Deja Vu Read Free

make it work, she let her mind wander to other things, like her small family. Such as it was. The day she’d taken the oath of office, her sister, Agnes, had kissed her good-bye, wished her good luck, and said she didn’t want to be part of Washington’s fishbowl. Agnes had signed up for Doctors Without Borders, and that was the last Martine had heard of her. God alone knew where Aggie was. Then there was Alvin, her brother, who had virtually said the same thing, although he’d whispered in her ear that he was proud of her. He’d mumbled something vague about going to build bridges in India somewhere. So much for family. Now, if she had a dog, she would have a family, someone to celebrate the holidays with. Someone to talk to, someone who wouldn’t argue with her, someone who, she hoped, would listen attentively and not pass judgment. She could frolic and play with him or her when she went to Camp David. He or she could sleep at the foot of her bed. Maybe she’d let him or her sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom. Yessiree, very soon she was going to have a family if she didn’t chicken out. She could hardly wait.
    Three cups of tea and two glasses of orange juice later, Martine looked at the clock. Her PDB would be arriving along with her chief of staff any minute. The president’s daily brief always arrived just as the sun was coming up. She was still wearing her ratty old-friend robe and her fuzzy-bear slippers.
    When the COS arrived, they got right down to presidential business, which lasted all of fifteen minutes. The COS then inquired about the president’s health and asked if she had any specific instructions for him.
    “Actually, I do have something you can do for me if you can somehow do it without a media blitz. Can you get me a dog? A big one. One that needs a home, a rescue if possible. A shepherd or maybe a golden retriever. Gender isn’t important, but I think I lean more toward a female. Can you do it?”
    The COS looked stunned at the request, but he rose to the occasion. “Do I have a time limit, Madam President?”
    Martine squared her shoulders. “Today will be just fine,” she responded in her best I-am-the-president voice. The COS blinked, mumbled something about wishing her a good day, and left with the PDB.
    Martine found herself giggling when the door closed behind the COS. World affairs would be taking a backseat at least for as long as it took the COS to delegate her request to others. Satisfied that she had started her day on a roll, she picked up her phone and asked her secretary to come to her quarters. Plans were only as good as the follow-through. She needed help with what needed to be done. In order to get any, she had to start in her own backyard.
    Martine settled deeper into the chocolate sofa and flipped through the channels till she found the Home Shopping Network. She narrowed her eyes to slits as she stared at the array of jewelry being hawked. Sooner or later they would show something diamonique.

Chapter 2
    C harles Martin had set up a buffet on the terrace at Pinewood. “It would be a shame to eat indoors and miss all this beautiful sunshine on such a glorious day,” he’d said. The Sisters had agreed.
    Sunday these days was dinner at Pinewood. It was the Sisters’ way of staying in touch after a week of getting on with their lives. Or as Annie put it, there will be no more separations in this family. Everyone agreed, so it was dinner at Pinewood every Sunday, and each of them looked forward to it because when dinner was over, the table cleared, they sat around and hashed and rehashed and speculated on what the future was going to hold for all of them. Today was no exception.
    “And there still has been no word on Hank Jellicoe,” Alexis said. “I don’t know why, but I find that hard to believe. The man gets away from some of the most experienced, the most knowledgeable guys in the spook business and hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Un-be-lievable!”
    “There