Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich [20]
“Keeping her hands occupied?” I asked him.
“Trying.”
He put his hand to Brenda’s back and guided her through the crowd. I watched for the stalker guy and put myself between him and Brenda when he moved toward her.
“Are you her bodyguard?” the stalker asked.
“I’m part of the security team.”
“I gotta talk to her.”
“No can do,” I said.
“You don’t understand. It’s critical. I had a new vision.”
I moved closer to Ranger, closing the gap, and followed him into the elevator. The doors closed and Brenda’s stalker was out of my life, stuck in the lobby with the rest of the crazies.
Brenda drank some soda and nibbled the cookie. “Where am I again?”
“Trenton.”
She did an exaggerated eye roll. “I hate Trenton. It’s dreary and provincial. Why can’t I be in New York or Paris?”
“No one wanted you there,” Nancy said. “We could only get you a gig in Trenton.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Brenda said. “It’s your incompetence that has me stuck here. Why do I always get the incompetent assistants?”
Tank was in the hall when we stepped out of the elevator. He was back to silent mode after spilling his guts about his engagement. I thought he probably wouldn’t speak to me again for another four or five years. We lured Nancy and Brenda into the suite with the promise of room service and closed the door after them.
“Tank and I can take it for the rest of the afternoon,” Ranger said. “I’d like you back here at six-thirty. The dinner is at seven. It’s formal. Black tie.”
“Formal! You never told me the dinner was formal. I haven’t got anything to wear.”
He gave me a credit card. “Take the corporate card. Get whatever you need.”
My eyes went wide. “It’s not that easy! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find the right gown? And then I have to accessorize. Shoes and a purse and jewelry.”
“Babe,” Ranger said.
ZOOK WAS WAITING when I rolled to a stop in front of his school. He was with the same odd assortment of friends, and they all applauded when they saw my car.
He slid onto the passenger seat, dropped his backpack between his legs, and buckled up. “I guess my mom’s still in the slammer,” he said on a sigh.
“I’m sorry.”
“I feel sort of stupid that I can’t help her.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Me, too.”
My cell phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize on the display.
“It’s your new best friend, Dom,” he said. “I’m watching you, but you’ll never find me, so don’t bother to look around. Just act like everything is normal. I don’t want to freak the kid.”
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Just making sure you’re not taking him back to Morelli’s house. You take him back to Morelli’s house, and I’m gonna have to kill you along with Morelli.”
“Have you thought about getting help? Maybe seeing a doctor?”
“I don’t need help. I know what I’m doing. You’re the one who’s gonna need help if you don’t take good care of the kid.”
And he disconnected.
This was a family beyond dysfunction. Dom’s mother was probably the sanest of them all, and she was being fed pureed peas.
I pulled away from the school and hooked a left. Zook turned in his seat and looked out the back window.
“Who’s the guy following you?” he asked.
I looked in my rearview mirror. White car right on my bumper. Might be a Taurus. That probably meant it was a rental, since no one actually buys a white Taurus. My first thought was Dom. I stopped for a light and got a glimpse of the driver. White hair. Pasty complexion. Large, framed, black plastic Buddy Holly glasses. Definitely not Dom. It was the stalker. Must have followed me from the hotel garage. Just what I needed, one more nut to add to my collection.
“Hang on,” I said to Zook. “I’m going to get rid of him.”
I have a routine that I do in the Burg when I want to lose a tail. It involves a lot of cornering and rocketing down alleys, and it always works. It was especially easy this time, because the stalker was clearly an amateur. I lost him halfway through my drill.
“Cool,” Zook said. “That was excellent. Do you know that guy?”
“He’s a Brenda stalker. I don’t know why he attached himself to me.”
I rolled through the Burg and parked