Masquerade (28 page)

S
he wanted to talk to Landon, but not like this—not as Kim, and not with Slade beside her.

Slade
took a step in Landon’s direction. Clarissa didn’t move. “That’s all right. I think I know him well enough right now.”

Slade
grinned at her. “Yes, I suppose you do.”

He
led her in a different direction, introducing her to the people he knew. He always kept his hand on her waist—except for the times he ran his hand slowly up her back and put it on her shoulder. It was hard to breathe during those times.

He was
the model boyfriend as he made the introductions, calling her “hon” and telling people they’d met while he was researching some plants for a possible script idea. “It was love at first sight,” he told everyone. “I knew I was hooked when she spoke, and suddenly I thought mold and spores were the most interesting things in the world.” Here he always ran his hand up and down her back. “Yep, since then I’ve been likin’ lichen.”

Clarissa just smiled and
said as little as possible.

They danced a few dances. Clarissa enjoyed the break, enjoyed not having to worry about what
to say while the music played. And she enjoyed being so close to Slade. He smelled of some rich cologne that was probably made with large doses of testosterone.

When
the two of them went to the refreshment table, Landon and Sherry sauntered up. Sherry wore a Wonder Woman costume and held a golden lasso, which she swung against her thigh absentmindedly.

Landon
looked from Slade to Clarissa. “Well, look at what the cat dragged in.”

Slade rested his hand between Clarissa’s shoulder
s. Even through her costume she could feel the heat from his hand. It felt soothing and strong. “Landon, Sherry, this is my date, Kim Jones.”

Clarissa stuck her
gloved hand out to shake Landon’s. He took her hand and kissed it instead. “You look beautiful enough to make me want to take up a life of crime.”

“You better not say that too loudly,” Clarissa told him. “After all, you’re standing next to Batman and Wonder Woman.”

Landon’s gaze went from her hand to her eyes, and his look held hers for a second longer than normal. Clarissa thought he suspected something, but the next moment he turned back to Slade. “Zorro can take on Batman any day. Anyone who needs a boy wonder to help him fight crime can’t be a serious superhero.”

Slade
picked up a donut. “You’re just jealous because I have a cool car, and all you have is a horse.”

Sherry
put her hands on her hips in Wonder Woman style. “Hey, I’m the coolest. I’ve got an invisible jet.”

“What’s cool about that?” Slade said. “
It just means you can never find where you parked the thing.”

Landon
elbowed her. “And the people on the ground get an interesting view as you fly overhead.”

“Watch it,”
Sherry told him. “Or you’ll find yourself lassoed to the refreshment table.”

Clarissa put one claw to her lips. “I don’t have any cool gadgets or gizmos. I don’t even have a horse. How does Cat Woman ever get anything done?”

“She has magical dancing powers,” Landon said and reached out and took hold of her hand. “I’ll prove it to you.” Then he pulled her from Slade’s side and out towards the dance floor.

Slade stood, donut still in h
and, shaking his head. He didn’t try to stop Landon from dancing with Clarissa. Clarissa didn’t stop him, either. Somehow, seeing Sherry right next to him, joking as though they were friends, bothered her.

A slow song was playing, and as
Landon held her in position he asked her where she was from and how she knew Slade. She responded with the Kim answers she’d rattled off all night. In the back of her mind, however, she tried to formulate the right way to bring up Sherry.

So I was wondering if you’ve ever told
Sherry any personal secrets that might embarrass you if they were printed in the tabloids.

This wasn’
t going to be easy. Perhaps she could fake some psychic powers or something.

The song was nearing its end before she got up her courage. She leaned close to him
. “This is going to sound peculiar, but I have a message to pass on to you from a friend.”

Landon
’s eyebrows rose in amusement. “Really?”

“Never trust a woman who was named after an alcoholic beverage.”

He nodded with a smile. “And I thought you were Cat Woman. You’re actually the Riddler, right?”

“I’m serious.”

He glanced back to the refreshment table where Slade and Sherry were talking. “You’re wondering about Wonder Woman?”

Clarissa almost forgot her English accent
and caught herself just in time. “She sold you out, Landon. She tried to tell Sylvia about your father’s drinking problems.”

Landon
actually stopped dancing. He stood there, staring at Clarissa with complete seriousness. It struck her as she watched his expression that it was probably the first time she’d ever seen him not acting, not putting on a performance. “How do you know about my father?”

“I told you. I’m
only delivering a message from a friend.”

