Chapter 24: Change About to Come

Tess slept in late, in fact until noon, and it was the duty phone that woke her.

“DiRosa speaking,” she spoke into the phone.

“This is SAC Chang. Hines is on the warpath.”

“Which one, Sir?”

“Cute, very cute, DiRosa. Be at HQ at 1400 and ask for me!”

“Yes, Sir. Will Agent McNeill be there, too?”

“Of course. Your rabbi, too.”

“Rabbi, Sir?”

“Assistant Secretary Willard. Be on time!”

“Yes, Sir!”

Tess ended the call and cursed. “What the fuck?”

She looked at the cellphone display again. 1:12 pm! She had 48 minutes to dress and get over to HQ. Twenty minutes later, she left the building almost on a run, and she parked her car at HQ at exactly 1:47 pm. Not even a coffee in her system yet, she took the stairs rather than wait for the elevator and entered Chang’s office three minutes later. Willard was already there and gave her a nod. Another man in a dark suit was sitting in a chair with crossed legs. Just then, Sondra rushed in, too, shooting Tess a bewildered look.

Thankfully, a secretary entered now, offering them coffee or tea, allowing Tess to get some caffeine into her system.

“Thank you for coming,” Chang started. “Yesterday, at 2024, Special Agent DiRosa, making rounds in the East Wing together with Special Agent McNeill, called in a security breach. They had discovered a junior staffer, young Mister Hines, with a well-known blogger and influencer. They had hidden in a janitor’s closet, were partially nude, and having coitus. Ordered to cover and identify themselves, the young woman admitted to having been smuggled into the White House by the staffer, who had procured a White House ID card from a colleague. The young woman, the influencer, had it still pinned to her jacket. Called to the scene of the incident, we removed the two transgressors and subjected them to questioning. The young woman readily admitted to entering the White House on an ID card that was not her own. She testified that the staffer had offered her a tour of the White House offices and even attempted to show her the private quarters. The woman claims to have been too excited over the chance to think it over, well, and to be excited in other respects, too. Hence, the broom closet romance. We have her signed testimony.”

“The staffer, Mister Hines, claims to have no knowledge of where the woman got the ID card. He claims that she approached him in the corridor and using her obvious physical charms, seduced him into having sex with her. So, it’s he-said/she-said in the matter of who procured the ID card.

“The original owner of the ID card, Miss Rita Iverson, reported the card as missing at the front desk when she left for the evening. She said that she left it in her desk drawer for a visit to the restroom. Her desk is located opposite Mister Hines’s desk in Room 2-014 and within his field of vision. We also recovered his fingerprints from the card, but he claimed that he must have touched it during their sexual congress.”

“Is he Jerome Hines’s son?” the man in the dark suit asked.

“Yes, Mister Aaronsen. At this time, we would be hard pressed to refute his statements. I mean, he’ll be gone, make no mistakes about that. The Chief of Staff didn’t like being called back at 9 pm, and he wants young Hines gone, much like anybody else in the East Wing.”

“You can keep digging, Special Agent, but the case against the young man looks shaky. He screwed up and should be fired for cause, but to prove legal culpability, we need to catch him in a lie. As it is, I recommend to leave him be and go after the woman. Identity theft, indecent exposure, illegal entry into the White House. Let me read the statements and your reports, and I can give you a more educated assessment.”

Tess raised her hand.

“Yes, Agent, I know it’s tedious to let him off, but...”

“I’m sorry, Sir, I have a concern about the other, to prosecute Ms Karlsson. She has a rather large following on the internet and in the social media channels. You charge her, and she’ll promote her own side of the story, presenting a sob story that she, the victim of a ruthless seducer, is made the scapegoat while the male culprit goes scot-free due to daddy’s influence. That cannot be in our interest. It will tarnish the US Attorney’s office, the Secret Service and lastly, the President. She must be worth millions, but she won’t have to spend a dime on legal fees. All the big firms will stand in line to offer a pro bono defense. It’s free advertisement for them: defending a beautiful young woman subjected to selective prosecution, and they’ll keep the case percolating until election year. You only need one fan of hers on the jury, and your case is toast, and by then, her fanbase will have tripled. Also, she may have come over as a blonde ditz, but she’s a damn good actress and not stupid at all. Sorry for offering my layman’s view.”

Aaronsen, who had to be a US Attorney, made a face considering this.

“What do you suggests instead?”

“I’m assuming that the aim is to keep the story out of the media, right? Offer her a plea bargain. A very large fine and an NDA against getting off the hook. She can afford it; she’s loaded.”

Willard nodded judiciously, joined by Chang and the other suits. Sondra looked at Tess incredulously.

‘What the fuck?’ she mouthed, and Tess shrugged back with a smile.

Willard cleared his throat. “I believe Special Agent DiRosa’s concerns to be justified. I’ll speak to the Chief of Staff and to POTUS to get their input, but you might want to prepare an offer for Miss Karlsson, Steve.”

Aaronson nodded in agreement, but he looked at Tess. “Do you think she’ll accept?”

Tess grinned sardonically. “If not at first, make her an offer she won’t refuse.”

“What would that be?”

“An invitation to an official White House dinner, Sir. If I know the woman, she’d do anything for that. She’s ambitious, and she won’t screw up. I peg her as being really smart under that ditzy blonde cover.”

After the suits had filed out, Willard motioned for Tess to follow him. In his office, he called for another coffee.

“You must be dead-tired, Agent.”

“I’ve felt better, Sir.”

“That took guts, to contradict Aaronson. He would’ve shot himself in the foot prosecuting that woman. That was a well-thought-out argument and coherently presented. What other talents have you kept from us?”

“Well, I attended a good prep school and college, even PennLaw, and something must have stuck.”

“I’ll say. Listen, are you very eager to climb a little higher in the president’s detail?”

“I’m not sure, Sir. It can be interesting, but it can also be a boring as hell. I miss the investigative work, Sir.”

A satisfied smile showed on Willard’s face. “Would you consider joining the Philadelphia field office in a supervisory function?”