Seven Minutes to Noon

the woman was doing her best in a ridiculous market, showing Alice what was available both above and below her target price. Driving home her point to strive upward, take a risk, and come out happy at the other end.
    “This is a two-bedroom unit, and the two floors above are also two-bedroom units. That’s a lot of rental income for someone who wants to ease into their mortgage payments.”
    “Or a big gut renovation for someone who doesn’t,” Alice said. She looked around and tried to see the potential here. The building was wide and deep, and while the ceilings weren’t high and had no detail, they weren’t exactly low either. But after a few minutes of thinking it over, she knew she fit neither of the profiles they hadmentioned, neither the income hoarder nor the gut renovator. She and Mike were willing to pay their share of the mortgage for a nice house, but weren’t up for much more than a paint job and maybe sanding wood floors. Plus they had to move quickly; there would not be time for major work.
    “Let’s keep looking,” Alice said.
    “You’re the boss.” Pam followed Alice out and locked the apartment door behind them.
    “I’m sorry—” Alice started.
    “What did I tell you?” Pam held up her hand. Today’s rings were shades of green to match the stripes in her caftan.
    “I know, but still.” Alice wove her arm through Pam’s and felt a warm tug closer. “I appreciate your patience, Pam.”
    “Good. I’m the most patient person I know. That’s why I always succeed.”
    Up close, Pam’s skin looked slightly translucent in the midday sun. Alice noticed a dusting of powder on the folds of Pam’s neck, the baby-powder scent. They stood on Hicks Street in front of the house, next to the buzzing highway. Pam opened her green patent-leather purse, pulled out her overstuffed date book, removed the rubber band that held it together and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for.
    “Tomorrow, we’ve got a ten o’clock.”
    “We do?” Alice came around to look over Pam’s shoulder at the page scrawled with pencil and various colors of pen. She couldn’t discern her appointment in the scribble.
    “Didn’t I tell you?”
    “Not that I know of,” Alice said, “unless Mike forgot to give me the message.”
    Pam rummaged for a pen, scrawled the time and address on a blank page at the back of her address book, ripped it out and gave it to Alice.
    “Anything else to see?” Alice was just asking whenacross the street, on the highway side of Hicks Street, she spotted the limo driver walking slowly along the curb.
    “That man!” Alice kept her voice low but couldn’t contain the pitch of hysteria. “He’s been following me all week!”
    “Him?” Pam pointed at the man, who had become aware of the attention and was now walking quickly away. “That sucker? Are you sure ?”
    “Positive.”
    “Hey!” Pam shouted at the top of her voice. “You! Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
    Alice watched, dumbfounded, as Pam rushed across the street after the large gray-haired man, shouting all the way. “Get over here, bozo! Mama wants to talk to you! Stalker!”
    The man broke into a trot, then a run, and to Alice’s surprise actually jumped over the waist-high fence separating Hicks Street from the highway. Pam leaned over the fence, her caftan catching the gentle breeze like a sail, inflating her beyond all natural proportion.
    “Come back here, asshole!” she called to the buzzing thread of highway below. Then she turned to face Alice, across the street, and shrugged. “Gave it my best shot.”
    Pam’s grip on each moment terrified and thrilled Alice. Suddenly there was no doubt in her mind. Yes, if she heard it, it was real. And the limo driver was following her.

Chapter 21
    “Are you sure, Alice?” Frannie’s voice sounded tinny. Their cell phone connection was breaking up.
    “Frannie? Are you there?”
    “Who’s Frannie, Mommy?” Nell had walked into the kitchen and was searching the refrigerator.
    Alice shushed her, whispering, “I’m on the phone. What do you need?”
    “Apple juice, please.”
    She poured Nell a cup of juice and left her alone in the kitchen to hide out in the bathroom, where she could talk in private; she didn’t want the kids to hear her talking about being followed.
    Alice put down the toilet seat and sat, listening to the swoosh of traffic on Frannie’s end of the phone. Where was she? Finally her