Robert Asprin's Dragons Run by Jody Lynn Nye Page B

themselves to the now-separated wrecks and prepared to haul them away. Griffen looked around for Fox Lisa and Penny.
    “Miss Dunbar is over there holding a press conference on road safety,” Malcolm said, suddenly at his side. “We need to talk.”
    “Do you think that was . . . him?” Griffen asked.
    “I don’t know,” Malcolm said, looking worried. “But we must go on the assumption that it was one of his . . . efforts. We need to discuss safety measures.”

Eleven
    “I think it’s fairly clear that was only an attempt at intimidation,” Malcolm said, tenting his fingertips together in an armchair in his suite at the Sheraton. Griffen sat on the couch, feeling bleary. He was short on sleep. Jerome sat beside him, turning an empty glass around and around in his long fingers. The police had taken statements from everyone before letting them go. Penny was reluctant to tear herself away from the knot of reporters that had gathered to take notes and video the crash scene for the morning news, but a large-boned woman with a cloud of white hair and a no-nonsense attitude arrived to bundle her into a taxi.
    “It might have been a warning,” Jer said. “You might bruise a dragon in a car accident, but it’d have to be crushed completely to kill her. We ought to know,” he added, with a nod toward Griffen.
    “But a warning to do what?” Malcolm asked.
    “To back off this election. But you talked with her all evening. Did she sound like the threats made her want to quit?”
    “Er, no. In fact, they seemed to add to her determination.”
    “The accident doesn’t have to have had anything to do with Penny at all,” Griffen argued. “It might have been a city worker who went on a bender and decided to take the truck out for a midnight joy ride.”
    “C’mon, Grifter, you don’t believe that? Turning up so conveniently just as Representative Penny Dunbar was going home from an evening out with friends, with plenty of witnesses on hand?”
    A very unwelcome thought struck Griffen. “So she set it up herself?”
    “They don’t call her Bad Penny for nothing,” Jerome said.
    “
Bad
Penny?”
    “She turns up all the time. You never noticed that she never misses the opportunity to appear in public? Ever since she started as a member of the school board back when she was still in college, she hasn’t missed a store opening or an important funeral. She was real cute, too, with those dimples and that sunshiny hair, and she was born knowing how to talk to the camera. She must have a scrapbook bigger than the New York City phone directory. Sometimes events happen just when she needs a publicity boost. Normally, the campaign season doesn’t get started till next month. She’s jumping the gun a little, but it’s pretty smart to show up in the paper at regular intervals. The driver wasn’t hurt. The city’ll repair any damage to the vehicle. Her car belongs to her campaign. Even if no one showed up, she wouldn’t lose a thing.”
    Griffen felt his head start to pound. “But Fox Lisa could have been killed!”
    “Doesn’t she have dragon blood, too?” Malcolm inquired. “I thought I sensed it.”
    “Just a little,” Jerome said. “Pretty dilute, but she’s a tough girl.”
    “Well, we cannot take a chance that it was a stunt. It is undeniable that she is under threat. We must assume that Reginaud Duvallier was behind the crash. You had better escort Miss Dunbar to the television studio, Griffen.” Malcolm consulted the heavy gold watch on his wrist. “They will need to depart in approximately two hours to arrive on time. You will need Miss Dunbar’s address.”
    “I haven’t had any sleep yet!” Griffen protested. “Why don’t you go?”
    “Griffen, I have other lines of investigation to follow up. You can rest after the interview is over. In the meantime, I suggest sustenance. Replenishment of blood sugar will help buoy you through the coming hours.”
    He’d given Griffen that same