Runner

33

As Richard Beale spoke to his father on the telephone he paced from one end of his living room to the other. "You don't have to stay in San Juan Capistrano for long. I just need to have you and Mom and Robert out of here and safe until I'm sure this is over. You don't want that crazy woman climbing in your window some night, do you?"

Andy Beale said, "We're going to do what you ask this time, Richard. One more time we'll do things your way. But this had better solve the problem for good."

"You sound as though this is a big deal. I've already had them move your belongings out there. I don't know what difference it makes whether you're in Capistrano or San Diego."

He could hear his father's breaths coming out of his nose in snorts. "I worked a lifetime so nobody in this family would ever have to worry about money. Now I get to have some peace and do what I want for a few years before I die. I spent a lot of money on my boat, and I like taking it out on the ocean. It isn't saving the damn world or curing the clap, but I like it. If I'm in Capistrano, getting to the harbor and back takes two extra hours."

"Just put up with it for a few days, and then this will be over. Do something besides going out in the boat."

"How can you even be sure she found the other house?"

"She told me the address, and what she said made it clear she had been there to look it over."

"I thought your little gang was going to watch the move to be sure that couldn't happen."

"It's just one of those things. Steve was up all night, and the girls were up until at least four, and the movers got started early. By the time Steve and the girls were there, the first three trucks had already loaded and left. This time it will be safe."

"How the fuck do you know?"

"She was on the phone with me, and the second I hung up I called the moving people to go back out and move everything up to the Capistrano house. That way she won't know where you're staying."

Andy Beale sounded suspicious. "And you immediately thought of San Juan Capistrano, did you? It was the first place that came into your mind. You're not just moving me way up there so I can't keep an eye on what you're doing in the office, are you?"

"Jesus, Dad. Of course not." It was one of several reasons why Richard had chosen the Capistrano house, and directed the moving trucks there without clearing it with his parents first. He had been busy for much of the past month moving money to his own accounts and changing the ownership of certain pieces of property to Richard Beale Enterprises. He had covered the transfers in the books by making them trades of land he held—most of it in the desert—for land the Beale Company held along the ocean. He had done nothing illicit with the Capistrano property, so his father wouldn't get any mail from the county addressed to Richard Beale. But he genuinely didn't want his father to be able to come into the office on a whim and start noticing things.

His father said, "Just make sure there's nothing going on there that I'm not going to like."

"There isn't. You act as though I just drive by there once in a while to pick up a paycheck. I'm in there all day every day, Saturdays included, and a lot of Sundays. Everything that happens there is on my desk in five minutes. Now look, I'm sorry, but I've got to go. There's a lot to do by tonight." He pressed the button on his cell phone to disconnect.

Steve Demming looked at him with suppressed irritation. "Are you ready to pay attention to this now?"

"I'm sorry," said Richard. "I've got to be sure I have the two of them where they're supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to do."

"I suppose you do. But you launched this operation before we even got a chance to set anything up, let alone practice. And this has to be perfect, or it isn't going to work. You've got to be prepared for the possibility that it won't."

"How the hell do I prepare for that?"

"We've got a couple of things. You can't have a weapon on you, so weapons will already be on the premises for you. I've put two in the house and two outside. They're loaded and the safeties are off. If you need one, you pick it up and pull the trigger. You can do that, right?"

"Of course I can. Where are they?"

"One is under the hose reel."

"Hose reel?"

"You know. The thing attached to the house that you crank to reel in the hose. It's in the garden at the back of the house. You reach into the middle of the hose, grab it, and you're ready to fire."

"I hope you're not expecting me to be the one who shoots her."

Demming said, "I'm not expecting you to be the one who shoots her. I just want you to have a couple of options—ways to stay alive—if something goes wrong."

"Where did you hide the other guns?"

"One is in the pool house in the cabinet under the sink. If you have to run for cover, the pool house is a good place, and the gun will be there for you. Another is in the house, inside the coat closet by the front door. It's taped to the wall above the door. You reach up, pull it down, and fire. The last one is in the guest bathroom off the great room, taped behind the toilet tank."

Richard cupped his hands over his nose and mouth and took a few deep breaths into them.

"Is something wrong?" Demming asked. "Are you dizzy or something?"

"A little bit," Richard said. "I'll be okay in a minute." He would have liked to breathe into a paper bag and stave off an anxiety attack, but his hands seemed to be helping. He sat down on the white overstuffed chair beside him, then let his hands fall to his lap.

