The Home Court Advantage

“You and Braden are still together,” she said as she stared at me gloomily.

“We’re very happy together.” I wondered if I should explain what “happy” meant. I sat down on the couch opposite her, crossed my legs and tried to make myself as comfortable as one could be having a private tête-à-tête with Elvira, Queen of the Night in a back room at a conspiracy club.

“You should be careful. There are people who might find that threatening,” she replied in that flat-sounding voice of hers.

“Why?” I asked suspiciously, eyeing up my exit path to the door. I was starting to wonder if she might be a little nutty. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would find my love life threatening.

“Because of your fathers.”

“What are you talking about?” I turned back to her in confusion.

“There was an article in the paper …”

“What, that Kingmaker thing in the New York Times?” I interrupted, feeling impatient. I wished that she would get to whatever her point was.

“Uh, I guess,” she said, looking uncertain. “I didn’t read it. I just overheard some people talking about it. They didn’t want your dads to work together.”

“And who are these people? Give me some names.”

“I don’t really know,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “It was at the fundraiser and I didn’t get a good look.” I had a feeling that she did know but that she just wasn’t going to tell me.

“And what did these people say exactly?”

“A guy said, ‘You read that article. If Ben Ginsberg and Tyler Pierce get together it could ruin everything.’ Then another guy said, ‘We need to take her out of the picture so that they never do’. Then a woman said, ‘Leave it to me. I’ll handle it’.”

“Someone’s been sending me anonymous notes and following me around everywhere. Do you know anything about that?”

“What? No! “ She looked shocked … and then she looked scared. “I’ve got to go. I have somewhere I have to be.” She got up and quickly headed for the door. She seemed freaked out.

“Wait a minute! Did you leave the napkin?” I wanted some answers now and I stood up, preparing to go after her if necessary.

“Yes, I left it, the napkin that is. And I asked you to meet me here at this club for a very specific reason. I don’t know anything else, though, so please don’t ask me any more questions.” With that she took off out the door and by the time I got there she was gone.

Okay, that was really weird. I wasn’t sure that I even believed her. That story about overhearing someone at the fundraiser was just so crazy. Speaking of crazy, I headed back to the lounge and when I got there I found everybody going nuts.

“Gabrielle!” Braden called out with obvious relief. He rushed over toward me and pulled me into his arms tightly. Great, I had managed to make him worry about me more than he usually did.

“Where did you go?” Jess demanded, sounding stressed and stalking over to me with her hands on her hips. Apparently, I had worried everyone.

“Braden, honey! Air,” I gasped. He was still clutching me so hard that I was starting to feel lightheaded. He loosened his hold but he didn’t let go of me. I had a feeling that between him and my dad I was going to have to start wearing a homing beacon soon.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare everyone. I just had a very strange conversation with Felicity Mason. I saw her out in the lobby and she waved me over, then told me she wanted to talk, but she took off before I could tell anybody, so I just followed her to see what she wanted.”

“Felicity?” Cameron asked, sounding surprised. It wasn’t exactly shocking that she would be hanging out at a weird club but I guess it was kind of surprising that she would actually converse.

“Let’s sit down, okay?” I asked and we all headed back to our table. Braden kept his arm around me and held me tightly by his side. This was much more than a nestle. He had a grip on me like a vise. I quickly summarized the high points of our little chat.

“What in the hell was she talking about?” Drew asked, sounding confused.

“There was an article in the New York Times,” Mark explained. “It suggested that Gab’s dad might be powerful enough to pick the next president and that he seemed to be showing an interest in politics lately. Especially in backing politicians with views a lot like your dad’s.”

“There are so many nutty people out there,” I pointed out. “It’s possible somebody took that article in the Times too seriously. My dad even mentioned something like that once himself. And she said she wanted to meet me here for a specific reason. This place is all about conspiracies.”

“Okay, so say it’s some conspiracy theorist who’s harassing you, who would it threaten if a powerful businessman backed a moderate Republican for president?” Mark asked.

“Extremists,” Lily answered. “And Gabrielle’s Jewish too. You’ve heard of all of those crazy conspiracy theories about the Elders of Zion, and Rothschilds and all that garbage.”

“What, some far-right anti-Semitic hate group is investing their time trying to get Gabrielle and Braden to break up?” Adam asked sarcastically. “Don’t they have anything better to do, like bring about the Rise of the Fourth Reich?”

“Remember that she said she overhead someone talking at the fundraiser,” I reminded Lily. “It would be kind of hard to picture Senator and Mrs. Pierce inviting a Klansman or Neo-Nazi to their party. Although, I guess it’s possible it could be someone who secretly holds those views.”

“I have a thought. Maybe she’s nuts,” Cam said, looking disgusted.

“Yeah or just lying,” Mark agreed. “She could be making the whole thing up because she’s bored or jealous or something. Hell, maybe she sent you those notes herself. She admitted that she left you the napkin.”

“Well, I know one thing. She wasn’t the person I thought I saw staring at us on the night of the fire alarm, and I thought I saw that same guy following me that day when we went to the prison, Mark. I just didn’t realize it until later. And her reaction to me telling her about it looked like genuine fear. I’ve never seen this woman express an emotion before.”

“Okay, well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to share it with the police, although I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be able to do much,” Braden said. “Maybe they’ll at least question her.”