“Then suppose she decides to have the baby? That would pose wardrobe problems, wouldn’t it?”

“I don’t think so. After all, Kate is tall and slim, and she told me once that when she was pregnant with Peter, she hardly showed at all. She was an analyst at the Agency then, and she wasn’t sure how her superiors would react, since they were all men at that time.”

“Then she might be able to keep a pregnancy secret, until after the election?”

“Conceivably,” Ann said, “pun intended.”

“All right, suppose she announced it, or that the news leaked? What effect would it have on the campaign?”

“I believe,” Ann said, “not to put too fine a point on it, it would cause the biggest fucking uproar you could possibly imagine. Think of the royal baby, and multiply that by a hundred.”

“What kind of uproar? Favorable or unfavorable?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. It’s the sort of thing we’d need to do a poll on, and we certainly can’t do that.”

“What about the opinion of women?”

“My guess would be, supportive, at least most women.”

“And men?”

“Horrified. But maybe I’m wrong, who knows?”

“What are you going to do, Ann?”

“I’m going to wait until Kate decides to tell me.”

“And what will you do then?”

“Punt.”

Chapter 54

Stone called Dino.

“Commissioner’s office,” a gruff male voice said.

“This is Stone Barrington. May I speak to the commissioner, please?”

“Who?”

“He’ll know the name.”

“Tell me again.”

“Stone . . . Barrington. Would you like me to spell it?” He was put on hold without comment.

After a count of about forty, the voice came back. “Commissioner,” he said, “the Barrington guy is on.”

“Stone?” Dino said.

“I think so,” Stone replied. “After talking with your new secretary, I’m not sure.”

“Oh, that guy. Tom liked an all-male presence on the phones. He thought it sounded more official.”

“You need some women in there, pal. What happened to your old secretary?”

“I had to leave her behind to break in the new chief of detectives.”

“So who’s the new chief?”

“I haven’t decided. There are several candidates.”

“Want some free advice?”

“What’s it going to cost me?”

“Nothing, if you follow it. Appoint a woman.”

“Are you kidding me? You think all those squad guys out in the precincts would take orders from a woman?”

“Think of it this way: Could Viv do the job?”

“Hah!” Dino snorted. “She could do this job, and probably better than I can.”

“There’s your answer.”

“Appoint Viv? I can’t do that.”

“If Viv is good enough to do the job, there are other women around there who can do it, too. How many women in the department are captains?”

“I don’t know, half a dozen, maybe eight.”

“There’s your short list. How many of them had a career as a detective?”