Then she felt the harsh pillow of the door shift and soften. She looked up. Yes, it was opening. Pure light flooded the room. Wonderful light, blinking, flashing light. Human voices.
“Tania Marie. Look over here, baby. Give me a smile. Yes, that’s right. Good girl. Another one, okay?”
“Tania Marie. How long have you been coming here?”
“Hey, Tania Marie. Where’d you get that swimsuit? What size is it, anyway?”
Reporters. Every shape, every breed, every medium, closed in on her as the darkness had just moments before. She had thought someone was going to kill her in the sauna. Now she realized what was really going on. Here she was, barely able to speak, and looking like the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. And every frigging reporter in town was here to witness it.
She put up her hand between them and her, not much of a shield. She was not going to die. She would only wish she were dead, and that was far worse than what she had imagined when the lights went out.
“I can’t talk right now,” she said.
“Just tell us how you got locked in here, Tania Marie,” demanded an aggressive male reporter.
“Men aren’t allowed in this club,” she said. “I suggest you and your photographer get the hell out of here.”
“Aw, Tania Marie.” The reporter tried to get flirty on her, but she’d had lessons in flirty from the champ.
She motioned toward the hall, where her locker, her clothes, waited.
“Out,” she said.
The reporter hesitated at the doorway. “Just a few questions.”
“Out,” Tania Marie repeated. Then, looking beyond him, she saw the arrogant reporter who’d gotten pushy with her at Bobby’s party. Rikki, whatever her name was.
Braver now, breathing easier, Tania Marie got in her face. “You did this to me, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t do anything.” Color tinged Rikki Whatever’s cheeks.
The others turned to look at her. Good. Now the bitch knew how it felt.
“Sure, you did.” Tania Marie raised her voice as she thought about the indignity of it, the naked fear.Turn it around.That’s what Virginia always said she did when she was battling her way to success in the restaurant business. Probably the only parental advice she’d ever received came to Tania Marie the moment she needed it:When someone comes after you, baby, turn it around on them.
“You locked me in here, damned near snuffed me in the sauna. Then you come waltzing in, pretending it’s just a coincidence. Did you call these other assholes, too?”
Murmured voices mulled over her questions. The reporter’s pale cheeks blazed.
“I didn’t call anyone,” she said.
“Well, then, it’s pretty amazing that you just happened to be at Bobby Warren’s party last night when Julie Larimore’s hacked-up dress got delivered. Even more amazing, you broke down when you saw that dress.”
“Everyone in town’s followingyou.”Rikki slipped so close to her that Tania Marie could see the variegated blues of her eyes. “Anyone could have followed you in here and called the rest of us.”
“Somebody called you?” The information derailed her for a moment, and she pulled the towel closer. She’d been so sure it was this one.
“Left a message for me at my hotel,” the reporter said. “Believe me, I’m not interested in embarrassing you, though. I just want to talk about Julie Larimore.”
Her eyes almost looked honest, but Tania Marie had been tricked by honest eyes before. She’d been tricked by cameras, flashing as these did, by friendly voices saying, as these did, “Tania Marie, look over here.”
Oh, shit. What was she going to do, standing here, freezing, with her thighs hanging out of her suit and only a towel to protect her from the frenzied reporters?
“If you mean that,” she said, “help me get out of here. Help me get to my cell phone, so I can call my bodyguard.”
Yes, Virginia was right, as usual. She really did need a bodyguard.
EIGHT
