It appeared that I was safe, for the moment at least. Nobody was here. I carefully set the note down on the passenger seat, then got in and drove off.
THAT EVENING
It was at 7:15 in the evening, when I was getting ready for my date with Vivienne, that I got the message on my phone from Panetti.
“Mr. James, it's Panetti. Mr. Henderson told me you guys are looking for Mr. Mask. He's gonna be outside the apartment building you guys busted me at in 15 minutes. Please don't mention my name – the guy seems a little crazy. Fifteen minutes sharp. Be there at exactly that time if you want to catch him.”
I replied right away.
“Thanks, Panetti. Don't worry; your secret is safe.”
There was no time to think or do anything else. Thankfully, I had already dropped Jane off with Maggie. Leaving my tie and my bottle of cologne on the table in front of the mirror, I sprinted out to my truck with my shirt still unbuttoned. I would call Vivienne when I was at the apartment building where Mr. Mask was gonna be and tell her I was gonna be late; it would be last minute notice, but I hoped she would understand. This was very, very important business.
I scrambled into my truck, started it up, and gunned the motor, screeching the tires as I tore out of my driveway and raced down the road. I was thinking of Vivienne as I drove, and obviously not wanting to screw things up before they had even started – but my mind was also on Mr. Mask. He had made this personal, and now it was my mission to get him, and this might be the only chance I had, now that he knew we were onto him, and would probably not go around to the park anymore.
I arrived at the alley precisely 13 minutes after Panetti had sent me the message. I had two minutes to spare, so I figured it would be a good time to call Vivienne and explain that I would be late. I hoped that she would understand, even though it was almost literally the last minute.
I reached into my pocket to get my phone – and that's when I realized I had left it on the table, next to my bottle of cologne.
Chapter Seven
Vivienne
It was kind of hard to believe that I was actually going on a date, and the reality of it really did take quite a while to sink in. It wasn't as if I hadn't been on any dates since the end of my disastrous relationship with Simon; it was just that the ones I had been had turned out... not so well. And while I had to admit that at least a little bit of the blame for that was on me, with my trust issues and finicky outlook when it came to men, if we were being completely honest, it was largely because of the very unsuitable men.
As I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and started to apply my makeup, my mind started drifting back to previous dates. I couldn't help but shudder as I thought of the last guy I'd been on a date with. That had been around six or seven months ago, and it had been the one that had convinced me to throw in the dating towel altogether.
The guy, Nigel, was an investment banker, 34 years old. Pretty good-looking and well-built, and he drove a nice car, too. Not that I was into cars, really, but hey, it had been nice to ride in a Porsche, as it wasn't exactly something I got to do very often.
We'd gone to a very nice, classy restaurant – and sitting down at the table had been where the evening had peaked; it had all gone downhill pretty quickly from there. I had barely gotten a word in about myself or my own life; Nigel had been one of the biggest narcissists I had ever had the displeasure of coming across in my life. All he did was talk endlessly about himself, boasting about his money, his achievements, how much he could lift in the gym, how fast he could run, how much his car was worth... Jeez, it had been such a bore. And then at the end of the evening, he tried to make me go home with him and acted like I was a bad person for refusing to have sex with him. Needless to say, his number was promptly deleted from my phone, and he never heard from me again.
And since then, I'd really been off men. I hadn't anything to do with them, not after the series of losers and narcissists I'd been on failed dates with, ever since I finally escaped the nightmare that was Simon.
But now, quite by chance, I had met someone who seemed to be a genuinely decent human being – not to mention being really attractive, a very welcome bonus.
I was doing my best to be grounded and not get my hopes up, because I'd had enough disappointments to last a lifetime, but it was hard not to have at least a little bit of girlish excitement going. From the interactions he and I already had, he really did seem like he might be someone I could really click with on a number of levels.
I looked at my watch; it was seven o' clock now. Not too long to go. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and couldn't help but flash myself a proud grin. I'd always been handy with makeup, and boy, was I working it tonight.
“Lookin' good girl, lookin' good!” I said to myself.
I had a few more touches to add, but there was no need to rush as there was still plenty of time before Everett was due to pick me up. I applied some more mascara; I had become quite an expert in the application of it over the years.
After I was finally done with my hair and makeup, a task that had taken me the best part of an hour, I just headed into the bathroom. I checked my watch and saw that it was 7:15; almost time to go, but at least I had gotten done with a few minutes to spare. I certainly didn't want to be tardy on our first date. As I sat down on the toilet, I heard the roar of a car screaming off down the road, and strangely enough, it sounded a lot like Everett's truck. That was weird, because nobody else on this street had a truck like his, so it was unlikely that it belonged to any of the neighbors. Perhaps it was just a visitor to one of the neighbors’.
Still, I pulled out my phone and checked to see if Everett had sent me any messages, as I was sure that he would let me know if something came up, especially at the last minute. There were no messages, except one that he had sent about an hour earlier. It said,
“Can't wait for tonight. See you soon.”
Well, it looked as if everything was still going according to plan. I finished up in the bathroom and headed out into the living room to watch a bit of TV while I waited the last few minutes before Everett would come and pick me up. On the way to the living room, I happened to pass by a full-length mirror, and I smiled as I caught my reflection. I was in a figure-hugging red dress, short enough to show off my curvy legs, but not so short to come off as being slutty. My black high heels accentuated the curve of my calves, and gave a nice boost to my height. I had straightened my hair, and it shimmered quite gloriously in the soft light, and the handbag I had chosen matched my outfit perfectly. All the effort had been worth it; I looked like a movie star, if I didn't say so myself.
I sat down and flicked on the tube, taking care not to crinkle my dress too much on the sofa. I flicked through the channels until I came to VH1, where they were showing a few clips of classic rock concerts from the 80’s. The live clip I happened to land on during the show was Journey's Don't Stop Believing, another one of my dad's favorites, but now, unlike the other day when I'd had to switch radio stations due to Sweet Child 'o Mine playing, now I actually left Don't Stop Believing on,
and thought of my father with fondness.
“Ah, Dad,” I said, speaking to him, as I sometimes did. “You'd like Everett, I think. He’s your type of guy. I'm so sorry I didn't listen to your warnings when I first started dating Simon. You could see what kind of guy he truly was, and I should have paid more attention to your wisdom. I'm glad, at least, that you weren't around when things got bad between him and I. It would have hurt you so much to have seen what that maniac did to me. But now, Daddy, now I think you'd finally be happy with the guy I've chosen – the guy who has chosen me. Oh, just listen to me! I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. We haven't even gone on the date yet. But you know, Daddy, I really do have a good feeling about this guy. Like I said, he seems like your kind of guy, even though he's not a musician. I bet he's into 80’s rock, though. I'll make sure I ask him about that later tonight. And me flipping through channels and randomly finding Don't Stop Believing, one of your favorite songs, it has to be a sign, right? I sure hope so... I miss you, Dad. I really do.”
As the song played out, I checked my watch again. It was now 7:32. Two minutes late; well, perhaps our watches were on slightly different times. No need to worry. Still, I did get up from the sofa and walk across to the window. I parted the curtain slightly and peered out at Everett's house. The lights were all still on, so I guessed that he was just doing some last-minute things to get ready. I sat down and continued to watch the show. The next song was Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer. They were really hitting me with some good tunes tonight.