California Schemin' - Kate George [33]
“Who are you expecting?” I asked.
“My boss and his entourage. My fiancée is supposed to be here, too, but I’m hoping the senator discouraged her from coming.”
“What? You don’t want your fiancée to see you handcuffed to another woman? Where’s your sense of adventure, Hammie?”
“Will you please stop calling me Hammie? My name is Richard.”
“Richard? I think Hammie suits you better.”
Hammie gave me an exasperated look. He looked past me down the aisle, and his face cleared. Then he scowled.
“I take it she’s here?”
“The blonde in the red coat.”
The blonde shot me a look of pure hatred before she took her seat.
“Wow,” I said to Hammie. “I’d watch out for her later, if I were you. She’s out for blood.” Hammie rolled his eyes and leaned across me to shake hands with the balding bespectacled man who had seated himself beside me.
“Senator,” he said.
“Richard, a pleasure as always.” He shifted his gaze to me. “And this must be our guest, Ms. MacGowan. Pleased to finally make your acquaintance. I hope Mr. Hambecker and Mr. Moore have been treating you well. I have something I’d like you to do for me.” He nodded his head and squeezed my left hand that was on the armrest beside him.
“Gosh, Senator … I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name. Are you in the habit of abducting your guests and keeping them handcuffed?” Funny, I wasn’t angry with Hammie, but this guy got my blood boiling.
“Hush now. My name is Senator R. Carl Wallace.” He glanced around and went on in an undertone. “I can’t afford to lose you again. I need to talk to you, and I don’t have time to spend chasing you across the country. I apologize, but I think you’ll soon see that I have the best of intentions.”
I raised my eyebrows, working at composing a suitable comeback, but the lights dimmed and the two guitarists came to the stage. They played some perfectly beautiful jazz; but the theatre was warm, and the drugs still must have been affecting me because I felt myself sliding toward unconsciousness again. Hammie leaned into me, keeping me upright with his shoulder, and I struggled to keep my eyes open and failed.
I might have fallen into a dead sleep and stayed that way for the entire concert except that the auditorium exploded into applause as the vocalist arrived on stage. She was a majestic black woman with a fabulous voice that vibrated in my chest. My eyes came open and stayed open as she sang. I’d never heard anything like her before.
After the encore, Hammie led me into the lobby. There were a couple of men from Senator Wallace’s entourage close behind me, and the blonde in the red coat was behind them trying to push by. A State Trooper in dress uniform made his way toward us, and Moose appeared beside me, reached his arm around and clipped the nylon handcuff which fell to the floor as Moose whisked me away from Hammie and the Trooper and escorted me out of the lobby and into the waiting car.
“Why did you bother handcuffing me at all if you were going to take it off at the first sign of trouble? I sat through that whole concert handcuffed to Hammie, even though there was no way for me to get away unless I climbed over the backs of chairs in these damn shoes, and then you uncuff me right in the lobby where I could easily get away? I don’t understand you people.”
Mostly I was disgusted with myself. Why hadn’t I screamed or made a fuss? The perfect moment to get rescued, and I’d done nothing. Stupid.
Marshall Moore, aka Moose, locked me into the back of the limo and slid into the driver’s seat. He rolled down the privacy window. I wanted to hate Moose and Hammie. It felt stupid not to hate them, but I couldn’t get the emotion to build. They were nice to me, and I had the distinct feeling that they weren