Free ACCORDING TO PLAN by Sue Barr Page B

she
brought down three glasses.
    “Polly, you didn’t come by here to see Tank, did you?”
    “Who me?” She batted innocent eyes. “Now why would I do that?’
    I snorted in disbelief.
    “I stopped to find out how your little trip went and to give you
these.” She pulled a sheaf of papers from her Fendi bag with phone numbers,
times and dates on it. “Gorgeous, hunky man staying at your house had no
bearing what-so-ever that I wore my new sweater. You like?”
    Polly had on a soft pink sweater, which showed off her Mae West
figure to perfection as she swayed into the living room with the wine. Sway was
the only way to describe Polly’s walk. She just kind of ‘sashayed.’ You almost
expected her to put a hand on her hip and ask you to come over sometime. She
made me smile, as always.
    Papers in hand, I grabbed the bowl of nachos and headed into the
living room. Focused on the pages I didn’t watch where I was going and tripped
over Tank’s long legs, stretched out from the couch. He shot out an arm and
caught me. Stiffening, I placed the nachos on the coffee table, moved away from
him and sat in my easy chair.
    Polly settled in next to Tank and offered him a glass. They
immediately started laughing and joking. I was so jealous of their camaraderie
I could have spit nails, so I pretended to study the phone list.
    Tank kept looking over to me and I knew he wondered what Polly had
given me, so I lifted the sheet higher to hide my smug smile. The first page
had lots of phone calls to local numbers and I could see the L.A. prefix
interspersed among them. I was about to check out the next page when Polly
piped up.
    “So, what did the hookers have to say?”
    I lowered the sheets of paper and glared, willing her to realize I
hadn’t said anything to Tank about talking to hookers.
    She caught my glare. “What?”
    Tank looked from me to Polly and back at me again. “What hookers?”
    He sat up straight on the couch and leaned toward me. “Did you do
anything that could have gotten you hurt, or in trouble?”
    “More trouble than getting arrested outside an apartment?” I
quipped.
    Polly choked on her sip of wine. “You were arrested?”
    “No. Tank and Crocodile Dundee bulldozed me into a police cruiser
and then we went for a ride.”
    “I was just looking out for your best interests. And I forgive you
for pepper spraying me.”
    I felt heat steal across my cheeks.
    “You pepper sprayed Tank?” Polly’s eyes widened and she put her
wine on the coffee table. She twisted to face him and touched his arm. “Tank,
you poor thing, are you okay?”
    My eyes narrowed as I watched her console poor, poor Tank. What was
she up to?
    He nodded, but kept his gaze on me. “So fill me in. What did you
find out in L.A.?” Leaning back once more, he put both arms on the back of the
couch and kicked his feet out onto the coffee table. “Maybe we can bounce ideas
off each other and figure out where he’s gone.”
    Polly picked up her wine glass and settled into the corner of the
couch, tucking her feet under her bottom. It was then I noticed her wink at me
as she took a sip of wine and watched the two of us. Oh no. She was playing
matchmaker. Give me a gun and let me shoot myself.
    “Shelby, what did you find out?” Tank’s question stopped me from
throttling Polly.
    I paused and went back over my day. “This morning I talked to a
couple of hookers who might have known Lulu. They don’t believe Harrison is the
murderer. They’re street savvy and if they don’t think he did the deed, then,
my gut says they’re bang on. So... I have to ask myself, why has Harrison
disappeared? Does he think he’s being framed? Is he a target as well?”
    Visualizing Harrison’s apartment I stood, tucked the folded papers into
my back pocket, and began to pace. I did my best thinking when I wasn’t sitting
still.
    “His place was too sterile. Made me think he hadn’t lived there.
Or, almost like it had been professionally