Twisted Hunger (8 page)

“For me?” Ellery was surprised by the lovely bouquet of yellow bud roses and baby’s breath.

The delivery man looked at the name on the envelope taped to the small crystal vase. “If you’re Ellery Winters, Aide to Senator Jones, then these are for you. If you’ll just sign for their receipt, please.” He set the vase on the corner of her broad desk and handed her his clipboard.

Ellery quickly signed on the appropriate line, gave the man a tip and reached for the envelope. When she saw that a thank-you card was inside, she again thought it was a mistake, but then she read the message.

Ellery—

You are a real jewel and I want you to know how fortunate I consider

myself to have you on my staff.

—Abraham Lincoln Jones

For the hundredth time during the five weeks she’d been working in the senator’s office, she wondered what it was about him that had spooked her mother. Ellery had to continually remind herself that she had been placed there to find a flaw in the man’s character. Thus far, she had discovered only virtues.

The flowers were typical of his thoughtfulness. He always thanked her for working late, even though it was an expected part of her job and happened nearly every day. She had worked for enough men to appreciate one who regularly said “please” and “well done”. Senator Jones was unusual in other ways also. He rarely forgot the name of someone he’d met and never once had she heard a sexual innuendo or profanity slip from his lips. His gentlemanly, considerate manner seemed completely inbred rather than practiced as with many of the politicians she’d encountered.

He was also better looking than she’d expected him to be. Apparently, his very fair coloring didn’t transfer to print or film very well, but he had quite attractive features. She could imagine how many female admirers he must have had as a young man. It occurred to her that it might help if he got some sun, or maybe used a little makeup to darken his eyebrows and lashes. She knew a lot of men in the public eye who used makeup on occasion.

Even his reaction to her greater height impressed her. For some reason, she had pictured him to be much taller, but he was barely five foot eight. To his credit, he didn’t seem to mind looking up at her as a lot of men did.

Although he had been traveling for most of her first month in Sacramento, he was expected to be in his office full-time for the next several weeks, so she would have the opportunity to observe him more closely.

She glanced at the clock. There were two more minutes left before she was to buzz him with an excuse to end his meeting with Gregory Yates, the director of S.P.I.C.E. The Society for the Protection of Individual Choices and Elections was originally meant to include a wide range of issues, but had become known primarily as a gay rights group.

S.P.I.C.E. had been a strong supporter of Jones in the last election, so he usually found time for their director if at all possible. Today, however, he wanted to keep it short since Gregory was here to nag him about the homosexual murder in Santa Monica three weeks ago, and he had no news for him.

Two phone lines rang simultaneously just as she was about to perform the interruption. She put one on hold while she took care of the other.

“Senator Jones’ office. Ellery Winters speaking.”

“It’s Vincent Barry, Miss Winters. I’m sorry to bother you again, but we’ve run into another small problem regarding the banquet tomorrow evening.”

Ellery’s shoulders slumped. She wondered if her mother ever had as many
small
problems as the catering manager of the Yorkshire Hotel seemed to be having. Although, to be fair, she didn’t think her mother had ever catered a sit-down dinner for two thousand wealthy and famous people at one time. “Go on.”

“Our regular seafood supplier now says he can only get us enough quality jumbo shrimp to serve the shrimp cocktail appetizer to half the guests. Perhaps we could substitute a tropical fruit cup? We could dress it up with a gold palm tree or a miniature flag.”

Ellery sighed heavily. “That might have worked before the menus were printed, but that’s unacceptable now. We cannot have a roomful of people expecting shrimp and getting a fruit cup, with or without a gold palm tree… at least not for what
these
people are paying.” She tried to think like Audrey would have. “Hold on, please. I have another call.” Besides giving herself a chance to think, she needed to take a message from the other caller, but when she pressed that button, she only heard a dial tone.

She took another moment to buzz the senator before getting back to the caterer.

“Yes?” he said over the speakerphone so that Gregory would hear what Ellery was about to say and, hopefully, take the hint to leave.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but the reporter from
Newsweek
is on line one for the interview he scheduled. He said this is the only time he has before deadline.”

“Thank you. I’ll take it in a moment.”

Ellery quickly shifted her brain back to the catering crisis and picked up that call again. “Can you definitely get half the order of shrimp?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good. Cut the number of shrimp per person in half and substitute jumbo black olives stuffed with garlic and herb cream cheese. If you place one between each shrimp, it will look creative and they’ll still be getting the appetizer listed on the menu.”

“That’s an excellent suggestion. And we’ll pierce the olives with fancy toothpicks. No one will ever notice the missing shrimp. If you have a few more minutes, Miss Winters, I’d like to go over one or two other details.”

“Actually, there’s something else I need to take care of right now but if you’re free at eight o’clock, I’ll come over to the hotel and go over everything one more time.”

“Eight would be perfect.”

“I’ll see you this evening then, Mr. Barry.”

Gregory came out of Jones’ office with less of a frown than when he went in. “Is it your birthday?” he asked, noting the flowers.

Ellery smiled. “No. Senator Jones sent them. Isn’t he thoughtful?”

Gregory returned her smile. “He’s the best thing that’s happened to California since Anita Bryant. We can only hope Sam Erikson’s people pay attention to all the letters we’ve been sending recommending Jones for his running mate.”

“The way the media has been hovering around here lately, I’d say Erikson’s people and everyone else have already made their choice.”

The phone rang again, and Gregory waved goodbye.

