The Heir

27

Katie looked at her watch when I told her. “Twelve hours to get ready for television cameras.”

“We just moved in,” I said. “Nothing’s had a chance to get dirty.”

“But it’s not arranged for television. Where will we sit? What will be behind us?”

“They’ll set us up the way they want.”

“And then we’re going to Bob and Gladys Forrester’s for dinner tomorrow night. I did find a dress. I told them I needed it ready for tomorrow afternoon. Who will Fred be paired with?”

“Pamela did her best. When she proposed Fred, the senator met and raised. He put his twin granddaughters into the pot.”

“So now they’re short one man.”

“Not a man. Eric.”

“Oh my!”

“It was their request.”

She had to absorb this. “We can handle it. But he has nothing appropriate to wear.”

“I’m sure you’ll fix that,” I said.

With a heavy heart I found my little brother, still in his attitude of devotion before the mighty visage of Bill Sandoff. I turned San-doff off.

“Eric. I have a job for you.”

He switched realities and blinked. “Cool. Is it dangerous?”

“Extremely. Tomorrow evening you are going with Katie and me, and Fred Spellman, to dinner at Senator Forrester’s house. This is very high society. Can you do it?”

“Remember, they taught us that stuff at St. Martin’s? We had all those classes about how to act and what fork to use.”

“Right. That’s not the hard part anyway. The senator has two granddaughters who’ve just finished Princeton. They’ll be there. Your job is to keep them distracted while Fred and the senator and I talk business.”

I had his complete and wide-eyed attention. “Are you joking?”

“No. I’m as serious as an earthquake.”

There was a pause while he recovered his ability to speak. “Are they good-looking?”

“I’ve never seen them. They’re twins.”

“Oh man. Oh man! I’ll be there. Wow! Where do they live? I’ll pick them up.”

“They are at the senator’s house already. You just come here. We’ll go together. And Katie is in charge of getting you ready.”

“Okay. That’s good. Wow! Thanks, Jason. I’ll do it.”

“Don’t get carried away,” I said.

He’d spent lots more time in my television room than I had. He opened a cabinet I hadn’t noticed and was typing on a keyboard that I didn’t even know the television had. If I’d timed him, it would have been less than fifteen seconds before he’d gone on-line and was staring at search results.

“Whoa! Check it out!”

“That’s them?”

“It must be. It’s the Princeton Web site. This is going to be excellent.”

Okay, so they were attractive, in a cute college girl sort of way. “Their grandfather is a senator.”

“My brother is a billionaire.”

I was getting exasperated. “You want another plate of spaghetti in your face? I am not joking. Cool your jets, Eric.” But it was throwing a bucket of water on a forest fire.

“You just talk your business and I’ll handle Genevieve and Madeleine.”

“That’s their names?”

“I think their mother’s French. And their home address is in Paris.”

“Oh, right,” I said. “Forrester’s son is a diplomat.” It was now plain that this would be a disaster; Eric would be eaten alive. He’d escaped from the reporters on Thursday, but there would be no escape here.

“I took French.”

“So did I, and I remember six words. High-school French will not impress them.”

“I remember more than six words.” A new thought detonated in his head. “Do I have to ride with you?”

“Yes.”

“Then let me drive.”

“Eric, neither the senator nor I will allow you to take those young ladies out in your car.”

“We’d just go for a drive. I’d take the Jaguar.”

“It doesn’t have a back seat.”

“Three people can fit in the front seat. It’d be fun.”

“I’m sure the girls would agree. But it’s not going to happen. I would start listing rules but I don’t know if you can count high enough.”

“Okay. So what am I supposed to do?”

“Just talk. Maybe one of them works on cars.”

“Ha, ha. It says that Genevieve majored in international economics and Madeleine was in European history.”

“Talk about politics.”

“You’re not supposed to. Politics or religion.”

“All you have to do is keep them busy for a couple hours.”

“Yeah, no problem. But it would be way more fun on the road.”

“This is work. It’s not supposed to be fun.”

“It will be. It just won’t be as much fun as it could be.”

“I will give you one rule. Number 94, right?”

