Thelma frowned, openly displeased by the question.

“I told Warren to come along,” Barrett said, “but he’s off with some of his cronies.”

“Surprised to see you here, Jack,” Thelma said. “You write for the society pages of the Express now?”

“Should be a nice night for a cruise, almost a full moon,” he said, and as he walked away, added, under his breath, “perfect for lunatics like you, Thelma.” Going out for a pleasure cruise on a January night. That bitch was nuts. She was probably trying to irritate Lillian, who had once been a close friend, but now had little to do with her. Lillian wouldn’t like Katy being pulled away from the party by the Ducanes.

Lillian had always opposed Katy’s marriage to Todd Ducane. She had made bigger plans for her daughter, and Jack supposed that after her falling-out with Thelma all those years ago, the idea of Katy marrying Thelma’s son had been a bitter pill to swallow.

For once, Jack and Lillian were in agreement. Jack had never liked any of the Ducanes, including Todd. The Toad, as Jack thought of him. But Katy had rebelled. He knew she had since come to see her mistake, but so far, she hadn’t rectified it.

Lillian hadn’t chosen so well herself, Jack thought, watching as the family gathered for photos. Harold Linworth had little more than his wealth to recommend him. Maybe that had been enough for Lillian. At forty, Lillian was still a looker. But standing next to Katy-Jack smiled to himself. Katy was a little subdued tonight, but still she had that quality, a fire within that drew others to her warmth. Not all of Lily’s beauty could match it.

He watched as parents and in-laws stood next to Katy and Todd, the six of them smiling stiffly as a photographer went through the juggling act of focus, shoot, eject the used flashbulb, put a new one in, focus, shoot, and so on.

Why wasn’t Warren around? The Ducane brothers were close. He glanced at Thelma and thought he had his answer. He was fairly sure all it would take to keep Warren away would be a demand by Thelma that he attend the party. There was the difference in the two boys-Todd acquiesced to their every demand, hoping to catch crumbs from their table. Warren rebelled. If that was what kept him away tonight, Jack had to admire him for it.

What the hell was he doing here himself?

But Jack had never been able to turn down Katy’s requests. Her twenty-first birthday. Katy an adult. What nonsense. She was already a wife and mother. Yet to Jack, she was still a child herself.

Her elegant appearance this evening hadn’t changed his thoughts on that- all dressed up in a demure evening gown and long gloves, wearing the Vanderveer family diamonds at her neck. Her dark hair was pinned up in a sophisticated style, her brown eyes emphasized by carefully applied liner.

The overall effect had been spoiled somewhat by the pug. Corrigan hated that damned dog and seeing her holding it tonight angered him. Max, her two-month-old son, left at home-attended to by some stranger, a hired nurse-but the dog in her arms. Maybe that was the sort of family life the Ducanes might like, distanced from their children, but Jack hated to see Katy influenced by Todd in that way.

When Katy greeted him, she leaned forward a little, and the dog squirmed awkwardly between them. She shook Jack’s hand, saying, “What an unexpected pleasure.” Her sardonic tone would lead any listener to believe he was a party crasher. If she hadn’t softly added, for his ear only, “Later,” he would have turned on his heel and left.

He did try to leave at one point-even had his hat and coat in hand. Katy had hurried over to him and taken them from him. “Don’t be silly,” she said, handing the hat to the butler, Hastings, and smoothing the coat into a neatness that didn’t seem natural to it.

“Careful, you’ll ruin your dress,” he said, noticing that he needed to take the coat to the cleaners.

“To hell with the dress,” she said, and flung the coat around her shoulders. She smiled at him, eyes bright with mischief. “Now, this is comfort. And it reeks of cigarettes and spilled booze and-what’s this?” Pretending to sniff the collar. “Ah, yes, ink. You must have cut yourself.”

He laughed.

She took it off again, handing it to Hastings. “Uncle Jack-”

“Does your mother know you still call me that?”

“Never mind her,” she said angrily.

“On the outs again, are you? Is that why you’ve asked to talk to me?”

“No,” she said, “no, of course not. Oh, Uncle Jack, please. Please stay until we can talk. You always tell me the truth, and I need-” But she looked up and saw her husband making his way toward them. “Oh damn, here comes Todd.”

“Leaving, Jack?” Todd asked hopefully.

“No, just getting my cigarette lighter out of my coat pocket.”

“Oh…well, excuse us, but there are some people waiting to talk to Kathleen.”

Katy leaned closer to Jack and kissed his cheek, then again whispered, “Later,” before allowing Todd to steer her away.

Still, she had made no effort to come near him since.

Corrigan was drinking heavily, as usual, but tonight he knew himself for an especially sorry sort of drunk. “Self-pity makes a lousy chaser,” he said aloud.

“What?” the blonde shouted back, confused.

“Nothing.” He grabbed two martinis from a passing waiter’s tray and handed one to the blonde. She smiled. He thought she said thanks.

He looked away from the blonde and scanned the crowd, wondering if he’d catch another glimpse of Lillian or Katy. Unlikely, given the press of humanity between his seat and where Lillian and her daughter were holding court. Trouble with a January party was, most years it was too cold outside on the veranda, so nobody ever had any breathing room. He downed the martini and watched for another waiter.

He would never, so long as he lived, understand the rich. Why had Katy wanted him to be here? A whim, no doubt. She was a bit of a troublemaker, Katy. Kathleen. He was one of the few who ever called her Katy. He smiled, thinking of how it fired her up when he did so. He was a bit of a troublemaker himself.

He thought about that whispered “Later,” and about a look he thought he had seen in her eye, something just before Todd the Toad ushered her away from him. It made him wonder why the birthday girl, normally sunny and vivacious, looked so unhappy most of the night. He meant to find out. Curiosity was his besetting sin, and a necessary part of his work as a reporter.

Most of her friends would not believe anything amiss. The smile was still there and as usual a crowd of her admirers near at hand. They didn’t know her as well as Jack did.

After a while it was clear that the Toad was on guard and ready to maneuver Jack away from Katy whenever he drew near. The Toad hovered over her tonight-lighting her cigarettes, making sure her half-empty martini glasses were exchanged for full ones, feeding canapés to her dog. Jack decided to bide his time and drink up Lillian and Harold’s expensive booze until he could evade their son-in-law.

One of the attentive servants made his way to Corrigan and exchanged the empty glass for a fresh drink.

The party was a success, if you measured such things by the lack of room to move, the sound of raucous laughter, the cloud of smoke hanging thickly in the air. He wondered what Lillian really thought of it. He was surprised at the roughness of some of the characters he saw here tonight. Todd’s friends, he supposed. Harold probably hated to see such riffraff crossing the Linworths’ Italian marble floors. Not that all of the Linworths’ friends and acquaintances were on the up-and-up.

The blonde interrupted his musings with the hand on his thigh. Less than an instant later, he felt a hand on his collar, pulling back hard and cutting off his breath, then yanking him up onto his unsteady feet. A big, fair-haired man with a crewcut was shouting something about keeping his hands off his wife, and before Jack could so much as clench a fist, the giant had landed a blow that knocked him out cold.