California Schemin' - Kate George [76]
“Hambecker and Moose, too?” I was disappointed. Okay, they’d flown, but with Wallace? They were the good guys, weren’t they? Hell, this wasn’t the first time I’d ever been wrong.
“Who’s going to tell Paris and Wendy?”
Fogel looked at me with eyebrows raised.
“Paris is Hambecker’s girlfriend, and Wendy is Wallace’s daughter. They deserve to know.” As I talked I got the sinking feeling that I’d be the one telling the girls. I didn’t know how Wendy would feel. Wallace was her father, after all. She might be glad he’d gotten away, but poor Paris. How do you tell a girl her boyfriend skipped town with a murderer? There was no easy way to break the news.
Fogel was still looking at me.
“Oh, no,” I said. “Not me. You’ve got policewomen who are trained to do this kind of thing. No way I’m going to break the bad news.”
“Come with me then. It helps to have a familiar face when news like this is received. They won’t feel quite so abandoned.”
I followed Fogel out of his office and down to the lower floor where we’d left Wendy and Paris in a waiting room with comfortable couches and vending machines, obviously not a room for criminals. They were sitting across from each other at a table playing cards and eating animal crackers.
Fogel grabbed a chair and turned it around so he could sit backwards on it, his arms resting on the plastic back. I slid into a chair across from him, snagging a cracker and resting my elbows on the table. Wendy looked at us and set her cards on the table face up.
“My father disappeared, didn’t he?” she said. Fogel nodded. “Damn it! This happens every time something unpleasant or illegal happens. All of a sudden he’s gone. He must pay his staff a bundle to lie for him.” She started gathering the cards and shoving them roughly into their case. “He’s got too much power for his own good. He gets away with everything. My mom’s right. He’s no damn good.”
“What about Richard?” Paris asked quietly. Her voice shook slightly, and I thought she knew the answer. “Will he be coming here to get us? I know the limo was totaled, and we have the Jeep.”
I shook my head, and she looked down, but when she looked back up her face was determined.
“It’s not like I didn’t know he wasn’t going to stick. For one thing, he was way too old for me. He’s, like, your age, isn’t he Bree?”
“Um, yeah. I guess so.” Since when was thirty old? “Actually, I think he was even older than I am.” Take that, Hambecker.
“See? Too old for me. I’m going back to college with Wendy. I bet they’ll let me back in.”
“Paris, we’re on winter break. You haven’t even missed anything yet.” Wendy looked at Paris and rolled her eyes.
“See, I told you they’d let me back in. Come on, Wendy, I want to get back to town.” The girls gathered their purses and jackets. Wendy hugged me goodbye.
“Well, they’re going to be okay,” I said as they left. “Nothing like youth for bouncing back. What about us? You going to let us go home now, too?”
“Not until you’ve got tickets and an escort. I’m not taking any chances with you two.”
Fogel finally agreed that we’d probably be safe if we stayed in the Law Enforcement Convention’s headquarters hotel. He gave us a ride to Sacramento, got us checked in and wished us luck. I noticed him talking to a cop and gesturing in our direction as we got on the elevator. Not that the place wasn’t crawling with police officers, but I had the feeling he was making sure that Sacramento’s finest knew we were here.
Beau collapsed on the bed and fell asleep immediately. I didn’t know if it was exhaustion or the pain pills, but he’d earned a little oblivion. Time for me to get cleaned up a little. I gathered all the little bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash and ran the water hot. I was going to stand in the water until the memories of the past few days were soaked out of me.
There was quiet knocking on the door as I was coming out of the shower.
“Hang on,” I whispered through the door and