Cat in a Hot Pink Pursuit (52 page)

“
Gross. But what's the big secret about tonight?"
Mariah was finally coming down from her performance afterglow and tuning into her mother's strange comment.

“You'll find out soon," Molina said. "If Hollywood doesn't come calling right away, we can leave."

“
Oh, Mom. I knew I wasn't gonna win. But who
needs to?"

“That's a very mature attitude, Mariah."

“
Who needs to be a stupid 'Tween Queen? I'm going
for
American Idol
next.”

Molina speechless was a sight to behold. "We'll see," was all she could come up with Temple tried to slip away. "Stay," Molina said. "Sit," Molina said next.

They were commands you gave to a dog, but Temple
decided she would be magnanimous and not ruin
Mariah's big night. Poor kid. She was about to learn the bodyguard at the competition was her daddy.

Molina had more guts than Temple gave her credit for.

Larry winked as he moved over to give Temple his
seat, as if guessing every turn of her internal debate.

After the closing hoopla was over, Kit came running
up to them.

“
Fabulous job, girls! Of course you both earned my
top honors and should have won your divisions but that
cretin Dexter was fixated on boob size and that tipped the balance, excuse the expression. I am so disgusted.
The other judges and I are making protests but frankly without Elvis—I mean just by the numbers—we're not likely to make anybody listen. The cameramen and producers are fixated on boob size too.”

Her effusions stopped as she regarded Temple. "Ah, a limo service has arrived to convey me back to my hotel, but the vehicle seems rather crowded by individuals and accessories of purely Italian manufacture. Am I going to get 'taken for a ride' out into the desert, or what?”

Temple grinned. "I see the fabulous Fontana Brothers
have arrived. You may recall my mentioning them to you."

“
Yes, I do. And they are as collectively cute as a silencer on a Beretta, but is going with them safe?"

“I don't know, Aunt. Do you particularly care?"

“
You're so right. I'll take two aspirin and call you in
the morning." She was off on her high-heeled Blahnik slides. Off to see the Wizards of Las Vegas.
Wicked!

“
I don't get it," Mariah said. "They sent her multiple limousine drivers?"

“It's a very long stretch limo. Let's blow this crooked contest, kid.”

Mariah and Temple/Xoe left in turn as the crowd shuf
fled out. No easy way for Rafi Nadir to fight the flow and
reach them, though Temple knew he could if he wanted to.

But she never saw him again, not even when she and
Mariah stood under the porte cochere and waited for
Larry and whatever kind of car he was driving.

“
Good job," she told Mariah again. "Your mother
nearly flipped when you sang that song."

“
She liked it? I couldn't see with all those lights.”

“She loved it. And I did too."

“
It didn't win me anything though."

“How about your mother's confidence? That's a hard thing to get when you're thirteen to nineteen. Trust me. Been there, haven't done that yet."

“Your mother doesn't have faith in you?"

“Yeah, sure, in a general way. But mothers have a hard
time trusting that you'll hang with a decent crowd at
school, or wear non-slutty makeup and clothes, or lock your car doors when you're driving alone at night."

“
I don't have to worry about that driving thing for three
years, remember. You're the one who harped on it."

“Right."

“
So your mother still doesn't really trust you. And
you're . . . ancient."

“That's true. My mother doesn't entirely trust my judgment and I'm ancient."

“It's not us then, it's our 'judgment."'

“Right. They think any hunky guy can send it out the window."

“My mom thinks your hunky guy should go out the window. I know that."

“She's not my mom, thank goodness. The one I have already is enough."

“What do you think of that Larry guy?"

“Too soon to tell. What do you think of him?"

“I can't believe she's, like, dating him. I've never seen her date anyone. Is that what she wants to tell me, the secret, do you suppose?"

“
Too soon to tell." Temple felt like a skunk for ducking
the issue, but this really was just between mother and daughter.

A black Jeep Cherokee pulled up. Larry's angular face caught the wall-mounted torch light as he leaned over to open the passenger door.

Mariah hopped into the back seat, leaving Temple to
scramble up into the SUV passenger seat in her tight skirt
and heels.

Larry gave her one of those quick assessing male looks
that said he wasn't displeased but not personally inter
ested. Maybe Molina had hit paydirt.

Temple looked around, hard, before they took off. Rafi Nadir was nowhere in sight.

Now why did that scare the living shih tzu out of her?

They ended up in the Blue Dahlia parking lot.

Temple gave Larry a warning look when he came
around to help her and Mariah out of the Jeep.

He shrugged at Temple and gave Mariah a reassuring
grin. "That was a world-class performance, kiddo. You've
got a ripe set of pipes.”

Temple scanned the parking lot for signs of Rafi
Nadir. That was the trouble. If he was here, there would
be some.

“You always this nervous?" Larry asked with a quick whisper.

“We did just come from a murderer-grabbing scene.”

