us. She doesn’t know, Maggie.”
“I have to call the mountain. I’ll do whatever Annie says since she owns this damn paper.”
Espinosa decided he needed to weigh in. “Don’t do it, Maggie. Please. This is Lizzie we’re talking about. Don’t screw it up for her. Sometimes headlines aren’t where it’s at. People count. You know that. Like I said, this is Lizzie’s life you’re diddling with.”
Maggie sat down and pulled on her boots again. Ted and Espinosa were right, and she knew it. She would have thought it through and…She was almost sure she wouldn’t have run with the news. She shivered. She’d been a hair away from maybe doing something disastrous. Damn, maybe something was wrong. Something was happening to her. She still wasn’t hungry, and she had almost made a serious mistake. Something hot burned behind her eyes.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” Ted said, hoping to drive the awful look from Maggie’s face.
“No, you guys go. I couldn’t eat anything if I tried. I’m going to stay here for a while. I need to think.”
“Then why did you put your boots on?” Ted asked.
“Because my feet are cold, not that it’s any of your business,” Maggie said. “Be sure to stop for some cat food. If you recall, you asked me to remind you this morning you were all out. Look, I’m sorry for jumping all over you two. I’m not liking this at all, but I do understand, and to show there are no hard feelings, go out to dinner, use your expense account, and eat till you’re stuffed.”
“Are you sure, Maggie?” Ted asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. Go on before I change my mind.”
Maggie could see the elevator from the newsroom windows. She waited till she saw the doors close and the numbers light up overhead before she picked up her phone and hit the speed dial.
“Abner, sweetie, I need some help here. I need us to keep an open line, and I want the information as you get it. By early morning if possible. Let’s not go to the wall on this. This is one of those name your price and it’s yours. Of course, if you try to screw me, I’ll have to kill you, but not before I splash your face all over the front page of the Post. This is top secret, classified, need to know, the whole ball of wax. You following me here, Abby?”
Abner Tookus, Maggie’s supreme hacker bar none and one of her best friends in the whole world, simply said, “I had a new DVD I was going to watch tonight.”
“Boo-hoo. Listen up.”
Abner Tookus listened. And then he whistled. “A month in Hawaii. I loved that last trip you gave me. Black American Express card to use while I’m there. First-class tickets for two, five-star accommodations. And a new Porsche when I get back. Silver, black interior.”
“Done,” Maggie said.
“Why am I thinking you’re getting me cheap?”
“’Cause you’re stupid. A deal’s a deal.”
“Maggie…”
“I have your back, Abby. At any point if you feel…you know, uneasy, shut down, cover your tracks, and our deal is still a deal.”
“That will never happen, Maggie. I’m too good. That’s not what I was going to say or ask. I was thinking maybe instead of the Porsche, a check for a down payment on some beachfront property in Hawaii.”
Maggie hung up, but not before she said, “Remember, an open line on that other cell you have. I’m leaving here now, so just keep talking even if you don’t hear me.”
Twenty minutes later Maggie exited the Post building and walked straight to her transportation, a Town Car with a driver, the most beloved perk of her being the EIC of the Post. If she had looked behind her and to her right, she would have seen Ted and Espinosa huddled in the side doorway of the Post building.
“Goddamn it, I knew she was going to do this!” Ted hissed.
“I might be stupid on my stupid days, but how did you know she was going to come out and get in the Town Car? She does that every day. She’s probably going home,” Espinosa said.
“I know because I would be doing the same thing she’s doing. I’m a reporter, or did you forget that? Maggie at heart is still a reporter, and she is not going home. Five will get you ten she’s going to Lizzie’s house. Well, do you want the bet or not?” Ted hissed again.
“Nah, that’s a sucker’s bet. So, does that mean we’re going to follow her? And, why should we if you’re so sure that’s where she’s going? It’s cold out here, and I’m freezing. We’ll have to pay a taxi some big bucks, that’s providing we can even flag one down. I’m all for a three-inch-thick steak, some nice greasy fries, and French onion soup. C’mon, Ted, Maggie isn’t going to blow it.”
“Yeah, Joe, she is, but not in the way you think.” Ted called Espinosa by his given name only when he was really and truly worried about something.
“Do you mind spelling that out for me, Ted? How can she blow it but not blow it?”
“She’s going to tell Lizzie she’s on the short list. They’re females, Joe. Females stick together, no matter what. They’ll screw us over in a heartbeat, and you damn well know it. The one thing Maggie won’t do is tell Lizzie the information came from Cosmo Cricket. I’d stake my life on that. The screwy thing is I can’t really get mad, because if a secret involved you, Jack, Harry, or Bert, I’d be doing the guy thing, too.”
“So does that mean we’re going to go get that steak?”
“Yeah, that’s what it means. And before you can ask, no, Maggie won’t call the mountain. She knows she stepped over the line with me.”
“You are so weak when it comes to Maggie,” Espinosa sniffed. “I hope I never turn out like you.”
“You should be so lucky. Right now you should be worshipping the ground I walk on.”
Espinosa gave his buddy a hard shove, which pushed him into a snowbank under a lamppost.
Lizzie Fox looked down at her watch when she heard her front doorbell chime. Then she looked at the dinner she had just served up. She shrugged as she made her way to the door, where she looked through the small cut-glass triangle that passed for a peephole. Maggie! She mentally calculated the amount of the surefire, quick stew recipe that was in the warming pot. Certainly there was enough for Maggie. She flung open the door, looked at the falling snow, and said, “You’re just in time for dinner. Homemade stew, warm rolls, soft butter, crisp salad, and sorbet for dessert.”
“I’m not hungry, Lizzie.”
“Are you sick? What’s wrong? What are you doing here, anyway, at this time of night? My, God, did something happen on the mountain? Is Ted okay? Talk to me, Maggie.”
Maggie kicked off her boots and shed her down jacket. She trailed behind Lizzie to the kitchen. She eyed Lizzie’s bowl of food but didn’t bat an eye. Instead, she opened the refrigerator and picked up a bottle of water. “Go ahead and eat. We’ll talk when you’re finished. Everything is fine. Nothing is an emergency.”
Lizzie
