Act of Darkness(69)

“What about the rest of the people here this weekend? Were any of them at that dinner too?”

“They all were, but I don’t think Patchen Rawls was supposed to be. Even Stephen looked upset when she showed up, Dan tried to stick her at a table in the back, but she made a scene, so she ended up on one end of the dais. Dan tried everything he could think of to hide her except put a paper bag over her head.”

“What about the third time?”

“That was the Citizens’ Coalition for Education,” Clare said promptly. “Now, that was odd.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t have to pay for that at all. Nobody invites lobbyists to public functions unless they’re looking for a contribution, but they invited me. I couldn’t understand it. It was a speaking engagement, for God’s sake. Stephen went and talked silliness for fifty minutes, and the Citizens’ Coalition paid him a lot of money he didn’t need.”

Gregor thought about this. “If it was so odd,” he asked her, “why did you go?”

“Because I assumed it was a command performance. It always is when Dan asks a lobbyist to show up at something.”

“It was Dan Chester who invited you?”

“I assume so, yes. Victoria’s name was on the invitation, of course, because it was an invitation to a private table. But Victoria wouldn’t have asked me without Dan’s having asked her first. She doesn’t even know me.”

“How does that work? The Citizens’ Coalition is giving the dinner, but Victoria has a table—does she pay for it?”

“It would have been assigned to her complimentarily. Stephen had a place on the dais with Janet, and Victoria had a table she could fill with friends at the Coalition’s expense. It’s part of the payout. I mean, everybody knows how Victoria and Janet feel about each other.”

“What did Senator Fox talk about?”

“I told you. He talked silliness. And he put in a plug for the act. I assumed that was why I was there. People were supposed to look at me and think of the Empowerment Project and forget that all I am is a lobbyist.”

“Which of the people here was there?”

Clare grinned. “All of them,” she said, “again. And you should have seen Dan Chester’s face. Kevin Debrett and Victoria Harte and Dan were all at the table with me, and then at the last minute, so was Patchen Rawls. Janet must have found out she was coming whether anyone wanted her or not, and got Victoria to put her at our table and keep an eye on her. I thought Stephen was going to have a cow.”

“I think that young woman is going to end up getting herself in a lot of trouble,” Gregor said, “if she hasn’t done that already.” He couldn’t think of anyone he had ever disapproved of as much as he disapproved of Patchen Rawls. The woman was insensitive to the point of madness. “According to Dan Chester,” he said, making himself stern to make sure he didn’t stray from the subject, “Stephen Fox spoke at least two other times during that period. Once—”

“Once was at the American Osteopathic Association,” Clare said quickly. “I was there. He was getting an award and it was one of those things where you had to buy tables, but Stephen didn’t get any money. Dan just wanted there to be a good showing.”

“He asked you to go?”

“He told me to be sure to be there. He told me in person.”

“What about the rest of these people?”

“All there. This time I think Patchen Rawls was expected. She wasn’t at Stephen’s table that time, either, but neither was I. Neither was Kevin Debrett, for that matter. I think Dan thought that would have looked too—cozy.”

“Dr. Debrett was on his own?”

“He had a table of friends. Including a woman. I had a table of strangers, as usual. Patchen Rawls was at a table with Victoria Harte, if you can believe it. I thought at the time that Dan was probably trying to make it look as if Patchen were Victoria’s friend, and Victoria was going along with it because she didn’t want Janet humiliated. Patchen can be an unmovable object when she wants to be. And she caused a lot of trouble later, of course. She always does.”

“Caused trouble how?”

“There was a break between the end of dinner and the beginning of Stephen’s speech, and there was a lot of mingling. Patchen attached herself to Stephen’s arm and couldn’t be pried loose.”

“Tell me when this event was, after the cocktail party but before—”

“After the cocktail party and after the contributors’ dinner, too, but before the speaking engagement thing.”