'They were New York City cops. Both of them. So was my older brother.
The Lockley family defined the word tough.'
'Was there any pressure for you to go into law enforcement?'
'Not directly.' She laughed. 'Unless you consider taking martial arts and gun safety classes instead of ballet and playing with dolls to be pressure. I didn't mind, though. We did it as a family.'
'Sounds pretty well-adjusted,' Rodgers said.
'It was.'
'Then where did journalism come from?'
'Our other family activity was watching the news on TV,' Kat said. 'The local news always had a lot of police stories, and I loved watching the reporters. They got to hang with police officers and firefighters and soldiers, so I started doing my own newscasts with our video camera and interviewing my folks and their friends. I loved it, and it stuck.'
The waiter came over, and they took a moment to look at the menu. They decided to order several appetizers and share.
'So,' Rodgers went on. 'Did you go directly from the Journal to becoming the senator's press secretary?'
'Pretty much,' she said. 'I made some stabs at getting into TV, but you need connections, fangs, or both. All I had was an interest in reporting news. Dad and the senator were old buds. When I was assigned to cover Don Orr's last campaign, he offered me a job. He said it wasn't nepotism. He told me I had 'the goods.' '
'You do,' Rodgers said.
'Maybe.' She shrugged. 'I figured if nothing else, I'd pick up TV connections for the future.'
'Smart. Looks like you anticipated everything.'
'Not quite,' she said. 'In a high-profile position like this one, you have to watch everything you say and everything your boss says.' She gestured toward the bar. 'As you saw back there, self-censorship is a constant process, and you suffer a complete loss of privacy. I did not appreciate the degree to which that would happen.'
'Maybe you need to come up with an alter ego,' Rodgers suggested. 'Get a wig, a pair of sunglasses, black lipstick.'
'I have all of those.' She laughed. 'It's my Goth side.'
'Pardon?'
'Goth. Gothic. You know vampires, black lace and leather, sharpening your teeth with a file and dying your skin white.'
'People do that?' Rodgers asked.
Kat nodded. 'It's a large and growing subculture.'
'I had no idea.'
The age difference of some twenty years suddenly became very apparent to Rodgers. He still thought the rock group KISS was over the top. At the same time, Rodgers's respect for Senator Orr grew. The Texan was even older, yet he had dared to hire a twenty-something who brought different ideas to the staff. Though it was alarming to think of vampires as a potential voting bloc.
'It's funny,' Kat said as the food arrived. 'I'm the journalist, yet you're the one asking the questions.'
'I don't have access to a dossier of your entire life,' Rodgers pointed out.
'Touche,' she said, smiling again.
The two talked a little about Rodgers and then about the problems of mounting a national campaign. It was an open, intelligent talk.
Rodgers did not know if it had been part of Orr's plan, but by the time they were finished, the general had decided to accept the employment offer.
