Chapter 1
August 1980
‘What a gorgeous place.’ Mayor Knox thought as he drove through the four lane city streets of Ithaca New York. The sound of Olivia Newton-Jon’s “Magic” drifted from a boom box on a bench in the park as he passed. He didn’t care for the music, but he did like the site of six beautiful girls working out to it in their tight, colorful leotards and legwarmers.
This was his city and he loved her, mostly for what she gave him or rather what being her mayor gave him. He and his brother, Titus, never had much as children. Their father worked the night shift as a security guard for Ithaca High School, which at eight twenty-five an hour was not much of an income, so their mother worked part time while they were in school as a waitress in a local diner while their father slept. They were liked by many, a sweet couple really and always in the pews on Sunday. Leo hated church. All of those Bible thumpers, as he like to call them, in one place made his skin itch. Their parents were barely scraping by, just paying the bills. Their mother kept an old plastic mayonnaise jar above the refrigerator where she would squirrel away most of her tips so that once a month on Saturday night they would take Leo and his younger brother, Titus, to the movies and buy them soda, popcorn and candy. They always let Leo choose what show they got to see. Titus was fine with that. He was happy just to be able to go sit in the plush, red velvet theater seats and gobble down handfuls of Swedish Fish like they were the last candies on earth.
There were no annual vacations to Disneyland, extended trips to the Bahamas or fancy cars and brand-new bicycles with red bows perfectly tied atop them like ornaments at Christmas. No...Theirs was a childhood of; we’re poor but we are rich with love. That was always enough for his parents and Titus, but never enough for Leo. He wanted more, he always wanted more.
Even as a child, he knew he was destined for greatness and his brother was not. Titus married his high school sweetheart and had a daughter by the time he was 21. He took a job as a mechanic at the Mobil station in town to support his growing family. Like his father’s, it wasn’t his dream job, but it paid the bills and gave them a little extra to shower on their baby girl.
Although he knew his brother was happy he did not envy him or pity him. He just dealt with him, his wife Tina and their daughter, Lily, when he had to. On holidays mostly, he would show up with smiles and hugs and presents, not too many presents of course. He was the only one he wanted to spoil. It sickened him to watch Lily open present after present after present. How many toys could one child need? After all she would only play with them for a few months then they would get shoved in the closet and forgotten like all the rest from the year before and the year before that. And the way they dotted over her...They would go without just so she didn’t have to. He wasn’t going to let that happen to him. He made sure that problem was snipped before it ever had a chance to reproduce a money sucking toddler.
He went to college on a football scholarship. A game he played simply because he could bowl people over and trample them without ever having to say he was sorry and he was good at it, very good at it. He was even better at it now, bowling people over that is. He studied business and economics at Cornell University and eventually went into politics when he realized that’s where the real money was.
The sun was now setting and all the beautiful lights of Ithaca were beginning to twinkle along her streets and shopping plazas. Her beautifully glowing orbs lighting the way to K-Mart and the local arcade where all the cool kids hung out. He took a left onto W Buffalo Street Just as Joe’s Restaurant lit up with neon promises of fabulous Italian cuisine and fresh homemade garlic knots. Right on Taughannock Blvd. and past one of the least liked natives of his fair city. He despised what he and his friends referred to as the hippie bums. They were always standing on the end of an island that separated those lanes leading in and out of the many strip malls and side streets along Main Street. They held cardboard signs that read “out of work, please help” or “homeless, need money for food and shelter.” They usually wore crappy clothes, stained T-shirt’s and torn jeans with unkempt hair that he was sure was crawling with lice. But their shoes, you could always tell the scammers by their brand-new Nike or Adidas sneakers. Another right brought him into the parking lot of the Fire Light Restaurant where he parked his Mercedes, top down, taking up two spaces. He knew it pissed people off and to be honest, it pissed him off too when it left no room for him to do the same. It should just be another perk to have his own, large parking space at all of his frequented establishments. He couldn’t stand the thought of someone slamming their average, old car door into his shinny Champaign colored baby. Twenty-six thousand dollars of taxpayer money well spent, he thought.
He pulled open the right side of the heavy double doors that lead to the foyer where a pretty brunette, somewhere in her mid-thirties and not much taller than her four foot podium, hurried over to greet him with a perfect smile.
“Good evening Mayor Knox. I wasn’t told that you’d be joining us for dinner this evening. I’ll have your table ready for you in just a moment sir.” Snapping her fingers in rapid succession, she got the attention of the nearest server who quickly came to her side poised for action.
