When Day Breaks Read Online Free PDF Page A

Lauren Adams can be a prima donna, too, and now I’m going to be her whipping boy.” Boyd groaned. “Another former beauty queen–turned–TV star. She finally stopped chain-smoking, but now she snaps her gum incessantly. She’ll drive me out of my mind. What did I do in a former life to deserve this?”
    “Why don’t you quit?” B.J. asked.
    “When I find something else, I will, believe me,” answered Boyd. “But until then I’m stickin’. I have rent to pay, and besides, it’s KEY News. Since I was a kid, I wanted to work in network-television news.”
    “And you were a kid about…uh, ten minutes ago?”
    “I’m not as young as you think,” said Boyd.
    “Twenty-three?”
    “Twenty-seven. It took me a while to even get a page job here.”
    “You’re right, Boyd. You’re an old man,” B.J. said as he walked out the door. “And at thirty-four I must be ancient.”
     
     
     
    Constance held the phone to her ear, leaned her head against the back of her ergonomically designed office chair, and looked up at the ceiling.
    “How could you, Constance?”
    “How could I what ?”
    “You promised me that you would never wear the unicorn in public. You promised you would only wear it when we were alone together.”
    “Oh, Stuart, don’t be ridiculous. We’re never going to be alone together anymore, so if I kept the promise you say I made, I’d never get to wear the unicorn amulet at all, would I?”
    “Please, my dear, I would like to have it back.”
    “I never took you for an Indian giver, Stuart.”
    “It really was not mine to give, Constance.”
    “Meaning what?”
    “When you admired it in the display case at the Cloisters, I was determined that you should have it.”
    “Yes, and you told me you had a copy made for me.”
    Silence.
    Constance sat upright. “Didn’t you, Stuart?”
    No answer.
    “Don’t tell me it’s the real thing—the ivory unicorn that Arthur gave Guinevere. Don’t tell me you stole it!”
    “I prefer to think I procured it for my lady love. It was a heroic deed of valor to win my lady’s heart.”
    “Are you insane, Stuart? This unicorn is supposed to be at the center of that upcoming exhibit at the Cloisters. It’s priceless!”
    “Yes, my dear, I fear I am insane. I am crazy about you. I am fifty-two years old, but I am like a teenager in love when it comes to you. I wake up thinking about you, go to bed at night thinking of you, and just about every minute during the day is spent wondering about you. With all the furor in the press over you right now, it has been fairly easy to track what you have been doing.”
    “You’re scaring me, Stuart. You sound like a stalker.”
    “Oh, Constance, forgive me. The last thing I would ever want to do is frighten you. You are my lady, and I only want you to feel safe and secure.”
    “If you truly mean that, Stuart, you’ll stop calling me all the time,” said Constance in exasperation. “Let’s just remember the good times we had and be friends.”
    “Of course I want to be your friend, Constance. This gentle knight pledges his total allegiance to you, forever.”
    “Look, Stuart, I have to go now. I’ve got an appointment, and I have some things to take care of first.”
    “I know where you are going, Constance. There is that big luncheon for you today. I read about it in the newspaper.”
    “Yes, that’s right.”
    “I was hoping I might get an invitation.”
    Constance shifted in her chair. “It’s really just a business lunch, Stuart. Mostly people in the industry, not my friends.”
    “All right, Constance. I have to believe that you would never lie to me. But let me ask you, again. Please, give me back the amulet.”
    Constance felt the small carved ivory figurine that hung from a black silk cord around her neck. “Oh, Stuart, I hate to part with it. The unicorn is my talisman. I wore it all through my negotiations for my new job, and look at the good luck it brought me.”
    Stuart’s voice