Katherine thought again. Unbelievably, she felt both happy and upset about her confrontation with Vic. Happy, because he had not taken advantage of her. Upset, because that fact made her wonder whether he found himself at all attracted to her. She decided to give Megan an honest answer instead of a cautious, non-revealing one.

"Was it what I wanted to hear?" she repeated.

"Yes and no."

"Ah, ambivalence," Megan said with a twinkle in her eye.

"One of my personal favorite emotions."

"Not one of mine."

"Sometimes life is more interesting when one's ducks aren't entirely in a row."

Katherine knew that sounded right. She wasn't so sure it felt right, at least not for her. She'd always preferred to keep her ducks, and her life, pretty much in line.

"I'll have to think about that," she said.

"For now, let's change the subject."

"Balmy weather we're having," Megan quipped with a glance toward the frost-edged window.

The sun might be out, but the temperatures were still frigid enough to keep frost from melting.

"Did you call Stefan Piatka about keeping an eye out for Coyote in case he should show up to check on Sprite?" Katherine asked.

"Not yet. I'll get on that right now." Megan was halfway out of the chair when she plopped back down again.

"I have an idea."

"What could that be?"

Katherine wasn't sure she was up to one of Megan's brainstorms right now.

"Why don't we try to smoke Coyote out from wherever he' s hiding?"

"How do we manage that?"

"Give him what he's after, and see if he comes to get it."

Megan's voice had lost its mischievous tone. Whatever she had in mind, she was totally serious aboutJt.

"What are you suggesting?" Katherine asked, though she was beginning to recognize the track Megan was on.

"The grant. Give him a Most Needy Cases Fund grant. Announce it in the paper and say he has to come and collect it. Then, all we have to do is wait and see if he does." Katherine didn't say anything. She was thinking.

"The Bellaway children certainly fit the requirements for the program," Megan went on.

"Their situation is pretty desperate."

"That's true," Katherine said slowly.

"And, there's that reporter over at the Chronicle. What's her name?"

"Mariette Dugan."

Katherine's mind was on the same track as Megan's now.

"Right. Mariette Dugan," Megan said.

"She'd be happy to drag this series out one more day, especially if there's a sob-sister angle to it. I'm sure we could come up with one of those. A real three-hanky story."

Katherine didn't answer. She was already reaching for the phone.

Chapter Thirteen Vic was more angry with himself than he was with Katherine.

He should have known better than to get tied up with her from the start. He'd told himself he was going to steer clear of her. He should have listened to that advice. They were from opposite ends of the universe. She'd made it crystal clear she saw that, too. After what had happened in her office this morning, there was no longer a doubt in his mind on the subject of how she felt about him. As far as she was concerned, Vic Maltese was some kind of sc.u.m, a lowlife who would put moves on a woman when she was pa.s.sed out and even do it in his own house, where she'd gone to stay safe.

Vic could feel the bitterness of his thoughts like a harsh echo inside his head. He didn't like the feeling, especially because he understood all too well where the bitterness came from. He was no dummy, after all. Katherine Fairchild might have him pegged as a bottom-feeder, buta"Vic chopped that thought off at the knees. He was doing it again, popping off into the ozone as if somebody had pushed his hot b.u.t.ton.

That was just what Katherine had done, and he knew it. She'd pushed his hot b.u.t.ton, the one he'd been carrying around since he was fifteen years old, when he'd found out who he really was, what he'd really come from. Ever since, down deep inside he'd known that at least part of him was just what Katherine's accusation this morning made him out to be. Part of him was something a straight-arrow person like Katherine ought to sc.r.a.pe right off her shoe.

That was his hot b.u.t.ton, no doubt about it. He hadn't spent all those hours in staff consultation meetings with psychologists for nothing.

The Bellaway boy hadn't come up in any of those discussions because, till now, he'd never appeared to have any special problems. Just being poor wasn't special all by itself around here. Being poor was the usual thing. Plenty of other kids had problems though, and listening to what the professionals had to say had taught Vic probably as much as a degree at the university could have done.

