Senate Cloakroom Cabal (40 page)

“The president issued some executive orders. One proposes the establishment of a new form of Ethics Committee. Its members will come from a rotation of federal judges, and it will be chaired by the chief justice of the Supreme Court,” Ro said. “The majority and minority leaders jointly ordered Tutoxtamen hearings to be reopened immediately. Results from Germany and Carmaya will be admissible.”

Jerry came over to us. “Come on, break it up. Max is about to feed us.”

We joined the others as Max was saying, “. . . Mort's hit men were run by the pharma PI who may turn out to be the ‘Sam' who oversaw the paramilitary operation that invaded the Rogers Pharmaceuticals's island. The FBI and CIA are still investigating the Carmaya incident and the use of the yacht.”

“The attack went pretty much the way we broke it down,” Gavin said. “The AMOP gear had been requisitioned—stolen—from their warehouse. I was surprised about Sherman's personal background and overall involvement, though.”

Max held up a slab of ribs. “Hey, everybody, my North-Carolina, mouthwatering
bobbycue
is more than ready for the eating.”

We all turned our attention to food.

I saw my friends enjoying each other. Rufus and Max were getting on well, as I thought would happen. Jerry had a long talk with Major Joe. I got back to Ro, eliciting her promise that we would make time for some girl talk. I then joined Gavin, Mariel, Marsha, Ralph, and Elaine.

Tyler was currently being held by Mariel. “I wondered why I hadn't heard from him,” I said.

“Oh, he's delightful. I stole him away from Marsha.”

“Is he dry?” He began twisting in Mariel's arms at hearing my voice.

“He seems to be. Right now, I think . . .” Mariel said, handing him to me, “. . . he wants his mommy, though.”

I cuddled him and walked him around. He was having a ball. I eventually made my way to where Ro, Joe, Jerry, and Max were laughing about something.

“Your godson wants a little of your attention, Max.”

He quickly wiped his hands and reached for him. “It's about time I start teaching him some of the finer things in life,” he said, tickling Tyler under the chin and getting a squeal of joy in return.

Later, with the evening growing late and Tyler down for the night, Jerry had made a couple of pots of decaf. The rich aroma wafted over us. Ro and I were with the wives. Gavin was sitting with Michael, Nancy, and Marsha, probably engaged in a little shop talk that I imagined Marsha was eating up. Max, Ralph, Joe, and Jerry were leaning against the deck rail involved in who knew what, but it made them chuckle and laugh.

My article in yesterday's paper about Tutoxtamen and the real reason for the drug's not approvable had created considerable fallout in the Senate, House, FDA, pharma lobby, and a mass of indignation from all over the world. Others would be assigned to those stories, and my follow-ups would be on Harley Rogers and his pharmaceutical company.

He had told me he still planned to follow through with his promise to the Carmayan president: to maintain his mini processing plant on C-2, manufacturing Tutox there. He was also going to honor another promise: build a cancer hospital on the C-1. Rogers's main facility in Morris Plains, New Jersey, was already gearing up to resume manufacturing Tutox for worldwide consumption.

Following last evening's all hands editorial meeting with Barton, Travis, Lassiter, and Star editors I'd never met, Barton took me aside to say that Mrs. Osterman was anxious to schedule the official awards ceremony and luncheon for my Pulitzer.

Knowing me though, come my next day of work, I would more likely be anxious about what my next assignment might be and who would be giving it to me.

I did suspect, however, that my beat reporting days were behind me.

Acknowledgments

One of my visits to Capitol Hill, in preparation to write
The Hill People
, was delightfully enhanced by good friend and former Assistant Secretary for the Majority US Senate Patrick Hynes, who arranged for and accompanied me on a personal tour of the Senate wing of the Capitol, regaling me with stories of how certain rooms aside from the Senate chamber were used by the senators.

I soloed on a later trip to Capitol Hill to learn about the three Senate office buildings: Russell, Dirksen, and Hart, which sit on Constitution Avenue north and east of the Capitol Building. I viewed many of the historic committee rooms and searched out who had oversight on the FDA and where those offices were located, which gave me the idea for where Michael Horne's friend, Nancy Morris, would work. That same solo trip became the one that Laura would take on her own exploration of the Hill.

I enjoyed a short, but fun collaboration with my oldest son, Graham, who holds degrees in chemical engineering and chemistry from NC State University and later earned his professional engineer's license. His expertise was vital to my understanding of what went into the construction of a small one-drug processing plant operation. He also reviewed and edited my copy on how I presented such a process in this book.

This is the third of my books to be republished by BQB Publishing. Death of an Intern, the initial Laura Wolfe thriller, was the first, and
Rude
Awakenings
, a political thriller outside of the Laura Wolfe universe, was the second. Both of those books have received awards for mystery writing. I wrote a lengthy explanation of how I met the wonderful people of BQB Publishing in the acknowledgments for Intern, and how much I respect and enjoyed them all. I had come from a self-publishing world where no doors to the staff were open to me, the writer. My whole writing experience changed for the better the day I met Publisher Terri Leidich.

I know now that I had never worked with a real editor before Janet Green (
www.thewordverve.com
) was assigned to Intern and then again, at my strong request, to The Hill People. I wanted her to be boldly candid with me and not hold back on suggestions or demands. Jan's acumen and verve along with her ability to understand the thinking of my characters has made this whole rewriting experience something that I will always cherish. Jan is far more than an editor, she is a teacher.

Terri told me going into our association that after she and then Production Manager Lisa read my books, they would select the artist and editor best suited to me and my writing style. They have more than kept their word, for which I will always be grateful.