Thirteen
She was ready and, if she hurried, she’d be on time.
Grabbing the cheesecake she’d made, as well as the wine she’d bought, Adelaide headed for the door. She’d never been to Maxim’s place, but she doubted she’d have any trouble finding it. She had GPS on her phone if she got lost. But just as she was stepping out of her house, she saw her friend Ruby pull into the driveway, going far too fast. She came to a screeching halt, and the Escalade jerked back and forth as she slammed the gearshift into Park and jumped out.
Something was wrong. They’d already exchanged gifts over the weekend and hadn’t planned to see each other again until after Christmas. Ruby had said she’d be celebrating with her kids and her ex-husband, with whom she was thinking of reconciling. So...what was she doing here?
Adelaide waited on her doorstep as Ruby rushed toward her.
“Adelaide, oh, my God! I’m so sorry.”
Sorry? Adelaide didn’t know how to react. “For what?”
Confusion descended on Ruby’s face and her steps slowed. “You mean...you don’t know? It was just on the news. I heard it with my own ears.”
The cheesecake and the wine were getting heavy, but Adelaide didn’t dare move. “You’re not making any sense.”
Tears filled Ruby’s eyes as she took the wine. Then they stood facing each other, both dressed in their Christmas finery, with Adelaide’s heart beating like a jackhammer.
“It’s about Mark,” Ruby said.
Adelaide couldn’t imagine what could be so terrible that Ruby would race over in such a panic. Mark was dead. She’d been dealing with that for two and a half years. Did news get any worse than goodbye forever? “What about him?” she asked.
Ruby motioned them inside. “I think you should sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit down,” she said. “I have a dinner date, and I’m going to be—”
“He was having an affair, Adelaide, just as you suspected,” Ruby cut in.
This stole Adelaide’s breath. After so long, after finally convincing herself that she’d been acting crazy and paranoid and insecure when she’d accused Mark, she was learning that she’d been right from the beginning? “No...”
“Yes.”
“With whom?”
“Let’s go in,” Ruby said and guided Adelaide back into the house.
Adelaide sat at the kitchen table while Ruby took the cheesecake and stowed it in the fridge, along with the wine. “I can’t believe something like this would be on the news,” she muttered. “I mean, I could see it if he was still in office, but—”
“It’s pertinent,” Ruby said. “You’re essentially running in his place and on his reputation. So anything that blackens his name blackens yours.”
“But...an affair? A lot of guys have extramarital affairs and it hasn’t ruined their political careers.”
Ruby frowned. “There’s more to it.”
“More?”
“Mark also took bribes from local developers.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Ruby crouched in front of her. “I would never kid about something like this.”
Adelaide stared at her helplessly. “He couldn’t have. I mean... I would’ve known, wouldn’t I?” She tried to think back. They’d always been well-off. Mark came from money, and she’d built the fledgling business they’d started when they got married into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Would she have noticed if he had more money in his accounts than he should have? Probably not.
“I don’t know,” Ruby said, obviously miserable.
He wouldn’t have needed the money. But the power might have tempted him. He would’ve liked doling out favors, being the big man who could make the difference. “How did this come to light?” she asked.
“Luke Silici.”
The man who’d wanted to run against Maxim in the primary but backed off when she entered the race? That Luke Silici?
“There was a clip of him on the news, condemning Mark for lack of integrity,” she was saying.
So he intended to join the race? He must be using this to open the door. But she’d already decided to drop out, hadn’t she? Because of the pregnancy? He couldn’t know that, of course, but even if he entered the race, there was no way he’d beat Maxim.
“It’ll be okay,” she said. Somehow, she’d figure it out, come to terms with it. There was a chance Silici had been misinformed. She’d do all she could to fight for Mark’s reputation, to preserve her memories of him.
But Ruby wouldn’t meet her eyes. “That’s not all.”
Adelaide remembered the hopes she’d had for this Christmas and felt them fade. “There’s more than adultery and corruption?”
“Silici said he has copies of some of Mark’s e-mails.”
Adelaide let her breath go. “They prove he was taking bribe money?”
“I don’t know what proof they have on the bribe issue. These apparently have to do with the affair.”
Covering her face with both hands, Adelaide tried to calm down enough to think. It was going to be okay, wasn’t it? She could live with whatever emerged—because it was in the past. It didn’t change the present.
Squaring her shoulders, she lowered her hands. “Who was it? Virna? Or Susie?” She’d named Mark’s two most attractive field reps, but Ruby shook her head.
“I wish I didn’t have to tell you this...”
What could be left? Proof that he’d never loved her? “Tell me,” she said. “If you saw it on the news, I’ll find out, anyway.”
