Sebastian Speed found her a part-time job at
American Interior
magazine, producing photographic features on elegant peopleâs elegant homes.
Lacey first met Conor at one of the press conferences after the Forty-Ninth Street Golf Club trial, when she was filling in for NBCâs regular trial reporter. They were literally pushed together by jostling and shouting pressmen, and he put his arm around her to protect her. She met him next at a formal cocktail party given by the Mayor at Gracie Mansion. That was after Conorâs resignation, and hardly anybody would talk to him; not that he was ever an easy man to talk to. He looked sober and handsome that evening, in a snow-white shirt and a navy-blue suit. She wore a very low-cut dress of blue shot silk, with her hair pinned up. âYou remember me,â she introduced herself. âYou saved me from the baying mob.â
His only response was a smile. But Lacey persevered, even when he was silent, and the next day he called her up and asked her for dinner.
They explored each other that evening, talking for hours. She was fascinated by Conorâs mixture of sly flirtatiousness and the unusual logic by which he lived his life. Every time she felt that she had opened up one door in his personality, there was another door, and another. He was romantic and occasionally sentimental, and he could take a joke, but she feltthat beyond the very last door there was a man who was capable of making very hard decisions indeed.
For his part, he had never met a woman so outspoken, but he was alarmed by her disregard for her own emotional safety. He didnât know how she could have stayed with a sadistic creep like Larry Elgar for so long. And she still blamed herself for provoking him into hitting her. âI should have known better. I was strong and he was weak.â
âNot too weak to crack two of your ribs.â
âSo what? Physical strength, that doesnât count for anything.â
He fell in love with her because she was driven and unusual and beautiful. But he fell in love with her most of all because she was vulnerable and he wanted to protect her â just like, ultimately, he wanted to protect everybody.
To protect and serve
wasnât just a slogan.
She walked in wearing a plain white linen dress. âDo you want another beer?â
âNo thanks. I could use a shower.â
âYou donât mind about the job?â
He shook his head. He
did
mind, but how could he tie her down? He had learned a long time ago that nobody owns anybody else.
While Conor was showering, Lacey sat on the edge of the bathtub and talked to him. He was very muscular, and she liked to watch the foamy water running down his chest. âSo tell me all the grisly details about the hearing.â
âThereâs not much more to tell you. I can get to see Fay whenever Paula thinks itâs convenient.â
âSo what does
that
mean? Convenient?â
âIn practice it probably means that Iâm allowed to act as babysitter whenever she and that oily broker friend of hers decide they want to spend a long weekend upstate.â
âWhat are you going to do? Can you appeal?â
âI donât know what Iâm going to do. Iâm beginning to think that it might be better if I turn my back on the whole situation.â
âI donât understand.â
Conor came out of the shower, looking as tired as a marathon swimmer, his chest hair spread in a dark wide fan. âMeaning I may be prepared to wait to see Fay until sheâs old enough to come find me for herself.â
Lacey stood up and rubbed him with his towel. âYouâve had a bad day. You donât want to make decisions like that, not until youâve gotten over it.â
Naked, he held her close, and kissed her, and stroked her hair. She touched the star-shaped scar on his left cheekbone. It was kind of a code. It meant that she knew what hardships he had been