"You have my word," Spencer said, raising his hands in surrender.
JOANNA SLAMMED THE CAR DOOR AND STUCK THE KEY IN the ignition, but she didn't start the car. Instead, she leaned her forehead against the steering wheel while Deborah got in on her side.
"Now run this by me once more," Joanna spat. "Did you tell me that you agreed for the two of us to go to dinner with this disgusting lecher who you admit has some sort of sexual fantasy in mind? Tell me that I'm just dreaming this all up!"
"No, you got it right," Deborah agreed. "But I'm surprised at your description of the good doctor. This morning you said he was distinguished."
"That was in response to his appearance, not his behavior; and that was this morning, not this afternoon."
"Well," Deborah said. "You should have let me know you felt so strongly before I was carried off into his office."
Deborah knew she was taunting Joanna, but her roommate hadn't given her a chance to explain the situation. As they left Wingate's office, Deborah had mentioned the evening's plans, and Joanna had immediately launched into an angry diatribe. Then, without allowing Deborah so much as another word, Joanna had stormed out of the Wingate Clinic.
"This car is going back to Boston straightaway," Joanna announced. "If you want to stay out here and get it on with that rake, that's your business, but personally I think you are crazy."
"Will you calm down!" Deborah said.
"I'm quite calm enough," Joanna said. "Now, are you getting out or what?"
"Shut up and listen!" Deborah ordered. "I had the same reaction as you when he first suggested dinner. But then it occurred to me he has something we want and need: something critical!"
Joanna took a deep breath to keep from lashing out again at Deborah. As usual Deborah was forcing her to ask. "Okay," Joanna said at length. "What does he have that we need?"
"His blue access card!" Deborah said triumphantly. "He's more than a department head, he's the founder! His blue card will certainly open the door to the server room and probably every other door in the entire place."
Joanna lifted her head from where she'd been leaning it against the steering wheel. What Deborah was saying was undoubtedly true, but what did it matter? She looked at her roommate. "He's not going to give us his access card because we go to dinner with him."
"Of course not," Deborah said. "We're going to take it! All we have to do is get him drunk, and while one of us is diverting him, the other snags the blue card."
At first Joanna thought Deborah was just being her blithe self and that she'd laugh and say she was just kidding. But she didn't. She returned Joanna's gaze with a look of self-satisfaction.
"I don't know," Joanna said. "Sounds easy on paper, but difficult to execute."
"You said yourself we were going to have to be creative to get into the server room," Deborah said. "This is creative."
"You're making a lot of assumptions," Joanna said. "How do you know he drinks? Maybe he's a teetotaler."
"I don't think that's a worry," Deborah said. "He mentioned that the restaurant where we're supposed to meet him has a good wine list. Wine and women are definitely on his mind."
"I don't know about this idea," Joanna said reluctantly.
"Oh, come on," Deborah said. "Admit it's a good ideal Have you come up with another plan for getting into that room?"
"No, but…"
"But nothing," Deborah interjected. "What do we have to lose?"
"Our dignity."
"Oh, please! Give me a break!"
Just then Dr. Donaldson and Cynthia Carson came out through the clinic door. Joanna suddenly scrunched down and ordered Deborah to do the same.
"Now what?" Deborah asked, mimicking Joanna and flattening herself below the level of the window.
"Dr. Donaldson and Cynthia Carson just came out of the clinic," Joanna whispered. A few minutes ticked by. The women heard car doors open and slam shut followed by the noise of the tires moving on the gravel-strewn pavement. Only then did they sit up.
"I'm getting out of here," Joanna said after making sure the coast was clear. She started the car, jammed it in gear, and backed out of the parking spot.
"So," Deborah said, "are you with me or not?"
Joanna sighed. "All right," she said. "I'll give it a try. But to get that blue card will take more than dinner. We'll have to get him to take us back to his house."
"Probably," Deborah admitted. "But we might get lucky."
"As far as the division of labor is concerned, I want to make it clear that you'll be doing the distracting and I'll be doing the extracting."
"I think we'll have to play it by ear. As I said earlier, he's expecting some kind of menage a trois."
"Good grief!" Joanna exclaimed as she nosed the car up to the gate to get it to open. "None of my old friends in Houston would believe this!"
The women drove into town and revisited the RiteSmart drugstore to ask directions to the Barn. The pharmacist had gained a few pounds but was just as cheerful as he'd been a year and a half previously.
"The Barn is about two miles north of town," he said, pointing up Main Street in the direction they'd come. "It's a good restaurant. I recommend you have the pot roast, double-baked potatoes, and the cheesecake with chocolate sauce."
"That sounds like nice, light fare," Joanna mocked as they returned to the street.
The women spent a half hour window shopping to pass some time before getting back into the car and driving out to the restaurant. It was a quaint establishment having been an actual barn in its previous life. Lots of old-fashioned farm equipment graced the grounds, and some was even attached to the side of the building. Inside, the animal stalls had been converted into eating areas with banquettes. The only windows were in the front creating a dark, cozy atmosphere in the interior.
"Miss Marks and Miss Heatherly?" the hostess asked before the women had a chance to say a word. When they answered yes, she motioned for them to follow. Clutching several menus, she led them to the rearmost stall. There in the dim, candlelit recess was Dr. Spencer Wingate decked out in a blazer with an ascot and matching pocket square. When he caught sight of Joanna and Deborah, he bounded out from behind the table, gallantly kissed each woman's hand, and then graciously gestured for them to sit down. The hostess placed menus in front of each woman, smiled, and disappeared.
"I hope you don't mind," he said. "I've taken the liberty of ordering some wine before you got here." He reached out and turned the labels of the two bottles sitting on the table toward the women. "A crisp white and a full-bodied red! I like my reds full-bodied." He laughed briefly.
Deborah winked at Joanna. She thought the evening was getting off to a good start.
"Would anyone like a cocktail in addition to the wine?" Spencer asked.
"We're not hard liquor drinkers," Deborah said. "But don't let that inhibit you."
"A martini would hit the spot," he said. "Are you sure neither of you ladies would care to join me?"
Both women declined.
The evening progressed smoothly. The conversation was effortless since Spencer was easily encouraged to talk about Spencer. By the time dessert was served, the women had been treated to a lengthy and detailed history of the Wingate Clinic and its success. The more Spencer talked, the more liberally he drank. The only minor problem was that he showed no outward effect from the alcohol he'd imbibed.
"I have a question about the clinic," Deborah said when Spencer finally paused in his monologue to attack the cheese cake drenched in chocolate sauce. "What's the story about the pregnant Nicaraguans?"
"Are some of the Nicaraguan ladies pregnant?" Spencer asked.
"It seemed to us they all were pregnant,' Deborah said. "And all about the same degree, as if they'd become pregnant through some airborne infection."
Spencer laughed. "Pregnancy as an infectious process! That's a good one! But it's not too far from the truth. After all, it is caused by the invasion of a few million microorganisms." He laughed again at his attempt at humor.