Chapter 56

Right now, I had to let Quinn know that even though I was back, I was going to be tied up for the rest of the afternoon and probably the evening as well.

If things had gone the way they were supposed to—although frankly, when did they ever?—I’d have been on the road to Arlington to pick him up so we could have dinner with Portia. And Novotny.

On Friday, Quinn had flown up to New York at his publisher’s…request—some black tie affair I’d intended to join him at, but then I’d been sent out to Huntingdon’s Phoenix campus. Quinn should have returned home today, but something had happened, and he’d left a message on my phone that he was flying into National yesterday. He didn’t tell me what; I knew that was because he felt it needed to be discussed face-to-face and not over an unsecured line with twenty-four hundred miles between us. We’d talk about it on the drive to Great Falls.

I’d called Portia to let her know I’d be out of town until today.