Cut and Thrust

33

Stone and Ann didn’t get home until well after midnight, and they slept until after eight o’clock, late for them. Ann had turned her phone off the night before, and when she checked her voice mail there was a message from Kate, left only minutes before.

“It’s chaotic over here,” Kate said. “I hope it’s okay if Will and I come over there for breakfast because we’re on our way!”

“Oh, shit,” Ann said, running for the shower. “Kate and Will are probably downstairs demanding breakfast!”

Stone picked up the phone and ascertained that this was true. “Give them whatever they want,” Stone said. “We’ll be down in fifteen minutes.”

They made it in that time to find the Lees digging into omelets on the patio by the pool. They joined them.

“You look very well rested,” Kate said.

“Thank you,” Stone replied, “so do you.”

“I can’t believe how well I slept,” Kate said.

Stone ordered breakfast for him and Ann, then looked up to see Sam Meriwether approaching; he waved him to a chair, and Sam ordered breakfast. “They said at your place that you were over here,” he said to Kate and Will.

“As you see us,” Will replied.

Sam shook his head. “I still don’t know what happened last night. Dick Collins and I ran the numbers over and over, and as best we could figure, we were going to be three delegates short at the end of the voting — Dick said four. Then if we had gone to a second ballot, Otero and Willingham could have taken the nomination. I don’t understand it. Why did they fold when they did?”

“I can enlighten you,” Will said. “I have it from the horse’s mouth — that is, Ed Eagle’s. It went like this: Stone, here, called Ed on the floor and told him to tell Otero that we had the votes to win on the first ballot. Otero didn’t believe it at first, but Ed brought him around, then they went over to Virginia and sandbagged Mark Willingham. That was it: Otero went back to his delegation and conceded, then Willingham folded, too.”

“Wait a minute,” Sam said. “You’re telling me we won the nomination on a bluff?”

“That’s what I’m telling you,” Will said. “And I don’t think Stone will deny it.”

“Stone?” Sam said incredulously. “Is that what happened?”

Stone shrugged. “Ann ran the numbers, and somebody had to do something. I’m sorry we didn’t have time to check with you or Kate, Sam, but we had to move New Mexico off the dime before the chairman called on them to vote, otherwise it would have been over.”

“Well,” Kate said, “we couldn’t have that, could we?”

“I swear to God,” Sam said, “it would never have occurred to me to bluff.”

“That’s because you’re such a nice, honest, straightforward man, Sam,” Kate said, “whereas Stone...”

“Stone,” Ann said, “you’re blushing.”

“My true character has been revealed,” Stone said.

“And a truer character never lived,” Kate said. “What would you like in the new administration, Stone? Attorney general? Ambassador to the Court of Saint James’s? Appointment to the first vacancy at the Supreme Court? Name it!” Everybody was laughing now.

“Maybe ambassador to Tonga,” Stone said, “or anyplace with good beaches, golf courses, and little work to do.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kate said.

Kate and Will finished their breakfast. “Do you mind if we hang out here for a while, Stone?” Will asked. “Our phones are jammed with calls from people who want something from Kate.”

“Please stay as long as you like, indoors or out,” Stone replied.

Manolo approached. “Mr. Stone,” he said, “there are people calling the house for you.” He handed Stone a sheet of paper with a dozen names of TV and print reporters. “They all want to interview you.”

Stone ran through the list. “Oh, God,” he said.

“Word is getting around about last night, Stone,” Will said.

“What is your advice, Will? Should I talk to these people?”

“My advice is to remain an enigma for as long as you can. You’re going to read and hear a great many reports in the various media concerning the events of last night, some of them less favorable than others. Let the dust settle for a while, then, at some later date of your own choosing, decide who, if anybody, you want to confide in.”

“That’s good advice, Will.”

“If you like,” Ann said, “you can refer all requests for interviews to me and I’ll tell them all, ‘No comment.’”

“Done,” Stone replied.