“He has to know. This town has been buzzing for weeks now about a mass resignation. I don’t think Knight had any other choice but to do what he did if he did indeed do it. Remember, this is all Capitol Hill gossip,” Maggie said.

“You know what they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Espinosa said, just as platters of omelets and bacon were set down on the table.

For the most part, the little group ate in silence, with only a few comments about yet another day of rain and what it was going to do to Nikki’s and Jack’s efforts to install a swimming pool. “They’re living in a world of mud, that thick gray kind that grabs you like a million leeches that won’t let go once you step into it. Nikki said she’s glad Nellie isn’t around to see what’s going on.

“So where does this all leave us?” Ted asked.

“Right where we were when we came in here for breakfast. The way I see it is that there is nothing for any of us to do until Saturday evening. Other than the fittings we have to have for our party duds tomorrow.”

“We go back to the paper?” Dennis asked, hoping the answer was no, and that they were going out to Pinewood, where he could see Rosalee. His hopes were dashed when Maggie said yeah, they did have jobs and had things to do. He took it all with good grace and paid the breakfast bill since it was his turn.

Myra and Annie left the Beautiful Nails Salon, admiring their new glossy manicures. “Lunch?” Myra asked.

“Only if it’s a hot dog,” Annie said.

“Okay by me,” Myra said, opening her umbrella. They walked along, huddling close under the umbrella until they got to a newly opened hot-dog joint, where Annie started smacking her lips in anticipation. “The works on two dogs,” she told the pert waitress, “and two double Orange Juliuses.”

“We are living dangerously, aren’t we?” Myra giggled.

“Sometimes you just gotta do it, Myra. Otherwise, what’s the point in getting up in the morning?”

“Guess that’s as good as any excuse I could come up with,” Myra said, gulping at her Orange Julius.

Annie held up her Orange Julius, and said, “Here’s to Lincoln Moss’s downfall! At our hands!”

“Hear! Hear!” Myra said, taking another big gulp from her tall drink.

Lincoln Moss was sitting in front of his computer, the word downfall on his lips. How in the hell did this happen? How had he gone from being the number two man in Washington and the Knight administration to . . . this? How?