Free Cross Roads by Fern Michaels Page A

with you, Maggie?”
    Maggie thought about the offer and shook her head. “No, it’s better if you stay here and pretend that everything is normal.”
    Myra’s tone was so anxious, Maggie found herself cringing when she said, “But, dear, where are you going? How can we pretend to be normal when we don’t know what passes for normal these days?” Even though it was a question, Myra didn’t expect an answer, so she wasn’t disappointed when Maggie just shrugged.
    â€œTo Neiman Marcus at the Galleria to try on a slinky dress I am going to buy, so I can leave the store with a shopping bag. I shouldn’t be more than an hour or so. You can bring each other up to date while I’m gone.”
    â€œHow wonderful! I so love slinky dresses. Just put it on your expense account, dear,” Annie said generously.
    â€œI’m not into slinky, Annie, and thank you for the offer, but I really just need the shopping bag. See ya. But if the dress comes with the deal, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
    Jittery small talk followed before Yoko excused herself to take her groceries inside. Everyone looked down at their watches. Yoko was back in less than ten minutes carrying a tray with a teapot, cups, and a plate of honey-rice cakes. The women all started to babble at once as they tried to figure out where and what Maggie was up to other than buying a dress she didn’t want.
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    In the cab she was fortunate to hail almost in front of Harry’s dojo, Maggie leaned back in the seat to scan the latest text from Ted, who said he would arrive Stateside no later than 8:00 P.M . She scrolled till she found the previous message, the message that had her in this cab at this precise moment. And to think she was going to get a slinky dress out of the deal, compliments of the Post. She had no idea where or when she would have an occasion to wear said slinky dress. And at this precise moment, she couldn’t care less.
    Maggie closed her eyes as she tried to figure out where all of this was going. She was almost giddy with the thought that in less than ten hours, give or take a few, she would be talking to Ted and Espinosa. She just wasn’t sure if that would be before or after a round of lovemaking. Right now, though, lovemaking was coming in second to the weirdness that was going on in all their lives.
    She was back in the game. She could feel it in every bone in her body. She knew in her gut that the others felt the same way. Yoko had come alive inside the fish market the moment she’d voiced her suspicions about what was going on. By the time they reached the alley of the dojo, her eyes were sparkling like diamonds.
    The only thing throwing her off at the moment was Yoko’s question, which she couldn’t answer. “Maggie, do you think it’s possible something happened to Hank Jellicoe?” Considering his profession, all that the man was involved in, Yoko’s question did bear thinking about. And it was a question that she, as a reporter, should have asked herself early on. With all Jellicoe’s personal security, his savvy, his knowledge, he wouldn’t have been dumb enough to allow himself to be compromised in any way. Then there was his engagement to the president, which was either on or off.
    Maggie sighed as the cab slid to the curb. She paid the driver and barreled out. As she stuffed her wallet back into her bag, she also managed to scan the area where the cab had stopped. There were cars everywhere. There were people everywhere. She tried to focus and remember exactly what she was seeing before she headed inside to the escalator that would take her up to Neiman Marcus.
    On the ride up the escalator, Maggie did her best to act nonchalant as she looked around as if she didn’t have a thing on her mind except shopping. The minute she stepped off the escalator, she headed straight for what she called the Designer Duds Department,