“Right on time,” thought
Cain. “I like that. He isn’t going to waste my time. There are way too many people who want to
waste my time.”
Despite his door being closed,
Cain could hear any activity at Amber’s desk.
Though he trusted her, he still wanted to be aware of everything that
was going on.
“I am Charlie Hughes,” Cain
heard the gravelly voice formally announce himself. After a short pause, the voice continued, “I
am here to see Mr. Johnson, Cain Johnson.”
Cain mentally pictured Hughes
expecting Amber to be responding to him as if he were very important. That would have been the reason he
paused. He mused at the thought of her
not even responding to him, possibly not even looking up from her paperwork to
acknowledge him until he stated his purpose.
Of course, she knew his purpose, she had arranged the appointment. She was just refusing to acknowledge that he
was important to her because he wasn’t.
“Just one moment,” Cain heard
Amber reply.
From his intercom, Cain heard
Amber announce the arrival of Hughes.
Her voice dripped with a hint of sarcasm, as she was playing against
Hughes exaggerated formality with her own.
So, Cain decided to play along
with this formality game.
“Please, accompany him into my
office,” Cain replied.
Cain stood but remained behind
his desk. More cautiously than normal,
Amber opened the office door. With a
sweeping motion of her right hand, she directed Hughes to enter.
“Welcome, Charlie. Please, have a seat,” Cain had carefully
chosen to be less formal in how he addressed Hughes so he could better control
the meeting. He also motioned with a
sweeping gesture of his right hand for Hughes to sit at one of the chairs in
front of his desk.
“Amber, please bring Mr.
Hughes and myself some fresh coffee.”
“Yes, sir, right away.”
As Amber exited the room, Cain
turned to his guest with a broad and engaging smile.
“You do drink coffee, don’t
you? I would offer something stronger
but it is still morning.”
Hughes’ hesitation confirmed
for Cain that he had the man off balance.
This would serve to better control this meeting.
“Why, yes, I do drink coffee,”
Hughes fidgeted with his shirt sleeves before folding his arms across his
chest.
“He appears a bit
uncomfortable,” thought Cain.
“I imagine you are wondering
why I have asked you here,” Cain said as he leaned towards the Hilliard City
Council President.
“I have never been here
before,” Hughes replied. “In fact,” as
he looked around the office, clearly avoiding eye contact with Cain, “I have
never sensed that the party cared about Hilliard, but I have done fine without
party support.”
Abruptly, Hughes snapped his
head to look directly at Cain and spoke, “I will continue to do fine.”
Cain could not help but
smile. On one hand, he admired the
confidence he was seeing from Hughes. On
the other, it was clear that this man assumed that Cain would be handling
things just as his predecessor had so weakly done.
After a gentle rap on the
door, Amber entered. She was holding a
tray that displayed the Democratic emblem.
On the tray were two full coffee cups.
Gracefully, she made her way
towards Cain’s desk. Though he wanted to
enjoy watching his attractive aide, Cain kept his gaze on Hughes. He wanted to see how the man would react to
Amber.
Politely and formally, Hughes
accepted the coffee from Amber. He did
not maintain any eye contact with her.
He looked down at the coffee as he held it in his hand.
“Well, I can see that women
are not a weakness to him, at least not redheads,” thought Cain.
“Thank you, Amber,” Cain turned
his gaze to her as he took the cup she offered.
“Would you see that we are not disturbed for the next twenty minutes?”
“Yes sir,” Amber replied in
sweet overtones.
As she turned to leave, Cain
took a sip of his coffee. He noticed
that Hughes did glance up and look in Amber’s direction as she left the room.
“As I was saying,” Cain
returned to the conversation, “I am sure you are wondering why I called you
here. Since we have never met and it has
been several months since I took this position, I thought it was time to
connect.”
Hughes nodded only slightly in
response. He gave no appearance of
appreciation at the opportunity to meet.
“I want to begin by asking
you, Charlie, how the party can help you and the people of Hilliard?”
As if caught off guard, Hughes
tilted his head to the right. He glanced
at Cain, as if he were attempting to measure the sincerity of the question.
“You seem surprised by the
question,” Cain said as he leaned back in his plushy upholstered chair.
“I have been serving on the Hilliard
City Council for over thirty years.
