The Queen of Cool (34 page)

Alisha nodded.

“
You’re giving me that
lawyer look,” Lo said.

“
You’re right,” Alisha
said. “I am.”

“
And?”

“
Hmm,” Alisha
said.

“
What?”

“
When are you going to tell
me what’s really going on?” Alisha asked.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Hey,” Lisa yelled from the
front of the offices. “Lo? Alisha?”

“
This conversation is not
over,” Alisha stood to get Lisa.

Lo smiled. Lisa blew in like a fresh spring
breeze. She’d had a lovely day at the zoo. Talking a mile a minute,
Lisa took over the conversation. Alisha gave Lo a strong look
before the conversation was consumed with Queen of Cool business.
Lo leaned back in her chair.

For the next hour, she didn’t have to think
about what, or who, killed Don. She didn’t have to figure anything
out or be the super responsible adult. She had the luxury of being
the president of a new and growing air conditioning company. When
they were done, Lo managed to escape Alisha’s clutches without
telling her anything.

But Lo knew Alisha. She would not give up
until she knew what was going on. By that time, Lo would have
something to tell her. She hoped.

Q

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Monday, early morning—2:05 a.m.

Fairmount Historic District

Days: 157

Lo opened her eyes.

Where was she?

Why did her head hurt?

Like a shard of glass, the light passed
through her eyes and into her head. Her hand went to the back of
her head and she closed her eyes. In the way of active people, her
mind scanned her limbs and body. Nothing broken. Only a sharp pain
in her head and a sense that she was bleeding. She touched her
belly. The baby was safe and sound.

She felt something touch her face. She
opened her eyes to see Truman standing over her. He licked her
face. She put a hand on his side and he whimpered. He looked as if
he’d been in a fight. He nudged her with his head.

Truman wanted her to get up.

She rolled onto her side to rest for a
minute before sitting up. She was sitting in the middle of the
garage gym. As if she’d been working out, every light was on and
the fans were going. She looked around. No one was here. The clock
on the wall said two something. Lo’s vision blurred.

Tired, she lay down again. Truman yipped and
pawed her face. She tried to remember how she’d gotten here.

She’d been training one of her old clients,
Andrew Carrera. He and his partner were going to celebrate their
relationship next month. He’d begged her to train him again. Unable
to refuse a great love story, Lo agreed to see him three times a
week for a sweat-drenching weight workout.

“
Andy?” Lo said out
loud.

With the sound, her head exploded in
blinding pain. She threw up on the mat. Shifting away from the
mess, she looked at Truman. His hind leg had a funny bend and he
had a cut on his side.

“
What happened, baby?” Lo
asked.

Truman nudged her again. She tried to stand.
Unsteady, she weaved and dropped to all fours. Truman limped to an
empty metal cabinet near the back of the garage. He came back to
her. Clearly, he wanted her to get into the cabinet.

How did she get here?

“
Andy?”

No, that’s not right. Andy’s partner Luke
had come to pick him up. They’d chatted a while. Luke was impressed
at the way Andy’s body had transformed in such a short time. He
wanted her to train him. She’d said they could come together.

Andy and Luke had left. She remembered
that.

She was going to work out and go back
upstairs. She remembered setting up the barbell and…

Nothing.

She looked at the dog. He wanted her to get
into the cabinet.

“
I don’t think…”

Looking across the garage, she saw that
Don’s truck had been ripped apart. The stuffing was pulled from the
seats. Everything was torn out of the interior. From where she was
sitting, she could smell gasoline, as if the gas tank had been
ruptured.

She heard heavy footsteps on the floor
upstairs. Larry and Mutt were in Dallas negotiating with the
Cowboys this week. She’d been looking at wedding dresses with
Alisha and Amanda all weekend. Everyone had stayed in Dallas to get
ready for tonight’s art opening at the Dallas Museum. She would
have been in Dallas if it weren’t for Andy.

She heard a crash. Someone was upstairs.

