“Interesting, huh? Even ideas of beauty are influenced by one point six one eight, or the Golden ratio. Hokusai’s wave combines both the Fibonacci spiral and the Golden ratio. Quite a few years ago, while my sister Amy was at the top of her game in fashion modeling, some math student somewhere decided to look at the ratios of different races of models and actors, people considered beautiful. One of them was Amy. The interesting thing was, each of their faces closely approximated the Golden ratio, even though they all looked different and were different races. Except Amy. Her face calculated out at what’s known in Japan as the Silver ratio.”
“Silver ratio?” he asked.
“It’s called Yamato-hi. Or one to the square root of two, or more commonly one to one point four, instead of one point six of the Golden ratio. Common shapes of ancient architecture, sheets of origami paper, shapes of old hand carts, Buddha statuary, even ikebana flower arranging. For a while, that’s all agents and advertisers were interested in, if a new model or young actor’s face met the correct ratio, the Golden ratio for white people and the Silver ratio for Asians. Then they started getting clever, reversing the ratios per races, trying to come up with exotic looks. That pretty much fell flat.”
“But…”
“I know what you’re going to say, and it’s the same thing everyone says. Some very ordinary looking people also meet the calculated ratio, and many people thought to be beautiful don’t meet it.”
“It’s all just fluff then?” Jack said. “Beauty products and actors’ appearances?”
She laughed. “No, it’s all marketing, which is exactly what you do in campaigning, right?”
“Ha! Yeah, I suppose so.”
“You’re making yourself attractive in front of millions of people. But for you, it’s less about getting money from them.”
“Damn right,” he said. “It’s about getting their votes.”
She reached under the covers and found what she was looking for. “Well, you’ve definitely got mine, Mr. President.”
With a flurry of bedclothes he was upon her once again, a mischievous grin plastered on his face.
Chapter 25
LEOPOLD LEFT JOHNSON at the bar after making his excuses and headed back upstairs. Jerome and the two Secret Service agents were where he left them, silently prowling the corridors. Leopold drifted down the hall to Jerome.
“We need to talk,” Leopold said. “Get rid of Bozo and Giggles for me.”
Jerome looked over at the agents. “You mean Chuckles and Fizzbo? I was starting to enjoy their company.”
“Just get them out of here.”
“You don’t want the extra eyes?”
“We don’t need them. Not tonight, anyway.”
“What’s going on?”
Leopold jerked his head at the two suits. “Not with them here.”
“Fine.” He called them over.
“What’s the problem?” said Chuckles. Or Fizzbo. Leopold wasn’t sure.
Jerome looked at them both in turn. “You’re off the clock, gentlemen. You can go back next door.”
“We only just got here.”
“There’s been a mistake,” Jerome said. “We don’t need you tonight.”
The two agents looked at each other and shrugged. “You got it,” the one on the left said. “You got our radio frequency if you need any more hand-holding.” They turned and left.
“So, what’s the issue?” Jerome said, taking up position by Melendez’s door. He sniffed the air. “Did you have a drink?”
“Never mind that,” Leopold said. “Nothing’s going down tonight.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I ran into Officer Johnson.”
Jerome raised an eyebrow. “Now’s not the time for socializing.”
Leopold ignored him. “The President gets here tomorrow. If anything’s going to happen, it’ll be then. When all eyes are on him. Until then, we keep alert.”
“Johnson’s got concerns,” Jerome said.
“Let’s call it a hunch.”
“I hate hunches.”
“Maybe you need to have a little talk with Harper.”
Leopold grinned. “Especially since the last one went so well.” He looked up and down the corridor. “This place is locked down for the night. I’ll track her down tomorrow.”
Jerome changed the subject. “I have my own concerns about Doctor Kato.”
“She seems harmless enough. A little uncomfortable with all the security, maybe, but nothing to worry about. No risk.”
“That’s not what I meant. I still think we should’ve looked into the past a little more closely and not relied on what the primary’s team gave us.”