And then she could speak.
'"Duncan. You're the last person I expected to run into down here. " He stared at her for a few heartbeats. When he finally spoke, his voice was cool, distant.
"I might have said the same about you . . . until yesterday. How long have you been standing here? " She'd arrived early at the Rayburn Building for her meeting and had been told that Congressman Allard would be slightly delayed because of his television interview. Rather than sit cooling her heels, Gin had opted to stroll across Independence to catch the interview live.
Staying a discreet distance from the congressman's group she'd noticed a man who reminded her of Duncan, but she couldn't be sure from the rear, and besides, what would Duncan be doing down here? She'd edged closer, had been almost on top of him when he'd turned and they'd come nose to nose.
How long have you been standing here? The answer seemed important to him. Very important.
Long enough to hear you say something very strange, she thought.
'-Just a few seconds. But what on earth are you doing here? " "Me? " He looked around. I love the Capitol area . . . the Mall . . .
the monuments . . . they're beautiful."
"Knowing how you feel about politicians" "Let's just say I consider it a beautiful mansion that happens to be infested by termites and all sorts of vermin." His eyes bored into her.
"So why are you here? " The question she'd been dreading. "I, uh, have an appointment with Congressman Allard this morning." He grimaced. "You want to be on his staff? " "I'll be on anybody's staff. I want to be on this committee .
He stared at her again. "Yes. Yes, I see you do. Why didn't you mention this yesterday? " "You didn't exactly give me a chance." He made a soft guttural sound and glanced at the oldfashioned beeper clutched in his hand, a dinosaur of a beeper, at least six inches long.
Odd, she thought. She hadn't realized Duncan carried a pager. He wasn't on emergency call, but she guessed there was always the chance of a postsurgical complication.
Suddenly he seemed in a rush. He spoke quickly.
"I want to discuss something with you, Gin, but I have to make a call and this is neither the time nor the place. I will see you in my office after lunch this afternoon. Can you be there? " . . .
something to discuss with you . . . She didn-t like the sound of that.
"I think so."
"Good. See you then." He turned and headed for one of the doors into the south wing. Gin watched him for a few seconds, then turned her attention to where Congressman Allard continued to huddle with his aides. The totaled ages of the three younger men probably exceeded Allard's by very little, yet they were doing all the talking. Good haircuts, expensive suits, six-figure incomes or close to it for many of the more experienced aides, and a smug We're-where-it's-at look.
Too many of the Hill rats she'd met seemed to adopt that attitude after a couple of years on the job. She promised, swore, that wouldn't happen to her.
No doubt doing some last-minute fine tuning of his remarks before the camera.
Finally he seemed ready. He nodded to his aides, straightened his tie, adjusted his suit coat, patted his toupee, then started down the steps.
Gin sidled to her right to where she had an unobstructed view of the steps. She watched Allard descend on an angle toward the waiting camera and reporter. His movements were smooth and fluid during the first two flights, then he stopped on the landing halfway down.
He paused and rubbed his eyes, shook his head as if to clear it, then continued down. At the top of the last flight he stopped again.
A warning bell sounded in Gin's brain. Something was wrong.
Allard leaned against the bronze handrail and pressed a hand over his eyes. Even from here Gin could see that the hand was shaking.
He lowered his hand and began to sway. He grasped the rail and turned around to stare back up at the Capitol. His expression was frightened.
He looked lost, confused, as if he didn't know where he was. He took a faltering step to his left but wobbled backward instead.
Gd, he's going to fall!
As his arms windmilled for balance, his aides cried out and rushed down to him. But Allard was already toppling. He managed to twist around but could not break his fall. He hit the granite steps and began to roll.
Shouts now from the TV crew as the reporter rushed toward the falling legislator. The cameraman followed her, taping all the way A couple of Capitol Police started running from the other end of the steps.
Gin was already on her way down as Congressman Allard landed in a heap at the base of the steps and lay still, arms akimbo, his toupee skewed so that it hung over his left ear. His aides, the TV crew, and the cops converged on him from three directions.
Gin reached the growing knot and forced her way in.
'"I'm a doctor, " she said. "Let me through. ' The onlookers made way for her and soon she was kneeling at Allard's side. He was on his back, his face was a mess, blood everywhere. Gin dug her index and middle fingers into the side of his throat, probing for a carotid. She found it, pulsing rapidly, but strong and regular.
She saw his chest moving with respirations, small bubbles of saliva fluttering at the corner of his bloodied lips as air flowed in and out.
Pulse and respiration okay. Good. But he did seem to be in shock.
"All right, ' she announced to the onlookers. "His heart's beating and he's breathing. No need for CPR. But nobody move him. He may have a spinal injury." She looked around. "Is somebody calling an ambulance?
' One of the Capitol cops pointed to his partner who was babbling into his radio. We're on it, " he said.
Gin returned her attention to Allard. She couldn't do a neurological evaluation here, but if she had to bet she'd put her money on a stroke.
Maybe he'd flipped an embolus to his brain.
She glanced up and saw someone standing at the railing along the edge of the west portico, looking down. She blinked. It was Duncan. She couldn't read his expression. He stood there staring for a moment, then turned and disappeared from view.
Duncan? she thought. Aren't you going to help?
COFFEE GINA DIDN'T GET BACK TO THE SURGICENTER until shortly before noon. She'd hovered by Congressman Allard's side until the E.M.Ts arrived. She watched them bandage his face, strap him to a back board, load him into their rig, and howl away toward G. W. Medical Center.
She stopped back at Allard's office to let them know what had happened, and after that she'd been at loose ends, wandering around the Capitol area, thinking, wondering . . .
Duncan had acted so strange this morning, and he hadn't shown the slightest concern for the fate of the congressman, who wasn't just some stranger, he was one of Duncan's patients. And who was this Lisa he'd been talking about to Allard? It had seemed like such a non sequitur.
She took the Metro Red Line up to Friendship Heights and walked the rest of the way, still thinking, still wondering.
By the time she reached the surgicenter she still didn-t have an answer.
"He wanted to see me, ' she told Barbara as she paused at her reception desk.
"He mentioned it, but right now he's conferencing with another doctor.
Strict orders not to disturb." "Really? Anybody we know? " Barbara shrugged. "All he tells me is to block out half an hour for Dr. V.
Now you know as much as I do. But he's very good-looking." Barbara's eyebrows oscillated as her voice took on a Mae West tone. "This is his second visit, and I hope it's not the last." Why so mysterious about the name? A doctor who wanted cosmetic surgery maybe?