Senate Cloakroom Cabal by Keith M. Donaldson Page A

on it. Nobody else has a need to know. Rowley will give you a tour once you’ve cleared their security check and you get new credentials, which should only take a couple of days. Your normal press badge won’t suffice.”
    â€œMy meeting is on with Senator Dalton tonight.”
    She nodded. “Remember, we have people to do the digging. You don’t have to do it all yourself,” she admonished.
    â€œYeah, I do forget that. I’ll be glad for the help.”
    Lassiter gave me a glance that seemed to question whether to believe me or not.
    â€œI will,” I insisted.
    She gave me her half smile, Harrison Ford-style. “I’m glad, but seeing is believing.”

20
    I wrote out questions I wanted to ask Senator Dalton. I felt a little unsure of myself. I was used to criminal cases. This one was outside my comfort zone. Then it hit me. “That’s what I’m missing,” I said aloud. I called Max’s cell and caught him leaving a dry cleaner’s on Georgia Avenue north of Howard University, where a murder and robbery had taken place the previous night.
    â€œHayes and I are wrapping up,” my favorite homicide captain said. “What’s up?”
    â€œI’m getting into an area I’m not familiar with . . . the senator I told you about . . .”
    â€œDalton?”
    â€œRight. I’m meeting her tonight. It looks like I will be spending time on Capitol Hill.”
    â€œWhy don’t we grab a cup of coffee? You have the time?”
    â€œI want to be home by 4:00, 4:30. Jerry will be there at 5:00. My meeting is at 6:30 in Dalton’s Crystal City condo.”
    â€œI’ll be there in fifteen with the coffee. We can walk across to the park.”
    Max arrived very nearly on the button. He parked, and we walked across to the nearly vacant, one square-block patch of green grass with blooming spring flowers and trees.
    â€œI feel a little out of my league,” I said, as we sat on a bench.
    â€œThis is not unlike what you have experienced in the past, except that you are not working with clues and evidence.”
    â€œRight. I’m in uncharted waters. PAC money and under-the-table deals that can be explained away six ways from Sunday.”
    â€œDon’t get too far out in front of yourself. I haven’t read what you have, but I daresay there’s little if any hard evidence for you to chew on.”
    â€œExactly. It’s all speculation.”
    â€œHearsay? Or someone’s interpretation?”
    I took a sip of my coffee. “Both.”
    â€œDo you believe Senator Dalton, or is it that you want to believe her?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œGo back to the beginning.”
    â€œI’m not sure where that is.”
    â€œTry this, somebody comes to me and says so-and-so is planning to have Mr. X killed,” Max encouraged, trying to get me started on a train of thought.
    â€œDalton’s AA comes to me,” I said, warming up to an explanation, “representing her, and tells me that she believes some senators are colluding with the pharmaceutical lobbyists over some drug under consideration by the FDA.”
    â€œVery good. Now, the senator tells you what she suspects, but gives you no facts to back up that allegation, so look at her credibility. What motivates her to tell you this?”
    â€œFor one, Senator Dalton is politically powerless, and it would be political suicide for her to go up against her leadership.”
    â€œYou’ve been there, done that. Last year, you took on some pretty powerful folks.”
    â€œYes, but that was because I saw the potential for abuse, an antagonistic relationship.”
    â€œBingo. You have two sides here you can play off each other, right?”
    I nodded, “Pro-drug, anti-drug. What motivates both sides? We need to carefully observe attitudes and keep close tabs on their actions.”
    â€œAnd what reasons they give. Dalton