to wear six months ago. It perfectly matched the ruby necklace Emmy had lent me. The hotel suite was a hive of activity as everyone got ready to go out for dinner, with Bradley calling out instructions to a bevy of assistants.
A make-up artist came over and retouched my lipstick. Beige, because Bradley said we shouldn’t overpower the dress, and she’d already done the rest of my face so well I looked airbrushed. I wouldn’t need to hide from the cameras tonight, that was for sure, and if I was lucky, maybe I’d even get my picture taken with the president?
I still couldn’t believe this was happening. Just over a month had passed since the nightmare at my apartment, and each day had been better than the last. And this evening, to top it all, I’d be having dinner with the president of the United States. Well, not with him, exactly, but in the same room. The fundraiser had been organised by the first lady, and she and the president would both be attending.
“I can’t believe you’re not more excited,” I said to Dan, who was having her nails buffed next to me. “I mean, we’re about to meet President Harrison!”
At forty-two, he was the youngest ever elected president, beating JFK, and he certainly beat him on looks as well. Last summer, photos of him on a beach vacation had graced the front of every magazine at the grocery store, and the man most definitely worked out.
“We’ve all met him before.”
“Oh my. What’s he like?” I glanced around to check Nick wasn’t in earshot. “Is he as sexy in person?”
“Hell, yeah.”
“Do you think he really has a tattoo?” Rumours had circulated in the gossip mags last year, but nothing got confirmed.
Emmy meandered past, resplendent in a silver dress that shimmered like a waterfall. “It’s an eagle on his arse.”
“Are you serious?”
But she’d gone, already on the other side of the room where the Dark Lord stood spreading his shadowy aura in a tuxedo.
“Oh, she’s serious,” Dan said.
“How does she know?”
“Emmy knows everything.”
I was about to question her on how Emmy could possibly know the president had a tattoo on his behind when my phone rang. Missy was calling.
Bradley had taken off my watch and replaced it with an elegant silver cuff, saying ladies shouldn’t wear watches to events like tonight’s dinner. When I pointed out that Emmy had her watch on, he scoffed and told me she wasn’t a lady. Still, according to the clock, we only had twenty minutes before we were due to leave, so Missy would have to keep this short. I ducked out into one of the bedrooms in the Washington, DC hotel suite to get out of the way of the chatter.
“Hello?”
“Lara? You sound all refined. Like, British.”
Must’ve been Emmy’s influence rubbing off. “It’s me.”
“Guess what? Actually, no, you’ll never guess. But it’s good news. Well, it isn’t, but it sort of is, really.”
“Missy, you’re making no sense whatsoever.”
“Billy’s dead.”
“What?” I slumped onto a chair by the window. “How? When?”
“I got it from Bobbie who heard from Mary-Sue who spoke to Ginny whose brother’s a cop that he got drunk and fell down the stairs. Clean broke his neck. Nobody found him for a few days, and the central heating was on high in his house so the results weren’t pretty.”
“Oh my gosh! Who found him?” Please not his girlfriend. She’d had a hard enough time already.
“His father. Jeanie hightailed it back home to Wisconsin while Billy was in the hospital. Hey, this is poetic justice, right? Him falling down the stairs.”
It was, and that wasn’t lost on me. A tiny part of my brain remembered Nick saying Billy wouldn’t be a problem, and I quickly catalogued his whereabouts this week. He’d been around more than usual, and he’d even done some of his work from home so we could eat lunch together every day. Believe me, he was there every night too. The ache between my legs reminded me of that. No way would he have had time to travel to Baysville and back without me noticing. I mentally kicked myself for even thinking he could have had anything to do with Billy’s death. It was an accident, and not a tragic one.
“I guess it is, Missy.”
“And it gets better.”
“How could it possibly get better?”
“Billy’s dad’s been arrested. Apparently, he got investigated over some fire in Richmond, and when the police confiscated his computer, it was full of kiddie porn. Thousands and thousands of