I couldn’t help myself—I cut him off. “Sir? Hello? Can you hear me?”

I hung up in the middle of Van Allsburg shouting that he could hear me fine.

Then I called Agent Page and told him to put me on hold until we knew if Mary Smith had a new victim.

Chapter 59

Chapter 59

SUZIE CARTOULIS WASN’T PAYING much attention to the real world as she backed out of the driveway that morning. Her thoughts were on an unfinished pool cabana in the backyard of the house in Pacific Palisades, and the blankety-blank contractor who wasn’t returning any of her phone calls, who never returned her calls, only her husband’s. Two more days like this and she was going to fire the guy’s ass. Right after she set it on fire.

Another car, idling just past a neighbor’s cedar hedge, came into sight at the last second. Suzie braked hard to avoid hitting the jerk who was parked there. Her heart thudded. That certainly would have been an auspicious way to start her day, a fender bender ten feet from her driveway.

She gave a quick wave into the rearview mirror.

“Sorry!” My bad.

Then she put her silver Mercedes wagon in drive and started down the cul-de-sac toward Sunset. The other car pulled out as well and began to follow, but Suzie Cartoulis didn’t notice.

Her focus had shifted to the nine-year-old boy in the backseat. “Are you all right, Zach? I didn’t mean to stop so suddenly like that.”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“All right. Just checking, sweetie. How about a little music? What do you want to hear?”

She tried not to be overbearing, but it was hard sometimes. Zachary was such a sensitive boy, and he didn’t react well to being ignored, either. Maybe if he had a little brother or sister, but that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Not now that Suzie had become the ten-o’clock anchor. She had finally gotten into the inner sanctum of recognizable faces in L.A.—no small feat for a former weathergirl from Tucson, thank you very much—and she wasn’t going to let another pregnancy slow her down right now. Especially since New York was apparently very interested in her as well.

As if on cue, the phone rang.

Caller ID showed her husband’s cell number, and she juggled the headset up to her ear.

“Hi. Where are you, honey?” She spoke through a frown she was glad Gio wasn’t there to see.

“Miami. I think we’re wrapping up. I have to shoot up to Palm Beach in a minute. Of course, there’s another hurricane on the horizon, so I want to vamoose out of here. We just need a few signatures, but it looks like the contract’s a go.”