While they were having coffee, Lucy O'Connor returned. She was making notes in a Palm Pilot as she weaved through the crowded restaurant and made her way directly to the table. Upon arriving, she fixed her eager eyes on Kat.
'There's been another killing,' she said breathlessly.
'Who?' Kat asked. She seemed unusually alarmed. Or maybe she was tired of talking to reporters.
'A big shot Southern realtor named Robert Lawless,' Lucy said, reading from the Palm Pilot 'A woman went to his hotel room at the Monarch, this time and left a few minutes later. Sometime between, she apparently poked him under the tongue with a hypodermic. The only difference between the Wilson and Lawless incidents is that this killer went up with him.'
'Did the security cameras get anything?' Rodgers asked.
'Same as yesterday,' Lucy replied. 'A woman whose features were hidden, this time by a scarf and sunglasses.'
'How did you hear about it?' Kat asked.
'Someone in hotel security saw the woman in the elevator, thought she looked suspicious, and decided to check on Mr. Lawless. I was in the bar, networking, heard the fuss.'
'But they didn't hold the woman,' Kat said.
'They were a few steps too late,' Lucy said. 'She got off on the mezzanine, not in the lobby, and walked out a side door. The good news, I guess, is that it seems to take your soiree out of the spotlight. Lawless wasn't on the invite list.'
Kat looked at her watch, then excused herself. She said she was going outside to call the senator. This was something he should know before he taped the show. 'I owe you,' she said to Lucy as she left.
'I'll want a comment from the senator,' Lucy said.
Kat nodded as she walked away. The reporter smiled and took the seat across from General Rodgers. The thirty-something woman had short blond hair, pale skin, thin red lips, and a hungry look.
There were all kinds of vampires in Washington.
'Lucky you were there,' Rodgers said.
'My middle name is Kay,' the reporter said. 'My folks gave it to me so I could add it to Lucy whenever I wanted.'
'Cute,' Rodgers said.
'So, General,' Lucy said. 'What about these rumors that Op-Center is being phased out?'
'Intelligence fund reapportionments are cyclical,' Rodgers said.
'Op-Center got a boost five years ago, now they're being cut back.
They're still beefier than they were when they started.'
That was longer than 'nope.' Mike Rodgers was proud of himself but only for a moment.
'They?' Lucy said.
That was a slip. Rodgers should have been more careful.
'General, are you going to work for Senator Orr and the USF?' Lucy asked. 'Is that why you were at the party last night?'
'Nope,' he said.
'Nope?' Lucy said, her mouth twisting.
'Nope.' Words were a reporter's oxygen supply. Cut it off, and they died.
