The door was open slightly, but all the sheers were closed. Jack’s way of avoiding any more pictures. She knocked, then went in. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Wearing Balinese batik lounge pants and a tank top, he was in the chair, feet up on the coffee table. The frown on his face spoke volumes. “They got a picture of me anyway last night.”
“I know. I saw it. Night-vision lens or something, I guess.”
“Leeches.”
She held up the art supply store bag. “Frankie got yarn.” She held up the grapes. “And here are your grapes.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks, man. I do appreciate that.” He got up and took both bags back to the chair. “Nice yarn. It’ll look good in here.” He put that bag beside the chair and opened the grapes. “I heard from Angelo.”
Harper took a seat on the couch. “Okay. What’s the news?”
He popped a grape into his mouth. “Monica is a scam artist, man.”
Harper nodded. “That tracks.”
“Angelo is legit. He found out all kinds of stuff about her. She’s got three aliases, and a criminal record that includes fraud, felony theft, and extortion. Not to mention some outstanding warrants.”
Harper blinked. “Holy cow. So what she’s doing to you is nothing new.”
“As old as time, man.” He ate another grape. “These are good.”
“I’m glad. If Angelo found all this out, why don’t you look happier? Seems like she’d be easy enough to make go away.”
“It’s got to be done right, you know?” Jack sat back, feet up on the coffee table again, grapes in his lap. “She still has those pictures of me. In this day and age, an accusation from her will spread like wildfire. No matter what’s she’s done. No matter what the truth is. You know how it is, man.”
She did know. All too well. “What did Angelo say?”
Jack sighed and ran a hand over his scruff. “He said he might be able to take care of things, but that it would be best if I didn’t know too much.”
Harper made a face. “You don’t think he means… No, he was a cop. He can’t meanthat.”
Jack snorted. “Well, he didn’t ask for any more money, so I’m guessing no, Harper, he’s not bumping her off.”
That seemed like a good time to change the subject. “Speaking of money, how would you feel about possibly participating in a local library fundraiser?”
His eyes narrowed. “In what way?”
“This is all very loose, and I haven’t talked to Mitch yet, but I was thinking about having you do a reading. A passage from one of Mitch’s books. Like I said, I haven’t talked to him yet, so that would need to happen first to get his permission, but it would be great press. A nice way to counterbalance anything else that might come out.”
Jack shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. I’m trying to lay low, you know. It’s a local library?” He held the bag of grapes out to her.
She lifted her hand to say no thanks. “That’s right. Frankie and I went to it today. It’s nice. Small and probably underfunded, but that’s the point of the event. To bring some money in. I talked to the head librarian and she’s open to bringing in a big name. I didn’t tell her who, just that I had some Hollywood connections and might be able to provide them with someone on short notice.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I want to draw any attention to myself. The press is bad enough as it is.” He threw a grape into the air and caught it in his mouth. “What about Mitch?”
“I plan on talking to Mitch about it tonight. See what he says. I think he’ll be okay with it, but he’s not much on public appearances. Still, it’s for a good cause. I understand you not wanting to do it, though. I just thought it would be good press. As opposed to what might be coming.”
“It would be, you’re right, but I don’t think I’m up for it.”
“It’s okay,” Harper said. “It was just a thought.”
“It was a good one. I’ll make a donation, though. Happy to do that. I just think it’s better if there’s less of me in the news right now. Especially because I don’t know how long it’s going to take Angelo to do whatever it is he’s doing.”
“Is he going to tell you? Whenthingsare taken care of?”
“I guess so.” Jack put his feet on the floor and the bag of grapes on the table. He picked up the knitting supplies and looked inside the bag. “Until then, I’ve got some work to do.”
