Rose Quartz Read Free Page B

had the taxidriver make a few unscheduled stops. No one was behind us. Just wanted to let you know.”
    “Thanks again, Judy.”
    “You’re welcome.” The phone clicked.
    She lay back down but sleep was a long time coming. When she finally succumbed, she slept hard.
    A feeling of unease slipped through the deep layers of oblivion to wake her.
    She sat up and looked around. The room was dark except for the red glow of the digital clock. Four a.m. She reached over to pet Puss–Puss but he wasn’t in his usual spot. Looking around, she spotted him at the window staring down at the street, his fur on end.
    “Puss–Puss?” she called softly.
    The cat ignored her and continued his vigil.
    She crept out of bed and stood behind the curtains. Lifting a frothy white edge, she peered out. The street appeared deserted. Pockets of black shadows, from the dark brick buildings, lined the boulevard.
    Her breath caught as the tiny orange glow of a cigarette cut through the darkness. “Shit.”
    What to do? Call 9-1-1 and tell them someone was smoking across the street? Not hardly. And she didn’t dare mention it to George. She had no doubt the old dear would head outside to investigate and the gods only knew what would happen then. Nope, she would just sit tight until morning. The building had a good security system. And she had Puss–Puss. She’d match him against an intruder any day. Though, even her ferociously loyal feline was no match for a bullet. Well, there was one thing she could do.
    Bella walked back to the bed and sat on the edge. She started to flip on the lamp then thought better of it. Picking up the phone, she hit speed dial and waited. After several rings a cranky female voice answered on the other end of the phone.
    “Did I wake you, sugar?”
    “What do you think?” Maureen snarled.
    “I thought you farm types got up with the chickens.”
    “We don’t have any chickens and if we did they’d still be asleep. What do you want, blondie?”
    Bella grinned as she heard a sleepy male voice murmuring in the background. “How’s my favorite author?”
    Maureen gave an exaggerated sigh. Bella could almost picture her blowing hair out of her face. “Why are calling me in the middle of the night, Bella?”
    Bella started to say it was almost morning then thought better of it. Miss Cranky Pants was in a different time zone and obviously not one of those people who woke up alert. “Shug, do you know if Victor’s still in jail?”
    Tension crawled through the phone lines from eight hundred miles away. “He was in jail last week when Jack went to visit him. What’s up, Bella?”
    Bella shook her head admiringly. “Jack does like to rub Victor’s nose in the fact that he’s behind bars, doesn’t he? But then considering Victor nearly killed him in a most unpleasant manner you can’t blame him.”
    “Bella, why are you calling me at three a.m. to ask if Victor is still in jail? What’s happened?”
    Bella took a breath from deep in her belly and said quietly, “Someone is following me.”
    “What do you mean, following you?”
    “Just that. I sensed more than saw someone on the plane coming back home.”
    “You’re back in Atlanta then?”
    “Yes.”
    “And he or she was on the plane?”
    “Someone was. I thought I lost them at an all-night diner. But someone is standing outside the apartment in the shadows.”
    “Call the police,” Maureen said sharply.
    “I can’t do that. They’ll just think I’m another hysterical female.” She made her voice unnaturally high, adding a touch of panic to it. Unfortunately it wasn’t all that hard to do. “Officer, someone is following me. Officer, I can see the tip of a lit cigarette across the street. No, I can’t describe him because I can’t see him. But I know whoever’s out there having a smoke is after me.” She dropped her voice to a melodramatic whisper. “I sense it.” Then said in her normal tones, “Get serious, sugar.”
    “You get