Breakwater

Outside on the steps, Qui

“Thelma? Oh, the receptionist.” He gri

An answer wasn’t necessary. Qui

After he left, Qui

Qui

If Alicia was okay, why not call and reassure her?

Dropping into her swivel chair, Qui

As a little kid, the painting had scared the daylights out of her. Her father would grin at it with pride. “What an incredible man he was. Nothing could stop him. He had guts and luck.”

A scholar and adventurer, Qui

Qui

Right now she wanted to find Alicia. Whatever it took. She called several friends she and Alicia had in common, but no one had heard from her. Had she gone back to the cottage?

On a good day, with reasonable traffic, the drive to Yorkville took about three hours. Beltway traffic, however, was seldom reasonable.

“The osprey, the osprey.”

An osprey pair had built a nest on a buoy just offshore in front of the cottage. The large birds of prey made Alicia nervous. They’d never held much romance for her.

“The osprey will kill me.”

What on earth did Alicia mean?

Qui

5

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gerard Lattimore had his driver drop him back at the Department of Justice. As he returned to his office, he could feel his pulse throbbing in his temple, as if Qui

Depressed, drunk, drugged-did it matter what had caused her to make the scene earlier today at the coffee shop? She was a problem he should have addressed sooner.

Pushing back his concern, his anger at himself, he walked down the hall to the maze of cubicles where Alicia worked and wasn’t surprised to find Steve Eisenhardt at his desk. Lattimore warned himself not to get worked up. He had borderline high blood pressure and feared that the next crisis would pop him over the line, and he’d have to go on medication. Provided, of course, he didn’t drop dead of a stroke first.

A faint body odor wafted up from Eisenhardt. Odd, Gerard thought, because he was fastidious about his personal hygiene. He and Steve had similar backgrounds-family money, political co

Gerard was the exception. From his first week on the job, Steve Eisenhardt bugged the hell out of him. It wasn’t Eisenhardt’s arrogance or his ambition, and certainly not his family money or co

When Steve saw his boss, he made a move to get up. Lattimore held up a hand. “Sit, sit. I just spoke to Qui

“Oh, right. Yeah.”

“You should have told me.”

“Told you what? That Alicia Miller was upset about something?”

Fair enough, Gerard thought. Qui

“Not since she left here Friday.”

“Steve-Qui

“To the point of calling the police?”

“No. At least not yet. You don’t have any idea who might have picked her up?”

He leaned back in his chair and looked up at Lattimore. “I have no idea. I’m sorry. I wish there was more I could do. Did Qui

“She’s on her way there now to see for herself.”

Steve was silent a moment.

“What is it?” Lattimore prodded him. “Steve, this conversation’s off the record. I have no more desire to see Alicia hurt than you or anyone else does.”

“What if Qui

He had no intention of letting this kid know that he’d gone to Qui

Steve shrugged, unconcerned. “She probably still will. Alicia told me she and Qui

“Do you know any names?”

“We aren’t that buddy-buddy.”

Something in his eyes didn’t feel right to Lattimore. He decided Steve was being disingenuous-he cared more about Alicia Miller than he wanted to let on. A romantic interest? Gerard would never put the two of them together.

“If you hear of anything, let me know.”

Eisenhardt nodded. “Sure. Of course. Are you worried?”

Lattimore thought a moment. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, I’m worried.”

The younger attorney swore under his breath, but Gerard left, already late for a meeting that would drag on through di