Chapter 24: Once Again With Friends

Kennedy sat musing for a few minutes. Pipes had made a deliberate mention of the house being swept for bugs. She was pretty sure he was concerned about listening devices, here. Well, odds were he had something to be worried about. She'd never found one, but she was sure her father was a thorough man. Mr. Glastonbury was, too.

She shook her head. She'd been stupid, yes indeed. Yes, she'd risked her life and those of a bunch of others. The fact was the only thing she could have changed was getting a charter jet a day earlier.

The thing had to have been done. And she'd done it and it had turned out more or less the way she expected. Her father and Mr. Glastonbury had been more deliberate, made a worse mistake, and the whole year had been a pig-headed exercise on everyone's part, waiting for the other side to blink. She wasn't surprised they hadn't; didn't regret her decision not to cave in, no matter what the cost. Undoubtedly, they thought the same thing. Well, her father was the first to find out that there were consequences for sticking pig-headedly with a stupid idea.

Mr. Glastonbury, she was pretty sure, knew the futility of trying to kiss and make up.

She called Harriet and then Amy. After that, she called Lauren Tredegar, and ended up also getting to talk to Deb and Steffie.

She left the house at nine the next morning, hitching a ride with one of the staff into town and the railroad station.

She bought her ticket and went to wait for her train into the City. She felt a slight movement of air and turned slightly. "Ferinc!" she said with pleasure, when she saw who was standing next to her on the platform.

"Hello, Kennedy."

"You could have called or something. The Curse of Scarsdale has been lifted."

"I know. I wanted to talk to you in private."

Kennedy looked around and he laughed. "Remember Rosalie's charm? The silence bubble?" he told her.

"Yes, of course."

"She put it into a bracelet for me. When we get on the train, I'll set it working. It'll only work for about ten minutes, but that should be enough."

"Sure. I'll even be nice and not wrap it back around you."

He smiled. "Rosalie has come into her own. No one will ever mess with her again. Usually I keep my lips sealed about things I see, particularly when it's my professional duties. However, I have gossiped unmercifully about what happened to the king."

"Do you have a new one?"

"Yes. He's nearly as stupid and even more venial than the last one."

"Bummer!"

"My words, exactly!" The two of them shared a chuckle.

Then they were on the train and Kennedy felt the spell.

"I have some favors to ask of you and a warning," he told her.

"Okay. The favors are yours; I owe you twice over, Ferinc."

"Clarice is going to ask you to do something. I know from my sources that you've said never again. Please, keep an open mind and don't make any hasty decisions. Lauren says, though, that she's comfortable with whatever you decide."

"That's very mysterious."

"I know, but Clarice talked Lauren into letting her take the lead on this. So be patient, okay?"

"Sure, Ferinc, no problem."

"There have been a number of men who've been showing a great deal of interest in your activities in the last two weeks. They have been seen in the vicinity of your house, as well as asking questions of various people at your school and at camp."

"I'll tell my father; he takes positive glee at sticking it to the government."

"These men don't work for the government. One of them used to be a big cheese in one of the Columbian drug cartels until things got too hot for him down there. Two more are Russian Mafia and the fourth principal seems to have been a British SAS sergeant -- until he was cashiered for cutting off bits and pieces of a woman he was interrogating."

Kennedy grimaced. "Kidnappers?"

"Yes. Kennedy, in some parts of the world it's big business. You would not want to go south of the US border with Mexico, except maybe to Costa Rica and even that's not perfect. There are even areas in Europe you would be well advised to avoid. Corsica, for instance. Africa is like Central and South America. In fact, except for Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada and most areas of mainland western Europe, the rest of the world is a no-go zone for you because of your father."

"I suppose it wouldn't make any difference if I published a notice saying I was never going to take a penny of his money after my eighteenth birthday?"

"You're not eighteen and when you're gambling, who would believe a claim like that? Ask them to believe you would turn down millions, hundreds of millions, perhaps billions? They couldn't conceive doing that themselves; they can't imagine anyone else doing so either."

"In other words, this was a stupid trip."

"Pretty much. On the other hand, once you regained consciousness, they would find they had a real problem on their hands."

Kennedy grimaced. "Thanks, I didn't need that picture."

