Chasing Tomorrow
Page 82
“Oh my God! Watch what you’re doing!”
A clumsy dark-haired woman bumped into Svetlana from behind, so hard she almost went flying. Her glass flew out of her hand, dousing the man in front of her in red wine.
The dark-haired woman moved forward. Pulling a handkerchief out of her purse, Svetlana began dabbing ineffectually at the huge purple stain on the man’s dress shirt.
He brushed her away, irritated. “It’s fine. I’ll go clean up in the bathroom.”
“What happened?” Bianca Berkeley turned around. The man with the stained shirt was her publicist.
He gestured toward Svetlana. “This chick just dumped a glass of red all over me!”
“How rude! It wasn’t my fault.”
Voices began to get raised. Butch Berkeley joined the discussion, quizzing the second Scientology minder while the first argued loudly with Svetlana. Jean Rizzo’s antenna shot up. This is it! Something’s going down. He walked toward the group, but Oleg Grinski stepped in front of him, wrapping an arm around his mistress and temporarily obstructing Jean’s view.
By the time Jean got past the Russian, Bianca Berkeley was nowhere to be seen.
IT HAD HAPPENED SO quickly, at first Bianca thought she’d misheard. But the dark-haired woman repeated herself, leaning in close to Bianca’s ear.
“FBI. You’re in grave danger, Miss Berkeley. Please come with me.”
A frisson of fear, tinged with excitement, ran through Bianca’s body. Butch mocked her, called her a conspiracy theorist. But she’d always known there were dark forces out there, trying to harm her. Here, at last, was the proof.
She followed the woman into one of the powder rooms and locked the door.
JEAN RIZZO RAN OUT onto the fire stairs.
No sign.
His heart rate began to quicken. It was happening, now, somewhere in this building, and he was going to miss it. Somehow, Kennedy and Stevens had outsmarted him. But they weren’t even here! It made no sense.
Back in the conservatory, he grabbed a waiter. “I’m looking for Bianca Berkeley. Do you know who that is?”
“No, sir. I’m afraid I don’t.”
“She’s wearing a long black dress with her hair up.”
“I’m sorry, sir. There are a lot of black dresses.”
“She has a huge emerald necklace on.”
“Oh! Yes.” The man’s face lit up. “I do know the lady. She came through here a few moments ago with her friend.”
Jean’s heart tightened.
“I think they were headed to the powder room. It’s right over . . .”
Jean was already running.
“YOU UNDERSTAND, MISS BERKELEY?”
Bianca nodded, her eyes wide with fright. The excitement had all gone now. This was no made-for-TV drama. This was real.
“The ambulance is on its way? You’re sure.”
“My colleagues already called. You’ll be fine, ma’am. You have time.”
“Oh God!” Bianca started sobbing. “I can feel it already. My skin! It’s burning!”