Love Never Dies (20 page)

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It was purely a fluke that Simon spotted Ad
am Gable at all. He’d left Julia to Stan’s diligent watch and headed toward the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, which is renowned as an open-air museum, and even though the jacarandas were not in bloom he ambled about, examining the works of many notable twentieth-century sculptors such as Henry Matisse, Jean Arp, and Henry Moore. He needed to place some distance between him and the young elementary teacher he so desperately wanted to protect, so he wandered through the heavily vegetated path, enjoying some of the often odd-shaped sculptures.

Simon suddenly noticed a tall pallid man hovering near the scaly trunk of a sleepy jacaranda tree.
This time his eyes didn’t deceive him; it
was
the same man from the silver BMW and matched to a ‘t’ the snapshot Stan had flashed him several minutes earlier. The gaunt man watched him intently and Simon pretended not to notice, his heart thudding painfully as he headed back toward the Dickson Plaza, pretending to search for the men’s toilets. He quickly scurried into Royce Hall and hid inside the first archway. Sure enough, the hurried steady tread of the quickly moving man passed by the entry he’d just ducked into.

“D
amn,” he cursed. They’d been followed, and what better place for Adam Gable to strike than in the middle of the UCLA campus amongst thousands of people. Simon hurried back toward the stage where Connie and her troupe had just finished their performance. He searched vainly for Julia, finally discovering her near a jewelry stand fingering a heavy amber necklace.

“Julia,” he tried to say nonchalantly. “I think I’ve had just about as much cu
lture as I can stand and I’m dying to see Tinsel Town. Are you ready to take me to Hollywood so that I can get my fix of celebrities on the Walk of Fame?”

Julia
glanced up and smiled. “There’s still a lot to do here. Are you sure you want to take off now?”

“Positive,” stated
Simon firmly. “It’s just that my hip is really bothering me and I need sit down for a while. I thought maybe we could have some lunch somewhere. I’d stay here, but this loud music is really getting to me.”

Julia grinned. “So m
ariachi bands are not to your taste, kind sir?”

“I like them in small doses;
very
small doses. I know that you might want to come back here later so why don’t we take my car and leave yours here?”

“Whew,” said Julia after a particularly loud trumpet blast. “I can see your point. I’m ready to go as well.
However, I’d rather take my car back to the hotel since I wouldn’t mind retrieving a sweater. It can get quite chilly here in the evenings, being so close to the ocean, and I’m sure we’ll be out for while.”

“Alright,” said Simon hesitantly, casting a glance over his shoulder.
Neither Stan nor Adam Gable was anywhere to be seen. “We’ll meet back at the hotel then.”

While it went against his better judgment, Simon followed her as she headed toward the Getaway Suites.
Julia took her own sweet time too, and for the first time he felt some impatience with the seemingly content woman. Simon watched as she parked her car and disappeared inside her room lugging some of the heavy photographic equipment. He made a quick dash to his own room, picking up his spare cash and an extra box of cartridges. Five minutes later, jacket in hand, he met Julia at his 4x4.

“If your leg’s hurting
I can drive if you want?” Her handbag and a brown wool coat hung over her arm.

“No, I think I’d like to drive.”

“But if you’re in pain it would only make sense for me to drive. C’mon?”

“Then why don’t you take a spin in my Pajer
o?” he asked. He’d feel more secure in the bronze off-road vehicle.

“That sounds like fun,
” said Julia, smiling at the truck. Within moments, she’d hoisted herself up into the driver’s seat and adjusted the rearview mirror. “This is a very nice truck. I can see why both you and Seth enjoy 4x4s.”

“Yeah,” croaked Simon
, peering about the nearly empty parking lot. Luckily for them the silver Beamer hadn’t shown up yet. “Do you want me to navigate?” he asked.

“C’mon now, you’re talking about a
southern California resident here. I can get you to the Strip with my eyes closed.”

Julia was an excellent driver
. It took only a matter of moments before she acclimated herself to the heavier steering mechanism of the truck and Simon breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto Santa Monica Boulevard. Within fifteen minutes, he was convinced they hadn’t been followed as she parallel parked on Hollywood Boulevard, only two blocks from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. They strolled down the star-studded lane, pausing every few steps to read the famous and sometimes nearly forgotten names from Hollywood’s golden age.

“Wow,” said Simon
, quite impressed by the splattering of stars extending down the sidewalk. As they approached the famous theatre Julia recited the names.

“
Look Simon, here’s Kevin Spacey. Oh, and one of my favorites, Spencer Tracy. Remember Groucho Marx and his crazy brothers?”

They passed Julie Andrews and Greta Garbo, Willi
am Shatner and Tom Cruise. Even singers such as Elton John and Michael Jackson had added their stars to the famous Walk of Fame. Julia paused before the Chinese Theatre’s gaudy facade and pointed to the forecourt housing 173 star’s footprints and handprints.

“This is the priciest real estate here Simon.
If you make it to Grauman’s forecourt, you’re truly a superstar.” Julia swung the camera off her shoulder as Simon knelt by Clark Gable’s square as she snapped a photo for memory’s sake.

Simon
shook his head in amazement. “I’d read about this place, but had no idea it was so extensive. Look, here’s Judy Garland who wrote, ‘
For Mr. Grauman... All Happiness
,’ and it’s dated 1939. There’s George Lucas and Tom Hanks, and near him, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Thanks so much Julia, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

After finishing their often-
amazed scrutiny of the forecourt, they continued their quest for quite a while, still enthusiastically reading the stars until Simon, his leg truly aching, asked if they could rest and have something to eat. They sat upon canvas director’s style seats in a sidewalk cafe and sipped diet sodas while sharing a plate of nachos as they watched tourists from all over the world stroll by. A particularly excited group of Japanese tourists halted at every star and snapped a picture.

