Read Online Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row by Marilyn Campbell - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Marilyn Campbell
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how much work she had to do changed her mind. Grabbing the case and her purse, she flicked the lights off and closed the door behind her.
* * *
"I'll be damned! Harry Abbott taking a trip around the world." David Wells shook his head at the balding man he considered his mentor. Harry had talked about this trip as long as they had known each other, but David had always figured the old man's plans had about as much substance as his cigar smoke. Yet here they were, sitting in an airport restaurant, drinking a toast to his adventure. On the other hand, Harry had retired as sports editor for The Washington Herald several months ago and David had never expected him to do that either.
David had already put ten years into The Washington Herald— as a paperboy—before he got a job on the inside working as an apprentice to Harry on the sports desk. Those years, plus his family's poverty level, helped him gain the Newsboy Scholarship, which covered his tuition at George Washington University, but his part-time job for the paper paid for the rest. In truth, Harry taught him far more than four years of journalism class ever did and, because of that, David would walk barefoot across a desert for the man.
"How long do you figure you'll be gone?" David asked.
"As long as it takes. I'm going to play golf in Scotland, Ping-Pong in China and whatever it is they do in Tahiti, I'll do that too. I've already got a publisher interested in the book."
"The book?" David didn't bother to hide his surprise.
"Sure." Harry leaned forward and lowered his voice as if sharing a major secret. "You didn't think I'd take off without knowing it would all be deductible later."
"I wondered what you were up to the last couple of months when you kept putting off getting together."
Harry shrugged and took another swallow of his beer. "To tell you the truth, I was feeling too sorry for myself to be sociable. I just had to give myself a kick in the ass. Retirement's not for me. What else is an old ex-sportswriter going to do but write a book about sports? At any rate, I've been following your stories. Nice job on the HUD article. What are you working on now?"
"Just finished up an article on the local homeless situation. It wasn't too hard. All I had to do was go back and hang around the neighborhood I grew up in. Something else got my nose twitching today."
"Not going to sit on your laurels, huh?"
"Hey, you know what you told me years ago— Lots of people are satisfied being first string, but the one the fans remember is the quarterback. "
Harry chewed on his unlit cigar. "I never had any doubt you'd make it, kid. I pegged you the day you walked into the newsroom-—smart, sassy and hungry as hell. So, what got you going today?"
David gave him a brief account of Tim Ziegler's call and his stakeout in the hotel. He then described the women, being particularly explicit when it came to the nervous blonde.
Harry chuckled. "It's amazing your hormones never got you into a serious mess. Seeing as how you've had a close encounter with every D-cup blonde in Washington and you didn't recognize her, maybe she's just visiting." He waved to the waitress to get them another round.
"I don't think so. My nose says they were there for some kind of business and she had the stamp of a capital woman on her. I've just missed meeting her somehow."
"Maybe she's one of that rare breed, a happily married woman."
David shook his head. "No ring. I—" His thought was aborted as he caught sight of a couple entering the restaurant. "I'll be damned! It's her."
The blonde was carrying a leather briefcase and she was with a much older man, toting a brown tweed overnight bag. As the man sat down at a table near the entrance, she headed for the restrooms beyond Harry and David's table.
As she passed him, David noted that her light-blue blouse was thin enough to confirm the fullness of her breasts and her black jeans had been washed just enough to hug her rounded hips without being
* * *
"I'll be damned! Harry Abbott taking a trip around the world." David Wells shook his head at the balding man he considered his mentor. Harry had talked about this trip as long as they had known each other, but David had always figured the old man's plans had about as much substance as his cigar smoke. Yet here they were, sitting in an airport restaurant, drinking a toast to his adventure. On the other hand, Harry had retired as sports editor for The Washington Herald several months ago and David had never expected him to do that either.
David had already put ten years into The Washington Herald— as a paperboy—before he got a job on the inside working as an apprentice to Harry on the sports desk. Those years, plus his family's poverty level, helped him gain the Newsboy Scholarship, which covered his tuition at George Washington University, but his part-time job for the paper paid for the rest. In truth, Harry taught him far more than four years of journalism class ever did and, because of that, David would walk barefoot across a desert for the man.
"How long do you figure you'll be gone?" David asked.
"As long as it takes. I'm going to play golf in Scotland, Ping-Pong in China and whatever it is they do in Tahiti, I'll do that too. I've already got a publisher interested in the book."
"The book?" David didn't bother to hide his surprise.
"Sure." Harry leaned forward and lowered his voice as if sharing a major secret. "You didn't think I'd take off without knowing it would all be deductible later."
"I wondered what you were up to the last couple of months when you kept putting off getting together."
Harry shrugged and took another swallow of his beer. "To tell you the truth, I was feeling too sorry for myself to be sociable. I just had to give myself a kick in the ass. Retirement's not for me. What else is an old ex-sportswriter going to do but write a book about sports? At any rate, I've been following your stories. Nice job on the HUD article. What are you working on now?"
"Just finished up an article on the local homeless situation. It wasn't too hard. All I had to do was go back and hang around the neighborhood I grew up in. Something else got my nose twitching today."
"Not going to sit on your laurels, huh?"
"Hey, you know what you told me years ago— Lots of people are satisfied being first string, but the one the fans remember is the quarterback. "
Harry chewed on his unlit cigar. "I never had any doubt you'd make it, kid. I pegged you the day you walked into the newsroom-—smart, sassy and hungry as hell. So, what got you going today?"
David gave him a brief account of Tim Ziegler's call and his stakeout in the hotel. He then described the women, being particularly explicit when it came to the nervous blonde.
Harry chuckled. "It's amazing your hormones never got you into a serious mess. Seeing as how you've had a close encounter with every D-cup blonde in Washington and you didn't recognize her, maybe she's just visiting." He waved to the waitress to get them another round.
"I don't think so. My nose says they were there for some kind of business and she had the stamp of a capital woman on her. I've just missed meeting her somehow."
"Maybe she's one of that rare breed, a happily married woman."
David shook his head. "No ring. I—" His thought was aborted as he caught sight of a couple entering the restaurant. "I'll be damned! It's her."
The blonde was carrying a leather briefcase and she was with a much older man, toting a brown tweed overnight bag. As the man sat down at a table near the entrance, she headed for the restrooms beyond Harry and David's table.
As she passed him, David noted that her light-blue blouse was thin enough to confirm the fullness of her breasts and her black jeans had been washed just enough to hug her rounded hips without being
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