Forget to Remember

and Kyle applauded.
    She gave a comic bow. “I suppose you recorded the whole thing, even when I fell on my ass.”
    Kyle grinned. “That was the best part.”
    “You were magnificent.” There was no sarcasm in Ault’s voice. “Kyle, I wrote a poem once called ‘Majorette.’ Could you make a copy of it, please?”
    Kyle disappeared again. Carol tried to think of ways to amuse Ault without talking about herself. Remembering he liked to play games, she asked if he played backgammon. He said he did, and he produced a backgammon set from a wooden cabinet. She declined to play for money. When he missed some fairly obvious moves, she was sure his mental processes weren’t working the way they had at one time.
    After they’d played several games, Kyle returned with the poem, and Carol read it.

    She's coming! Strutting down Main Street, USA;
    Pulling the band behind, her toy on a string.
    Head high, back straight, legs lifting, this is her day,
    In the red and gold of fall or the green of spring.

    Her baton flashes silver bright in the morning sun
    As it soars and spins its way to dizzying heights;
    And when the arc's described, the spin is spun,
    She plucks it from the air as it alights.

    Boys watch, agog; they whistle and walk beside,
    Ogling bare legs, tight tights and a fancy hat.
    She smiles within, but never breaks her stride,
    A vision, a Venus, the town's aristocrat.

    Carol was impressed. “I’m no literary expert, but I really like this. I’ve read your other poem several times.”
    “Thank you.” Ault bowed his head. “That’s high praise coming from a real majorette.”
    “I’d better go. It’s a long drive home. Thank you so much for a lovely evening.”
    Ault reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wallet. Carol saw a flash of hundred dollar bills. Although this was the moment she thought she’d been waiting for, when he started to extract some bills from the wallet a knife went into her heart. “No.”
    “I just want to pay you what you won the other night—”
    “No. I won’t take money from you. I’ll…be your friend, but I won’t—I can’t take money from you.”
    Carol gave Ault a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. She said again what a lovely evening she’d had and walked briskly out of the living room. Kyle intercepted her in the hall. In spite of Ault’s insistence on low technology, it occurred to Carol that Kyle had the house bugged and heard everything they were saying.
    Kyle opened the front door for her. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s not trying to buy you. You brighten up his life.”
    Carol considered a retort, but what came out of her mouth was completely different. “Is somebody making sure he isn’t taken advantage of?”
    “I am. There are others, also. Beard isn’t welcome here again.” Kyle hesitated. “I don’t often feel I have to justify myself, but somehow with you…I have an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. I’ve been with Mr. Ault for ten years. I do more than just open doors.”
    “Right. You make movies.” She was beginning to like Kyle. She smiled at him. “Don’t enjoy the one you made tonight too much.”
    “It’s on my top-ten list for the year.” As she descended the steps, Kyle called after her. “Let me know if you need any help with your quest—need any strings pulled…”
    Carol waved and slid into the car. Could he find a DNA match for her? As she drove home, it occurred to her she’d learned two things from her association with Sebastian Ault: She wasn’t a scam artist and she valued her freedom more than money. If the fact that everything she did was illegal equated to freedom. But she now had a higher opinion of herself.

    CHAPTER 22
    The driveway was quite long since it went between two other houses, back to the Ramirez lot at the edge of the cliff—the location that gave it such an extraordinary view. The garage door opened to Carol’s touch of a remote attached to the car visor, and she drove inside. The two-car garage was detached from the house. She had to exit from the garage and go in the front door.
    Outside lights guided her. She was about to climb the two steps to the door when she saw movement in the bushes that grew next to the house out of the corner of her eye. She glanced in that direction, wondering whether it was a raccoon, possum, or skunk and realized it was too large to be an animal.
    She instinctively jumped away from the shadow just as a loud noise like a firecracker