By the time Allison left the office, it was well after eight o’clock, and she hadn’t eaten since lunch—which couldn’t be good for the baby. In the car, she turned on the radio. It was still set on the station she listened to in the morning for its frequent traffic updates. Outside of drive time, it was a series of conservative talk shows. Allison heard enough one-sided arguments in court that she didn’t like to hear them in her car as well. She was reaching out her finger to push the off button when she recognized the topic: Senator Fairview.
A sonorous voice she recognized as belonging to this particular show’s host, Jim Fate, was saying with disgust, “Isn’t lying in a criminal investigation enough? Isn’t that enough, Senator Schneider?” Fate’s radio show, The Hand of Fate, had started out small, but Allison had heard enough promotion for it in between traffic and weather reports to know that it was now syndicated nationally.
“If you’re under oath, of course it is. It’s perjury.”
Fate said, “It wasn’t under oath. But you know, sources say that Fairview has just refused to tell authorities about his affair with a minor. He just wouldn’t tell them. First he denied it, and then he clammed up. Isn’t that enough to get him impeached?”
Schneider said mildly, “I would think not.”
Fate’s voice dripped with disgust. “Really? If you, Luke Schneider, were on the Senate Ethics Committee, which you’re not, and evidence came in that a senator lied to the authorities in what could well be a murder investigation—are you saying that wouldn’t be enough to get him out of there?”
“But Senator Fairview’s been charged with nothing.”
“All right, so if someone from the FBI would stand up and say, ‘This guy impeded the investigation . . .’”
“Of course that would be enough,” Schneider said.
Fate echoed, “That’s enough to get him out?”
“Well, it’s enough to take to the Ethics Committee. They can move to expel, censure, or admonish him.”
“So what would it take for you guys to get rid of this creep?” Fate demanded. “I mean, it has reached critical mass. Wouldn’t you say that most decent human beings would have resigned by now, with all the stuff that we know about him? We’re talking corruption of a minor, statutory rape, and crossing state lines to have sex with the girl.”
Schneider said, “Right now those things are only rumors. They have not been substantiated. If someone came forward with proof, then we could deal with it. We don’t make decisions based on what people are saying on TV. There’s a process. There’s the Constitution. You can’t just get annoyed with someone and kick him out.”
“What about Katie Converse?” Fate demanded. “Did she have any rights in the matter? Who sticks up for her rights, Senator?”
There was a half-second pause. Schneider had just begun to answer when Fate overrode him. “I’m afraid we are out of time, Senator. Senator Schneider, thank you for joining The Hand of Fate.”
Dryly, Schneider said, “The pleasure has been all mine, Jim.”
MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE
A Very Personal Level
October 10
At my regular high school, I was always the smart one. It would be a lot harder to be the smart one in this group. But sometimes I think that maybe I don’t have to be the smart one here. I could be the funny one. Or maybe the pretty one.
Since there are only thirty Senate pages, you get to know everybody on a very personal level. You work together all day long & live in the same dorm. You do pretty much everything together. So certain people that you would rather not see any more, you see every single day—at meals, in class, at work & on weekend trips. Some people just don’t understand that there’s real love & then there’s things that aren’t real love, but more just fooling around.
The funny thing is, I think I might have found real love. Maybe some people would say I’m too young to know what real love is. But how do they know what I’m feeling? How can they see the thoughts swirling around in my head? Just b/c I’ve never been in love before doesn’t mean I can’t find real love now. It doesn’t mean I have to wait until I’m older, like in college.
What if I’ve already met my true love?
CHANNEL FOUR
December 30
Cassidy, I’ve got some news.” It was Jerry, the station manager.
“Huh?” Cassidy barely heard him. On her computer, she was rearranging the order of the questions she would ask tonight. Senator Fairview and his wife had agreed to be interviewed by her. By Cassidy Shaw. Live. On prime-time TV. The interview would be carried nationally. This was it at last—her big break.
Everyone in the station was rushing around madly. They had been running a promo nonstop for the last three days, one that showed the by-now infamous clip of Katie Converse handing Senator Fairview a poster board at a Senate hearing. Over it, the graphic designer had laid a specially designed logo—WHERE IS KATIE? in jagged-edge type.
Jerry hesitated so long that Cassidy finally looked up.
He gave her an anxious twist of a smile. “Madeline is flying in. The Katie Converse story just keeps growing. It’s national news now, not just local. It’s going to be on the cover of People. So Madeline wants in on the action.”
Cassidy’s head jerked up. “Oh no. I will not be bigfooted.”