Whimpering with pain, she crawled as fast as
she could to the cabinet. Truman got in after her. She and Truman
made themselves as small as possible. As quietly as she could, she
closed the cabinet doors and turned the lock from the inside.

Taking off her top, she bound Truman’s
wounds. Someone had kicked him, cut him and broken his back leg.
His left eye was swollen as if he’d been hit. Horrified, she hugged
him. He licked her face.

And then she smelled it.

Smoke.

They might withstand the heat in this
cabinet but they would die of smoke inhalation. If Don’s car caught
fire, they would never survive the fire ball. She was about to bolt
out of the cabinet when she remembered that Mutt stored oxygen
tanks in the cabinet. The cabinet was empty because he had used
most of them. There might be one left. She tapped her left hand
around the small space.

Nothing. The oxygen tanks were gone.

The fire alarms in the garage blared.
Somewhere in the distance she heard a siren.

Truman shifted and she heard the clunk of
metal against the concrete floor. Reaching around Truman, she felt
an oxygen tank there and a mask.

She could keep them alive with this. She
hooked up the mask and turned on the oxygen flow. She took a breath
and put it over Truman’s nose and mouth. She said a silent prayer
of thanks to the Gods or Goddesses and Don who brought her all the
blessings of this garage. And Don. She was deeply grateful for
Don.

She heard heavy footsteps on the concrete
garage floor. The steps moved across the garage then back to the
stairs.

“
She’s not here,” a man’s
voice said. “You must have killed that dog when you threw him down
the stairs.”

“
Good riddance to both of
them,” another male voice said.

“
He specifically said not
to kill her,” the first voice said.

“
She wasn’t supposed to be
here. What did he expect?” the second man’s voice was snide and
cruel. “Let’s get out of here before the whole thing comes
down.”

Lo listened to the footsteps as the men ran
across the garage. The side door slammed.

Lo fell into a rhythm of putting the mask
over Truman’s mouth and then hers. Her mind drifted.

Today was Lo and Don’s anniversary. As of
today, they would have been married fifteen years. But like her
thirty-first birthday seven days ago, Don wasn’t here to celebrate
with her.

He’d definitely been there when they were
married. Lo’s lips moved to form the words she’d said when the
pastor asked, ‘I do! I will! Yes!’ Everyone had laughed. Except
Don. His face lit up in a wide smile. Nothing in this world made
him happier than the fact that she wanted him as much as he wanted
her. Lo smiled.

White lilies, white cake, white ribbons,
white everything, and Don. She was sitting on the side of the bed
wearing the prettiest, most expensive dress she’d ever seen – a
strapless, hand-beaded wedding dress. He had taken off his jacket
and was unbuttoning his shirt. She watched with intense fascination
as his tan skin appeared one button at a time under the starched
white shirt. Her fingers tingled with terror and excitement.

“
Lorraina?” Yazmin was
yelling for her. “Lorraina? Where are you?”

“
Lo!” Lisa’s voice came
from somewhere far away. “You get out here right this
instant.”

“
She might not have
survived the fire,” a man’s voice said.

“
I would know if my
Lorraina was gone,” Yazmin said. “I would know.
Lorraina!”

“
What she said,” Lisa
gestured to Yazmin.

Lo reached up to unlock the cabinet. She
couldn’t get the lock to work. She pounded on the metal.

“
Yazmin!” Lo yelled. Truman
barked. “Lisa!”

“
I hear the dog,” Yazmin
said.

“
Hey! You can’t go in
there!”

Truman barked and Lo pounded on the
cabinet.

“
Lo!” Lisa yelled. “I’ll
look over here. You go over there.”

“
Lorraina! Lorraina!”
Yazmin’s voice came closer and closer. “Lorraina!”

“
Yazmin!” Lo yelled. Truman
barked again.

The cabinet doors whipped open. A wave of
cool air flooded the stifling cabinet.

“
Oh my God,” Yazmin said.
“She is bleeding. Look at her head!”

The sound of steps came running toward
them.

“
Lo,” Lisa’s face appeared
in front of her. “Lo can you talk?”

