The Prada Paradox (28 page)

“Blake—” She took his hand. “I’ll be fine,” she said, apparently reading his mind. “But if we don’t hurry, you won’t. Now come on.”

“Devi,” Andy said. “I’m not sure this is such a—”

“I’msure,” she said, and this time it was in that tone of hers. The one that said she’d been getting her way since she was four years old and didn’t intend to stop now.

They all went.

They were careful rounding the corner, of course, but once they were actually there, peeking around the building to see if Janus was there, it looked like the coast was clear.

“I think we lost him,” Devi said, and Blake hoped she was right.

“In,” he urged. “And move fast.”

They ran into the entrance, ducking through the doors and heading for the stairwell in the middle of the store with lightning speed.

“Where to?” Andy asked.

“Up,” Devi said. “That’s where the CDs are.”

The floor was mostly deserted when they arrived, and that was good, especially once Blake realized what Devi intended to do. “There,” she said, pointing to one of the listening stations. “We need to get the case open and change CDs.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Blake said. “How?”

Andy shoved past him, obviously thrilled to be coming to the rescue. “I’ll get it,” he said, which for some unknown reason really ticked Blake off. He bit back on the emotion, though, once again reminding himself that he didn’t have to like the guy to work with him. Not if Devi’s life was at stake.

True to his word, Andy got the locked section of the CD display case open. While he worked, Blake and Devi puttered about, mostly trying to block him from view of anyone who might be coming to that section of the store. And, of course, keeping an eye out for Janus.

“Got it,” Andy said.

They turned around to find him wearing the headset and frowning. A small door in the CD rack was open, revealing a CD player hooked to several sets of earphones. Andy pushed a few buttons and kept on frowning.

“What?”

“Hang on.” He opened the case and pulled the CD out. “Dammit.”

“What?”Devi asked again.

“It’s not playing.”

“Shit,” Blake said. “I bet it’s a data CD. We need a computer,” he added, irritated with himself that they hadn’t thought of that possibility before. They were down to the wire, here. They didn’t have time to be wrong.

Devi gave Andy a shove. “You’re our computer guru!”

Andy held up his hands. “Hey, I’m stressed out, too, you know.”

She made an unhappy noise, but didn’t smack him again. “Fine. Let’s just find a computer.”

“The Apple Store,” Blake said. “There’s one just down the street. And it’s closer than the car.”

Since that seemed their best option, they headed out of the bookstore and trotted the short distance to the computer store. Dozens of people milled around, buying computers, iPods, and all sorts of gizmos. The sales clerks were so busy they barely took notice, at least not until Blake elbowed a teenager out of the way so that he could get to one of the demo laptops.

“Hey!”

“Sorry. Emergency.”

“Jerk,” the kid sneered, then skulked away. Blake felt a tinge of guilt and then shoved it away. The kid could shop for the rest of his life. At the moment, though, the rest of Blake’s life might consist of only a few hours. Desperate times and desperate measures.

“Okay,” he said, sliding the CD into the drive. “Here we go.”

Nothing happened, so Devi scooted over, then moused down until she found a directory. “Just click on Finder,” she said, “and…there.”

Sure enough, the little box showed two files. She clicked on the first one, and a new program immediately opened. After a few seconds of whirring, the screen went black.

“What happened?” Blake asked.

“I don’t know,” Devi said, staring at the machine in astonishment.

“Andy?”

But Andy just shook his head and held up a finger. “Just wait.”

“To hell with that.” Blake was just about to turn and get someone from the staff to help them when the screen filled up with a man’s face. Then the face faded, replaced by a woman. And again and again. Six faces on a constant loop.

“Who—” Andy began, but Devi cut him off, her finger tapping the screen.

“Bud Abbott…Marlene Dietrich…Lou Costello…Mae West…W. C. Fields…Jimmy Stewart…and Bud again.” She looked up at Blake. “I don’t get it.”

“Me either,” Blake admitted. “Maybe the other document?”

As soon as he suggested it, she clicked over, then opened the document:

Oh, Marnie, send me no flowers. I’d rather be rich than face a kitten with a whip. But a bullet for a badman? Ah, such bliss. As soothing as the island of the blue dolphins.

“That’s supposed to make sense?” Blake said. Once again, he wanted to lash out and hit something. There was a poison in his veins. He didn’t have time for inscrutable puzzles.

Then he got a look at Devi’s face, and her smile told him everything he needed to know.

“You’ve got it,” he said.

Her grin widened. “Not all of it,” she admitted. “But I do know where to go.”

“Where?” Andy asked, as she pressed the button to eject the DVD.

“Universal Studios,” she announced.Kitten with a Whip. Send Me No Flowers. I’d Rather Be Rich. Marnie. Island of the Blue Dolphins. Bullet for a Badman. They’re all Universal movies.”

“And you just know that off the top of your head?” Blake knew she always won Scene It? and the movie editions of Trivial Pursuit. But this was especially impressive.

“Of course she does,” Andy says, with more than a little pride in his voice. “She’s been in movies all her life.”

“He’s right,” Devi said. “But these I know because of my grandpa. He worked for Universal for a while. He told stories. Lots of stories. And I remember all of these titles from some of the tales he used to tell.” As she spoke, she tapped the key in the upper right hand of the machine.

“What?”

“The disk isn’t ejecting.”

“Maybe we should—” He cut off the thought, though, because a sales clerk was coming toward them, the teenager he’d edged out of the way right beside him. And looking more than a little pissed.

“We know the clue,” he said. “Keep your head down so he doesn’t recognize us, and let’s go.”

She hesitated for a moment. “What if we need the disk? Let’s just buy the computer and take it with us. You’ve got your wallet, right?”

