The woman headed for produce and placed tomatoes on a scale. Serge and Coleman hid behind the florist display. Coleman picked up a rose and sniffed it. “I’ve never stopped in this part of the store before.”
“Neither have I.” Serge picked up a bouquet and checked the price tag.
“Maybe you should buy something to have on hand, just in case.”
“You’re right.” Serge placed the bouquet in their cart. “Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a dozen supermarket flowers for three dollars.”
Coleman looked toward the ceiling. “They have helium balloons. The ones made of foil.”
“Those are critical.” Serge reeled one down and inspected the pressure. “But you have to save them for the right moment. You don’t want to shoot your wad.”
Coleman reeled down his own balloon. “This one’s a double. It’s got a red heart inside a clear heart.”
“That’s the most important of all. A guy only puts it into play if it’s a super-special occasion or if he’s fucked up big time.”
“Why’s that?”
“The double balloon gets you out of anything. Can’t even be questioned. Like those letters of transit Peter Lorre stole in
“She’s heading for checkout.”
The woman got in line at register three. Serge and Coleman pulled into register four. Serge held up a
The cashier rang up chicken and flowers. Serge thought the eighty-year-old woman bagging his groceries looked familiar. She was going slow.
“Doris?”
“Serge?”
“What are you doing here? I thought you’d retired.”
“I had,” said Doris. “But then I got wiped out in the stock market. That accounting scandal with Global-Con…”
“Son of a—!”
The old woman was tired. She stopped and grabbed the end of the counter, then started bagging again.
Serge went over and gently held her arm. “Why don’t you take a break. I’ll bag these myself.”
“No, I have to keep going!”
Coleman was reading a tabloid. “Hey, Serge, look at this article. ‘Leading psychic reveals: Hitler kicked out of hell, starts rival inferno’…”
Serge began helping Doris bag. “You must have some money left.”
“Not enough to live on.” She sniffed the flowers and put them in a sack. “The worst part is that bastard Donald Greely has started building a mansion just up the road, rubbing our noses in it.”
The woman at register three zipped her purse and began pushing a cart of bagged groceries toward the door.
“Doris, I want to get back with you on that.”
Serge and Coleman hurried out of the store and reached the parking lot just as the woman finished loading bags in her Pathfinder. They ran to the Riviera. Serge grabbed his binoculars.
“Look,” said Coleman. “She’s getting back out of her car. I think she’s seen us.”
“You’re right. She’s coming over here,” said Serge. “This could ruin everything. It’s too premature for us to formally meet before I’ve had a chance to study her at the gym and through open windows of her house. On the other hand, you never know. She could be the one!”
The woman was almost to their car. Serge grabbed the flowers and got out, hiding the bouquet behind his back.
She stopped a few feet in front of him. “Have you been following me?”
Serge broke into his broadest, most charismatic smile. “Yes!”
“I thought so.” The woman reached in her purse.
Serge whipped the flowers from behind his back and proudly held them out. “This is for you.”
The woman pointed a keychain cannister at Serge. “And this is for you.” Squirt.
The flowers hit the pavement. Serge stomped on them as he reeled. “Ahhhhhhh! My eyes! I’m blind!”
She kicked him between the legs. “Pervert!”
Coleman jumped out of the car. “Serge! Where are you?” He ran around the Buick and found his partner bunched on the ground. Coleman bent down and helped his buddy up into a sitting position. “What happened?”
“She’s not the one.”
11
A LOUD CRASH.
The petite woman in the back of the No Name jumped.
The man sitting on the other side of the table reached for her hand. “Just somebody dropping something.”
Anna hyperventilated.
“You need a beer.” The man got up and went to the bar. He returned with two drafts. Anna grabbed hers in shaking hands and guzzled till it was gone.
The man grabbed her hand again. “Jesus, easy…”
“I can’t take this. I need Valium.”
“I can get you some.”
“Where was I?”
“Take a rest.”
“No. I haven’t told anyone yet. I have to get it all out….”
ANNA CREPT TOWARD the duplex.
“Don’t go back in there!” yelled Val.
Anna didn’t listen.
“I’ll keep the engine running and your door open. You just run right out….”
Anna reached the porch. She cautiously unlocked the door and pushed it open with a creak. Stillness. She eased through the dark living room, no sign of Billy. The bedroom door was closed. That was good. The stuff she needed was in the bathroom. She went down the hall.
Anna got closer and heard water running. The door was ajar, a ribbon of light. She pushed it open.
