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though I’m not sure yet that that is an improvement.”
    “You’ll find that it is. Did they repair the plaster and clean up after themselves?”
    “They did, amazingly enough. Then I had to explain to my landlord why his key doesn’t work anymore and how he can’t come into the apartment unless I’m there.”
    “How are you feeling about the security cameras?”
    “I’m okay with that, now, after taping over the ones in my bedroom and bathroom.”
    Ann laughed. “I did the same thing. I expected to get flak for it, but I didn’t.”
    “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll look forward to no flak.”
    “Kate . . . I’m sorry, the president . . . thinks not just highly, but warmly of you—more so than just about anybody on the staff.”
    “That’s very kind of her, but she has always been very kind to me, since I worked for Lance and, later, for her, at the Agency.”
    “Do you stay in touch with Lance?”
    “He called on my first day to welcome me to Washington. That’s it, so far.”
    “You need to be careful with Lance.”
    “I’ve been careful with Lance since the first time I clapped eyes on him,” Holly said, “and I’ve never seen any reason to change that.”
    “Holly, I think you’re going to do very well in the White House.”
    “I hope you’re right, Ann.”
    The two finished their lunch talking about whatever came up, then they walked back to their offices, together most of the way.

15
    THE FOLLOWING DAY Stone got a call from Bob Cantor.
    “Hey, Bob.”
    “Stone, we’re done at Pat Frank’s place. We wired her apartment, the front door, and the doctor’s office, after hours, and we changed the relevant locks. She’s about as secure as she’s going to get. Oh, and she does have a gun. When she was an airline pilot she qualified to be armed aboard her flights, and when the airline went belly-up, she kept the gun. She’s licensed to carry in Kansas, but unlicensed anywhere else, except on a dead airline.”
    “Did you take it away from her?”
    “I tried.”
    “Okay, I’ll have that conversation with her.”
    “Somebody should. She strikes me as the sort who would use it if she felt the need.”
    “She strikes me the same way.”
    “And she may have the need,” Cantor said.
    “You ran Kevin Keyes’s name?”
    “Yep, and I came up with three arrests for incidents of domestic abuse, in one of which a gun got waved around. That was the last one, when he was living with Pat Frank.”
    “Who did the waving?”
    “He did.”
    “Convictions?”
    “None. He agreed to take an anger management course after the third one and did a few hours of community service.”
    “Did they revoke his carry license?”
    “Nope.”
    “Figures.”
    “It’s Kansas, what can I tell you?”
    “Any other concerns, Bob?”
    “I talked her into letting me put a really good camera covering the front door. She can check it on a screen in the entryway coat closet before she buzzes anybody in. Trouble is, an intruder could ring any of the rental apartment bells and get buzzed in, if the renter doesn’t take the time to communicate with the one buzzing, or if they’re expecting someone and assume that the one buzzing is their guest, and just buzz ’em in.”
    “Maybe Pat should have screens installed in the three apartments.”
    “Pat doesn’t know her renters yet, and she’s uncomfortable with asking them to have a screen installed in their apartments. She doesn’t want to frighten them. I offered to frighten them for her, but she wouldn’t let me.”
    “Maybe I’ll write them a letter saying that someone has been troubling the landlord and not to admit anyone unless they know for sure who’s at the door.”
    “Good idea, if you can talk her into it.”
    “She’s coming over to dinner tonight. I’ll see what I can do.”
    “Good luck, buddy.”
    Stone’s bell rang at the stroke of seven. He tapped a code into his computer, and the screen showed Pat, in color and high