Political Science 101

Chapter Ninety-Seven

MITCH HADN'T yet mentally adjusted to seeing the sun set so early; Daylight Savings Time had been only a few days prior, so the "fall back" effect on the sunrise/sunset times of day still felt out-of-the-ordinary. Thus, 6:30PM felt entirely too early to be completely dark outside.

The three of them in the car — Mitch, Keating, and Lenny — rode silently in Detective Knight's police-issue unmarked police cruiser, all in deep senses of contemplation as they listened to the local NPR station as it slowly faded into static as they increased their distance from St. Louis, speeding down I-70 toward Kingdom City, Missouri where they'd turn south onto U.S. Highway 54 leading to Jefferson City — the capitol city of Missouri.

The car was cruising at a steady 90 miles-per-hour; Knight had his incognito red-and-blue police lights flashing as they drove, but he did not sound the siren; there was just something about the cluttered silence — it felt like a calm before the storm, and no one wanted to hear the annoying ascending and descending whine of the siren for the entirety of the two-hour drive.

The NPR voices, even with the steadily-increasing static, were ablaze with the revelation of the possibility of a rigged election, election fraud, and the identity of this mystery power-player, Lenore Sable.

The three occupants of the car all had differing inner-monologues as the situation seemed — for all of them — to become more real with each passing mile.

Detective Knight continued to perceive this event as the defining moment of his career; this would be the breaking case he would be known for and he kept envisioning things like book deals and media interviews.

Keating felt a deeply-emotional sense of satisfaction, having convinced himself he was finally seeking justice and avenging the death of his wife. He was certain he now knew who was responsible and he wanted nothing more than to see Lenore Sable go down in a blazing fireball of humiliation and shame.

Mitch could only think of Ana. Through the gravity and importance of everything he'd just said on television as well as the inevitable conversation he was about to have with the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri (assuming they could track him down on Election Night), the dominating sentiment in his mind and heart was the death of a woman he'd once loved. And something in his mind kept convincing him her betrayal may not have been all that bad. Ana tried to plead with Mitch (during their breakup argument) that even though she'd met him under a dishonest pretext, she'd grown to genuinely fall in love with him; but Mitch would hear none of it. This, in Mitch's mind, was a huge regret. What if he'd forgiven her and stayed together? Would she have been driven to go to Detective Knight and spill everything about Lenore Sable? And if she hadn't done that, would she still be alive? Therefore, Mitch seemed to convince himself, derivatively, perhaps Ana's death was partially his fault.

Upon their arrival at the Missouri Capitol Building, they drove around to the side entrance where a small hut-looking booth housed the outer security personnel.

Behind them, the large stone etching, "BE JUST AND FEAR NOT," was still faintly visible. He'd seen it a hundred times before, but this time, it seemed to carry a bit more weight because although what they were doing was just and right, Mitch couldn't help but fear for his safety. And honestly, this was a situation Mitch was essentially making up as he went along, and he didn't like the uneasy feeling of not knowing what was next.

"We need to see Lieutenant Governor," Detective Knight said, holding his badge out the window and showing it to the security officer on duty.

"St. Louis," the security guard said. "A little out of your jurisdiction?"

"Have you heard yet about the snafu in St. Louis where people were told on TV to demand a paper ballot because of potential election fraud?" Lenny raised an eyebrow, looking like he was in-the-know.

"Actually, I did."

"That was us," he said, not hiding his sense of pride in being involved in something so important.

"So why not see the Governor?" The guard asked. "They're both here."

"We have our reasons," Lenny said, cocky and cryptic with his tone of voice.

"Well, okay then." He walked back over to his security booth and picked up the phone, speaking inaudibly for a few moments. And upon hanging up the phone, approached the car again. "The Lieutenant Governor's office is Room 224. He's up there with a few people and they're expecting you.

"Thank you," Lenny said with an authoritative nod.

They parked Lenny's unmarked police car and made their way toward the building, toward the elevator, up the elevator, and down the hallway to Room 224, the office of the Lieutenant Governor of Missouri.

"Well," Mitch said before he entered the room, "this should be interesting."