Mr. And Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels Page A

What’s our next move? You look…I don’t know…scared? Are you?” Lily asked in a jittery-sounding voice.
    Pete bit down on his lip and grimaced. He watched Winston check out the hot tub and the flowers before lying down, his huge head on his paws. “It’s not really a group home per se. It’s called the California Academy of Higher Learning. The names of the youngsters who…didn’t make it hadn’t been released when Marty sent off the packet of information because the media weren’t sure if there were parents that had to be notified. I just called him again, and their names have still not been released. The media is all over it. The two boys who escaped are almost eighteen years old. There’s an APB out on them. The boy, the one who looked like me, is named Josh Baer. The second boy is Jesse Rabe, and the shooter has not been identified. It seems this all happened at a midmorning break when the two teachers and all the students were in the same room.
    “And before you ask, no cell phones are allowed during school hours. It’s not a big school, just ninth through twelfth grades. Grades nine through eleven left early on a field trip that was scheduled months ago. The intercom system was deactivated, so someone had to have planned this and acted accordingly. In other words, the shooter had a plan and is detail-oriented. No motive has surfaced so far.”
    “Are there parents or aren’t there parents?”
    “I don’t know. Marty—who, by the way, is Marty Bronson, and is my right hand—said he would feed me information as he gets it. In case you haven’t noticed, this delightful hotel does not have televisions in the villas. My people know how much I hate television and never watch it, so they took that into consideration when they booked these villas. Right now, I would kill for a TV.”
    “Then why don’t we go someplace that has television? Aren’t you a computer guru? Can’t you bring it up on your laptop?”
    “I didn’t bring it with me, Lily. Come on, let’s go. I’ll find us a place even if it’s some sports bar. I could use a drink anyway.”
    Winston was already inside by the time Lily got to her feet. “I don’t have a good feeling about this, Pete.”
    “I don’t either, Lily.”

Chapter 5
    H er nerve endings twanging all over her body, Lily was about to exit her villa when she heard Pete and Zolly. It sounded like they were right outside. Unashamedly, she pressed her ear to the door and listened to the muted conversation she could barely hear.
    Zolly scratched at his bald head, his brow furrowed. “Boss, is something going on here I don’t know about? You know the rules, so let’s hear it. I also want you to tell me, do you and the lady inside this villa have some kind of history together? It reads like you do.”
    A history. Well, that was one way of putting it. Lily pressed her ear harder against the door to hear Pete’s reply.
    “In a manner of speaking. A very short -lived history. It’s personal, Zolly, so don’t go reading something into this that isn’t there. Lily and I met by accident at the airport, and since we were going to the same fund-raiser at our old alma mater, it made sense to invite her here so we could catch up on… This is none of your business, Zolly.”
    “Everything you do is my business, boss. Don’t fight me on this, or we’re going to have sharp words. Like I said, you know the rules. I’ll stay out of your way. Just to keep you in the loop, I ran a background check on your friend.” The security guard jerked his head in the direction of Lily’s villa to indicate she was the one he ran the check on.
    On the other side of the door, Lily heard Pete groan.
    “Boss, the good news is, I think it’s safe to say she isn’t after your money, chance meeting or not. She’s got quite a pile of her own. A really, really big pile. She’s not in your league, but she’s damn close. Her kids’ clothes, they call them her ‘dee-zines,’ win prizes