California Schemin' - Kate George [43]
“Okay. I’ll cooperate, but if anything bad happens to my animals while I’m away, I’m holding you responsible. I will hunt you down.” I turned and looked him in the eye, palming a paper clip.
Hammie snorted, and a flash of humor animated his face before he closed back down again. He was amused by my threats. Good. I didn’t want him to take me too seriously.
Hambecker took me back down the hall to my room. I turned, moving toward the little desk on the other side of the room, thinking I had plans to make, but I came to a dead stop. I wasn’t alone.
Chapter Seven
Senator Wallace was lying spread-eagled on my bed. He opened his eyes as the lock clicked. I backed against the wall and pretended that I wasn’t scared out of my wits.
“Ah, there you are. Did Richard take you for a tour of the house?”
My stomach started to churn, and I had the uncomfortable feeling he was testing me. Every muscle was tense, and I fought the urge to throw up.
“No.”
“Good girl. I’m glad you didn’t lie. Of course he caught you trying to leave. Silly Paris forgot to lock your door, didn’t she?”
I wondered if he had asked Paris to leave the door unlocked. The paper clip that I had hidden between two of my fingers was poking into my hand. I fought the urge to drop it.
“Not that I blame you for trying to leave. Richard tells me you aren’t exactly a willing guest. Not his fault, I told him to do whatever it took to get you here. Richard is very good at doing what I tell him.” Wallace pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m going to San Francisco to visit my daughter for a couple of days. I’m leaving you here with Richard and my driver. They’ll make sure you are fed and watered while I’m gone. Be nice to them, and they’ll be nice to you. I’ve given them permission to lock you in with no meals if you give them trouble. Understand?”
I nodded again. I wasn’t unhappy that he was going to be away.
Wallace stood and walked over to me. He placed his hands on my shoulders, and I resisted the urge to shudder and shove him away from me.
“I want you to think hard about what I asked you to do and the good you would be doing for society as a whole. I’ll talk to you when I come back.”
I nodded. He released me and walked to the door.
“Feel free to enjoy the pool while I’m gone. You can go anywhere you’d like as long as it’s not out the front door.” The door closed behind him, and I waited for the lock to click, but it didn’t. He was giving me free rein of the house. That was interesting. Trying to soften me up, make me comfortable. Make me like him. The knot in my gut made me pretty sure I was never going to like him. I don’t know what he was trying to accomplish by putting his hands on me unless it was a subtle form of intimidation. I placed the paper clip in the toe of one of the blue shoes. You never knew when you might need a paper clip.
I left my room and made my way through the foyer into the kitchen. I stood at the sink where I could pretend to be getting a drink of water while I waited for the limo to disappear down the street. I wondered if Moose was driving or if he’d been left here. I knew Wallace had more than one driver. What I didn’t know is which one he had left to guard me. Moose, I could handle.
I gave Wallace time to get out the main gate before I started to snoop. Hammie was going to be a problem, so I crept along quietly going from room to room looking for something of interest. The ground floor was dedicated to entertaining and bedrooms. I wandered in and out of the living room, a TV room with a giant flat screen on the wall and theatre seating for twenty. A game room was situated across from the garage; there was a door at the end, which led to a cabana house with changing room and sauna. Nothing of interest.
I was back in the game room. I’d racked the balls and taken a couple of shots at the pool table when Hammie came in. Perfect timing. I kept my smile to myself and raised my eyebrows at him.
“Want to play pool