Annie. I miss the girls. Myra doesn’t leave the farm; she said all her old friends thumb their noses at her. That made me so mad, I did a piece on climbing socialites and friendships that brought in so much mail I had to hire people to read it. Then I did another piece on all the boards and foundations Myra used to sit on, all the monies she pledged, and how, after she was treated like a pariah by these same climbing socialites, she withdrew all the pledges. The amount of money was staggering, and it brought another avalanche of mail. It was all I could do, Annie.”
“I know, dear. If I’m not too hungover, I’m going out to the farm tomorrow to surprise Myra and Charles,” Annie said, holding up her glass for a refill.
“Life is not fun anymore,” Maggie boo-hooed. “I don’t mean life should be fun, but fun has its place. I am bored out of my mind.”
Her eyes crossing, Annie had a hard time bringing her glass to her lips. She leaned forward and whispered, “It was the danger, dear. We all thrived on the danger, and we liked pitting our wits against all those crazy alphabet-soup groups that run this damn town. I heard the FBI has had so many screwups since Bert left that they had to ask Elias to come in and help them out. He, of course, pleaded ill health and told them they were on their own. I had a good laugh over that when I heard about it. Supposedly, they are revamping the entire Bureau.”
“Do you care, Annie?”
“No-I-do-not!” Annie said emphatically.
“I think we should go home, Annie. I have to feed the cats. Good thing my driver is number three on my speed dial because I can’t see the numbers to dial.”
“Well, don’t look at me, dear. Just do your best. This has been a very interesting evening, don’t you think?”
“I hope we remember it tomorrow, Annie.”
“You have a point, dear.”
Chapter 2
Myra blinked, then blinked again when she saw the fur on the back of Little Lady’s neck stand on end. She shivered at the low growl deep in the golden’s throat. Someone was approaching the house! She ran to the security monitor in the kitchen, Little Lady on her heels. A car was approaching the electronic gates, an arm outstretched to press in the security code. Friend? Foe? So few people had the code, it almost had to mean a friend. “Shhh, let’s wait and see who it is. I’m sure Charles can see the monitor in the war room.” Little Lady made a sound deep in her throat again, but she remained still at Myra’s side.
Myra marveled that, in less than twenty-four hours, Little Lady had appointed herself Myra’s protector. She smiled. It was the mother in the golden, ready to protect and do battle. She leaned down and hugged the beautiful dog.
Myra heard the high-pitched whine of a powerful foreign car as it raced through the gates and skidded to a stop. The door swung open to reveal a pair of legs whose feet were encased in rhinestone cowgirl boots. Annie did love those boots. Myra burst out laughing as she thrust open the door and raced out to the compound to greet her lifelong friend, Little Lady right behind her. “My God, Annie, what took you so long?” she said, crushing her friend to her so tightly that Annie gasped for air.
“That bad, eh?” Annie finally managed to say.
“Worse,” Myra said, refusing to let Annie out of her embrace. She finally let go when Little Lady barked, a signal she wanted to be introduced. Myra obliged. “This is Little Lady. She is the new mother of four adorable pups, who are sleeping at the moment. It’s a long story, Annie. I am so glad to see you. There are no words to tell you how glad. A telephone call once a month isn’t what we agreed to, Annie. I know you couldn’t wait to get out into the world, so you could set it on fire, but I thought…I wanted…expected…Oh, hell, Annie, I just plain old missed you. Come on, let’s go inside and get out of this heat.”
Little Lady stepped back and barked, then stepped forward and held out a paw, which Annie dutifully shook. She ruffled the fur on the back of the big dog’s neck. “She’s gorgeous, Myra. I can’t wait to see the puppies.”
Linking her arm with Annie’s, Myra led the way to the kitchen door. The new mother barreled through the door and headed straight to the pen Charles had fashioned in the living room for the newborns. “Come along, Annie. Little Lady is just like all new mothers. She wants to show off her off-spring. Two boys and two girls. I’m relying on what Charles said, and you know how he knows everything. So, two boys and two girls. Be effusive, Annie.”
Annie dropped to her knees and peered at the four little balls of fur all nestled together. Her eyes misted with tears as she looked at the big dog and said in a choked voice, “They’re too beautiful for words, Little Lady. You take good care of them, you hear?” She held out her arm for Myra to pull her to her feet.
Both women watched as Little Lady stepped into the pen and lay down. “Her world is right side up, so we can go into the kitchen now. Do you want coffee, tea, a soft drink?”
“Hell, no, Myra. I want a drink.”
“Name your pleasure, my friend. By the way, that’s a pretty fancy set of wheels you arrived in.”
“Bourbon on the rocks, and I’m test-driving the car. I don’t know yet if I want to buy it or not. It’s built for speed, and I’m all about speed these days.”
“You don’t say,” Myra drawled as she poured bourbon into two squat glasses and added ice cubes. “Is this a social drink, or are we going to get schnockered?
“Let’s just take it one drink at a time, Myra. Talk to me, tell me things,” Annie said, clinking her glass against Myra’s. She took a great gulp of the fiery liquid, her eyes watering.
“Annie! See that dog in there? That’s my life. I am in such a funk I can’t function. Charles rags on me constantly. I have never been at such loose ends. I can’t sleep. I argue with Charles over nothing. My friends…well, the less we say about them the better. Your turn. Tell me about the trail you blazed when you left the mountain. I want to hear everything. Don’t leave a thing out.”
“Everything?” Annie said as she finished off her drink.
Myra poured again. “Everything.”
Annie sucked in her breath and let it out with a loud swoosh of sound. “Well, when Fish picked me up at the airport in Raleigh, and we don’t need to discuss the fact that I was headed back to the mountain in Spain, we went to Vegas to get ready for a surprise trip. That didn’t happen for a week because Jellicoe needed him for something or other, so I hung out in the penthouse till he got back. I have a hate on for that man—Jellicoe, that is. The surprise was a trip to Tahiti. It was wonderful.
“In my quest to set the world on fire, I had this vision of myself as a smoking-hot babe, so I took it to the casino floor, picked up one of the employees, and went on a three-day sex binge. You know, to get myself ready for Fish’s return.”
Myra gaped at her friend and somehow managed to say, “Continue.”
Annie sampled her second drink. “I think it’s safe to say I got out of Vegas by the skin of my teeth. I did manage to create a bit of havoc during the year and a half I was there. No one but me seemed to think my ideas were any good,” she sniffed. “That didn’t stop me, made me more determined to leave my mark.” Defensiveness rang in Annie’s voice when she said, “I own half the joint, Myra. By the way, before I forget
