Alien in the House

the musical battle and there was some classical stuff on very low. It was a little too classy for a little girl’s birthday party, but Jamie didn’t seem to care and Jeff was happy with it, so I didn’t whine.
    As with our dinner party, we had a ton of Field agents in the Embassy, most on the second floor, but the rest of the facility wasn’t being shirked. Hoped a superbeing didn’t form anywhere right now, because it felt like every agent worldwide was here.
    Politicians and other movers and shakers arrived and the party stopped being fun and started being work. Some, like Cliff, the Armstrongs, and the McMillans, I was happy to see. Some, like Whitmore, who we’d had to invite to this against everyone’s better judgment, I wasn’t.
    Pierre was in charge of the festivities, of course, and he had Jamie and any kid under twelve in the middle portion of the ballroom, being entertained by a Little Theater troupe. The kids were loving it, which was nice. It also freed up me and Jeff to interact with the politicians. No rest for the wicked.
    Jeff was cornered by a variety of senators, so I wandered, looking for Gadoire or Culver, neither of whom were here yet. Amy joined me. “You crashed last night.”
    “I totally did. What did I miss?”
    “Not much. We did find some things. None of it’s conclusive, of course, but there were fragments we were able to piece together. I think the L idea was sound, because it was just too consistently there in everyone’s calendars, but Olga was right—it’s going to take us a long time to narrow that down.”
    “That’s it?”
    “No. We found reference to Gaultier, as well as Somerall, Gardiner, and Cross.”
    “The Gaultier bigwigs you’re fighting for control.”
    “Yeah. Like so much, not something we’re going to figure out today. They could have been legitimate things—we couldn’t find enough to be sure. There were other things like that—enough repetition to stand out, nothing concrete to take action against today.”
    “Oh, well, it is what it is.”
    Senator Armstrong extracted himself from Jeff’s group and came over to me as Doreen came to get Amy for something. “Ah, Ambassador, wanted to let you know right away. The governor of California has asked, and Missus Brewer is going to fill her late husband’s seat.”
    “Nathalie said yes to that?”
    He nodded. “For the same reasons your husband did.” Someone called him back over. “Have to go. Discussing how to handle the upcoming vote.” He rejoined Jeff and the others.
    Lillian Culver and Abner Schnekedy took this moment to arrive. She was in what I was coming to realize was her trademark all-red look, including the bright red lipstick. Tried not to think of her as Joker Jaws. Failed.
    Took a big one for the team and hugged her while doing the air kiss. “Lillian, I’m so glad you could make it.”
    “Wouldn’t miss it. I hear that Nathalie has some good news to help alleviate the pain of Edmund’s suicide.”
    “Yes, I guess so. I mean if we count taking over for him as good news.” Resisted the impulse to say that Brewer hadn’t been a suicide. There was a high probability the Master or the Apprentice were here, because pretty much the same people as had been at our dinner party were in attendance along with a lot of other guests and the press, who were busy taking tons of pictures.
    Culver laughed. “Well, maybe it’s better news for me.”
    Gadoire and Lydia were escorted inside. Did the greetings. “Great party,” Lydia said. “I’m impressed with how well you’ve all bounced back from the tragedies of the past few days.”
    “I’d hardly say that. But a one-year-old shouldn’t be punished for things that had nothing to do with her and that she couldn’t possibly understand.”
    “Oh, I hear she’s quite precocious,” Lydia said.
    “She’s great, but again, people being killed isn’t something I think is appropriate for any child to have to deal with or try to comprehend.”
    “I heard Edmund killed himself,” Lydia replied. “Not that I’m suggesting that you think suicide is appropriate for children to know about, either.”
    There was something different about Lydia, and it wasn’t mourning, because she didn’t seem to be. She seemed more . . . aggressive than I was used to. She was a political animal, of course, but I’d only seen the “here with my husband” side of her. Found myself wondering if Eugene had actually acted as a restraint on her