“
History. I have a feeling you don't dwell on it. Neither
do I. What else is bothering you?"

“Nothing.”

He laughed. "Women are the best little stonewallers in the business. And we guys call you the weaker sex.”

Temple eyed Mariah nervously. She'd been through a lot, plus the poor kid was half-starved.

“It's their business," Larry warned.

“True, but why do I feel you're butting into it?”

He laughed again. "You're one sharp cookie, aren't
you?" His hand on her elbow was custodial as he steered
her inside behind Mariah's happy jazz steps as she took
in the artsy neon and the bluesy adult façade of the Blue Dahlia.

It was the kind of place Travis McGee would boogie into without a regret.

Temple hoped that more modern folk of the female
persuasion wouldn't regard it as a hothouse of worse
things than mere regret.

"'This place is so cool!”

Mariah eyed the cocktails on the surrounding tables,
the all-adult clientele.

She was feeling thirteen-going-on-thirty tonight, an emotion Temple remembered well.

So this was the secret Molina was going to unveil. A small, glamorous secret to start with, before the main
course, which was large, hard to swallow, and indi
gestible.

Temple had become close enough to Mariah during
their days as faux roommates to feel her stomach churning with anxiety. What if her own mother had revealed a
hidden past as a . . . belly dancer! How would Temple,
age thirteen, have reacted?

She couldn't be certain, but not with unbridled joy, for sure. Oh, Mother! The breed was so embarrassing to begin with. What if Mariah found Carmen laughable? Temple felt herself cringing for the risk Molina was taking, then thought of the bigger one she'd have to take later.

“How long have you known Molina?" Larry asked her
after ordering a Shirley Temple for Mariah and a half-
bottle of pink zinfandel for them.

“Too long and not enough."

“My feelings exactly. She isn't easy."

“Why should she be?"

“Right. I'm not either."

“What are you, then?”

He glanced at Mariah to make sure that she was busy
eavesdropping on the sophisticated blues lovers at the
other tables, and the sophisticated lovers, period. The
Blue Dahlia was a favorite trysting place. Carmen's torch songs were music to make semipublic love by.

“
I carry a shield, like you didn't know," Larry said,
way too laidback for a man in blue.

Temple didn't doubt him. This was a cop but an unconventional cop. The combination was intriguing and, she
sensed, dangerous. She hoped Molina knew what she was
doing.

The jazz trio ended a riff. There was a moment of tran
sition. Were they going to take a break? Or not?
Not. Carmen merged with the narrow velvet curtains behind the instrumentalists, then passed through, blue velvet fog in motion.

She was at the lone stool, mike in hand, like smoke in a mirror. Not there, and then there, etched irrevocably.
Mariah's jaw dropped before the first low, minor notes of "The Man I Love" escaped her mother's lips. Everything about Molina that was larger than life and downright intimidating in reality became cinematic and dramatic on a musical club set.

It was intimacy writ large. The microphone seemed an accessory after the fact to her true, husky voice, both bel canto and hip.

She wove a vocal spell. The dignified sheen of vintage forties blue velvet that made femininity into a sculpted, strong icon was part of that spell. Women had seemedboth sturdy and sexy then, part of the war effort maybe. Rosie the Riveter as Venus de Milo.

It was hard for Temple to credit this view of womanhood, her being so small and so often underestimated
because of it. But . . . hey, the goddess/Amazon type
never died.

“
That's my mom," Mariah breathed.

“Yup." Larry.

Boy, men were inarticulate about feelings!

“Yeah," Temple told Mariah. "Quite a set of pipes. I don't think anyone knows about this now, besides us.”

Mariah sat back, a troubled expression on her face. "Why'd she keep it a secret?"

“
Imagine what the guys at work would say? What
would the boys at school say about you? Miss 'Tween Queen singer/hip-hop heroine/beauty queen?"

“
Oh. Not good. I don't get it. We're supposed to be
pretty and talented and we're supposed to be . . . no competition."

“
You got it. That's right. Doesn't make sense. Guys often don't."

“Then why do we bother with them?"

“You gotta answer that one for yourself.”

Mariah regarded Larry.

“What?" He sounded defensive.

“You don't look worth much."

“Appearances are deceiving. Look. I'm your mother's biggest fan. She's good, isn't she?"

“Yeah. She is. Is that why you like her?"

“Right." He high-fived her.

Temple watched Mariah ratchet another puzzle piece
of life into place. This had been a busy week for her.

Something was disturbing here though. Molina had left the real secret, Mariah's father, securely closeted. Temple
had assumed that was the thing Mariah was "old enough to know" now. Apparently not. Apparently Molina could
be as much of a coward as the next woman, if the right stakes were involved.

And then, at the mike, Molina/Carmen sat back on the stool. She nodded at the instrumentalists and segued, a capella, into "Mariah.”