Monica's Story by Andrew Morton

Author:Andrew Morton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782430643
Publisher: Michael O' Mara Books
Published: 2012-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Enter Kenneth Starr

WITH A LIGHTED CIGARETTE in her hand and tears brimming in her eyes, Linda Tripp stood with Monica in a back alley outside the Pentagon, braving the early December chill. As she puffed nervously on her Marlboro Light, she uttered the contrite words Monica had longed for weeks to hear: “I’m sorry.” “Oh, I’m such a shitty friend,” she wailed. “I’m such an awful person that I did that to you. I think of how mean I was. I’m so sorry—I’ll never do it again.” This meeting, on Monday, December 8, was the first time they had spoken since their late-night quarrel on November 21.

One of the most attractive things about Monica is that she is never mean-spirited. Despite that quarrel, before she had left for the Pentagon mission to Europe, she placed Tripp’s birthday present on her chair at work. Inside the carefully wrapped package was an antique bookmark inscribed, ironically, with a sentimental Victorian poem about the virtues of friendship. The contrast between Tripp’s “mean” behavior and Monica’s generosity is notable.

Monica was due to leave the Pentagon shortly, and there were several matters, besides her personal life, that she wished to resolve before her departure. She was particularly anxious, and with good reason, that her search for a job should not end up in the usual Clinton black hole. During her meeting with the President the previous weekend, he had told her that Vernon Jordan was working on a job for her—a new player, but the same old, old story.

Just to make sure he did not forget her, Monica sent Jordan a baseball cap, a box of chocolates, a short note and a copy of her résumé, as a friendly reminder. It seemed to do the trick. On December 11, she met him at his office, where, over a working lunch of turkey sandwiches and Diet Coke, they discussed her job options. Jordan gave her contact names at three companies—MacAndrews & Forbes (the parent company of Revlon), Young & Rubicam and American Express—that he wanted her to write to, and promised to phone several other business contacts. They discussed the structure of the letter she should write and he asked her to send him a copy.

They talked, too, about their mutual friend—and the reason why Jordan was seeing her in the first place—the President of the United States. Monica said that she saw Bill Clinton more as a man than as a president, and that she treated him like a regular guy and got angry with him if he didn’t call or see her enough. For once the urbane Mr. Jordan was taken aback: “Monica, you can’t go yelling at the President when he’s dealing with Tony Blair [the British Prime Minister] on issues of Iraq. He can’t hang up the phone and then have you yelling at him. From now on, when you’re mad at him I want you to call me and yell at me, and I’ll deal with it.” Then he teased her about her behavior, telling her, “Don’t deny it: your problem is that you are in love.

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