“Maybe I’m into that sort of thing.”
“I highly doubt that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Look. This whole thing is a farce. A joke. A complete waste of time. A—”
“Yes, I know what farce means.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, do you? You kind of strike me as the sort of guy who’s good-looking but dumb as a rock.”
“Ouch,” I said. “But I’m flattered you think I’m good-looking.”
“Listen. I’m not here to stroke your ego, or any other part of you for that matter.”
I held my hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sexual harassment was not part of the job description.” I smiled as I said this, hoping she’d get that I was just messing around, but her face remained coolly impassive.
“My parents want to do something because they feel like I’m in some sort of danger. Though to be perfectly honest, if you ask my mother, I’m the biggest danger to myself. She’d rather I just be a proper little socialite who maybe drinks a little too much every now and then. She has never liked the fact that I actually want to do something with my life other than live off my father’s money.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“My dad travels a lot. So I think it makes him feel better to think that I’ve got some guy who’s looking out for me all the time—but I can take care of myself.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m sure my dad mentioned something about the bike accident I got into. I used to race mountain bikes.”
I nodded. “I know. I like to ride myself, actually. Never raced, though.”
“I’m just getting back into it again.”
“You are?”
“Well, relatively speaking. It’s going to be a long time before I enter an actual race again. But I’ve been laid up for long enough and I’m ready to get back out there. My dad doesn’t want me riding the trail alone, or apparently going anywhere else by myself, either. Hence you being here. But, like I said, I don’t expect you’ll be around for long.”
“Wait a second,” I said, ignoring her last sentence. “Part of this job description is to ride bikes?” Talk about a dream job!
“Don’t get too excited. First off, I doubt you’ll be able to keep up. Yeah, I’ve been out of commission for a while now, but when I ride, I like to go for a long time and I can still handle a lot of the technical stuff. I think it was the second guy that Dad had hired, he thought he’d be perfect for it because he’d do these century road rides every weekend, but he couldn’t handle anything off-road. He tried, but it…” She shook her head. “It was pathetic, actually. He didn’t even need to be fired—he quit because his ego couldn’t handle the fact that he’d just gotten his ass handed to him by a girl.”
“My ego doesn’t bruise so easily.”
She raised an eyebrow. “We’ll have to see about that.” She turned and started to walk away.
“Uh... am I supposed to follow you?”
She stopped and stood there for a moment, her back to me, before slowly turning around. “No,” she said. “You can sit back down if you’d like, and wait, because the real fun is just about to begin.”
“Oh, okay. I like fun.”
“And by fun, I mean my mother is going to come talk to you.”
“Your mom? Sure. I didn’t realize this was going to be a three-part interview.”
“My mother likes to think she calls the shots. So of course she wanted to meet you last. Don’t be surprised if she hooks you up to a polygraph machine.”
And, finally, the tiniest of smiles appeared on her face before she turned back around and walked away.
I stood there and watched. I could see exactly what her father was talking about, but it didn’t seem like anything I wouldn’t be able to handle. At least I hoped so. Really, she seemed like a person who was frustrated because her life had gotten derailed. I imagined that her life before that had probably been pretty damn great. I mean, how could it not be? Money was clearly not something that she’d ever had to worry about, and there had been no mention or any signs of other siblings, so it’s not like she had a bunch of brothers and sisters to have to compete with.
I wandered over to the row of windows and looked out at the Bay. What a view. Probably even more spectacular at sunset.
I was just about to go sit back down in the chair when I heard the click click of high heels approaching. A woman appeared from the opposite direction Stella had come from. Had Stella called her to let her know it was her turn? Or maybe they had some sort of intercom or something, each room in the house wired with its own call box. The place was certainly big enough. You could go months without seeing anyone in here, if you wanted to.
Stella’s mom was one of those tall, gaunt women who looked as if they had no idea how to relax. I mean, I had the biggest urge to reach over and give her shoulders a squeeze, tell her to take it easy—what did she have to be stressed out about?—but instead I just smiled.
“Hi, I’m Cole,” I said.
She stopped about ten feet away from me and eyed me like I was an uninvited salesman who had just shown up on her doorstep. She was wearing one of those skirt suit things that Lena sometimes wore, except this woman’s was much fancier, and she had a string of pearls around her neck. “I know who you are. Gareth informed me of your arrival. But I thought it would be better if you spoke with my husband and my daughter first. My name is Vivian. So. What are your impressions?”
“My impressions? Um…” I wasn’t quite sure what she was asking. My impression of her? Of the ridiculous amount of money they obviously had? “You guys have a really nice place.”
She smiled thinly. “Thank you. I wasn’t necessarily referring to the house, though. I’m sure my husband told you that Stella is... well, headstrong might be putting it nicely.”
“He did mention it. But I get it.”
“You get it?”
“Yeah. I mean, it sounds like Stella’s not too psyched about having a bodyguard around, so of course she’s not going to be that nice to them.”
Vivian went over and sat primly on the couch. “You may sit,” she said to me. “Where did you grow up?” she asked after I sat down in the chair.
“In Berkeley. My parents still live over there.”
