ACCORDING TO PLAN (6 page)

The ride in the elevator was strained, to say the least, and after
I unlocked the door I stormed into the room, not caring if Tank followed. He
threw my bag on the bed and I made a beeline for the bathroom, slammed the door
and locked it.

Standing in front of the mirror I stared at my reflection. The wig lay
twisted to one side, looking like a bird’s nest with twigs and bits of paper
sticking out and the garish makeup had rubbed off in patches. I stripped,
throwing the clothes in the garbage while waiting for the tub to fill. Once it
was ready I slid into the hot water and lay there, staring at the ceiling.

As I scrubbed the makeup off my face, turning the white cloth into
a rainbow of colors, I thought about Tank. He’d been sending off so many mixed
signals, I had no idea what he was doing or where I stood with him. It was
frustrating how he magically turned up wherever I went.

I sat up, water splashing over the side of the tub. How
did
he get to Harrison’s place before me? Closing my eyes, I recalled what he said
in the alley. He said he’d been waiting and watched me go into Harrison’s building.
He also said he was at my office when Polly booked my flight and I knew he hadn’t
been on the same flight, because I’d looked. How did he get to L.A. so fast?
The only plausible answer was private transportation.

Fast, expensive transportation.

Now I itched in
my
don’t-wanna-itch-place.

Chapter Nine

Lying in the tub, I wished I had my iPod. Then it would drown out
the sounds of Tank watching TV in the other room, or even breathing. I didn’t
want any reminders that he had once again ended up in the same place as me.

How did he know exactly where I’d be? Was he following me to find
Harrison? I quickly discarded that thought as it didn’t make sense. Although I
was angry at Tank, I knew he was good at his job and had no reason to trail me.
Or did he? What should have been a simple missing person’s case was turning out
to be not so simple.

I felt like a chubby rodent on a stationary wheel.

First order of business was to call Polly and find out how Tank
knew I was in L.A. So, after drying off I wrapped a hotel robe around me and
head held high, walked into the other room where Tank reclined on one of the
double beds. I’d pretend he wasn’t there, the big interloper.

Curled in the wingback chair, my legs tucked beneath me, I called Polly’s
home phone. There was no answer so I had to leave a message.

“Hi Polly, it’s me. Guess who’s in L.A.? Give you three guesses and
if one of them’s Tank, you win the prize. Okay, gotta go now. Oh, and Polly? If
I find out you told him what I was doing, you are
so
fired.” I replaced
the phone receiver with a decisive click. Let her stew on that for a while. I
glared at Tank when I thought I heard a choked chuckle, but his face remained
stoic and he seemed mesmerized by the football game.

I sniffed in disdain and went back into the bathroom to blow-dry my
hair and moisturize.

About an hour later, I phoned a second time. Still no answer. I
tapped the receiver against my chin. This was Thursday night and Polly never
missed her TV shows. She’d better not be screening her calls. Tank, by this
time had fallen asleep and was snoring lightly.

Time to get down and dirty. The next attempt went straight through
to her answering machine. In case she
was
monitoring calls I said, with
saccharine sweetness, “Hi. It’s me, again. You’re still fired. And since you
won’t talk to me now, I have lots and lots of time to call Regis. I think I’ll
start by telling him you’ve had a secret crush on him for years and—”

Polly picked up. “Now that’s just mean. I’d never do that to you.
You’re like a sister to me.”

“Stuff it. You hate your sister.”

“Well, if I had a sister I liked, it would be you.”

I snorted. “How did Tank know I was here?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t tell him anything. In fact, when you
called, I sent him to Hal’s for coffee.” That explained why she put me on hold.
“So how could he...? Oh, dang! He was alone in the office when I went to the
powder room.”

“Well, he must have found something because he was outside Harry’s
apartment waiting, and now he’s here in the hotel with me.” I turned away from
the bed and lowered my voice. “Did you get the other thing we talked about?”
Even though it looked like Tank was asleep, I couldn’t take the chance he wasn’t.
I didn’t want him to know I’d asked Polly to dig up phone records for me.

“My boy at the phone company says he should have them tomorrow. Is
Tank coming back with you?” She sounded hopeful.

I looked over at Tank. His eyes were closed.

“Nope, he’s on his own.”

“Oh.” Polly sounded disappointed. “Do you want me to change your
flight to tomorrow morning then?”

I picked up my airline ticket and checked the flight time.

“No, leave it for the afternoon. Tomorrow after breakfast I’m going
to the area where Lulu may have worked. With luck, I’ll find some working girls
that knew her and get some answers. I should be home around eight o’clock. Why
don’t you come by the house then?” I said good-bye, and hung up.

