AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Y-y-yes.” Jenn’s voice was unsteady.
“I really do value your work,” I assured her. “I’m glad to have someone so competent managing my affairs while I deal with this.”
“Okay.” She managed a wobbly smile. “Um, so I think I’ll take a cab from here, okay? I have a couple of errands to run before I start making all those phone calls.”
“I understand,” I told her.
Jenn got out, and practically ran away from the car. I realized, belatedly, that I might have just frightened away a very competent executive assistant. Time would tell.
“Well, that’s handled,” I said. “Take me to Kat’s martial arts school.”
Kat’s school was a rundown, twenties-era ground-floor space in Beacon Hill, big glass windows that looked out on a seedy shopping district. I walked in and looked around at the class in progress. No kimonos, just variegated, mismatched sportswear on a bunch of girls ranging from ten to thirteen. They were in a long line, running one at a time on the tatami mats, and flinging themselves into flying somersaults with varying degrees of success. I looked around. Saw and smelled water damage, old sweat. Spotted the telltale holes of termites in the aged wooden baseboards. The sports equipment was mismatched, battered, ancient. But the girls looked sweaty and determined. Like Joanna. It was the Kat Banner effect. She really brought it out in people.
A young black woman of maybe twenty-four was teaching the class, but all of them stopped and looked at Trey, Cade, and me.
“Hello,” the teacher said. “Can I help you?” Her face was tense and cautious.
“I was looking for Kat,” I said.
“She’s not here at the moment. Leave your card with us, and I’ll get it to her.”
I passed the woman a business card. “And you are?”
“Danica Phelps,” the girl said crisply. “And now, if you’ll please excuse us. We’re in the middle of a class, so I’ll have to ask you to—”
“Are you one of those scary guys? Like before?” A chubby little girl with red braids bounded toward us, squinting suspiciously. “You don’t look as scary as them.”
“Scary guys came here?” I asked. “When did they come? Was it yesterday?”
“Charlotte, shhh! Please don’t ask my students questions,” Danica snapped. “If you want to ask anything about school business, talk to Kat directly. I am not comfortable sharing information with a stranger.”
“They were super scary,” Charlotte informed me. “They had guns! I saw one of them! It was under a guy’s jacket! He looked mean!”
“Damn it, Charlotte!” Danica hissed. “Hush up!”
“I’m a friend, I promise,” I told Danica.
“Kat went to temp downtown for a while, because she wanted to get me some glasses,” Charlotte confided. “That’s why she’s not here.”
“Glasses?”
“Yeah. I’m flunking fourth grade ’cause I can’t see the blackboard at school.”
“Nor can she stop talking, evidently,” Danica grumbled.
“Kat taught me what to say to bullies,” the pigtailed girl said. “I wish I’d told those guys right where to shove it!”
“I’m very glad you didn’t,” I said. “Discretion is the better part of valor.”
“Kat says that, too. Anyhow, you better be nice to Kat. She taught everybody here how to kick and punch. If you mess with her, we’ll mess with you! All of us!”
For some reason, the kid’s attitude made my spirits rise. “I’ll take it under advisement,” I replied, not allowing myself to smile, and turned to Danica. “I apologize for the interruption. If those guys come back, please do not engage with them.”
“Nope,” Danica said crisply. “We’re not stupid. But I’ll be glad when Kat gets back.”
I analyzed what I’d learned on the way back to the helipad, but couldn’t come to any clear conclusion. Other than the fact that I liked Kat Banner even more than I had before. Rescuing Joanna’s cat, teaching little girls to stand their ground, temping to buy Charlotte a pair of glasses. It was strange, that her digital footprint was so light, for such a charismatic person, and her apartment was antiseptic, which suggested cold detachment. But everyone who knew her painted a picture of passionate involvement.
She was a tangle of contradictions. The one thing I knew for sure was that I couldn’t wait to see her again. Kat Banner, even spitting mad, excited me more than anyone I’d ever been with. I couldn’t even call those previous experiences intimacy. Not after last night’s experience.
