‘Fifty thousand dollars,’ he said. ‘You find it.’
He walked out, closing the door gently behind him. Gendron heard his booming voice even through the thick walls, bandying with his secretary. His secretary was a sixty-yearold flat-chested biddy, and Stillson probably had her giggling like a schoolgirl. He was a buffoon. It was that as much as his programs for coping with youthful crime that had made him mayor of Ridgeway. But the people didn’t elect buffoons to Washington.
Well – hardly ever.
That wasn’t his problem. Fifty thousand dollars in campaign contributions, that was his problem. His mind began to scurry around the problem like a trained white rat scurrying around a piece of cheese on a plate. It could probably be done. Yes, it could probably be done – but would it end there?
The white envelope was still on his desk. His smiling wife looked at it from her place in the lucite cube. He scooped the envelope up and jammed it into the inner pocket of his suitcoat. It had been Elliman, somehow Elliman had found out and had taken the pictures, he was sure of it.
But it had been Stillson who told him what to do.
Maybe the man wasn’t such a buffoon after all. His assessment of the political climate of 1975-76 wasn’t completely stupid. Building windmills instead of wind-breaks.. . the sky’s the limit.
But that wasn’t his problem.
Fifty thousand dollars was his problem.
Chuck Gendron, president of the Lions and all-round good fellow (last year he had ridden one of those small, funny motorcycles in the Ridgeway Fourth of July parade), pulled a yellow legal tablet out of the top drawer of his desk and began jotting down a list of names. The trained white rat at work. And down on Main Street Greg Stillson turned his face up into the strong autumn sunlight and congratulated himself on a job well-done – or well-begun.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
1.
Later, Johnny supposed that the reason he ended up finally making love to Sarah – almost five years to the day after the fair – had a lot to do with the visit of Richard Dees, the man from inside View. The reason he finally weakened and called Sarah and invited her to come and visit was little more than a wistful urge to have someone nice to come to call and take the nasty taste out of his mouth. Or so he told himself.
He called her in Kennebunk and got the former roommate, who said Sarah would be right with him. The phone clunked down and there was a moment of silence when he
contemplated (but not very seriously) just hanging up and closing the books for good.
Then Sarah’s voice was in his ear.
‘Johnny? Is it you?’
‘The very same.’
‘How are you?’
‘Fine. How’s by you?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Glad you called. I… didn’t know if you would.’
‘Still sniffin that wicked cocaine?’
‘No, I’m on heroin now.’
‘You got your boy with you?’
‘I sure do. Don’t go anywhere without him.’
‘Well, why don’t the two of you truck on out here some day before you have to go back up north?’
‘I’d like that, Johnny.’ she said warmly.
‘Dad’s working in Westbrook and I’m chief cook and bottlewasher. He gets home around four-thirty and we eat around five-thirty. You’re welcome to stay for dinner, but be warned: all my best dishes use Franco-Amencan spaghetti as their base.’
She giggled. ‘Invitation accepted. Which day is best?’
‘What about tomorrow or the day after, Sarah?’
‘Tomorrow’s fine,’ she said after the briefest of hesitations. ‘See you then.’
‘Take care, Sarah.’
‘You too.’
He hung up thoughtfully, feeling both excited and guilty – for no good reason at all. But your mind went where it wanted to, didn’t it? And where his mind wanted to go now was to examine possibilities maybe best left unconsidered.
Well, she knows the thing she needs to know. She knows what time dad comes home –
what else does she need to know?
And his mind answered itself: What you going to do if she shows up at noon?
Nothing, he answered, and didn’t wholly believe it. Just thinking about Sarah, the set of her lips, the small, upward tilt of her green eyes – those were enough to make him feel weak and sappy and a little desperate.