Demming said, "Don't freak out about this, Richard. We're going to handle every possibility. You and Claudia will be close to her, but Sybil and I will have you two covered from a distance. If trouble happens, you'll head in one direction and Claudia will head in the other. The woman will be standing by herself and one of us will kill her. What's wrong now?"

"The whole thing is just so unreal," said Richard. "I keep thinking, 'How the hell did I get from where I started all the way to this point?' I'm a real estate executive. All of this is like a bad dream."

"Forget that kind of thinking, because it will paralyze you. You're not going to have to do much, but you'll have to do something. I can't get you out of meeting her, because that was what you offered. If you don't show up, she'll know it's an ambush."

"It wasn't as though I wanted to offer her that. I had to do something right then, right at that moment, and I remembered this was what you and Claudia had been planning. She was on the phone getting ready to hang up, and I knew I had one chance."

Sybil Landreau's tall, skinny shape appeared in the hallway. "She's all set."

Demming said, "Let's see."

Sybil held out her right hand, and a woman stepped out of the guest room. She was pretty and small featured. Her eyes had been made up with shadow and eyeliner to make them seem bigger, and her tinted contact lenses made her irises blue. Her hair was shoulder length and chestnut colored, and it had a tendency to fall over one eye when she cocked her head. Her lipstick had been brushed on to imitate Christine's full lips. She walked with small steps, and she wore a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie.

"Oh, my God," said Demming. "You look exactly like Christine. Exactly."

"Think so?" said Claudia.

"Absolutely. You're right on the money. Don't you think so, Richard?" Demming's forced smile begged for the right answer.

"Perfect," Richard said. He smiled, too. "I mean you were perfect before as yourself, Claudia, but this ... This is something."

Sybil and Claudia went back into the guest room and closed the door.

"She doesn't look like Christine," Richard said. "She's short, but she's not the same body type as Christine. What are we doing? Why say she does, if she doesn't? She's ten years older, and Christine gained thirty-five pounds in the pregnancy, at least."

"She'll be wearing padding, and that'll make her look fat," said Demming. "The wig is a perfect match for Christine's hair. She's the same height as Christine, and with the makeup, she's fine. You've got to remember it will be midnight, and there will only be a sliver of moon tonight. Once she's out of the house it will be like walking around in the bottom of a well. If the woman gets close enough to see the difference, Claudia will be close enough to shoot her."

"Jesus, Steve. I don't know about this. I don't think we should make her think she'll fool anybody. It could make her take chances."

Demming put his arm around Richard's shoulder. "We don't have a choice. You're the one who talked to this woman, and we're locked into giving her a Christine. Claudia is our only possible Christine. All we can do is make her feel confident and back her up."

Sybil Landreau reappeared and stood a few feet off, waiting. When Demming saw her he nodded. "Now we've got some more things to do before dark. We'll see you later." He and Sybil went outside, and in a moment Richard heard Demming's car accelerating onto the coast road.

Richard sat on one of the living room couches, leaning back with his face toward the ceiling and his eyes closed. He didn't want to succumb to the fear, the shortness of breath, the throbbing in his head that made him feel sick. He knew that he needed to rest now, before the long night.

He heard something quiet, a swish, a rustle, and smelled perfume a half-second before he felt the lips against his. He opened his eyes just as Claudia's face pulled back a few inches. Her hair was blond again, and her eyes were brown.

"A sweet kiss, but a little short," she said.

"Are you making a fool of me?" he asked.

"No. You'll have to do that yourself." She lowered her head again and kissed him deeply, lingering there and letting her tongue tickle his lips and then slip into his mouth. They kissed for a minute or two. He put his arms around her and noticed that she had changed her clothes, too. She was wearing a light sundress held up by two thin straps. He moved his hand along her spine and verified that there was nothing under the dress. She tugged it back down and sat up, then looked out the large back windows at the ocean and squinted. "It's so bright. Come to the bedroom."

He got up and followed Claudia into the hallway. When she turned toward the guest bedroom where she had changed, he gently placed his hands on her hips and steered her into the master suite. He turned around to close the door and lock it.

When he turned back, she was kneeling on the bed, pulling the dress off over her head. She met his eyes. "Sex calms the nerves. I knew I could get you to help me out, Richard. You're such a whore."