Chapter 4
Bob Parsons woke up when the doorbell rang. He looked at the grandfather clock in the hallway. It was two o'clock in the afternoon. He pulled himself out of his chair and walked to the door and opened it. Detectives Pulaski and Simms were standing on the front porch with a serious look on their faces. He searched their faces for a sign that would let him know why they were here.
"Senator Parsons, could we come in?" Pulaski asked.
"Sure come on in. Have you heard anything about my wife yet?"
"Let's sit in the living room sir."
Bob Parsons looked at the detectives and began to feel a tightness in his chest. He led them into the living room and sat down. The detectives remained standing. Bob Parsons searched their faces again for a clue to what brought them to the house.
"Senator Parsons, we have some very bad news. Your wife was found murdered in the house of the Secretary of State for African Affairs. The Secretary was also murdered."
"You mean Ron Toomey?'
"Yes sir," Pulaski said, "Their bodies were found when his secretary went to the house to find out why he hadn't come to work. Both of the bodies showed that they had been beaten severely before they were murdered. Senator, before we go on, do you want me to call anyone to come and stay with you?"
"They beat my wife? Why?"
Bob Parsons put his head in his hands and started to sob. The detectives stood over him and let him grieve for his wife. When he finally calmed down, Pulaski went into the kitchen and got him a glass of water and waited while the Senator drank it. Both of the detectives sat down and waited until they were sure that the Senator was ready to go on.
"Senator Parsons, we have to ask you some very hard questions. I hope you realize that we are only trying to get the whole story so that we can get your wife's killers. We have evidence that your wife And Secretary Toomey were having an affair. Did you know about the affair?"
Bob Parsons sat up straight in his chair, "You're crazy. Toomey was a black man."
Pulaski shuffled his feet, "Senator, your wife had clothes in the bedroom closet of Secretary Toomey's house. Apparently they were surprised in bed by the killers. Both of them were nude. They tied Secretary Toomey to a chair and beat him pretty badly."
"Did they..."
"Yes sir. The coroner has the body now trying to collect the DNA evidence. We're going over the house with a fine-tooth comb. We've lifted a lot of fingerprints and I'm sure that we're going to find the killers. You can have the body released to you tomorrow morning. Secretary Toomey's parents have been notified and are on the way to Washington."
Pulaski waited for a minute for Bob to digest what he had heard and then continued, "Could you tell us anymore about you wife's movements yesterday? We are trying to determine if she was followed or if they were surprised by the killers."
Bob Parsons put his head in his hands and tried to think but his mind was a blank.
"Detective, I know that you're only doing your duty but... can we continue this later. I can't even remember my own name right now. I'm sure that you realize what a shock this is. I need some time to myself for a while. My wife and I have been married fifteen years and I just can't bring myself to accept that she's gone."
"We understand sir," Simms said, "Would it be Ok if we came by tomorrow?"
Bob nodded his head and looked out of the window. Simms looked at Pulaski and nodded and the pair walked to the front door and let themselves out.
"Damn, that's a rough one. A Senator's wife having an affair with a black guy. If the press ever finds out, they'll have a field day."
"We just have to make sure that they don't find out," Simms said.
Pulaski and Simms didn't know that the story was being printed for the first edition, complete with pictures, as they walked down the Senator's sidewalk.
Sheila Barnes came into the office for the fourth time that morning, "Is he in yet?"
Pricilla looked up and shook her head, "He hasn't called either."
Sheila put her hand on her hip, "Wouldn't it make sense to call him and find out if anything is wrong?'
Priscilla looked at the Chief Of Staff with a sneer, "He told me never to call him at home unless the President wants to get in touch with him."
Sheila stomped her foot and headed back to her office. She picked up the phone and called Bob Parsons home phone number. She let it ring for a long time before hanging up. She was getting mad. The President had given her a message for him and she wanted to get in touch with him so that she could relay the good news.
Bob Parsons listened to the phone ring. Whoever it was finally gave up and hung up. He definitely wasn't in the mood to talk with anyone this morning. The entire US congress could go to hell right now.
Priscilla didn't want to let Sheila know that she was also worried about Senator Parsons, but she was. She closed her desk and locked it and went to the outer office.
