Nathan’s forehead furrowed. “What does the accountant do in the top-secret room?”
Preston shrugged. “How the hell do I know? He comes in once a month, doesn’t say a word to me, hustles into the back room, where he has a key, and he locks himself in. If he goes out for lunch, he locks the door. Sometimes Stanley will come by and the two of them will work through the afternoon behind the locked door.”
“Does Vittie have some other businesses besides being a congressman?” Mimi said.
“Not that he tells me about. I know that when he’s in town, there’s a lot of phone calls and meetings with bigwigs, but I’ve been told it’s not my business. I don’t go into the meetings, not even to bring them coffee. We have a receptionist who answers the phones, and she brings them coffee. That’s Vittie’s rules. Look, he’s a wealthy man and he probably needs the accountant to keep track of all his money.”
“He’s always been a congressman, right?” Nathan said.
“Far as I know, since the forties.”
“Congressmen don’t make that much money, do they?”
Preston smiled. “They don’t let me count it, Nate. They leave that for Stanley and the accountant.”
“So what happened with the old guy?”
“Okay. He starts complaining in Polish or Russian or something about his brother and his VA benefits. I can’t understand half of what he is saying. Something about his brother can’t get medical attention and he’s a veteran of World War Two. He’s got headaches and high blood pressure. Now I’m fed up and I say, ‘Do I look like a doctor? Is this a doctor’s office?’ He gets all pissed off. I give him the address of the VA hospital in Maywood. He says he’s been there and they didn’t help him. He wants the congressman to make a phone call. I tell him the congressman has better things to do than make phone calls about his brother’s dumb headaches.”
“Whoa. What did he do?”
“Just kept screaming at me. Finally, I had to show him the door. For an old guy, he put up a hell of a struggle.”
“Did Stanley find out?”
“No, thank God. He and the accountant didn’t come out of the office until after the guy was gone. I mean, maybe I was a little hard on the guy, but he was the umpteenth crybaby of the day.”
Christine held up her hands. “Okay, enough. As I told you, Mimi, we’ve got a big announcement to make tonight. Are you ready?” She lifted her glass, bit her lower lip in a big smile and said, “Pres and I are moving up the wedding date!”
“What? How come?” Mimi asked. “I thought everything was set for November.”
“It was, but now it’s going to be August twenty-first. It was my dad’s idea. He asked that we move it up because of his congressional agenda. With the war going on, he expects a busy fall, and he prefers to have the wedding out of the way before the summer recess is over.”
Mimi had a shocked expression. “I think I would die. How does Vittie think you’re supposed to arrange a wedding in six weeks?”
“Oh well, he’s Vittie Zielinski, you know. He can do anything. He practically took the whole thing over. The wedding will be at Saint Hyacinth, and the reception will be at the Palmer House. He’s arranged for the buses. I’m supposed to call in the names and addresses of the guests to the stationery company next week so the invitations can go out. And, Meems, you wouldn’t believe the invitation list. It reads like a Forbes magazine top fifty—the rich and famous. It’ll be fabulous.”
“Oh my God. What about the flowers? The dresses? The food? Is Vittie supposed to get all that arranged, too?”
Christine shrugged. “He’s one of the most powerful men in the country, Meems. He makes phone calls and things happen. He promised me that everything will work out fine, and it will. All our dresses will be ready for fitting by July tenth. The florist only needs five days’ notice. They took care of everything for the reception and dinner, including, and get this, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé and their whole orchestra.”
“Steve and Eydie, are you kidding?”
“He’s a friend of my dad’s.”
“What about your honeymoon?”
“We’ll still go in November. We have tickets to Maui; it’s all prepaid.”
“Well, that calls for a drink,” Nathan said. The boys went to the bar for a pitcher, and Mimi said, “That’s great news, Chris, but I can tell something else is on your mind. What is it?”
“There is, but don’t tell Preston. It’s Nicky. I lied when I said he wasn’t making moves. He called me into his office this afternoon to tell me how cute I looked in my miniskirt. He was sitting there with an open bottle of bourbon and a couple of glasses. I turned down the bourbon and told him he could quit looking at my legs. He laughed.”
“Creep.”
“When I turned to leave, I glanced to the side, and there was a briefcase full of cash underneath his topcoat. Nicky saw me staring and said, ‘Some lucky girl’s gonna get me and a whole lot of money.’”
“Chris, you need to get out of there. You should give your notice. That place is nothing but trouble for you.”
“I know, but I can’t. My dad doesn’t want me to. He got me the job, and he wants me to stay and keep my eyes open. I report to him on what shipments are going out, that sort of thing. But I’d quit if I could—Nicky’s getting way too friendly, and things are getting uncomfortable for me. Two nights ago, I came home at ten thirty and Preston was fuming. He said, ‘I’m going to pay Fast Nicky a visit; you work too many hours.’ I begged him not to. I know Nicky’s a jerk, but I get paid a lot of money.”
The boys headed back with the beer, and Christine whispered, “Don’t say anything.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHICAGO
AUGUST 21, 1965
A pure-white satin runner covered the center aisle of the Basilica of Saint Hyacinth Catholic Church, and large pink-and-white rose bouquets punctuated the ends of each row. The theological center of Chicago’s Polish community was a colorful setting for the much-anticipated wedding of Congressman Zielinski’s daughter to Preston Roberts. As the wedding guests filed in, Nathan, Preston and Mimi stood off to the side in the anteroom. “It won’t be long now, Pres,” Nathan said with a chuckle. “Your single days are over. From now on it’ll be ‘Yes dear, no dear, what else can I do for you, dear?’”
“Very funny, Nate.” But Preston was not amused. He took deep breaths and anxiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Jesus, Preston, where did these nerves come from? This is definitely not like you. You’ve been dating Chrissie for six years. You know each other inside and out—sorry for the pun—and you’ve never been the least bit frightened by big crowds. I don’t get it.”
Preston shook his head. “It’s not the wedding or the crowds. Something happened at the office yesterday, and I don’t know what I should do about it. What makes it worse, they’ll all be here tonight, and I don’t want a confrontation at my wedding.”
“What happened?” Mimi said. “Who’ll be here?”