Dead Watch

believe me or not, but I didn’t want those people in Madison to get hurt. Wasn’t any point in it. We wanted the package, but if we didn’t get it, knowing that you had it was almost as good.”
    Jake nodded. “You could have pushed it out there, the way you did on Howard Barber and Lincoln Bowe.”
    Goodman smiled, not a happy smile, but resignation. “Yup. But that fuckin’ Darrell . . .” He sighed. “If you mess with me, Jake, they’ll probably find the Madison Bowe surveillance tapes in Darrell’s safe-deposit box. They’d pretty much establish that she knew about the Landers package, and that she’s been lying about it.”
    “We know about the tapes, of course,” Jake said. “We’d hate to see them get out. Also, Madison has some . . . ethical . . . concerns about the investigation into Darrell’s death. We’d hate to see some poor broken-ass Mexican hauled up on murder charges, just so you can clear it.”
    “Won’t happen. I got my dumbest guys running that investigation.” A few more steps. “So we’re dealing?”
    “Mmm. We think everything is fine as it is now. We’ve got a good vice-presidential nominee, you’re the respected governor of the great Commonwealth of Virginia, Madison is recovering nicely from her husband’s death. Why stir the pot?”
    “That was exactly my thought,” Goodman said. “There’s no reason at all—no reason to stir up anything.”
    “What’re you going to do next year?” Jake asked. “When you leave office?”
    “I don’t know. Go fishing. Go on television. But I’m a pretty damn good public executive, Jake. I like the work and people like me. Would’ve been a good vice president . . .” He sighed. “Well. I’ll find something. Maybe the president will have something for me. A year from now, all this noise will be ancient history.”
    They didn’t shake hands; Arlo just peeled off as they walked back toward the mansion, said, “If you ever need anything, I’d hesitate to ask me for it.”
    “I will,” Jake said. “Hesitate.” And on the way back to his car, thought about Goodman hoping for a job offer from the president. Over my dead body . . .

    Danzig said to Jake, about the national convention, “There’s a big goddamn hang-up on the electrical work. We’ve got three different unions and two city councilmen going at it tooth and nail, and we need somebody to go talk some serious shit with them. Figure out who to talk to, how to get it done. The media’s already screaming about their booths, they can’t plan their setups until they can configure their booths . . .”
    “I’ve been spending some time in New York,” Jake said. “I’ve got a couple of guys I can call there. Probably a matter of money more than anything.”
    As Jake stood up to leave, Danzig asked, “You figure out what you want?”
    “I want peace and quiet,” Jake said. “However I can get it. However Madison and I can get it.”
    “I believe that can be had,” Danzig said. “I have a relationship with the special prosecutor, although you don’t know that. What else?”
    “That’s a lot. But there’s this girl who used to work for Arlo Goodman, as an intern. She’d like to move up to the White House. She’s smart, she’ll take anything. No big deal, though.”
    “Tits and ass?”
    “Excellent.”
    “Give me her name—we’ll find something,” Danzig said.
    “Thanks. I’ll get going on New York. What’s the timeline there?”
    “Gotta be done by yesterday,” Danzig said. As Jake got to the door, he asked, “Is this gonna be a full-time thing? You and Madison Bowe?”
    “We’re pretty tight. I don’t know—it could work out.” Jake hesitated, then asked, “Is Goodman gonna get behind us for the election? I know he wanted the vice presidency.”
    “The president’s talking to him next week,” Danzig said. “We’re worried about what happened down in Norfolk, with his brother. Unregistered machine guns, camouflage suits, it looked like an assassination went bad. Now all this stuff is coming out about interrogation techniques, and the Watchmen. I don’t know . . .”
    “I’ve been talking to people,” Jake said, and thought, Just take a second to fuck Goodman for good. “There’s a lot of stuff that’s going to surface when Goodman’s out of office, when he’s out of power down there. There are literally going to be bodies coming up. Death-squad stuff. I thought you guys should know about it.