She told one of the aids that she had an upset stomach and that she was going to the pharmacy for some Pepto-Bismol. The aid nodded and continued typing. Priscilla walked down to the garage and pulled her car out of the garage and headed toward the home of Senator Parsons. She thought about what she would tell Maggie if she answered the door. Hell, just tell her that Sheila had an important message from the President.
Priscilla parked the car in front of the house and walked up to the door. She rang the bell and waited for someone to answer it. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she saw Bob Parsons looking at her through the curtain. A few seconds later he opened the door.
"Is anything wrong Senator?" she asked.
He held the door open for her and ushered her into the living room. She saw that something was bothering him and she waited for him to speak.
"Maggie's been murdered," he blurted out.
She put her hand to her mouth, unable to speak. She wanted to run to him and hold him but she couldn't make her legs work. He started to cry and she found her legs and walked over to his chair and put her arms around him.
He continued to sob and she held him. She didn't try to speak because she knew that he did not need words now he needed to know that someone cared. She held him quietly until he calmed down.
"She was having an affair with the Secretary of State for African affairs and the killers surprised them in bed and killed them."
She knew without his saying it, that the Secretary was an African-American.
The phone rang again and they let it ring. Finally whoever it was hung up and Bob knew that it was probably the press. They would be swarming down on him like a horde of locusts. He definitely didn't want to talk to the press just now.
Sheila sat in her office fuming. Bob Parsons was so inconsiderate not to let his Chief Of Staff know where he was, she thought to herself. She tried calling the house again and the phone rang and no one answered it.
Jack Sherman, Senator Collins Chief Of Staff, burst into her office and plopped the early edition of the evening newspaper on her desk, "Do you know about this?"
She grabbed the paper and started reading the article that he pointed to. Her mouth dropped open and then she noticed the pictures showing Maggie and Ron lying in pools of blood. The newspaper had been kind enough to blur the private parts of the bodies. The news article showed Maggie's clothes in the closet and
hinted strongly that there was an affair going on between the two of them.
Sheila threw the paper down and ran into Priscilla's office. When she saw that Priscilla was gone and that her desk was locked, she ran back to her office and picked up the phone. She dialed Bob Parsons phone number, let it ring three times and hung up. She repeated this over and over.
"I'll get it," Priscilla said, "It's probably Sheila."
"I don't feel like talking to anybody. I'd like to go lay down for a while. Do you think you could keep people away from me for a few hours?"
Priscilla nodded and let the phone ring until he went upstairs. Went she picked up the phone and said hello, Sheila started screaming into the phone.
"Damn you, bitch. I'm going to have you fired. What the hell are you doing there? This is serious. We have to do some damage control. Let me speak to Bob."
"He's upstairs lying down. I'm going to call the doctor and have him send over some sedatives. He needs some rest right now."
"Like hell," Sheila screamed into the phone, "I'm coming over there right now. Get your ass out of there."
"If you do come here, I won't let you in. I told you he needs some rest and he needs some time to himself. If you insist on coming over, I'll call the police and have them remove you from the property."
Sheila was still screaming when Priscilla hung up the phone. She turned and went into the kitchen and got the phone book and called Walter Reed Medical Center. When she was put in touch with Bob's doctor she explained what had happened and ask that the doctor send over a sedative so that he could get some rest. The doctor assured her that the medicine would be there within the hour.
Sheila sat at her desk fuming. This was bad. This could be the end of Bob Parsons career. A Senator that couldn't keep his own wife happy? He was probably already the butt of jokes in bars across the country. She turned on the television to the Fox News Network. The coverage was bad. She flipped over to CNN and the coverage was just as bad. MSNBC was the same. All three stated that Maggie was having an affair with Ron Toomey. She turned off the television and sat at her desk thinking
This was probably the worst thing that could have happened. This was
could be the end of her career also if she wasn't careful. Damn, she
wasn't going to let that happen. She pulled out her daily logbook and
started to list everyone that she had done favors for in the House and
in the Senate. The list was long and she began to write next to each
name what she had done for them. A plan was slowly forming in the back
of her mind. If Bob Parsons was out of a job, she would call in some of
her markers and land a good job somewhere else in government or maybe
even in the private sector. She didn't need Parsons. She picked up the
phone and called the White House to have her contact in the White House
let the President know what had happened to Maggie.