“Yeah,” Blake said. And since that wasn’t a bad idea, he started to pull it out. Then stopped when a police officer stepped into the store, then crossed over to a nearby salesman and started talking earnestly with him.

“Shit. Change of plans.” He nodded toward the uniformed officer. “If he knows what happened at the pier…”

“Right,” Devi said. “We don’t have time to deal with questions.”

The three of them race-walked for the door, heads down, then pushed out onto the promenade without looking back.

“I hope this is okay,” she said. “We can go to Universal, but what if we can’t figure outwhere to go once we get there?”

“We will,” Blake said. Because about that, they had no choice.

Chapter46

They’d lost him in the crowd, and Janus was finding it hard to keep hold of his famous patience.

He told himself it would all work out. It had to. She was, after all, his destiny. Never mind the way she looked at Atwood. He’d be taken care of soon enough.

She’d be punished soon enough.

He stood in the middle of the promenade, his gaze skimming over the area, looking for any sign of the three of them.

Nothing.

He took a deep breath and told himself it would be fine. Soon, he’d pick up her scent again.

And then—as if to prove that she really did belong to him and no one else—he heard the sweet, sweet words.

“Honest to God. It was Devi Taylor and that guy who’s starring in that movie with her.”

“Bullshit,” said yellow-haired teenager, carrying a skate board.

“No, man. It’s solid.” That from the first speaker. A dark-haired boy with a black T-shirt.

“You’re really not shitting me?”

“No way. Here.” He pulled out a disk. “This was what they’d shoved in the computer I was working on. The clerk got it out after they left.”

“He just gave it to you?”

“I lied. Told him it was mine. He was a little po’d, but what was he gonna do? Keep it?”

“So what’s on it?”

“Don’t know. Haven’t looked yet.”

“Well, come on, man. Let’s go back to your place and look. Maybe it’s sex stuff like Paris Hilton or that Pamela Anderson tape.”

“Whoa. You think?”

“We can hope, right?”

As the two boys walked toward the parking garage, Janus followed, fingering the gun hidden in his jacket. He wouldn’t fire it if he didn’t have to. That wouldn’t be sporting.

But if he needed it to persuade?

Thathe was prepared to do.

Chapter47

Even though I grew up on movie sets, I’ve always had a special affinity for the Universal Studios theme park. That is, in fact, one of the reasons we had the cab drop us off there rather than at the black tower that makes up Universal Studios’ corporate offices. The game’s about me, we figured. And I have more knowledge of the park than the offices.

Plus—on a more practical note—we had to assume that whoever was leaving these clues around Los Angeles would have had easier access to the park, too.

As always, the Citywalk and the area in front of Universal is loud and vibrant, filled with the buzz of locals and tourists, not to mention the honeybees, lured there by the many tourists who’ve lugged soda-pop cans with labels promising a few dollars off the ticket price. I stand there, shifting my weight from one foot to another, as we wait in line near the giant Universal globe, a fountain with a cloud of fog emerging from below.

The line moves at a snail’s pace, and I’m sure Janus is going to walk up behind us and blow my head off. I’m considering using my celebrity status to get us in—so much for low profile—when Andy spots the Fast Tickets line for those of us willing to pay full price with a credit card.

We’re willing, and we’re inside the park in no time at all. Being inside, however, doesn’t answer the question of where to go next, and we shift off to the side away from the incoming crowd as we try to figure that one out.

“What do you think?” Blake asks, looking around the plaza area with the kitschy shops, the hacienda-style furniture, and the bronze sculptures of various folks shooting a movie.

“Honestly,” I say, “I don’t have a clue.”

“Is there an Abbot and Costello exhibit in the park?” Andy asks. “A tribute to Mae West or Jimmy Stewart?”

Since I don’t know the answer to that, I can only frown and look down at the map of the park we’d been handed along with our ticket. I’m about to announce that I don’t see anything along those lines when I hear someone screech my name, and all of a sudden chaos erupts.

For half a second, I’m terrified. And then I realize what’s going on.Fans.

Dozens and dozens of teenage girls and boys (and a few adults, too) are standing around me, pads of paper, maps, hands, and anything else you can write on thrust at me. I’m not really sure what to do, since we need to get out of there, and I sign a few as I try to explain that we’re in a hurry and need to get a move on.

I’m not making a dent, though, so Blake gives it a shot. That, of course, only leads to more squealing when the girls clue in to who he is. (They do shift away from me, though, giving me some breathing space. Which is good…except for the fact that it does little for my ego.)

The problem has only been exacerbated, though, because now we’re both surrounded, and only Andy is there to break the crowd up, and although he’s trying, he doesn’t really seem to be making a dent.

That’s when I hear someone call his name, and it sounds familiar. I cock my head, as I hear it again.

“Andy? Andrew Garrison?”

Lindy!?

“Hey! I thought that was you,” she adds. “I’m Devi’s friend Lindy. We met once during rehearsals when I was visiting the set. What are you doing—”

“Lindy!”

She turns, her eyes wide as she sees me. Fortunately, she knows me well enough to know that I’m not interested in being mugged for autographs. And she’s also enough of a take-charge woman to do something about that.

“Okay, folks. That’s enough for now. Ms. Taylor and Mr. Atwood have important meetings to get to. Check the schedule later to find out when they’ll be doing an appearance for more autographings.”

I raise an eyebrow at that last bit, but it seems to work, and the crowd scatters. “What are you doing here?” she asks, as the last person disappears into one of the nearby shops. The question is asked with quick, sharp glances at both Blake and Andy. Lord only knows what she’s thinking.

“Long story,” I say, which really doesn’t cover it, but it’s all Ican say. “You?”