The Tin Collector

Chapter 46

HALF AN HOUR LATER she came out of the Coral Reef Yacht Club and, shading her eyes with a four-by-five card, stood amidst milling news crews.

Shane could see her from the road, a slender figure standing defiantly in the entryway, looking toward the empty space where the yellow T-bird had been parked.

Shane had just tried to get Sandy on the phone again, but with no luck. He folded his cell and watched from the road, three hundred yards away, as Alexa walked uncertainly to the empty parking spot, reached down, and picked up his note. Then she turned and headed toward the main road, quickening her pace when she saw him, walking out the main gate and approaching the car. She frowned when she saw Shane's sweat-plastered shirt.

"Did you decide to take a swim?"

"I can't handle this steam bath they got down here." She nodded and handed him the card in her hand.

"What's this?"

"Logan's having a barbecue. He borrowed Elton John's house to celebrate. I'm invited. I can bring a guest, but I'll be damned if I'm showing up with a guy who looks like he's been playing in the sprinklers."

"I'll stop on the way and buy a new shirt. Let's go." They got into the T-bird and drove off.

They actually made two stops, first at a drugstore for deodorant and a razor, then at a small department store, where Shane bought a new white shirt and Alexa bought a simple cocktail dress. After he washed up and shaved in the employee bathroom, Shane felt 50 percent better.

He walked out and got into the idling T-bird, joining Alexa in the lukewarm stream of tobacco-scented air. "That looks good on you," he said, glancing appreciatively at the way the short pale blue dress fit her trim, athletic body.

"Thanks," she said noncommittally.

They drove up Cutter Road, back toward Coral Gables.

The beautiful Japanese banyan trees hung overhead, strobing leafy shadows across the T-bird's hood. They turned right on Casuarina Concourse and drove east, toward the water.

Elton John's house was not hard to spot. The press was already there. Shane turned into the winding drive and waited in a long line of cars while the guests showed their numbered invitations and were checked off a list.

"By the way, I'm Whitney Green, WMI Radio. Whitney does the noon show and couldn't make it."

"How the hell did you get invited?"

"I promised Whitney's husband, Don, I'd have a drink with him later."

"Yuck."

"Double yuck. You haven't seen him."

They pulled up to the man checking invitations. Alexa leaned across Shane and handed over her engraved card. "Whitney Green and guest," she said as the security guard wearing a tailored blazer checked the invitation, then nodded. Two valets opened both doors. Shane and Alexa got out as a man in a red jacket ran up, jumped into the car, and pulled away.

As they joined a line of people heading up the drive toward the house, they could hear a band playing. They walked under a large balloon arch stretched across the driveway, done in red and black Spiders football colors, with a large sign that read: