Page 67 of Last Date
“If the mayor and the entire city council are in favor of that development, and I’m the lone voice publicly opposing it, that makes me look bad. I’ll look like an outcast.”
“Oh.” I frowned, chasing a piece of broccoli around my plate. “So because you hold a position of power, you have to appear either in favor of everything or completely neutral?”
He gave a slow nod. “Yes. Unlesstheydon’t approve of something, then I can disapprove with them or be neutral.”
“You’re not in favor of the apartments, right?” I asked softly.
“Heck, no,” he rasped. “Of course not. I loathe the idea.”
I felt relieved at his passionate response. “Elon told me Allister bribed the city council to get that project passed. Do you think that’s true?”
He sighed. “Probably.”
“If you know they take bribes, can’t you arrest them?”
He gave a hard laugh. “Now that truly would be career suicide.”
“But if it’s common knowledge, shouldn’t someone do something?”
He set his fork down, looking disgusted. “They’re very sneaky in how they go about these things. They don’t just take checks made out to their bribery fund.”
“Well, no, of course not.” I frowned.
“When did Elon tell you that?”
“Last week. I ran into him while walking a dog down at Turtle Bay Park.”
He squinted at me. “You just happened to run into each other?”
“We run into each other a lot. I don’t know why.”
“Did he say what he was doing there?”
I sliced a piece of tender chicken. “He was meeting with some woman.”
“Really? You mean like a date?”
“No.” I laughed. “She was older. I was thinking maybe she was his therapist.”
“Why?”
“Because they were saying things like ‘Just hang on, soon it will get better.’ I don’t remember their exact words, but it was like a pep talk.”
“Interesting.”
“He pretended he was alone though.” I pushed the piece of chicken into my mouth.
“Did he?”
I nodded as I chewed. Once I’d swallowed, I said, “I found that odd.”
“Definitely.” He went back to eating.
“Have you seen Elon since his attack?”
He shook his head. “No, I planned on going later today. I’m meeting Peter at the hospital, so why not kill two birds with one stone?”
My stomach tensed at the mention of him meeting up with Peter.
