Not One Clue_ A Mystery - Lois Greiman [64]
“Her …” Greg began, but couldn’t seem to finish the rest of the thought.
“Sí,” said the senator, and nodded sagely, as if only his calmness in the face of Laney’s impending marriage would keep the world from spinning out of control. “Her husband to be.”
I think Kevin swore and I’m quite sure Greg crossed himself.
“But thank you for your diligence,” Rivera said. “I shall surely keep your constancy in mind should I have security needs of my own in the future.”
They both looked a little like somnambulists, hoping to awaken soon. “Thank you,” Greg said.
“Very gracious of you, sir,” said Kevin, and then they wandered off, surely questioning the hapless humor of the cosmos.
“Well then,” said the senator, rubbing his hands together and turning back toward me, “where were we?”
I dragged my attention regretfully in his direction.
“Ahhh, yes, I was inquiring about your origins,” the senator said, and lifting an elegant hand, waved me toward a tall, just-vacated table. It was the approximate size of a pansy petal. “Please, let us sit.” He smiled. “So that you can tell me every tiny detail of your life.”
Oh, dear God. “There is only tiny to tell,” I said.
“Don’t believe a word of it, Senator,” Laney said. “Fani’s life could be a novel. Already I feel as if I’ve known her for years.”
“I will listen with rapt attention to every word that falls from her lovely lips,” Rivera said, and Laney grinned as she turned away, but Solberg remained as he was, scowling with what looked like painful intensity.
“Don’t you have a dress kind of like that, Angel?” he asked.
She laughed like a sadist in a sweatshop. “I missed you,” she said, and kissed his cheek.
His eyes immediately assumed that glazed look I had seen Laney invoke in the male species since her fifteenth birthday.
“You’re the light of my solar system,” he said, and suddenly even being seduced by Rivera’s oversexed father seemed more appealing than hanging around the two of them.
I turned toward him. “So you are senator?” I said in broken something or other.
And Laney laughed again.
22
Only a dumb shit brings a water pistol to a gunfight. I ain’t no dumb shit.
—Vincent Angler, armed and
dangerous
“Fani Kolarova?” Vincent said, and grinned across the acre of plush backseat at me.
“I couldn’t really run with Jessica Rabbit,” I said, and he grinned, his teeth whiter than the buttery leather seats.
“Did you find out what you needed to know?”
“I don’t know,” I said, and sighed.
“You didn’t get no readings on whether one of them is the dude who’s sending your friend the mail?”
It had been one hell of a night, but I was almost to Sunland. Almost to bed. “I’m going to have to give it some thought,” I said.
He nodded. “And your friend … she still ain’t got no name?”
“Sorry.”
He gave a “That’s cool” shrug. “You want me to get rid of the dude that’s bothering her?”
“I don’t know who he is.”
“That’s gonna make it harder.”
“Story of my life.”
The driver pulled the limo up to the curb.
“Well, it’s been real, Ms. Kolarova,” he said.
“I live to entertain,” I said, and he smiled again.
“You let me know if you figure out who the dude is and I’ll pop a cap in his ass.”
“That might be the most charming offer I’ve had all month,” I said, and he laughed out loud as the driver opened the door for me.
We said our good-nights. I rose to my six-plus height on wobbly heels and made my way to the front door. The light was shining above it just like it was supposed to. I put the key in the lock, let myself in, and disarmed my security system. Harlequin was doing the I-gotta-pee dance done by all mammals. But I took a moment to remove Laney’s wig before turning him out. Letting down my squashed hair, I wiggled my fingers against my scalp, then kicked off my killer heels and tripped through the house to the back door. As soon as it opened, Harley nosed his way through, romped into the dust bowl, and squatted. I dropped a half-dozen bobby pins onto the little console near the