Twilly rose on one arm to face Desie. “Ever been to Marco Island? You can’t imagine how they mauled that place.”
“I know, honey, but—”
“If you’d seen it when you were a kid and then now, you’d say it was a crime. You’d say somebody ought to have their nuts shot off for what they did. And you’d be right.”
Desie said, “If you’re trying to scare me off, you’re doing a fine job.”
“You asked me a question.”
Desie pulled him into her arms. “I’m sorry. We can talk about this in the morning.”
As if it could end differently.
“The whole damn island,” she heard him murmur. “I can’t let that happen again.”
Dick Artemus offered Lisa June Peterson a drink. He was on his third. She said no thanks.
“Still drivin’ that Taurus?” he asked her.
“Yes, sir.”
“You break my heart, Lisa June. I can put you in a brand-new Camry coupe, at cost.”
“I’m fine, Governor. Thanks, just the same.”
The phone on his desk rang and rang. Dick Artemus made no move to pick it up. “Is Dorothy gone home already? Jesus Christ.”
“It’s six-thirty. She’s got kids,” Lisa June Peterson said. She reached across the desk and punched a button on the telephone console. Instantly the ringer went mute.
The governor savored his bourbon. He winked and said: “Whaddya got for me?”
Lisa June thought: Great, he’s half-trashed. “Two things. About this special session—before we send out the press release, you should know that Willie Vasquez-Washington is pitching a conniption. He says he doesn’t want to fly back to Tallahassee next week, doesn’t want his vacation interrupted. He says he’s going to make himself a royal pain in the ass if you drag the House and Senate back into session—”
“Those his words?” Dick Artemus grimaced. ” ‘Royal pain in the ass.’ But you told him this was for schools, right? For the education budget.”
Lisa June Peterson patiently explained to the bleary governor that Willie Vasquez-Washington was no fool; that he’d quickly figured out the true purpose for the special legislative session., namely to revive the Toad Island bridge project on behalf of the governor’s buddies—
“Hell, they aren’t my buddies!” Dick Artemus spluttered. “They aren’t my pals, they aren’t my partners. They’re just some solid business folks who contributed to the campaign. Goddamn that Willie, he ain’t no saint himself… ”
Lisa June Peterson informed her boss that Willie Vasquez-Washington didn’t know (or care) why the governor had vetoed the bridge appropriation in the first place, but he promised to make the governor suffer dearly for screwing up his travel plans.
“He’s going skiing in Banff,” Lisa June reported. “Taking the whole family.”
Dick Artemus sniffed. “Who’s payin’ for that?”
“I can find out.”
“Naw. Hell.” The governor puffed his cheeks in disgust. “Y’know, I never had to deal with shit like this in Toyota Land. What else, Lisa June? Let’s have it.”
“Clinton Tyree came to see you the other night, when you were in Orlando.”
Dick Artemus straightened in the chair. “Damn. What’d he want? What’d he say?”
“He said he’ll do what you asked him to—”
“Fannnnn-tastic!”
“—but he’ll come back to Tallahassee and murder you if anything happens to his brother Doyle. Murder you slowly, he asked me to emphasize.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” The governor forced out a chuckle.
Lisa June said, “He mentioned the following items: a pitchfork, handcuffs, a fifty-five-gallon drum of lye and a coral snake.”
“He’s a nut,” the governor said.
“He’s also serious.”
“Well, don’t worry, ’cause nuthin’s gonna happen to brother Doyle. For God’s sake.” Dick Artemus groped distractedly for the bourbon bottle. “Poor Lisa June, you’re probably wonderin’ what the hell you got yourself into with this crazy job. You can’t figger out what the heck’s goin’ on.”
Lisa June Peterson said, “I know what’s going on. He showed me the letter you wrote.”
“What letter!” Dick Artemus protested. Then, sheepishly: “Ok, scratch that. Yeah, I wrote it. See, sometimes… ”
He gazed with a drowsy bemusement into his glass.
Lisa June said, “Sometimes what?”
“Sometimes in this world you gotta do things that aren’t so nice.”
“For the sake of a golf course.”