to know, the damn beeper goes off. Air raid sirens wouldn’t have caused the woman less alarm. She was out of there. And I go looking for a pay phone, finally find one that works, and now I’m madder than hell. I answer the page and it’s-” I stopped cold. Uh-oh.
“It’s me, wondering if you knew where we were supposed to meet O’Connor for drinks after work.”
“Well, that’s not the point. But knowing how I feel about them, John, why make me carry one?”
“It’s nothing personal. Well…at least, not between you and me. Wrigley wants everyone who works news to wear one. Half the others wear them now. Get used to the idea.”
“If it’s not personal, why wasn’t the new policy announced in a meeting?”
“There will be one later today. But I was supposed to deliver yours to you this morning. Wrigley’s request. He’s impatient for your story.”
“You said you changed your mind-does that mean you’ve figured out how to get me out of this?”
“No. But I’ll wait until the meeting to give you yours.”
Comprehension dawned. “I see. Wrigley arranged a show. I’d be singled out, everyone in the newsroom would know it, and they’d assume I caused the change in policy.”
“Something like that.”
“And you were happy to go along with it, John?”
“Don’t try to blame me. You know you’ve made your own contribution to this mess with Wrigley,” he said.
I couldn’t argue with him about that. John was often caught in the middle of my ongoing war with Wrigley. “Well, screw it, then. Go ahead and give me the beeper now.”
“Look, Kelly-”
“Give me the beeper. And if Wrigley wonders why I’m not at the staff meeting, tell him maybe he should try to page me.”
IF THE PEOPLE IN THE NEWSROOMwondered how I had managed to return John to his crabby self, they didn’t ask me to my face. I was too busy to worry about their reactions.
I checked my phone messages. Murray was waiting to see me, and Claire had called. I had been planning to call her anyway, but I wanted to follow up on a couple of other things first.
Through his secretary, I made an appointment to see Roland Hill that afternoon. You would think the woman hadn’t been hanging up in my ear for nearly a week.
Next, I called Ivy Vines.
“I need your help with a couple of things,” I said.
“Sure. What can I do for you?”
“I’m trying to figure something out. You dated one of Andre’s friends before you got involved with Andre, right?”
“Yes. That’s how I met you, remember? I was still dating Jeff when you were with Andre.”
“Jeff, the setup man,” I said. “Whenever Andre wanted to break up with someone, Jeff made sure she walked in on Andre and his new flame.”
“I didn’t know Jeff did that for Andre until much later,” she said meekly. “Sorry.”
“C’mon, Ivy. No need to apologize. Until we all started talking to one another, none of us knew Andre’s M.O.- ancient history by then.”
“I should have guessed what Jeff was up to. I’ve thought about it a lot since then. Anyway, what do you need to know?”
“I’m trying to fill in a blank or two, Ivy. I was with Andre after Helen. Alicia was after me. Were you after Alicia?”
“No, I was a couple of women later.”
“Who was with Andre after Alicia?”
“Hmm. Alicia didn’t last too long, as I recall. I think she was just trying to take him away from you.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t the first time she went after one of my boyfriends, but it was the first time she got what she deserved.”
“Nobody deserves Andre. Not even Alicia.”
“True,” I admitted.
“I don’t remember who Andre was with after Alicia. I could try to find out-wait-I know, we could ask Lisa.”
I thought back to my conversations with Lisa. Lisa had sounded so embittered. “I’d rather avoid that if at all possible, Ivy. Lisa has enough reminders of what a jerk he is without having to recite a litany of his old girlfriends.”
“Good point,” she said.
“Actually, I don’t really need a list of people. I’m just trying to find out about one woman,” I said. “Someone named Nadine Preston.”
“Nadine! Oh, God,” she groaned. “I remember her!”
“You do?”
“Yes, because of what happened with Jeff.” She paused, then said, “Nadine really fell hard for old Andre. Wonder why we’ve never thought of her for SOS? She holds a record.”
“I’m confused. A record?”
“Burned by the same fire twice.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Andre never got back together with anyone, even if she was masochistic enough to beg him to take her back-right?”
“Right.”
“Except Nadine. Technically, anyway. A very brief reunion.”
I was astonished. “Are you saying she went
“Yes. Jeff made a big deal out of it. He was really angry with Andre about it. It was ridiculous. I don’t think Nadine and Andre were back together for more than a couple of weeks. Jeff spent more time being upset about it than Nadine and Andre spent being back together.”
“Why should Jeff care if Andre was reunited with an ex, especially if it was only for a few days?”
“I tried to find out, but he never told me. He just said that it could only mean trouble. Nadine ended the friendship between Andre and Jeff.”
“You lost me somewhere in there, Ivy. I would think Jeff’s friendship with Andre ended because Andre lured
“No, their friendship was already over. It almost ended when Nadine got together with Andre the first time. Jeff told him he was taking a big chance, because Nadine worked for Andre as a graduate assistant.”
“She was an exception there, too, wasn’t she?”
“Right. Andre used to have a rule: none of his own students, no one who worked for him.”
“And Nadine was working for Andre when they got together?” I asked.
“Yes. Jeff thought that was a mistake, but Andre told him to mind his own business. I think it must have hurt Jeff. Until Andre broke up with Nadine, Jeff stopped hanging out with him. I don’t think things were ever really the same between them after that. So when Andre got back together with Nadine, Jeff really felt betrayed. Not that I have any room to talk about betraying Jeff-”
“I don’t get it. Jeff wasn’t attracted to her himself?”
“Not at all. That much, I’m sure of.”
“Then it was a pretty severe reaction, wasn’t it? Jeff must have seen Andre with dozens of women. Why would it bother him to see Andre get back together with someone?”
“Jeff just didn’t like her. He said that Andre was nuts to date Nadine in the first place. He would never elaborate on it. I tried to smooth things out between them, but Jeff wasn’t interested. By then, things weren’t going so well with Jeff and me-he had other problems that got in the way of our relationship. But I guess Andre took advantage of that-got back at him by stealing me away from him.”
“Whew.”
“Yes. Not a time I’m very proud of.”
“Ivy, none of us left Andre with our pride intact.”
