Mom’s eyes narrowed in disgust. “Which helps mask the fact that he’s a psychopath.”
I looked at her in amazement. “Well put, Mom.”
“I have my moments.”
Laughing, I grabbed her arm and said, “Let’s get out of here.”
We made one quick stop at the gallery store. I wanted to find a poster of the retrospective to show Max. Wouldn’t he be surprised?
The store had all different retrospective items available, from postcards to wall posters. I chose a medium- sized poster on good-quality card stock. Mom wanted one and so did I, so I ended up buying three.
“Oh, Max Adams,” the salesgirl said with excitement. “I love his work. Don’t you?”
“I do,” I said as I handed her my money.
“If you’re a student, you can get discount tickets to the retrospective.”
I frowned. “I’m not a student.”
“Me, neither,” Mom said.
“Oh,” the girl said, looking disappointed. But she perked up again. “Well, you should buy them, anyway, because it’s going to sell out. The buzz has been incredible.”
“Really? What are you hearing about it?”
“It’s all his most important work, plus a lot of photographs of him during his lectures and appearances. He was so hot, you know? And rumor has it that somebody really important will make an appearance. I hear he worked with celebrities a lot.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“Oh yeah. Everyone on campus is crazy about Max Adams. It was an absolute tragedy that he died so young, so we’re all determined to keep his spirit alive.”
“That’s so beautiful,” I said.
“Yeah. Max rocks.” She turned to the cash register. “You can buy the retrospective tickets here if you want.”
I looked at Mom, who nodded, so I asked how much they were, and the price was reasonable enough. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t miss this for the world. “Okay, I’ll take six tickets.”
“Who’s invited to the opening-night party?” Mom asked.
“It’s free and open to the public, so it’s going to be insanely crowded and stupid,” she said. “I’m totally going!”
As we were leaving the sales counter, two young guys in green shirts and matching baseball caps walked into the store, pushing a cart loaded with boxes. I grabbed hold of Mom to stop her, just as the skinnier guy called out to the salesgirl, “Where do you want these, Shelley?”
“Stack ’em over here behind the counter, Bennie,” the salesgirl answered.
“Hey, Bennie,” I said, stepping closer. “Do you remember me? I’m London Wainwright’s sister Brooklyn.”
He looked me up and down, and his mouth curved in a lopsided grin. “Sure, I remember you, Brooklyn. How you doin’?”
“Benjamin Styles?” Mom said. “Is that you? Hello.”
Bennie Styles was at least six feet tall and as gangly as a chicken. He still had adolescent pimples on his face and neck. It was hard to believe that this was the weapons expert who’d taught Solomon everything he knew about ammunition, guns, and survival.
Bennie blinked at Mom; then his eyes widened. “Mrs., uh, Wainwright. How you doin’?”
“I’m dandy, thanks,” Mom said.
Bennie’s coworker elbowed him and Bennie jolted. “Oh, uh, this is my friend Stefan. This is Brooklyn and her mom.”
“Hey, nice to meet you,” Stefan said, flashing us a grin. Melody was right. He was really cute. He winked and gave us both a thumbs-up before grabbing the cart and rolling it over to the counter to stack boxes.
“So, what’re you guys doing here?” Bennie asked.
“We were just purchasing tickets to the Max Adams Retrospective,” Mom said. “Are you going?”
Bennie slapped his forehead in disgust. “If I hear that guy’s name one more time, I’m gonna punch somebody.”
Mom took a half step back. “Why is that?”
“Everybody’s gone crazy over him, that’s why. Especially the girls around here. Hello, the guy made paper. You know how he did it? With
“I appreciate your opinion, Bennie,” Mom said carefully.
He pointed his finger to make a point. “Oh, it’s not just mine. One of the professors here is totally pissed off about all the publicity this Max Adams dude is getting. I swear, if the guy wasn’t already dead, Professor Solomon would’ve…Well, anyway.” He scratched his neck, unsure where to go from here.
“Professor Solomon?” Mom said, her tone guileless. “I’m not sure I know who that is.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Bennie’s lips twisted up in a grimace. “Sorry I was rude. I got a big mouth sometimes. I better get back to work.”
“Wait, Bennie,” Mom said, stopping him. “Crystal Byers said you might be willing to teach me how to reload my ammunition. Can you still do that for me?”
“Oh. Sure. Yeah. I mean, yes, ma’am. Crystal was sayin’ you needed some help with that, and I’m your man.” Belatedly he remembered his manners and whipped off his baseball cap. His hair was stick straight and flopped into his eyes. He brushed it back impatiently.
“Yes, she said you were the best man for the job.”
He puffed up his scrawny chest and grinned. “Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“Good. Now, I should tell you, I’m only interested in reloading shotgun shells for dove hunting, so I went out and picked up the Lee Load-All Reloader with the primer feed attachment.”
He nodded in approval. “That’s a good little starter kit.”
“That’s what I was told.” She pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote something down, then handed it to Bennie.
“This is my phone number. I can start anytime next week, and I’ll be glad to pay you for your time.”
He stared at the paper for a few seconds, then looked at Mom. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll call you.”
“You do that, Benjamin,” she said, patting his arm. “You’re a good boy.”
Back at Mom’s, we had our customary glass of wine while we waited for Dad to come home. I hadn’t heard from Derek yet. I was hoping he would make it to Dharma tonight, not only because I missed him, but also because it would mean that things had calmed down at his office. But most of all, we needed to get back to Jackson’s house to see Max and find out what Gabriel had learned about Angelica. And I had some interesting news of my own, thanks to our field trip to the Art Institute earlier.
I was sitting at the kitchen table, watching Mom whip up a marinade for the steaks Dad would grill later for the two of them. As I sipped my wine, I remembered something I’d meant to ask her. “Mom, did you really buy an ammo reloader?”
“Of course not. You know I hate guns.”
“But how did you know what to say to Bennie?”
She winked at me and said, “Now,
I just had to laugh.
A car door slammed outside and I went running out the front door to see if it was Derek. Sure enough, there was the Bentley. I didn’t want to appear too anxious, so I waited patiently for him at the front door. After a few seconds, I blew off that idea and raced down the front walk. He opened his arms just in time to grab hold of me, and we stood like that for a minute or two.
Gazing down at me, he asked, “What’s all this about?”
“I was worried,” I confessed. “How was your day?”
“Busy, but I managed to accomplish a few things and escape with my skin intact.”
I smiled. “I’m so glad. So, any news on the survivalists?”
He stroked my hair, calming me as if I were a jumpy young pony. “Let’s wait to meet with Gabriel and Max and
