Page 10 of Positively Pricked
I tried to think.Bob?Bob who?
Outside the van, Bob spoke again. "Youdorecall it wasmewho threw you this party, right?"
Oh, crap.
ThatBob?
The strangerhadto be Robert Something-or-Other, the silver-haired gentleman who'd been so friendly when we'd been setting up.
At the time, I didn't even realize that he was the one throwing the party, but in hindsight, I should've. After all, he'd taken a pretty keen interest in all of the details.
I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer that he'd already paid the catering bill, because if he hadn't, I had a horrible suspicion that we were about to get stiffed.
Outside, Bob was sounding more frustrated with every passing moment. "And let me tell you," he was saying, "it wasn't cheap."
In a deadpan voice, Zane said, "I noticed."
"Jesus," Bob muttered. "If you were gonna toss us out, why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Because I’m saying it now."
"But the band, the catering – hell, the parking attendants – they weren't free, you know."
"Again, not my problem."
Bob made another scoffing sound. "Listen here, you reprobate. If you think I'm leaving that house, you're dead wrong."
"Is that so?"
"Damn straight. In fact…" Bob paused a long moment before blurting out, "You'll get the house over my dead body."
"You think that can't be arranged?"
"What?"
"Lemme ask you something,Bob." Zane said the guy's name like it was some sort of insult. "You got a good security system?"
"What? Well, uh, yeah. Of course."
"Uh-huh," Zane said. "You do know those things fail all the time."
"Yeah, well not mine."
"Except it's not yours. Is it, Bob?"
"What?"
"It'smine. Funny how that works."
"What is this?" Bob said. "A threat? Because lemme tell you something. I'm not afraid to fight you."
"Is that right?"
The guy cleared his throat. "I mean in court, like civilized people, not thatyou'dknow anything about that."
"You're right," Zane said. "I wouldn't." That now-familiar edge crept back into his voice. "So if I were you, I'd get packing."
After a few more minutes of back-and-forth, the conversation ended with a string of profanity and fading footsteps as Bob stomped off, leaving a trail of curse words in his wake.
