtshoplifting.”“My instinct is to let that alone,” Pat said. “Think about it. TheSenator gave a convicted girl a new start. That much is fine. ThenEleanor Brown was accused of stealing seventy-five thousand dollarsin campaign funds. She swore she was innocent. Essentially it wasthe Senator’s testimony that convicted her. Did you ever see that girl’spictures? She was twenty-three when she went to prison for theembezzlement but looked about sixteen. People have a naturalinclination to feel sorry for the underdog—and the whole purpose ofthis program is to make everyone love Abigail Jennings. In the EleanorBrown case, she comes through as the heavy.”“That case shows that some legislators don’t cover up for the crookson their staff. And if you want Abigail’s image softened, play up thefact that thanks to her, that kid got off a lot lighter than anyone else Iknow who stole that much money. Don’t waste your sympathy onEleanor Brown. She faked a nervous breakdown in prison, wastransferred to a psychiatric hospital, was paroled as an outpatient andtook off. She was some cool cookie. What else?”“I’d like to go to Apple Junction tonight. If there’s anythingworthwhile there, I’ll call you and we’ll arrange for a camera crew.After that, I want to follow the Senator through a day in her office,plan some shots and then tape her there a day or two later.”Luther stood up—a signal that the meeting was over. “All right,”he said. “Fly up to . . . What is the place . . . Apple Junction? What ahell of a name! See if you can get good copy. But play it low key.

Don’t let the natives get the idea they’re going to be on camera. Theminute they think you might have them on the program, they’ll startusing all the big words they know and planning what leisure suit towear.” He twisted his face into a worried frown, made his voice nasal.“Myrtle, get the lighter fluid. There’s a gravy stain on my jacket.”“I’m sure I’ll find some pretty decent people there.” Pat forced afaint smile to take the implied rebuke out of her words.Luther watched her leave, noting the burgundy-and-gray tweedsuit, obviously a designer original; the burgundy leather boots withthe small gold Gucci trademark; the matching shoulder bag; theBurberry over her arm.Money. Patricia Traymore had family money. You could alwaystell. Resentfully, Luther thought of his own humble beginnings on afarm in Nebraska. They hadn’t had indoor plumbing until he was ten.No one could sympathize more than he with Abigail about not wantingto resurrect the early years.Had he done the right thing in allowing Pat Traymore to have herway in this? Abigail would be sore—but she’d probably be a lot sorerwhen she found out they hadn’t told her about the trip.Luther turned on his intercom. “Get me Senator Jennings’ office.”Then he hesitated. “No, hold it; don’t bother.”He put down the phone and shrugged. Why start trouble?