One Final Step. Stephanie Doyle
back I’ll stop by.”
“Yeah. Okay. I’ve got a new project coming in a couple of days and it would be nice if you could meet him.”
By “new project,” Archie meant a guy out on probation. Archie liked to think that Michael could rub off on an ex-con and maybe make a difference. Hell, maybe he did, Michael didn’t really know. Most of Archie’s projects came for a couple of months and then left. Either to find a better job that actually paid something or to return to the life they knew before. Michael rarely followed up with any of them.
It was easy to give money to a charity that offered support for people getting out of jail, but it was never easy spending time with actual ex-cons. It reminded him too much of his past.
“Sure. I’ll come over when he gets here. But I’ll check in on you, too, when I get back.”
“Whatever. It’s not like I need to be watched over by you, kid. I do the watching. You hear me.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m saying when I get back maybe we can head over to Darnell’s for some barbecue. We haven’t done that in a while.”
“Darnell’s? It’s a date.”
“A date, huh? I don’t know. You’re nowhere near as pretty as Charlene.”
“Get out of here, kid. Before I show you all the ways I know how to use a crescent wrench.”
Michael lifted his hands in surrender and left the shop. He got into his specially formulated Chrysler, one he’d rebuilt from the ground up, and tossed the kid who had watched it for him a couple of bucks.
Beeker’s wasn’t in the greatest part of town, but it wasn’t in the worst, either. Archie lived right on the edge. And for the most part, people around these parts looked at Michael as a local hero. The money for the kid had been more about finding a way to hand out a few bucks than keeping his rims safe.
Once Michael closed the door behind him, he hit the car’s start button and did one last check to make sure Archie was where he always was. The man joked about not dying, but he was over seventy and he wouldn’t be around forever.
Once Michael had tried to talk him into a place in Florida but that idea went over as well as offering him money to fix up the shop. Archie Beeker wanted to die while changing somebody’s oil. It was the way it was. Michael had to hope his death was a long way off. He wasn’t kidding when he called Archie family. He sure as hell knew Archie was the only family he would ever have.
* * *
“AREYOUready for this evening?” Madeleine asked as she hit the speaker button on her phone and set it down on the coffee table in her hotel room. In an act of small defiance, she shucked off her shoes before sitting on the couch.
As a matter of professionalism, she preferred to be in business dress at all times when dealing with a client, even when she was on the phone. The rule was for her sake entirely. It helped keep her mind focused on the job at hand.
But after a long day of airports and cabs, she was happy to be off her feet. Losing the pumps wouldn’t completely compromise her professional integrity. She was fairly sure. Besides, it’s not like he could see her.
“I have a tux on. I suppose that makes me ready.”
Madeleine recalled the pictures of Michael in the paper from the last event. The black tuxedo had fit him flawlessly. It should have made him look elegant and sophisticated. Instead it made him look powerful and edgy. Like someone had harnessed all this raw energy and shoved it into a suit. The camera loved him.
And his date. The camera loved both of them.
“You’re picking up Charlene at her hotel.”
“Yeah, yeah. She’s staying at the same place you are. You want to come down for a drink before the event?”
It was offered so casually. A drink before the event. A glass of wine at the bar where she could meet Charlene Merritt and ask her if George Clooney was as handsome in person as he was on film. She could go over the event schedule again with Michael. She could update him on her trip back to Philadelphia to see Ben.
She could see Michael and talk with him.
“No, thank you.”
“It’s just a drink, Madeleine.”
She hated the way he said her name. He added this extra oomph to the last syllable, dragging it out so that it sounded like Mad-e-lane. She thought to correct him, but didn’t see the point since he would keep on saying it his way no matter what. She wasn’t sure at what point she’d even given him permission to use her first name. He probably imagined it was acceptable since she could call him Michael.
In fact, he was the only client she’d been on a first-name basis with in five years. Any contact she had with the representatives from the political action committees or lobbying firms had always been brief and very formal. Michael had already gone beyond that.
“You’ll be with Charlene. There could be photographers.”
“So?”
For a very intelligent man there were times she knew he played thick deliberately. “Michael.” It was all she needed to say.
“Right. I know. No cameras. I thought we could catch up. You’ve been gone for two days.”
“Anything happening I should be aware of?”
“No. Just this event tonight. Then we’re scheduled to leave for Los Angeles, right?”
“Yes. I picked up some more clothes from my place on my trip back. I’m all set.”
They were going to L.A. so Michael could attend a larger charity event hosted by a famous film director. The party was private but there would be paparazzi littering the entrance. Michael was sure to be photographed again. The media would begin to put the pieces of her puzzle together as environmental event after environmental event featured Michael Langdon.
It was convenient he was interested in Charlene. As a star on the rise she was also attracting a lot of attention. The two of them together at the L.A. party would officially launch speculation about a relationship.
From a public-relations point of view, she was thrilled. More than thrilled. Charlene was not only stunning, but also considered one of Hollywood’s good girls. Michael looked good next to her, and more importantly, people thought better of him because he was with her.
“You’ll be taking Charlene again? To Drearson’s party.”
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
Madeleine was about to say something, then stopped. His relationship with the woman was none of her business. She only needed to focus on the image and she sensed forcing the woman on him was the surest way for him to call it off. There was nothing he’d said directly to her, but she had the sense that his interest in Charlene was superficial at best.
Subtly, on the plane ride out to L.A., she would convince him another photo opportunity with the actress would be ideal. What man wouldn’t want to be seen in Charlene’s company? There had once been rumors that linked her with Clooney but apparently she had turned him down. It seemed to Madeleine any man would be prancing like a peacock with Charlene at his side.
Only Madeleine hadn’t once seen Michael prance. And when the pictures were released of them from the Solarcomp event, Charlene had been holding on to his arm and looking up at his face, but Michael had looked…disinterested.
She shook her head. It was a random picture. Anything could have been happening in that moment to distract him.
Madeleine needed to be more focused on what came next. Michael needed to start talking about his ideas, and she needed someone there to write them down. It was her reason for accompanying him to L.A. She still had some media contacts out there, and a host of people it wouldn’t hurt her to reconnect with. If she could work some of her old connections in L.A. and New York, she might