Empathy softened Ruby’s face. “It wasn’t Virna or Susie or any of the other aides. It—it was an intern.”
Adelaide felt a surge of righteous anger. Those interns were young, some of them just out of high school. “Which one?” she cried.
Ruby cringed. “Phoenix Day.”
This was the last name Adelaide had expected to hear. She was so stunned she couldn’t move. “There must be some mistake. Phoenix is a boy, the sweetest boy you could ever meet.”
Ruby took her hands. “I know.”
“You’re saying—That can’t be true,” she whispered. “Mark wasn’t gay. Mark...” Remembering his lack of interest the past couple of years they’d lived together, Adelaide fell silent. He’d told her he was too stressed to maintain much of a sex life, too pressured at work, too busy. Was it something else? Something more? An inappropriate attraction to Phoenix?
“The boy has agreed to come forward,” Ruby was saying. “He’s providing copies of the correspondence between him and Mark. At least, according to the news.”
Adelaide didn’t know how to respond, except to deny it, regardless of any proof anyone claimed to have. “This can’t be true. It’s a political move, a way to get me to bow out of the race.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” Ruby said. “But...”
“But what?” Adelaide echoed.
“I don’t think it’s Luke who wants you out of the race. I think it’s Maxim Donahue.”
Adelaide opened her mouth to argue. Ruby had no idea of the baby or how the situation with Maxim had changed. But Ruby spoke before she could explain.
“It has to be,” she insisted. “Silici said Maxim received an anonymous tip, that it was his campaign manager who ran down all the details.”
* * *
Where was she?
The girls had their friends over. They were chatting happily as they munched on the appetizers Rosa had made, but Maxim had been too busy watching the clock to eat with them. Adelaide was late. She’d said she’d arrive at six, but it was nearly six-thirty. He figured he’d give her another fifteen minutes, so he didn’t seem impatient, but when 6:45 p.m. rolled around she still wasn’t there. Neither had she called him.
“Dad, didn’t you say your friend would be here soon?”
Megan had finally noticed Adelaide’s tardiness, perhaps because he’d grown so quiet.
“I’m sure she’s on her way, but... I’ll check.”
Taking his cell phone, he stepped out of the room. But Adelaide didn’t pick up. She didn’t answer her house phone, either.
Where could she be? Planning to drive over there, he grabbed his keys from the counter and started for the door when he received a call. Assuming it would be her, he pulled his cell out of his pocket and punched the talk button without glancing at caller ID. “Hello?”
“Maxim, you are truly amazing!”
It definitely wasn’t Adelaide. That voice belonged to his assistant, Peter Goodrich. Peter kept Maxim’s capitol office running smoothly and interfaced with Jan Kenny, who ran Maxim’s district office. He also volunteered on the campaign, so they spent a lot of time together. Maxim considered Peter his best hire. But he didn’t want to talk to him on Christmas Eve. “Peter, are you drunk?”
“What? Of course not. You know I don’t drink.”
“You sound drunk.” Tall and skinny, with a very deep voice, Peter was so circumspect that Maxim liked to tease him. But he was half-serious tonight. Peter sounded much more animated than usual.
“I’m just...surprised,” Peter said.
“About what?” Maxim looked at his watch.
“You did it, man. There’s no way she’s gonna beat you now.”
Slightly irritated because he didn’t want to talk business while he was so preoccupied with other things, Maxim scratched his neck. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about Mark Fairfax. How did you know? I mean...what a shocker. I never would’ve guessed he was gay.”
Until this moment, Maxim had only been paying partial attention. He’d been too busy watching the clock and keeping an eye on his driveway through the window, expecting Adelaide to pull in at any time. Now every bit of his energy and focus turned toward the conversation. “How do you know about Fairfax?”
“I guess it was on the news. I didn’t see it, but someone called Martha and she called me.”
Martha Sanchez worked for him, too. She handled all the scheduling for Maxim and the field reps. She wouldn’t have felt as comfortable calling him at home, but she and Peter worked well together and had become close friends.
“I mean, it’s true, isn’t it?” Peter asked. “It’s not a joke.”
With a silent curse, Maxim crossed the room and sank onto the couch. Damn Harvey Sillinger! He’d taken the bribe money and he’d still gone after Adelaide.
“Maxim?”
“I’m here,” he muttered.
“You seem upset.”
He was upset. If word of Fairfax’s affair had been on the news, Adelaide had heard about it, too. They were in politics, for crying out loud. They had people who were paid to watch and listen for any mention of their names in the media. If she hadn’t seen it on the news herself, she’d probably received a call very similar to this one. Son of a bitch.
“Maxim? Isn’t this good news?” Peter asked, uncertain now.
“No. It’s not good news,” he said and hung up.