Free The Runaway Pastor's Wife by Diane Moody, Hannah Schmitt

going, I was freezing. I guess that’s why I began to wake
up. I didn’t move or anything, just started to become aware that I wasn’t
sleeping anymore. Elliot and Duke were sitting over at the kitchen table by
then, still carrying on, talking and laughing. They had no idea I was awake.
I’m sure they thought I was out for the night.
    All of
a sudden I heard them mention Christopher Jordan, the senator who was killed in
a boating explosion several years ago.
    I knew
from Amelia that Elliot had hated Christopher Jordan. Actually, ‘hate’ doesn’t
even begin to describe it. They despised each other. At the time, Jordan was
the Chairman of the House Ways and
Means Committee. Elliot had worked on a project to build a huge new addition to
the space center in Houston . NASA
had planned to build it at the Cape in Florida, but Elliot wasn’t about to let
that happen. He’d promised some major pork to his buddies back home. He had a
whole slew of land developers falling all over themselves to get this one. All
Elliot had to do was deliver the deal to Texas .
    Obviously,
Jordan and Elliot butted heads. Actually, this NASA project was just the last
of a long line of bones Elliot had to pick with Jordan . These
two had bad blood between them that goes way back. Seems Jordan has
been Elliot’s nemesis since the two of them were back in law school at Harvard.
I don’t know exactly what started their feud. Probably just a natural contempt
for each other that continued to fester over the years. Problem was, Jordan was
always at least one or two steps ahead of Elliot. Every committee, every key
appointment, every prestigious chairmanship— Jordan seemed
to float right in and sail off with the prize. Elliot despised him for that.
    Anyone
who knows Elliot knows the kind of ego that drives him. Guys like him won’t put
up with playing second fiddle forever. When Jordan was
appointed Chairman of the House Ways &
Means Committee, Elliot was furious. That, coupled with the humiliation he
experienced when Jordan made him grovel over
that NASA deal. I think it was more than Elliot could take.
    I
realize how ridiculous this may sound. To imply that a United
States congressman would try to pull off cold-blooded
murder out of pure jealousy must sound crazy. But please hear me out.
    Let me
get back to that night at the cabin. As I said, Elliot and Duke were absolutely
smashed. I’d never seen either one of them even slightly inebriated, let alone
drunk. Elliot kept giggling like a little kid. That’s probably what woke me up
in the first place. He isn’t exactly the sort of man who “giggles” if you know
what I mean. But Duke had him going with something about the “risks of nautical
life.” They were coming up with every possible pun you could imagine. Elliot
was actually singing and making up all sorts of dumb songs.
    They
were laughing so hard, Duke even fell out of his chair onto the floor. Elliot
was practically gasping for air, he was laughing so hard. Then once they
started to calm down, Elliot began to mumble a lot. I could still understand
him just the same. I remember his exact words. He said, “Ol’ Jordan thought he could threaten me, didn’t he? Said to me, ‘Thomas, you’ll take that
pork to Texas over my dead body!’
Well sir, he didn’t have to ask but once now, did he!” And off they went again,
howling and laughing as if it was the funniest thing ever said.
    By
then, I was wide awake but I didn’t move an inch. I didn’t miss a word, but
they had no idea I was listening. They kept talking about some guy named “Bo.”
I didn’t have a clue who that was at first. I had never heard Elliot mention
anyone by that name. But Duke said, “I told you I never liked that name! I
wanted to give him a code name like Popeye—it was the perfect name for him and
you knew it! But nooo! You had to go and pick some sissy name like Beauregard.
What kind of a stupid name is that?” Then Elliot said, “We name this