The Cost of Commitment - KJ2 (12 page)

Almost all state agencies were required to order their furniture from the Corcraft catalog.

In addition to the desk and its accompanying executive’s chair, there were two straight-backed visitors’ chairs and a printer stand that held the AP Teletype machine. There were no windows and no personal effects anywhere to be seen.

Kate sat down and opened a steaming container of coffee, the aroma making her mouth water. Within seconds she heard footsteps approaching from the outer office. At the knock on the doorframe, she looked up to see Breathwaite. She invited him in with a wave of her hand, beckoning him to sit.

“Good morning.” She shoved the second cup of coffee across the wooden surface of the desk. She intentionally hadn’t asked him how he liked his coffee, ordering it black and hoping like hell that wasn’t the way he took it. Anything that made him more miserable was fine with Kate.

“Hello,” Breathwaite chirped too cheerfully.

“What can I do for you, David?”

“It’s not what you can do for me, Ms. Kyle; it’s what you can do for yourself.”

Kate folded her hands on the desk and waited.

Breathwaite cleared his throat. “I see you’ve been having quite a time of it lately in the media.”

“Nothing I can’t handle, I assure you, David.” Kate noted that Breathwaite had yet to look her in the eye.

“The pressure must be getting pretty intense.”

“Not really.” Kate stared at him levelly.

“No? With so many news outlets questioning your credibility and the tabloids still so interested in the identity of your girlfriend...”

Kate tensed minutely in spite of herself, an action that was not lost on her visitor.

The Cost of Commitment

“I would have thought,” Breathwaite continued, “a woman of independent means like you might have opted to give this endeavor up in exchange for a quieter, more private life.”

“That’s never been a consideration.”

“Really? That’s odd; you’ve gone to such extraordinary lengths to protect Ms. Parker to this point.”

At the mention of Jay’s name, Kate’s eyes flashed.

Breathwaite leaned forward in his seat. “Yes, I know who she is, Ms.

Kyle. There’s very little I don’t know or can’t find out.”

“Why exactly are you here, David? I’m assuming there’s a purpose to your visit—other than to take up space in my office, I mean?”

Unable to sit still any longer, Breathwaite rose and began to pace, seemingly inspecting the artwork on the walls. “I’ll make this simple, Ms. Kyle. You resign, and your secret remains just that.”

“And if I refuse?”

He turned to face her. “I’m sure the
National Enquirer
would be thrilled to know the identity of your lover.” He spat the word. “And I’m equally certain that
Time
magazine would be pleased to know that your partner in perversity in the
Enquirer
photos is a woman who had just finished writing a glowing front-page article on you for them.”

“What could you possibly gain by forcing me out, Breathwaite? Why is my leaving so damned important to you? What’s your game?”

“What’s your answer, Kyle? Are you willing to destroy your girlfriend’s career?”

Kate took a sip of her coffee in order to allow herself time to think before responding. Her first instinct was to protect Jay from this ugliness at all costs. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, however, she dismissed it. She’d nearly lost Jay the very same way not six months earlier and had vowed then and there never to make decisions on her lover’s behalf again without clear direction from her.

Kate thought about Jay’s willingness to out herself to help her and their more recent discussion in which Jay had explicitly told Kate they would stay and fight, together. She nodded to herself and rose to her full height. Towering over the much shorter Breathwaite, she growled, “Go to hell, you two-bit scum.”

Breathwaite planted his hands on the desk and leaned forward, bringing him to within a foot of Kate’s face. “You have no idea what hell looks like, Kyle, but you’re about to find out.”

After Breathwaite had departed, Kate drummed her fingers on the desk, her mind working furiously. “That’s it.”

Lynn Ames

She rushed out of her office, downstairs to the first floor, out the door and hopped into her car. Within twenty minutes she was home.

She bolted through the front door. “Jay? Honey?”

“In here.”

Kate followed Jay’s voice, taking the stairs two at a time, practically colliding with her as she rounded the corner from her home office.

“What are you doing home, Kate?”

Kate gathered her in her arms, hugging her close.

