Chapter 5
Priscilla took the sedative up to Bob when it arrived and insisted that he take it. She sat next to the bed and held his hand until he fell asleep. She went back downstairs and turned on the television and watched the coverage of the murders until she couldn't stand it anymore. The news stations were digging into the relationship between Maggie and Ron and had discovered neighbors who said that they had seen Maggie coming to the Ron's house for months. There was even a grainy picture that was supposed to show the two of them together, but it was later proved to be a hoax. By far, the worst was the newspapers. They ran the pictures of the crime scene and began to run a series of interviews with the neighbors of Ron Toomey. The neighbors told of seeing Maggie and Ron together often and the next-door neighbor told of hearing a woman crying out in passion one time when the windows were open. Priscilla was glad that Bob was asleep. He didn't need this right now.
She went upstairs and saw that Bob was still asleep on top of the covers. She pulled off his shoes and went into one of the other bedrooms and pulled a blanket off of the bed. She went back to his bedroom and covered him up. The sedative was working and he hadn't even stirred. She went down to the living room and looked around for something to cover herself. She found an Afgan in the den and brought it into the living room. Priscilla curled up on the sofa and covered herself up and was soon asleep.
In the morning she woke up and went upstairs to check on Bob. He was still asleep and it looked like he hadn't moved all night. The street was filled with television trucks and there were about twenty television reporters and newspaper reporters walking all over the lawn. She fixed coffee and waited for him to come downstairs.
Bob walked downstairs rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stopped when he saw Priscilla and then went to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Did you stay here last night?" he asked.
She nodded, "I slept on the couch."
"Damn Priscilla, there's four bedrooms in this house."
She smiled at him, "You're going to have to give a statement to the press. They're camped out on your lawn. You won't have any grass by the end of the day. I've written something for you, you might want to look it over and add what you want to it or just throw it away and make up your own."
He took the paper that she handed him and read it, "I'll give it just like it is. That's all they need to hear."
They sat drinking their coffee in silence. She kept watching to see how he was taking the lose of his wife. She saw that it was affecting him deeply and she gave him all of the space he needed to come to grips with his grief.
After he had finished two cups of coffee he went upstairs to get cleaned up and then give the reporters their statement. He dreaded these things but it was a necessary part of politics. When he came downstairs she saw that he had two different kinds of socks on and she went upstairs and got a pair that matched and made him put them on.
He went to the door to go out an give his statement. He looked at her and stood at the door for a minute as if waiting for something.
"What's wrong," she asked.
"Stand by me while I read this. I'm shaking so bad inside that I might have to have you read it for me."
She walked outside with him and stood next to him while all of the reporters shouted questions at him. He waited for them to calm down and then took the paper and read the statement. The statement told the press about the great love he had for his wife and how much he would miss her and how the public would miss all of the charity work that she used to perform.
When he finished the statement, he turned and started back into the house with the reporters shouting questions at him. Priscilla followed him to the house until she felt a hand grab her arm and hold her. A young reporter had fought his way to the front of the mob and shoved a microphone in front of her face.
"Ma'am, would you tell us who you are?"
"I'm Senator Parsons secretary. Senator Parsons and my father were business partners and best friends."
"Ma'am what is your relationship with Senator Parsons?" the young man shouted.
Priscilla turned to him, "What are you implying?'
The young man smiled, confident that he had his story, "We'd like to know what your relationship is to Senator Parsons."
"As I told you I am the Senator's secretary and I resent your insinuation and hope that your supervisors recognize you for the scum ball that you are for asking such a question at a time like this. I slept on the sofa last night. The cover that I used is still on the sofa if you'd like to come in and check. I will be staying with the Senator for the next week if you want to make up anything about that. If you will ask anyone who has lost a spouse, they'll tell you that it is not wise to leave a grieving spouse alone for a while. Now crawl back into your hole and try to have a little respect for the Senator's feelings."
She turned and walked into the house. Bob was standing in the living room smiling and shaking his head.
"You'd make a great politician."
The President was watching Priscilla's outburst on the television at Camp David with a smile on his face. "Bob Parsons has a fighter there. I like her."
"I guess that shoots down your plans to use him to sell the Amendment," the First Lady said as she walked into the room.
"Nonsense, we have the votes that we need in Congress. The hard job will be to sell it to the states. The first vote by the states on the Amendment is at least three months away. By then the people will feel so sorry for him that they'll believe anything that he says. Look at him, his wife is murdered in another man's bed and he has only good things to say about her. The public will love him for it. I couldn't have planned something this good."