Landon
still stood without dancing. “Who?”

Who, yes, and then the next questions would be why and how. Maybe she should have gone with the psychic powers after all.

“Is the message from Slade?” he asked.

“No, not Slade
. Don’t mention it to him.” She pulled at Landon’s hand to move him forward a bit. “People will wonder why you’re just standing here.”

Landon
moved his feet and hands in a poor imitation of dancing. “What exactly did Sherry do?”

The music ended.
Slade was watching them expectantly.

“I can’t tell you right now. We’ll talk later.” But only if she couldn’t find a way to avoid
Landon for the rest of the night.

She took his hand and pulled him back to Slade and
Sherry. Slade held two drinks, and as Clarissa walked up, he handed her one. “I think Zorro was right. You do have magical dancing powers.”

Landon
didn’t say anything. He stared at Sherry.

Slade
gestured at two uniformed police officers who walked through the door not far from them. “It seems like law enforcement is the costume of choice tonight,” he said. “You picked the wrong time to be a criminal.”

The officers stopped a passing Bo Peep, talked with her for a
few moments, and then headed across the floor toward AJ.

“I don’t think those are costumes,” Clarissa said.

“Of course they’re costumes,” Slade answered. They all watched silently as the men reached AJ.

Decked out in cowboy boots, spurs, vest, hat, and holster,
AJ turned to the officers. One of them said something to him, and AJ’s jaw dropped. The officers gestured toward the door, and AJ stormed across the room with the officers following close behind him. As he walked past Clarissa, she heard him growl out, “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!”

AJ
disappeared into the lobby, continuing his verbal assessment of the situation and using increasingly colorful adjectives. Slade took a sip of his drink. “I don’t think those were costumes.”

“What would
AJ be in trouble for?” Landon asked.

So she wouldn’t have to offer an opinion, Clarissa took a drink
from her glass.

Sherry
stepped sideways and craned her head to get a better view out the door where AJ had gone. “It’s probably a security problem or something,”

Without moving the
glass from her lips, Clarissa surveyed the room. Sylvia was here somewhere. Clarissa knew it.

Chapter
32

Clarissa looked around the room for a costume that could plausibly conceal the reporter. A witch maybe.

Sherry was still staring out the door after the policemen.

“Do you see anything?” Slade asked
her.

“Just a few people waiting in the lobby,”
Sherry said. “AJ went down the hallway.”

Clarissa scooted forward in order to see out the doo
r too. Along with a few miscellaneous people, Sylvia and the other reporter, Doug Rockwell, stood in the lobby. They stared expectantly down the hallway.

So, not only had Sylvia taken the bait, she’d taken the police out fishing with her.

Clarissa glanced around the room again, wondering if S.W.A.T. team members were close by, scaling the resort walls in commando fashion. Then she took another sip of her drink.

Landon
walked over to the door to better see what was happening. The rest of the group followed. For several minutes there wasn’t any activity in the lobby, unless you counted Sylvia pacing around.

T
hen AJ and the police officers came back down the hallway. AJ had the swagger back in his step and laughed as he walked. “Well, officers,” he said in a booming voice, “you’d be hard-pressed to shoot anyone with those guns, but if anyone else complains, direct them to me and I’ll try.”

One of the officers gave him a curt nod.
“I’m sorry we bothered you, sir. Thanks for your cooperation.”

The
officers turned toward the front door, one talking into his hand-held radio.

Sylvia
swept over to them. “You didn’t find anything?” she asked incredulously. “Did you check all of the crates? He’s probably hiding the real ones.”

The police officer
gave her a patient look. “We examined the prop weapons, ma’am. We have no reason at this point to issue a warrant.”

Sylvia took a few steps forward until she stood between the
officers and the door. “That’s it? You’re going to let him get away with weapon smuggling because the rifles weren’t sitting out in the open where you could see them?”

The police officer said something back to her
. His voice didn’t have nearly the volume of Sylvia’s, so Clarissa couldn’t tell what. After a moment the officers stepped around her and went out the door. Sylvia stood glaring after them with clenched fists.

AJ
put his thumbs through his belt loops, stepped sidewise so his feet were slightly apart, and for a moment actually looked like a cowboy about to take down a heifer. “So that’s what you’ve sunk to. Now you’re making up accusations and trying to get the police to believe them.” AJ nodded to her. “I think you’ve stepped over the bounds of reporting and into the field of harassment, Ms. Stanfield. I wonder what my lawyer will have to say about all of this.”

