Congressman Quentin Glover didn't come to his meeting with Allison and Nicole alone. Michael Stone, Portland's most high-profile lawyer, was at his side. Allison was careful to keep her face neutral. She had tangled with Stone before.
Stone was the go-to guy for people with deep pockets who were in deep doo-doo. If you were accused of paying to have sex with a child, or if you were a doctor fighting a malpractice case that had left a mother and baby dead, or a parent whose teenager had shot a cop, then Stone was the guy you wanted sitting at the defense table. It was rumored that he never took a vacation, never took a day off, never even slept.
Stone was as famous for his expensive suits as he was for his high-profile clients. Today he was dapper in charcoal pinstripes. His black shoes were like individual works of art. In her two-inch heels, Allison was eye to eye with Stone's intense, ice-blue gaze.
Quentin Glover didn't cut nearly as impressive a figure. He had a ring of graying brown hair and a potbelly ill concealed by what appeared to be an off-the-rack suit.
"How you ladies doin'?" Stone said as he shook their hands, his teeth gleaming against his tan face. After they had all murmured pleasantries, Allison led them into a conference room that overlooked the Willamette River.
"We appreciate your coming in to talk to us, Congressman Glover," she said after everyone was settled. "We're talking to many people who knew Jim Fate, in the hope that they can help shed some light on what happened to him."
"Whatever I can do to help." Glover offered them a smile that left as quickly as it had come.
"Why don't you start by telling us about your relationship with Jim Fate," Nicole said.
Stone gave Glover an encouraging nod.
"He went to college with my wife, Lael. When I met him, we clicked. We were good friends for years. We went out to dinner, golfed, even went salmon fishing together. Even after everything that's happened, I'm shocked that he's dead. It's pretty unbelievable."
"You said you 'were' friends," Allison observed.
"It's no secret that we had had a falling-out." Glover shook his head ruefully. "In fact, anyone who has seen those ridiculous commercials or listened to Jim's show in the last few weeks would probably be surprised to learn that we had ever been friends."
"And what caused this falling-out?" Nicole asked.
"What Jim would tell you about that and what the truth was are two entirely different things." He sighed.
Allison was sure that every word, every hesitation, had been rehearsed with Stone. "What do you mean?"
"A couple of years ago, it came out in the media that I had had a brief relationship with a female aide." Glover cleared his throat and looked away. "I came clean about it and asked forgiveness from my constituents and my wife. I was reelected, and Lael forgave me." He shook his head. "Jim never did. As a result, he's tried to make out that a few simple paperwork errors my accountant made were some kind of elaborate kickback scheme. He's been harping on it so much that the real media have picked it up, and now even the House Ethics Committee is involved. When it's totally ridiculous. I paid every bill that was ever presented to me. But Jim didn't care if the allegations were true or false. He had already turned against me. Jim always liked my wife. Maybe more than he should have."
This was a new angle. Allison said, "I've been looking over the transcripts from The Hand of Fate. In the last forty shows, he mentioned your name in thirty-two of them. How did you feel about that?"
Glover shrugged. "We all have our roles to play. I guess Jim decided to forget that he was ever my friend. He tried to build himself up by tearing me down. Anything for ratings. Of course, Lael doesn't speak to him anymore. It's been stressful, not just for me, but for my whole family."
"And Quentin's mother just passed away from cancer," Stone added.
Glover gave a sharp shake of his head. "I don't want to bring that up. I'm not looking for any sympathy."
"I'm so sorry," Allison said. "Was your mother in a lot of pain?" It was just a hunch, but she followed it. Sometimes it paid to trust your gut.
He snorted. "With bone cancer? Of course she was. Even the pain patches didn't touch it." He started to say something more, but Stone cut him off.
"I'm sorry, we've wandered off course. We're here to talk about Jim Fate."
Pain patches. And the medical examiner had said that Fate had died from some kind of opiate. As soon as this interview was over, Allison would request a subpoena to conduct a search of everything connected to Glover. It would take about an hour to prepare and get it to the judge, and she didn't want to give Glover time to destroy evidence.
She put her hand to her brow, making a face as if she were in pain. She needed an excuse they wouldn't question. But Stone was shrewd. He would sniff out a lie in a second, so she had to tell something close to the truth. "Would you gentlemen mind if we postponed this interview?" Allison said. "I'm not feeling well."
Nicole's face showed nothing. Only her eyes narrowed, almost imperceptibly.