My stomach growled. Realizing I hadn’t eaten in almost ten hours, I
decided to grab a bite from the little deli I’d noticed beside the hotel. I
glanced over to the bed, and Tank.

“Tank?”

No response. Still peeved at what happened earlier I didn’t even
try to wake him. Back pack in hand, I went into the bathroom and changed. In
less than five minutes, I quietly closed the bathroom door, grabbed my hotel
swipe card and headed for the elevators.

When I returned about a half an hour later, there was no sign of
Tank but a note lay on the pillow.
We’ll talk later. Love you. T
. I read
the note, then crumpled the scrap of paper and tossed it in the garbage can. He
wasn’t back in my good books with one lousy note.

I sat on the bed for about five minutes before reaching back into
the trash can. Pulling out the note, I smoothed it out and traced the words
Love
you
with my fingertip. I then carefully folded the paper and tucked it into
my back pocket. I didn’t even try to reason why I wanted to keep it safe. That
was just one more thing to keep me from sleeping.

****

Next morning I woke up stiffer than a starched shirt. Playing
tackle football in the back alley had me walking around almost bent at the
waist. Polly and I would absolutely take yoga classes. My few toiletries were
thrown back into my bag and then I checked out. I had less than four hours to
find some of the working girls Harrison liked.

Mid-afternoon in Hollywood was hot and sticky. There was no hope
for me as my hair curled out of control in the humidity and any deodorant I
might have put on that morning had long evaporated. I slid off my hoodie and
tied it around my waist. That was better, although my tee shirt clung like a
second skin.

Two women approached. The taller one, a statuesque black woman,
looked me over from head to toe. She balanced a cheroot in one of those long,
slender cigarette holders at the end of her fingers. She could have been a
black Joan Crawford with her pencil-thin eyebrows and ruby red lipstick. The
only difference being, Miss Crawford would never have gone out in public
wearing a figure-hugging tube dress completed by faux leather boots zipped over
her knees. She blew concentric circles of smoke into the air before asking, “You
new here?”

“This is our corner.” The second hooker piped up. The inflection in
her voice told me she was a girl from North Dakota, doncha know. Petite and
curvaceous, she had massive auburn ringlets and big, wide-spaced hazel eyes.

“No, I’m not from here. I’m looking for anyone who knew a girl who
worked around here. You may have known her... Lulu?”

I thought I saw a slight hesitation from the black woman, but she
quickly replied, “Honey, all the girls here are Lulu, or Fiona, or Pussy
Galore. Who do you want us to be?”

“No,
I’m
not looking for a girl, I mean, I am... Wait, let’s
start over. I’m looking for anyone who knew Lulu. She was murdered and the cops
think it was a john called Harry. Ring any bells?”

The black woman stiffened noticeably. “You a cop?”

“No. I’m a private investigator.” I pulled out my business cards
and handed one to her. “I’ve been hired by Harry’s family to find him. Did you
know Lulu or Harry?”

They both looked at the card, caution evident on their faces. It
became pretty obvious I needed to gain a bit of their trust. “Look, I’m not
here to cause trouble. I’m just trying to figure out why the cops think Harry
killed Lulu and where he could have gone.”

The black woman handed back the card. “Sorry honey, we cain’t help
you.”

They started to walk away. They couldn’t leave, they knew
something. I could feel it in my bones. In desperation, I called out. “How
much?”

Grabbing my wallet out of my purse I pulled out some bills and
waved them. North Dakota girl grabbed my still-waving hand and hissed, “Put it
away. You get seen passing money on the street and you’ll get arrested faster
than you can spit.”

“I can get arrested for a lot less and faster than that.” I said
drily and tucked my wallet back into my tacky hooker purse from last night. “All
I want is information. What are your names anyway? I hate talking to people
when I don’t know their name.

“I’m... Carla,” The black woman responded. “And this is Desiree.”

Desiree waved.

“Thanks. So did you know Lulu?”

“Yeah, we knew her,” Carla said.

Desiree, seemingly bored with the conversation, drifted to the edge
of the sidewalk and smiled at slow-cruising cars. One vehicle, with dark tinted
windows, stopped and she leaned toward the window. I heard her ask if they were
looking for a date.

I directed my questions to Carla. “Was Harry good to Lulu?”

“Oh yeah. He sure was sweet on her.” Carla chewed her gum and nodded
at another dark, low-slung sedan. Once the car slid by, she turned her
attention back to me. “He always bought stuff, treated her real good.”

“Yah,” Desiree, back with us for the moment, interrupted. “He was
always buying her stuff. She showed me some of the clothes and jewelry. I told
her she should hock some. He gave her really good stuff. Poor Lulu. Wouldn’t
sell none of it. Said she loved him.”

