P. J. shot Leif a look. 'Don't call me Pretty Boy.'
Leif knew his friend was sensitive about his male- model good looks, especially now that they weren't hidden by his weather-beaten Bronco Jack persona. He also knew that unless he distracted P. J. from his nervousness, their attempt to change Roberta's mind was doomed before they even started. Roberta's car was parked in the circular driveway framing the three-tiered fountain in front of the house. She was home, apparently. It was to time to try their luck.
P. J. leaped up the steps of the house and rang the bell. He stood there for a moment as the others climbed up to join him, then rang the bell again.
No one answered the door. Nor did any faces appear in the curtained windows.
'You'd expect to see a mess of servants in a place like this,' P. J. said, irritation entering his voice. 'Think the bell is dead?'
The walls of the old house were too thick to let them hear anything, and heavy drapes muffled the windows. P. J. made a fist and began rapping on the door. 'I know you said she slept late,' he told Leif, 'but this is overdoing it.'
Sergei only shrugged. 'I do not believe she is jacked into Latvinia,' he said. 'I checked just moments ago.'
'Maybe she decided to join her folks in Europe,' Leif offered. 'With Roberta-'
'Excuse me,' a voice interrupted him. Leif turned around to find a short, stout, gray-haired woman walking up the steps looking him up and down.
'We-ah, were hoping to find Miss Hendry in,' Leif said. 'But when we rang, we didn't get an answer, either from her or the staff-'
'Well, now, you wouldn't, since Mr. and Mrs. Hendry gave most of the staff the summer off,' the stout lady replied with a faint trace of Irish brogue. 'I'm only in to do the day cleaning and to take care of Miss Roberta.'
She frowned. 'I've no idea why she shouldn't be answering the door, as I expected her to let me in. She should be up and hungry for her breakfast by now.' The woman began rummaging in her purse and produced a key ring. 'But I'll certainly be getting an answer for you gentlemen after I see her.'
The three boys stepped aside as the cleaning lady swept past with all the presence of a duchess going to court. Sergei began pointing out the obvious. 'Maybe Roberta just doesn't want-'
Now his words were interrupted-by a scream. Leif flung himself at the door, which swung wide open-the cleaning lady hadn't fully closed it. Banshee screams echoed off the marble walls and floor of the reception hall. Toward the rear of the house rose the central staircase, where the cleaning woman huddled, still screaming.
Then Leif realized the woman was huddled over another figure lying on the floor, a pale, still figure with great legs peeping out from under a frilly nightgown. It was Roberta Hendry, and she was unconscious- Or worse!
Chapter 11
'I can't believe what I'm hearing!' Megan stared in shock at Leif's image on the holo connection. 'You mean Roberta fell down the stairs answering the doorbell while you were pressing it?'
'No, that's not what the doctors think,' Leif replied. 'It's something to do with bruises having formed already, and her skin showing how dehydrated she was. The emergency services people weren't talking much- they were busy rushing her over to George Washington University Hospital. But they did tell me she was most likely collapsed at the foot of the stairs for hours- maybe all night.'
'Sounds like she's lucky to be alive,' Megan said numbly.
'If you call being in a coma with a cracked skull lucky.' Leif's muttered response was half-drowned out by an ambulance siren in the background.
He must be calling from the hospital, she realized.
'Beats a broken neck,' Megan finally managed.
That got a ghost of a smile from Leif. 'Maybe. You don't think that string of bad luck she had in Latvinia leaked out into real life, do you?'
'Don't be silly,' Megan replied, her voice a little sharper than she'd intended.
'At least they've got Roberta stabilized, but they have no idea when she'll come out of this. Her parents are coming home from Europe-' Leif grimaced. 'And all I want to do right now is get the smell of hospital out of my nose.'
He hesitated for a second, then said, 'I'm down here with my dad, but he's busy with some big deal or other. You free to do anything?'
Megan shook her head. 'I'm stuck here. It's my week to do the dreaded laundry-and with a family as large as ours, it really is the dreaded laundry. Then Alan asked me to link in early-what?' she asked at the look on Leif's face.
'You're going back into Latvinia after this?' Leif's expression was definitely disapproving.
'You make it sound as though we should establish a day of national mourning,' Megan said. 'I'm sorry for what happened to Roberta, but it's not as if she died or anything. And there's certainly no link to Latvinia. Why shouldn't we go on with the beta-test?'
Leif shrugged, but Megan knew she hadn't changed his mind. For that matter, why was she feeling so defensive about this?
'I know you'll do whatever you intend to do,' Leif finally said. 'I just feel it's… inappropriate. Wrong, somehow. Oh well, have fun with the laundry. I'll see you later.'
Megan said goodbye and hung up the phone, vaguely disquieted by the conversation. Or maybe, she thought, it was the thought of the laundry she now had no excuse to put off that was bothering her. Shaking her head, she went off to deal with it.
Coming home to an empty apartment only intensified Leif's bad mood.
Nothing like being turned down when I ask someone out to make me feel lousy, he thought. She'd rather do laundry than see me! And sitting around alone afterward-that's just the icing on the cake.
He went to the living room computer console and put in a call to David Gray.
David picked up in the hallway of his family's apartment. Judging from the hooting and hollering in the background, his little brothers were busily inventing another of their weird games. When Leif filled him in on what had happened to Roberta, David shook his head. 'Nobody deserves to have that happen to them-even if they are a pain in the butt.'
He gave Leif a sidewise glance. 'Although I might have a little more sympathy for her than a few other people would.'
'Tell me about it,' Leif said sourly. 'Megan's flying right back into Latvinia-after she finishes the family laundry.'
'From washerwoman to princess-you can see why the place has its attractions for her.' David shook his head. 'It's not quite the same for me.'
'Or for me,' Leif agreed. 'You think it's any fun having my rump handed to me whenever I cross swords with someone? I can understand why Roberta finally got hit with lightning-she was really trying to stand the sim on its head. But-'
'You really want to see something?' David interrupted. 'Go to your computer link and jack in. I'll meet you at your room in the palace.'
A little surprised, Leif got up, went to his room, and set up his computer-link couch. He lay back, closed his eyes, gave the command… and found himself in Latvinia. He was glad that the program usually integrated arriving role-players in neutral settings-walking down a palace hallway, for instance. It was a lot easier than opening his eyes to find himself on a horse-or fighting a duel.
This time Leif found himself at the writing desk in his apartment at the palace. He was biting the end of an old-fashioned dip-the-point-in-the-ink pen, looking over a letter covering the events at court-including a couple Leif personally hadn't been present to see.
At a knock from the door, Leif put down his pen and went to answer. David stood in the doorway, wearing distinctly more European clothes than he usually wore as Prince Menelik.
