I wrote out questions I wanted to ask Senator Dalton. I felt a little unsure of myself. I was used to criminal cases. This one was outside my comfort zone. Then it hit me. “That’s what I’m missing,” I said aloud. I called Max’s cell and caught him leaving a dry cleaner’s on Georgia Avenue north of Howard University, where a murder and robbery had taken place the previous night.
“Hayes and I are wrapping up,” my favorite homicide captain said. “What’s up?”
“I’m getting into an area I’m not familiar with . . . the senator I told you about . . .”
“Dalton?”
“Right. I’m meeting her tonight. It looks like I will be spending time on Capitol Hill.”
“Why don’t we grab a cup of coffee? You have the time?”
“I want to be home by 4:00, 4:30. Jerry will be there at 5:00. My meeting is at 6:30 in Dalton’s Crystal City condo.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen with the coffee. We can walk across to the park.”
Max arrived very nearly on the button. He parked, and we walked across to the nearly vacant, one square-block patch of green grass with blooming spring flowers and trees.
“I feel a little out of my league,” I said, as we sat on a bench.
“This is not unlike what you have experienced in the past, except that you are not working with clues and evidence.”
“Right. I’m in uncharted waters. PAC money and under-the-table deals that can be explained away six ways from Sunday.”
“Don’t get too far out in front of yourself. I haven’t read what you have, but I daresay there’s little if any hard evidence for you to chew on.”
“Exactly. It’s all speculation.”
“Hearsay? Or someone’s interpretation?”
I took a sip of my coffee. “Both.”
“Do you believe Senator Dalton, or is it that you want to believe her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Go back to the beginning.”
“I’m not sure where that is.”
“Try this, somebody comes to me and says so-and-so is planning to have Mr. X killed,” Max encouraged, trying to get me started on a train of thought.
“Dalton’s AA comes to me,” I said, warming up to an explanation, “representing her, and tells me that she believes some senators are colluding with the pharmaceutical lobbyists over some drug under consideration by the FDA.”
“Very good. Now, the senator tells you what she suspects, but gives you no facts to back up that allegation, so look at her credibility. What motivates her to tell you this?”
“For one, Senator Dalton is politically powerless, and it would be political suicide for her to go up against her leadership.”
“You’ve been there, done that. Last year, you took on some pretty powerful folks.”
“Yes, but that was because I saw the potential for abuse, an antagonistic relationship.”
“Bingo. You have two sides here you can play off each other, right?”
I nodded, “Pro-drug, anti-drug. What motivates both sides? We need to carefully observe attitudes and keep close tabs on their actions.”
“And what reasons they give. Dalton has given you a lot of information, written and spoken, opposing the overwhelming majority of her party. Who has what to gain?”
“Right. I see where there may be ethical problems, money passing hands.”
“Okay, why? I would judge it to be something very big, something a freshman senator can’t take on alone. She needs outside help and calls you.”
I sat back and took a deep breath, blowing it out.
Max said, “She doesn’t have the goods to carry it off alone. That’s where you come in. Be aware that in a politically partisan hot bed like the Senate, each party draws a line in the sand, regardless of the right or the wrong. It then becomes the party’s way or no way.”
“But this is intra-party. It’s unlike a partisan battle, where neither view may be true. There will be a right and a wrong here.”
“That makes it more explosive. Getting in between those forces is like when we walk into a domestic fight and get turned on by both,” he said emphatically.
“How would I be in the middle? Wouldn’t I be the friend to one and enemy to the other?”
“Your only hope here is that Senator Dalton has solid enough facts to get you started. One advantage she may have is her newness in the Senate, not sullied. She is too clean to be besmirched or threatened, and she can’t be blackmailed.”
“Never compromised? That’s got to be scary for the big guys. They won’t be able to play intimidation games.”
“She has her father, a former two-term governor. He’s a power she could call on in a pinch. However, she’s no slouch—she impressively went out and got herself elected, against everyone’s wishes.”
He surprised me. “How do you know all that?” I asked.
“Her AA, Mr. Michael Horne, was the victim of a mugging in January. We were involved early on . . . a possible homicide. He was transported to emergency unconscious. His ID told us where he worked, and Capitol police told us the rest. They notified the senator, who frankly, I was not familiar with, so we did a background check. When you told me about her, I had Delia pull up what we had, which you are welcome to.”
“Any skeletons?”
“She’s about as clean as a person can be and still be mortal.”