“Awww …” But he dutifully retrieved his bookbag and hauled it to his room. Jenna had a half-dozen library books herself, along with two hundred new blank index cards, but somehow she couldn’t generate the energy for doing research tonight. When Karim vanished into his cave, she puttered aimlessly around the apartment. Bring a guest. She wouldn’t, of course. But if she were to invite someone, which of her male colleagues and acquaintances would it be? No one. Very well, if she could invent someone, what would he be like? She couldn’t form a picture. Yes, she could: Philippe. Suddenly, the longing for him hit her like a physical blow. We won’t lose each other, he had promised. Was there something of him out there still, knowing her loneliness, her love? Stop it, she commanded herself. Of all the emotional reactions she encountered in her work, the most common and the least productive was self-pity.

Wanting to shut out thought, she switched on the evening news. Dan Rather and various correspondents were discussing a compromise between President Reagan and the Democrats in Congress. Jenna half listened, convinced that she would never grasp the nuances of American politics. The two parties opposed each other noisily, but what was the real difference between them? She was searching for the TV Guide when she became aware of a woman’s face on the screen. It looked so much like—

“Tragedy today in France,” Rather intoned, “where Genevieve Badir, wife of international financial magnate Malik Badir, died in a car accident.

According to French police, her Mercedes was struck head on by a produce truck near the town of Saint-Tropez, where the Badirs had one of their many vacation homes.”

Jenna clawed for the volume control as the story continued: “Madame Badir, a former singer remembered by friends as a woman of simple tastes and warm- hearted good humor, was driving alone to a favorite restaurant. A source close to the family told reporters that Malik Badir would normally have been in the car but had been called away unexpectedly on business.

“Badir’s name has been linked with intrigue at high levels of the military and government in France and elsewhere, but authorities stress that they do not suspect foul play in his wife’s death. The truck driver, who was also killed, was said to be, quote, ‘profoundly drunk.’ Genevieve Badir, dead at thirty-six in France.”