Molly caught David’s eye, and he subtly shook his head at her. “No…well I mean, yes, I was there. But I didn’t see anything. Just a crash and people running everywhere. And then this morning I heard that a Russian man had been killed.” She leaned forward. “What have you heard? You said you had some gossip?”
Victoria paused, looking at Molly as if sizing her up for some kind of interview, and then semi-shrugged. “I haven’t really heard anything definite other than what the police said last night. The man who was killed was a member of the Russian delegation, and there was no evidence left of the shooter because they’d rigged bombs to destroy everything they left. So strange, really. Who would want to assassinate a minister of antiquities?” She stared off into the distance for a second and then snapped her attention back to Molly. “What the grapevine says though is much less pretty.” She glanced at both of them.
Molly’s heartrate accelerated. “Yes?” she said lightly, feeling for David’s knee under the table.
“I’ve heard rumors—and that’s all they are for now—that the US is starting some kind of war against Russia. Not troops and tanks, yet, I guess, but by stealth. The assassination is just the beginning I hear.” By the time she had finished, her voice had become a whisper, and she had all but ducked in her seat.
“Obviously that isn’t true, though.” David said, absently playing with his knife.
“What makes you say that?” Victoria sat up and focused her attention on David.
“Why start with the minister of antiquities? Why now, a few weeks before the US president comes to visit? Seems…strange. I mean, why not take out the Russian ambassador any day of any week in any country? Why this minister, in this country, just before all the world leaders descend? It’s just not logical.” He shrugged.
Victoria looked so taken aback, that Molly intervened with what she hoped was a soothing voice. “Maybe you should get on the case? Get that Pulitzer? You’re right here, on the ground, in the thick of it. You should get to the truth.
“You know, you’re right. My boss told me to stick to the fracking, but when did a Pulitzer-winning journalist listen when she’s told to stay away from a story?”
“Exactly. That’s the spirit!” Molly said with a smile.
“So if you hear anything from the embassy, or your contacts, you’ll let me know? Off the record, of course.” Victoria said.
Molly opened her mouth to answer, but a huge crash from the kitchen made them all jump. David made himself stay seated, but he was poised to jump up if necessary. Maybe the Russian had come back through the kitchen. Maybe…And then a laugh came from one of the servers, and an old man lightly slapped the back of the head of a boy who emerged from the kitchen, red in the face and ducking to avoid the swipe he obviously knew was coming.
All three of them seemed to relax.
“So you were sent here to cover fracking? What are you hoping to find out?” David asked as their food arrived.
“Someone’s going to make some big reveal about the relative safety and sustainability of fracking at the energy talks this afternoon. So my boss wants to be on the front line for that because there are planned fracking sites all over our region. Seemed like a good place to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.
“What about you? How did you two meet?” Her eyes sparkled as if she was expecting some scandal.
Molly smiled. “We actually met last year, but bumped into each other last night at the party. It was quite unexpected.” She reached for David’s hand, and he took hers, wondering at the normality of the situation. Molly was basically introducing him as a boyfriend. Equal measures of pleasure and anxiety fought for dominance inside him. As her eyes glowed, the former took control.
He squeezed her hand back. “A happy coincidence.”
“That’s so romantic,” Victoria said, half-whispering in what David could only describe as a wistful tone.
“What about you? Are you married?” he asked to deflect a little of the discomfort that inched down his spine at being the center of attention.
“Boyfriend. But really I’m too busy to commit to anything right now. After all, I’m here, and this is the third trip I’ve done this month. My job is not conducive to romance, I’m afraid.”
Molly tutted. “I can’t imagine anything more romantic than traveling the world, reporting like you do. It must be a dream job.” She smiled warmly at the other woman.
A tiny sliver of warmth penetrated David’s heart. He loved how Molly was trying to make Victoria feel better about her boyfriend situation, when other women—including several he knew personally—might not have been able to help themselves from giving self-satisfied advice.
“It is,” Victoria said, “at least…no. It is a dream job. What I do…it’s everything to me. So I don’t mind the lack of relationships, and the lack of sleep.” She laughed and speared a piece of chicken with her fork.
The conversation moved to more general things, but kept circling back to the shooting the previous night. He didn’t blame them for wanting to talk about it—it was a form of catharsis after all—but he for one would rather not tempt Molly into saying something she shouldn’t in front of someone they really didn’t know.
“So where did you two meet last year?” Victoria asked.
Uh-oh. Molly crinkled her eyes at him, and he tried to mentally warn her about saying too much.
“I was at an archaeological site last year, and we met for a few minutes only, really. Right?” She looked at David, although it was clear he wasn’t supposed to interrupt. “It was a really brief encounter. Barely anything, but then I saw him at the cocktail party and…” Molly sighed, a happy look on her face. “The rest is history.”
“So what were you at the party for?” Victoria asked.
David forced a laugh. “Is this for an article? Because I’d rather not be news fodder.” He smiled broadly to negate the lack of elaboration.
“A man of few words,” Molly said patting the top of his hand again.
“Well sometimes those are the best, am I right?” Victoria laughed.
“Sometimes,” Molly agreed. “Now what does your boyfriend do?”
Victoria’s face fell a little. “Urgh. Boring stuff. A policy wonk. We barely see each other.”
Molly leaned toward her. “Isn’t that nice though? I’ve often wondered about those kind of relationships. Long distance, maybe. Where you don’t get to see each other much, so you spend your time thinking about the other person until you meet again. Isn’t that nicer than seeing one another every day? I always thought it might be.”
David stared at her. Did she really think that? He guessed she made sense. God knew he’d spent more than fifty percent of his time thinking about Molly in her absence, and was already preparing mentally—or not preparing mentally—to be away from her again. Was that what she wanted? Or was she distracting Victoria from making them part of her story? He made a note to ask her about that later.
“I guess so,” Victoria said into her drink. She didn’t seem convinced.
“When are you heading home?” David asked, trying to get the conversation back on neutral ground.
“In a couple of days.” Her face brightened. “The scientist is giving his fracking talk tomorrow, I think, and then I’ll report on it from here, and then fly home.”