No one reacted immediately. But after a few seconds of silence, the President turned his chair around slightly towards Ben Silber. Ben lifted himself halfway out of his chair and, grasping the arms, carried it forward in two or three jerky movements until he was almost alongside the President. They whispered for some time. The President turned back, and seemed poised to speak, but Sam had not finished.
‘Mr President, we very much hope that you will be the President to unveil the Jacob van Eyck Memorial,’ she said, ‘and I hope you won’t think this too presumptuous of me, but something occurred to me when you mentioned that you will be running again in two years’ time.’
If the President thought she was being presumptuous, he didn’t show it.
‘Go ahead.’
‘It’s bound to take from now until then to get the memorial ready, and I was thinking how appropriate it would be for you to perform the unveiling during the campaign, perhaps at quite a late stage – especially if it turns out to be a close race. It would be a historic national occasion, and every TV station and newspaper in America would come to Philadelphia for the day.’
Greg Gascoine stared at Sam for some time, and suddenly burst out laughing. He turned to Ben Silber, who had now pulled his chair right up to the table.
‘Ben,’ he said, ‘I want you to recruit this young woman for the campaign. She’s a natural.’
‘She is, sir,’ Ben smiled politely. ‘But if I may, Mr President, it seems to me that the first question is how much a project like that is likely to cost, and it’s been my experience that they don’t come cheap.’
‘Excuse me, Mr Silber,’ Sam continued, ‘but am I not right in thinking that the main cost involved in this kind of project is the cost of identifying and securing the site? The memorial itself can cost as much or as little as you choose in commissioning an artist to design and create it, but the site can involve some difficult real estate issues – especially in Philadelphia, where they’re not exactly short of memorials already, and sites are probably in limited supply.’
‘That’s exactly right, Miss van Eyck,’ Ben agreed.
‘What if I could make a suggestion about the site that would save the government a lot of money?’ Sam asked.
I turned to look at her.
‘What?’ I intended it as a whisper, but I’m sure everyone in the room heard me.
‘I’m sorry, Kiah,’ she whispered back, ‘I meant to tell you, but you were busy and with everything going on, it slipped my mind.’
‘I’m sure we’d all be delighted to hear whatever ideas you may have, Miss van Eyck,’ Ben said. His tone suggested that he wasn’t expecting anything earth-shattering.
‘Jacob van Eyck was a Freemason,’ Sam explained, ‘a member of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge. That Lodge has many connections to the War of Independence, and they currently have a very active historical project going on to create a permanent exhibition of the period. They have recently come to realise what an important part of that history Jacob is. They are very interested in having Jacob recognised, and Mr President, if you were to ask someone to contact the Grand Master, I believe you would find him to be very helpful on the question of a site for the memorial.’
Ben was staring at her.
‘Are you… are you saying that the Lodge might be prepared to host it?’ he asked.
‘Can I have a moment?’ I intervened. I turned to Sam again. ‘Sam, they didn’t say anything to us about that,’ I whispered furiously. ‘They said they were interested in the case, but –’
‘John Macey and I have spoken several times since our visit to the Lodge,’ she replied. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Kiah, but you had other things to worry about, and I wasn’t sure how far it would go. But John had reported our visit to the Grand Master, and apparently he got very excited about it, and one thing led to another, and… look, I’ll tell you all about it later, OK?’
She turned back to Ben.
‘My understanding is that, if approached by the government, the Lodge would offer to host the site at the Grand Lodge itself. The details would have to be worked out, but no acquisition costs would be involved. There would be some cost in connection with developing the site, of course, but that would be far less than you would pay on the open market anywhere else in the city.’
‘Who would I be talking to?’ Ben asked.
‘John Macey. He’s the personal assistant to the Grand Master.’
Ben made a note, then leaned in towards the President, and they conferred in whispers for well over a minute.
‘Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?’ I whispered to Sam. I can’t pretend I wasn’t a little miffed about the way she’d kept me in the dark about this detail. Clients who come up with important new information for the first time at settlement conferences do their lawyers’ nerves no good at all, and I’d had a few over the years.
‘No,’ she grinned. ‘I think that’s all.’
Eventually I had to return the grin. Yes, I was miffed, but how long could I stay mad at her when she might just have removed the only sensible objection the government could make to the memorial?
The President and Ben finally disengaged.
‘Well,’ Ben began, turning back towards us, ‘Miss van Eyck, if the Lodge is prepared to act in such a generous way, that would take care of one major concern, and it might bring a project such as this within a reasonable budget. If that is the case – and I stress, if that is the case – then, Mr President, my understanding is that you would be happy to authorise us to proceed with the project as part of an overall settlement package.’
‘With that understanding, yes,’ the President confirmed. ‘And also assuming that, as Miss van Eyck so perceptively observed, the memorial would be ready to unveil somewhere between a month and two weeks before polling day.’
‘I see no reason why we couldn’t do that, Mr President,’ Ben replied. ‘I think the way forward would be for me to put together a small committee consisting of Miss van Eyck, Mr Macey and myself, which I would chair with the assistance of White House staff. We can add to it if we need specific people for specific purposes. But keep it small, that’s the key. We would make sure that you and the Attorney General are kept fully informed as we go along.’
‘Whatever you think best, Ben,’ the President replied.
He stood and consulted his watch.
‘Well, I think we’ve made some progress this morning. Perhaps I should attend these things more often.’
He was looking at Henry Shilling, who smiled politely.
‘Perhaps you should, Mr President.’
‘On the other hand, maybe not. But in any case, you must excuse me – as I said, I have to meet with the Jordanian ambassador shortly, so I will leave you to continue your discussions. Just so that you know, Miss Harmon, I have instructed the Attorney General to offer you a reasonable monetary settlement for the family. What “reasonable” means you may not be able to decide until we have a better handle on the cost of the memorial, but you may be able to come up with some ballpark numbers, don’t you think, Henry?’
‘I’m sure we can get fairly close, Mr President.’
‘Good. I’ve also made it clear that the settlement must include a reasonable figure for attorney’s fees. I understand how important that is,’ he added, with a knowing grin in my direction.
I felt no embarrassment about returning that particular grin very directly, even if he was the President. Greg Gascoine’s oldest son was a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer in Phoenix, whose dedication to recovering every last cent he could by way of fees in every case he took had earned him a national reputation, one which had not always been helpful to his father’s political career.
‘Thank you, Mr President,’ I replied.
He began to turn away towards the door but stopped and turned back.
‘Oh, and there’s one more thing. Miss Harmon, Henry told me about what happened at your offices, and I want you to understand that no one in this room, and no one who works for anyone in this room, was in any way involved with that.’
‘We accept that, of course, Mr President,’ I replied immediately.
‘It is something that should never have happened. The people who did it are misguided people who no longer work for the government. I have issued instructions to the department concerned, instructions that ought to ensure that nothing like that will happen in the future. But I also want to apologise to you. It should never have happened, and I’m embarrassed that it happened on my watch. I’m sure the losses were covered by insurance but it’s not right that you should have to take a hit on your premium, so if you let Henry know how much we’re talking about, the government will make sure you are fully reimbursed.’
‘Thank you, Mr President,’ I replied.
The President nodded.
‘Then I will bid you all a good day.’
Ben waited a few seconds before sitting down in the chair the President had vacated.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘if everyone’s ready, let’s talk about money.’