Without waiting for a response,
AJ turned and strode back into the party.

Doug
walked toward Sylvia, smiling. “And to think I was afraid I wouldn’t get a story on this trip. How does this sound . . . ?” He held one hand up as though showing her something suspended in the air. “Celebrity Reporter Has Paranoia Attack and Calls In Police to Search Props.” He laughed, then held up the other hand. “Or how about: ‘Sylvia Stanfield Reassigned to Cover Cultural Issues in Borneo’?”

Sylvia shook a finger at him, her
lips pursed into a scowl. Then she caught sight of Sherry standing in the doorway. Her finger and her scowl immediately turned to the actress. “You,” she spat out. “You set me up!”

Sherry
took a startled step backward, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sylvia’s face flushed red, and her eyes narrowed into tiny slits. “Yes, you do, and don’t think I’ll let you get away with
this.” She turned and stormed across the lobby.

As she heaved open the glass door, Doug called out to her, “What are you going to do about it, Sylvia? Call the police?”

Sherry stepped away from the doorway and back into the ballroom. She was shaking. Her face looked pale against her red lipstick. “I don’t know what she was talking about,” she said again. “I don’t know why she said those things.”

“You should sit down,”
Slade said, concerned. “You look like you’re about to faint.” He took hold of Sherry’s arm and led her to a chair. She went with him without protest.

As
Landon followed, Clarissa reached out and took hold of his arm for a moment. “Do you hear that sound?” she asked.

He stopped and listened. “What sound?”

She leaned closer to him. “It’s the sound of a favor being paid off.”

He looked at her
more closely. “What do you know about all of this?”

“It has to do with blackmail
, or in this case, greenmail. Maybe Sherry will explain it to you.”

Slade returned then, taking
Clarissa’s hand in his as though it were a natural thing. “Do you know what the funny thing about tonight is?”

She shook her head.

“This won’t even make the list of top ten memorable things that have happened at AJ’s parties.” He turned to Landon, expecting some sort of commentary. Landon shrugged and didn’t respond.

Slade squeezed Clarissa’s hand.
“You haven’t met AJ yet. I’ll introduce you.”

She would have liked to protest on the grounds that
AJ needed time to recover from his police visit, but he was clearly fine. He stood in the middle of a group of people, waving one hand in the air in reenactment and laughing uproariously.

Natalie stood beside him, quietly watching him with her arms folded. Clarissa was half surprised they were together.
Perhaps they had worked things out. Or perhaps Natalie had found a way to convince AJ that Bella hadn’t told the truth. Maybe they just hadn’t decided to make their breakup official yet.

Like AJ,
Natalie wore a cowboy hat and boots. Her black jeans were so tight they were probably one size away from being classified as a tourniquet, and her black halter top, equally tight, was covered with silver studs.

“So,” Slade said as they approached the couple, “you’ve gone from a gunslinger to a gun smuggler?”

AJ grinned. “I figured it would be less stressful than the TV business.” He reached out his hand to Clarissa. “And you must be the botanist we’ve heard so much about.”

Clarissa took his hand in hers and tried to shake it without gouging him with her claws. “Kim Jones. Lovely party. Absolutely
brilliant.”

Natalie’s gaze slid over Clarissa. “You’re a doctor of botany?”

“That’s right.”

She raised one eyebrow. “So what exactly do you do?”

“Oh, well, I specialize in systematics.”

“Systematics? What does that mean?”

“That means I do what I do systematically.” Clarissa laughed as though it was meant to be a joke and then desperately looked around the room for a reason to change the subject.

“What kind of plants do you like to study?”
AJ asked.

She could only think of one offhand.
“My favorite is the algae bloom. Over in England we like to say there’s nothing like a bloomin’ algae bloom.”

Natalie smirked. “Really? That sounds absolutely fascinating.”

AJ surveyed the room. “Chuck from props is a Brit too. You ought to introduce them, Slade. Chuck loves talking about England stuff.” He craned his head around and then his gaze stopped suddenly. “Oh, there he is—over by the hors d’oeuvres.”

Slade looked at Clarissa. “Shall we?”

“Not right now,” she said. “They’re playing our song.” She waved a clawed good-bye to AJ and Natalie, and pulled Slade onto the dance floor.

Slade walked with her slowly. “Our song is ‘The Monster Mash’?”

