Stillwatch by Mary Higgins Clark Read Free Book Online

apromise from Abigail not to expect to run for the number one spotnext time, but hell, those promises were made to be broken. He’dkeep Abigail front and center until the day came when she was sittingin the Oval Office—and she’d owe it to him. . . .He suddenly realized that Pat Traymore was watching him calmly.Most of the people he hired were trying not to swallow their own spitin the first private session in this office. The fact that she seemedtotally at ease both pleased and annoyed him. He had found himselfdoing a lot of thinking about her in the two weeks since he’d offeredher the job. She was smart; she’d asked all the right questions abouther contract; she was damn good-looking in an interesting, classykind of way. She was a born interviewer; those eyes and that raspyvoice gave her a kind of sympathetic, even naive quality that createda “tell all” atmosphere. And there was a smoldering sexiness abouther that was especially intriguing.
     
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“Tell me how you see the overall approach to her personal life,”he ordered.“First Apple Junction,” Pat said promptly. “I want to go theremyself and see what I can find. Maybe some shots of the town, of thehouse where she lived. The fact that her mother was a housekeeperand that she went to college on scholarship is a plus. It’s the Americandream, only for the first time we’re applying it to a national leaderwho happens to be a woman.”She pulled her notebook from her purse. Flipping it open, shecontinued. “Certainly we’ll emphasize the early years when she wasmarried to Willard Jennings. I haven’t run the films yet, but it looks asthough we’ll pick up quite a bit of both their public and private lives.”Luther nodded affirmatively. “Incidentally, you’ll probably see afair amount of Jack Kennedy in those pictures. He and WillardJennings were close friends. That’s when Jack was a Senator, ofcourse. Willard and Abigail were a part of the pre-Camelot years.People don’t realize that about her. Leave in as many clips as you canfind of them with any of the Kennedys. Did you know that whenWillard died, Jack escorted Abigail to the memorial service?”Pat jotted a few words on her pad. “Didn’t Senator Jennings haveany family?” she asked.“I guess not. It never came up.” Luther impatiently reached for thecigarette case on his desk. “I keep trying to give up these damn weeds.”He lit one and for the moment looked somewhat relaxed. “I onlywish I’d headed to Washington at that time,” he said. “I thought NewYork was where the action was. I’ve done all right, but those weregreat Washington years. Crazy, though, how many of those youngmen died violently. The Kennedy brothers. Willard in a plane crash.Dean Adams a suicide . . . You’ve heard about him?”“Dean Adams?” She made her voice a question.“Murdered his wife,” Luther explained. “Killed himself. Nearlykilled his kid. She did die eventually. Probably better off, too. Brain-damaged, no doubt. He was a Congressman from Wisconsin. Nobodycould figure the reason. Just went nuts, I guess. If you come acrossany pictures of him or his wife in a group shot, edit them out. No oneneeds to be reminded of that.”
     
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Pat hoped her face didn’t betray distress. Her tone remaineddeterminedly brisk as she said, “Senator Jennings was one of themoving forces in getting the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Actpassed. There are some wonderful letters in her files. I thought I’dlook up some of the families she’s reunited and pick the best one fora segment on the program. That will counteract Senator Lawrenceand her grandchildren.”Luther nodded. “Fine. Give me the letters. I’ll get someone aroundhere to do the legwork. And by the way, in your outline you didn’thave anything about the Eleanor Brown case. I absolutely want thatin. You know she came from Apple Junction too—the school principalthere asked Abigail to give her a job after she’d been