“It is odd,” her companion replied.
“What none of the investigations has turned up is Brix’s affairs,” she said.
“Brix was having affairs?” her companion asked. “I don’t believe it.”
“Well, one of his lovers is a friend of mine, and she lives in terror that she’s going to get pulled into the investigation and get her name in the paper and her husband will divorce her.”
Then another couple joined the two, and the subject of their conversation changed.
Holly kept her voice low. “I don’t know which is more interesting: that she knows you’r knrsae in town, or that Kendrick was having affairs.”
“Neither do I,” Stone said. “I thought our investigation was a closely held secret.”
“Well,” Holly said, “it may be a secret, but it’s apparently not closely held.”
“Apparently not.”
“You remember in the movie when somebody says to Jack Nicholson, ‘Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown’?”
“Yes.”
“Well: Stone, it’s Washington.”
“I learn a little more about it every day,” Stone said.
“Oh, by the way, don’t make any plans for lunch
tomorrow.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re going to be invited to have it with the president.”
“How do you know that?” Stone asked.
“Stone, it’s Washington.”
18
STONE AND DINO WERE KEPT WAITING AT THE WHITE HOUSE for more than half an hour before being ushered into the Oval Office, where a waiter was setting up a table.
The president greeted them with handshakes, then they sat down. “You’re having lobster salad,” Will Lee said, “because I’ve heard you like it.”
“That’s entirely true,” Stone said, while Dino nodded.
“I’m having something unspeakable,” Lee said. “Kate has me on a diet. I mean, I exercise five days a week, I don’t know why I have t
o be skinny, too.”
“You look just fine to me, Mr. President,” Dino said.
“You know, I think so, too,” Lee said. “I’d order the lobster salad, but it would get back to Kate in a heartbeat.”
The waiter returned with a cart and served lobster salad to Stone and Dino, then put something before the president, who grimaced. “I’ve learned not to ask what it is,” he said.
“If it’s any consolation, Mr. President,” Stone said, “when we had lunch with Mrs. Lee, she had something fairly awful-looking.”
“That’s comforting,” Lee said wryly.