Page 75 of The Ruling Class
“And William Keyes?” I asked.
“What about him?”
“He had Bodie dragged in for questioning on who knows what kind of crime, just to prove he could! Adam said that was just a warning shot—”
“You don’t need to worry about William Keyes,” Ivy told me. “I can handle it.”
“He wants Pierce nominated.” I let those words hang in the air. “He wants him to get the nomination badly enough that he’s willing to have Bodie arrested to scare you into compliance.”
“Bodie wasn’t arrested.” Ivy’s voice was maddeningly calm. “He was just taken in for questioning. And I’m not scared.”
The only way this plan makes any sense—the only way it could even potentially be worth the risk—is if Pierce had reason to believe he’d get the nomination.Henry’s words came back to dog me for the hundredth time.
“He’s good at getting what he wants, isn’t he?” I asked Ivy. “Adam’s father?”
“I’m better.”
That wasn’t what I’d been asking. “How many people, other than the president, have enough power to sway a Supreme Court nomination?”
That question took Ivy by surprise. She was quiet long enough that I wasn’t sure she was going to reply. “Men like William Keyes,” she said finally, “they’re called kingmakers. They have money. They have power. For any variety of reasons, they’re notviable political candidates themselves, but when it comes to elections, they can sway things one way or another.”
The president is rarely the most powerful person in Washington …
I tried to turn around to look at Ivy, but she turned me back around.
“Bodie said that clearing the president and Adam’s father was the first thing you did.” I tried a different tactic.
Ivy set the brush down and ran a hand over my hair. Without a word, she started braiding.
“Ivy?”
“Bodie talks too much.”
If she hadn’t had a hold on my hair, I would have turned around to face her again. “I have a right to know.Vivviehas a right to know.”
Ivy reached the bottom of the braid. She held on for a moment, then fixed it in place. “You’re going to have to trust me just a little bit longer on this, Tess.”
Trust.That one word was enough to put a mile of distance between us. I stiffened, and Ivy stood. I didn’t realize until she’d taken a step away that I’d been leaning lightly against her.
“You don’t know what it’s like,” I told Ivy, standing up myself and walking over to the mirror. With my hair tied back, I could see the similarity in our features. Part of me wanted to tear out the braid. “You don’t know what it’s like,” I said again, “to be told over and over to just sit back, while other people make decisions that affect you. Vivvie ismyfriend. She came tome. And whatever you’re doing, it’s not helping her! Keeping her in the dark, keeping me in the dark—it’s not helping, Ivy.” I lowered my voice. “It just makes us helpless.”
Ivy came to stand behind me. I turned to face her so that I didn’t have to look at our reflections side by side in the mirror.
“I know what it’s like to feel helpless,” Ivy told me quietly. “I know what it’s like to have other people makingyourdecisions. I do, Tess.” There was emotion in her voice—but I couldn’t pinpoint it any more specifically than that. She was feelingsomething. About me? About this case?
“I never want you to feel like that, Tessie. I don’t. But you truly don’t need to know what I’m doing. This job?” Ivy never raised her voice, but each word was delivered more intensely than the last. “I get to make a difference. I get to help people, but that comes at a cost.”
My father killed himself.I could see Henry’s face, as clear as if he were standing here in front of me.She covered it up.
“I don’t want that for you,” Ivy said. “Can you understand that? I have to keep you separate, Tess. I won’t let you be part of the cost.”
“The First Lady is making social calls,” I retorted. “Vivvie is dying inside. I’m notseparate, Ivy.” I didn’t give her a chance to respond. “I know there’s a third person involved—someone other than Vivvie’s father and Judge Pierce. If Pierce supplied the money and Vivvie’s dad made sure the justice didn’t leave the hospital alive, then what was the third person’s job?” I cut Ivy off before she’d gotten a word out. “I’m guessing that person either slipped the justice something to get him to the hospital, or they were in charge of making sure Pierce got the nomination. Either way, the two individuals you ‘cleared’ first seem like pretty good suspects.”
“There were cameras on the president,” Ivy said curtly. “Practically the whole evening.” That Ivy was volunteering information at all should have been comforting. But it wasn’t.
“Practically,” I repeated.
Ivy was starting to look like she was losing her patience. “Tess,” she bit out.