“Senator Jones’ off—”

“I realize you are new to my son’s staff, but in the future, when you put someone on hold, try to remember to return to that caller.”

Ellery would have recognized the haughty voice even if the woman had not made a reference to her “son”. “I am so sorry, Mrs. Jones. Between the media and tomorrow’s banquet—”

“Yes, yes. I understand. But I’m calling from Paris and don’t want to have to dial all these numbers a third time. Is he in?”

Forcing herself to sound pleasant, Ellery said, “As a matter of fact he just ended a meeting. Please hold a moment.”

“Fine. Just don’t forget me this time.”

As she notified the senator of the call, she wondered how someone who had been the wife of a diplomat for fifty years could be so abrasive. Undoubtedly, she must have a softer side than the one Ellery had seen thus far… or she was a talented actress when it was required of her.

Within a few days of starting her new job, she had been warned by several staff members about the “Queen Mother”. The worst of it was, they said, after a conversation with his mother, the senator occasionally became despondent, even to the point of canceling appointments or leaving the office unexpectedly.

And yet his instructions to her had been to put his mother through to him whenever possible. Fortunately, she only called about once a week.

* * *

“I cannot stress enough how important it is that you train these new employees on tact as well as efficiency. The lack of professionalism exhibited by young people today makes me wonder what is to become of our country.”

Abraham unclenched his jaws before responding. “I’m sure Miss Winters does not require further training, but I may need to hire a second secretary for her. As she tried to tell you, Mother, the phones have been extremely busy recently, what with everything that’s going on.” He hoped that would prompt an acknowledgment from her.

“Yes, well, then you should hire an additional girl if one is needed. Now, the reason I called was to let you know that the latest rumor here in Paris is that you are the party’s first choice to run with Sam Erikson. You know how proud your father and I will be the day that is confirmed.”

Abraham let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thank you. I appreciate—”

“There’s nothing to thank me for yet. I said we
will
be proud. I’m just calling to remind you that millions of eyes will be watching you every minute now. It is imperative that you mind your every word and deed, even when you think you’re in private or with friends. There is no privacy for a politician, and you have no friends. Remember that. Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, ma’am. Each and every word.”
And I heard them all the other times you said them too.

“Good. Next. Did you take care of that little matter I spoke to you about the last time I called?”

He knew exactly what she was referring to, but he wouldn’t give her that much satisfaction. “Which little matter would that be, Mother?”

“Hmmph. I’m the one who’s supposed to be nearing senility, not you. I’m talking about your appearance and that film clip of you in that old-fashioned suit and awful tie. Now do you remember? I told you to seek professional help in revamping your wardrobe. It should be quite clear to you after all these years that your wife has terrible taste when it comes to clothing, and nearly—”

“I took care of it,” he said, swiftly cutting off whatever other insult she had intended to aim at Vivian. It was one thing to accept her criticisms of him, but he drew the line when she started on his wife.

“Good. Unfortunately there was something else about that film clip that I failed to notice the first time because I was so shocked by what you were wearing. You are a very handsome man, Abraham, but even Clark Gable had one profile that was better than the other. You don’t seem to know which is your best side to show the camera. In fact, it appears that you occasionally forget that you’re being filmed.

“Also, you looked a bit washed out when the lights were directly on you. Perhaps you should consider hiring someone to do your makeup professionally. At the very least, ask someone to give you some advice on working in front of a television camera. Your visual exposure is about to multiply a few million times, and you must look your best every minute.”

After promising to look into that, he was able to end the call on a somewhat peaceful note.

Although he was accustomed to his mother’s constant haranguing, he had hoped his recent advancements in the private polls would have been impressive enough to spare him any derogatory comments from her for a while. Despite how far he had come, she always managed to find some shortcoming to gnaw on.

He slipped off his shoes and socks, rose from his chair, and removed his jacket and tie. Standing in the middle of his large office, he closed his eyes and brought his hands together above his head. In the manner he’d learned while living in Japan, he inhaled deeply and slowly, while drawing his hands down the center of his body. Inch by inch, he felt calm and balance being restored.

As he continued with the age-old movements, he soothed his wounded ego by reminding himself that one day soon, he would be in the most exalted political position in the world, higher than his father or grandfather had ever reached. On that day, he would make his dear mother eat every one of her “little constructive criticisms”.

A knock on his office door startled him for a moment until he remembered where he was. “Come in.”

“I just wanted to say thank you for the—” She stopped and blinked at him.

“
Tai chi
, Miss Winters,” he said softly, as he continued to perform his graceful exercise. “Good for balancing the mind, body and spirit. You should try it. I hope my mother didn’t upset you. She can be quite… forceful.” He abruptly stopped the movements and walked back to his desk. With an audible sigh, he noted, “Much better. What can I do for you?”

* * *

The surprise of seeing him in his bare feet doing what appeared to be more like ballet than
tai chi
had been enough to stop Ellery in her tracks. The next thing she noticed was how much shorter he seemed and realized that he must wear lifts in his shoes.

Beyond that, however, there was something very odd about his eyes, almost as though he were drunk or in the midst of a gripping daydream.

“Miss Winters?” the senator prompted.

She quickly gathered her wits. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wanted to thank you for the flowers. It was certainly unnecessary. In fact, you’ve made this transition so easy for me I probably should have bought
you
something.”

The dazed look faded from his eyes as he smiled at her. “Hopefully, you’ll still be thinking that way if we have the opportunity to relocate to a
bigger
office in the near future.”