Priscilla went into the kitchen to find something that he would eat. When he protested that he couldn't eat anything, she insisted that he at least have a bowl of cereal. He agreed to the cereal and sat at the table while she fixed it for him.
"The detectives said that the morgue would release Maggie's body this morning. I don't relish having to go down there."
"You're not going to," she said, "We'll call the funeral home and have them pick up the body. They can come here and sit down with you and make all of the arrangements. I'll call them for you if you'll let me know who to call."
He agreed and went out on the sun porch and sat down. Priscilla cleaned up the kitchen and called the funeral home and arranged for Maggie's body to be picked up. The funeral director asked her about the arrangements and when she requested that he come to the house he told her that he would be there within two hours.
Priscilla helped him get through the arrangements and then insisted that he go upstairs and try to get some rest. He told her that he wanted to watch the news to find out what was going on in the world and she pushed him toward the stairs. He went up stairs and took his clothes off an climbed in bed. She came up a little later and made him take another pill. In a few minutes he was sound asleep.
Priscilla called one of Senator Parsons's aids and had her come over to the house to keep an eye on him while she went to her house to pick up some clothes. He was still asleep when she got back and he didn't know that she had gone.
Priscilla stood by his side throughout the painful viewing period and the funeral. The funeral director had done his best to cover up Maggie's injuries, but they were still slightly visible under the makeup. The police had to be called to direct traffic at the funeral home. The press were out in full force at the funeral but stayed on the road with their cameras recording every face and tear in the crowd. Some of the comments of the television commentators would have been comical if the situation had not been so serious.
After the funeral, Priscilla accompanied him home and stayed with him. She gave him his privacy but was always there when she felt that he needed something to eat or when he needed someone to keep the press away from him. By the third day after the funeral, the press was no longer camped out in front of his house.
Two days after the funeral the news started to become stale and it was pushed further and further to the inside pages. Trouble in the Middle East flared up and soon took over the front-page news spot.
Priscilla continued to make sure Bob Parsons ate something and the he had someone to talk to when he needed to talk. She left him time to think and to be by himself when he needed some private time. Priscilla kept people away from him and called into the office often during the day to solve problems and make sure that the office was running smoothly in the absence of the boss. She was surprised to learn that Sheila hadn't been in the office since the funeral.
Five days after the funeral there was a knock on the door. Priscilla went to the door, expecting to see someone from the press. The two detectives that were working to solve the murders of Maggie and Ron Toomey were standing on the porch.
"Is Senator Parsons in?" Detective Pulaski asked.
Priscilla showed them into the living room and went upstairs to get Bob. She woke him up and told him that the detectives were downstairs. He got out of bed and told her to tell them that he would be right down.
"Senator Parsons will be down in a minute. Can I get you something to drink?"
"No ma'am. We're fine."
Bob Parsons walked into the living room and asked the two men to sit down. After they sat down Detective Pulaski started to speak.
"Senator, we've arrested two of the men that murdered your wife. They left fingerprints all over the house and they both had arrests for drug offenses, so they weren't hard to track down. The third man died of a drug overdose the day after the murders."
"Have they confessed?"
"Yes sir, we have signed confessions from both of them. We also traced some of your wife's jewelry to them that they pawned and we feel that we have a pretty good case. Both of them have agreed to plead guilty."
Bob let out a big sigh, "I guess it's over then. I want to thank both of you for the fine job you've done. I would also like to thank you for being so considerate of my feelings through this rough time."
Pulaski started to fidget in his chair, "That's Ok sir. That's what we're paid to do."
Pulaski and Simms stood up, "We've got to get back to the station. We just wanted to let you know that we have the men that did this."
"Thank you gentlemen."
He stood up and shook their hands and the pair headed to the door. Bob thanked them again and watched them walk down the sidewalk to their cars. He walked back into the living room and sat down. Priscilla was still standing at the living room door and he motioned for her to come over and sat down.
"Priscilla, I have to get back to work before I crack up. I really appreciate you being here for me this past few days. I'm not sure that I could have gotten through it without you."
She gave him a weak smile, "Bob, I think that I better get back home. It doesn't look too good me being here after you go back to work."
"You don't have to leave yet."
"Yes, I think it's best for both of us."
Bob started to say something but the doorbell interrupted him.
Priscilla went to the door.