“Did you go to college?”
“Yes.”
“What did you major in?”
“Business.”
“Yet you’re working for a security company. How do your parents feel about that?”
“My parents? Oh, they were thrilled about it. What they weren’t thrilled about was me studying business in the first place. We’re more of a working-class family. My parents have always done pretty well for themselves, but they’re sort of hippie types.” I paused. “Were you at Arete last night?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, Stella told me that you guys were. She recognized me, actually. And we also happened to be there, because my parents were celebrating their wedding anniversary. We were the big table in the middle of the room. The people at the head of the table were my parents.”
Vivian nodded slowly, though I could tell she didn’t really remember us. To be honest, it was a little surprising that she’d gone to a place like Arete to begin with, but I had a feeling it was something she probably felt like she was forced to do.
“I wouldn’t expect this job to be a long-term position for you,” she said. “I don’t know if my husband mentioned it or not, but we’ve been through a number of people already, and I expect we’ll go through a number more, at least until Stella decides to give up the bike riding.”
I must’ve frowned or had a weird expression on my face, because Vivian squinted at me, pursing her lips. “What?” she said.
“Nothing. It’s just... I don’t really know your daughter that well or anything, but she doesn’t seem like she’s going to give up bike riding. Why would you even want her to? It’s good for you—everybody knows that.”
“Seeing as you’ve know
n Stella for all of five minutes, I’m a little surprised that you would consider yourself an authority on her and capable of speaking to what she wants.”
I held my hands up. “I wasn’t... doing that. It’s just that, being someone who also loves riding bikes, it’s not really something you can just give up. It’s kind of like it’s in your blood.”
She was barely able to contain her eye roll, and only did so by pretending to look up at the ceiling.
“This is going to be somewhat of an on-call position. Your presence will be required when Stella goes out for bike rides, and perhaps when she goes out anywhere else on her own. Does that sound like something you’ll be able to abide by?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Okay then. We will be in touch. Thank you for coming by. I’ll let you see yourself out.” She clip-clopped off in the direction she had come from, and I wondered if sometimes whole days went by when the Brookshires didn’t even see one another.
***
I decided to ride down Market Street and see if Jeremiah was up for a game of chess. It used to be all these dudes would have their chessboards set up on folding tables, right there on the sidewalk, until the cops put an end to that because of other nefarious activities that were allegedly going on. I’d been playing chess with some of those guys since I was twelve years old. I used to sneak onto BART and take it into the city, get off at the Civic Center and hang out for hours. My brother Jon had taught me to play, but it was here on the street where I really honed my skills. I wasn’t a grand master or anything, but I could hold my own. Jeremiah was one of the first guys I met. He was five years older than me and had been living on the streets for almost two decades. I’d even offered him a place to stay on a few occasions, but he’d never taken me up on the offer, saying that being inside made him feel like he was trapped in a shoebox or something.
I wasn’t sure where all the other chess guys went, but Jeremiah could often be found hanging out near the parking area on Stevenson, waiting for someone to come along and ask him to play a game of chess. If he beat me—which he almost always did—I’d take him out to eat at Dottie’s True Blue, where we’d eat buttermilk pancakes the size of dinner plates. He was sitting in the sun, smoking a cigarette when I rolled up.
“Jeremiah was a bullfrog,” I sang as I approached. “He was a good friend of mine... Hey, friend. Up for a game?”
“Cole!” he said. We slapped palms and he started setting up his little card table. “Just the man I was hoping to see.”
“You will not believe the place I just came from,” I said as he set up the board. I picked out a few details about the Brookshire’s place to tell him.
“Bodyguard for some little rich girl,” Jeremiah said with a laugh, shaking his head. “Man, oh, man, Cole. My brotha from anotha motha—you sure do get all the good opportunities. Bet you’ll have some stories after this one.”
“The whole thing does seem a little weird. I mean, I’ve worked as a guard before, but not really a personal bodyguard for someone.”
“It’s good to try new things. Mingle with new people.”
“Yeah... The dad is pretty cool. The mom is... going to take a little getting used to. And the girl seems okay, too. I mean, kind of standoffish, but I think that’s just because she doesn’t really want someone following her around. I mean, she’s not a kid or anything—she’s an adult.”
Jeremiah nodded, a grave expression on his face. “Truth,” he said. “When you’re an adult, you don’t want any impositions put on you like that. Freedom has no price tag.”
“You’re right,” I said. I went first. E4. “But I think her parents have a pretty good reason for wanting her to have someone else around. It’s mostly when she’s going to be out riding.”
Jeremiah pushed his pawn forward. E5. “It’s good when at least one person has your back. Everyone should have that.”
“I mean, I’m sure she has friends and stuff. But I don’t know if she has friends who are into bike riding or anything.” I moved the knight. Nf3.
“So it sounds like you’ll be a friend. Because friends share common interests.” Jeremiah paused, studying the board. He moved his knight, mirroring my own previous move. Nc6. He looked up and grinned. “Maybe you’ll be her knight in shining armor.”
