Party Crashers

shoes.

Chapter Fourteen

    "ARE YOU SURE IT WAS GARY you saw in the crowd at the store?" Leann asked.
    Jolie sighed into the phone receiver and dropped into her favorite chair. "I thought so at the time, but now, I just don't know."
    "Did he look as if he was trying to make contact with you?"
    "I only got a glimpse of him, but he seemed to be looking at me."
    "And who is this other guy you said was there?"
    "Roger LeMon? Well, long story short, I recognized him from a picture in a photo album of Gary's."
    "How did you get Gary's photo albums?" From Leann's tone it was clear she didn't approve of the kind of intimacy that having his personal items implied.
    "The apartment manager gave me a box of things he salvaged from Gary's apartment after the fire. The album didn't have much in it, some childhood pictures, group photos from parties." She decided not to mention the X'd-out picture of herself.
    "And this guy LeMon was in some of the photos?"
    "Yeah." She told Leann about recognizing LeMon and following him to the pay phone, and the snippet of conversation she'd overheard.
    "Maybe Gary is mixed up in something dangerous," Leann said, her voice solemn. "Drugs, maybe."
    "That what's the detective insinuated. In fact..." She winced. "Gary has a record for selling cocaine."
    "Omigod. Did you know?"
    "No."
    "What a slimeball," Leann seethed. "I can't believe he would deceive you like that, and now... this ."
    Jolie could tell she was pacing, and she was touched by her friend's concern. "Please don't worry about me—you have enough on your hands with your sister."
    Leann sighed. "Jolie, I just wish you'd taken my advice and stayed away from Gary Hagan. I told you he was trouble."
    "You were right." Jolie leaned her head back and stared at a water stain on her ceiling. "Why could you see that I couldn't?"
    Leann sighed. "Just a matter of experience, I guess. Gary seemed too good to be true."
    If she tilted her head, the water stain looked like a misshapen heart. "I'm gullible."
    "You just haven't dated enough jerks to make you cynical."
    She frowned wryly—linking up with a possible murderer had made her a quick study.
    "Jolie, do you think Gary is still following you?"
    "Yes," Jolie admitted. "I thought I saw my car drive by last night as I went into the hotel for the reception."
    "What will you do if he contacts you again?"
    "Try to get him to go to the police."
    "And if he won't?"
    "I'll call them myself," Jolie said. "Stall him until the police get there...something." She pushed to her feet and walked to the desk to re-sort the mail, keeping an eye out for the alleged envelope Gary said he'd sent, but the only thing unusual was Mrs. Janklo's AARP magazine that the mail carrier had put in Jolie's box by mistake. "I just want this to be over."
    "Me, too," Leann said.
    Jolie tried to smile. "I'm trying to forget about Gary, at least for one night. I wish you could drive up and crash the party with us." She glanced at her watch. "If you left now, you could make it."
    "Yeah, right. Besides, you don't need me there, not with your new friends."
    Jolie wasn't sure if the envious tone made her feel needed or crowded. She'd never before had multiple female friendships to maintain. She missed Leann, but she was grateful for Carlotta's companionship, especially since Leann would be in Florida for a few more months. Torn, she said, "Hopefully, by the time you get back to Atlanta, this mess will have blown over and all of us can be friends."
    "Okay," Leann said, but she still sounded forlorn. "Hey, aren't you afraid that Sammy will throw you out of her party?"
    "Carlotta is a master of disguise. Sammy won't recognize me." Jolie frowned suddenly, thinking she was getting way too blasé about deceiving others. This would be the last party she would crash, she promised herself.
    "Is it a costume party?"
    "No, actually, it's a pajama party. I think it's Sammy's version of a costume party."
    "Sounds decadent."
    Why the word "decadent" conjured up the face of Beck Underwood, Jolie wasn't sure, but she pushed him out of her mind. When she met with him tomorrow to try to sell him an expensive house, she would be all business. If the man had decided that she was his cause for the week, she would take it, but she wasn't going to risk more than her time. If there was such a thing as too good to be true, it was Beck Underwood. If nothing else, Gary had taught her a lesson about keeping her heart under wraps until her head caught up with