actually met someone in the Steve Miller Band. But when she returned his look she seemed nervous, flustered by the toast, as if the evening had been a high and they were coming down, back where they started, and he wondered if they would sleep together after all.
“Good luck with your project,” Doris Kemper said, shaking hands.
“I’ll try to look for the good things,” he said pleasantly.
“You do that.” She smiled, almost winking. “It’s still the greatest country in the world.”
The informality of the coffee hour made it easier to slip out early, and after paying his respects to the Bruces, he collected Molly and headed for the door. A hug and faint protest from his mother, but no one else seemed to mind, absorbed on their side of the generation gap.
“She’s a nice girl,” Larry said when Molly went to get her coat. “I thought you said you weren’t seeing anybody.”
“I’m not seeing her yet,” Nick said. “First date.”
“Quite a restaurant,” Larry said, nodding at the room. Men smoked near the fireplace, ignoring the women, who perched on the edges of the deep couches, busy with each other. A waiter was passing brandy. It looked to be a long night.
“Quite an invitation,” Nick said. “Thanks. Good luck tomorrow.”
Larry nodded and shook his hand. “Don’t forget to call the lawyer.”
“I won’t. By the way, who’s Jack Kemper?”
Larry grinned. “What did he tell you?”
“He didn’t tell me anything.”
“Well, he wouldn’t. He’s CIA.”
In the hall, Molly was being helped into her gaucho cape, a remnant of her morning self. The servant, stiff and correct, held it as if it were mink, and as she slid into it, the two halves of her life seemed put together without matching.
“Shall I call you a taxi, sir?”
“No, thank you. We’ll find one.”
The man raised a dubious eyebrow, but nodded and opened the door. “Mind how you go,” he said, indicating the dark driveway, dense now with night mist.
But it was the obscurity Nick wanted. He took her arm on the steps and they walked out of the range of the house lights, over the canal toward Prince Albert Road.
“You okay?” he said.
“I’ve never felt so out of place in my life.”
“No, you were the hit of the party.”
“I kept thinking, what if they knew?”
“Knew what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. That I didn’t belong there, I guess.” She paused. “What was it like, growing up like that?”
“I didn’t grow up like that. It was just-normal, you know. The usual stuff. School. Sports. They went to parties, I did homework.”
“An all-American boy.”
“Mm. Eagle Scout.”
“You’re kidding.”
“On my honor,” he said, holding up three fingers in the oath position.
She stopped, looking at him. “You’re not what I expected.”
“You said that before. Anyway, I’m not a Scout any more.”
“No.”
“There’s something I’ve wanted to do all evening.” Before she could say anything, he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her, pressing her lips gently until she opened her mouth and he tasted the faint trace of wine. But then she pulled back and put her hand between them.
“Don’t you want to?” he said, surprised.
She nodded. “That’s the problem. Then later you’d think-”
He grinned. “I’m not old-fashioned. I’d respect you in the morning. Promise. Scout’s honor.”
She bit her lower lip. “No, you don’t understand. Look, I need to talk to you. Let’s go somewhere.”
“No, here. What’s wrong?”
She looked to the side, avoiding him, then took a breath and turned back. “Okay. I was going to explain, but I couldn’t in there. And then-” She stopped. “Let me have a cigarette, will you?”
He fished one out of his pocket, still looking at her. He was amazed to see her hand trembling slightly as she took it. “What’s this all about?” he said, lighting it for her.
She inhaled as if drawing strength from it.
“I told you someone asked me to look you up. You never asked who.”
“Who?”
“I was supposed to give you a message. I never meant to-”
“Who?” he said, impatient now.
She looked up at him as if she were afraid of his reaction. “Your father.”
“Larry?” he said, so that he wouldn’t have to think anything else.
“No, your father. Walter Kotlar. I met him. He asked me to-” She paused, taking another drag on the cigarette. “He wants to see you.”
Chapter 5
It was her idea to go to Jules Bar. A pub would have been noisy, her flat impossible, and when they got into the taxi he seemed incapable of suggesting anything, so she said the first thing that popped into her head. He was quiet all the way to Jermyn Street, not sure where to start or whether to start at all, one thought canceling out the other until he felt empty, staring at the meter. She didn’t try to talk either, and for one crazy moment it seemed to him that they’d already entered the clandestine world, afraid to be overheard in taxis.
He wants to see you. Why? How? When the taxi stopped, she got out and paid and he just stood looking at the blue neon martini glass, now a little wary of her because, like a lover, she knew the most intimate thing about him.
“Who are you?” he said when they sat down. The bar was supposed to be like a New York cocktail lounge, dark and cool, little tables with flickering votive candles.
“Who I said. I just met him, that’s all.”
“Two vodkas,” he said to the waiter, then turned back to her. “That seems appropriate, doesn’t it?”
“Do you want to hear this or not?”
“I don’t know. Yes. Of course I want to hear it. Christ.” He lit a cigarette. “What were you doing in Moscow?”
“He’s not in Moscow. He’s in Prague.”
“All right. What were you doing in Prague?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“We have to start somewhere. Tell me. Or are you with the CIA too?”
She looked at him blankly, having had a different dinner partner. “Well, if you must know, I went to see a guy I knew in Paris. He’s from there. There were lots of Czechs in Paris last year. You know, before the invasion.”
“But he went back.”
She nodded. “I thought we were-well, wrong again. Imagine my surprise. He didn’t even want to see me. I suppose he thought it would get him in trouble. So like an idiot I show up at his door, and voila, the new live-in girl takes one look and-anyway, what’s the difference? Satisfied?” She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m not a spy. I just went to Prague to make a fool of myself.”
“My father was a spy,” Nick said simply.