Everything came out of the family. What happened to a kid growing up had an effect on all the years of his life from then on.

So, he'd worked on himself and his temper. He'd been proud of his progress, too. Too bad he'd let that temper get the best of him in Katherine's office this morning. He understood why, too. He'd let himself care too much what she thought about him.

Vic had kept himself very busy since this morning, and he had also kept himself away from Katherine's end of the building. He'd even gone out through the rear fire exit off the gym to grab some lunch at the diner instead of making himself something in the center's kitchen like he usually did. Too much chance of running into Katherine there.

Unfortunately, he couldn't reenter the building through the fire exit, as it automatically locked behind him.

He hadn't seen Katherine on his return, but he did spot Megan as he was hustling toward his office. She had a look on her face as if she wanted to talk about something. He had the definite feeling that something might be Katherine.

She and Megan were pretty close friends. His guess was that Megan had matchmaking, or maybe match-mending, on her mind.

Vic, on the other hand, could hardly have been less in the mood to be either matched or mended right then. He'd headed, like a hunted man searching for refuge, straight to his office and locked the door behind him. He'd spent the rest of the time since then catching up on the part of his job he enjoyed the leasta"paperwork. Eventually, he'd had about all he could take of shuffling reports and filling out insurance forms. Still, the kids wouldn't be out of school and pouring in here for another hour or so. He suddenly found himself feeling so restless he had to get out of his office, whether he ran into Katherine or Megan or not.

Vic was on his way down the hall to the vending machine when he heard a woman's voice calling his name. He considered the possibility of making a run for it, but that was too undignified. He blew out a heavy sigh as he stopped in his tracks and steeled himself for whatever would come next. Mariette Dugan, that pesky reporter from the Chronicle, was in his face almost the seconal he turned around.

He took a step backward, but he'd seen enough of her before this afternoon not to be surprised. She was the in-your-face type.

"So, what's the story on this kid you guys want me to headline?" she asked.

She was like that, too. She didn't lead into a thing. She just blasted it right at you without a greeting in front of it. "What kid would that be?"

"This kid with the sister and a mother in the hospital. What's his name?"

Mariette thumbed through the small pad she'd pulled out of the pocket of her down coat. He could feel a sneaking suspicion coming on that he wasn't at all happy with the subject she had on her nosey reporter's mind.

"Here it is," she said.

"Coyote Bellaway, and his sister's name is Sprite. Didn't they tell you about this? Giving this kid one of your Most Needy Cases Grants, then making a big deal out of it with a spotlight article in the paper and all? Why him, anyway?"

Vic didn't like what he was hearing, but the last thing he should do was let Ms. Dugan know that. She was a reporter, and she'd like nothing better than to catch a whiff of conflict. If that happened, she'd be back over at the Chronicle before you could say Lois Lane, cranking out a story about all kinds of controversy over here at the center. Some folks might think any publicity was good publicity, but Vic definitely wasn't one of those folks.

If there was going to be public attention focused on the center, he wanted it to be all about what they did here and how much it meant to the community. Stories of squabbles or even features about individual personalities weren't his idea of what needed to be said about this place. He and a lot of other people put their heart and soul into it every day. All the same, he knew he'd better not get all heated up over protecting it, at least not so this press person with her notepad could see it. She was staring at him a little too closely for comfort already.

"Coyote and Sprite are very deserving of one of our grants," he said.

"More deserving than any of the other people you're giving the money to?"

"No, not more deserving. Just appropriate to benefit from the program."

A knot of tension made Vic's teeth grind together. In a second or two, his cheek would start twitching. He had to get away from her before she noticed he was ready to explode. She wasn't the one he wanted to pop off at, anyway. Whoever had this harebrained idea about putting the Bel-la way kids in the paper, that was the one Vic had the itch to get his hfinds on.

"Who told you about Coyote and Sprite?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"That new gal you've got here. The one from Chicago."

"Katherine Fairchild?"

