“You won’t be named. Nobody will see your face or know who you are. All you have to do is say you think that Professor Sinclair and his wife were murdered and Senator Leeds is part of the cover-up.”

“That’s libel, isn’t it?”

She laughed. “You can’t libel a politician.”

Thinking of Perez and Monster, Jake said, “No way, Amy. I won’t be part of it.”

She rested her hands on his shoulders and looked up at him, her cool hazel eyes glinting in the wan light. “Jake, you do want Tomlinson to win, don’t you? You do want MHD to succeed?”

“Not like this.”

“It’s always like this, Jake,” Amy said. “Politics is hardball. The softies lose.”

He could feel the warmth of her, see the promise in her eyes.

“I’m sorry I’ve neglected you, Jake,” Amy said, her voice softer, almost sorrowful. “I’ve missed you. But we’re together now. Tonight I’m all yours.”

“And tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow you get interviewed for the blog.”

Jake nodded and kissed her. So she lets me screw her if I screw Leeds, he thought. That’s politics.

Interview

INTERVIEW

Jake spent the night at Amy’s apartment and enjoyed every moment of their time in bed together. In the morning they showered together and she treated him to oral sex while the steaming hot water sluiced over their naked bodies.

All the while a voice in the back of his mind was telling him that she was buying him, getting him to do what she wanted by giving him what he wanted. And Jake wanted it. His body took control of his brain, instinct over intellect, need over knowledge. You think with your balls, Jake berated himself. You know she’s been sleeping with Tomlinson. But that didn’t stop him.

And what about Glynis? he asked himself. How would she feel if she knew you were sleeping with Amy? Hell, she must know already. And she doesn’t care. She doesn’t care what I do. Why should she? I don’t mean a damned thing to her.

After a quick breakfast in the apartment’s minuscule kitchenette Amy made a phone call, then announced, “It’s all set. He’ll see us at nine thirty.”

Jake realized it had been all set up from the night before, maybe even earlier.

Jake followed Amy’s BMW to the other side of the city, a run-down street near the interstate, where trucks rumbled along the elevated highway past rows of five-story apartment buildings, gray bricks grimy with soot.