“You’d think
it would be cheaper to buy the book,” murmured Simon, as he placed a crunchy tortilla chip smothered in olives, guacamole, and sour cream inside his mouth. “This is definitely something Toronto is missing
;
good authentic Mexican food.”

“Maybe you should change your career line and open up a Mexican restaurant. I’m sure you would make a fortune.”

“Oh, I don’t know.
French cuisine as well as seafood from the Maritimes dominates most restaurant fare.” He scanned the busy sidewalk for the skeletal Adam Gable and relaxed when the gaunt man was nowhere to be seen. For the time being they seemed safe, but his fingers itched to call Angus.

After their delicious snack, Simon excused himself and headed for the men’s room.
Once inside, he flipped open his cell phone and gave Toronto a call. Angus’ answering machine locked in after only four rings and Simon left a terse message. Simon then dialed Stan Garten’s cell. The phone rang endlessly but never logged onto any message system. A wave of trepidation passed over him. It was not like Stan to disregard calls and as Simon hurried out of the men’s room his eyes immediately sought Julia. She was window-shopping, her camera looped over the shoulder of the pale peach top.

“Is your leg well enough to continue?” she asked sympathetically.

“I think the rest did help, but I feel like strolling back to the car.”

“Will you
look at that,” stated Julia’s amused voice ten minutes later as they paused in front of a trendy clothing store. “Isn’t it amazing?”

If Sim
on’s attention hadn’t been directed to the huge glass store front, he’d never have glimpsed the reflection of the silver BMW gliding slowly down the street. The blue-haired mannequin sat perched on a red chair in a shimmering lime-green dress and glass hat while blowing huge pink bubbles out of a toy pipe. The Beamer slowed down to get a better view as it headed in the opposite direction. The narrow face of Adam Gable peered out of the open car window and once he’d spotted Julia and Simon he speeded up, searching for a place to make a u-turn. Simon immediately jerked Julia around and hurried down the sidewalk, avoiding tourists who’d paused to study the imprints upon the sidewalk.

“We need to go,” he hissed under his breath
, and Julia jerked her arm away from him, surprised at his bullying manner.

“What on earth?”

Simon realized
that in less than two hundred yards the BMW would be able to make a u-turn and dragged Julia to the Pajero, pressing the security system and thrusting her toward the car after the telltale beep.

“Get in,” he demanded.

“What do you mean? You were all fired up about visiting here an hour ago and now you want to leave?”

“I said get in the car,” he ground between his teeth
, and practically threw her onto the passenger seat. Her face paled as he jumped up as quickly as his hurt leg would allow into the driver’s seat and ground the gears in his haste. Simon waited until the BMW headed toward him and then suddenly pulled out, gunning the engine before engineering a severe u-turn in front of a city transit bus. Julia shrieked as he streaked in the opposite direction from the BMW, the impatient bus driver blasting his horn at the 4x4. Simon immediately hung a sharp right.

“Where’s the nearest
on-ramp?” he demanded, realizing they had only a minute or so to lose the silver BMW.

Julia frantic
ally buckled herself in before backing against the car door as if he were a madman.

“If you make a right over there you it’ll put you on the
Hollywood freeway. Simon, what are you doing?” The last came as a frightened shriek as Simon pulled onto the ramp, his foot ramming the accelerator and they hurled full throttle onto the freeway, barely missing a red Subaru as he merged into the traffic. “Now you’re starting to frighten me Simon, what’s going on?”

“We’re being followed,” he shot out, casting a quick glance at her shocked face.

“What do you mean we’re being followed? Followed by whom?”

“By a man n
amed Adam Gable who works for another man called Joe Alletti.”

“Ad
am Gable and Joe Alletti? I’ve never heard of them, so why would they be following us? Are they the police?”

Simon snorted depreciatively.
“Not in the least. And they’re following you because of Seth.” The confused expression passing over Julia’s face was enough to plunge Simon into despair. So much for her emotional recovery.

“But Seth...
Seth’s been dead these past ten months. I don’t understand!”

Simon changed lanes and studied the rearview mirror.
“I can’t talk to you about it right now and while I know it’s a hard thing to ask you, I’m begging you to trust me Julia. Trust me because you loved Seth.” Julia didn’t appear trusting in the least; in fact she looked about to leap from the vehicle. “Please Julia, you’ve got to help me since I’m not familiar with this area. If we continue heading south on the 101, where’s the best place to get off if I need to exit quickly?”

Julia shivered and grabbed the dash as Simon swerved around a Ford Bronco.
“If you keep on this highway you’re going to run into the Burbank Freeway or 134 toward Pasadena, but our hotel is that way. You’re going the wrong way Simon!” she cried.

“I’m fully aware our hotel’s in the opposite direction, but I can’t worry about that right now.
Toward Pasadena; that sounds as good a choice as any. Isn’t that where the Rose Parade is held?”

“Yes,” whispered Julia
, scrunching back as far away from him as the confines of the 4x4 would allow. Simon immediately veered north and within a few miles looped onto the 134. His eyes continually returned to the rearview mirror and Julia became so paranoid she began peering out the rear window of the Pajero, clueless as to just what she should be looking for. One thing was for certain, the man beside her had changed from a casual carefree tourist into a man she didn’t remotely know. Her chest burned in fright and Julia kept whispering Seth’s name, hoping he could somehow protect her against his maniac brother.

“I have an important question to ask you Julia.
Has anyone unfamiliar approached you within the last few days for any reason; perhaps to strike up a conversation with you, or ask for your help or something?”

“I’m... ah...
not sure. I talk to a lot of people; I’m a teacher for God’s sake!”

“This man would have been a tall, dark-haired fellow with a sallow face, way too thin for his height.”