“No need for that. I’m meeting a friend for dinner. He should already be here, Mr. Michael Right.”
“Oh yes sir I’ll take you right over.” Shooing the server away, she wrapped her arm in his smoothly. Even in her six inch stiletto heals, the feat was easier said than done considering Mayor Knox was only two inches shorter than his doppelganger, Terry Bradshaw. She led him past several circular tables covered in white linins and adorned with China and Chrystal table settings. Each had its own arrangement of fresh Lillis or Roses in the center. The smell of them mingled with the steaming lobster and sizzling beef creating the aroma of a decadent garden. He breathed deeply, taking it all in and relaxed a bit.
Michael Right sat at a small table at the far end of the huge dining room next to the bay windows overlooking Cayuga Lake. He wasn’t overly tall, a mere five foot nine in fact and although his body was nicely maintained, he wasn’t bursting at the seams of his Armani suit with massive biceps or sporting washboard abs. His larger than life reputation came from the way he carried himself with confidence and authority. The fact that he was richer than God didn’t hurt any either. His sandy blond hair, only recently beginning to whiten at the temples, and gorgeous blue eyes would lend him quite the youthful appearance as well. One he used alongside his silver tongue to woo the ladies to the dismay of all three of his ex-wives. He stood up and extended his hand as the Mayor approached the table. “Leo...thanks for meeting me.”
“No problem Mike.”
The pretty brunette, now letting go of his arm, pulled out his chair and motioned for him to sit. “I’ll send your waitress right over gentlemen.”
“Thank you.” The mayor said and took his seat across from Mr. Right. “Good to see you Mike. You sounded pretty urgent on the phone. What’s going on?”
Just as Mike was about to explain his invitation a petite, young, blond sporting ‘Jamie’ on her nametag and a very inviting smile appeared. “Good evening gentlemen. Can I bring you a drink to get you started?”
“Mike’s eyes widened slightly. He hadn’t met this waitress before. ‘HELLO BABY!’ He thought. “Now that is a fantastic idea my dear.” She blushes at his deliberate flirting while taking they’re order with a promise to return in a sec. “Now, to answer your question; It seems my son has as bad a taste in women as I do.”
“Oh now I wouldn’t say you have bad taste Mike. You just can’t seem to stick with one at a time or am I wrong in thinking you’re planning on molesting that sweet waitress of ours later?” He nodded his head in her direction, they both chuckled. “So what has the apple gotten his self into this time?”
“Apparently, this freshman at school kept throwing herself at Derek. You know how it is. She’s a pretty little thing, a cheerleader with her eyes set on the quarterback and popularity.
“Oh yes...I know that type all too well.” He said with an air of smugness. “I had a few of those groupie types in my days on the field.”
“Leo...I hate to tell you, but the groupies from your day and his day are vastly different. They’re aggressive now instead of demure and they all run around half naked with...”
The waitress returned. Her little black skirt noticeably shorter this time, she set drinks down for each of them. Her next question, Leo realized was more for Mike than the two of them. “Do you see anything you’d like to have?”
“Yes...Yes I do. ” Mike replied licking his lips. “But I think we’ll have some dinner first.” Again her cheeks reddened slightly as she scribbled their order on her notepad and sauntered away. He placed his elbow on the table and his hand, palm up, in the air. “My case in point...Tell me Leo...How’s a guy supposed to ignore that when they make it so frigan easy?”
“Yeah that is defiantly hard to ignore.”
“Exactly...So he finally took her out and the next thing ya know, she’s crying rape.”
“Who’s the family?” Leo asked seriously.
“The girl’s name is Sophia Carlino. They’re nobody’s, a bunch of bible thumpers.”
“Have the parents filed a report yet?”
“Her father called me at the office today. Gave me a bunch of crap about my son being a degenerate that deserves whatever he gets. So I assume they already have.”
“Well well...This isn’t going to be as easy to bury as you think my friend.” Leo eased back in his chair. He sighed heavily extending his right arm to rest on the table, slowly, methodically rubbing his thumb across the tips of his fingers in a circular motion as if deep in thought. “I’m going to have to call in some pretty hefty favors for this one Mike.”
Mike eyeballed his longtime friend and cohort respectively before speaking again. “You know, I’ve been meaning to contribute handsomely to your bid for re-election.”
“I would appreciate that Mike and I’m sure this thing with Derek will blow over quickly.” Leo Replied with a sly grin.
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