Sandy didn't get it. "You mentioned your people. Who are we talking about here?"
"Some of my Tampa relatives are part of La Familia. I don't understand it all, but they have an interest in politics. Anyway, after his campaign got rolling, all the evidence about him being involved with Norma Martin would come out and embarrass him. She's married and the scandal would ruin his election. Then I'd disappear, move back to Tampa."
"In the first place, I don't think a politician as smart as the senator would get involved with a married woman."
"He didn't get involved with a married woman, he got involved with me. He checked me out and found I'm not married. But of course, Norma Martin is."
That stopped Sandy. It took a moment for her to ask slowly, "So, you're not Norma Martin?"
"She's my mother. Just turned sixty but looks much younger, so she fit the plan okay. She's the one who runs the restaurant."
"So, who are you?"
"Elena Duarte. I'm an accountant from Tampa. They sent me down here just to set up the senator."
"You're telling me Towson actually fell for this charade? Who did he think you were?"
"I was myself, Elena Duarte from Tampa. That's why I checked out okay for him. Why would he suspect anything? He saw my driver's license, passport and everything. We took some great trips. He didn't show me off in public around here because I'm twenty years younger. Why be common about it, he once said. And if it ever did come out, so what, he was a normal bachelor dating a younger woman, both single, no big deal. Might even gain him some votes. He wasn't aware that in the meantime, we were spreading the rumor he was seeing a married Norma Martin."
Sandy understood. "It might work for awhile. Rumors don't have to be precise. Some would believe it and some would not; the confusion was all that was needed. Even so, eventually someone would tip him to the rumors going around."
"The plan was to keep it going until he figured it out. It only had to work for a month or so. At a critical time, they would drop both names like a bomb on the Towson campaign. He'd have two women to explain: was it a mother and daughter thing, or was he only doing the daughter?"
"It would ruin him." Sandy realized she might not get another chance at getting answers out of this woman. "Did you shoot him?"
"No! Don't you see my problem?" She stared off into the distance, her mind apparently overtaken by a cloud of memories. She started to cry. "I fell in love with him." Sandy handed her a tissue. It took a minute before she could stop and speak again, "He was my lover and now he's dead." The crying began again.