Free Chasing Venus by Diana Dempsey

back.”
    Michael was
silent.   Annie could picture him on
the phone, his wheelchair rolled into the sunny kitchen of his stylish Corona
del Mar home.   The property was a
block or two from the ocean, south of LA in Orange County, and as beautiful a
beach house as she’d ever seen.   “It’s very odd they’re on your back in the first place,” he said
finally.   “They’ve got so little to
go on.”
    Simpson’s words echoed
in her mind.   Something new has come up .   What could the FBI possibly think it had now?   There was nothing in her house that was
remotely incriminating.   There was
nothing in her house they could even trump up into so-called evidence.
    “He specifically said
he wanted my consent for a search,” she reminded Michael.   “Meaning they don’t have a warrant.”
    “They couldn’t get a
judge to give them one.   They don’t
have probable cause.”
    She had to chuckle,
grim as the situation was.   Sometimes it seemed mystery writers were as well-versed on the law as
attorneys.
    She sped along 101, the
northbound lanes fairly empty.   Southbound was another matter.   People were flocking into the city to play on Saturday night.   Dinner, movies, maybe a baseball game,
or the theater.   It seemed like
another world to her and not just because the present state of her bank account
rarely allowed her to indulge.   Because she couldn’t relax.   She could sit in a cinema but the likelihood she’d lose herself in a
film was slim to none.
    “So distract me,
Michael.”   She tried to laugh but
even to her own ears her attempt sounded feeble.   “How’re you doing?”
    He hesitated.   Then, “I’m all right.   I’ve got dinner plans later.   The Bentowicz’s .”
    She recognized the
name.   They were neighbors.   The Bentowicz and Ellsworth children had grown up together then dispersed around the state,
though she knew that Michael’s two girls—both married with
children—visited their father often.   “You don’t sound too enthusiastic.”
    “They’re wonderful
people.   We’ve known them forever.”
    We’ve known them forever .   The slip reminded Annie of Renee Ellsworth, who’d died a year and a half
before.   Cancer, that savage beast,
had taken her.   Even Annie, when she
was in Michael’s home, saw Renee around every corner, heard the tinkle of her
laughter in the wind chimes dancing on the Pacific breeze.   Maybe, Annie thought, after so many
years, if the marriage had been happy, people wanted the reminders.   Maybe they comforted more than they
hurt.
    Poor Michael.   He’d had so much to deal with the last
few years.   Losing Renee.   Suffering a resurgence in his childhood
polio and being forced into a wheelchair.   And now a homicidal maniac targeting bestselling authors.
    It put her own problems
in perspective.   Almost.
    “It’s just,” Michael
went on, “when I’m with a couple like the Bentowicz’s ,
it’s hard not to feel like a third wheel.   Or, in my case, like a third and fourth wheel.”
    Annie had to
laugh.   Michael, as usual, had made
her feel better.   Already she saw
her exit ahead.   “I’ll call you
tomorrow to tell you how this so-called search went.”
    “Be careful,” Michael
urged, and Annie ended the call with a surge of frustration.   What a waste it was for the FBI to focus
on her.   Michael was petrified and
she wasn’t feeling any too secure herself.   And meanwhile who knew what evil the real killer was plotting?
    It was another 45
minutes of driving along two-lane rural highways before she got home.   Only then did she call Simpson
back.   He declared he’d rather talk
in person and showed up in minutes, with his posse of Higuchi, Helms, and Pincus in tow.   She pulled open the door.   “I
hope this doesn’t become a habit.”
    All four men filed into
her foyer.   It was as if they’d
never left.   Simpson turned to face
her.   “Believe me, Ms. Rowell,
that’s not our