“I’m listening.” Not happily.

And what difference did it make, anyway? I wasn’t his father. “I don’t know. Never mind.”

“What?”

“You don’t need me to tell you how to act.”

The day was over-at least it should have been. It was early for bed but there was nothing else I wanted to do.

At the old house I might have gone running. The grounds here were even big enough that I could have found some circuit to wear myself out on, but it was dark. The swimming pool didn’t have water in it yet. I stopped in the kitchen to express my appreciation to Rosita, and I met the new maids there. Then I was wandering again.

I found myself back in the television room. Eric was still glued.

“Did you say we were going to Bob Forrester’s house tomorrow night?”

“The senator himself.”

“He’s going to be on in a minute.”

We waited through a highlights reel of the governor’s press conference- he did no better than before. Katie found us.

“You’re watching television?”

“Eric is forcing me to.”

“What’s wrong with TV?” he said.

But Bill Sandoff was at the airport. He was having a long day, too.

“Senator Forrester has just arrived from Washington and he should be joining us in just a moment.”

A moment was two commercials to sell us cars and hamburgers. Then the senator joined us.

“Thank you for speaking with us, Senator.”

It must have been a bad flight. “Of course.”

Bill was getting a little ragged himself. “I wonder if you have any comments about Governor Bright?” This was obviously the question that Forrester had instructed Stan Morton to have asked. Bill didn’t even try to make it sound unscripted.

“I believe he should resign immediately.”

This was a forceful and premeditated attack. Big Bob was no longer watching from the sidelines, and both Bill Sandoff and I were suddenly alert.

“Even before the charges against him are-”

“There is no doubt in my mind.” There was a statuesque quality about both the senator and his statements. “This evening it was manifestly clear that he is unfit to hold office. But even more, he has abused the public trust for years and this public exposure is long overdue.”

“So you feel that Jason Boyer was justified-”

“Until he gets his own house in order, Mr. Boyer shouldn’t be accusing anyone. He certainly shouldn’t be attempting to use his wealth to influence government or politics. The Boyer family is even more culpable than the governor in this scandal.”

“Do you really mean the whole Boyer family, and not just…”

“I would find it hard to believe that Jason Boyer was unaware of his father’s dealings.”

“Senator Forrester-”

“If you will excuse me, please,” the senator said. Poor Bill. He wasn’t getting to use his words. They were going to start building up inside, and he would pop.

Forrester had turned away from the camera. Bill turned toward it. “A plague on both houses, says Senator Robert Forrester. This has been a rare look behind the…”

This time I interrupted him with the power switch.

“What did that mean?” Katie said.

“Forrester is making his move,” I said.

“We’re going to his house tomorrow?” Eric asked.

“Yes. And that was his way of telling me what the agenda would be. It’s just politics, it’s not personal.”

“I’m taking it personally,” Katie said.

“Go ahead. I might, too.”

“Do I have to?” Eric asked. Madeleine and Genevieve were on his mind.

“No,” I said. “You just have a nice time. Katie and I will take care of the hand-to-hand combat. And Fred-”

My cell phone rang. I’d rubbed the magic lamp and the genie was squeezing himself out of it.

“Hi, Fred,” I said.

“Jason. Did you see-”

“Yes. He’s declaring his independence. Except he doesn’t think all men are created equal.”

“He is strengthening his hand going into our meeting tomorrow evening. I believe we should answer him.” Fred was taking it personally.

“I’m having a television interview tomorrow morning,” I said.

“Will it be televised in the morning?”

“No, at six thirty tomorrow evening.”

“That will do,” Fred said. “He’ll watch it just before we arrive.”

“What should I say? That he’s an egotistical, self-important buffoon?”

“That isn’t what I would suggest.” Fred was regaining his caution. “Be strong but also conciliatory. I would suggest that you say you are surprised at the senator’s remarks, and then call for calm and communication. Perhaps you would mention that he has asked you to his house. You need to salvage this relationship, Jason.”

“I’ve already got a mother-in-law. I don’t need another relationship like this.”

“I’m being serious.” He sounded like it, too. “This meeting will be crucial.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Fred.”