“Do you have any more questions?”
“No, she was able to answer all my questions. I can't believe she's dead.”
“It is hard to believe. I'm having problems dealing with it myself. I hadn't even begun to think of what the company is going to do without her. Those are going to be big shoes to fill,” Hudson said draining his drink. “We got a lot of shoes to fill now. Last week one of our senior execs, Coleman Wilson, hung himself. I was going to move Mondrya into that spot. But now I have two spots to fill. Investors and stock holders don't like this kind of shake up in upper management. But you do what you have to do, Marcus. And as long as everybody keeps making money, no one cares what you do. A man could get away with anything as long as there's enough money floating around.” Hudson flagged down a waitress. “How 'bout bringing us two more.” He turned to Marcus, “Hennessy, right? And a vodka and tonic for me, sugar,” Hudson said dismissing her. “Speaking of getting away with anything, congratulations on winning your case. I was sure that son-of-a-bitch Ferguson did it.”
“So did a lot of people. A lot of them still think he did it and got away with murder. Which one are you?”
“I'm a numbers man, Marcus. If there is one constant in the world, its numbers. They always gotta add up. DA's case just didn't add up. Time wasn't right, and that's where you found your opportunity. Showed us all that they just didn't have the numbers. Kicker was when you marched that good old boy deputy sheriff in there and he said that there's no way he coulda drove past me doing more than forty-five.”
“Not on my shift,” Marcus said in his best good old boy accent. “I thought it was a power move myself.”
“Hawkins shoulda seen that coming. Disappointed a lot of influential people. I'm talking people with money. And you can't run for district attorney without money.” The waitress returned with their drinks. “I wanna settle up, honey. I got to be getting back.” Hudson paid the check and tipped the waitress handsomely. “You know, Marcus, some of those people, myself included, liked the way you handled yourself during the trial.”
“Thank you, Bill. Just doing what a good defense attorney would do.”
“Winning the case is important, shit, everyone likes to win. But what's more important is the way you handle yourself. Whether people can count on you to do what's right. T
he public is screaming for somebody they can put their trust in. Or at least gives them a perception of trust, you know what I'm talking about, Marcus?” Hudson took a sip of his drink. “I was wondering if you had any political aspirations?”
Marcus laughed. “To be honest with you, Bill, I never gave it any thought.”
“Then give it some thought before you answer. But I can assure you that under the right set of circumstances, the money would be there for you.” Hudson finished his drink. “I gotta get back, but let’s get together in a week or two, and we'll talk about it some more then.”
Marcus drove back to his house overwhelmed by the conversation he'd just had with Bill Hudson. Did he just ask me to run for District Attorney? Once he got past the shock of it, and his ego returned to its normal size, Marcus began to question Hudson's motives. Not that he didn't think he was a good enough lawyer. Capable of doing the job, but why now? It made Mondrya's message, 'I have some things that I'm sure will interest you,' make Hudson's sudden offer seem just a little dubious. Did that something that Mondrya had involve Hudson? He couldn't be sure.
Now who's seeing bad guys around every corner?
Then he thought maybe his group wanted to capitalize on his name recognition. Which was much more likely.
When Marcus came into the house, Carmen was in the kitchen fixing a late lunch for them. He called to her. “Carmen!”
“In the kitchen,” she answered. “You're back early. I wasn't expecting you until two. I was making us something to eat.”
“I'm gonna get fat hanging around with you.”
“Maybe you should start running with me in the morning. I need to get back to it. I haven't been running since Saturday.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“Yours. You're a bad influence on me. Laying up in the bed sleeping at eleven o'clock in the morning.”
“If you like, I'll leave you alone tonight.”
Carmen stopped what she was doing. “What are you trying to say?”
“That I'll forego my usual nocturnal activities, and let you get to sleep early so you can get up at the crack of dawn and run.”
“I wasn't saying all that now. Maybe we could just start earlier.” Carmen put her arms around Marcus and kissed him. “Because at two o'clock in the morning you're still bringing it strong and stayin long.”
Marcus looked at his watch and smiled at Carmen. “You wanna get started now?”
“Let's eat first. It will give us energy in the late rounds. Have a seat it will be ready soon. So where did you sneak off to this morning.”
“Nowhere special. Someone just asked me to think about running for district attorney.”
“Who?” Carmen asked.
“Bill Hudson.”