Chapter 4
Stella
I retreated back to my bedroom, though part of me wanted to stick around and hear just what it was my mother was going to say. Not that I cared, but it would be funny to watch that guy, Cole, squirm. He wasn’t going to last more than a couple weeks, guaranteed.
It had been a bit of a surprise to walk out there and see the guy from the restaurant last night. Part of me had wanted to ask him what had been bothering him, but that would’ve seemed like I was getting too personal, which I sure as hell wasn’t trying to do.
I heard my phone ding and saw that Lauren had just texted.
I’m hungry and then I want to go shopping. You around? I’ll come pick you up.
Sure, I typed back, even though I wasn’t really that hungry and didn’t feel like going shopping. But if I went out with Lauren, I at least wouldn’t be here at the house. I texted my mother that I was going to go hang out with Lauren. I knew she wouldn’t have any problem with that; that was a Mom-approved activity. And she didn’t—she returned my text immediately with a smiley face and thumbs up. I grabbed my purse, threw my phone and wallet into it, and went downstairs. I’d sit on the steps out front and wait for her.
Gareth was out there, the weirdo. He was like my mom’s cabana boy, except instead of a pool, he had his hedges.
“Hello,” he said. “What are you up to?”
“Lauren’s coming to pick me up.”
He was examining a section of the shrubbery. “That man-child who was just here damaged this hedge with that bike of his.”
“Oh,” I said. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Is the hedge okay?”
Gareth looked over at me, trying to see if I was actually concerned—no—or just being sarcastic. I tried to keep my face neutral.
“It’s resilient, of course,” he said. “And it’s been lovingly looked after, so, yes, it will be fine, but I don’t like when these things happen due to carelessness. And that man-child seems careless.”
I wrinkled my nose. “A man-child, huh?”
“He seems that way. I know his type; I can spot them a mile away.”
“He actually comes highly recommended.”
“Maybe he’s some sort of savant.”
Luckily, Lauren pulled up right then, double-parking right in front of me, even though there were several cars behind her. I hurried over, not bothering to say goodbye to Gareth, relieved that I was able to get away from him.
Lauren was driving her Range Rover, which was an engagement present. She looked stunning as usual, in a tight, cream-colored mini dress and turquoise Manolo Blahniks. I hadn’t bothered to change out of my jeans and T-shirt, though I had tied my hair up in a topknot and had a pair of sunglasses on. So maybe I looked boho chic or something.
“Hey, girl,” Lauren said as I climbed into the Range Rover. The interior still had that new-car smell.
“Hey,” I said.
She leaned forward, looking past me. “Is that Gareth? What is he doing, making out with the hedge? God, he’s so weird.”
“It was damaged, apparently. By my new babysitter.”
Lauren put the car in drive and we took off.
“New babysitter?”
“Yeah. Dad’s picked out yet another loser to ‘watch over me.’”
Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? Is he hot?”
“Aren’t you getting married in a few months? You’re not supposed to be asking that. What would Trevor say? But yeah, he’s hot. So what?”
“You could send him my way.”
“Yeah, sure, future Mrs. Ryan.”
Lauren pantomimed barfing. “Let’s not talk about it.”
“Having second thoughts?”
/>
She paused, and I waited to see if she would come clean to me or not. We both knew she was. Lauren wasn’t the type of girl that was supposed to get married, and the fact that she had made it two and a half entire years without screwing around on Trevor was actually quite noteworthy. Part of me had even started to believe that Lauren had just needed to find her true soul mate, and now that she had, her philandering ways would be a thing of the past.
“Sometimes,” she said, “a wedding seems like the most exhausting thing a person could take part in. I’m not even really planning the thing and I’m getting exhausted. Dammit!” She gave the steering wheel a whack. “I totally missed the turn.”
She stomped on the brakes as though she was going to stop and reverse far enough that she could take the turn, but there were several cars behind us and one of them started honking. Flustered, she accelerated, and we shot through the intersection right as the light turned red.
“Oh, my God, I hate driving in the city!” she screamed. “I think I know a shortcut.”
She took a turn, then another, and somehow we ended up in the bad part of town, which borders Union Square, the shopping area Lauren most liked to frequent.
“I don’t think you were supposed to turn down here,” I said. She had turned down some one-way alley, where a group of homeless people were hanging out in front of an abandoned building.
Lauren gritted her teeth and this time did reverse, though luckily there were no cars behind us.
“What street is this?” she said. “Where’s my phone? Can you navigate?”
“I don’t know where your phone is; I’ll use mine.” I had just pulled my phone out of my purse when I happened to glance to my right. It was Cole. He was sitting there, playing chess with some black guy, that colorful bike of his leaned up against a “no parking” sign. I was about to say something when Lauren slammed on the brakes and my whole body jerked forward, the seatbelt cutting into my chest.
“Whoa!” I said, looking forward.
“Asshole!” Lauren shrieked. “That guy just totally cut me off!”
I glanced back to my right again and saw that both Cole and the other guy were looking over at us, but fortunately the windows were tinted, so I didn’t think he could see me. I looked forward and put my right hand up so it partially obscured my face, just to be on the safe side.
Parker Security Complete Series Page 28
