Her first words upon waking were that she needed to go. I promised to drive her anywhere but suggested that first she clean up. She said thanks, she would take a taxi, but I wouldn't hear of it. She took her clothes into the bathroom and emerged six minutes later ready to leave. I pulled my pants on. The .22 was already in the bag.
Mrs. Pemberton wanted to be dropped at the bus station, discreetly, of course. She didn't say where she was going, and I didn't ask. Before she stepped out of the car, she turned and kissed me once on the cheek and looked at me as if to ensure that I were real. She said nothing. It was our second farewell without words.
I returned home and took a hot shower that was longer than it needed to be. I worked on the photos for Justine's portfolio and copied the best ones to a portable drive as fully prepared, 16-bit TIFF files. I burned a disc as a backup; I never make one copy of anything.
I drove downtown to one of the two professional color labs that I've come to trust over the years. At the counter, I asked for Randee, but they said that she would be working a later shift. I filled out the forms to specify the number and size of the prints that we needed, the paper type, the model of printer and the specific printing process that I wanted them to use. In the special instructions section, I wrote "RANDEE ONLY." I didn't need some junior tech mucking up an important order - not with everything else that was going on this week.
Manny called. He'd scheduled an interview with Pemberton for four o'clock at the Health Club in Kingsburg. We were promised an hour of his time, which is business owner speak for seventeen minutes with numerous interruptions. It didn't matter. I was less interested in what he had to say than simply knowing where he would be for the afternoon.
Janice had prepared the fake press passes. Manny told her that we wanted to play a prank on a friend at his bachelor party. Janice liked the idea of a roomful of virile men playing tricks on each other. She wanted to hear all of the details over dinner. Manny promised that I would come along to help recount tales of the adventure.
I picked up a pre-paid mobile phone from a small shop. Back at home, I packed the equipment that I would need for the interview and the following activities. I thought about grabbing lunch at the pub down the street but decided to wait until I made it to Kingsburg. Maybe by some dumb luck I would stumble into the right restaurant.
No comments:
Post a Comment