Mumfries stood up and left the golf ball on the desk. Addis was not sure if Mumfries did understand. But then he didn’t care what the President thought.

Kelly was waiting outside the office. His ears were red. Addis noticed a blue ink stain on Kelly’s white shirt just above the waistline.

“A nice chat?” Kelly asked.

“Yes. And I told him I would stay until the election. Then I’m gone.”

Addis guessed that Kelly had opposed Mumfries’s intention to issue a blanket invitation to Hanover’s senior staff. But Mumfries, for all his ego, bore a streak of insecurity. Most of them did, Addis supposed. Those pols who every few years had to plead for the public’s support—they all wanted to be hoisted on to the shoulders of people they did not know.

“So you already got something worked out for after the election?”

You can’t believe I’m not signing up with Margaret. You want to know why, but you don’t have the balls to ask.

“Not really,” Addis said, “but his offer was on the clumsy side.”

“It was straight up. He’s hoping you’ll stick with him.”

You didn’t say “us.”

Kelly ran his fingers through his two patches of fine blond hair.

“Hell,” Kelly said, “you know he thinks he’s responsible for you being here in the first place.”

What the hell are you talking about?

Kelly read Addis’s face.

“You don’t know?” he asked.

“Know what?”

“Shit,” Kelly said. He laughed and then checked his tie pin. “I probably shouldn’t tell you.” He stepped into the hallway, and Addis followed, hating himself for chasing the bait.

“What are you talking about?” Addis asked.

“Nick, this is like the prime directive on Star Trek: Don’t fuck with the past. Forget it.”

“Just tell me.”

“Alright. It’s not a big deal. I assumed you knew. But you know how you got your job with Hanover?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, maybe not all of it. When Hanover was thinking about running early on, he called Mumfries. He knew Sam was thinking about running, too. And they’re almost family. That is, the Mumfries and the Masons. Think he almost went out with Margaret, after he came back from Laos or somewhere—you should get him to tell you the stories about when he was with the Special Forces—before he moved to Texas and got into politics. Too much, isn’t it?”

Kelly was enjoying this. He hooked both thumbs behind his suspenders.