“Why?”

He held up a ruby glass slipper. “This sculpture was the centerpiece of their collection! They had a picture of it in the article. Wally, we are in possession of stolen property! What are we going to do? If we hand these sculptures over to the police, and then they trace the stun gun to me, they’ll never believe we didn’t steal these ourselves!”

24

I n the crowded lobby of the Gates Hotel, Kit was sitting in a folding chair that had been provided by a staff member. Her crutches were on the floor beside her. Dexter, who had proclaimed he would watch for Georgina all night if he had to, had gone back to the bar to drown his sorrows over his company’s pending shame. Kit wanted to keep her eye on the front door just in case Georgina returned. In her heart she knew that there was more of a chance that the Queen of England would appear in the flesh.

Georgina won’t be back anytime soon, Kit thought. She is somewhere out there in this dark dark night with that poor guy. If I hadn’t gone to the comedy club with her, he might not be in this predicament. If Georgina had gone alone, the timing would have been different. But, Kit reasoned, trying to make herself feel better, she might have picked up somebody else. She had certainly done it before when she was out alone. Still, Kit couldn’t help but feel that she was somewhat responsible for the fate of Chip Jones.

A memory that sometimes haunted Kit suddenly came to mind. She was about eight or nine years old and playing outside her house with some of the neighborhood kids. One of the boys asked her for a piece of candy. Kit said she’d give him one of her gumballs if he’d race her around the block on their bicycles. In the middle of the race, the boy went head over heels off his bike and knocked out his front teeth.

Kit had been tormented. If only I’d just given him the candy, she often thought. It was an accident with permanent repercussions. I certainly didn’t want to hurt him, and to this day it bothers me. How can Georgina go out and deliberately hurt innocent people? It was so hard for her to fathom. And who’s to say that she won’t get more violent?

“Kit!”

Kit turned her head. Regan, Billy, Melanie, and the security chief reappeared. Red-cheeked and slightly out of breath, they all looked as if they’d just run a marathon. But they seemed to possess a renewed urgency. “Did you find anything?” she asked.

“Pictures of her victims,” Regan said quickly. “I’ll show you in the car.” She turned to Cal. “I can’t thank you enough. You have my cell phone number. When you get the address of that bar, let me know.”

“I will. And we’ll watch for Georgina.”

“Kit, where’s Dexter?” Melanie asked.

“He went back to the bar. He’s pretty upset.”