Gatewood Villa—as the black and verdigris sign outside the gated driveway proclaimed—would blend in nicely with the old-money digs in parts of D.C.’s Georgetown. And it was indeed old money that erected this manse. The Gatewood family shipping fortunes dated back five generations, one shy of Maida’s former neighbor. Once a summer house, the “villa” now served as a year-round residence for the last of the Gatewood line consisting solely of Winthrop and his wife, Vesta Mae.
Having arranged to meet Mrs. Gatewood at the prearranged time of her choosing, oddly, two-thirty-five exactly, Drayco nudged his Oldsmobile Starfire up the long narrow driveway. He was afraid to let one wheel slip off into the tight rows of alyssum and petunia flowers that lined both sides.
The house itself boasted plen
