Peter leaned toward Stone. “Do you know a woman called Gloria Parsons, from some magazine?”
“Unfortunately,” Stone replied. “Half an hour ago I took the liberty of asking a Secret Service agent to throw her out into the street.”
“Celeste and I are so grateful to you for that,” Peter said. “After seeing what she did to you and Holly, we had her name taken off the press list, but she got in somehow.”
“I don’t think she’ll get back in,” Stone replied.
“I don’t mind dealing with the political reporters,” Peter said, “but these ‘lifestyle’ reporters are another thing entirely. Celeste has stopped speaking to any of them.”
“Do you have a publicist?” Stone asked.
“The senator has a press officer and an assistant, but they don’t work for me.”
“If you like, I can recommend a woman who has been very helpful to clients of mine over the years. She seems to be especially good at making the media go away, or at least, minimizing their presence.”
“I’d be grateful for a chance to speak with her.”
“I’ll e-mail you her particulars tomorrow.” Stone looked up to see Alphonse Teppi glide past their table. “Excuse me for a moment, I spy another interloper, a colleague of Ms. Parsons.”
Stone’s fervent wish was to collar Teppi, take him by the seat of his pants, and haul him to the front door, but discretion in the matter was the better part of valor, and he found another agent and pointed him at the man. The two left the ballroom, arm in arm, appearing to be in the midst of a fascinating conversation. Stone admired the agent’s skill in the circumstances. He returned to the table.
“Is all well?” Peter asked.
“Couldn’t be better,” Stone said. “Tell me, I don’t know much about your father, Simon.”
“I suppose I could say the same,” Peter said. “My parents were divorced when I was quite young, and my father always seemed more like a mysterious uncle, sending a gift about every other birthday or Christmas. Will has been much more the dad since I was a sprout. I’ve always thought of him as my real father. The mysterious Simon did me one great favor, though—making me his heir. He came from a line of only sons, so the family fortune wasn’t dissipated but handed down intact and very healthy, as you saw when you read my financial statement.”
“That was a great gift, since you had a replacement father present in your life.”
“I spent a week one summer on Nantucket with him and some cousins from his side of the family, and I was miserable. I felt much more at home on the farm in Georgia, and Grandmother Lee was a real peach.”
“Why did you never change your name to Lee?” Stone asked.
“Because Simon would have disinherited me,” Peter said, “and Mom wouldn’t have that. I’m glad I didn’t change it, because the Rule name has provided some shelter over the years from the storm of public interest in the Lee family, as did the years in London, when everybody pretty much forgot about me. Of course, since I’ve reentered American life and decided to seek office, I’ll have to leave that shelter and deal with the world, but at least it will be on my own terms.”
“I admire the grip you have on your life, Peter. When I was thirty I was spending my days solving murders with Dino, and I thought I’d put in my thirty years doing that.”
“What changed your mind?”
“A bullet in the knee helped. When Dino and I got involved in a case with some political import, I went my own way and got bounced out of the NYPD for being uncooperative. They used the knee as an excuse.”
“You should write an autobiography,” Peter said. “Yours sounds like a fascinating life.”
The President of the United States, Peter’s mother, suddenly appeared between them, and they leaped to their feet.
“Everything going well here?” Kate Lee asked. “Is Peter being a good host?”
“Splendid,” Stone said.
“Have a good time,” she said, and swept on to the next table.
“I know you’ve been told this before,” Stone said, “but you have a remarkable mother.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Peter said.
Stone thought he’d like to know the other half, but this didn’t seem like the proper occasion.
—
Later, when the party began to die, Stone called Fred and warned him they were on the way outside. As they were getting into the car, Stone looked across the street and saw Gloria Parsons and the lizard Teppi staring at them.
“They’re still around?” Holly asked.
“It’s funny, a couple of weeks ago I didn’t know they existed, and now they seem to be on hand wherever I go.”