Man Who Loved Pride and Prejudice (47 page)

   "If he'd told you he was on the verge of joining a gang, using drugs, getting beaten up, and dropping out, would it have changed your mind?"

   Cassie sniffled. Calder's shirt was getting damp. "Of course it would."

   "You would have risked losing Rob?"

   "Yes, but I didn't think. I should have realized there was trouble. I'd convinced myself by then it was just a poor neighborhood with a lousy school, because I didn't want to remember what it was really like. If I'd thought, I would have known." The confession broke down her last reserves, and she held onto him as if he were her only surety.

   "You can't take responsibility for the entire universe, love. Does Ryan blame you?"

   "I don't know. I didn't ask. But it doesn't matter." Suddenly she remembered his words.
At least one of us
got out. He didn't want her
to feel trapped. "Do you really think you can stop your father?"

   "I have some pretty good cards up my sleeve. I can convince him it isn't worth the price."

   "How?" She wanted to believe him.

   "Give me a few days to see what I can do. But right now it's time to get some sleep."

   She nestled in against him. It went against the grain to turn her problems over to him, but it was such a relief to share the burden. "I'm surprised you were still up."

   Calder flushed. "I was asleep, but I woke up."

   That wasn't like him. Calder was a sound sleeper. "Something the matter?"

   "I got a phone call."

   "Who'd call at this hour?" She could tell he was avoiding the question.

   "If you must know, it was Rob."

   "Rob called you?" That was the last thing she expected of him. "Was he worried I wouldn't make it home safely?"

   Calder rubbed his hand over his mouth. "Not exactly. He wanted to talk to me."

   "Oh, God. What did he say?"

   "That you were really upset about something, and weren't planning to tell me what it was, and if I wanted to know why I was going to have to push hard, because you had all your walls up."

   Cassie's jaw dropped. "And you did it, too. You kept pushing until I gave in, didn't you? Because Rob said so?"

   He shrugged. "Well, I never had much luck before when you were determined to keep me out. I thought I might as well try his method. And Jim told me I should listen to him."

   Cassie put her hands on her hips. "Jim was in on this, too?"

   "He's the one who gave Rob my number."

   She laughed sardonically. "Well, if I have to be awake half the night, I'm glad to know I'm not alone. You, Rob, Jim, your mother, your father, not to mention all the king's horses and all the king's men."

   "But did we manage to put Humpty Dumpty back together again?"

   She shook her head. "Humpty's not going to be in great shape until I'm sure Ryan's safe. At least from your father." She paused. "I'm scared. What if you can't stop him?"

   "He taught me everything he knew. I can beat him at his own game. There
are
some ways I'm like him. I'm not going to let him hurt you."

   "You're
nothing
like your father."

   Calder held her close, letting himself relax in her love. But if she thought he wasn't like his father, she might be in for a surprise.

ON THE LAST DAY of Caro's visit, she seemed content just staying at the house. She didn't mention her phone call to her husband the previous night. Instead, to the surprise of all, she spent the morning on dog training, first observing Cassie putting Nobska through his sit and stay drills, and then hesitantly volunteering to take over for her.

   She had infinite patience for it, as did Nobska, who couldn't imagine anything finer than performing for treats and praise. Cassie watched from a distance, and when a surprised-looking Calder came by, she said to him, "Frankly, I think it's doing her a world of good to order someone around and have him listen. He loves it, too." She didn't add her thoughts on why Caro, normally so restrained, was lavishing the dog with uncharacteristic affection.

   Later, Caro volunteered to take the dog for a walk, and surprised Calder by saying she would rather go alone. "It'll be a nice change," she said. "It's not safe for me to be out by myself in Pennsylvania, with Joe's detectives looking for me. But he already knows I'm here, and Nobska will take care of me."

   Although dubious Nobska would do any harm to a potential assailant apart from jumping up on him enthusiastically, Cassie said nothing. Once Caro had left with the dog, though, she turned to Calder with a look of amusement. "Do you think I should give her your secretary's phone number so she can get in on the next batch of puppies?" she asked. "If she comes back for another visit, I'm not sure if she'll be coming to see us or the dog."

   "I'd go with a breeder," said Calder. "I think
she'll
definitely need a purebred."

Cassie was leaving for work when Calder stopped her for one last hug. "Can I take you out tonight?" he asked.

   Even after two days, Cassie could hardly bear to leave him, even for the lab. Ryan's situation never left her mind for long. "If you'd like. Where should we go?"

   "It's a surprise. Dressy. Sorry about that."

   Cassie touched his cheek. "I think I can manage not to embarrass you."

   He smiled. "Who knows? Maybe I'll embarrass you."

   She didn't give the remark a second thought until that evening when they arrived at a large resort. A hotel restaurant didn't seem like Calder's idea of a night out, but there wasn't anything nearby. "Why are we stopping here?"

   Calder opened her car door for her. "It's a fundraiser for Gina Obermayer. Dinner, a few speeches."

   Was he joking? "A fundraiser? For
who?"

   "Gina Obermayer. She's running for re-election to the State Senate."

   "I know
who she is. I contributed to her campaign. Bu
t she's a
Democrat.
And you
hate
this kind of thing."

   "That's true."

   "Calder, if this gets back to your father, he'll be livid."

   "Livid enough to make a deal to keep me from doing it again?"

