Cheating at Solitaire

by Ally Carter

Page 25

 

  "I cant see any of the good stuff through this thing," Nina said, but she still didnt offer to let anyone else take a turn at the telescope. Caroline had nearly passed out when Myrtles lights came on, and when Julia and Nina came back to the house, she was more than happy to hand over central control duties to Nina while she rested on the couch and let her heart slow down to a normal pace.

  Julia, however, was getting more nervous by the second. Ive got this terrible feeling in my gut. "

  Nina cut her eyes toward Julia and said, "Youve got a weird feeling all right, but Im betting its not in your gut. Im betting youre nice and tingly all over. "

  "This is serious, Nina! Like jail time serious. What if Myrtle figures out whats really going on? What if the dog is allergic to hot dogs?"

  "What dog?" a bewildered Caroline wanted to know.

  Julia plowed by her sisters question. "What if she thinks hes supposed to do more than dance?"

  "Well, were gonna find out. " Nina turned from the telescope. "Hes leaving. "

  Three different looks on three different faces told Lance all he needed to know as soon as he walked into Carolines huge house. Nina was standing at attention, a human paper towel, ready to absorb all the juicy details. Caroline was resting in an overstuffed chair, her feet propped on an ottoman and her eyelids fluttering as exhaustion slowly won the battle with intrigue. But Julias face was priceless.

  "What took you so long?" she said before hed even closed the patio door. "Dont tell me you were stripping all that time, because youre not wearing that many clothes!"

  As much as Lance was enjoying the look on her face, he thought it was time to ease her mind a little. "I looked for the manuscript," he said. "I couldnt find it. Im sorry. "

  "What?" she asked, confused.

  "The manuscript," he reminded her. "I couldnt find it. " "So youre okay?" she demanded. "Yes," he told her, slightly taken aback. "You scared me half to death," she said, and Lance thought he sensed something like affection in her tone. She tried to

  smack his shoulder as a punishment, but he caught her wrists in his hands and pulled her toward him.

  "Myrtle," he spoke softly, calmly, "is a sentimental drunk. "

  "She cried afterwards, didnt she?" Nina jumped in.

  But Lances gaze never left Julia. "You know that stuff in her house, all those mountains of junk we had to dodge all night?" he asked.

  Yes," Julia said.

  "Well, theres a story behind it. Every piece of it. There are stories about the stories. I got to hear them all. "

  "But was this naked listening? Semi-naked? Can you give us a visual?" Nina asked.

  "Nina," Lance said, turning to face her, "a gentleman never tells. "

  After dozing most of the night on the sofa in the playroom, Julia woke once again to the sight of Nina and Caroline staring out a window.

  "Aunt Julia!" Cassie cried as she plowed through the playroom and jumped into Julias arms. The little girl was still in her pajamas, her wild hair frizzing all around and tickling Julias nose as she gave her a huge hug. "Come on," Cassie said, sliding down Julias hip to the floor. "Lets go play in my room. "

  "No, honey," Caroline said. "Aunt Julia cant play right now. "

  "Caroline, Ill . . . " Julia started, but stopped cold when she read her sisters expression. Then she turned her attention to her niece. "You go on, sweetie. Ill be in after I talk to your momma. "

  Cassie darted down the hall, and Julia crept toward the window.

  "Hes back," Caroline whispered, urgency rising in her voice. "Hes in the house . . . Richard Stone!"

  Julia rushed to the window just in time to see Lances agent appear on Myrtles porch and shake the womans hand. Then he turned and began walking down the sidewalk toward a car. an accordion-style folder tucked under one arm.

  Without thinking, Julia flew down the stairs in bare feet and her burglary outfit from the night before. Sleep and fatigue clung to her, and a disgusting taste filled her mouth, but she knew that she had to stop that man before he drove away. She was at the base of the stairs and through the entryway in a matter of seconds. She saw him step toward his car that was parked across the street, so she hurled herself off the porch. In the middle of the street, Richard Stone stopped and stared at her, dumbfounded.

  "Stone!" she yelled.

  She stumbled into the street and clung to the front bumper of his car. But the agent merely eased closer to the car door and broke into a laugh. "Well, if it isnt the blushing bride," he said. "Now, you need to be careful. All this physical exertion might not be good for someone in your delicate condition. " He opened the car door and stood so that he was shielded by the big piece of metal and glass.

  "I believe you have something that belongs to me" Julia said.

  "This?" he asked, chuckling. He held up the folder that contained the manuscript, then tossed it casually onto the passenger seat of the car. "My friend Myrtle found that and thought I might like to read it. Im looking forward to it. I just cant help but wonder why a big, bestselling author like you would want to publish under any other name. But, babe, Im really looking forward to finding out. " I Julia clawed her way onto the hood of the car. "Youre not leaving here, Stone!" she yelled. "Youre not getting away with . . . "

  The car must have been newly waxed, because Julia, in her black cotton burglary gear, was sliding farther and farther down the hood. She tried to crawl up, but every time she moved forward six inches, shed slide back a foot. Julia had to press her cheek to the warm hood of the vehicle and brace her feet against the hood ornament to maintain any kind of traction at all.

