“I can take care of my own wife, thank you. And Ms. Parker.”
“Well, excuuuuse me for caring,” I said. It was the exact tone Susannah uses when she means anything but. I guess I’d had enough. Garrett Ream might have been a Congressman, but he had to use the six-seater just as often as the rest of us.
He backed away slightly, but I kept my fanny pressed up against the sink.
“Well, this wasn’t the only thing I came down here to talk about,” he said. He was decidedly less belligerent, so, in addition to onion on his breath, I could smell a favor coming on.
I said nothing. It was the first sense of power I’d felt all evening.
“You see,” he hastened to explain, “in order for us to avoid any kind of confrontation with this group, we need to leave the hotel very early.”
“That makes sense. Provided they don’t follow you.” I was sorely tempted to tell him that there was a reporter sacked out upstairs.
“You won’t tell, will you?” It was more of an order than a question.
“I’m not the fool you take me for.”
He smiled in an apparent attempt to smooth things over. “You are far from anybody’s fool, Miss Yoder. If I had you on my staff, I’m sure the team would get a lot more done.”
I didn’t smile back. “I’m not looking for a job, Congressman. What is it exactly that you want?”
He sighed, a fake-sounding sigh of defeat, and ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Just breakfast. An early breakfast—say fiveish, and box lunches for the three of us. And feel free to use meat.” Then he laughed at his own little joke.
“Bacon and eggs for five at three—I mean, three at five. And ham and lettuce sandwiches to go. Anything else?”
“That you not tell my wife we had this little conversation.”
“As you wish.”
He left abruptly, without even as much as a thank you. As I watched him go, I realized that Congressman Garrett Ream no longer seemed so handsome as when he had checked in. His features may have been regular, maybe even classical in shape, but he was ugly just the same.
“Please close the door!” I called after him.
Of course he didn’t. Wearily I started to make and pack the lunches he’d requested. As tired as I was, I’d be even more tired at five in the morning. That I knew.
Chapter 7
I stuck my head in the dining room before going off to bed. Guests are forever leaving lights on. A recent survey, conducted by yours truly, revealed that people use eight and a half times more electricity and water when staying at places other than their own homes. It is no coincidence, for example, that most of New York City’s blackouts occur in the summertime, when the city is full of tourists.
Anyway, I stuck more than just my head into the dining room. At first I couldn’t believe what I saw. There, sewing contentedly away on the stretched quilt, were Linda McMahon and Billy Dee Grizzle. It was like finding a cat and a mouse gnawing away at the same piece of cheese.
I approached them quietly, not stealthily. At five feet ten, and one hundred and fifty pounds, I am too big-boned to do anything stealthily. Still, I got close enough to discern Linda’s soft, almost girlish voice.
“Of course I love her, Billy Dee. But that doesn’t mean I approve. Blackmail is blackmail. And besides, you can only push someone so far.”
“She’s pushed a lot of people too far, Linda. Someday someone’s going to put a stop to it.”
Linda looked up from her sewing with what appeared to be concern. “She apologized to you, Billy Dee. Publicly, even. Remember?”
Billy Dee chuckled, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “Yes, she did apologize. After I ‘found the light.’ ”
“But you did find the light. I mean, you did change. So now you can understand why she took the position she did, can’t you?”
“Yeah, I guess, Linda. But it ain’t her blackmailing that’s bothering me now. We’ve got our own little problem to take care of.”
Linda beat the stretched fabric of the quilt with both fists. “But it isn’t a problem, Billy Dee. We’ve been over this a million times. I want to keep it!”
At that point I stubbed my right big toe on a chair, and since both the chair and I made a lot of noise, my presence was immediately evident. I covered the best I could.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you two. I just popped in to see if you needed some help.”
Much to my disappointment, they appeared neither to be startled, nor to need my help. “We’re just fine, ma’am,” said Billy Dee politely. “But you can check our stitches if you want.”