*
Dinner came and went, and after the kitchen was clean, Wyrick uttered a terse good-night to Charlie and went to bed.
The press conference was for 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. She was tense and in despair that this was happening. She had puttered around for an hour, preparing herself for a sleepless night, when the security alarm at the front gates suddenly went off, and all of the searchlights and strobe lights and floodlights came on, lighting up the grounds all the way around the house and up into the sky.
Charlie was dreaming about Annie when the alarms went off. He came flying across the hall into her room with a gun in his hand, barefoot and wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants.
“Stay here and lock your door,” he said, and slammed it shut behind him.
She grabbed her gun and took off after him.
Charlie was all the way up the hall when he heard her running up behind him and turned around.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted.
“I’m always your backup.”
“Jesus. Then stay out of sight. The cops should be here shortly.”
The place was lit up like Christmas as Charlie slipped out of the house. The cold air was a rude awakening to the fact that he was only half-dressed, but when he saw a man running across the grounds toward the back of the house, he leaped off the end of the porch to cut him off, then took him down in a flying tackle.
“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” the man kept shouting.
Charlie rolled him over onto his back, saw the camera hanging around his neck and yanked it off.
“Idiot paparazzi? What the hell kind of pictures did you hope to get in the dark?”
“I was going to hide in the bushes and get some stuff tomorrow when you came out for the press conference.”
Charlie dragged him to his feet, picked up the camera and started walking him toward the gate.
“You’re gonna get pictures all right, but they’ll be your mug shots.”
“Aw, man...just let me go and—”
“Your ride is here,” Charlie said, as a police car came flying up the street with lights flashing. The officer pulled up on the other side of the gates and got out with his gun in his hands.
“We’re good!” Charlie said. “I’m bringing him out.” Then he punched in the code and walked the man out to the cop.
“Intruder on the grounds. We’re pressing charges,” Charlie said.
The officer handcuffed the man and put him in the back of his cruiser, then glanced at Charlie.
“Do you have a permit for that gun?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m a licensed PI, but I don’t wear my identification to bed. If you need it, I can go back—”
“I thought you looked familiar,” the cop said. “You’re Charlie Dodge, aren’t you?”
Charlie nodded. “Guilty. Want the ID?”
“Naw, we’re good,” he said.
“Then I’m going back inside. If you need info, you know how to reach me.”
The cop left with the photographer as Charlie shut the gates and made a run for the house.
Wyrick was standing inside the door with the gun in her hands when he returned.
“Are you okay? Who was it?” she asked.
“Paparazzi. No gun. Just a camera. I’ll reset the security alarm. You go back to bed.”
She put a hand on her heart and then looked at him long and hard before walking back down the hall.
Charlie watched her go, thinking how this huge house made her look so little. She was so tall and so in charge that he’d never thought of her like that before. He thought about stopping by to make sure she was okay, but by the time he got everything reset, she was back in her room with the lights out.
He paused outside her door, then shook his head and went back into his room, pouring himself a shot of whiskey.
One sip to warm him up.
The second sip to settle the thunder of his heart.
Twenty
The media invited to the press conference had been slowly gathering at the Hyatt since before noon. The stage and sound systems were set up and working. The big screens behind the podium would allow perfect viewing, even from the seating in the back of the ballroom.
They began letting them into the foyer outside the ballroom at noon, and as soon as they had passed through the checkpoints, they drifted toward the buffet tables set up inside, filling plates with appetizers and fruits while music played in the background. As they began recognizing familiar faces, they gathered in little groups, discussing