About a year before the shooting
Sandra was having lunch with Greg, however, this was not her
husband. It was just a coincident his name was Greg. She was still sorting out
her feelings. She had never wanted to come to D. C. yet because she loved her
husband she came and did her best.
And then after a few years of having the days to herself,
she met Greg. She sometimes wondered if she felt safe with him because of the
name. She wasn’t looking for an affair or really anything. He had come into her
life and taken over her days. He said he was a part time free lance writer and
a lobbyist. This made sense to her since this is Washington so she never
questioned him about his work. He always was free though during the day. No
matter what day or what time, he was always there willing to spend whatever
time he could with her. He made no demands. They had made love a couple of
times. SHe felt guilty about it and knew she should break it off with Greg. Yet
he gave her something to do while her husband worked.
And it wasn’t like Greg ignored her. He was always making
time for them as a couple. They went on short vacations regularly and made
regular trips back home. And she was use to Greg being busy. He had his own
business so he was always working. So even though busy, time and attention to
her did not change from his previous life.
It was just this Greg was always ready to go. He kept in
touch constantly. She wasn’t in love with him and had only made love to him to
see if she was attracted to him that way. She wasn’t sure. He just kept coming
and coming at her never too strong, yet, always making sure he spent time with
her. Sometimes she worried why he was so involved, yet he overcame her daily
boredom so she continued seeing him.
And Greg knew exactly what his goal was with seeing Sandra.
He was paid handsomely to make sure they had an affair. So he had plenty of
pictures of them together, even the couple of times they made love. He really
didn’t pressure her for more. He had enough pictures for his purpose. His
employer still wanted him to get more. So he tried. He had other things to do
at night and could see other women that did interest him when Greg and Sandra
were away. Being handsome, great at small talk in many languages, constantly
vigilant to his task make him the perfect person to have affairs with the wives
of prominent people for the purpose his employer needed. He always chose a name
that was already familiar to the wife he was seducing. This was not the first
time he had used the husband’s name. One day he would disappear and the
information he had would be used if needed. He knew they wanted something on
her. Her husband just wasn’t falling in line as a Representative in D. C. He
acted too much on his own for their desires.
Two days after the shooting.
Sheriff Daniel was at the clinic where Greg was still
staying. The Doctor didn’t feel he could move him again. They kept him in a
semi comatose state as best they could so he could rest and hopefully recover.
It was difficult in the clinic especially since they had to keep him in one
room and only had what he could bring over from the hospital or send over with
a nurse. The Doctor wanted to do more surgery soon, yet for now he was
satisfied keeping him stable. Greg needed to build up his strength before any
more surgery.
The Sheriff though was uncomfortable. He still had no clues
as to what happened except for the people that showed up that first night and
they had not been seen since. He had done multiple trips around the county,
discreetly called a few motels within an hour or so of the hospital. He didn’t
want to ask too many questions. He really didn’t want what happened to get out.
He hated the press and if they heard a Congressman was shot and on top of it
hidden in a Clinic not in a hospital he knew the press would go crazy. He was
glad they were primarily a rural community so Greg not being visible everyday
wouldn’t draw too much attention.
He jumped up and told the Doctor who had access to the video
cameras around the hospital. The Doctor said it was up to their regular
security. Sheriff was slapping himself mentally. Why hadn’t he thought about
viewing the film of the night the people in the black suburban came by. It had
been two days.
The doctor called the hospital and their security guard
starting pulling up the night in question’s video. The hospital didn’t have
much going on so they didn’t keep their video onsight for very long. They
stored it. Luckily they still had the video that was needed. Sheriff Daniel
arrived at the hospital and viewed the video. There was something about it that
didn’t add up. He had asked to view it by himself for safety and security’s
sake so he couldn’t ask anyone their opinion. He felt it, there was something
off. He viewed it over and over again. Slowly it dawned on him. Most of the
video was clear, he could make out cars, faces, himself, the rooms, but when he
viewed the encounter with the people that came from the van, the video seemed
blurry, faces were hard to identify. He remembered them, yet there were not
looking familiar. The video seemed tampered, but only where the people or the
van was in the picture. This disturbed him greatly This was serious
sophistication. He realized it was only because he watched so much video did he
realize there was a difference in the frames. He knew a Congressman getting
shot was dangerous trouble. Seeing the video, he knew he events were way over
his head. He did not know who to turn
for advice. He trusted no one now.
