Every Last Fear(44)
This sounds really personal to you.
NOAH
You’re damn right—forgive my language. I’ve known Danny’s mother since high school. And I knew Charlotte. After my wife passed, I used to eat at the diner a few times a week where she worked. My son went to school with all these kids. And it offends me that the prosecutor had a report about an unknown man at the party that night, and a separate report about eerily similar crimes in a neighboring state, and he doesn’t give this stuff to the defense. That’s not how a fair system operates.
INTERVIEWER (O.S.)
You believe the Unknown Partygoer and the Smasher are the same person?
NOAH
To paraphrase my son: “Duh.”
CHAPTER 28
OLIVIA PINE
BEFORE
Liv forced down another sip of the awful convenience store coffee as she parked at the lot next to the city center in Lincoln.
She made her way up the steps to the State Capitol building, through security, and to the elevators leading to the interior offices of the ornate structure. She recalled making this same journey two years ago, just after the documentary came out. Back then she’d come to see if Noah could convince Governor Turner—a toad-faced sycophant who’d been in office for three decades—to support Danny’s petition for a pardon. A long shot, yes. But Noah had played an important role in ‘A Violent Nature’: the crusading politician out for justice. His handsome face was interspersed throughout the ten episodes. The documentarians were particularly fond of filming Noah driving from his home in Adair to the capital as he waxed poetic about criminal justice reform. His defense of Danny and condemnation of the system that convicted him were eloquent.
It didn’t hurt that Noah was from Adair. He’d been the mayor before his election to lieutenant governor. His son was a classmate of Danny’s. But most of all, he had a very personal connection to that ugly night: Noah’s son had thrown the house party where Charlotte was last seen alive. Most politicians would have tried to distance themselves from the case, but Noah owned it. Liv never knew if it was out of loyalty to her, or guilt about the party where Danny had consumed so much alcohol that he couldn’t remember anything about that night.
The documentary made Noah an internet heartthrob, the dashing widower-politician trying to free an innocent man. Women of a certain age made suggestive comments about him on Facebook. He’d participated in a speaking tour about the problem of wrongful convictions. He was even invited on Bill Maher and some of the political shows, a rarity for the lieutenant governor of a flyover state.
Liv walked into Noah’s office. The receptionist, a pretty woman in her twenties, greeted her with a plastic smile.
“Hi,” Liv said, “I’m Olivia Pine. I’m hoping to get a moment with Lieutenant Governor Brawn.”
The young woman pecked at her computer. Her eyes searching the monitor, she said, “I don’t see an appointment.”
“I don’t have one. We’re old friends. I’m visiting from out of town. Can you tell him Liv is here?”
The receptionist smiled, not as friendly as before. “Please have a seat.”
A few minutes later a young man came out from the interior offices, and Liv was taken aback.
“Mrs. Pine?”
He wore shirtsleeves rolled to the elbow, and had his father’s gray-blue eyes.
“Oh my goodness, Kyle. You’re so grown-up.”
Liv felt a sudden ache in her chest. Seeing Noah’s son, a former classmate of Danny’s, flooded her thoughts with the what-ifs and what-could-have-beens.
“How are you?” Kyle said as they exchanged an awkward hug. Noah had once told her that Kyle suffered a lot of guilt about throwing that party. Liv never held it against the boy; he was a kid. The class president engaging in his first act of rebellion, if only to impress the jocks. And the truth was that if Danny and Charlotte hadn’t been partying there, they would’ve been partying somewhere else. Liv and Evan had a recurring fight, blaming each other about the lax oversight of their son.
“I’m well,” Liv said. “And you? You’re working for your father?”
“Part-time. I’m in law school at UNL.”
“That’s great, Kyle, just terrific.” Liv felt the ache again.
Kyle didn’t ask why she was there, just led her through the door to the back of the suite and into his father’s office.
Noah came around from behind his desk. “What a surprise.”
“Not an unpleasant one, I hope.”
“Are you kidding me?” He gave her a hug. They both made a point of patting the other’s back.
“I see you’ve met the office whipping boy,” Noah said. He put a hand on Kyle’s shoulder.
“I did. I thought I was looking at a photo of you from college.”
“But without the mullet,” Kyle added with a small laugh.
“Hey, that was totally the style. Tell him how cool I was, Livie.”
Hearing the old nickname threw her off balance. “He certainly thought he was cool,” Liv said, giving Kyle a knowing smile.
“I’ll let you two catch up,” Kyle said.
“Great to see you, Kyle,” Liv called after him.
Noah directed her to the sitting area. She took a wing chair opposite him on the settee. The office was tastefully decorated, except for the vanity wall. Dozens of framed photos of Noah with politicians and famous people. Her eyes landed on one of him and George Clooney sitting at a long table, like it was a panel discussion, looking suitably serious. ‘A Violent Nature’ hadn’t thrust just Liv’s family into the spotlight.