Chapter 49

THE NEXT MORNING, we slept until nearly eight, then went for a run in the park. There were a great many runners out at that hour, it being a Saturday, and I even spotted a few faces to which I could attach names. After we’d gotten home, showered, and shaved, we went down to breakfast and were surprised to find Richard not only up and dressed but evidently awake, alert, and ready for anything. I couldn’t resist ragging him a bit, saying, “You’re certainly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, considering the ungodly hour.”

“I can be, if I’m sufficiently motivated,” he said, with an enigmatic look about him.

“Are you going to explain that, or must we pry it out of you?”

“Simple. The guys I’m going up to the lake with are Jerry and Roger, a couple whom I met last summer. We’re going to stay with a friend of theirs named Martin, at his lake house. I’m their hostess gift to Martin, so to speak.”

“It’s not like you to get so wound up over a blind date.”