“Nice try. Now go on.”
She pulled a face. “Keep an eye on Melissa Scoby for me. The last I saw of her she was with the American ambassador. I shouldn’t be long.”
Graham went through to the lounge but there was no sign of either Jack or Melissa Scoby. He was about to double back and check the dining room again when Melissa Scoby appeared from a doorway further down the hall. The door closed behind her.
Graham crossed to where she was standing. “Where’s the senator?”
“He’s in there with Ray and the ambassador,” she replied, gesturing to the door behind her. “It’s the first chance he’s had all night to have a word with the ambassador in private. Where’s Sabrina?”
“She’s just gone to have a word with the duty officer. She’ll be back shortly.”
“Good,” Melissa Scoby said, then slipped her hand under his arm. “Now you can tell me why you’ve been avoiding me all evening.”
“I haven’t been–” He trailed off when he noticed her teasing smile.
“I could do with a breath of fresh air,” she announced. “Come, walk with me, Mike.”
“Will you be warm enough?” Graham asked as they walked toward the patio.
“I’ll be fine. It’s mild out tonight.” She smiled at a couple sipping liqueurs on the patio then led him down the steps and out into the spacious garden. “I had a long talk with Sabrina earlier this evening. I know that she and I didn’t exactly hit it off from the start. But I realize now that I’ve misjudged her. You’ve got a very smart partner there, Mike. And a very loyal one too.”
“Yeah, I know,” came the hesitant reply.
“She knew straight away that I was flirting with you yesterday. I know Jack didn’t notice. He never does.” Melissa Scoby smiled at Graham’s surprised look. “Sabrina said you hadn’t noticed either.”
“No, I hadn’t,” Graham replied uncertainly.
“I’ve always been a bit of a flirt. It’s all a game to me. But completely harmless as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never cheated on Jack and I never would. It’s Jack’s ambition to reach the White House some day. And when he does eventually decide to run for President, the last thing I want to do is give the Democrats any ammunition to use against him. And infidelity is a serious crime in the eyes of the American electorate. There’re enough discredited politicians around to testify to that. I realized afterwards that it could have been a bit awkward for you and when I saw that you were going to stick with Jack tonight I thought you’d decided purposely to stay out of my way to avoid any further embarrassment. But it turns out it was Sabrina’s idea all the time.”
“She can be very maternal at times,” Graham replied.
Sabrina and Scoby emerged from the house and crossed to where they were standing.
“Have you finished talking to the ambassador?” Melissa Scoby asked her husband.
“Yes. There wasn’t much to discuss. Just a few minor points.” Scoby looked at his watch. “I want to get back to the hotel. Ray and I have still got a lot of documents to sift through tonight. You stay on here if you want. Mike or Sabrina can take you back to the hotel later.”
“No, it’s been quite a day already,” she replied. “I’m ready for an early night.”
“Then we’d better make our apologies to the ambassador and his wife,” Scoby said.
“I’ll have the cars brought round to the front of the house for you,” Graham said to Scoby. “Sabrina will call the anti-terrorist squad and let them know we’re on our way back to the hotel. The last thing you need is a foyer full of reporters to deal with when we arrive there.”
“Well, we’ll leave you to it,” Scoby said, escorting his wife back to the house.
Graham and Sabrina followed discreetly behind them.
Cross and Johnstone, two of the anti-terrorist squad detectives on duty at the hotel that night, hurried over to the first of the two black Mercedes as it drew up in front of the hotel. Inside were Jack and Melissa Scoby. Ray Tillman was in the second car. The passenger door of the lead car swung open and Graham jumped out. He looked around him quickly. To his right was the usual circus of Press photographers jostling amongst themselves for the best vantage points to catch Scoby on film as he exited the car. To his left were a small group of about a dozen anti-American protesters. Most of them carried placards denouncing American foreign policy in Central America. They were penned in behind a police cordon which was being marshaled by five uniformed officers. Sabrina got out of the second car and crossed to where Graham was standing. Graham nodded to Cross who then opened the back door. The flashlights popped incessantly as Scoby got out of the car. He waved in the general direction of the photographers then offered his hand to his wife as she climbed out after him.
A movement caught Graham’s eye as he turned to usher the Scobys into the hotel. A young woman, dressed in a pair of jeans and an army flak jacket, broke through the police cordon and ran toward the car. Sabrina was still closing in on her when she hurled an egg in the direction of the first car. A cheer went up from the protesters as it splattered against the windscreen. Sabrina took the woman’s legs from underneath her then reached down and twisted her arm savagely behind her back. The woman screamed abuse as she struggled to break free from Sabrina’s viselike grip. Two uniformed policemen quickly intervened and hauled the woman to her feet. She was immediately handcuffed and dragged off toward a waiting panda car.
“Are you all right, sir?” Graham asked Scoby after they had reached the safety of the foyer.
“Yes,” Scoby replied brusquely. He glared at the protesters who had now turned their anger on the departing panda car. “It’s the same old story, isn’t it? Students and welfare junkies who think they can change the world with their outmoded brand of socialism. Look at them. A bunch of pseudo-commies and pinkos. What the hell do they know anyway?”
Graham eyed Scoby warily. It was like listening to “Hawk” Walsh all over again. But the difference was Jack Scoby was destined to reach the White House one day …
Tillman grabbed Graham’s arm, interrupting his thoughts. “Why was that protester allowed to get so close to the senator? What if that had been a grenade instead of an egg?”
“Then we’d all be dead, wouldn’t we?” Graham replied, easing his arm from Tillman’s grasp.
“Now you listen–”
“Ray, that’s enough,” Scoby hissed under his breath. “We can discuss this further in the morning. But right now we’ve still got a lot of work to get through before either one of us can get any sleep. So the sooner it’s done, the sooner we can go to bed.”
Tillman said nothing as he followed Jack and Melissa Scoby to the lift. Graham glanced over his shoulder. The flashlights were still popping furiously outside the hotel. Again the security had been wanting. Another embarrassment for UNACO. But he was only too well aware that it could have been much worse …
“I’m sure glad that’s over,” Graham said after they had seen the Scobys safely back to their suite. “I don’t know how much more I could have taken at the ambassador’s house.”
“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad,” Sabrina replied as they walked toward the lift.
“You would say that, you grew up in that environment.” Graham loosened his bow tie and opened the top button of his shirt. “Your father must have thrown hundreds of dinner parties like that.”
“Sure,” Sabrina agreed, pressing the button for the lift. “But that doesn’t mean I went to any of them. I was only a kid at the time. In fact, I wasn’t invited to my first embassy party until after I’d left the Sorbonne.”
“The point is, that it’s your crowd, not mine.”
“No, it’s not my crowd,” she shot back indignantly, falling suddenly silent as the lift doors opened onto an elderly couple. She smiled politely at them as she stepped into the lift and didn’t speak again until they alighted on their floor. “You’ve always had the preconception of me being this poor little rich girl who spends all her leisure time mixing with New York’s rich and famous. I don’t deny I enjoy the occasional glitzy party, but, believe it or not, I’m much more at home in a pair of jeans and a sweater at a smoke-filled jazz club than I am in an expensive designer dress at some swanky nightclub. I only wish I could make you understand that.”