phone call he was on. Obviously dismissed, Clint lowered his hand and took the opportunity to look more closely at some of the framed photos hung on the walls. Most of them featured Bartlet hobnobbing with an assortment of powerful politicians and celebrities, grinning and glad-handing. Then there were also a few of Bartlet with women, all pretty and perfectly made up. Given that there was also a family portrait on the wall—Bartlet, a woman who seemed to be his wife, and three teenaged children—he wondered what the man’s wife thought of all the pictures with other women. He imagined being married to a man like that meant turning a blind eye to quite a lot.
“Mr. Buckman,” Bartlet said from behind him. “Sorry about that. Business takes no breaks, you know?” He got up and came around the desk to join Clint near the wall of photos. “What can I help you with today?”
“I had some questions about your past associations with Clean Futures Consortium,” Clint said, rounding on the guy. He was a few inches shorter than Clint, with greying hair slicked back and narrowed brown eyes. That suit he was wearing probably cost more than a month’s rent for the SSoF offices. He took pleasure in the flicker of surprise across Bartlet’s face quickly morphing into uncomfortable wariness. Good. Let the bastard squirm a bit. “I mean, having associations with other organizations that support the same goals yours does isn’t unusual, but the fact that you’re so deeply involved with them is. I’d think Go Green Energy might consider that a conflict of interest.”
Bartlet’s dark brows drew together. “Oh well, not really.” He stepped back and returned to the desk. “I mean, environmentalism is a small world. Much smaller than people on the outside imagine. I don’t exchange confidential or proprietary information with anyone over there, if that’s what you mean.”
“Huh.” Clint took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Bartlet’s desk, his gaze pinning the other man in his seat. The guys at SSoF had emailed him all the dirt on this guy before the meeting. “It’s interesting you say that, because a former employee of Go Green Energy who now works for Clean Futures says he had lunch with you just last week, and you shared all sorts of things with him.”
“Really?” To his credit, Bartlet barely reacted. The only tell was a tiny muscle in his cheek twitching. “Who is that?”
“John Berger. He worked as an assistant to the former director of Go Green Energy. Started working with Tara Crumb too, before she let him go.”
“Oh. Tara.” Bartlet’s small, smarmy smile raised the hairs on the back of Clint’s neck, along with the same surge of alpha territorialism from earlier. This asshole had no right to even think about Tara, let alone react in that way when her name was mentioned.
Mine.
Clint shifted his weight and tamped those thoughts down fast. “Are you denying the meeting?”
Concentrate, dude. Stay focused on the task. Don’t get distracted now.
Bartlet snorted. “No. Not at all. I just think you’re taking the whole thing out of context. And John Berger is nothing to worry about. In fact, he was one of the best people working at GGE. I was honestly shocked when Tara laid him off. He knew that legislation inside and out and could’ve been a real asset to her in getting it passed. Took John quite a while to get back on his feet after he was let go so unfairly.” Bartlet sighed and tapped his fingers on his desk. “I’m not saying John Berger carried hurt feelings about it, but it did dent his reputation. Made it harder for him to get his next position. Maybe you should do a little more digging into him, while you’re at it.”
The last thing Clint needed was this guy giving him investigation advice and trying to pivot attention off himself. So Clint kept the spotlight directly where it was. “Tell me about the manufacturing process here at your company, Mr. Bartlet. Exactly how expensive would it be for you to retrofit your operations here if this legislation gets passed?”
“It would cut into our profits, that’s true,” Bartlet said, giving a small shrug. “As it would for all of our competitors.”
“Hmm. And what about your donations to the conservative candidate for Congress last year?” Clint asked, hoping to knock Bartlet off-balance. “Seems odd that you’d back the guy who’s pledged to destroy the very bill that GGE is pushing