|
|
|
|
|
|
|
same wall was a photographic collage of DeVoe and President Morgan Reese: on the seventeenth tee of Pebble Beach; bone fishing off the Keys on Reese's boat; shaking hands at a New Orleans campaign fundraiser; locked head-to-head in conference in the Oval Office. Next year DeVoe would head up the president's reelection campaign, a task that, if successful, would all but guarantee his appointment as White House chief of staff. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"She might simply be looking for an excuse," Julius suggested. He got up and walked across the room to the window overlooking the park. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DeVoe followed him with his eyes. "Julius, what kind of mother does thatmakes up a story that her kid's sick? And what's she need an excuse for? You offered six hundred grand for a four hundred-thousand-dollar house and bought him a cushy chair at three times his salary." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Of his many appointments over the years, Julius once served as chair for the department of biology at New York Polytechnic Institute and built it into a world-class research center. Though it had been years since retiring from teaching to take over Walden Research, he maintained ties with the school in the form of a donation of two million dollars ten years ago to help develop the genetics component of NYPI's research labsa gift that earned him a seat on its board of directors. So there was little problem in creating a position for Calvin Hazzard. The only requirement was money, and they had an abundance of that. Enough to buy the Hazzard's house from under them while generously endowing a chair in the English department to relocate. According to Robin Priest, Hazzard had all but accepted. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Even if he's got some kind of problem," Julius said, "who says it's related?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DeVoe pulled a copy of the Patriot Chronicle from his briefcase and dropped it in Julius's lap. "The wildlife's become headline news." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the front page above the right-hand column it read: Strange Animal Behavior in MagogRabies Discounted. Julius slipped on his glasses. "Your point?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Paragraph four." DeVoe finished his coffee while Julius continued. |
|
|
|
|
|