Page 27 of The Perfect People

One of the singer’s security guards took a half step forward to meet her.

Jessie held up her hand in his direction but kept her eyes on the singer.

“Careful there, Gigantor,” Jessie said. “You sure you want to take that next step? Remember who you’re dealing with. This ‘top-heavy tart’ next to me won the police academy’s hand-to-hand combat competition going up against a guy roughly your size. She’s also a deadeye target shooter out to three hundred yards without a scope. Considering that you’re less than two away from her, I don’t know if you want to lay a hand on me and test that itchy trigger finger of hers. And I can’t be responsible for how these beach police will react if you or one of your muscle brothers does something stupid. I know your boss lady there called their department Podunk. I can’t imagine they loved that or getting bigfooted on this case.”

She took another step forward so that she was just inches away from Mace, staring straight down at the woman she dwarfed by nearly a foot.

“As to me,” she said sweetly, “I’m not some giddy fan who’s going to be intimidated by a tiny tot who pays her bills by singing real loud. Don’t come at me with threats of breaking me. I’ve stared down serial killers for a living, including my own father. If I was going to be broken, it would have happened a long time ago, and not by the likes of you. You’re very talented but you are out of your depth. Go sing a pretty song and let the professionals do their job.”

Chantilly Mace, perhaps for the first time in years, appeared speechless.

After a few seconds, she seemed to regroup. Turning to the blonde beside her, she extended her hand and was immediately given her cap and sunglasses, which she promptly put back on.

“We ready?” she asked of her security team.

“Give us a second to make sure the route is clear,” one of the previously silent members of the entourage said. No one else spoke for the next ten seconds as he murmured into a microphone attached to his collar and listened to a voice in his earpiece. Then the guy announced, “We’re good.”

Chantilly started to walk away, surrounded by her human bowling ball collection, then stopped and turned around. She focused her attention on Susannah. Jessie felt her neck muscles tense up.

“I’m sorry—I shouldn’t have gone after your looks,” Mace said under her breath. “Truth is, if I had your body, I’d be rockin’ it too. You do you.”

Then she spun on her heels and rushed out, disappearing into the protective envelope of her giant security detail just before stepping outside. Jessie watched the circus navigate through the shrieking mass of fans, which seemed to have doubled in the short time since Mace had first arrived. Susannah sighed next to her.

“I think it’s going to take a while to process being insulted and complimented by one of the biggest stars in the world, all in less than a minute.”

Jessie had to admit that even for her, this was one of the wildest celebrity interactions she’d had. She’d dealt with entitled superstars in many cases, but none who packed as much arrogance and genuine passion into such a small package.

“I wouldn’t give anything she says too much weight,” Jessie said as she shook her head, still watching the Mace train shove its way through the crowd to the limo that was parked on The Strand, proudly ignoring the prohibition on vehicle traffic. The fans followed along, grabbing, squealing, hoping for any chance to see or touch the singer.

Not all the fans, though. Jessie noticed one guy standing amid the crowd, whose attention wasn’t focused on the chaos of the departing superstar and her entourage. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the mansion. In fact, he seemed to be staring through the open front door directly at Jessie.

“Not even the rockin’ body part?” Susannah asked.

“You were pretty secure about that long before you met Chantilly Mace,” Jessie reminded her, still staring at the guy on the sand. Tall and skinny, he was wearing black board shorts, an unbuttoned, short-sleeved maroon shirt, and hadlong brown hair and a scraggly-looking beard that reminded her of a lost member of one of those 1970s bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Allman Brothers Band. She was debating whether his intense focus on what was going on in the house was just curiosity or something more.

“Anyway,” Susannah said, “I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me. Considering that I once tried to hook up with your husband, admittedly before I knew you, you’ve turned out to be a pretty damn loyal friend-type person.”

Jessie glanced over at her briefly in disbelief before returning her attention to the scraggly guy.

“Susannah,” she replied, “you have an amazing facility for taking what should be a heartwarming moment and making it super awkward and uncomfortable. Having said that, you’re welcome. Also, don’t be obvious about it, but if you look toward the front door, there’s a seventies Southern rock band–looking guy on the sand staring at us.”

“Okay,” Susannah said. “Is that a big deal? There’s police tape up everywhere, and weareconducting a murder investigation. Shouldn’t we expect stares?”

“That’s true,” Jessie conceded. “I just found it odd that when the global music megastar and her entourage came within a dozen feet of him, he never even glanced her way. He just kept watching us.”

“What are you thinking?” Sergeant Breem asked from behind them, not looking in the direction of the guy but rather turning away and bending down, pretending to tie his already tied sneaker. “Do you want me to have one of my officers outside engage him? I have someone a couple of blocks over who could go down to the beach and approach him from behind.”

“That’s not a bad ide—” Jessie started to say.

Before she could complete the sentence, the guy seemed to sense something was up and turned around, heading in the opposite direction.

“I’ll call my officer,” Breem said.

The scraggly guy glanced over his shoulder, then without warning, started running.

“Go for it,” Jessie told the sergeant, “but we can’t wait. Have him meet us.”

She leapt down the stairs and out the open front door, with Susannah right behind her.

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