A More Perfect Union by Carsen Taite

Author:Carsen Taite [Taite, Carsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626397552
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2017-11-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Rook’s phone started ringing at six a.m. She was on her way to the treadmill, located on the top floor of her townhouse, and for a second, considered ignoring it until she got in her exercise for the day. But the second passed and she checked the screen and took the call. “Good morning, Senator Newman.”

“Do you have any updates for me?”

Fine. She didn’t want to waste time on niceties either. “Matter of fact, I do. I spent last night reviewing the tapes of the morning shows and my team performed an analysis of the resulting press coverage. Your favorables are up five percent since the story broke. If we keep—”

“Five percent?” His voice rose. “I get a five percent bump when I kiss babies on the campaign trail. You can’t seriously think that’s progress.”

Rook rubbed her pounding forehead. “Senator, this isn’t a campaign for votes. It’s a campaign for your future and maybe even your liberty if the DA decides to open a criminal investigation. Every tenth of a percentage point we can elevate your image is a potential juror deciding you’re too nice, too sincere to convict on a manslaughter charge. Trust me when I say that we are making progress.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding more resigned than apologetic. “Jeanine is not happy about all this attention. The press is following us everywhere and they’re scaring the kids. I can’t get to my office without a Capitol Police escort.”

Rook searched for a solution, and something she’d seen on one of the news segments last night came to mind. “Didn’t Jeanine graduate from Columbia?”

“Yes. She grew up in Manhattan. Her parents still live there. But I don’t understand what that has to do with—”

“Bear with me a second.” Rook put the senator on hold and dialed Lacy on another line. “Lace, I know it’s early, but there’s some kind of women’s conference going on at Columbia this weekend. Farah Hamil is one of the organizers. I need you to contact Farah and get her to invite Jeanine Newman to attend. Small speaking role, not one where she’ll be subject to questions, just something to give her and the kids an excuse to be away from DC for a while. Get Harry to start working on her speech. Something along the lines of you can be a strong, modern woman and still stand by your man. I want to see copy by noon.”

“Got it. I have until noon to roll back decades of feminism.”

“Very funny.” Rook knew Lacy was kidding. Mostly. “If Farah balks, have her call me.”

“Will do. What time will you be in?”

“Not sure. This new case is going to have me running around for a few days.”

“The one from Julia?”

Rook appreciated Lacy’s discretion. “That’s the one. I’m not sure I need to involve the rest of the team right now, but I’ll keep you posted.” After Lacy hung up, Rook switched back to Senator Newman. “Your wife is about to be invited to speak at a women’s conference at Columbia.

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