Client 09-31: Day Three

Today started with the FEC lists of major contributors to Senator X's campaign. Several "homemakers" giving $2,000 -- what's that about? This is not my area of expertise; is this something usual, or something to look at more closely? Asked Dorothy to flag anything that looked surprising, and follow up with phone calls. Her response: "If I wanted to be a telemarketer, I wouldn't have bothered with college." Welcome to the glamorous world of the investigator...

More background reading on Senator & Mrs. X. They met through her father, who was his boss; Daddy ran the state's largest lumber mill, pre-Senator X was the mill's ambitious young lawyer. X won a big class action lawsuit, married the heiress a year later. I think I saw that movie, except in the movie, the mill didn't win...

Senator X seemed nervous when I asked for a list of current and former staff. Why? It's public record, just faster to get it from his office than from the Secretary of the Senate's. He did agree to let me talk to his scheduler; I took her to dinner at the Jefferson tonight.

She didn't unbend much. Funny, she looks like my third-grade teacher, right down to the blouse with the bow around her neck. Didn't even know they made those any more. Before I could ask her anything, she asked me: "Is this about Emily F.?"

"Not that I know of," I said. "Who's Emily F.?" She wouldn't say.

Tomorrow's question: who's Emily F.?