Fool Me Twice

25

Jesse parked his cruiser near the entrance to the footbridge that led to his house.

Wilson Cromartie was leaning against the railing, watching a flock of gulls as they made their way across the horizon, occasionally dipping into the sea in search of prey. He looked up when he heard Jesse approach.

“How,” he said, raising his palm.

Jesse smiled.

Crow was a full-blooded Apache, well over six feet tall, dressed casually but elegantly. He wore a white shirt, pressed jeans, polished boots, and a silver concho belt. He was inordinately handsome, and he moved with an easy grace. He was all angles and planes, as if he had been packed very tightly into himself. His muscles bulged against his taut skin like sharp corners. Everything about him spoke of tightly compressed force.

“So when do I get to meet her?”

“Now, if you want.”

“It’s not every day that a humble Indian brave gets to rub elbows with a real-life movie star,” he said.

“So long as that’s all you rub,” Jesse said.

—

Frankie was in her motor home, sorting through a huge stack of bills, when Jesse and Crow showed up.

“You’re the bodyguard,” she said to Crow.

“I’m Wilson Cromartie. On occasion I perform services as a personal security specialist.”

Frankie looked at him.

“And you’re interested in performing these services for Marisol Hinton.”

“Not until I meet her.”

“And if the meeting goes well?”

“Then perhaps I’ll accept the assignment. Provided the money’s right.”

“What’s right?”

Crow mentioned a number.

Frankie gulped.

“Have you any credentials which I might present to her,” she said.

“No.”

“No credentials?”

Crow didn’t say anything.

“I see,” she said.

She looked at Jesse, who shrugged.

“Would you like to meet her?”

“Does she bite?”

“She’s a movie star. She does whatever she wants. Come with me.”

They left the motor home and headed for the wardrobe trailer, where Marisol was being fitted for one of her costumes. They knocked and were ushered inside.

Marisol was standing on a platform, modeling a full-length evening gown. A twenty-something man was instructing two middle-aged women on how to alter the hem of the gown.

Marisol looked at Crow, regarding him with a mixture of curiosity and amusement.

He looked at her impassively. It was difficult to gauge all that he saw, but Jesse knew from experience that he saw everything.

Frankie whispered to the young man, who then clapped his hands. The two women helped Marisol remove the gown. For a brief instant, she stood unself-consciously before her visitors, dressed only in her panties. Then one of the women hastily draped a bathrobe over her shoulders and the three of them left the trailer. Marisol closed the robe and tied the sash.

“Mr. Cromartie,” she said.

“Crow,” he said.

“What exactly is it that you do, Crow?”

“I provide personal security services.”

“Are you good at it?”

Crow didn’t say anything.

Marisol moved closer to him.

“I’m concerned about my husband,” she said, lowering her voice.

“Concerned how,” Crow said.

“We’re going through an ugly divorce. He frightens me.”

“Is he here in Paradise?”

“Not that I know of.”

“But you’re frightened of him regardless.”

“I am.”

“And you want protection.”

“Yes.”

Crow didn’t say anything.

“Are you tough, Mr. Crow,” Marisol said.

Crow looked at her.

“Tough enough,” he said.

She stepped back.

“He’ll do,” she said to Frankie.

—

Crow agreed to start immediately. He insisted on an adjoining room in Marisol’s hotel. Frankie promised to do what she could.

After leading Crow to Marisol’s trailer, Frankie and Jesse wandered off.

“You were right,” she said.

“In what way?”

“He’s awesome.”

“He’ll do.”

Frankie laughed.

“Do you have dinner plans,” Jesse said.

“I’m up to my neck in work. I’m going to eat at my desk.”

“Think how much more fulfilled you’d be were you to engage in an evening of gourmandizing and debauchery.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“I can offer you both,” he said.

“And you a highly respected officer of the law.”

“Only during business hours.”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Let the games begin,” she said.