putting herself in any deeper jeopardy. And Abdul would be cooperative. He was trying to pry money out of these people, trying to look civilized. “Okay,” Steve said. “Go for it.”
Daisy belted back the remainder of her champagne, gave Steve a quick kiss on the lips, and whirled off toward the house. She hadn’t gotten her interview with the Roach, but she was going to get Abdul Rhaman-and she was going to do a good job.
She raced through the dining room and the foyer and then stood on the front steps, shielding her eyes from the sun while she searched for Steve’s car. She spotted it parked halfway down the circular drive.
A chauffeured Lincoln Town Car drove up and double-parked directly in front of her. The driver waved the attendant away while a man got out. He smiled and nodded hello to Daisy.
She acknowledged his smile and hello with one of her own and strode off to get her recorder, thinking Washington was a friendly place and the party not nearly as bad as Steve had predicted.
Minutes later she flew up the stairs with recorder in hand, mentally planning her interview. She swung through the front door, paying little attention to the people around her, trying to recall facts about Abdul that she’d read in the paper. She wanted a smooth, intelligent interview, she decided. She wasn’t going to shoot for depth, and she wasn’t going to try to nail old Abdul to the wall on the arms stuff. She didn’t want to get in over her head the first time out.
As she reached the patio, she was nervous enough for her heart to beat faster, nervous enough not to see Ethel Begley’s schnauzer dart in front of her. Both the dog and Daisy let out an ear-piercing yelp on contact. Daisy lost her balance and lurched forward, arms outstretched, slamming into the back of the man who had arrived in the Lincoln. They went down hard in a heap on the cement patio, and in the process a gun went skidding off into the grass. Daisy saw it skim her fingertips and recoiled in horror.
Six men instantly materialized from the crowd to scoop up the gun and pin the man to the ground.
Daisy raised her head to see Steve bending over her. He had his hand on her arm. “You okay?” he asked.
“What happened?”
“My guess is you knocked the gun out of the hand of some guy who’d crashed the party to snuff out Rhaman. Rhaman’s goons were all over him.”
“ ‘Goons’?”
“Undercover protection.” He pulled Daisy to her feet, straightened her skirt, and brushed the hair out of her eyes. “You seem to have this weird propensity for running down criminals.” He picked up the recorder.
“It was an accident. I tripped over the dog.”
“Uh-huh.” He saw the cameraman swing his minicam from the gunman to Daisy. “Showtime,” Steve said, taking her hand. “Pretend you’re Miss America and wave good-bye.”
“Good-bye.” Daisy waved, smiling at the camera.
Steve put an arm around her and nudged her through the wall of curious onlookers. “We have to leave now,” he said. “Miss Adams is needed elsewhere. Once a party is rendered safe, it’s our moral obligation to move on.”
“What about the interview?” Daisy asked at the door. “I never did the interview.”
Steve hustled her down the stairs and out onto the driveway, not waiting for an attendant to bring the car. “Rhaman’s gone. They got him out of there before that gun hit the ground.”
He opened the door for her and watched her slide into the passenger seat, wondering at her priorities. Job first, personal safety second. It was consistent with the rest of her life, he decided. She’d been goal-oriented for so long she knew nothing else. He walked around to the driver’s side and sat beside Daisy. “You ever have any fun?”
“Of course I have fun. I have fun all the time.”
He cranked the car over and pulled out of the parking space. “Doing what?”
She thought about it for a minute. “I suppose I have fun doing little things. I like to watch the sun come up when I’m delivering papers. I like the way it colors the sky in soft dreamy pinks and grays and yellows and for a short while the world seems safe and quiet. I like the way shirts smell steamy and fresh when you iron them. I like to listen to the wind rustling through a maple tree, bending the leaves back so you can see the pale green undersides.”
“What about
“You mean like a trip to Paris?”
“Yeah. Or going to the movies, or buying yourself a pair of shoes you didn’t need, or taking an entire day to do nothing?”
“Last week I ate a whole bag of Oreos in one sitting.”
Steve grinned. “Regular rebel, aren’t you?”
“After I get my degree I’ll have lots of time for fun.”
“I think we should designate tomorrow as a fun day.”
“I have to study.”
“Wrong.” He eased the car into traffic. “You can spend the rest of today studying. Tomorrow you must have fun.”
She slanted a suspicious look at him. “What do I have to do to have fun?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“It’s not something kinky, is it?”
“Not unless you want it to be.”
Daisy felt embarrassment creeping through her. “No. Anyway, I don’t think I could top this morning.”
He glanced over and smiled. “Don’t underestimate yourself.”
He was teasing her, she thought. It was a nice kind of teasing, filled with affection and intimacy. The sort of teasing people did when they were really lovers. An odd feeling ran through her. It was a feeling she didn’t want to identify, didn’t want to dwell on. It was a sad feeling that had to do with missed opportunities and loneliness and longing. She cautioned herself not to think about it. She tried to push it from her mind, but the hollowness wouldn’t leave her. How could her life be so full and suddenly feel so empty, she wondered.
They parked in the driveway at Steve’s house. “You really need to do something about your garage,” Daisy said. “It’s silly to have a garage and not be able to use it. You should call a locksmith.”
“No rush,” Steve told her. “The key’s around here somewhere. It’ll turn up.”
Elsie was in the family room watching television. “You just missed it,” she said to Daisy and Steve. “They broke into one of them news-talk shows to show pictures of Daisy saving the life of Abdul Something. And then they showed her with some congressman, and they ended up by saying how she was living with the heir to the Crow oil fortune.”
Steve shrugged out of his suit jacket and yanked at his tie. “Didn’t waste any time, did they?”
“How did they know I was living here?”
“I mentioned it to Aunt Zena,” Steve said. “She must have passed the information along.”
“My reputation has been besmirched,” Daisy said. And good Lord, she hoped her parents didn’t see that piece on the news.
He put his hand to her cheek. “That’s not the part that bothers me. I don’t like the media making you into a superhero at a time when some nutcase is threatening you. And even worse, I moved you here hoping he wouldn’t be able to find you for a while. The evening news just told a million people where you live.”
“I want to know about this oil fortune,” Elsie said.
Steve opened the top button on his shirt. “As far as fortunes go, the Crow fortune isn’t all that much, and my parents have always done their best to spend it.”
“Good for them,” Elsie said. “If I had money, I’d spend it, too.”
Daisy didn’t think Steve was such a slouch when it came to spending money either. He bought cars and houses in less time than it took her to select a pound of ground beef for supper. She pulled the earrings from her ears. “I guess I’d better hit the books.”
Elsie aimed the channel changer at the television. “Too bad you have to study. There’s a show coming on now about giraffes. I’ve been waiting all week for this show. Someday when I get rich I’m going to Africa to see a giraffe.” Her attention was caught by the sound of a car being gunned down the street. “Sounds awful close, don’t it?” Elsie said. “Sounds like it’s right up on the front lawn.”
They were in the family room, in the back of the house, and the crash of broken glass carried to them from the front. It was immediately followed by an explosion. Everyone stood in suspended animation for a moment before reacting, waiting to see if there was another explosion.
