THE CAREER DIPLOMAT studied the two newspaper headlines with an intensity usually found only in safecrackers. Where average people have laugh lines, his 57-year-old patrician face had lines of earnestness–no, over-earnestness–crop circles that are mowed into human skin by a lifetime of nodding sagely across tables at others and saying, “I feel your pain.” He sighed deeply and tossed the papers onto the long, mahogany table so that his subordinates could see for themselves, and the brilliant young men looked at both in perfect stillness.
First, there was the New York Times: “Officials Puzzled About Motive Of Airport Gunman Who Killed Two.” And, slightly askew, the Los Angeles Times: “FBI Looks For Motive In LAX Attack.” Just under that was a smaller headline: “With Few Leads, Officials Seek Public’s Help.” They absorbed the words and sighed, too, and it seemed they had one shared, sad voice. And they did.