He saved the video to a computer and sent a copy to his work
email. He shuddered at the thought that someone maybe watching his email for
just such a move. He saved the file under three separate file names on the
computer after sending the email; just in case.
He went back to the clinic and again slapped himself
mentally, again. Even though Congress was on their traditional summer break; a
Congressman receives an inordinate amount of people trying to communicate with them
on all types of business. And no one from the office had called. Which was
good, he had originally thought, but now he worried someone from the office in
D.C. may come looking for him. He realized Greg would be the one answering any
calls on his phone. He thought to himself, here I am one of his best friends
and there is so many things I am not thinking of, just driving around chasing
ghosts that have long gone for the last two days.
He asked Sandra if she had heard from the office. She looked
at him and said I hadn’t paid attention. They looked for Greg’s phone among his
belongings. They were glad the person
that found him, knew to keep this quiet, yet he didn’t bring much more than
Greg. The Doctor called the hospital to see were there any personal belongings.
The nurse he trusted checked and said she had put some stuff in a bag and put
in the Doctor’s office closet. She went to retrieve the contents. There was a
phone, however, it seemed a bullet had struck it and it was useless.
This caused more distress for the sheriff for he knew sooner
rather than later someone was going to inquire as to why no one could reach
Greg.
Sandra called the office at the Sheriff’s request. It was a
skeleton staff. She asked if everything was okay and the whole office states “no
its not!”. Where is the Congressman? We haven’t heard anything in three days.
Sandra explained Greg was hunting and here she told the truth. His phone had
been accidentally shot and no please don’t ask, she had no idea as to why, but
he will get a new phone soon. For now she was checking in for him. He was out
hunting again today, yet they were to keep that quiet to the press, just say he
was still on vacation resting and studying the legislation for the upcoming
session. At the Sheriff’s very specific request; she mentioned that Greg did
want to catch up so could they send a copy of the visitor and phone log for the
last week. Yes, email would be fine for now, however, also send a hard copy in
case he wanted to make notes for future reference. The sheriff wanted it
emailed for expediency, then as Sandra was speaking he remembered about the
video so he wanted at least an attempt to corroborate what he received. Sandra
also reminded them to keep all the logs secure. The staff complied immediately
feeling better about Greg. And they realized once this task was done, they
better start studying the upcoming legislation to be ready for Greg’s return.
They knew they would be drilled on details. Greg always wanted to make the best
decisions and had chosen his staff to give him honest feedback about their
work. Luckily for the Sheriff this was a very disciplined to task staff.
Now the other Greg was still seeing Sandra. He knew she was
at home with the Congressman and since this was his only target for the last year
he was surprised when he received an urgent message from his employer. Any way
he could attempt to contact Sandra back home they asked. He wasn’t sure this
was a good idea. His discretion was a valuable tool for his work. Showing up in
someone’s hometown asking questions wasn’t the best idea. And there seemed to
be a feeling of urgency in his employer’s tone, yet he was able to persuade
them he shouldn’t go. He promised to try and reach Sandra discreetly. This was
easy, he knew some of the Congressman’s habits so calling her timely didn’t
worry him.
Sandra didn’t answer the call since the Doctor and the
Sheriff were always around. She was glad they were around. She did not think
this was a time for Greg. She loved her husband and now all she wanted was for
him to survive and get well. She decided she would quit seeing Greg and focus
on being there for her husband. Greg called once or twice yesterday and again
today. She needed him to stop, yet she couldn’t answer to tell him that. She
played it smart and did not answer any calls unless from them or their daughter
who went out occasionally to get food and other items as needed. Even her own
Mother called and she let it go to voicemail. Even though the Sheriff noticed
she was getting calls, it seemed normal for her not to answer them all. He knew
she was suffering greatly internally. He could see it in her eyes.
Foreign policy was always tricky for Congress. Primarily
this was an executive branch function, yet everyone in D.C. had to have their
say in everything including Congress. The same week Greg was shot two
Congressman were on a call. One was trying to convince the other that he needed
to vote yes for some legislation the Speaker was going to bring to the floor
the first days back. The second Congressman wasn’t too enthusiastic about it.
There was nothing in it for him. He was promised any legislation he needed in
the future would be arranged. He told the first Congressman he would think
about it. The first Congressman relayed the info to the Speaker. The Speaker
needed a strong showing in the House so he could help the Senate Majority
leader have momentum to pass it in the Senate. He was struggling to get the
votes he needed and couldn’t put his fingers on why.
He had dinner with one of his donors that night. The donor
was also concerned.
To be continued
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