WILLARD BRETLING, JOE MURRAY, TRAVIS, COLE, AND DIANA flew to Dulles in Cole's private plane; he made the attorneys fly commercial. It was a funny little quirk of his, Diana had discovered. Cole didn't like lawyers. Even his own. Also on board were four well-dressed men whose fashion accessories included concealed weapons, for which they had licenses.

Cole told her it was just a whim of Joe's, but Diana knew better. Joe was certain that Cushman had hired people to find Bretling, and within the next forty-eight hours, Cole was determined to give the Cushman brothers a reason to want him dead.

The Washington law firm that specialized in SEC matters met with Cole in his hotel suite at eight the next morning, before they went to his eleven o'clock hearing. They argued with each other, and with Cole, about Cole's nonnegotiable request for a hearing that would be open to members of Congress and the SEC.

Twenty miles away from the hotel, Barbara Hayward was walking into her brother's town house in Washington, D.C. Her father opened the door. "Barbara!" he exclaimed. "Honey, what are you doing here?"

She looked around him for Doug and saw him walking into the room, buttoning the cuffs of his shirt. He stopped cold, his pleasure in her visit shaking her resolve a little. "Is Mother here?" she asked, looking about the spacious town house.

"I'm here, darling," Jessica said as she floated downstairs in one of the silky, clingy peignoirs she always preferred. "The more important question is, why are you here?"

Barbara had the horrible feeling that of the three other people in the room, Jessica was already arriving at the correct conclusion. Barbara was sure of it when her mother began talking to her in a way that was calculated to make her sound feebleminded, even now, when she'd finally put her life together and built a good marriage with a husband who loved her.

"Why aren't you at your beautiful, peaceful place in Vermont?" Jessica said, rushing over to pour her a cup of tea. "You know how the big cities always upset you. Why are you in Washington?"

Barbara sat on the sofa and realized she'd finally arrived at the moment she had dreaded since she was fifteen years old. Her mother was going to despise her and make her sound like a maniac or a liar. Doug and her father were going to lose faith in her, no one was going to love her, she'd be abandoned— With an angry shake of her head, Barbara silenced that panicky inner voice that had chanted that same chant until she was nearly crazy with it.

"I'm here to have some tea," Barbara said with a calm smile as she took the cup and saucer and patted the seat on the sofa beside her. Doug sat down there. Her father and mother sat down in chairs facing them. "And I'm here to right a wrong that I helped Mother commit fifteen years ago."

Jessica shot to her feet. "You're having one of your spells again. I have some tranquilizers in my purse."

"Take one by all means if you need it," Barbara said, deliberately misunderstanding her. "Daddy," she said firmly. "Cole Harrison never, ever laid a finger on me. Mother was at the stable that night, and she ran up to my room and begged me to change clothes with her."

"Can you believe this!" Jessica shrieked. "You're completely insane!"

Her father wearily rubbed his forehead. "Barbara, don't do this to yourself. It happened, honey. That bastard got you pregnant."

Perhaps it was Barbara's calm that chipped away at her father's and brother's disbelief. Perhaps it was her sad smile. "The father of that baby was a boy I met at a rock concert, Daddy. I never even knew his name. I just wanted to see if I could seduce him. I just"—she transferred her gaze to her mother's white face—"wanted to be like you."