  "Youre not getting away. . . . "

  She heard the engine start and felt the hood begin to vibrate as she lost her grip and slid to the street, and a split second later, both Richard Stone and Veronica White were gone.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  # WAY #77: Watch what you eat.

  The purpose of food is to provide nutrients for life—not to help us through the bad times. Confront your emotions honestly, and dont hide behind the vice of chips and chocolate. Both your life and your waistline will be better for it.

  —from 707 Way to Cheat at Solitaire

  " Julia, honey, Ive got biscuits and gravy. You love biscuits and gravy," Caroline was saying as Lance followed a wonderful aroma into the kitchen.

  "Here, honey, have some juice. You like juice," Caroline reminded her sister.

  "Jules," Nina chimed, "no one could have stopped him. "

  "Stop who? Not. . . " Lance asked, but one look at the three faces around the island told him that his agent had indeed come calling. He tried to focus on the humor of the situation, because if he thought about anything else, he was afraid hed be tempted to lose himself in the pan of homemade biscuits that Nina was pulling out of the oven. "Why didnt someone get me?"

  "It happened too fast for that," Nina said. "It just happened too fast. " She went to the refrigerator, but Lance didnt know what could possibly be left in there—the kitchen counter was already overflowing.

  "And Myrtle gave him the manuscript?" he asked.

  "Yes. Hes got it," Caroline said. She turned to her sister. "That which does not kill us makes us stronger. Right?"

  Julia didnt respond. She just looked blankly ahead.

  Lance studied her. It wasnt just her puffy eyes that weighed on him—it was the overall feel of her that made him worry. Gone was the steadfast woman whod seemed at ease with the world while sitting alone at Stellas; missing was the gracious celebrity whod signed autographs, the caring aunt whod bought half the inventory of FAO Schwarz. The protective layer that had kept Julia calm and serene had been stripped away, and what was left was something far too fragile to exist in the world.

  For Julia, a career wasnt a livelihood; it was an identity. Lance looked at her and realized that if Julia James and Veronica White ever tried to exist on the same plane, one of them would have to die, and he couldnt let that
happen.

  "Nina, can I borrow your car?" he asked.

  Nina reemerged from the freezer, looking as though shed developed a mild case of frostbite. "Why?"

  "I just. . . " he started. "Theres just something I need to do. "

  ***

  Evidently, Tammy with the great eyes and love for Thai food hadnt skipped the country entirely, because she was the person who answered the phone when Lance called the offices of Poindexter-Stone in New York. It had taken a little persuading, but eventually she told him what he needed to know, and that was how he found himself poised outside room number two-fifteen at a motel outside of Tulsa. He raised his hand to knock, but his fist hung involuntarily in midair. Maybe I could sweet-talk a maid into letting me into the room? I might get lucky and find the manuscript just lying there, unattended and ready to be taken. But then Lance shook his head. Nina was starting to rub off on him. This was a serious problem. It required a serious solution.

  After Lance had talked to Tammy, hed called his mother and laid out all the details of the bargain he was prepared to make with Richard Stone. She had actually cried, not because she was upset but because she was very proud. And very theatrical. His mother had proclaimed that he was prepared to fall on his sword to save the woman he cared about, but standing on the motel balcony, Lance didnt feel noble. Instead, he felt like a failure, like someone who doesnt keep his promises, even the ones he has made to himself.

  I did this, Lance admitted. I conned my way into Stellas, he remembered, taking responsibility for the first in a series of lies that had changed Julias life and exposed her secret, and now he was willing to break one promise to keep another—the promise that hed never take advantage of her again. He raised his hand to the door. He knocked.

  "Ive been doing some very interesting reading," Richard, Stone said after hed opened the door and gotten over his surprise at seeing Lance. "What I cant figure out is whether the two of you have known each other for years, and she wrote this about you then, or if youre just a dream come true. " He snickered.

  The room fit the man, dated and dingy. Lance stepped inside onto the shag carpet as Richard went on.

  "So, what is it? Long-lost love? College fling?"

  "You know thats not the way it is," Lance shot back.

  And with that, Richard Stones snicker evolved into a full laugh. "Oh, you are so serious. Only dramas for you. No comedies. " Richard slipped his glasses on and looked back down at the manuscript pages. Then, glancing up, he asked Lance, "Do you think she still has the film rights to this, because with you starring—"

  "I want you to give that to me," Lance said and held out his hand.

  Richard laughed. "Thats a good one. " His gaze dropped again, and he began flipping through the dog-eared pages. "That woman of yours is very ingenious. In fact, Ive got some buddies whod probably love . . . "

  "I came for the manuscript," Lance said. He heard his own voice ripple with tension. "Im not leaving without it. "