rights.”
Much to my surprise, she opens a box on the coffee table and takes out a cigarette. She lights it with this big clunky thing that I thought was a decorative rock. It stinks. Real bad-worse than cigarettes usually do. Clove has never been one of my favorite odors, not since second grade when I punctured my thumb on one pressing it into an apple for my mom to hang in her closet.
“Do you mind?” She, of course, only asks after her stink bomb is burning like a wet pile of leaves and the solarium goes partly cloudy.
Ceepak shrugs. He could care less.
“So this was your ex-husband's weekend with Ashley?”
“That's right. From time to time he might arrange to take a weekend off and spend it with his daughter.” Betty exhales slowly to give us time to realize what kind of father Reginald Hart must have been.
“Then he would typically hire some bright young computer person to play video games with her, as he himself would be busy with all the work he brought along in his briefcase….” She made a quick grimace. “Of course, Reginald also remained very proud of Ashley's many accomplishments. Even if he was rarely able to attend any functions at school.”
“I was Emily in
“Grover's Corners,” Ceepak offers. “Thorton Wilder.”
This display of dramatic trivia is impressive and the two blondes beam. Here's a manly man who knows his Broadway and isn't afraid to admit it.
“I only wish her father could have seen the play. Unfortunately, he was otherwise engaged. Hong Kong, opening another new hotel.”
“So, the two of you spent time together out here?” Ceepak says encouragingly. “You and your dad?”
Ashley nods.
“Did he do any work this weekend?”
“Yes. Some. He and Ms. Stone were pretty busy most of Friday. So I swam in the pool and read and stuff. He worked on his laptop.”
“We'd like to look at that,” Ceepak says to Ashley's mom. “His computer?”
“Certainly. I'll ask James to find it for you.”
James. The butler's name is James. Figures. I wonder if it's his real name or one he just uses for work. You know-like The Rock. I'm sure The Rock's parents didn't put “The Rock” on his birth certificate.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Ceepak says to Ashley. “This morning? At the Tilt-A-Whirl?”
“He's still out there, isn't he?” Ashley's eyes swing around the glass-walled sunroom. “The man who shot my father. He could be right outside these windows right now….”
“Don't worry,” Ceepak tells her. “I won't let him hurt you. I won't let anybody hurt you.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, Ashley. And you know what?”
“What?”
“I always keep my word.”
Ceepak actually raises his right hand, like he's making some kind of sacred vow, which, I guess, he is.
CHAPTER TEN
Ashley takes a deep breath.
“I woke up around six ’cause I heard Miss Stone giggling in the kitchen. I went in and Daddy said, ‘Today's our day.’ Usually, once every summer, we like to sneak into Playland before it's open.”
“Can I ask why?” Ceepak is curious. So am I.
“I dunno. It's just kind of fun.”
“But the rides aren't running, the arcade's closed….”
“I know. It's sort of stupid, but it's just something we like to do.”
“If someone else writes the rules,” Betty explains, “Reggie likes to break them.”
I figure that means wedding vows, too.
“We liked to be there while it's still quiet,” Ashley continues, “before the beach fills up and gets all crowded.”
“What do you two talk about when you're together, like this morning?”
“I dunno. Stuff. Like how he thinks I'm too young to have a boyfriend … even though I do….”
“But why the Tilt-A-Whirl?”
“He bought her a turtle once,” mom offers.
“Excuse me?”
“When I was like four or five? Daddy bought me this little turtle. I called him Stinky because he pooped all the time.”
“You should see her room in the city. Stuffed turtles everywhere. Turtle wallpaper … custom-made in Milan….”
“I see,” Ceepak says. “I think that's kind of neat. But, tell me-how exactly did you sneak in?”
You gotta admire how Ceepak can push a runaway train of thought back on track.
“There's this tunnel under the fence,” Ashley says.
“Under the board?” I say, remembering the square of plywood that looked like it was used for a lid to cover the hole under the fence.
Ceepak turns to look at me.
I never did tell him what I saw. Never told him about the trapdoor.
Oops.
Ashley nods. “Yeah. Other people can get in that way, too, I guess.”
Her mother grips Ashley's hand tight now.
Ceepak waits patiently.
“We were sitting there talking and stuff and this man … he came out of the bushes.”
“Which bushes?” Ceepak asks.
“Behind this big picture of, you know, the sun-faced guy? Clyde, I think they call him. The cartoon surfer?”
“Unh-hunh.”
“We weren't looking that way because, well, it kind of blocks the view so we were looking the other way … out to the ocean and all.”
“Right.”
“He looked crazy and then he started waving this gun at us. A pistol. He looked all dirty and I could smell him … even when he was, like, ten feet away. I think he was on drugs, like the homeless people on TV. He told my father to hand over his wallet and my father told the man to ‘calm down and not do anything stupid….’”
“Then what?”
“Dad gave the guy his wallet. The crazy man opened it and pulled out all the money. Then he looked at the credit cards and stuff like he was going to steal them but he didn't, he just, you know, read them. ‘You're Reginald Hart?’ the guy said ‘
“Typical Reggie,” Betty interjects. “Trying to work a deal.”
“What'd the man say, Ashley? When your father said they should talk?”
“Nothing. He just laughed and looked at me. Then, he raised his gun up and pointed it at Daddy's chest and started squeezing the trigger and shooting. He squeezed and fired and squeezed and fired … over and over … until all the bullets were gone. The gun started clicking and I started screaming ’cause I thought he was going to start shooting at me next, but he didn't. Like I said-I think he ran out of bullets because he fired so many at my father … there was so much blood….”
I figure she's seeing it all again on the instant replay of her mind. Poor kid, billionaire's daughter or not.
