Mr. and Miss Anonymous. Fern Michaels
Pete Kelly wasn’t married. She wasn’t married. Pete Kelly had baggage just the way she had baggage. God, where was this all going to end? Would it end?
Lily heard the delightful chime when the front door to the chalet opened, but she didn’t look up. She turned only when she saw Pete’s long shadow on the patio. “This is so nice, Pete. Thanks for including me.” She noticed that he, too, was holding a cola in his hand. She motioned for him to sit down on one of the colored chairs. “I love bright colors. The more vibrant the better.” Such brilliant conversation. What she really wanted to do was ask him if he was involved with anyone.
“You don’t mind if Winston joins us, do you?”
“Not at all. I love dogs. I had a little furball when I was a kid. Unfortunately, she didn’t live all that long. I was so crushed when she died. I guess that’s why I never got another pet, the pain of losing her was too much to bear. With no parents around, my grandmother did her best to console me but it didn’t work. She bought me a stuffed dog. It wasn’t the same.”
Pete sat down and stretched out his long legs. Lily smiled at the battered sneakers, lack of socks, and jeans so well worn they were threadbare at the knees. And this guy was a billionaire at least thirty times over. She was impressed.
“So, what’s in the envelope? What’s our next move? You look…I don’t know…scared? Are you?” Lily asked in a jittery-sounding voice.
Pete bit down on his lip and grimaced. He watched Winston check out the hot tub and the flowers before lying down, his huge head on his paws. “It’s not really a group home per se. It’s called the California Academy of Higher Learning. The names of the youngsters who…didn’t make it hadn’t been released when Marty sent off the packet of information because the media weren’t sure if there were parents that had to be notified. I just called him again, and their names have still not been released. The media is all over it. The two boys who escaped are almost eighteen years old. There’s an APB out on them. The boy, the one who looked like me, is named Josh Baer. The second boy is Jesse Rabe, and the shooter has not been identified. It seems this all happened at a midmorning break when the two teachers and all the students were in the same room.
“And before you ask, no cell phones are allowed during school hours. It’s not a big school, just ninth through twelfth grades. Grades nine through eleven left early on a field trip that was scheduled months ago. The intercom system was deactivated, so someone had to have planned this and acted accordingly. In other words, the shooter had a plan and is detail-oriented. No motive has surfaced so far.”
“Are there parents or aren’t there parents?”
“I don’t know. Marty—who, by the way, is Marty Bronson, and is my right hand—said he would feed me information as he gets it. In case you haven’t noticed, this delightful hotel does not have televisions in the villas. My people know how much I hate television and never watch it, so they took that into consideration when they booked these villas. Right now, I would kill for a TV.”
“Then why don’t we go someplace that has television? Aren’t you a computer guru? Can’t you bring it up on your laptop?”
“I didn’t bring it with me, Lily. Come on, let’s go. I’ll find us a place even if it’s some sports bar. I could use a drink anyway.”
Winston was already inside by the time Lily got to her feet. “I don’t have a good feeling about this, Pete.”
“I don’t either, Lily.”
Chapter 5
Her nerve endings twanging all over her body, Lily was about to exit her villa when she heard Pete and Zolly. It sounded like they were right outside. Unashamedly, she pressed her ear to the door and listened to the muted conversation she could barely hear.
Zolly scratched at his bald head, his brow furrowed. “Boss, is something going on here I don’t know about? You know the rules, so let’s hear it. I also want you to tell me, do you and the lady inside this villa have some kind of history together? It reads like you do.”
A history. Well, that was one way of putting it. Lily pressed her ear harder against the door to hear Pete’s reply.
“In a manner of speaking. A very short-lived history. It’s personal, Zolly, so don’t go reading something into this that isn’t there. Lily and I met by accident at the airport, and since we were going to the same fund-raiser at our old alma mater, it made sense to invite her here so we could catch up on… This is none of your business, Zolly.”
“Everything you do is my business, boss. Don’t fight me on this, or we’re going to have sharp words. Like I said, you know the rules. I’ll stay out of your way. Just to keep you in the loop, I ran a background check on your friend.” The security guard jerked his head in the direction of Lily’s villa to indicate she was the one he ran the check on.
On the other side of the door, Lily heard Pete groan.
“Boss, the good news is, I think it’s safe to say she isn’t after your money, chance meeting or not. She’s got quite a pile of her own. A really, really big pile. She’s not in your league, but she’s damn close. Her kids’ clothes, they call them her ‘dee-zines,’ win prizes in the garment business. Her creds are five-star.”
“I don’t care about that, and you had no business doing that check without my authorization. She’s a friend. I hate when you pull this shit, Zolly. Dammit, what if she finds out?”
“I was discreet, boss. The rules say I check everyone you come in contact with.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Lily jumped away from the door when she heard a rat-a-tat-tat knock. She moved farther into the room and shouted so her voice would carry through the door. “Be right there!”
Lily stepped out into warm, golden sunshine. Winston sidled up next to her, hoping for a pat on the head. She did better than that. She dropped to her haunches so that she was eye level with the huge dog. She rubbed his belly, his rump—the only place he couldn’t scratch himself—and tickled his ears. Then she nuzzled him, nose to nose. When she was upright again, she knew she’d made a friend for life. A four-legged friend.
Winston was in love.
Pete smiled and smiled as he ushered her forward to a black Chevy Suburban that was waiting under the portico. “We have to do this, switch up vehicles, from time to time when the press gets obnoxious.”
Lily didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded as she climbed into the huge vehicle.
“Where are we going?”
Pete threw his hands in the air. “To that place you and I spent hundreds of hours in a lifetime ago. The Berkeley Library. We’ll use their computers.”
“Great idea. Any updates?”
“No. We’re going to have to make our own updates. All I need is a computer, and if there’s something out there, I’ll find it. You aren’t having second thoughts, are you?”
She rather thought she was having second thoughts, but her answer didn’t betray that indecision. “No, not at all. Maybe we should get a newspaper. Do you have the power to authorize a stop at some convenience store to get one?” Lily let loose with a giggle to show she was teasing. She tried to remember the last time she’d giggled over anything. In the end she gave up, then laughed outright when the Suburban pulled to the curb.
Zolly hopped out and was back within minutes, his arms full of newspapers. Winston took that moment to unbuckle his seat belt to barrel to the back, where he sat at Lily’s feet to gaze up at her adoringly.
Lily stroked the big dog’s head as Pete divvied up the papers. “We can read them in the library. I think my dog likes you. He hasn’t been around women much except for my housekeeper. Up till now I would have said the only people he likes are me and Zolly.”
The GPS on the dashboard came to life