On the second floor of the Harrisburg State Capitol Building, the long corridor, usually filled with whispers and handshakes, was thick with a suffocating smell.
A dozen or so lobbyists in expensive suits were gathered in the smoking area.
They came from K Street in Washington, from the pharmaceutical group headquarters in Philadelphia, and from the PR departments of major insurance companies.
They smoked one cigarette after another, the butts at their feet piling up into a small mountain.
Just a wall away, in the House of Representatives chamber, the numbers on the electronic voting board were ticking.
Leo sat quietly on an oak bench at the end of the corridor.
His legs were casually crossed, his trench coat open to reveal a white, tieless shirt underneath.
He was holding a book.
Edward Gibbon's *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*.
He turned the pages slowly, his expression focused.
