Part 32 (1/2)
I tried to be a good sport, to laugh with them, but all I could manage was half of a smile. I craned my neck to see if I could find a waiter. I could really use a cup of coffee.
”There it is,” Jana said, leveling an index finger at me.
”You're right,” Christina agreed.
”What?” I asked.
”A few moments ago I was asking Christina if she noticed how quick you are to find the humor in someone else's discomfort, but when it's you who are uncomfortable, for some reason it's not funny.”
”I don't know what you're talking about,” I said, fidgeting in my seat.
”For me,” Jana said. ”It was a run in my stocking at the Senior Prom. I tried to get Grant to take me home so I could put on a new pair. He refused.”
”You monster!” Sue Ling cried.
”Instead, he took it upon himself to do an informal survey of every guy who walked by our table. He even had me stand up and show them the run. His conclusion? Nine out of ten guys didn't think the run made me any less attractive. He honestly thought that would make me feel better.”
”Well, I did . . . at the time,” I said weakly.
My only hope now was to get a last-minute reprieve from the governor.
”He did a similar thing to me,” Christina said. ”We were sitting in a restaurant just a few blocks from the Capitol, for an important lunch meeting with the senator from Ma.s.sachusetts. The waiter spilled coffee on the sleeve of my two-piece suit.”
Jana and Sue gasped.
”It was too late to do anything about it. I had no choice but to remove the jacket and proceed with the meeting. Do you know what Grant did during the entire lunch? He kept commenting about how cold it was in the restaurant and asked me if I wanted help putting my jacket on.”
”Grant!” Jana and Sue chimed in.
I felt like a worm. Like the underbelly of a worm. Like a parasite crawling on the underbelly of a worm.
”And have you noticed how Grant gets moody when he doesn't get his way?” Sue Ling said.
”He does!” Christina said, surprised. ”How long have you known Grant?”
”Just a few days.”
”You're absolutely right, though. He does,” Christina said.
”I do not,” I objected moodily.
”Yes, you do,” Jana said, making it unanimous.
With cup in hand, I turned to look for the waiter, needing that coffee desperately now.
”All right, ladies,” Jana said. ”Let's get down to business.”
”Business?” I said.
”Grant, we're here to help you,” Sue Ling a.s.sured me.
”Help me?”
”You are one lucky guy, Grant Austin,” Jana said. ”Three gorgeous and talented women show up on your doorstep with a single thought. To help you.”
”Lucky me.”
”Christina, you've come the farthest,” Jana said, ”you go first.” To me, she added, ”Christina flew all the way across the United States to bring you some news, and she took personal time off from work to do it. I hope you appreciate what a good girlfriend she is.”
”Ex-girlfriend,” Christina and I said in unison.
”But I do have good news,” Christina continued, smiling at me. ”I discovered who doctored the ma.n.u.script.”
”You're kidding!” I cried. ”Who?”
”Sylvia Jakes.”
The name clunked onto the table meaninglessly. Who was Sylvia Jakes? ”It might have been her handwriting,” I said, ”but someone else orchestrated the changes, right?”
Christina nodded, still smiling.
”Ingraham?”
She shook her head. ”Margaret.”
”Margaret!”
”Who's Margaret?” Sue Ling asked.
”Chief of Staff Ingraham's personal secretary,” I explained. ”Are you sure this Sylvia person wasn't working under Ingraham's orders?”
”Positive,” Christina said. ”And if needed, Sylvia has agreed to testify that you had nothing to do with it. You're off the hook.”
”Thank you, Christina,” I said with emotion, because indeed a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. ”What does Margaret have to say about it?”
Christina hooked her hair behind an ear. It was an endearing gesture, the equivalent of a man rolling up his sleeves to work. ”We don't know,” she replied.
”What do you mean, you don't know?”
”Margaret has disappeared. I mean, literally, Grant. I followed her into the supply closet, and when I got there, she was gone. I couldn't have been more than a second behind her. It's the supply closet at the end of the hall where you had your desk.”
I was familiar with it. There's only one way in or out of that supply closet.
”The mystery deepened when we went that night hoping to find her at her town house. The place was so proper and neat, it looked like a model house or a showroom of some kind. But no Margaret.”
”I wanted to tell you the other night when I called.”
”Why didn't you?”
Even as I asked the question, I knew why. She hung up when she heard Jana's and Sue's voices in my hotel room.