The Second Mouse - Archer Mayor [37]
Joe was already laughing at her phrasing. “You? How’s that?”
She became more serious. “It was actually a sad case—a young woman found alone, dead at the wheel in a single-car accident. The police investigated from their end, I did the procedure from mine, and we agreed on a finding of accidental mishap. She’d clearly been driving too fast, there was some alcohol involved, and the roads were slippery. That was that, as far as everyone thought, even though the woman happened to be an au pair working for our aspiring politician and his wife.”
Joe began nodding, gradually recalling the case from what he’d read in the papers at the time.
“Freeman,” Hillstrom resumed, “was suitably distraught, having his picture taken at the airport, where the coffin was being flown back to Europe for interment, and issuing the right comments to the press. Unfortunately for him, several days later, a friend of the dead girl discreetly contacted the police after returning to Europe herself and told them that the au pair had actually committed suicide over a sexual liaison she’d been having with Freeman. The friend had a letter and photos that the girl had given her to prove it, but she’d waited to share them for fear of being arrested or detained while she was still over here.”
“I remember all that now,” Joe said. “The dead girl was named Ellen Turnley. She was a Brit. But how’s that fall back onto you?”
“I had to change the death certificate,” she explained. “At first, that was no big deal. The way the news came to the police, and given Vermont’s discreet and old-fashioned press corps, no one heard of this development. There was no effort to cover it up, but no one advertised it, either. Still, I was suddenly faced with a change in the facts—palpable evidence of suicidal intent—and felt it my duty to write an amendment. I made no more fuss about it than anyone else, but someone in the media finally woke up, and it was my amendment that tipped them off. One thing led to another, the whole thing blew up—along with Freeman’s marriage and his political ambitions, and guess who he blamed forever after for his downfall?”
“My God,” Joe said. “Just like the proverbial messenger.”
“That’s it,” she agreed. “You can imagine my feelings when the new governor made Freeman my boss. I knew there’d be trouble sooner or later.”
Joe thought back to something she’d mentioned earlier. “And yet you said that you’ve been telling him to drop dead from the get-go.”
She looked at him ruefully. “Suggesting a lack of diplomatic skills? More like an excess of arrogance. Joe, you may not realize it, but you’re about the only man I know besides Daniel who puts up with me, and now I’m not so sure about that.”
Joe didn’t press his point. Instead, he tried to dull its impact. “You’re not that difficult. You set a high bar, but you set it higher for yourself. I have always enjoyed working with you, Beverly, and I will for years to come. Let me help out with Freeman.”
Her eyes widened as a smile played on her lips. “How will you do that?”
“Let me think about it a bit. For that matter, maybe the less you know, the better for right now.”
She was laughing. “Ah, my knight. You will rue this decision. We’ll both end up unemployed.” The smile died quickly as she added, “Seriously, that’s very sweet of you, but potentially self-destructive. Freeman’s in the catbird seat right now. He’s powerful and dangerous, and to be honest, you and the VBI are not so firmly anchored in the harbor, either. Politics created you, and politics can make an end of you.” She gave him a look of utter sincerity. “I could not live with myself, Joe—not the way things are going for me right now—if I were the cause of any harm to you. You may be the last friend I have on earth.”
Impulsively, he took up her hand and this time gave it a chivalric kiss. “Not to worry, madam. We’ll see this through together.”
She flushed slightly as she pulled her hand back and stared at her unfinished meal. “Well, whatever happens, I