jealous as hell but happy as hell for her. Cosmo’s right, though. Their lives will change. I’m glad I’m not him. He’s just plain miserable right now. Just out of curiosity, Harry, what would you do if it were Yoko?”
“Run for the hills. I’m a simple guy, Jack. I think I would always feel I didn’t measure up to all those legal brains that would be part of her life. And it would be a separate part of her life, one I couldn’t share. I wouldn’t like that at all. It’s just my personal opinion, but I think Lizzie will turn it down if it’s offered to her. On the outside she’s all glitz and glamour, and I would never underestimate her legal expertise, but inside, Lizzie is home and hearth and simple, like me. If you laugh at me, Jack, I will kill you on the spot.”
Jack let his mind go back to that long-ago night when he found Lizzie at the cemetery with a bunch of frozen violets in her hand. She would have frozen to death if he hadn’t picked her up and taken her home. “I think you’re right, Harry.”
Chapter 4
Maggie Spritzer looked around the empty newsroom. Then she looked at the bank of wall clocks that gave the time all over the world. To verify the time, she looked down at her Cinderella watch, a funky gift from Ted eons ago. Ted was late. She walked over to one of the newsroom windows and looked out at the falling snow. Enough with this winter weather already, she thought.
Maggie whirled around when she suddenly realized she wasn’t hungry. She felt a wave of panic at this strange phenomenon. She tried to remember the last time she wasn’t hungry but couldn’t come up with a time or a place. Where was Ted? More to the point, why hadn’t he called in all afternoon? She hated it when the Hardy Boys, as she secretly thought of Ted and Espinosa, didn’t check in. Therefore, something was up somewhere.
It was totally dark outside. She stared at her reflection in the darkened glass. Down below and across town, she could see a mass of twinkling lights. She knew the roads and sidewalks would be a mass of wet slush.
Maggie looked at the bank of clocks again. Either dinner with Ted was going to be canceled or he was running late, which wasn’t like him at all. Normally, Ted was pretty good about following her rules. She’d give him another ten minutes, and then she was outta there.
Ten minutes later Maggie was pulling on her red ladybug rubber boots, another funky gift from Ted, and getting ready to leave the office. She looked up and said, “If you ever turn your cell phone off again for five hours, you’ll be in the unemployment line. Are we clear on that?”
Ted shuffled his feet and looked properly chastised. Espinosa, who was standing next to him, backed up a few steps to get out of the line of fire. He knew that a verbal barrage was going to be engulfing Ted shortly. Maggie stood up, her red boots the only splash of color in the room.
“The weather isn’t all that good, Maggie. I don’t think we have to worry about our dinner reservation. I’m sorry, okay?”
“Cancel the dinner reservation. I’m not hungry. I haven’t heard an explanation, Teddy.”
“What do you mean, you’re not hungry? Are you sick?” Ted asked, hoping to divert Maggie, which he knew would not happen.
“No, I’m not sick, and I am as mystified as you are about why I’m not hungry. You look guilty. I’m going to count to three, and I want to know what you’re keeping from me. Freeze, Espinosa,” Maggie barked when she saw her star photographer trying to inch his way backward into the newsroom.
“It’s personal, Maggie. I’m sorry I turned off my cell, but nothing happened, and the world didn’t come to an end.”
“Don’t try feeding me that line of crap. You do not have anything personal going on in your life, and we both know it. Tell me now or regret it.”
There was such menace on Maggie’s face, Ted turned white. “Jesus, Maggie, will you please cut me some slack here? This is a guy thing, okay?”
“So, who cares? I’m a girl. Last chance.”
“Oh, shit! Listen, if I tell you, will you keep it a secret?”
“No!”
Ted’s shoulders slumped.
Espinosa leaned against the wall. “You’re weak, Ted,” he said through clenched teeth.
Ted inched himself into Maggie’s office and sat down. “My life is on the line here. If those guys find out I blabbed to you, I’m toast.”
“You’re ashes if you don’t tell me right now.”
“Okay, okay! Don’t go getting your panties in a knot. Espinosa, Jack, Harry, Bert, and I got a call from Cosmo Cricket. He wanted us to meet him at a location in Old Town in Alexandria. Cricket bought this big old fancy, high-end house for Lizzie back in the fall, had it gutted, and it’s now ready to move into. He wanted our opinion. We gave it to him. We told him whatever he did, not to decorate it, because that’s the woman’s job. Cricket was real nervous. Now he wishes he had told Lizzie or not even bothered to buy the damn house. He’s on his way back to Vegas, if his plane left on time. We promised not to tell Lizzie or anyone. Anyone means you, too.”
Maggie stared up at her best reporter, her best friend, her lover, and said, “Do you think I just fell off the turnip truck? Now, give me the rest, the real reason he asked you all to go out there.”
Ted squirmed in his chair. He gave it one more shot. “Maggie, that’s it. Call Cricket yourself or the others. They’ll tell you just what I told you.”
“I’m not sleeping with them, and I won’t be sleeping with you, either, you schmuck. Now, tell me straight up.”
Ted took a deep breath. “Lizzie Fox Cricket is on Martine Connor’s short list to be nominated for the Supreme Court. One of the justices, Justice Douglas Leonard, who is a very close friend of Cricket’s from way back, is going to retire when the court term ends in June. Well, it’s not definite. Things keep switching up, so maybe yes, and maybe no. If it’s yes, Lizzie gets nominated. That’s why you have to keep it quiet, in case it turns out to be a bad rumor.”
“And you didn’t call me on this?” Angry sparks flew from Maggie’s eyes. “What is the first rule of a good reporter, Mister Robinson?”
“Tell your boss the news so they…she can decide if she wants to go to the mat with it and get out a special edition. Reporters don’t take sides. They just gather the news, and you print it. Jesus, Maggie, I gave my word.”
“You had no right to give your word. The only right you have is not to reveal your source. That I respect. But you gave me your source at the outset, so that cancels that right.” Maggie kicked off one of her ladybug boots.
“What? You can’t run with this, Maggie!”
The other boot hit the floor. “One reason, just one, why I can’t go with this. It’s not too late. I can get something out if I hustle.”
Ted stood up, a defiant look on his face, his shoulders squared, as though he were ready to go to battle. “Lizzie doesn’t know, Maggie.” It was all said so quietly, Maggie had to strain to hear the words.
Maggie stared at Ted as she tried to figure out if he was lying to her or not. “How could she not know? She’s been working at the
