“No gist to it,” St. James explained. “She said it three times. I quote, That son of a bitch is not the legitimate president of the United States.”

Scott gave a low whistle. “Keep an eye out. We can’t let the bullshit run out of control.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Heath asked.

“You keep an eye on them,” Scott said. “I’ll talk to Pete Clostner. When more than two or three of them get together, I’ll get him to make sure that we’re syncing the audio from their badges with the video feeds.”

“Why?” Heath asked.

“This country needs leadership,” Scott explained. “We’ll give them the chance to do their jobs, but if they can’t figure out how to work and play well together, we might have to flex a little.”

Roy Heath cocked his head nearly to his shoulder. “Flex a little?”

“We’ll actively encourage them to do the right thing.” Scott caught the nervous glances shared by his staff, but he didn’t mind that they were confused. They’d catch on soon enough if it came to that.

“You didn’t answer my question before,” Bugsy said. “When Glendale asked you about Mulroney, what did you tell him?”

“The truth.”

“That you shot him?” Bugsy looked horrified.

“Of course not. I told him that I followed the rules to the letter.”

Bugsy looked uncomfortable.

“You’re not going to be a problem, are you, Bugs?”

“Of course not. I’m just not sure that our guests need to know about operations.”

Scott crossed his arms and his legs. “I’m not an idiot,” he said. “Like it or not, for the foreseeable future, Glendale is president. Some questions can’t be avoided. No, I didn’t tell him that we off’d Mulroney, but let’s be honest. He couldn’t be allowed to stay. If he’d left when we first told him, instead of dragging his feet long enough to get trapped by the closed doors, he’d still be alive. But he didn’t. And the protocols don’t allow for outsiders.”

“You know rumors are going to spread,” Heath said. “What do we tell our people about how to respond to questions?”

“The same way they respond to every question,” Scott said. “They keep their eyes front and their mouths shut. If people won’t let up, you have your people shout for the questioner to step away.”

“That’s going to escalate things, don’t you think?” St. James asked.

Scott uncrossed his limbs and physically leaned into his next words. “I don’t know what the final count of residents turned out to be—”

“Four forty-seven,” Bugsy said. “House, Senate, staff and president.”