could. Actually, maybe I’ll close early and join you two ladies for a sandwich. Reflecting Pool? Tidal Basin?”
“Sorry, this is a business lunch.”
“Such is life.”
We ordered: turkey and Swiss on rye with a dill pickle plucked from a barrel for me, and an olive tapenade and some kind of meat I’d never heard of on a baguette for Sally. Paolo handed us our sandwiches in a brown paper bag. We said our goodbyes, and as we left, I turned back. “I’m Irina,” I said.
“Irina! Sally broke her deal with me, didn’t she? Such a beautiful name. I’ll see you back again with Sally soon?”
“Yes.”
We walked for another fifteen minutes, not thinking of the time left in our lunch hour. Sally stopped at the foot of an enormous building on Sixteenth I’d never noticed before. It looked like something out of ancient Egypt. Two giant sphinxes flanked the marble stairs leading up to a large brown door. “Museum?” I asked.
“House of the Temple. You know, Freemason secret society kinda stuff. I’m sure there’s a lot of funny hat wearing and chanting and candle lighting going on in there. Just ask a few of the men we work with. To me, these steps are just the perfect place to have some lunch and watch the world pass by.”
As we ate, I could feel myself becoming more comfortable, though still keenly aware of her presence. Sally finished her sandwich and wiped the corners of her mouth. She ate nearly twice as fast as I did. “How do you like the typing pool?”
“I like it. I think.”
She opened her pocketbook and pulled out a compact and red lipstick. She puckered her lips. “Any on my teeth?”
“Oh, no. It looks perfect.”
“So, you like it?”
“Red’s a great color on you.”
“I mean the Pool.”
“It’s a good job.”
“Do you like the typing or the other stuff better?”
A flash of heat traveled down my throat to my stomach. I looked at Sally with what I thought was a blank stare, though I must have looked nervous.
“Don’t worry,” she said, placing her hand on mine. She had the softest hands, her nails painted the same shade of red as her lips. “You and I are the same. Well, almost.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anderson told me when I joined back up. But he didn’t really have to tell me. I could tell from the moment we met that you were different.”
I looked from side to side, then behind us. “You carry messages too?”
“More of a message sender.” She squeezed my hand. “Us gals gotta stick together. There aren’t many of us. Right?”
“Right.”
* * *
The day after our lunch on the Temple steps, Anderson informed me that instead of my meeting with Teddy, as I’d been doing, Sally would continue my training. “Surprised?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, biting my lip to keep from smiling.
The day after that, Sally stood outside the Agency’s black iron gates, applying her red lipstick in the driver’s-side mirror of a pale yellow Studebaker. She looked impeccable in a tartan wool cape and long black calfskin gloves. She saw me approach in the mirror and turned, lipstick applied to only her bottom lip. “Looks like it’s just you and me now, kiddo,” she said and pressed her lips together. “Let’s go for a walk.”
As we made our way through Georgetown, Sally pointed out the stately homes of some of the Agency’s higher-ups. “Dulles lives up there,” she said, pointing to a red brick town house obscured by a wall of maple trees. “And that big white one with the black shutters across the way? That’s Wild Bill Donovan’s old house that the Grahams bought. Frank lives on the other side of Wisconsin. All of ’em spitting distance from each other.”
“Where do you live?”
“Just up the street.”
“To keep tabs on the men?”
She laughed. “Smart girl.”
We took a left into Dumbarton Oaks and walked the park’s winding path into the gardens. Descending the stone steps, Sally pulled on a dead wisteria vine hanging from the wooden arbor. “In the spring, this whole place smells absolutely delicious. I open my windows and hope for a breeze.”
We walked until we reached the swimming pool, which had been drained for the season. We sat on a bench across from an elderly man who was working on a crossword puzzle in his wheelchair, parked next to his milk-faced caretaker. Two young mothers wearing almost identical belted red princess coats smoked and chatted at the pool’s far end while their toddlers, a boy