Chapter 9 - Any In-Road

“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.”

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