“That’s pure speculation on their part, and we should say so. Whoever did this probably died years ago—that’s what we want to stress. We need to set this whole thing in the past—make it sound like nothing more than a historical curiosity.”

The senator winked at his wife. “What do you think of our new boy Danny?”

“He’ll do,” Victoria said. “He’s young and he’s eager to please. He’ll be a lot easier to handle than Nathan Donovan.”

“Let’s hope so. We need to stay a step ahead of this situation—I don’t want to be learning about it from the morning papers.”

“We need to be informing the papers ourselves,” Victoria said. “We should send out regular press releases—get the information to the reporters before they dig it up themselves.”

“What do you want to tell them?”

“Everything we know—with a certain editorial slant, of course. ‘Four bodies have been found so far; the FBI has no reason to think there will be more. The bodies are estimated to be as many as fifty years old; so far the FBI is at a loss to explain them.’ Brad, I want you to get me some information on how they date these skeletons. Put one of the research assistants on it—have them call the FBI or one of the local universities. Find out how much guesswork is involved—how much margin for error there is. Twenty, fifty, two hundred years—it sounds like they’re guessing to me, and if they are, I want to be able to say so.”

Brad didn’t reply.

Victoria looked at him. “Is there a problem, Brad?”

“I think there’s a question of strategy here—something we need to address. The question is, how much attention do we want to draw to this? I understand your approach, Mrs. Braden—total transparency— but I think it could backfire on us. We could start a feeding frenzy if we’re not careful.”

“Just the opposite,” Victoria said. “A feeding frenzy occurs when there’s not enough for everyone to eat. The instant a reporter senses that you’re withholding information, that’s when he’ll take a bite out of you.”

“I’m not suggesting that we withhold information—I’m suggesting that we look the other way.”

“Draw attention to more important matters,” the senator said.

“Exactly. We’re in the middle of a presidential campaign and we’ve got a platform to push. Who can blame us for that? Immigration reform, renewable energy mandates, the international nuclear threat, homeland security—every one of those subjects is more important than what’s going on at the Patriot Center. Let’s talk about what’s significant—direct the public’s attention where it belongs.”