Mistress

My spidey sense kicks up. Something in her voice, in her reaction upon hearing my voice. And how she answered so quickly. She was expecting someone else. And she sounds worried that I might be showing up at her place.

I decide to play this safe. “No, I’m staying in Maryland tonight,” I say.

“Oh, okay.” She takes a breath. A breath of…relief? What’s going on? Why doesn’t she want me to come to her house?

“You okay, Anne?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m…I’m fine. I’m…I was just dozing off. I’m tired. I need sleep.”

She was tired, but she answered the phone before one full ring? She doesn’t sound tired. Not one bit. She sounds nervous. Is someone there with her?

“Well, no problem,” I say. “Get some sleep. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay. Good. Tomorrow would be great, thanks.”

I punch out my phone and a wave of fear passes through me. She didn’t want me to come over. And she didn’t want to say why.

Anne’s in danger.

I rush back into the restaurant. Sean Patrick Riley has just ordered another Budweiser. He looks up and appraises me as though I’m about to kiss him.

“You sure you want in on this?” I say.

He wipes his mouth with a napkin. “I went from twenty years on the force on the south side of Chicago to chasing around cheating husbands. I could stand a little excitement.”

“I need help, Sean. This could be dangerous. This isn’t a joke. You got a gun?”

“Course I do.”

“You got cameras? Zoom lenses, that sort of thing?”

“In my car.”

“Where’s your car?”

He throws down his napkin. “Right outside.”

“Then giddyap, cowboy,” I say. “I need you ten minutes ago.”

Chapter 96

Anne’s place is a straight shot up 15th Street, only about half a mile or so. We reach the intersection with T Street in the time it would take me to unlock the chain on my Rockhopper.

Sean pulls over on the west side of the street. This is all residential housing around here, so we got lucky with the spot.

He hands me an earbud. “Stick this in your ear.”

Check. Like Jennifer Garner in that old Alias show.

“Now put this around your neck.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a Bluetooth loop. You ever sync a Bluetooth up to your cell phone? Same thing, but put the loop over your head like you’re wearing a necklace and run the cord under your shirt.”

I do what Sean says. He hooks himself up the same way. He’s excited about this. This is fun for him. I wish it were for me.

“Now hook the plug into your cell phone. I’ll do it, too. Then we can talk.”

I look over at Sean. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

He checks his revolver. “Sorry I don’t have a spare gun.”

I wouldn’t know how to use it, anyway. I’d probably shoot my dick off.

“I’m going to scout the place first,” I say.

“I’m the one with the gun, sport. I’ll go.”

But I’m the one with the guilty conscience. Enough people have died for something that’s my problem. If I can help it, I’m going to be in the line of fire before him.

“I’m going.” I push open the door and step outside. Sean calls my cell phone and we do a test. We’re hooked up.

“Hey,” he says to me before I shut the door. “When I was a cop, we had a saying. ‘Don’t get dead.’”

I look at him, waiting for more. “That’s it? ‘Don’t get dead’?”

“That’s it.”

“Good advice, Sean.” And I’m on the move toward Anne’s house. I cut around the block to come up through the alley.

Alias is my favorite of Jennifer Garner’s roles, though she was excellent in Juno. Didn’t love Daredevil

other than the motorcycle, but she was smokin’ as Elektra.

When I’m halfway there, Sean’s voice comes through my ear. “You said she answered real quick, like? And she sounded like she was expecting someone else?”

“Right,” I say as I jog toward the alley leading to Anne’s back door and fence.

I approach the back alley cautiously, my heart in my throat, moving as silently as I possibly can, walking on tiptoes and stopping after every single step to listen.

I can see her place right now…

Can anyone see me?

I jump at the sight of movement in the back of Anne’s apartment, the kitchen. Can’t make out the features, just a figure quickly passing by the shade over the window. Was it Anne? But if she were being held by somebody in there, she wouldn’t be walking around freely.

I move a few more steps. I’m hiding behind someone’s garage now. It’s the last structure between me and the fence at the rear of Anne’s building, about ten yards away.

Garner played slutty pretty damn well in the Arthur remake. I love it when actresses decide to branch out and play slutty. See Jennifer Aniston in Horrible Bosses-

Focus, you moron. Once I move past this garage, I’m exposed, out in the open. The lighting isn’t great back here, but it’s good enough. If anyone’s looking, they’ll see me.

Here goes nothing.

I step out from behind the garage and tiptoe toward the fence, feeling as visible as a neon sign. If they’re looking, I’m a goner, so my money has to be on them not keeping a vigilant watch. They shouldn’t be expecting me, after all. I told Anne over the phone that I was miles away in Maryland.