Paris Match(73)
“I’m afraid I can’t discuss that for fear of making things worse.”
“All right. How did you and Will and Kate Lee become friends?”
“I was able to be helpful to them on a couple of occasions, and we got along very well. They stayed at the Bel-Air Arrington during the convention last summer.”
“And I hear that you were involved in the nominating process?”
“Only in a peripheral way.”
“More than one of my sources tell me that you and Ed Eagle were instrumental in Kate’s winning the nomination.”
“That is a great exaggeration. Please see that I don’t get any credit for it in your article.”
“As you wish.” She switched off her recorder. “And now I must go. I have a nine o’clock flight in the morning, and I have to get up very early to make it.” She stood.
Stone stood with her and walked her to the door. “It was a pleasure meeting you,” he said.
“I come to New York now and then, for work. Perhaps I’ll see you there.” She handed him her business card.
“I’ll look forward to it,” Stone replied, and gave her his own card.
She slipped out the door and was gone.
—
HE SLEPT until late morning, then had lunch in the suite, then he turned to his e-mail. He found Carla’s column among his e-mails, and she had treated him kindly. He scanned the other messages and found one labeled “Axelrod.” He opened it and read:
This will be my last blog. I am deeply humiliated by the furor caused by my column about Katharine Lee, and as a result, I have decided to discontinue my blog and end my life. One parting note: I’ve done some digging into the origins of the story: my source, as it turns out, is a lover of Gordon Glenn, a highly placed member of Henry “Honk” Carson’s campaign, whose marriage is ending. I think you may draw your own conclusions.
Howard Axelrod
—
STONE’S cell phone began ringing. “Hello?”
“It’s Ann. Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
She read him the Axelrod blog. “It made the Times this morning. Can you believe it?”
“I suppose I have to believe it.”
“Gordon Glenn’s life will be hell for a few days,” she said, “and he deserves it. It’s only six A.M. here, but I expect that by nine there’ll be a statement from Honk, deploring Glenn’s actions and accepting his resignation.”
“Have you talked to Kate? Does she know about it?”
“She doesn’t get up until seven, and by then it will be all over the morning TV shows, and I’ll be releasing a statement saying that she will have no further comment.”
“You think this is the end of it, then?”
“How could it not be?”
“You think Axelrod will really kill himself?”
“I think he meant that he was ending Axelrod’s life, not his own.”
“That makes a lot of sense.”
“By the way, Carla Fontana’s column about you in the same edition was highly favorable.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”