Power Play

Arliss said, “It’s been too long since we really talked, Natalie. I’m sorry for that.”

Natalie said, her voice calm, steady, “You know I understand. Now, you’re here to tell me Thorn has determined I’m to resign, aren’t you?”

Arliss very slowly lowered her lovely Meissen cup to its saucer. “Thorn refuses to ask you to resign.”

Natalie sat back. “I was certain that by now he would realize he didn’t have a choice but to cut me loose. You know as well as I do that in politics and in business, personal feelings count for nothing, at least not for long. He’s the president. Events are spiraling out of control, like a tidal wave gathering force and speed. Surely it would be a relief to put all this behind him—and you as well. I don’t understand his thinking.”

Arliss sighed. “Thorn said, and I quote, ‘Natalie has never lied about anything. If she said she didn’t break it off with George McCallum, then she didn’t. If she said a car tried to force her off a road in England, then it did. Well, I’ve got to amend that. I do know of one white lie—that was to Perry when she was twelve, I think, about sex.’ He grinned that famous grin of his, unrepentant, because he told me the First Lady had lied to their own daughter about the same thing, just last year.”

It sounded like him. She knew their friendship was bone-deep. She felt abiding gratitude to Thornton Gilbert. But she didn’t want him to suffer for this mess, her mess. “Am I hurting him, Arliss? You? The party?”

Arliss looked her straight in the eye. “Unfortunately, yes. You know how much I hate saying this. As your friend, as someone who’s known you as long as Thorn has, as someone who’d like to support you to the death—” She shrugged. “I can’t. I’m sure if you put aside your own wishes, it would be clear to you that Thorn is not acting in his own best interest.

“You’re underestimating the situation, Natalie, you’re not seeing how devastating the decisions you’ve made and their consequences have become. His enemies in the press use every opportunity to undermine him, and us. They’re starting to bray already about his straining our strong ties with our most important ally for the sake of a personal friend. They’re accusing him of carrying friendship too far, and why is that? They’re still stopping short of saying you and Thorn had sex in college and maybe even now are conducting an affair, but it could come. They’re hinting at a cover-up, laying out all sorts of scenarios.

“They’ll be digging into your past, Natalie, all the way back to college. As I said, they would be delighted to find someone who claims you slept with him. Tell me the truth, did you ever have sex with Thorn?”

Natalie was amazed. Arliss, of all people, should have known that Brundage had been the only boy she’d ever wanted, the only man she’d ever loved. But had others wondered if she’d had sex with Thorn? She’d known, of course, that he’d cared for her back then, but he and Brundage had been best friends, and nothing was ever said about it. If it had, Brundage had never told her. Thorn and Brundage had remained friends until Brundage had died. Natalie remembered how pleased she and Brundage had been when Thornton finally married in his late thirties. He picked a lovely woman, and now First Lady, who’d proved to be a huge political asset, a nice bonus, he’d once told her and Brundage. She kept her voice calm and steady. “No, Thorn and I never had sex, nor would I have ever considered it. It was a long time ago, ancient history. I’m sure Thorn got over his feelings for me very quickly.”

“Not all that quickly, given he didn’t marry until his late thirties. But that would mean the feelings were all on his side, wouldn’t it, and not on yours?”

Natalie nodded; her voice became brisk. “Arliss, I want the truth to come out. Really, that’s all I want.”

“Perhaps that would happen in a perfect world, Natalie, but Scotland Yard investigated George McCallum’s death. I understand they’re looking into it again at the behest of the FBI. From what I’ve been told, there was nothing more found to change their ruling of accidental death, if a ruling made because of his family and because he was a peer of the realm, otherwise, a probable suicide.

“They also investigated your claim that someone tried to run you off a cliff. They couldn’t find any evidence to support your claim, the first time and again when the FBI asked them to look into it again. So there’s nothing new in either case.”

All true, Natalie thought. Natalie didn’t want to accept what she saw on her friend’s face. She said slowly, as she studied Arliss, “Do you believe me, Arliss, about all of this? Because if you told me someone was trying to kill you, I would believe you, no matter what anyone said.”