Never in all that time, has the party asked how they could help.”
Cain pursed his lips as he
considered how to respond.
“Let me be clear with you,
Charlie. I am not asking because I am
concerned. You have done an amazing job
in leading Hilliard as a bedrock community for the party.
“As I have become more
familiar with our party members and their communities in Franklin County, your
work stands out. You have carved a niche
that seems impenetrable. Are you happy
there? I mean, with what you have been
able to accomplish, I am surprised that you have not advanced your political
career.”
Cain had expected this
compliment to soften Hughes. He found
that flattery was often an effective tool to reveal the weakness in those he
wished to control.
Hughes put his coffee cup down
in a deliberate fashion on the corner of Cain’s desk. He leaned into the desk, placing his elbows
on either side of the cup, as he interlocked his fingers.
“Some, Mr. Johnson, seek to
climb the ladder of supposed success. I
have chosen to be the ladder builder in Hilliard. I chose who climbs and how far they
climb. That is how I have done, what you
call, an amazing job.”
A twisted grin erupted across
Cain’s face. He nodded his head, as his
hands firmly gripped the arms of his chair.
“I like him,” Cain thought to
himself. “But, let’s push him, a bit.”
“So, Charlie, you have chosen
who the next mayor of Hilliard is going to be?”
The question hung in the
air. Silence filled the room, until
Hughes shifted away from the desk and into his chair. His clothes made a ruffling noise as he
repositioned.
Cain continued.
“I understand that no one has
submitted themselves as a candidate.
With only six weeks until the election, I am sure you have a plan.”
Hughes put his right hand to his
chin. Cain saw this as a sign of
weakness.
“He doesn’t have a plan. This means opportunity to me,” thought Cain.
“I understand that the
outgoing mayor is your cousin. Is there
a way he could be persuaded to run for one more term? I understand that Hilliard’s charter
designates the term length to be four years.”
“No,” Hughes shook his head as
he spoke softly, “he cannot run again.
He is in the advanced stages of liver cancer. He has not been able to serve the last six
months. I have been covering for him,
knowing that he would not be able to return and serve again.”
“I’m sorry,” Cain replied with
false empathy. “This must be a difficult
situation for your family and yourself.”
The next sixty seconds were
silent, except for the sipping sounds made by each man as they drank their
coffee.
“I don’t want to appear to be
harsh, but we do need to address who might be the next mayor.”
Hughes slowly nodded then set
his coffee cup down.
“There is one possible
candidate. His name is Bob
Griffith. He has no previous experience
serving in public office.”
“Is this Griffith fellow on
our team? Has he stated that he is a
Democrat?”
“To date,” Hughes now looked
to Cain, “he has not stated any political party. I suspect that his
inexperience has blinded him to the importance of it.”
The last statement confused
Cain.
“How could any individual who
has any aspiration of holding public office be naïve to the importance of party
choice?”
Hughes now leaned in towards
Cain.
“I have been attempting to vet
him. All my findings show that he has
the qualities that would make him a fine candidate, from the public’s
perspective. He is married,
church-going, successful in his job and career.
The only incentive that he seems to have for being mayor is that he
genuinely wants to serve the public.”
Cain let out a short blast of
breath.
“So, Hughes, he is the
perfectly pure candidate. He has no
ulterior motives or agendas. Is that
what you are telling me?”
“In all my years,” Hughes
raised his hands palms up, “I have never come across a man like this who had an
interest in public office in Hilliard.”
“Hmm,” Cain placed his right
hand over his mouth. “We need to create
an in-road to this man. Any in-road will
do.”
“This man has no idea what to
do next,” Cain reasoned in his mind. “He
can still be of some use, though.”
“I need you to go through all
the details you know about this, Bob Griffith,” Cain looked upwards as he was
thinking his own next steps.
Cain picked up his phone.
“Amber, I need you to join
us. Bring your notepad,” Cain
instructed.
Before Amber entered the
office, Cain began to adjust the setting.
“Charlie, bring your coffee
over to the table,” Cain pointed to the round table in the corner of the
room. “We can best consider together,
what our next steps will be.”
As he heard her enter the
room, Cain gave instruction to Amber.