Jay pulled back slightly in order to gauge the expression on Kate’s face. “Did you have your meeting with Breathwaite? How’d it go? Are you all right?”

Without answering, Kate took Jay by the hand and led the way downstairs to the living room. She sank down on the couch and pulled Jay into her lap.

“You remember when you said you were willing to expose yourself as my lover for Wendy’s story?”

“Yes.” Jay drew out the word.

“And you remember that I was vehemently opposed to the idea?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Let’s just say it’s out of our hands.”

“Breathwaite knows?”

Kate nodded sadly. She gave Jay a rundown of the meeting, after which silence permeated the room.

Finally Jay murmured, “That son of a bitch.”

Kate, easily able to feel her partner’s agitation, rubbed her back gently. Seeing her suffer only strengthened her resolve. “Sweetheart?”

Jay sighed. “Yeah, love?”

“Let’s get him.”

Jay straightened up. “What do you have in mind?”

“I want to steal the story out from under Breathwaite’s nose—beat him to it.”

Jay raised her eyebrows.

“We need to make the announcement ourselves, honey, before he leaks it.” Before Jay could say anything, Kate added, “That’s the only way we can have any control over the story, love.”

Jay thought for a moment. “Okay. That makes sense. Tell me, oh great spinmeister, how do you propose to go about this?”

“Scoop,” regret was etched in every line of Kate’s face, “this could get really ugly. I think it’s entirely possible that he’ll try to attack your journalistic integrity.”

“Katherine Ann, I will not apologize for the story I wrote about you.”

Jay was defiant. “I disclosed everything to my editor at the time, and Trish stood by me then. I suspect she’ll stand by me now. In any event,
The Cost of Commitment

you and I both know that the piece was as objective as it would have been had a stranger written it.”

Kate ran her fingers along the fine jawbone that she loved so much.

“I’m so sorry you’re getting dragged into this, sweetheart. I never meant for this to happen.”

“Shh, I know that, Kate. I told you before, I’m proud to be your fiancée, and it will be a relief not to have to hide that anymore.

Breathwaite has no idea what he’s in for.”

Kate chuckled. “That’s my tough girl.”

Jay kissed her lover lightly on the lips. “That’s me. I say bring it on!”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what the asshole will do.”

“So, what’s our plan?”

“Let’s start by bringing Peter and Barbara up to speed.”

“Barbara?” Jay asked, a little surprised.

“Yep. She may be ‘just’ a doctor, but she’s also got a brilliant mind and a gift for seeing all the angles.”

“Okay.”

“We’ve got to hurry, Jay. We don’t have much time.”

Less than half an hour later, the four met in Barbara’s nearby office.

It was not yet 6:45 a.m.

“Now you know what I know,” Kate said. “I wish like hell I could’ve gotten some hint of the scope of this thing, but Breathwaite didn’t bite.

So we’re no closer to finding out the rest of the pieces of the puzzle than we were before, and Breathwaite has new ammunition that he’s gleefully willing to use.”

Peter weighed in, “No. You’re wrong. We know that he’s getting more desperate by the minute, which tells us a lot.”

“Peter’s right,” Barbara chipped in. “For one thing, the escalation might indicate that he’s on a timetable—that he has to have you out by a certain date. For another, it seems to me as though the timetable is not his and he’s not the boss here. I know that might have been obvious to you before, but, as with all scientists, I like to see corroborating evidence.

Finally, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that whoever it is, it’s someone who wields a significant amount of power if it can make an essentially arrogant, self-important imp feel fear.”

Jay muttered, “You’re right. It
is
almost as if he’s running scared of something.”

“There’s certainly nothing subtle about his approach, that’s for sure,”

Kate added. “Okay, I take it back. We did find out some things of value.

Still, there’s too much we don’t know yet. We have to find a way to flush
Lynn Ames

out the other players. We think Redfield might be one, but he’s not powerful enough to scare Breathwaite.”

“How do you suggest we go about finding the others?” Barbara asked.

Jay jumped in before her partner could answer. “Wait. Before you consider that, we need to focus on the here and now. What’s staring us in the face this morning is the immediate threat. We can turn our attention to Breathwaite’s cohorts after we deal with this.”