“
Lisa, my beautiful
apartment…” Lo said. “I…”

Lisa and Yazmin took her hands to help her
out of the cabinet. Lo’s head exploded in pain. Her stomach heaved
but nothing came.

“
That’s not good,” an
unfamiliar man’s voice said.

Truman gave a low menacing growl.

“
It’s okay Truman,” Lisa
said. “He’s here to help. Come on.”

Truman’s warm body disappeared from her
side.

“
He’s injured,” Lisa
said.

“
You take him,” Yazmin
said. “I’ll stay with Lorraina.”

“
We need to…” the man’s
voice said.

Lo’s focus slipped. Another face came into
view.

“
Don?” Lo asked.

Q

Monday evening—6:15 p.m.

Dallas Museum of Art

Dallas, Texas

Days: 157

“
Ten stitches,
a skull fracture
and
a concussion,” Lisa said in an angry
whisper. “You were
supposed
to stay in
the hospital.”

Lo smiled at Lisa. The gallery was slowly
filling with people. Don had arranged the guest list when he
planned the party. While she recognized most of the people, without
Don, they seemed like strangers now. She and Don had spent a lot of
time with these people. Most of them she hadn’t seen since his
funeral. She could tell by the way they looked at her that many of
the guests came to see if the gossip was true. She smiled at a
young man carrying a tray of food.

“
I’m not going
to ask how you got here,” Lisa glared at Mutt and Yazmin. Yazmin
gave her a sweet smile. “I’m only going to ask you to remember that
you’re
supposed
to be in the hospital.”

Lo took Lisa’s arm. She moved so that their
faces were an inch apart. Lo’s expression was intense and her voice
low.

“
What do you want from me?”
Lo asked. “I am not a bull you need to ride into
submission.”

“
You aren’t taking care of
yourself!” Lisa scowled at Lo.

“
They took Don and now they
want to take everything else. Am I supposed to just lie down and
let them take this too? Is that what I’m supposed to do? Don did
all of this to celebrate us on our fifteenth wedding anniversary.
He did it for me. Because he loved me. I’m here to celebrate my
love for Don, my marriage, and our life. And no amount of mean,
crazy people or one bossy bull-riding sister is going to stop
me.”

“
Oh Lo,” Lisa hugged Lo.
“I’m sorry. I know I’m horribly bossy. I just want you to be all
right.”

“
I know,” Lo said. “I’m
just…”

“
Barely hanging on,” Lisa
finished for her.

Lo nodded. Lisa hugged her again.

“
Why don’t you get us
something to eat? I haven’t eaten since sometime yesterday.” Lo
smiled to convince Lisa she was all right. “Please. Let’s just
pretend that everything is normal.”

Lisa nodded and went to find a waiter. Lo
smiled at Manny and Mindy Sue when they came into the room. Mindy
Sue leaned into Manny and he kissed her hair. They took a glass of
Champagne from a passing waiter and raised it in her direction. She
gave them a slight bow.

The movement, however slight, made her head
throb. Yazmin had been able to cover the stitches with a low bun at
her neckline. At this moment, she felt like every follicle on her
head hurt. She wore an ill-fitting dress of Alisha’s and a pair of
pumps that she was pretty sure would be the death of her.

But she was here. She’d survived last night.
She’d made it through.

Her eyes
shifted to the statue, her statue,
La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans
. She was here too. Don had bought this statue because
Lo loved her and because he loved Lo. They’d gone from museum to
museum around the world to look at her. And now, she lived in
Dallas.

Lo’s eyes shifted around the room. The
collection was stunning. Each hand-selected masterpiece depicted
love. The Dallas Star-Telegram review encouraged the museum to
change the name of the collection from the Lorraine and Donald
Downs Collection to “Love.” The Dallas Morning News said the
collection was a “must see for every person who has ever been in
love.”

Feeling someone near, Lo looked up to see Sy
Monquist coming toward her. He was wearing a sports jacket, white
shirt and jeans. He looked deeply uncomfortable with the opulence
around him. She smiled.