Chapter Seventeen

“As far as I know, he should be back home after his little jaunt to the pokey,” Bella said as we drove along Main Street after a brief pause at her salon. She didn’t need much to look even more glamorous, so we got in and out of Bella’s Best in no time at all.

“They won’t be able to keep him long,” she continued, checking to her left and right before making the turn onto a little street filled with townhouses crammed cheek to jowl with each other. Most of the brick buildings had barely a hand span between their outer walls. I had a brief thought that there was no way a person could get between the buildings if something broke. But it was cut off as we pulled to a stop in front of a building of a particularly violent purple color. The poor thing seemed to glow even in the darkness surrounding us. The hazy yellow street lamp across the street certainly didn’t help the weird look of the house, with its teal shutters. I shuddered, thanking all that was holy that Great-Aunt Gertie, the woman who had given me all I had out here, hadn’t decided to go into puke colors with the little cottage she’d left me.

Bella squeezed into a spot between a Cadillac with Jersey plates and a little Geo Metro, which reminded me of my first car. Her parallel parking was nothing to sneeze at, but her muttered swearing made me wince.

“Damn big cars,” she snarled, inching back and forth for the twelfth time to get close enough to the curb. Which was one of her mild diatribes. I won’t chronicle the more inventive ones here.

A dome light popped on in the Cadillac in front of us, then just as quickly went out as the engine roared to life.

“Of course, the idiot decides to move as soon as I’ve finally got us in here like a cork.” She shook her fist and yelled “Bitches!” through the windshield.

I had no idea if the person heard her, but he did go squealing off into the night without a backward glance.

Light shone behind a closed curtain in the weirdly colored house. I couldn’t tell if this was the place we were looking for or if she’d only parked here because it was the sole remaining parking spot on the street. I hesitated to ask, since she was still snarling and hissing under her breath. I didn’t want to get spit at, so I waited patiently, watching the window for some movement.

Nothing happened for a few moments, while Bella got herself under control. She flipped down the visor to check her lipstick. She fussed with her hair, opened her shirt a few extra buttons, then sprayed herself with perfume, nearly choking me.

“Do you really think he’s going to see you, or talk to you, after you plastic handcuffed him tonight and turned him over to the police? Don’t you think he’s going to be pissed? Send you packing?” It was something that had been worrying me since we’d jumped into the car. I hadn’t thought to voice it until now, when we were sitting outside, moments away from what could be a very ugly confrontation. I waved a hand through the air, attempting to disperse some of the cloud of scent. I was half tempted to roll down the window, but it was getting colder out there with every passing minute.

Bella gave a particularly derisive laugh (I was just full to bursting with good words tonight, I’ll mention, in case you didn’t notice “diatribes” a little earlier).

“Puh-lease,” she said in her caustic way. “Jackson will only see it as me crawling back to him because I can’t stand to be away from his human perfection. It will occur to him to be mad about it, but he’ll dismiss it as my playing hard to get. In his mind, I really want him fiercely if I’ll go to such lengths to get him to notice me. It happened many, many times. I guarantee it won’t fail me during this one.”

“And you don’t find that a little weird and a lot egotistical?” I had to admit I thought he was a loon, but I didn’t say it out loud, since she might get rolling on what a boob and jackass he was. We’d never get out of this creepy neighborhood if she went there. It would take time. Goosebumps erupted up and down my arms under my heavier, insulated coat. Bella had laughed at me when I’d grabbed it because it had been mild, temperature-wise, earlier. Now, it was freezing, especially with the car turned off. I was happy for the covering.

I looked back out the side window, shivering from something that had absolutely nothing to do with the temperature. Despite the garish paint of the building in front of us, the rest looked run down and in need of serious tender loving care. Trash billowed along the street, forced forward by the wind whipping against the car. It had been balmy earlier, but now the gentle breeze had teeth.

Bella flipped the visor back up against the ceiling, breathed into her hand, then shook her hair back off her shoulders. She looked perfect. If Jackson was as egotistical as most people made him out to be, this was going to run like clockwork.

Yeah, when will I ever learn?

****

I twiddled my thumbs, thinking I should probably put on a coat of nail polish one of these days. Bella had left the car no more than three minutes ago, and already I was bored. I sighed and looked out the window, then screamed because I saw a gnarled face pressed up against the glass looking back at me.

The face twisted into a nasty sneer, and the person laughed before running away. It was more like scampering, but that made me feel I was being unfair to scampering critters around the world. I made sure the car doors were securely locked; I didn’t want some bozo to think they could get in if scaring me didn’t give them their proper jollies. Yeesh! I couldn’t wait to get out of here. Seriously.

I went back to twiddling my thumbs, studiously avoiding looking around, when my cell phone shrieked through the interior of the car. My bladder wasn’t going to be able to handle much more of this, to be honest. Clenching my hands together, I forced myself to ignore the ringing phone—no small feat, let me tell you. I knew without a doubt it would be my dad, and if I answered, he wouldn’t let me off the phone until I detailed everything we were doing. And I didn’t have time for that at the moment, since Bella might need me. In that critical moment, I probably wouldn’t be able to dislodge the busybody no matter what I said, which would be unacceptable. I had a job to do, and I was going to do it, even if it only involved being lookout while dealing with idiots who smashed their faces up against the window. That thought close in my mind, I clutched my arms closer to my body. Well, as close as my puffy jacket would allow. The phone stopped ringing, but immediately started again. Maybe I should answer it, I thought, as I started getting the jitters from listening to the ringing phone going unanswered.

I glanced at the caller ID display. I had thought it was going to show my dad’s name and I’d have to field another set of questions. But I was wrong: it was Bella, and she was screaming bloody murder. Literally.