"You understand that's how they'll do it? Knock you out and haul you off? Odds are you wouldn't know it had happened until you woke up."

Kennedy grimaced. "That's not an appetizing thought."

Ferinc grinned at her.

"Ferinc, I'm screwed. I can't live like that. Guards twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Not being able to leave the house without an entourage."

"I know. That's the second thing I want you to keep an open mind about."

"Pardon?"

"Look, Kennedy, you're a nice young woman. You've done a lot a favors for a lot of people, and some of us want to pay you back in some small way. Just keep an open mind when we get to the restaurant."

"You're going to go all the way with me!"

He laughed. "Only if I was a lot younger and you had a different world view!"

Kennedy blushed.

"Yes, I'll be..." he stopped, clearly choosing his words carefully. "I'll accompany you to the restaurant. Pipes and his friends will see you get back home safe."

"And where does my father figure in this?"

"Kennedy, it's not proper not to tell him. So, a message was delivered to him about a minute after we got on the train. I'm not much happier with him than you are. He banned us from seeing you, and that upset me a great deal. I believed he thought of me as a peer. I know he upset Pipes as well. So -- well, let's say from here on out, we're on your side and while we might plan little presents for you without spilling the beans, anything else we do, you'll know about."

"Thanks, Ferinc."

An hour later, he bowed to Kennedy, took a few steps past the door and looked at the restaurant menu in the window.

Kennedy went in, and the cute receptionist greeted her. "Miss Kennedy! We're pleased to have you back!"

"Thanks."

She had to have a button or something, Kennedy thought, because Fatso and Pistol appeared. "Mr. Pipes says you're to come right in," Fatso told her.

"How are they hanging, Fatso?"

He laughed. "I see you and they want to crawl back out of danger, Miss Kennedy."

Kennedy thought that was about as likely as meeting Elvis, but she didn't challenge him.

A few minutes later, she was ushered into the private dining room in the back. Clarice stood and held out her hand. "Welcome, Kennedy."

"Clarice. You're looking good."

"Fresh air, Kennedy, fresh air. I couldn't go back to camp this year, but I did spend a long weekend in the mountains. It's wonderful."

"Yes, it is."

"Please, sit down. Pipes is still slaving away over a hot stove, intent on getting his sauce just right. I've never met a chef before who added a pinch of this, a pinch of that to the brew as it cooked."

"I have to admit," Kennedy told her, "being a little curious about what kind of chef Pipes is."

"The best, Kennedy. The man's a genius at about everything he turns his hand to. Except music where he's just excellent, and for that..." She stopped and looked stricken. "God, it's been more than a year and a half and I still can't believe she's dead."

"I'm sorry," Kennedy said contritely.

Clarice looked at her and smiled. "Yeah, I know. I lost my cool over Dwight. Looking back, that was the single most stupid thing I've ever done in my life. I knew what a bastard he was. Connect the dots, Clarice! If he was willing to do that to his sister, what was he doing to other women?"

Kennedy nodded. What could words possibly add?

Clarice smiled. "At camp last year, that was the last straw; I grew up. You were a large part of that. They made it clear your approval was critical to me. And you were -- indifferent."

"No I wasn't. But unlike some, if it's not busted, I have no desire to try to fix it."

"That sucked rocks!" Clarice told her, but without heat. "But, getting back to camp, I didn't know what to do about you. In spite of everything I was prepared to come up to your cabin some night and we'd go out back and settle things."

Clarice shivered histrionically. "Oh, would that have been a bad idea!"

"Pretty much," Kennedy replied, but she was smiling.

"But, you seemed like a minor nuisance. All those girls leering at me ... that bothered me. Claire and Betsy, they told me they felt the same thing. And that was on the bus trip up to camp."

"I hope things were better this year," Kennedy told her.

"I don't know. I do know that after you spoke at dinner things got much better. Then we did our skit and made it clear to everyone to back off. That worked even better. Of course, my grandfather shit a brick when he found what I wore for Talent Night."

"It was a little extreme." A piece of black lace that weighed about an ounce, even as it sought to cover an entire body, from the shoulders down to the knees.

"Then he demanded to know from Pipes just what the hell had happened ... and Pipes told him. Everything. It's a good thing my grandfather had promised non-violence, or he'd have gotten in trouble."

