Page 59 of Crossing the Line
They were ready for Ganim, and perhaps tonight they would get lucky.
Now that the cops were interested in the case, Ganim would be taken into custody if he was detained by Xavier’s team or event security. He hoped it would be that easy, but his gut told him otherwise.
The man may be crazy, but he wasn’t stupid. Every movement he made in L.A. had been carefully cloaked except when trying to get Waverly’s attention.
The noise outside the car grew louder as the limo edged past crowds lining the sidewalk. They were still two blocks away from the theater, and the crowd outside couldn’t know who was in the limo, but it didn’t matter. Their enthusiasm overrode everything else.
Both sides of the street on the theatre’s block were lined with waist-high metal fencing that served as a barricade. Cops walked the block directing traffic and keeping spectators on the sidewalks.
The theatre appeared on their left, and as the limo rolled to a stop, the crowd outside grew raucous. Waverly was still rubbing the coin between her fingers and staring as if unseeing out the window.
“Geez, they don’t even know you’re in here yet,” Kate grumbled. “They’d probably go nuts no matter who got out of the car. ‘Ohmigod! It’s Mr. Potato Head. Let’s get his autograph and maybe rip off his nose for a souvenir!’”
Kate’s snarky humor dragged Waverly from her fog, and Xavier watched her eyes refocus on the interior of the limo as if she was seeing it for the first time.
“You ready to go be adored by hoards?” Kate asked her.
Waverly shot her a bright smile that wasn’t fooling anyone. “Let’s do it. Oh, and I’m thinking pizza or fried chicken for late night.”
“If you’re a good girl, I’ll get you both,” Kate promised. “So recap. As soon as that door opens, you’ve got four minutes with the crowd to give our buddy Saint here a heart attack. Then we drag you away from your adoring fans, across the street to the holding area. We’ll meet up with your parents, run the first half of the gauntlet, and then dump the ‘rents and trade them for Liam and his wife.”
Waverly gave a nod. “I’m ready. Just point me in the direction of my loving admirers.”
She looked steadier than she had. Her color was up, and there was light in her eyes. But Xavier wasn’t sure if it was excitement or fear. Or both.
Xavier exited first, nodding at the guard who opened the door. They made room for Waverly on the street, and when she stepped out, the crowd behind the barrier went wild.
People were screaming her name. Flashes from cameras and cell phones lit up the evening like lightning. Xavier didn’t like how charged the crowd was already, and it only heightened when they realized she was coming their way.
Their little entourage picked up another guard and two cops. Xavier kept his left hand on the small of Waverly’s back and walked her right up to the crowd. He had a surreal moment where he felt like he was dangling a tasty morsel in front of a starving dog and expecting to pull back with all his fingers intact.
The noise was so deafening, Waverly could do nothing but smile at those she greeted, their comments, questions, and requests lost under the din.
“Waverly!”
Her name was shouted from all directions. She began with a pair of giddy teenage girls, signing the publicity headshot that the one with braces handed over. She obliged them with a selfie that brought tears of hysteria to the teens and then moved down the line. People shoved pictures and magazines at her to sign. Cell phones recorded her every move. From the third row a middle-aged giant with the collar popped on his lime green polo clutched a fistful of pictures.
Hulking over the crowd, he shoved them in front of her, and as soon as Waverly signed one, he shuffled it to the bottom of the stack and followed her down the line, leaning in again with a fresh picture.
Xavier let him do it twice until the man elbowed a woman holding her young daughter in the face. He took the marker and tossed it over his shoulder. “No more,” he told him and moved Waverly down the line. When the man protested, one of the cops stepped in and gave him the option to calm down or leave.
Kate hovered at Waverly’s elbow acting as photographer for fans and ready with a metallic marker if it was needed. Waverly scrawled her signature on just about anything that was shoved in front of her. Until some smartass in a backward trucker hat held out a grainy copy of one of the topless shots.
Kate snatched it out of the guy’s hand. “Real funny, asshole.”
Trucker Hat didn’t think it was so funny now that his picture had been confiscated. He charged the barrier, reaching toward Kate. Xavier grabbed his arm and held it in a crushing grip.
“Stay behind the barrier, sir,” the cop behind him shouted and the crowd turned their cell phones to capture the scuffle. Trucker Hat backed down quickly, but the crowd was even more amped. A woman with a mousy brown perm and a kitten sweatshirt vied for Waverly’s attention by grabbing her arm and holding it in a death grip. Xavier couldn’t hear what she was saying. Judging from the woman’s animated expression, it could have been praise for a movie or some kind of political rant. Or maybe she was just rattling off the list of names of her cats.
Either way, Xavier had had enough.
“Enough,” Xavier said, shaking his head at Kate. “Let’s get her out of here before someone rips her hair out as a souvenir.” He separated Waverly from her rabid fan who was still yelling something. The rest of the entourage closed ranks around them and Xavier guided them back across the street to boos from the crowd.
“Well, that was fun,” Kate said, hustling to keep up. “Did you see X Factor put the kibosh on eBay Eddie?”
Waverly gave him a weak grin and winked.
They reached the relative safety of the other side of the street and the opening of the large tent that served as a holding area for the red carpet walkers. Xavier thanked the cops and guard for their help and was surprised when Waverly took the time to do the same. She shook each of their hands, asked their names, and thanked them. Waverly also scrawled a quick autograph and delivered it with a wink to Officer Kinnekut who claimed his wife was a huge fan. But Xavier judged by the star-struck expression on the man’s face the autograph would never make it home to the missus.
