Hot Pursuit

7

Everett Salton’s house was more imposing than Stone had imagined. Set back from the street on an acre or more, it had a curving driveway to the house and back to the street, and there were a dozen cars ahead of them.

Finally, Benny deposited them at the front door and drove away, to a side street, to wait for Stone’s call. The door was opened by a butler before they could ring the bell, and Ev Salton and his wife greeted them in the foyer. “Good evening, Stone, and this must be Holly Barker.” Holly shook his hand, and he leaned in. “Congratulations on your appointment. You’ll do well, if everything I’ve heard about you is true.” He straightened. “Everybody, this is my wife, Alexandra, and welcome to our home.”

Alexandra Salton was nearly as tall as her husband, and she was dressed in a gorgeous, floor-length gown and wearing spectacular diamond jewelry. “I look forward to getting to know all of you,” she said to the group, then they were herded into a large drawing room, where there was a bar set up and several waiters circulating with drinks and canapés.

“The Saltons live well,” Holly said.

Dino spoke up. “Ev comes from very old, very large money.”

“And he spends it well,” Stone said. He had already spotted half a dozen senators he knew from the Sunday morning political shows, and a couple of them were at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Salton. One of them was a first-term, firebrand right-winger from Arizona, the sort who had no trouble speaking ill of his own party when he ran out of lies about Democrats. His name was Trent Barber, and he was said to have presidential aspirations, but then that was true of most of the senators Stone had met.

“You’re staring at Barber,” Dino said. “Don’t start any arguments here.”

“Me, argue?”

“I wonder how Senator Salton knew about my appointment?” Holly asked.

“He probably got it from the horse’s wife’s mouth,” Stone replied. “She didn’t swear herself to secrecy, did she?” He began to notice a few single men and women, appropriately dressed for the occasion, but each wearing the same lapel pin. “There’s somebody here with Secret Service protection,” he said to Dino.

“Wonder who that could be?” Dino said. “Senators don’t rate that.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Everett Salton said in a voice loud enough to shush the room, “the president of the United States and the first gentleman!”

The room burst into applause as Kate and Will entered, smiling. The two immediately walked over to Stone’s party and greeted them.

“The first of many stops this evening,” Kate said to Stone.

She and Holly air-kissed. “It’s okay to tell people about your appointment,” she said. “After all, you don’t need Senate confirmation.”

“I found an apartment,” Holly said, “and it’s on Pennsylvania Avenue, though not exactly in your neighborhood.”

“I want to hear all about it,” Kate said, but then the Saltons intervened and started moving her around the room.

Will Lee was left standing with Stone’s group. “I’m going to have to get used to being the least interesting person in the room to talk to,” he said. “It will be worse than being vice president.”

“Not as long as you’re sleeping with the president,” Stone said.

“I suppose that having the president’s ear will get me a little attention now and then,” Will replied. “We’ll see.”

Then dinner was announced, and the Lees made their exit, bound for the next party and, eventually, the four inaugural balls that were being held around the city.

Stone’s group got plates and stood in one of the two buffet lines, then made their way to the room next door, which turned out to be a large library, not unlike the one in the house on the East Side. They captured a sofa and a couple of chairs, and a waiter brought them wine.

“It’s funny,” Holly said, “I worked out at Langley for all those years and lived in Virginia, too, and the only reasons I ever came to Washington were to testify at committee hearings when Kate didn’t want to come, or to have dinner at a good restaurant. Do you suppose everybody here lives like the Saltons?”

“Everybody doesn’t live like this anywhere,” Stone said. “Only those with money and the taste and style to spend it on beautiful things for a few generations — long enough to hand it down to their descendants.”

“This is my first visit to Washington,” Viv said, “and what a nice way to start!”

“Most of the senators and congressmen here tonight are committee chairmen or ranking members,” Holly said. “There’s enough power in this house to make it explode. How did you get invited here, Stone? You’re not exactly a Washington figure.”

“Dino introduced me to Salton a couple of days ago, and he asked me to lunch. We seemed to get along well, and he invited me — all of us — for tonight. In fact, he offered me a guest room, but I had already made other arrangements.”

“Was that one of those power lunches at the Four Seasons?” Holly asked.

“No, it was at a place on the East Side. I didn’t get the name.”

They finished their dinner and waiters took away their plates and offered cognac and coffee.

“Another half an hour, and we can be fashionably late for the ball,” Stone said.

As he spoke a very handsome man came into the room, looked around for a moment, then left. Holly was transfixed, and she couldn’t figure out why. He was tall and dark, with fairly long hair and a short beard, and perfectly dressed, right to the large diamond in one earlobe. She began to rack her brain for some clue as to where she had seen him before.

“Holly,” Stone said. “Holly!”

Holly snapped back to attention. “I’m sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“About what?”

“Did you see the man who came in? About forty, short beard, tuxedo?”

“Holly, every man in the house is wearing a tuxedo.”

“This one had a diamond earring. Did you see him?”

“No, I don’t think I did.”

“I know him from somewhere, and I can’t remember where.”

“Was your impression positive or negative?”

“Negative,” Holly said. “But I don’t know why.”

Shortly, they left for the ball, and after another limo-line wait, got inside the huge armory, where an old-fashioned big band was playing Basie and Ellington. This, he figured, was the establishment ball.

Then the president and first gentleman arrived, and the crowd was moved back on the dance floor to allow them to start a waltz together. Then, to Stone’s surprise, they danced over to where he stood. Kate took his hand, and Will took Holly’s, and they moved onto the floor with them while Kate waved to everybody else to join them.

“Are you having a good time?” Stone asked Kate.

“A better time than I thought I would,” she said. “I keep thinking about tomorrow, and all I have to do.”

“Don’t try to do it all on the first day,” Stone said. “After all, you have eight years.” She laughed, and he looked over her shoulder and saw his former girlfriend, Ann Keaton, dancing with a man he assumed was her new beau. He gave her a wave, and she waved back.

They got back to the hotel, exhausted.

“I can’t believe I waltzed with a president,” Holly said. “Even if it was a former president!”

“Starting tomorrow,” Stone said, “you’re going to be dancing with a president every day.”