She came out of the bathroom wearing black pants and a V-neck cranberry red sweater.
“You’re not wearing that,” Rick said. It wasn’t a question. He had propped himself up on the headboard with a couple of pillows.
“Why not? It’s a Christmasy color.”
“It’s too low-cut. I don’t want all of Portland ogling you.”
Cassidy leaned over the bed. “Oh, so you’re the only one who can ogle?”
One second she was leaning over him, the next Rick had flipped her onto her back, holding her arms over her head.
Cassidy laughed in surprise, but she heard how uncertain it sounded. “What are you doing?”
“Making you late for work.” He nuzzled the side of her neck.
“No, Rick, don’t. I don’t want to.”
“Don’t say that. I know you do.” He pulled back and gave her a wolfish grin.
“No, seriously, I don’t.”
Rick’s eyes narrowed. His expression changed, hardened somehow.
Something pulsed low in Cassidy’s belly. Was it desire—or fear?
“I mean, of course I do. I would love to spend the rest of the day here with you in bed, but I have to go to work. They’re counting on me.”
For an answer, he grabbed both her wrists with one hand.
MYSPACE.COM/THEDCPAGE
Blue Eyes
October 6
Saying you’re a Senate page sounds glamorous, but it’s not. We’re basically gofers. It seems so old-fashioned, all the paper we carry around. Haven’t they heard of e-mail? It’s probably been the same since Daniel Webster was a page.
This afternoon I ran into Senator X. He asked me what I was doing for dinner tomorrow. When I told him I had a voucher to eat in the Union Station food court, he made his voice break like the kid who works at Krusty Burger on The Simpsons. “You want a side of grease with your burger?”
I laughed. The food there does get kind of old. Then he said we should go to that same Japanese restaurant we went to with V. Usually you have to go someplace with another page, but when you’re with an adult you can go places by yourself. So I knew it would be just him & me, which is a little weird. But I’ve heard that every year he picks out a page to mentor.
At the restaurant, he ordered for me. He remembered exactly what I liked from the other time we were there! He said when he was a page it was the same as now—long hours, no glory & bad food. I said he left out the stupid uniform. But tonight I was wearing black pants & my blue cashmere sweater. Everyone always says it makes my eyes look bluer.
He even gave me a present—a beautiful gold bracelet—b/c he had heard I had my birthday. I couldn’t believe it! He said I could always look at it & remember my time here.
The night just flew by. When I came home, my roommates were all asleep. They probably had just watched TV in the dayroom & gone to bed. And I had been talking to a senator about my future!
MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
December 27
The trap and trace says the threat came from a pay phone,” Allison told Nicole. They were in Allison’s office, waiting for Senator Fairview and his lawyer.
“Did the voice sound familiar?”
“Maybe. Yes. No.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. You know how many people I’ve prosecuted. You’ve worked most of those cases with me.”
Nicole tilted her head. “Then why are they going after you and not me? Or both of us?”
Allison had thought about this. “I’m the one who puts people away. I’m the one they think of when they sit in their jail cells . . . or when they get out.”
When Allison’s phone rang, both women started.
“Senator Fairview is here,” the receptionist said.
Allison looked over at Nicole. “They’re here. Let’s go pin this jerk to the wall.”
As a prosecutor, Allison would never interview a potential witness by herself. If someone told her one thing in an interview and then said something different on the witness stand, she couldn’t take the stand herself to rebut him. She needed someone else present to do that.
More than that, she and Nicole made a good team. In an interview, Nicole sat back and listened with all her being, which made some people feel off-balance. They could tell they were being put under a microscope. And with as slick as Senator Fairview and his lawyer were sure to be, her team needed all the advantages they could get.