“Philosophy? Did he ever plan to make a living with that?”
“Hence his appearance on the table last evening, sir. He’s had a tough time finding work, has put in resume after resume at colleges in the area, but seems to be branching out further from Washington.”
“You found all this out since last night?”
“Yes, sir,” he answered with a line between his brows that told Lee he didn’t understand why Lee would ask.
“Of course, you did. I’m happy you’re on my side, Mars. Continue.”
He ate his bagel as Mars told him a synopsis of Elijah’s life, assuring that he has no scandals attached to him. “And, sir, being he specialized in moral philosophy his last three years, that would look good to anyone looking into his life.”
“If they looked too hard, Mars, they’d learn he’s a gay dancer in a gay club.”
“He’s been there less than a week. With the right amount of money in the right hands, his brief time there would be forgotten entirely. His being gay, well, as your employee, it would hush the left’s assumption that all conservatives discriminate.”
Mars was an old hand at the politics of DC, more so than anyone Lee knew. Mars had been with the family since the last year of Lee’s grandfather’s time as speaker of the house. There wasn’t a story Mars didn’t know, but he was also one to keep them quiet. If he were to ever write a tell-all, like so many tried to do in recent years, he’d bury the entire city and federal government.
“I did find him satisfactory in many areas, Mars, but would he, being a moral man, want to come here and be, what many would say, a live-in whore for me?”
“We can only try, sir. There are many that would jump at the chance. Let me try to procure him in a way that he’ll come to us.”
Brushing the crumb that had fallen onto his pajama top, he sighed, “Fine, fine. Get it done.” Looking back up to him, Lee asked, “What else do I have to do today?”
“Meeting with the Minority Leader, more with three of your committees, a wedding tonight, your second cousin. I have sent your gift ahead and placed a check for three thousand on your desk.”
“Three? She’s family, Mars. Tear that up and write one for ten.”
“Very good, sir.”
“My mother will reimburse me when I head up to the Cape this weekend.”
“Yes, sir.”
After bathing, shaving, and dressing, he headed out for a day filled with shaking the sweaty palms of men that were trying to take over the world. They needn’t try. They had the world they wanted, but that never stopped them.
Greed drove them all, and hatred of anyone unlike them, drove them further. Lee fit in well with them, growing up hearing their voices in the halls of his childhood home. The same men that had pinched his pink cheeks as a child, were sending him bills to add his name to, bringing him to high priced luncheons to meet potential donors.
He’d made more money since starting in politics than he had inherited. The homes where he lived were family homes, everything paid for, so all he had to do with his money was invest and show it off occasionally to the right folks.
His phone rang as they turned the corner into the capitol security gate. “Mars, what is it? I’m almost in the capitol.”
“One thing about your new assistant, sir. He owes three hundred thousand in student loans.”
A smile spread on his face as he heard that. “Oh? Does he?”
“Yes, sir,” Mars said, his self-congratulatory lilt in his voice made Lee slap his own knee.
“Well, make it happen, Mars. Do what you had planned to have him come to us.”
“Right away, sir.”
“Good man.”
The next hour he sat in the minority leader’s office, Earl Champion, planning the next round of elections and where they were sending Lee to campaign for their chosen candidates.
Earl was an older man that had been in the Senate for almost forty years. He was a collection of baggy skin and age marks. His eyes, though, seemed to be as clear and intense as they were when he’d started. And his wallet had grown thicker each year around election time.
“Maxfield County to start. We have a slight lead there, and with the next three, it’s narrower. Make sure you shake the right hands.”