Box Office Poison

Forty minutes later I realized nothing had changed or was going to change. I reached for the remote to turn off the TV, when the male model newsreader suddenly shouted, “Whoa!” as the car shimmered, pulsed in and out of view as it phased in and out of our reality, and then vanished.

So, that’s what it looks like from outside, I thought, and remembered John’s and my mad flight from Virginia to New York City last summer as we were pursued by Securitech and killer werewolves. I also remembered how it ended: in the Alfar equivalent of the Dakota as John’s real mother had forced him to choose between me and my clients—a terrified mother and daughter—and his own freedom. Of course John had done the noble thing.

The male anchor was gabbling, almost hyperventilating. Even though he had corrected his female counterpart in a particularly snotty way, he had clearly never seen the effect and maybe didn’t believe the Alfar could actually do it.

And suddenly the incongruity of the whole thing struck me. As the retired cop had said, if Kerrinan had spotted the cops, why not just step out of his house and into the Fey? Why get into a car and spend hours in a slow-motion chase down the LA freeways when you had the power to be gone in an instant? It didn’t make any sense.

I waited a few more minutes, but the Ferrari didn’t reappear and the chatter became an endless loop. So Kerrinan had fled to the Fey. I wondered how the DA’s office in LA was going to cope with that? There were so many Alfar in Los Angeles, maybe California had some kind of extradition treaty with the Alfar? Maybe it would have application in New York? The federal kidnapping statutes should have applied to John. I’d raised that with the FBI, and then with a Department of Justice lawyer in the Manhattan office, who’d looked at me like I’d been on crack.

I decided I’d talk to the California DA. I turned off the television. Thinking about John and my, so far, ineffectual attempts to free him made me depressed. I realized I hadn’t called John’s parents in Philadelphia with an update in over a month. I had met Big Red, the retired policeman, and his wife Meg shortly after John had been trapped and told them exactly what had happened. I owed them that much. They were lovely people, neither college-educated nor wealthy, but good, solid middle-class Americans who had raised four human kids and one changeling, all of them growing up to serve their communities as a firefighter, a nurse, a fisherman, a Marine, and John, who had followed his father into the police force. I shouldn’t be dodging them just because I hadn’t made any progress on freeing their son. Who’s trapped because of you, whispered a nasty voice.

I tried to drown the depression with a hot bath. When that didn’t work I settled for a nap.

* * *

A shrilling ring brought me awake. It was dark in the room, and I fumbled for the phone, knocked it onto the floor, cursed, kicked away the covers, and finally ended up kneeling naked on the carpet pressing the receiver to my ear.

“What? Yes? Hello? Hello?”

“Good Lord, what are you doing in there? Wrestling crocodiles?” David’s cool baritone filled my ear.

“You woke me up.” I scraped the hair off my face.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” Outside the wind set the fronds on the palm trees to rattling like castanets, whistled around the railing of the balcony, and rain exploded against the sliding glass doors. “What time is it?”

“Ten past seven.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yes, we’re meeting Montolbano at seven thirty.”

“Why didn’t you get me up?” I said, scrambling to my feet.

“I just did,” came the snotty reply.

“In time to get dressed and put on my makeup!”

“You’ll look fine.”

“I guess being dead has made you forget everything you ever knew about women,” I said. I forced myself to unclench my teeth, lunged at the closet, and started tossing outfits on the bed.

“Look, we were going to meet in the bar. I’ll have him come to my bungalow instead. That should buy you a few more minutes.”

“Great! Thanks.”

Jeffery Montolbano. Holy shit. I raced into the bathroom, pulled out my makeup, washed and then made up my face. I went with the more dramatic yellow and brown eye shadow rather than the paler daywear. Eyeliner, lip liner, lipstick. Hair dryer to fluff my bed-head hair. Ready.

Back into the bedroom to pick an outfit. Jeffery Montolbano. I sat on the bed and pulled on my panty hose. Movie star.

Client. The sensible part of myself was standing off to the side waving her hand for attention as I got my bra hooked.

I selected a pale gold watered-silk sleeveless dress, the skirt of which came to rest a couple of inches above my knee. It had a square neck that worked well, given my height. I added a multistrand necklace of gray pearls and a gold bracelet. I threw on the matching thigh-length jacket and slid on a pair of very high-heeled black pumps. I paused to dither over the rolling briefcase but decided to leave it behind. This was dinner, not a formal meeting, and the case was dorky—practical but dorky.

The cute redheaded bellhop was in the lobby, and he pulled out a large golf umbrella to escort me down the pathways to David’s bungalow. Flowering bushes shivered and shed water as we passed, and I felt the cold spray against my legs. The bungalow was tucked discreetly away behind bushes and trees. A winding walkway led to the front door. We reached the door, but before I could knock the bellhop thrust a thick card into my hand.

“My friend Nu says he drove Jeffery Montolbano out here in the golf cart. Montolbano’s starting to produce now. May even start directing. I’m so going to drive the cart when you guys leave, even if I have to wrestle Nu.” Then in an abrupt change of topic he added, “Maybe you could give this to him?” It was a business card, but one of the new kind that was a flash card and could be read on a computer. It showed the smiling face of the redhead and the words “Toby Wilson, Actor.”

“Who? Nu?” I asked, confused.

Impatient. “No, Montolbano. Thanks.”

“I don’t know if I—”

But he knocked and David answered before I could finish my demurrers.

“Just call when your party is ready to leave, and we’ll send the golf cart so you can stay dry,” Toby said brightly. David gave him five dollars and I used the cover of the tip to stuff the card in my pocket as I stepped over the threshold.

Being a partner clearly rated. There was a sitting room with a gas fireplace. The blue-tinged flames flickered cozily. Sofas, armchairs, and a coffee table surrounded the fireplace, and I saw a cheese platter and a tray with a wine glass and an open bottle of merlot. There was a small garden patio off the sitting room, the plants and potted flowers drooping from the rain, and a separate bedroom. A brief glance through the door showed a four-poster bed adorned with floating draperies.

A man was seated on the sofa, one arm outstretched along the back and a glass of wine in his other hand. I noticed how the light reflected off his perfectly manicured nails. He had glossy black hair flecked lightly with gray. It was long enough to brush the top of his cashmere and silk turtleneck sweater. He stood and turned to face me. It was Jeffery Montolbano. He was gorgeous … and short. I’m no giant, but he was only a few inches taller than me. He came around the sofa, giving me plenty of time to appreciate his chiseled cheekbones, square jaw, lush lower lip, and trim, narrow-hipped body. He held out a hand.

His brown eyes, warm and humorous, were locked on mine, and I found myself unable to look away. His handshake was firm and lasted longer than was strictly necessary. “How do you do? I’m Jeff. You must be Linnet.” He had a basic midwestern American accent that was totally devoid of his famous, faintly European on-screen cadence.

“Ye-yes,” I stammered. I thought I caught a glimpse of David rolling his eyes.

“Wine?”

“Uh … yes … please.”