The Voting Machine

GOTV

I had a feeling of déjà vu from the Employee of the Year investigation, but Teresa was quick to reassure me a smile that would melt an iceberg.

"You're not a suspect," she said. "But you knew the victims. You were all involved in the election campaign. They're worried this will create a panic. It's only a week until the national election."

"Ok. Tell me how I can help."

"We need to know everything about your time in Las Vegas," Teresa said. "What exactly have you been doing here?"

"I was hired for GOTV," I explained. "Get Out The Vote. I find people and help them get registered for the election. Then I follow up and convince them to go to the polls."

"So you're selling? Just like when you used to dial the deadbeats at Passion and convince them to pay off their credit cards."

"This is harder. People understand why they should pay off their cards. They don't see the point in voting."

"Do they pay you?" Teresa asked.

"Enough to survive. I am not doing it for the money. This was my only option."

At that moment the agents were called away. Chang and Weisbein asked Teresa to stay with me while they received a briefing from the Special Agent in Charge.

"Why did you leave LA? I thought you loved your wife."

"She thought it was better if we spent some time apart."

"What about Passion. You were the star guy in the call center?"

"They shipped all the jobs overseas. They didn't need me anymore."

"Is that really true? There must have been some other position for the Employee of the Year. The Temo McCarthy I remember was someone we all needed. The world makes us forget what is to be a good person. Someone like you helps us remember."

"I am not a good person anymore, Teresa. Maybe I was never supposed to win that award and be a hero. Maybe it was all a fluke. It's like the guys in the casinos. They've been losers their whole life. The might win a few hands at the poker table. But that's just a blip. Those wins just make it worse. They get a false confidence that sets 'em up for bigger failures down the road."

My parents never found a way to win. They never kept our family together. They never found the kind of work that gives you some kind of lifeboat to survive life's storms. They were treading water until the day they died. What made me think I could do any better. So I had some victories last year with my job, my marriage and the baby. So what. A few steps in the right direction can't set you straight if you've been going the wrong way since the day you were born.

My mother told me something once when I was very young. We were broke, bouncing around from apartment to apartment in LA. She said that even when nothing's working out, you can still be a good person. Sometimes that's all you have to fall back on. And so here I was again with nothing. Could I still be a good person? I had to find it in me.

Teresa reached across the table and held my hand. She had a reputation for being a cold and ruthless woman, but I'd seen her with her special needs son and I knew there was another side to her. She had a soft spot for a person who was vulnerable and pure. Maybe it helped her to remember those qualities when she had them a long time ago, before she had to kill them to survive.

"Tell me exactly what happened in LA, Temo."