Then she had an idea and called the man she was dating. She was thinking of breaking it off with him because their priorities were very different. She had struggled to rationalize why she had begun dating him in the first place and decided she had allowed herself to be swept off her feet by his family wealth, and the prestige of his position in the financial world. But he was part of the same world that people like the Tanners inhabited, so it was worth a shot.
“Hey, Kevin.”
“Alex, great to hear from you finally. You’ve been avoiding my calls.”
“It’s just work, Kevin. Being an FBI agent means I don’t control my days.”
“Well, like I’ve told you, you could just chuck it. I’ll take care of you.”
“Not really what I want. I worked hard to get where I am.”
“I know it’s not PC for me to take care of you. But the reality is, I can. And want to.”
She decided to cut through his me-me ramblings. “I was actually calling for a favor.”
“Name it.”
“Do you know Mason Tanner?”
“The former U.S. senator? My grandparents did when they were alive, and my parents do. I hear he has dementia or something.”
“I was wondering if you know anyone who might still be with him from the early 1980s.”
“Why the interest? You’re not investigating him, are you?”
“I just need to talk to someone who might have known him back then. Nothing is going to happen to Mr. Tanner.”
“I’ll have to ask my parents.”
“Could you check with them as soon as possible? ”
“And you swear this will not reflect badly on Tanner?”
“I’m sure he’s done nothing that would get him in trouble, right?” she replied, neatly turning the tables on him.
“Well, my parents always spoke very highly of him.”
“I’ll wait to hear from you. But as quickly as you can.”
“I’ll call them now. When can we get together again? I was thinking of taking the family jet down to St. Barts. We have a compound there. It would be fun.”
“I don’t have any time off now, Kevin, I’m sorry.”
“See, another reason to let me take care of you,” he said.
He clicked off, and she slowly put her phone away.
A kept woman? Yeah, really my life’s ambition.
She couldn’t deny that it had been fun flying around on private wings, going to great restaurants, and being driven from one fabulous family estate to another. But she could not see herself doing that for the rest of her life. It would seem a cop-out after all she had worked for. And she could only imagine how much Decker would hate it.
She settled back in her seat as a light rain began to fall. She thought about Decker down in Florida doing what Decker did better than anyone she had ever met.
And while I love the guy, and admire all that he can do, I can’t see myself working with him for the next twenty years, either. It’s just too exhausting. And while I like unpredictability to a certain extent, I can’t take it every single moment of every single day.
That was one reason she had sought the transfer to New York in the first place. Not to exactly get away from Decker, but just to have a reprieve, for a bit.
An hour later her phone rang.