Free Someone To Believe In by Kathryn Shay Page A

unconscionable. Her parents instilled
loyalty in all of them, and were loyal to a fault themselves. Oh,
sure they argued openly with each other, criticized each other. But
even when her dad had fathered an illegitimate daughter, her mother
had taken the girl in, and Paddy O’Neil wouldn’t allow any of his
other four children to bad-mouth Moira. How could Clay’s son take
sides against him?
    “Mommy?”
    She looked up to see a little imp standing in
front of her. He was dressed like the boy Max from the book when he
goes to the land of the wild things; right now Rory sported pointed
ears, tail, and claws. Behind him stood a still-uncostumed
Kathleen.
    Next to them was Bailey’s brother, dressed
like one of the wild things. “Rumpus, rumpus,” Aidan growled.
    Bailey laughed. “Oh, my, you two are
frightening.”
    “Max is mad at his mommy.” Rory bared his
teeth. His dark curls peeked out of the costume, and his blue eyes
shone with mirth. “Better watch out.”
    She shivered. “Why’s Max mad at his
mommy?”
    “She makes him go to bed early.”
    Ruffling his hair, Bailey quipped, “Uh-oh.”
Her son was a night owl and one of her biggest struggles was
getting him to sleep. “I’d better watch out.”
    Rory hugged her, then slipped away with his
cousin. “Gonna watch the show.” Three feet away, they plopped down
in front of one of the many TV’s set up with an animated version
of the book, and got engrossed immediately.
    Aidan whipped off his mask and dropped down
on the bench next to her. “He tires me out.”
    “Me, too.”
    Aidan watched her. “You look it. Have a hot
date last night with Lawson?”
    “Speaking of which...” She held up the paper.
“He’s been busy.”
    Aidan took the paper. Skimmed it. “I liked
that guy.”
    “Eric? You’ve been making nasty comments
about him every time we have a date.” In truth, she liked Eric, but
didn’t really trust him. Was he courting her just to get ammunition
against Wainwright in order to run against him in the future?
    “No, not Lecherous Lawson. Clay
Wainwright.”
    I liked him, too.
    But no, that couldn’t be true. Wainwright was
clearly her enemy. Things had ended badly with them.
    You bastard. How dare you...Get out of here
right now, Senator. This little experiment is over.
    “Sis, where’d you go?”
    “Nowhere.” Her cell phone rang. “I have to
get that. Something might be going on at ESCAPE.”
    “Bailey Ann, it’s your day off. Don’t answer
it.”
    She fished the phone out of her pocket.
Checked the caller ID. It read Unavailable . Pressing Send, she held it to her
ear. “Bailey O’Neil.”
    “Ms. O’Neil, this is Jeremiah Friedman. I
hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”
    “No, Governor, you’re not.”
    “The governor?”
Aidan asked.
    Bailey nodded.
    “I’ll cut to the chase. At the direction of
Congress, each state is setting up a task force to recommend how to
spend its allotment of money from Chuck Stewart’s Youth Crime
Bill.”
    Bailey had been plotting to get some of its
funds. Was this her opportunity? Her pulse speeded up. “I see.”
    “I want you on the task force.”
    Yes! “I’d be
happy to be on it.”
    “Good. Our first meeting is in two weeks.
I’ll have my secretary call you with the details but I wanted to
issue the invitation personally.”
    Something made Bailey ask, “Governor
Friedman, will Clayton Wainwright be participating in this
committee?”
    “Yes, he’ll be New York’s representative. As
I said, one senator from each state will be on each task force.
Then that person will take the recommendation back to
Washington.”
    “Shouldn’t Alex Case” —the other New York
senator— “be on this task force? Since Wainwright’s on the parent
committee?”
    “Clay asked specifically to be part of this,
and I don’t see any conflict of interest. Regardless, Case is tied
up with some ongoing work with Homeland Security.” A long and
meaningful pause. “Is there a