seeing the ace of hearts she cursed out loud and threw the deck across the small office. It hit the Tahiti poster and then cards exploded in all directions, coming down on the floor and the desk.
"Goddammit!"
She buried her face in her palms as she tried to figure out what to do. She snatched up the phone to call Leo but then thought better of it. Use all precautions. She thought of using her cell phone but dismissed that, too. She opened the desk drawer and grabbed a handful of change from a tray meant for pens and pencils and got up.
She opened the door and almost walked right into Ray Morales, who had apparently come to see what the commotion was about.
"Excuse me," she said, making a move to go around him.
Ray looked past her into the office and saw the playing cards all over the place.
"What, you playing fifty-two pickup in there?"
"More like fifty-one."
"What?"
"I'll be back in a few minutes, Ray. I have to take a walk."
He silently watched her cross the showroom and go out the glass door.
Cassie walked a block down to the Cinerama Dome, where she knew there was a pay phone out front. She dialed Leo's cell phone number from memory and listened to ten unanswered rings before hanging up. Now questioning everything, she dialed it again in case she had messed up the first time. This time it went twelve rings before she hung up. The dread that had begun to rise in her while she looked through the cards had now gone several notches up the ladder to the level of panic.
She tried to calm herself by trying to think of reasons the call to Leo would go unanswered. The cell phone and Leo were attached like Siamese twins. If the phone had not been turned on, she knew her call would have been diverted to a message. She wouldn't have gotten the continuous ringing. So the phone was on but not being answered. The question was why.
The pool, she suddenly remembered. Leo swam laps in the morning. He'd have taken the phone out to the table next to the pool, but if he was in the middle of his laps he wouldn't hear it, not with the water sloshing around him and the freeway noise as well.
The explanation calmed her a bit. She called Leo's number once more and again it went unanswered. She put the phone back on its hook and decided to go back to the dealership. She would come back and try calling again in a half hour or forty-five minutes. She remembered Leo once told her he swam three miles a day. She had no idea how long that would take but figured that a half hour should be enough time.
Five minutes later she walked back into the dealership showroom and saw Ray and a man who wore a porkpie hat looking at the silver Carrera with the whale tail spoiler. Ray saw her and signaled her over with his fingers.
"Cassie, this is Mr. Lankford. He wants to buy a car."
The customer turned and smiled with embarrassment.
"Well, I want to look at a car. I mean, drive it. Then we'll see."
He put his hand out.
"Terrill Lankford."
She took his hand and shook it. His grip was firm, his hand dry as powder.
"Cassie Black."
She looked at Ray. She didn't want to do this. Her mind wasn't on selling cars.
"Ray, is Billy in yet? Or Aaron? Maybe one of them would be – "
"Meehan's on a test and Curtiss isn't in till twelve. I need you to show Mr. Lankford a car."
Ray's tone indicated he was put out by her flaky behavior and that there was no debate allowed here. She turned her attention to Lankford. He was neat and well dressed in a set of retro clothes that went with the hat. Judging by his pasty complexion she guessed he'd be interested in a coupe. But that was okay because the Boxster didn't come in a coupe. That left only the higher priced Carreras.
"Which model are you interested in?"
Lankford smiled, showing off a perfect set of teeth. Cassie noticed his eyes were sidewalk gray, an unusual combination with the man's jet black hair.
"A new Carrera, I think."
"Well, I'll get a car ready. If you could give your driver's license and insurance card to Ray, he'll get it copied while I get a car ready."
Lankford's mouth opened but he didn't say anything.
"You do have proof of insurance, don't you?" Cassie