   Cassie's lips formed a silent O. "This is what you've been working on?"

   Calder looked proud of himself. "Right in one. But we should go in. Dinner's starting soon."

   He led the way into a banquet room packed with elegantly clad men and women. As Cassie followed, she wondered how he did it. She was nervous herself, out of her depth among the women who looked as if they had groomed themselves all day for the event. She was probably the only woman in the room without a manicure. But Calder never faltered, even though the crowd must have made him edgy. He went straight to the candidate's side and introduced Cassie to her. She must have known they were coming; the state senator showed no surprise at the appearance of one of the enemy.

   A waiter showed them to the front of the room. "The
VIP section?
" Cassie asked under her breath.

   "The whole point is to be noticed." Calder touched her arm lightly, as if to reassure her.

   She supposed it would be good practice for dealing with his family, but it was intimidating to find herself among the political and financial elite. Calder seemed to have no problems, chatting with their tablemates as dinner was served. Cassie was relieved when the speeches started and she didn't have to socialize. She let her mind drift as the first guest of honor, a current congressman, spoke.

   The then it was the candidate's turn. Senator Obermayer spoke to enthusiastic applause. Cassie wondered how much longer this would go on. It had been a long day, and she wanted to go home. She was disappointed when the senator announced there would be an additional speaker.

   "I have a surprise guest tonight who would like to say a few words. And I mean surprise. It certainly astonished me when I received a phone call from him saying he wanted to support my re-election campaign. So you might want to put down your coffee cups before I welcome our next speaker. Ladies and gentlemen, Calder Westing, son of Senator Joseph Westing."

   Stunned, Cassie turned to Calder, expecting to see a look of horror, but instead he rose gracefully to his feet and approached the podium amid dead silence. Finally there was polite applause, led by the candidate and her staffers. To all appearances, it didn't bother Calder, who addressed the crowd with an engaging smile.

   "Thank you, Senator. I can't blame the rest of you for doubting me. After all, my name spells 'die-hard Republican.' And what could I tell you about Senator Obermayer that you don't already know? Not a thing. But she wanted me to speak anyway. Not about her, and not about this campaign. She asked me to tell you why I'll be voting Democratic on November fourth."

   Cassie's mouth dropped open as a flurry of whispers ran around the room. Joe was going to kill him. Maybe she'd better start thinking about those job opportunities in Ecuador. One starting tomorrow, preferably.

   "The easy answer is that my wife is an environmentalist, and I want her to be speaking to me on November fifth." There was a light scattering of laughter. "But that's not the real reason."

   Calder rested one hand on the podium, his voice taking on a more intimate tone. "I'm Joe Westing's son. You know what that means. I grew up on deals being cut over the dining room table. I knew what quid pr
o
quo
meant before I could read. I heard my father make promises, and I knew which ones he intended to break.

   "I knew all about the damn Democrats, too. Yes, the damn Democrats. I was in fourth grade, studying American history before I realized 'damn' wasn't part of the party name. I'd always assumed that when people referred to Democrats, they were using an abbreviation, like calling Republicans the GOP." This time the laughter was more genuine.

   Cassie felt disoriented. This was worse than when she learned he was Stephen West. The last thing she expected was that Calder could be an eloquent public speaker. He looked completely at ease, his intonation rising and falling rhythmically, gesturing fluidly, drawing the crowd in. It was like watching an actor on TV.

   "The Republican approach made sense to me. You had to provide incentives to make people want to work hard and get ahead. I lived in a protected environment where no one challenged those ideas, at least not to my face. After all, I'm Joe Westing's son.

   "My wake-up call came when I spent a year in Ecuador. That was the first time I'd seen poverty faceto-face, and I saw it every day. I saw people die from treatable illnesses. I saw people go hungry when the crops were bad. Not me, though. I never went hungry, even in Ecuador. Because I'm Joe Westing's son." This time he said it with distaste.

   No, Cassie decided, he wasn't a public speaker. He was a demagogue. From his self-mocking tone to the cadenced repetitions, it was a speech calculated to evoke a reaction. It was a speech Joe Westing could have written.

   "I couldn't believe people had to live that way. Then my friends enlightened me about people in the United States who are no better off. We have people here dying from treatable illnesses, not because the nation doesn't have the money to treat them, but because they don't have health insurance. There are children in the United States going hungry while we have food sitting in warehouses. I was stunned. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the measure of a country isn't in how its richest citizens fare, but in how its poorest citizens live." That brought real applause.

   "That would be a nice ending to the story. A boy grows up and starts to think for himself. It happens every day. But I'm Joe Westing's son, so it wasn't that simple. I came back from Ecuador, and I had the good sense to keep my new thoughts to myself. But now I listened to those conversations over the dinner table with a more critical ear. I heard about corruption, about greed, about playing into the pockets of special interests. I heard about intimidation, voting discrepancies, and abuse of power. I heard things that shocked me."

   A man in the audience called out, "Tell us more!"

   Calder acknowledged the interruption with a nod. "Next time, maybe. But to get back to my story, I was disgusted by politics. I decided to stay away from the whole thing, and to focus my time and energy where I thought I could do the most good. I wouldn't have gone as far as to call myself a liberal—after all, I'm Joe Westing's son—but I thought the government had a responsibility to provide a basic safety net. Then I met a woman." He looked over at Cassie.