never guess what happened next.”
“A cop showed up.”
“Be serious!”
“Your neighbor came to your rescue.”
“Strike two.”
“For Christ's sake, what happened?”
“Cujo rescued me. He was in the backyard and came flying through the bushes. He attached himself to the burglar's butt, and they went dancing down the street.”
There was a knock on the bathroom door. He opened it. Zoe stood outside, her legs crossed.
“You gonna stay in there all day?”
“Sure am.”
Valentine shut the door. Then said, “Mabel, I wanted to tell you something.”
“What's that?” his neighbor said.
“I met a woman, and she's coming home with me. I wanted you to know.”
For a moment he thought Mabel had hung up on him.
“Does that mean I can't work for you anymore?” she asked.
Valentine felt a lump in his throat.
“No, of course not.”
“I need to do something with my life,” Mabel said. “I admire you for doing something with yours. I just hope this situation won't turn into one where I can't work for you anymore.”
“It won't,” he said.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Should I meet you at the airport?”
Valentine smiled into the phone.
“That would be great.”
The pilot came over the PA and told everyone to get into their seats. Zoe was still outside when he unlatched the lavatory door.
“Asshole,” she muttered, hurtling past him.
He took his seat and buckled up. Kat was looking out the little window at a man on the tarmac waving orange flags at the pilot. She glanced his way. “You were gone awhile.”
“Sorry. You and Zoe patch things up?”
“I missed you,” she said.
She leaned across the empty seat and kissed him like the world was about to end and this one had better mean something. When she pulled away, he was seeing stars.
“I missed you, too,” he said.
38
Palm Beach
Mabel was at the gate when they disembarked. She was wearing Terminator shades, and at her side was one of the scariest-looking dogs Valentine had ever seen. Pure black, about seventy pounds of muscle, with a black tongue that stuck an inch out of its mouth, its hackle sticking straight up.
“How did you get that monster in here?”
“I told the airport people I was legally blind,” she said.
“A dog,” Zoe squealed with delight. She grabbed Valentine's sleeve. “You didn't tell me you owned a dog!”
Before any of them knew what was happening, the child from hell was rolling around on the floor with the dog from hell.
“Zoe, stop this nonsense this instant,” Kat said, leaning over to scold her. “You're embarrassing yourself, and me.”
“I cleaned up your house a little, turned down the beds,” Mabel informed him, angling to get a better look at Kat. “You really do need to get a housekeeper.”
Valentine saw no reason to delay things. He tapped Kat on the shoulder and said, “Kat, I want you to meet Mabel Struck.”
Kat stood up and stuck her hand out. The braid in her hair had come undone, and her black mane lay seductively on her bosom. Valentine heard a loud click as Mabel's jaw came unhinged.
“Tony's told me all about you,” Kat said, pumping Mabel's hand.
“No kidding,” his neighbor said.
“Said he couldn't run his business without you.”
His neighbor was smiling mischievously, taking the whole thing better than Valentine had expected. Like she was
“So how did you two meet?” Mabel asked.
“Well, you're not going to believe this,” Kat said.
“Try me.”
“Tony came to my gym and started a fight.”
“He did
“It's a long story, but we got it worked out.”
“A fight, as in he hit you?”
Kat giggled. “Tony bloodied my nose.”
Mabel stared in horror at him.
The flight to Palm Beach was boarding. Mabel's eyes were burning his face. And Zoe's. And every other person milling around the gate. Which was why Valentine got himself on the plane as fast as humanly possible.
Only in Florida could you rent a sporty BMW with nine hundred miles on the odometer for forty bucks a day.
He crossed the bridge into Palm Beach, his headlights shining on the array of brightly lit yachts and sleek cabin cruisers dotting the Intercoastal waterway. Rich men's toys with names like
On the island, traffic was heavy, the road reduced to one lane because of construction. He inched down the main drag looking for County Road. He found it when he thought he was lost, and hung a left that took him into a residential area with Mediterranean-style houses with barrel tile roofs. Expensive, but nothing fancy.
Past the entrance for the Breakers Resort, the scenery changed. Houses grew into mansions with six-foot stucco walls that hugged the narrow beach. The speed limit dropped to twenty-five miles per hour, and he inched past driveways lined with gleaming Rolls-Royces and expensive Italian sports cars.
He remembered Archie's mansion from a magazine article. Archie had built a monstrosity that blocked his neighbors' view of the ocean. He found the place with little trouble, Archie's initials adorning the front gate. He drove into the servant's entrance and parked behind a white caterer's van.
He waited for someone to come out and tell him to beat it. When that didn't happen, he got out of the rental, and stuck his head through the azalea bushes.
Light streamed out of every window of Archie's place. He shifted his gaze to the limo parked by the front door. The plates were government issued, and the driver wore a uniform.
Rifling through the caterer's van, Valentine found a white waiter's jacket and put it on. It didn't clash with his pants, and he grabbed a serving tray and balanced it on his palm.
Going into strange places had never bothered him. Back when he was in uniform, he'd investigated a department store robbery. The thieves had walked into the store, hoisted a twenty-foot canoe onto their shoulders, and walked out. It was all a matter of attitude.
He opened the back door and walked into the kitchen. The room was huge, with two refrigerators, two
