I know the man is a sadist, and that he and Gregory have a relationship not unlike the one I do with my pets.
But Dray turns that gaze on me now. “Heisthe list,” he quietly says.
I turn that over in my mind. Like me, Dray enjoys being the power behind the throne, and he’s proven himself—and his loyalty—to us all over the past eight years, and even before now. He has no desire to be elected. He’d much rather be working in the shadows. How do I know he’s loyal?
His brother, Samuel, is one of the three, along with Trent and Eddie.
Iliterallycould call Dray to help me dispose of a body, and I know he’d pick up shovels and lime on the way, along with lattes and some Xanax to help us out and keep us calm.
I settle back in my chair and motion for him to continue. Even Benchley admires him and tried to hire him away from us for one of his friends who wanted to run for state Senate.
“He’sit,” Dray insists. “His background and financials all check out. I talked to people who’ve worked with him personally, and they say he’s a nice guy. He’s got the look, he matches us on platform and message, and he’ssolid.”
“Keep going.” I know there’s more, and that he’s leading with his pitch just proves it to me.
“He’s eager to run Independent, and he said he’ll happily be lieutenant for eight, then run and keep our initiatives going.”
“And?”
“Gregory can be his chief. He can do it.”
I let the silence lay there for a moment before I finally say it. “So how big is his cock? And I’m assuming he’s a bottom?”
He tries not to smile, I’ll give him credit for that. Finally, he throws back his head and laughs before looking me in the eye. “He’ll keepallour secrets, Chief. I personally guarantee it.”
I think about it for a moment. For Dray to succeed, I have to let go. He’s good, he’s talented, he’s smart as fuck, and he’s driven.
He’shungry.
“Run another background check,deepbackground, just to be sure. Run it past Benchley again. As long as there’s nothing there worse than a parking ticket, then we’ll take it to Susa and let her sign off on him.”
He stands and leans in to shake hands with me. “Thanks, Chief.”
I don’t release him immediately. “Remember—you’repersonallyguaranteeing him. I’m trusting you, Susa’s trusting you, and Owen’s trusting you.”
He nods. “He’s going to be governor eight years from now.”
“Okay.”
Once I’m alone, I chuckle. I know what Gregory and Dray did last night.
They did Hamilton.
Chapter Twelve
Then
I’ve developed a habit over the years of picking up stray bits of info and storing them away for digesting later. Sometimes for use immediately, sometimes in the distant future.
One such stray nugget is gleaned from a cocktail party at the start of our second year at the Tampa law firm.
Susa is working another section of the room, as she always does, while Owen and I stand pretty much in a corner, because it’s where I feel most comfortable, so my back’s not to the room or the door. It’s also where poor introvert Owen feels most at ease.
Right then, the biggest thing on my plate is figuring out how to gain Benchley’s support and public endorsement for Owen’s upcoming county commission run. It’s still too early to file, and we don’t want to signal too far ahead and give people advanced notice.
Despite Susa’s best efforts to talk the bastard into endorsing Owen, Benchley is still sitting on the fence, irrationally hung up over theIon Owen’s voter ID card. But I know if Benchley throws his weight behind Owen, we would win. The likely GOP candidate, the incumbent, is pretty much despised now. There’s no way a Democrat, unless they’re a racist drunk, could lose in an even match, but it would be close. Running the past numbers, however, I spot a trend.
If we run a fiscally conservative platform and hammer Owen’s opponents hard over infrastructure, including traffic, storm water drainage, storm prep, and school performance, Owen could split the vote enough to capture the swing voters who don’t stay loyal to either party.
