Page 133 of Ruthless Prince
My heart sank as I watched the segment. This shit just neverended...
“While there’s still no solid evidence against President Rhoades or Jamie Torrance, Attorney General Geoff Rosen has just issued a statement saying that the DOJ will be exhuming President Rutherford’s body tomorrow morning in order to conduct a medical examination to determine his cause of death once and for all. More tocome.”
I bit my bottom lip as the channel started playing a political talkshow.
“I’m sure you’ve all heard the Attorney General’s statement about the upcoming exhumation of President Rutherford,” the host was saying as she stared at the camera. “Now the same question is on everyone’s lips: if medical examiners find evidence of foul play, can President Rhoades actually be indicted? I’m here with legal expert Jon Brandon to find out. Jon, thanks for beinghere.”
Jon Brandon was a thin, pompous-looking man with dark skin and striking hazel eyes. He nodded at the host, Mina Barr, and gave her a faint smile. “It’s a pleasure to be here, Mina,” he said. “I’d like to start by saying that a lot of people believe a president cannot be indicted while in office, as he or she is covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting president. However, that’s not necessarily true. A sitting presidentcanface criminalcharges.”
Mina raised her brows. “Really?”
Jon nodded again. “Yes, it’s possible. With the approval of the Attorney General, the Justice Department regulations allow the Special Counsel to deviate from department policy in what they call ‘extraordinarycircumstances’.”
“I see. Can you tell us more aboutthat?”
“Sure. If the Special Counsel chooses to invoke this exception upon finding evidence of serious wrongdoing, he or she can indict the president. This would happen if they lack confidence in Congress to hold Rhoadesaccountable.”
Mina’s eyes widened. “Wow. I had no idea about any of that,” she said. “What do you think will happen in thiscase?”
Jon smiled pleasantly and held up a hand. “Personally, I think everyone needs to slow down and take stock of the situation. If evidence of foul play is found during the second autopsy, theremaybe enough to set a criminal trial in motion. But even then, it’ll be up to the government to establish a case against the president and Mr. Torrance beyond reasonabledoubt.”
“And you don’t think that’s going tohappen?”
“I’m not saying that. I’m just saying they don’t have any solid evidence at this time. While that leaked video seems very damning, the president and her associate never actually said they were planning on killing Rutherford during the recording, because as you know, they were interrupted by the president’s daughter right in the middle of their conversation. Furthermore, President Rhoades and Torrance have both stated that they were taken out of context. There’s also the matter of whether or not the video is even legally admissible as evidence. To add to that, who put the secret camera there to film the conversation, and why? How could they have possibly known what Rhoades and Torrance were going to discuss that evening? If you ask me, the whole thing reeks ofsubterfuge.”
Mina sighed. “If only Willow hadn’t interrupted the conversation. Then we’d know exactly what those two were talkingabout.”
“Yes, ifonly.”
“Back to what you said about President Rhoades saying she was taken out of context—she claims she and Mr. Torrance were actually talking about ‘killing President Rutherford’s career’ by revealing secret information they had on Rutherford. If that’s true, it makes them innocent of conspiracy to commit murder, but it still reveals them to be slimy manipulators who would stoop to mud-flinging and possibly even blackmail to get Rhoades elected over Rutherford. What does that say about the state of politics in ourcountry?”
Jon pressed his lips into a thin line. “Nothing good, that’s for sure,” he said, shaking his head. “However, I’d like to make it clear that President Rhoades isn’t the first politician in this country to stoop to thatlevel.”
“No, of course not. But if we find out that she’s actually guilty of murder…thatwould be a first for this country, wouldn’tit?”
“A cold-blooded murderer in the Oval Office? Yeah, I’d say so.” Jonchuckled.
I switched the TV off and threw the remote across the room. This was no laughing matter. If it turned out that someone had actually poisoned Rutherford to induce heart failure and paid off Colgate to cover it up on the autopsy report, then my mother and Jamie would be blamed for it. There was no way they’d get a fair trial. Not when everyone already thought they wereguilty.
This was definitely a set-up.
Fuming, I got off my bed and walked over to the window to peer through the curtains. Logan, my chief suspect for all this bullshit, had been hanging around outside the garage all morning, helping Mal and Adam fix a scratch on his beloved car. I wanted to smash the window, jump outside, and bash all three of their skulls in with a rock before hopping into the car and driving over their nasty, treacherousbodies.
It wouldn’t be the first time you ran over someone,whispered a smug, insidious little voice in the back of my head. For a brief second, I saw a flash of lightning in my mind’s eye, along with a bloodied Chloe cowering on a wetroad.
Horrified, I ran back to the bed and sat down, heart jackhammering in my chest. I tried to conjure up another memory of that fateful night, but nothing came. My mind had gone completely blankagain.
Groaning, I lay down and tried to turn my attention back to my mother’s scandal. There had to be something I could do to stop the onslaught. Anything. Someone out there had to know something that could help us. If I could just get my hands on that knowledge, I could use it to mitigate some of the damage I’ddone.
Buthow?
Drawing in a sharp breath, I sat bolt upright. TheiPhone!
I’d forgotten all about it during the recent drama, so it was still wedged between two books in the study. I had no idea if it even worked, but if it did, I could use it to get online. These days, whenever a major crime or scandal broke, there were always thousands of super-smart web sleuths posting theories and information on Reddit and other forums. If I searched through all the comments, I might be able to find some sort of information that could vindicate Mom andJamie.
It wasn’t much, but it was worth atry.
To my surprise, the phone switched right on when I clicked the button. I did a giddy little victory dance, and then I sat on the bed and got towork.