Clarice looked at her. "When he finally settled down, he realized I'd done as well as anyone could, given the circumstances. I'm not sure if he thought he was punishing me or rewarding me, when he told me about you."

"Oh, a reward, definitely," Kennedy said lightly.

"I thought I was hearing things. But then, I remembered that night at camp -- I heard the T-Rexes stomping through the trees, I heard that music. I thought I'd been so terrified my mind made it all up."

"No, you didn't make it up."

"You took on a squad of army soldiers. Then, the day you left camp, you took on an evil king. Good God, Kennedy! It's like reading a fairy tale!"

"I wish. Fairy tales end 'And they all lived happily ever after.' Instead, it was 'All their lives ended, one way or another.'"

"That bites, too."

"Pipes said you had something for me."

"A couple of things. To be honest, I don't know how to go about it. First, you're sixteen, right?"

"Barely."

"How would you like to learn to drive?"

"Is that legal?"

"You don't have a City zip code for a home address, so yes. Moreover, I don't mean to learn how to double park, speed through yellow lights and cruise past stop signs, like the rest of us learn. I mean something more substantial."

"I don't follow."

"You couldn't go to summer camp this year. I got you a slot in another summer camp. You just have to tell them that you're twenty-one."

"Clarice, no one on earth is going to think I'm twenty-one."

"Trust me, for what they are getting paid, they'd think you were Tweetie-bird if you told them. This is a Formula One driving class. You will drive very fast cars ... and learn to handle them."

"Clarice ... that's a little expensive."

"Not really. And no, there are no 'Godfather' discounts. I'll be paying the full freight. The one favor I'm asking of them is that so long as you pass their physical and driving standards, you stay."

"Physical standards?"

"Sure, you know. Strength and all that."

Kennedy laughed. "Okay."

"Kennedy, this is gratis. No matter what else happens today, there is no quid pro quo. No strings. It doesn't hinge on anything else. Your father is a man; they expect their sons to learn to drive. I'm going to see his daughter learns to drive rings around 99% of the other drivers in the world. I'm really pissed that the mother-fucker said that my friends and I were persona non-grata."

"It was nothing, Clarice."

"Kennedy, not even you believe that. It was a slap in my grandfather's face. Hell, your old man kicked Pipes in the balls harder than you kicked Fatso! My aunt died in that house! This is one more non-violent way of spitting in his face."

Kennedy laughed. "Okay, I accept it, so long as there are no strings."

Clarice nodded. She turned to Fatso. "Tell Pipes it's lunch time. Ask my other guest to step in."

The first person to arrive was Detective Harrison. Kennedy rose and shook his hand. "Detective, long time no see!"

He laughed. "That's a good thing, too! But, now it's Detective Captain Harrison, Kennedy. I moved to New York when they offered me this job."

"Congratulations," Kennedy told him.

"Oh, not really. I'm the Special Operations Commander. That meant a particular problem crossed my desk."

He waved at Clarice. "She went into great detail about you. I just wanted to know if there was any way in hell I could get past the barriers your father erected. She said not. I have to say, she was right about that. Until today."

"I was grounded, Captain."

"That doesn't exactly square up with what I've heard about you," he said, looking concerned.

"Captain, I did something a little rash. I should have been grounded. A week, maybe. Perhaps two weeks. A year ... well, let's just say, I think it was excessive."

"Yes. Clarice explained, as I said. Anyway, if you'd like, I'd like to show you a problem I have."

"What kind of problem, Captain?"

"Something slightly similar to the one you had with Dwight."

"Captain, I retired. Sorry."

"Kennedy," Clarice interjected, "as a favor to me, would you listen? As a favor to Pipes? To Ferinc?"

Kennedy nodded. "As a favor, I'll listen. My do-gooder instincts have cost me dearly. Everyone tells me if I keep at it, the cost will be even more dear. Clarice, I kid you not; they can reach right into this room."

"I know. If you'd look, you'd have seen we now have mirrors at the front door. If we look up and don't see someone standing in front of us, we'll know."

"You have steel mirrors, Clarice. They're useless."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if the image of a vampire goes through glass, it vanishes. Glass has to be first. A steel mirror will reflect a vampire just fine. Even if you have a camera aimed at a steel mirror, you would see it in the camera."