“Could you arrange a pot of
coffee be brought to us? We need…” Cain
abruptly stopped as he saw that Amber was carrying a coffee pot.
A smug grin was planted on
Amber’s face. Cain could sense that she
was becoming better at anticipating his needs.
“Did you bring yourself…”
again, Cain was cut off as Amber twisted the pot to show that she also had
brought a mug for herself.
Waiting for Hughes and Amber
to get situated, Cain began recording a list of short facts he could remember
about Bob Griffith. Amber deftly filled
Cain and Hughes’ cups, then her own. She
set down her notepad and sat directly across from Hughes.
“Now, Charlie,” Cain began, “I
need you to tell us everything you have done and everything you know about Bob
Griffith. Amber, even though I am taking
notes myself, I want to you take notes, also, so we can compare later.”
“Yes, Mr. Johnson,” Amber
sweetly sang.
Hughes chose to start by
explaining how he controlled all the potential candidates through his time in
power. He shared how he required each
one had to interview with him, under the guise that he was assuring their
eligibility. He was only looking for
weaknesses he could exploit later.
On another occasion, this
would serve as intriguing information to Cain, but right now it did not seem to
suit his purpose. Noting that Amber did
seem caught up in this scheming by Hughes, he chose to let him continue for her
sake.
Soon, Hughes transitioned from
telling his story to the specifics involving Bob.
“I had the city clerk research
Griffith. He met the residency
requirements to be eligible to run. The
clerk confirmed that he was up to date with his property tax payments. He had never filed for a business license
with the city, either, so there were no outstanding licensing fees or personal
property taxes.
“My contact in the Chamber of
Commerce confirmed his employment and employment record. He has had glowing personal reviews with his
company and opportunities for advancement, which made me wonder why he would
consider leaving for public office, especially such a low level as mayor.
“So, I talked with his pastor,
who promised to not reveal that I had talked with him. He described Griffith as a man with integrity
and a heart for the community. His
marriage appears to be rock solid, even though they have no children.
“I found that he is highly
educated and was even considered a success by his professors. He didn’t appear to be a casual student, no
partying or drunkenness. Even his GPA
was outstanding.”
“This is sounding to me like a
love fest for this guy,” Cain thought to himself.
“Well, it is clear, Charlie,
that you have thoroughly vetted him.
Aside from the facts, what is your opinion of him?”
Hughes went on to share how he
had arranged the phony meeting at Jason’s Diner. He ascertained from that encounter that,
while Griffith might be naïve in politics, he was keenly aware of people.
“What do you think,
Amber? What is your assessment based on
what we know of this man?”
Cain felt a hesitation to jump
to a fully positive opinion of Griffith.
He sounded too good to be true.
“Maybe Amber sees it
differently,” Cain thought.
“He seems too good to be
true. I want to believe that there is
man like that out there, but I just can’t blindly accept that,” Amber, though
she was wide-eyed, still shook her head negatively.
“I can’t blame you for feeling
that way,” Hughes replied. “I would have
expected that to be my opinion, too, but I talked to too many people that
described him so consistently that I felt I had no choice but to believe in
him.”
Cain sat back and crossed his
arms. Looking at Hughes, he saw a
certainty in his demeanor that implied confidence in the truth of what he was
sharing. Amber appeared to be both
hesitant and hopeful.
“Has his paperwork been
submitted and approved?”
Hughes replied, “Submitted but
not yet approved. There is no reason to
not approve it, I’ve just been reluctant.”
Cain nodded as he understood
Charlie’s restraint.
“Here is what we are going to
do. Charlie, I need you to be available
for another meeting. I want that meeting
to be here, in my office.”
“I can meet anytime you want,”
Hughes spoke with definiteness as he nodded.
“Amber,” Cain turned to her,
“I want you to contact Griffith and arrange a meeting, tomorrow, if possible.”
“I have his contact
information. He is at work, right now,
but I do have that phone number, too,” Hughes piped in. He took an index card out of his jacket
pocket and handed it to Amber.
“I was going to call him today
to let him know I was approving the paperwork,” Hughes intimated.
“Hold off, don’t call him,”
Cain instructed. “Let’s have Amber call
him. By meeting him here, he won’t feel
as if you are controlling this meeting, Charlie. Our goal will be to further vet him for the
party.”