Tina nodded and the woman sprang up and went back to another woman who was watching two of the crybabies across the room. Each woman picked up a kid and sat down, then started talking as they rocked the crybabies.
Tina fought back her tears of frustration and anger. Looking out the nearest window helped. She noticed it was open—just the teeniest, tiniest crack—so she gave it a push and it swung out like a door. The cooler air coming in from the garden smelled fresh and good. The mermaid sundial was out there somewhere. As the sun set, Tina only grew more frustrated. She knew exactly how this was gonna go. Mama and Camden would be too tired to take her to see it and blame it on nighttime, or try to tell her that she was the one who was too tired when she was wide awake.
Tina decided there was only one thing to do, and she’d better do it before it got too dark to see. She looked around the room. None of the grownups were paying her any attention, but a few kids were still looking over her way, whispering with each other, and laughing. She kept herself from sticking her tongue out at them because that would just make one of them tell on her, or worse—come over and tease her some more.
She got her chance a few minutes later when a woman dressed as a clown came in and started doing magic. That kept everyone’s attention long enough for Tina to sit on the window ledge, swing her legs over, and drop the short distance to the ground. The window was so low, she’d have no trouble climbing back in if she needed to, though she figured after she found the sundial she’d just follow the party sounds back to where all the grownups were. She’d find Camden or Miss Elissa or even Mama at the end of the night, and go home.
Allons-y, she thought to herself. Then she followed a crushed stone path through the garden, looking for the sundial.
Tina tried to find an open space like Camden had described, but it was hard because all the plants were so tall. Plus, she had to dodge a few of the grownups who’d wandered away from the party. Grownups who caught little kids on their own had a tendency to think they were lost and always wanted to take them straight to their parents or a teacher or police officer or someone in charge. Not to mention, she’d just learned about stranger-danger, and even though there weren’t any strangers here because everyone was a friend of the twins’ mommy and daddy, she thought it was best to always be careful, like Camden said.
Tina walked quietly down a narrow path that fed into a wider one. The sun had set a while ago and the sky was darkening. The full moon was rising so Tina hurried. Maybe sundials worked with the moon, too, but she’d never know if she didn’t find it soon. Then she smiled. The path widened into a round, grass-covered clearing just ahead, ringed by tall hedges. Tina noticed gaps in some of them, leading off to other paths. She’d have to be careful to remember which path was hers. Now that it was darker, she could easily get lost.
There, in the center of the clearing, stood the beautiful little mermaid holding up a crescent moon. A sun-shaped sundial spanned the crescent. Sure enough, one of the horns of the moon served as the gnomon, just like Camden told her. Tina approached the statue in awe. It was even more beautiful than the photos.
The sound of crunching gravel made Tina look up quickly. Footsteps came from the path she’d taken. She quickly ran to a different path and ducked down in the shadows of a tall hedge. Whoever it was, she hoped they would turn around and go back to the party.
Two men appeared. Tina recognized one of them, Mr. Franklin. The other was a really old man with white hair that glowed in the darkening light. He walked with a cane. Both were dressed in penguin suits like all the rest. They walked right up to the sundial and stopped. Tina crouched lower—they were facing her path. All they needed to do was look closely and they’d see her.
The man with the cane started coughing like he had a really bad cold. He spit a giant loogy on the ground and Tina gagged back a little bit of throw-up. When he finished coughing, he spoke.
“Look, this is how it has to go. I’ve been asked to set aside my plans, and I don’t do that lightly. When I got the diagnosis a year ago, I already had someone else in mind to step into my shoes. I’d been grooming her for a while. But, they believe Bennett’s got the best chance to go all the way to the White House with their help, and they need my seat in the senate to do it right now.”
Mr. Franklin nodded. “Tonight’s announcement that Roger’s going foryourseat—with your blessing—is going to be all over the media a hot minute later. I can’t believe you aren’t going to topple face-first out of that seat and onto the senate floor with your last breath. That’s what everyone expects.”
“Well, I’m being compensated handsomely.” The man burst into another coughing fit. “And I have other reasons.”
Mr. Franklin chuckled. “Kompromat. They’ve got it on you, too, don’t they?”
“That’s none of your fucking business, is it?”
Mr. Franklin laughed in the way that grownups laugh when something isn’t actually funny. “Fine. So, what do you need from me?”
“We need to move carefully. Roger’s either so naïve or so egotistical that he thinks I’m doing this because I believe in him. Nobody’sthatnaïve—”
“Roger is.”
“Really? I would have thought egotistical. It’s a trait of Hollywood types. Either way, he can’t know who’s really behind this. If he’s naïve like you say, he won’t play ball if he knows, will he?”
Mr. Franklin shook his head. “No way.”
“So here’s where you come in—”
Mr. Franklin cut him off again. “I told your people already, Cici’s…past…stays out of this, understand?”
The white-haired man laughed again, which made him cough more. He spit another loogy and Tina had to cover her mouth to keep the puke in.
The old man finally straightened, and his voice sounded rough. “They’re going to manufacture dirt on him. They have a team right now that’s hacking into his opponent’s servers. They’ll lift emails, campaign strategies, anything they can get their hands on that pertains to the race, and copy it to a server that links back to Roger. So here’s where you come in. They want the server and everything else financed through a phony account you set up filled with funds embezzled from his own campaign. Make it just sloppy enough that it can be traced with some effort, but not too much.”
Now Mr. Franklin looked sick. “What’s the blowback going to be on Cici? And the kids?”
“Oh, Larry, they don’t need to use Cici.” Even Tina could see Mr. Franklin visibly relax. “Well, at least not againstRoger.” He smiled the scariest smile Tina had ever seen. His teeth made her think of a row of Halloween tombstones. Mr. Franklin went right back to being nervous-looking, then straight to really mad.
The old man chuckled. “They coverallthe bases, Larry, including yours if you back out. And you’d better believe the truth will come out if you get cold feet.” The white-haired man leaned on his cane and moved his face closer to Mr. Franklin’s, like he was studying him. “You can’t help yourself, can you? Even after all these years, you’ll do anything to protect her.” The white-haired man slugged Mr. Franklin’s arm. “Larry, she’ll be fine. You certainly aren’t going back on your part of the deal—you’ve got more to win than to lose. You’re all set up to swoop in and rescue Cici if Roger decides not to play. But he’ll play, especially once he gets closer to the White House. He’ll have no choice by then.”
“And if he still doesn’t?”
“Don’t you get it yet? I’m sure my counterpart’s talked to our opponent’s campaign manager already. Our friends are backing both horses in this race, Larry. Theyownthe racetrack. And if they don’t like how one of the horses is running, hell, they’ll shoot it.They don’t lose.”
