CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
2:45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
The Oval Office
The White House, Washington, DC
This interview was what they called a friendly.
The interviewer was Casey McDougal of CNN, and the show was Beltway Watch. It came on at 10 p.m. and was fun, a little more lighthearted than other political shows. “Like Baywatch without the bikinis,” Casey would sometimes intone in a serious voice during the ads.
The show was good to Susan, and Susan was good to them. On a normal night, they might expect two million viewers. On a night like tonight—an exclusive with the President, after a terrorist attack? Three times, maybe four times, that number. This interview was a gift.
Susan sat in a high-backed chair in the sitting area. Just across from her was Casey McDougal, her high-backed
