Scattered Graves

clean campaign. I told Loraine that I didn’t want any dirt dug up. Just pertinent information,’’ said Sutton.
Loraine was nodding her head. ‘‘It was my job to do research. Maybe if I’d done it better...’’
‘‘It has been my experience that Jefferies was really good at hiding things,’’ said Diane.
‘‘Who knew he would pull things like this?’’ Her brother gestured at Diane’s maps.
‘‘You probably know,’’ began Sutton, ‘‘that Spence Jefferies was from Atlanta. His mother was, at any rate. He was a military brat for a while. His mother and father divorced, and the mother moved him to Atlanta. You know he went to a good school, one of the ivy league schools.’’
‘‘Pennsylvania?’’ said Diane.
This was just the initial dance. He was telling her ordinary background information to show her that was his focus. But Diane had no doubt he would get to the meatier information after the dance was over.
‘‘That’s it—Penn State.’’
Diane didn’t correct him. And neither did his chil dren, she noticed, though their faces said they noticed the error.
‘‘Good business school. The others, Peeks and Bryce, went there too. They were just his campaign workers then. I had no idea he would reward them with such high positions. No matter how good the business school is, it didn’t prepare them for work in law enforcement.’’
He shook his head. ‘‘Loraine headed up my re search.’’ He smiled at his daughter. The dance was over.
‘‘I knew there was something about Jefferies... his eyes,’’ Loraine said. ‘‘I didn’t like him, and not because he was running against Dad.’’
‘‘He did have that shark-eyed look,’’ said Diane, hoping to encourage Loraine. She could see there was a reluctance to say anything bad about him right off the bat. Diane wanted to tell them to get on with it, that she didn’t have all day. Instead she smiled and took a sip of coffee and a bite of the sugar cookie.
‘‘That was it—like a shark. Cold and dark,’’ she said, giving her body a small shake.
‘‘Did you find out anything in your research?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I thought I had. I was really concerned that Dad not look like he was digging for dirt. We don’t do that. I mainly tried to find out about a candidate’s positions on issues. It’s not easy if they’ve never held office, but we—the volunteers who were working with me—happened upon something that was suspicious. I told Dad I needed to follow up on this, and I did. But maybe I didn’t go deep enough.’’
‘‘What were you concerned about?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘I was afraid he was abusing young people in some way,’’ she said.
‘‘Abusing how?’’ prompted Diane.
‘‘It was Buckley who first noticed something. You remember Buckley Kramer, Dad.’’
Her father nodded. Her mother murmured that he was a nice boy.
‘‘He was in Atlanta at a new restaurant. He saw Jef feries there with three young boys—I guess I should call them men—but they were high school and college age, Buckley said. They weren’t as well dressed as Jefferies. But they were young people; it’s hard to tell if they are poor dressers or just in style.’’
She stopped to take a drink of coffee. Diane imag ined it was cold by now. It must have been, because she set the cup and saucer down on the coffee table.
‘‘Jefferies was giving them gifts,’’ she said. ‘‘Buckley couldn’t see what kind of gifts, exactly, but they looked like watches.’’ Diane raised her eyebrows a fraction.
‘‘I know that’s certainly not incriminating behav ior,’’ continued Loraine, ‘‘but Buckley said there was something about it that was creepy to him. Not all the kids looked happy.’’
Loraine called them kids, but it sounded like some of them were adults—young adults, but adults just the same. Still...
‘‘What did you make of it?’’ said Diane.
‘‘Nothing, at first. But we spoke with someone from his campaign who had quit. He said the mayor and his friends gave him the creeps. It looks like Jefferies gave everyone the creeps. I can’t understand how he got elected. Sometimes I think people deserve the leaders they vote in.’’ Her voice was vehement.
Diane could see that the election defeat had stung her too—and was still stinging.
‘‘Now, Loraine,’’ said her father. ‘‘He pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. Look at how the governor took to Jefferies. You know people don’t