Page 31 of The Fallen Man
Can I call you?
Jackson thumbed a reply to Aiden.
Give me a half hour.
Aiden sent back a thumbs up.
“Who’s that guy?” asked Jackson, jerking his chin toward a round-faced man in his thirties. He had been scurrying around the party. “I can’t tell who he’s with.”
Hannah looked around, and Jackson watched her lip curl in silent disgust.
“That guy. That guy is Dennis Houge. He is aGood Guy.” She put air quotes aroundgood guy.“And he’ll tell you that if you give him half a chance. When I first got here, he cornered me at one of these parties and spent five minutes warning me off someone while telling me that I was lucky to have bumped into him because he’s one of the good ones and how I should have another drink. Like what? I’ve never been to a frat party? Does he think I haven’t heard that shit before? And seriously, am I supposed to fall for it coming out of his face because he’s wearing a suit? And I’m not supposed to notice that he’s, like, double my age? Fuck that guy. I can find fifty guys who look better in suits and a hundred and ten who look better out of it. He is exactly the guy my dad is scared I’ll meet here. You know he tries that shit on every new intern. I bet he even fucking believes his own horseshit and that getting drunk is consent. He’s exactly the guy that needs a knuckle sandwich in the teeth and a boot in the fucking taint.”
Jackson started to laugh halfway through her rant and continued until tears began to squeeze out of his eyes.
“Sorry,” said Hannah stopping and taking a sip from her glass. “I may have strong opinions on douchebags.”
“It’s fine,” said Jackson, still chuckling. “I was just having flashbacks to your dad.”
“Yeah,boot up the taintis one of his favorites. Anyway, Mr. Houge currently works for Senator Yamira. They say he’sbeen around since he was an intern, though, with one senator or another. Which I believe because all his lines sound like they haven’t changed since then.” Hannah paused, scrutinizing the aforementioned douchebag. “Why? What’s he doing that’s bugging you?”
“He talks to too many people,” said Jackson. “He’s one of the few that crosses party lines without taking a friend with them. Most people take a buddy with them if they talk to the opposite party. Particularly on the Republican side. I think they want witnesses. He’s talking to that Senator whose name I can’t remember over there now, but he was talking to one of Eleanor’s staffers a minute ago.”
“That’s Senator Griffeth. Eleanor wanted her invited tonight particularly. Not sure why.
He scrutinized the Senator. It was just like Eleanor to invite a known enemy to her party. But it showed balls from Senator Griffeth to show up.
Hannah looked around the room and then back at Houge as if tallying how many people she’d seen him talking to. “I guess he is kind of weird now that you mention it. He always acts like that, though, so I never noticed.”
“If he’s been around that long, it might not mean anything. Will the veranda be good enough for us to talk, or should we take a walk?
“Walk,” said Hannah. “I’m going to tell someone you’re walking me back to the office. For safety.”
Jackson looked her over. He knew damn well she was carrying a cute little Walther PPK under her blazer. Jackson had helped her through all the registration at her father’s insistence.
“For safety,” he repeated. “OK, James Bond.”
Hannah chuckled. “Hey, I don’t want to have to actually use it. I’d rather just throw you at some mugger.”
“Just like your dad,” he said, shaking his head and finishing hisdrink. Hannah shrugged as if she didn’t see the point in arguing.
They crossed the room to where Zoe, Eleanor’s Chief-of-Staff, was talking animatedly to someone. Jackson always considered Zoe a political tiger and mostly tried to avoid her. Managing one political woman was enough for him. She got the feeling that she mostly avoided him too, but whether it was because she didn’t want to deal with anymore Deverauxes or because she didn’t think he was worth talking to, he couldn’t tell.
“Hey Zoe, Jackson’s going to walk me back to the office.”
Zoe looked the two of them over sharply. Jackson tried to figure out if Zoe was suspicious politically or if it was the generalized welfare check to ensure he wasn’t sleeping with the intern.
“I was going to finish the filing some of the constituent letters and then lock up the office. Do you want me to text you before I leave?”
“Yeah, that would be great,” said Zoe relaxing a fraction.
“Tell Eleanor I’ll be back after I get Hannah to the office,” said Jackson, then shrugged. “If she asks. Which she won’t.” He knew that Zoe and Eleanor had spent a good half-hour discussing the Ralph Taggert situation after they’d returned from the Waffle House. He didn’t think they’d come to any conclusions either.
“She’ll wonder,” said Zoe smiling. “See you in a bit.”
“What’s up?” asked Jackson when they were well away from the building. It was a short walk back to the congressional offices, but the wind nipped in hard and biting, and Hannah pulled her blazer tighter around her.
“OK, here’s the deal,” she said, after a quick look around, “Eleanor is facing some odd pull back from her party. People are distancing themselves publicly. It’s not too bad, but it’s not a good sign. We traced to an ongoing ethics investigation, except we’re not sure what they’re investigating or who made the complaint.”
