Page 112 of Never Flinch

Corrie looks for a long time, then shakes her head. “I don’t know. It happened so fast, it was raining, and if it was this man, he was wearing women’s clothes as well as a wig. A skirt, or maybe it was a dress. So I can’t—”

Kate comes in. “Want to get going, ladies. Come on, come on, come on.”

“Holly thinks she might have found the woman stalking us. Only if she’s right, it’s a man.”

“Which wouldn’t surprise me,” Kate says. “They’re usually the dangerous ones.” She takes a quick look at the picture on Holly’s tablet, then says, “Not bad-looking.”

“Think back and look again, Corrie.”

Corrie looks, then shakes her head. “I can’t tell. I wish I could, Holly, but—”

“We have to roll,” Kate says. “Do your sleuthing in the Buckeye, Hols. If this dodo is after me, he might already be there.”

3

On the way to Buckeye City, Holly has a flash of inspiration. She pulls into the parking lot of a Shoney’s and calls Jerome. He answers, but in the background she hears loud, echoing music. Lots of honking brass.

“I’m at the Mingo!” he shouts.“Met Sista Bessie! They’re rehearsing ‘Twist and Shout!’ Fantastic! Barb’s singing with the group! It’s—”He’s interrupted by a flurry of drums.

“What?”

“I said you won’t believe how good she is! They all are! I’ll send you a video!”

“Okay, but I need you to do something for me! Can you go somewhere quiet?”

“What?”

“CAN YOU GO SOMEWHERE QUIET?”

A few seconds later, the music is muted. “Is that better?” Jerome asks.

“Yes.” She tells him what she needs, and Jerome says he’ll see what he can do.

“And send me that video. I want to see Barbara doing the Twist.”

4

Holly would dearly love to stop by her cozy little apartment and throw her road clothes in the washer. Put some fresh ones in her suitcase. Perhaps drink an espresso at her kitchen table in a bar of sunshine. Continue to research the Real Christ Holy Church of Baraboo Junction, Wisconsin, and possibly watch a video of Barbara onstage at the Mingo, dancing and singing.

Mostly she’d like to be by herself.

On the drive from Toledo, she finally gave in to the conscious acknowledgement that she doesn’t like Kate much, Kate with her one-track mind and her somehow tiresome zealotry. She still admires Kate’s courage, energy, and charm (the latter mostly deployed when she needs something or someone), but on that two-hour drive she alsofaced the fact that Kate is her employer rather than her client.I hold her towel, Holly thought, and what a miserable thought it was.

Instead of her apartment, she goes directly to the Garden City Plaza, pulling up at the check-in curb behind Kate’s truck. The autograph-and-souvenir speculators have for the time being been crowded out by Kate supporters and Sista Bessie fans. The supporters line the other side of the street, holding up a banner that reads WELCOME KATE McKAY! WOMAN POWER FOREVER!

Kate approaches them and Holly, getting out of her boat of a Chrysler and hurrying to her side, thinks,Here we go again.

Kate makes hercome on, come on, come ongesture. The supporters cheer and the few right-to-lifers in attendance boo heartily.

What will Holly do if someone flashes a gun? Pull Kate down? Yes, probably. Throw herself in front of her, a human shield?

Good question.

Kate doesn’t hesitate in the lobby, just goes directly into the bar to get out of sight. Holly joins Corrie at the desk to do the check-in dance.

5

Chris arrives in Buckeye City at three PM. The Garden City Plaza has valet parking, but mindful of Deacon Fallowes’s instruction to leave as faint a digital trail as possible, he parks in a public lot two blocks away, paying cash at the booth for three days… although he fully expects to be either dead or in jail after tomorrow night.

---