“Oh man, remember that bracelet.” Carla rolled her eyes and lit
another cheroot. She blew a perfect ‘o’ ring over my head. “It had to put him
back at least five G’s. I wonder what happened to all that stuff.” She looked
over at Desiree, “Do you think Chester got it?”

“Who’s Chester?” I blurted out.

“Her pimp.” Desiree replied.

Carla took another drag off her cheroot. “Yeah, good ‘ole Chester
would’ve cleaned out her whole place. There be none of her stuff around no
more.”

“Would Harry have killed Lulu?”

“No way he sliced and diced her.” Carla’s voice was firm. “He was
going to get her out of this place. It was one sick dude who offed Lulu.”

This didn’t make any sense. Why would the cops think Harrison had
done the dirty deed? The hamster-on-the-wheel feeling intensified. “Do you have
any idea where Harry could have gone?”

Carla arched an eyebrow and sneered. “What do I look like, his
mother?”

Desiree snickered and they high-fived each other. Then, bored
expressions on their faces, they turned in silent unison and strolled down the
sidewalk away from me. It was as if they had never stopped and talked.

Dejected, I took the rental back to the airport and caught my
flight home. The trip to L.A. had been a waste of time.

****

Five long hours later I slouched up the front steps of my house and
inserted the key into the door. I heard someone on the steps behind me. Armed
with pepper spray, I turned. Not an intruder, but the temptation to spray the
weasel at the foot of my steps was overwhelming.

“Regis, you almost gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here
anyway?”

Regis lived three doors down. He either sprinted here or had been
hiding in the rhododendrons. I went with the flowers. He couldn’t run that
fast. I dropped the canister back into my purse although I wanted to still spray
him. That might stop him from bothering me.

“Good evening, Shelby.” He adjusted his glasses. “Mother is most
anxious to return some items that belonged to your late Aunt Matilda.”

“Does it have to be now? I just got back and I’m bagged.”

“This will not take much of your time. Mother wanted me to bring
you these recipes your Aunt Matilda lent her. She forgot about them when she
moved to Shady Pines.” He stood on the first step and handed me an envelope
with Aunt Tillie’s spidery handwriting on the outside.

This was what he’d been pestering me for? Here I thought he was
going to ask me out again.

“Uh…thanks. This means a lot to me.” I edged closer to my door. He took
another step, cleared his throat and slicked back his hair with the palm of his
hand. Inwardly, I cringed, knowing what could be coming next.

“I am taking Mother to the Museum of Natural History this weekend
and wondered if you might care to join us?” Perspiration dotted his upper lip
and he cleared his throat again.

“I... Ahhh...”

“She’s already got a date, sonny boy.” I pivoted to my left and
watched Tank’s long stride eat up the sidewalk.

“I thought you were in L.A.,” Regis sputtered, shrinking away.

“Just got back and couldn’t wait to get home to the little woman.”
Tank gave me an intimate, dangerous smile.

If I hadn’t been so creeped out by the fact Regis was here, I’d
have told him exactly what he could do with his sexy smile, long legs, and
muscular arms.

Regis further stepped back when Tank came up on the porch and wrapping
those muscular arms around my waist, twirled me around. Mid twirl, he claimed
my mouth and set me down. Strong teeth nipped my lower lip and he gave it a
gentle tug. All I could do was hold onto his biceps as I swayed into his body
and returned the kiss.

When he stepped back, I caught a dangerous glint in his eye when
his gaze fixed heatedly on my now swollen lower lip. I got his message loud and
clear.
Mine
. He left his armed draped across my shoulders and turned and
faced Regis.

“Thanks for dropping by.” Tank reached out and gave him a
handshake. I know I heard bones crack. “Nice that you’re all neighborly, but I
gotta get Shelby in the house before she faints from hunger, right Sweetheart?”

Still a bit bemused by the kiss, I could only nod yes.

Regis mumbled his goodbye and retreated toward his house. I looked
at Tank and ducked under his arm through my open door, intending to lock him
out. His big boot on the threshold prevented it, so I flounced, yes, I flounced
into the kitchen. My equilibrium was returning.

I’ll Sweetheart him in a minute.

Mentally I prepared myself for a full frontal attack from Tank. I
waited...and waited. No Tank. Where was he now? For all I knew he could be
peeing in corners, further staking out his territory.

I walked back to the entrance of the kitchen. Down the hall near
the front door Tank stood staring at a framed photo on the wall. The picture
was of him, Aunt Tillie, my mom and I, taken on a family vacation. We stood smiling,
arms around each other with the beautiful mountains of Virginia as our
backdrop.