Part Thirty-Four

Peggy and Raoul quietly sipped their tea in the restaurant of the Tabard Inn. Raoul shuffled through the pages of the Washington Post.

"I hate to admit this, but I would love to hear what Kelly Flinn is saying about the Karl Rove case," said Raoul.

"He's probably wearing black," said Peggy.

Raoul looked at his watch. "Norton should be here… oh, here he is."

They looked up as a young dark-skinned man in a blue suit with a burgundy tie approached the table. He carried a brief case. "Raoul, good morning," said the man.

Raoul and Peggy stood up. "Norton this is Peggy. Peggy this is Norton Landis, a member of our D.C. office."

"Nice to meet you, Peggy," said Norton. He joined them at their table and ordered coffee.

"I understand you will be our political tour guide today," said Peggy.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to meet you yesterday. I heard there were some, uh, difficulties?"

"It was nothing," said Raoul quickly.

"First we got lost on the subway," Peggy said. "We took the Red Line in the wrong direction."

"Happens to visitors all the time," said Norton. "It's easy to confuse Shady Grove and Glenmont."

"I wasn't confused," said Raoul.

"As I recall, you were the one who said to go to Shady Grove," said Peggy.

"No, I said Glenmont. Shady Grove goes to the zoo."

"I knew that, I pointed to it on the map. But you insisted on going in that direction."

"I was trying to not argue on the subway platform."

Norton's eyes darted back and forth between Peggy and Raoul. He cleared his throat. "I believe you eventually met with someone from Representative Inslee's office. Right?" He referred to the person who represents Bainbridge Island in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"I was a little confused about that," said Peggy. "I thought the actual hearing was going to be yesterday."

"The H.R. 6 hearing is today at eleven. Yesterday was the pre-brief with Inslee's office," said Norton.

Raoul looked at Peggy. "H.R. 6 is the energy bill."

"I know that now," said Peggy, putting her cup down with a clatter. She felt her skin grow hot and they weren't even outdoors yet.

Norton's cell phone vibrated. "Excuse me. This is Inslee's office."

"Norton did a lot of work on H.R. 2828, which is Inslee's New Apollo Energy Act."

"I know. You explained that yesterday once we were finally going in the right direction on the Red Line," said Peggy.

"That's right, we missed our transfer to the Orange Line."

"Wait a minute," said Peggy. "You suggested we skip the Orange Line and walk from Gallery Place."

"I figured that since we missed the transfer I might as well show you Chinatown."

"But you didn't have to show it to me when it's ninety-five degrees out and I'm wearing heels and panty hose. I looked like a dishcloth by the time we got to the Rayburn Building."

Norton got off the phone. "Change in plans. They've tightened security at Rayburn today so there's going to be a teleconference hookup from another building. Your panel will meet there."

Raoul groaned. "Are we going to be stuck with that Sierra Club guy all day? He was obnoxious. I was hoping the woman from Inslee's office would throw him out."

"He had some interesting things to say," said Peggy.

"His chief goal was trying to impress people with a bunch of trivia."

"I see. When you are presented with facts that you can't argue with you dismiss it as trivia."

Norton looked at his watch. "We should probably be there early to make sure we have plenty of time to get through security and get a seat."

"I need to go up and get my camera," said Raoul. "I forgot it yesterday."

"Thank goodness," said Peggy.

They all rose from the table. Norton walked off to wait in the lobby while Peggy and Raoul went up to their room to get ready to go. Peggy felt tired, and she dreaded the day ahead of her. She couldn't shake the feeling that Raoul did not take anything she said seriously. In their meetings yesterday to discuss the upcoming hearing, Raoul seemed to belittle everything she said, at one point declaring that her organization "…occasionally produces something useful."

They left the Tabard Inn and walked to Dupont Circle to catch the Red Line. Norton and Raoul chatted about politics while Peggy watched the people on the streets. It seemed to her that everyone was very crisp-looking and ready for a day of debating important issues, in spite of the muggy air. She wore a breezy dress with low heeled shoes just in case Raoul got some wild notion to take an unplanned detour.

As she walked Peggy felt a resolution forming within her. It started out as a vague concept, but then grew quickly into a definite plan as they were boarding the Metro.

She decided that if Raoul did not change his attitude by the end of the day, then she was going to leave the hotel and go stay with Marjorie for a few days, and then fly straight back to Seattle.

As they rode along in the dark tunnels, Raoul said. "I've asked Norton to give you a little tutorial on how things work on Capitol Hill."

Her immediate thought was, 'And I have a little tutorial planned for you.'