"Right. I did an interview with her a week or so ago. She called up the office this morning, with this thing about wanting me to do a feature on these two kids. I've got a small piece going in tonight's edition. I'm over here now to see if there's enough to it to do a follow-up. Fairchild seems to think there is. What do you think?"

Mariette Dugan had her pen poised over her pad. She was looking at Vic so hard she almost could have bored a hole through his head with her eyes. He had to give her some kind of answer and stay cool about it. The trouble was that she'd asked him what he thought about putting the Bellaway kids in the paper. What he really thought was that this was the most stupid idea he'd heard in he didn't know how long. Coyote was trying to lie low right now, and that was the best thing for him to do. If Vic didn't agree with that and if he wasn't sure Coyote knew how to take care of himself out there and keep out of sight, Vic would have called the cops into it by now himself, much as he didn't like cops. A low profile was what Coyote needed now, not headlines. How could Katherine not know that? Meanwhile, Dugan was still stating.

"I think that any publicity that helps the Most Needy Cases Program is good," Vic said, picking his words like he was tiptoeing through a minefield.

"There are lots of families to write an article on if that's what you want to do."

"Fairchild thinks these Bellaway kids are special. Do you agree with her?"

"All the kids who come here to the center are special." Vic knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear and that she wasn't likely to let it go at that. He turned away from her all the same and started walking down the hall again toward the administrative area of the building.

"Why don't we go over to Fairchild's office and talk about this some more," Dugan was saying as she hurried to keep up with him.

"I'd like to hear that cfialogue between you two."

I bet you would, Vic thought.

"I need an angle for the story if I'm going to do a focus piece like this," she went on.

"The two of you kicking this back and forth could be the hook I'm looking for."

That's not all I'd like to kick back and forth, was what popped into Vic's head.

I He didn't say anything and he didn't look down at Dugan, though he could feel her still scurrying along next to him. He didn't dare look at her. What felt like a fireball of anger was building up inside him the way a head of steam does in a boiler. He had to get out of this situation or there was going to be the devil to pay. He was trying to make himself scarce, but the reporter wouldn't stop d.o.g.g.i.ng him.

"This is Katherine Fairchild's department," he managed to say more calmly than he would have thought himself capable of at the moment.

"I don't think it would be appropriate for me to horn in."

"That's kind of a new tack for you, isn't it?" Dugan asked.

"Every other time I've talked to you, I could hardly write fast enough to get all your opinions down on paper."

That was true, all right. He'd spent time shooting his mouth off.

Now, that fact was back here to haunt him. He could hear the curiosity in Dugan's voice. She'd caught a whiff of something going on. He had to get her off the trail somehow.

He was racking his brain to figure out how to do that when Megan Moran dashed out of the main reception office and nearly knocked him down. Vic grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her from toppling over him, and maybe also to give himself something to do till he came up with an answer for Dugan.

"You'll never guess in a million years what's happened," Megan gashed.

"Or maybe I should say half a million."

She giggled then. Her brown eyes were uncommonly bright, and her red curls corkscrewed up from her head as if she'd been running her fingers through them over and over again.

"What's this all about?" Dugan asked as she flipped her notebook to a fresh page.

"Yeah, Megan. What's going on?"

Vic let go of Megan's shoulders even though he felt like hugging her for getting Dugan off his back, at least for now.

"I guess this is for publication," Megan said.

"There hasn't been any official word on that yet, but I can't see that it would do anything but good for the center. I'll tell you, but we'll have to get an okay from the director before you can print it. Otherwise, I can't tell you."

"Okay, okay," Dugan said.

"I'll wait for authorization before I take it to press, if it's even a story, that is."

"It's a story all right," Megan said. She was gushing again.

"The biggest one that's ever happened around here."

"What gives?" Vic asked.

"What gives is absolutely right, or maybe *what's been given," would be more to the point," Megan said.

"Who's giving it's another story.

We don't know that yet. Maybe we never will. "

She had to be really excited. Megan usually made more sense than this.

"What are you talking about Vic asked.