Free Revenant Rising by M. M. Mayle Page B

‘well done’ or words to that effect?”
    “Hey, I’m just havin’ a little fun with you. Congratulations go without sayin’— big pat on the back—and off the record I think you did the exact right thing in there when you kinda rubbed their noses in it.”
    “Thank you. I hope you’re not the only one seein’ it that way.”
    “You heard the crowd, didn’t you?”
    “Yeh, I did.”
    “Then why don’t you stay over, hit a coupla A-list parties and bask in it a little?”
    “Crossed my mind, but that might be pushin’ things a bit,” Colin says.
    They ride on in silence till they reach the hotel, where the giving of last-minute instructions makes him forget about asking Bemus if he happened to see Cliff Grant slithering about anywhere.

NINE
    Evening, March 30, 1987
    Hoop’s job now is to convince himself the cross-country trip was worthwhile. This might not be so easy to do with the evidence untouched in a five-gallon paint bucket and nothing to show for the hotel visit other than one of Colin Elliot’s personal items and several packets of some queer kind of headache remedy that probably only British people take.
    Then again, maybe he shouldn’t be so hard on himself. He did get inside Elliot’s rooms, didn’t he? And before that, wasn’t he quick to put his dark hair and skin to good use once he had reason? That protective coloration turned out to be better than a key to the employees’ entrance and locker room of the Royal Poinciana Hotel once it was figured out that they apparently hired only Mexicans to do the housekeeping and janitor work. Limited success or not, he can’t help likening the hotel experience to something his Plains brothers would call “counting coup,” the physical touching of an enemy to show bravery. That’s the better way to see the near brush with Elliot and the bodyguard. And where the bodyguard’s concerned, he can count his coup stick notched for a second time.
    The parking lot of the convenience store where he’s doing this summing up must be near an airport. The sound of planes taking off every few minutes is cutting into his concentrations. Arriving at this particular parking lot was an accident because he gave up reading the map after several tries couldn’t get him anywhere near the place where the awards show was going on.
    When he gets out of the truck and the airplane noises are even louder, he reminds himself that however much he dreads another four days on the road, he can be glad circumstances do not allow him to fly. A first-time ride on an airplane is the last thing he needs in the way of nerve-jangling right now.
    From a shirt pocket, he removes a sheet of paper torn from the tablet next to Cliff Grant’s phone and unfolds it against the steering wheel. In the whiter-than-white glare of the parking lot lights, the full page of entries shows up just fine. After some study, he singles out the three he’s sure have to do with the rock star.
    3/28-29 Elliot Denver? Brown Hotel one BG + Isaacs
Jasey Anderson Butler Aviation
    3/30 12:05 PM Colin Ell Royal Poinciana 1 bguard
→ Icons MDarling Pavilion Music Center Be there!
Eddie Gomez Hotel
    → Elliot NYC til 4/07
Gibby Lester West Village Silent Woman confirms
Follow through ASAP
    They read the same no matter how many times he reads them; nothing new shows itself, so his decision about where to go next will have a question mark on it till he’s able to figure out if Gibby Lester is a person, a small town, or a female that can’t talk.
    He gets out of the truck, starts for the Quik-Mart and has to go back because he forgot to lock the truck doors. Inside the store, the first thing he notices is a clock above the dairy case that reads ten of nine. For ease of calculating, he rounds the number up to nine p.m. and works out how long it will take him to get to New York City if he stays close to the speed limit and keeps sleep to the minimum. Thursday night at the earliest, is the estimate he comes