“Right, Jay.” Kate spared a loving look for her partner. “Within the next three to three and a half hours, Breathwaite will have had a chance to give the story to the tabloids, not to mention the
Post
and the
News
.”

“What do you recommend, Kate?”

She considered her options as she had any number of times over the course of the past couple of hours. “First, I want to call Wendy Ashton and give her a half-hour jump on the story. Then I think we should call a press conference, introduce Jay as my partner, explain that we are making the announcement at this time because we are proud of our relationship, tired of being hounded incessantly by the media, and because we wish to get this out of the way so that we can have some peace and move on with our lives without having to endure the type of scrutiny normally reserved for heads of state.”

Heads nodded around the room.

“What about timing?” Barbara asked.

“Talk to Wendy now, asking her to embargo the story until 9:00, then do the media circus at 9:30.”

“Explain the purpose of doing it that way, please? For those of us who don’t do this for a living.”

“Talk to Wendy first because she’s a lesbian, will handle the story with class, and because I owe her. 9:30 a.m. for the press conference because it gives assignment editors, who come in an hour in advance of their reporters, just enough time to get their folks scrambled out the door before any other events take place. Also, we beat the magic 10:00 a.m.

hour, which is when most print journalists in this town start their day.

Breathwaite will likely wait until then to make his phone calls, since he knows it’s mostly a waste of time trying to reach anyone in their office before then. Assignment editors, on the other hand, won’t wait—they’ll call their guys at home and tell them to get their asses in gear
now
. Not only that, but having Wendy’s story on the wire will make covering our press conference a must, since every other reporter will already be behind the eight ball.”

“And,” Jay chimed in checking her watch, “the timing still gives us a couple of hours to put everything in place.”

The Cost of Commitment

“Why not just put out a statement? Why do you want to face that media circus?” Barbara asked.

All eyes turned once again to Kate.

“Good question. If we put out a statement and don’t give the vultures an opportunity for photos, they’ll just keep hounding us everywhere we go until they get the shot they want. If we let them snap away at the press conference, that should satisfy them. I hope.”

“I’m sure you two have thought of this,” Peter piped up, “but you both have bosses that you ought to fill in before you go any further.”

The lovers looked at each other. Finally, Jay said, “You’re right, Technowiz. I better let Trish know what’s about to come down.” She sounded less than thrilled at the prospect, and Kate moved closer to wrap an arm around her.

“I’m so sorry, love.”

“No,” Jay said fiercely. “Don’t you dare apologize, Katherine. This is not your fault. The blame lies squarely with that two-bit troll.”

“She’s right, Kate,” Barbara added gently.

Looking at his friend, Peter said, “And you, my dear Katherine, have a commissioner to face. Better get him up to speed.”

Jay looked dubiously from her lover to Peter.

Kate explained, “Honey, if the commissioner was involved, I’d already have been fired. Peter and I are as sure as we can be about anything that he’s clean.”

“Okay, I’ll have to take your word on that.”

Peter said, “Kate, why don’t you draft an advisory with the details of the press conference, and Barbara and I can fax it from her machine. Just give us your media contact sheet and we’ll send it out to the news outlets.”

Barbara added, “Then you and Jay will be free to take care of your respective bosses.”

“Thanks guys. That makes good sense.” She looked at her best friends and summoned her cockiest grin. “Well, this ought to be fun. See you in a bit.”

“Trish? It’s Jay. I hate to bother you at home, but I thought I’d better not wait.”

“What’s up? Are you so anxious for your next assignment that you couldn’t wait until I got into the office? You know I love your initiative and drive, but...”

“Very funny. You know I wouldn’t bother you unless it was really important.”

Lynn Ames

“I know that, kiddo, I was just trying to lighten you up a bit. You sound pretty strung out.”

“Well, it’s not every day that my relationship gets splashed all over the headlines and my professionalism called into question.”

“Slow down, Jamison. You lost me. What are you talking about?”

Jay explained everything that she and Kate had been through since Kate took the job with the prison system, including Breathwaite’s visit that morning.