That was the problem with hiring old friends, Darcy thought ruefully. Damn. He would hear about it later.
***
Bing slammed a pile of papers on the end of Darcy’s desk, startling him. “What the hell, Bing?” Darcy glared. Sometimes the best defense was a good offense.
“What the hell were you doing in the meeting today?” Bing demanded as he stalked to the other side of the Oval Office.
“Um…making decisions?”
Bing scoffed as he slid into a chair opposite the desk. “You were out to lunch!”
“Please! Do you know how many meetings I go to every day?” Darcy said with an irritation he didn’t quite feel. “Forgive me if I lose focus in one of them!”
&nbs
p; Bing pointed an accusing finger. “It isn’t one, and you know it. You’re spacing out during most of them, and it’s getting worse.”
For God’s sake! It wasn’t that bad. Darcy took a deep breath. “I haven’t been sleeping well. I guess I need more coffee in the morning.”
Bing pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes closed. “Another cuppa isn’t going to make a difference, Darcy! You’ve seen the approval ratings.”
Yeah, he had, but he’d been trying not to think about them. “We’ll bounce back.”
“Not without a major legislative success we won’t.”
“The renewable energy bill—”
Bing interrupted. “Is toast unless we can get more legislators on board, and we haven’t.”
Darcy surged to his feet. “I’ve been trying! I’ve been talking to them.” If only his voice didn’t shake so much…
Bing shook his head wearily. “They won’t listen until these congressional hearings are over.”
“There’s not much I can do about that,” Darcy said. “There’s this thing called separation of powers that prevents me from interfering in the legislative—”
“Bullshit.” The word rumbled out of Bing. Darcy’s eyebrows rose; his friend rarely used foul language. “You know there’s no evidence. They can’t find anything that shows you had any contact with anyone at the USDA about that contract. They’ve hauled everyone from Mr. Bennet to the Secretary of Agriculture in front of the committee, and the story is the same.”
Darcy regarded Bing sardonically. “Yes, thank you. I know I didn’t do anything wrong. You don’t need to remind me.” Bing rolled his eyes, stoking Darcy’s anger. “You and I both know they’re just dragging the hearings out so they can do the maximum political damage. They’re aware there’s no evidence.”
Bing folded his arms over his chest. “So what are you going to do about it?” When Darcy didn’t respond, Bing flung his arms up in the air. “Five months ago, you would have been racing around this office figuring out what kind of leverage we could use on those guys and how we could get the media on board with the story of what actually happened. You’d be organizing the staff, inspiring them. Instead you’re just sitting there like—like a lump of cold mashed potatoes.”
Darcy blinked. “Mashed potatoes?”
“Don’t laugh. It was the best analogy I could think of on the spur of the moment.”
Slumping down into his desk chair, Darcy let his head sink to his chest. Maybe there were ways he could have put pressure on some legislators to finish the damn hearings. He’d been avoiding the whole subject, which inevitably brought back reminders of Elizabeth and how she was no longer on this continent. Of course, she was never far from his thoughts anyway.
“A lot of the Republicans will listen to reason, particularly since they want to work with you on the infrastructure plan. Their biggest problem is Wickham, and we can—”
“Actually, I received some news today,” Darcy said, searching through the piles on his desk for a specific folder. “A few weeks ago, the SEC found some irregularities in the venture capital firm Wickham and his uncle run. They pursued an investigation.” Darcy found the right folder and showed it to Bing. “They found evidence of insider trading in seventeen deals Wickham’s firm made.”
Bing rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Awesome! When are they going to nail the guy and send him to prison?”
“They’re about to.”
“Why aren’t you thrilled about this?” Bing frowned at Darcy.
“I’m worried about Lydia Bennet. She’s living with Wickham. When the SEC raids his New York condo, she’ll get caught up in the whole thing, maybe even arrested. She probably doesn’t even know what insider trading is.”