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3
“I messed up,” Sam Levering said. “Oh, boy, did I.”
“Just tell me,” A
Levering popped another aspirin into his mouth. A
This time she’d have to come up with a strategy, and it would have to be a masterpiece. He would need to break it to her a step at a time.
“I had a date last night,” Levering said.
“Not exactly news,” A
“This wasn’t an ordinary date,” Levering said, clearing his throat. “It was with Millicent Ma
A
“Unfortunately, it is.”
A
“So you are telling me you were with Justice Hollander last night, and that she is about to die this morning? Have you seen the Post Web site yet?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s all over the place. And the big question is what was she doing alone, in an evening gown, in the middle of a Washington, D.C., park? And you’re saying there are only two people with the answer?”
“Three.”
A
“Sylvan won’t talk.”
“What about her friends? Did she tell anybody she was going out with you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, we better find out. Anybody see you pick her up?”
Levering shrugged.
A
“All right,” A
“I was going to take her to di
“Does she drink?”
“Not much.”
“Did she have anything to drink?”
“Some champagne. Why?”
“That may come in handy. Keep going.”
Levering rubbed his temples. With his eyes closed he continued. “So I’d already had a snort before picking her up. Believe it or not, I was a little nervous.”
“Why shouldn’t I believe it?” A
“So I drank a little more with her, we talked. She was uptight. And, I don’t know, I got forward with her, I guess.”
A
“Do I have to?”
“You want me to help you?”
“Fine. I kissed her on the neck.”
A
Smiling sheepishly, Levering said, “That’s about it.”
“What were you thinking?” A
“You know me.”
“I can understand it with the others. Interns, yes. Socialite widows, fine. But Millicent Ma
“I don’t know why I wanted her.” He paused, pondering his reasons. He had not grown up with very much attention from girls. He had always felt shy and self-conscious – all the way through college. Even when he got married he considered it a lucky blunder. But when he won his first public office in the state legislature, he found that power held a certain attracting force. Women began to gravitate toward him. He was always careful about it. He’d never had a scandal during his married years. Even after the divorce he kept things as discrete as possible. He’d had his pick of women. So why Millie?
“Let me answer for you,” A
Levering tilted his head at her.
“You know,” A
Levering, with reluctance, nodded. “Maybe.”
“Millicent Ma
“Fine. Guilty.”
“Good. Confession’s good for the soul.”
“I don’t believe in souls.”
“Then it’s good for your digestion, okay? Now let me do what I do.”
Levering sighed, glad to be back on familiar ground. Admissions always made him nervous. “What’s the first step?”
“I’ll go down and figure out what her status is. I’ve got to see if I can get to her before she talks to anybody.”
“Can you swing that?”
A
4
Millie opened her mouth and finally a sound came out.
“Help. Oh, please help.” She heard her voice as if it came from outside of herself, a frightened whisper.
Light invaded darkness. She opened her eyes. A foglike veil shrouded the room.
She felt as if she were being pulled through that veil, pulled like dead weight toward consciousness. Her body fought against it, shrieking to go back to sleep.
Her eyelids were like bags full of rocks. But she knew with a certainty bordering on hysteria that she could not go back to sleep. If she did, they would have her. The ones she had felt in the darkness.
Circles of fear rippled outward from her stomach. She had to fight to stay awake.
“Help…”
Something at the back of her head. A throbbing, painful thing, reaching around to her temples like burning tongs.
Did they have her in a torture chamber?
Sight of curtains, smell of linen and disinfectant. Sounds of voices outside the room, beeping noises, the soft whirring of machines.
She was not dead. She was in a hospital room.
The realization came to her, and with it a wave of such sweet relief that she almost wept.
Come back, she told herself as her eyelids pressed downward. Don’t sleep!
A nurse – Millie assumed it was a nurse, hoped it was – floated in through the mists.
“… feeling?” the nurse said.
Millie heard herself groan.
“How are you feeling?” the nurse repeated.
“Help.”
“Are you in pain?”
Was she in pain? No, it was beyond pain, as if she were awakening into a thick, burning substance. She felt things attached to her body.
“Help,” Millie said.
“I’ll get the doctor.”
Millie wanted to shout Don’t leave me, as if this nurse represented the last lifeline. But the nurse was gone.
She was alone. Would she die? The word again popped into her mind. Why should she think that? Her mind slogged forward, barely, frustrating her. She knew who she was, that her mind was a sharp one, well oiled, trained. Or had she suffered some sort of damage?
What was happening?
She did not have any idea of time. The next span could have been minutes or hours. But she fought to stay awake. Sharp pains helped her. She became aware of a monitor next to the bed, issuing peak and valley lines. Her heartbeat. She still had a beating heart.