Tina spied Bette’s and Jules’ shadows as the duo trudged down the hall that led to a side entrance of Peter’s massive estate. It was the hall that could be accessed from the stables, and at the other end of it lay the pair of rooms Peter had assigned to her and Bette and Diane and Jules.

Brom’s room was in the opposite hall, which was accessible through the main entrance and other entrances from the broad garden of the estate. That hall was more difficult to secure, unlike the one where the women’s rooms were, which only had one exit and entrance to it.

Brom was going to be joined in the opposite hall by Logan and George, who’d decided to join the group at the last minute. Logan and George had flown into Dulles a couple of hours ago in one of George’s business jets.  Peter had assigned each a room in the row of rooms in the same hall Brom’s was in.  To make room for them, Jenna had agreed to Peter’s request that he move her to the sole guest room in the second floor, the same level where the master suite was located.

When Tina saw Bette’s and Jules’ figures trudging towards their rooms, she excused herself from the conversation she’d been in the middle of with a pair of female polo players from England who had joined the annual charity match. The women had been explaining they were guests of a Capitol Hill mover and shaker, and that they were likely driving down to Aiken, South Carolina early the next day to see if they could join a polo match there.

Tina entered their room quietly and heard the loud gush of water likely filling the big limestone soaking tub in the bathroom. She looked quickly at the reflection of the wall mirror on the side opposite the open door of the bathroom to see if she could steal a quick glance of Bette through it.  The door whooshed shut behind her.

Bette was standing in the middle of the tub, pouring bath salts at the swirling point where water cascaded down into the tub, her back to Tina. She’d stripped, Tina saw.  Since Tina didn’t see clothes anywhere, and the bathroom remained tidy, the brunette had probably dropped her clothes into the wicker basket on the side of vanity table.  Bette! So considerate about whomever she was with no matter what was going on, especially Tina.  She’d been that way from the night they’d met in Bette’s gallery and all throughout their relationship, even letting Tina keep their apartment while they’d been broken up, rent fully paid.