Jack. You seemed in such a hurry to get out of there.”
“I had an early meeting. I wasn’t trying to be rude.”
Caroline gave him a hard look.
“I should have said goodbye,” he conceded.
“I feel like things are weird between us,” she whispered. “Ever since I talked to you about-”
“Don’t say it. I mean it. Let that bullshit go.”
“I can’t. I’m hearing stories, reading websites, and I know-”
“You don’t know anything, sweetheart. You are being paranoid. This is tinfoil hat territory and you shouldn’t be indulging in it.”
“I think the conspiracy theorists may be on to something this time. I-”
“Drop it, Caroline,” he said firmly.
“Stop interrupting me, Jack,” Caroline said, in exactly the same tone. “You need to listen.”
“No, you need to stop acting like you’re a rabid dog with a fucking mouse in its teeth. Where on earth does this random cynicism and hatred come from? That’s not the Caroline I know.”
“Do you trust my judgment?”
The question caught him off guard. “What?”
“Do you?”
Jack took her hand and looked her square in the eyes. “Yes. Yes I do.”
She finally had his attention. She had to make the most of her opportunity. “When have I ever been wrong about something like this? When have I ever even said something like this before, about anyone?”
“Caroline-”
“Was I wrong about Murdock?”
“No,” he said softly. “But that’s not the same thing.”
“I know it’s not. This is much worse. He’s up to something, Jack. Santos is not to be trusted. I knew it when I met him at the convention. He picked Gunderson as his VP and I know he’s waiting to do more. Something else. He’s trying to fool the country, lull us all into a false sense of security.”
She listened to herself. The words sounded illogical, irrational. Downright kooky. And Jack would reiterate all his old arguments, dismissing her fears as unfounded, just as Ellen and Christine had. She waited impatiently for the other shoe to fall, but instead he started rubbing her palm. He only did that when he knew she was stressed.
“Have you talked to Jen or Katie about this?” he asked. “I know you had a little vent session with Christine and Ellen.”
Things were getting interesting in Washington. Nothing had really happened per se, but the atmosphere had shifted. Jen hadn’t been able to articulate it well the last time they chatted, but Caroline knew what she was trying to say. “Jenny has a bad feeling too, but I don’t think she really believes anything is wrong. I don’t want to say too much to Katie. Not yet.” She swallowed hard. “I know you think I’m wrong, Jack. I’m some silly woman who’s been spending too much time reading dystopian fiction. But this has been gnawing at me. I can’t explain it. And I hope I’m wrong, I really do.”
“You’re not a silly woman,” Jack said. “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way. But let’s explore the hypotheticals here. What if you’re right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You think Santos had something to do with Hendricks’ death. Is that correct?”
Among other things. She feared that was just the tip of the iceberg. “Yes.”
“You know that sounds crazy.”
Her theories weren’t terribly easy to rationalize. Not yet. She knew damn well how she sounded. “Yes.”
“But you still think you’re right.”
“It’s crazy enough to make complete sense.”
“Have you told anyone else this theory?”
“No,” Caroline said. “I’ve been waiting until I had proof.”
“Do you have any proof?”
She’d been working on it. She had some leads, but didn’t feel comfortable sharing them with Jack. She knew he’d tell her to stop digging around. “No.”
“How do you think you’re going to get proof? You think it’s floating out there on the internet, waiting to be found? Cover-ups are hard to discover for a reason.”
“There has to be something there, Jack. I used to be a civil servant. You wouldn’t believe the kind of shit we’d reduce to writing. And some agencies think they’re so safe that you’d be shocked as to what they’d do if they believed they’d never get caught.”
“So it’s not just Santos now, it’s the entire federal government?”
Caroline pulled away from him. “You don’t believe me. That’s fine. You can stop haranguing me about it. I get it.”
Jack sighed and shifted back toward her. “Caroline, listen to yourself. Your credibility is on the line here. You have to be very careful about what you do with your time, what you say to people, what you let slip when you don’t realize it. What are you