“Sorry. I didn’t want to meet anyone else. I’ve hardly had a chance to talk to you all night.”

Even though it wasn’t a slow song, Slade
didn’t let go of Clarissa’s hand. He pulled her closer to him. “Sorry to be so forward,” he whispered into her ear, “but people are watching, and this is part of our masquerade.”

It occurred to her as he held her, his body moving just inches away from hers, that she was supposed to
find out what he felt about his nanny. She couldn’t think of a suitable way to bring up the topic, though. Standing close to Slade made everything else seem muddled. It was easier to sway to the rhythm of the music next to him. Here, like this, she could pretend that nothing else mattered, that there were no masks or masquerades.

“This Batman costume is really hot,” he said.

“I thought so the moment I saw you in it.”

He laughed
. “You know what I mean. That Cat Woman suit has got to be just as stuffy. I’m going to take off my mask. Do you want me to help you take yours off?”

“No.” She said the word too quickly
. “I mean, I don’t want to mess up my makeup. I’ll wait until I’m in front of a mirror.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, “literally, in this case.”

She jarred at the phrase. She’d said the same words to him the night she’d gone swimming. The fact that he’d repeated them now didn’t mean anything, though. She was just being paranoid again.

The music ended, and he bent his head toward her ear. “Seeing as this is our song, I ought to give you a kiss—for appearances’ sake.”

“All right.”

He tilted her chin up, then kissed her lightly on the lips.
It was only the whisper of a kiss, the suggestion. Afterward, he continued to hold her closely. “Of course, seeing that we’re in love and you’ve flown in from England to see me, I probably should give you a better kiss than that.”

“Probably,” she said.

He pressed his lips to hers again, more ardently this time. His arms engulfed her and she felt a dizzying sort of breathlessness. When he broke their embrace he said, “It’s too hot to dance. Do you want to go for a walk outside and cool down?”

She nodded. “Sure.” It wasn’t a very British word but
kissing Slade made it hard to think straight.

“Good.
Let’s go.” He took her hand, and they walked out of the room and to an exit. Once outside they turned down the path that led to the resort’s garden. Slade still held her hand, dropping it only while he peeled off his Batman mask.

After his mask was off, he
ran a hand through his still-wavy hair. “That thing is awful. I don’t know how George Clooney and Christian Bale stood it.” Slade turned his attention back to Clarissa. “Are you sure you don’t want to take yours off? You’ll feel better.”

No she wouldn’t.
“Maybe in a bit.”

Even though
they didn’t have to keep up appearances out here, he took her hand back in his, and they continued down the path. It was the perfect time to say something. Clarissa tried to think of some casual way to bring up women, relationships, or nannies and wished he’d say something so she wouldn’t have to.

He didn’t.

They walked in silence for a few more moments, and then she decided on the direct approach. “You probably know a lot of different types of women.”

“I suppose so,” he said.

“And you probably know exactly what type of woman interests you.”

“I suppose so,” he said again, this time with a slight smile on his lips.

“So what kind is it?”

He glanced around, saw they were alone, then leaned up against a half wall that ran beside the path.

“You really want to know?” He pulled her slowly to him. He looked into her eyes, intently, then bent down and kissed her.

It was a strong kiss, an insistent one, completely without the pretense of being for anyone else’s benefit. And Clarissa wondered, as she wound her arms around his neck, if it was wholly appropriate for someone to hold her this way when he hadn’t seen her since she was
ten years old. Perhaps he moved fast when it came to women. Or perhaps this meant he wasn’t interested in his nanny. Or maybe the two of them just had good chemistry. Kissing him made it hard to figure things out.

He ran his hand up her back to her neck and left it there, doing his best to caress her neck through her costume. When he ran his fingers under the back of her mask
, she pulled away from him, putting some distance between them.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We still don’t know each other very well.”

He let her go and leaned back against the wall, surveying her. “I feel like I know you
really well.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, and the funny thing is, you’ve changed so much since we were kids.”

“Oh? In what way?”

He folded his arms, cocked his head, and looked at her lazily. “Well, for one thing you used to be black.”

His words hit her like a gunshot.

He’d known all along, and all along had been laughing at her.

Or perhaps he didn’t quite know everything. He knew she was an impostor, but he couldn’t know who she was
. He wouldn’t have kissed her if he’d known who she was. Without another word, Clarissa turned and started back up the path. She was prepared to jog back to the Sunset Park Motel if need be. She got only two steps away before he called after her.