A story of power, money, and deception.

CAPITAL BEAT GRILL, DOWNTOWN DENVER

“Come on, people! Let’s get our asses in gear! Senator Marchione’s table has been waiting for their entrée’s!” Andelia Biddinger called out as she walked through the kitchen of the restaurant. “I don’t want to piss him off!”

She watched the hustle and bustle of the restaurant trying to fulfill the orders of a restaurant full of afternoon diners. Once she was sure that everything was going to be okay, she slowly walked out into the dining area of the restaurant, slowly walking through and looking at all of the customers, looking for any indication that a table might be having an issue.

Seeing nothing that would clue her in to a problem, Andelia continued to the bar area of the restaurant. Walking up to the bar, she again looked at each customer, looking for signs of trouble or intoxication. She noticed one man who looked like he may have one too many, and called over the bartender.

“How many has he had?” she asked, indicating the customer with her head.

The bartender laughed a little. “Just one."

"Really? He looks like he’s had about twenty," Andelia said.

"I know," the bartender replied. "He looked pretty bad when he came in, so I gave him one, on the house, but told him he would be on water from that point on."

"Good," Andelia replied. "If he causes any trouble, let me know."

Andelia walked over to her office door and stepped inside, startled to find Brad Thomas standing there. "Brad! What are you doing here? Don’t you have surgery today?"

"In about an hour. I just stopped by to find out what are you doing Friday night," Brad answered.

“What am I doing every night?” she asked in reply, sitting down at her desk. “I will be here, making sure the place is running properly.”

Brad leaned across the desk. “You can’t take one night off to go out on a date with me?” he asked.

“Well, I suppose I could leave it in the hands of Marion,” she said with a coy smile. “But that would depend upon what you had in mind.”

“I was thinking a moonlight drive up to Evergreen, then a late dinner at a little hotel I know of up there, and then we would see where it goes from there.”

“See where it goes,” she said, sitting back in her chair and bringing the string of pearls she was wearing up to her mouth. “I have an idea where it will go.”

“Well, if it does go there, we would just have to make the best of it, wouldn’t we?” he said.

Andelia suddenly sat up. “I guess so. Friday night it is then.”

Brad leaned further across her desk, took her chin in his hand and kissed her. “I need to get ready for surgery,” he said as he pulled away. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sure,” she said with a smile, sitting back in her chair as Brad walked out of the office.