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She went into the bathroom and closed the door, leaving him to ponder what she’d just said and to contemplate his next move. Surely she couldn’t mean it. You didn’t just walk away from becoming the most powerful woman in the land.

“Deb?” he called.

Her driver appeared at the bedroom door.

“What do you want?” Colgate said.

“Mrs. Colgate’s luggage,” he replied meekly.

“She won’t be needing it.”

Deborah came into the room. “Thank you, Joe,” she said. “I’ll be down in a minute. You can take the bags.”

The driver wrestled the luggage from the room and into the hallway. Colgate followed him and slammed the door, turned and faced his wife. “This is insanity,” he said. “You’re overwrought, and I can understand that, but you don’t just toss away years of working together to reach the goal we’ve had our eyes on. Please, sit down and let’s discuss this like two rational people, the way we’ve always done when we’ve faced a problem.”

She ignored him as she checked herself in a full-length mirror. She wore one of his favorite outfits, a smart teal pants suit and tailored white blouse, not unlike a man’s tux shirt. She was always attractive, he thought, but at this moment she was stunningly beautiful.

“One last thing, Bob,” she said. “I don’t want you to be blindsided. A second tape might show up on YouTube, or some other video blog site.”

“A second tape? What are you talking about?”

“A tape of me with your whore.”

“What kind of crazy talk is that?”

“I knew about Ms. Curzon, Bob, knew that you’d had sessions with her. Meeting her at hotels was at least prudent, but going to her place was so stupid.”

“How did you know?”

“You assume everyone around you is loyal. Your ego doesn’t allow any room to think that maybe there are people who find your behavior to be shabby, people who have some feelings for me. I called Ms. Curzon and made a date, just like you did.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” he said.

“Oh, you’d better believe it, Bob. It’s true.”

“And you… ?”

“That’s right. I went there. I wanted to see what it was that attracted you to her, what she had that I didn’t. I intended to go through with the reason I was there, to have sex with her, but I chickened out halfway through. It wouldn’t have been my first lesbian experience. Connie and I tried it in college, just an experiment, just once, but it didn’t do much for either of us.”

“This is insanity,” he said, no energy behind his words.

“The point is, Bob, don’t be shocked if Ms. Curzon caught me on tape, too.” She forced a rueful laugh. “Quite a pair we make, huh? We can always find new careers in the porn movie business.”

She went to the door and opened it, turned, and said, “You probably don’t believe this, but I hope you win the White House, Bob. Pyle has been a disgrace as president. You’ll make a much better one.”

He sat stunned for a minute before going to the second-floor landing and looking down to where she spoke with the Secret Service agents assigned to her. “I won’t be needing you anymore,” she said. “I’ll no longer be campaigning. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

She stepped through the door while the lead agent used his radio to report this unexpected turn of events. Colgate heard a car start and pull away, followed by a chorus of shouts from the press. The agent looked up at Colgate as though asking what his next move was.

He heard nothing from Colgate, who walked back into the bedroom and shut the door.

FORTY

Robert Colgate, former governor of Maryland and candidate for the president of the United States, was interviewed in prime time by Barbara Walters.

“Although you aren’t legally divorced yet,” Walters said during the interview, “you will go into the White House if elected in November as a bachelor, the first since James Buchanan. Buchanan never married, but do you expect to marry while in office, the way Presidents Tyler and Cleveland did?”

“That’s impossible to say, Barbara,” he replied, “but I wouldn’t rule it out.” His smile was charming, as it was throughout