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“It’s a long elevator ride,” she said, “but the view is good. When you get up here don’t let anybody see you.”
We took the south tower elevator to the thirty-eighth floor and Grandma gave the secret knock on Beedle’s door. Lula opened thedoor and hurried us in. “I told one of the housekeeping ladies I was here with Sir Lancelot and when I stepped out to get some horns, I forgot to take my key.”
“That worked?” Grandma asked.
“I can be real believable when I want to be,” Lula said. “And then I gave her a generous tip from petty cash.”
Beedle had taken one of the nicer suites. It had an ocean view, a small kitchen area with a dining table and six chairs, a separate bedroom, and a living room with a large flat-screen TV. There was a day pack that I thought belonged to Benji, a cheap, dented suitcase that I assigned to Sparks, and a small Tumi suitcase that I was guessing belonged to Beedle. A bunch of plastic bags from GoComic were stashed in a corner. I bolted the door, and we went to work searching for the coin.
“It’s not here,” Lula said. “Someone must have it on him. Or maybe they sold it.”
“We need a plan,” Grandma said. “What are we going to do when the three guys come back?”
“You two hide in the bedroom, and I’ll hide behind the door,” I said. “When they get inside, I’ll slam the door shut and tell them we want some answers.”
“What if they don’t want to give us answers?”
“I guess we’ll threaten them.”
“With what? We had to leave our guns in the car.”
“We’ll threaten to expose them. We’ll tell the kidnappers that Beedle, Benji, and Sparks have the coin. And we’ll remind them that Paul Mori is dead.”
“That’s good,” Grandma said. “That would scare me.”
We heard men talking in the hall and I ran to the door andflattened myself against the wall. Grandma and Lula ran into the bedroom. The door opened. Sir Lancelot, Beedle, and Benji walked in, and I slammed the door shut behind them.
“What the heck?” Benji said. “How did you get in here?”
“I have ways,” I said.
Grandma and Lula came out of the bedroom.
“Damn right she got ways,” Lula said. “We all got ways.”
“What do you want?” Beedle asked. “I haven’t skipped on my new court date.”
“I want the coin,” I told him.
“I gave it to Benji,” Beedle said.
“I gave it to Sparks,” Benji said.
“You had my six coins,” Sparks said. “You had all of them.”
“I want the seventh coin,” I said.
Sparks fidgeted with his fake sword. “There’s no seventh coin.”
“Liar liar pants on fire,” Lula said.
“Where did you get the money for the car and the clothes and this suite?” I asked Beedle.
“I got lucky panhandling.”
“I thought you liked the simple life,” I said to Beedle. “Remember how you were happy not having any encumbrances? What about all that?”
“I still don’t have any encumbrances,” he said. “I paid cash for the car and this suite. My life is still simple. It’s just simple in an expanded universe of luxury.”
