Claire McNab - Wombat Strategy

I didn't need to explain. Ariana said, "I imagine there's a manual release. Besides, my guess is there'll be an emergency generator up at the house."

I guessed she was right. The place was a mansion and a half.

After the darkness of the streets, the huge house was so bright it hurt the eyeballs. There were two stories, laid out in an "E" plan with the center part facing us. Every window of every room appeared to be lit. The entrance area was so brightly illuminated it seemed more like a stage set than anything else. Three shallow steps led up to a front door that had to have been snaffled from a castle somewhere. This enormous door was framed by two columns, each with lots of fussy stonework at the top. Lighting fixtures looking like gigantic, swollen lanterns were set into the wall on either side.

"Crikey," I said. Then I shut up. I didn't want Ariana to think I was a little bushie who'd never been close-up to anything like this in her life.

It wouldn't have been a surprise if a butler in full uniform had opened the door, but instead it was Dave Deer himself. He was dressed in what I'd call upmarket casual. His fair hair gleamed, his teeth gleamed, the gold watch he was wearing gleamed. I felt dull beside him.

"Come in, Ariana. Kylie, delightful to see you again."

Inside the door there were more columns, ornately carved, bracketing the entrance into the main part of the house. Our feet clacked on the parquet flooring. I was wearing heels tonight, not too high, and my best dress, plain and a sort of plum color. Fran, after a pause to whinge, had dug up an iron, and I'd unpacked everything and had an orgy of ironing to make my clothes presentable.

Ariana-surprise-was wearing a black skirt and frothy black blouse. I figured if I had her coloring, I'd wear black too. The contrast made her blond hair blonder, her blue eyes bluer.

A woman in a short, lacy dress came down the curving stairs, like she'd been cued to appear. Dave Deer said, "My wife, Elise. Elise, you know Ariana, of course. And this is Kylie Kendall."

I already knew he was married to Elise Patterson. She was an Aussie and had been a professional tennis player-good but not top-ten material. The best ranking she'd had, I recalled, was somewhere in the low twenties. A few years ago, with her tennis career on the way down, she'd met and married Dave Deer. They'd had a big society wedding in Sydney that'd been splashed over all the popular magazines and made the front pages of most newspapers.

Elise wasn't blond-I'd say her husband wouldn't want the competition-but mid-brown with red highlights. And she was really friendly, taking my arm and leading me through an arched doorway into a living room that dwarfed the furniture and all of us.

"Big, isn't it?" Elise said, as I gazed around the room. Seeing me look up at the two heavy chandeliers suspended from the ornate gold-painted ceiling, she laughed. "I always think the buggers will come crashing down, but so far they haven't."

We had drinks and chit-chat seated on two red couches placed on a fluffy white carpet that floated in a sea of parquet flooring. Between the couches a low table had a huge marble ball balanced in the middle as decoration.

The conversation turned to the likelihood of a major earthquake giving LA. a good shake-up. Apparently there'd been a couple of minor quakes the week before I arrived, and this had got "the big one," as Ariana called it, on the agenda. "Do you get any warning before an earthquake happens?" I asked hopefully.

When everyone agreed such disasters struck out of the blue, I spent the next few minutes waiting for the chandeliers poised above us to fall or the marble ball to roll off the table and squash someone's foot.

A maid, dressed in a black dress and white apron, just like in some old movie, came in to say dinner was served. We all got up and headed out the arched doorway, which I noticed also had columns, these ones painted gold. As I passed the maid I said "G'day." She gave me a funny look. "Good evening, madam."

"We're in the smaller of the two dining rooms," said Elise.

The other one must have been humongous, as this dining room was pretty big. A wall of glass looked out over a swimming pool. Underwater lighting turned it into a glowing blue-green rectangle.

At one end of the room was a fireplace with a highly wrought metal screen. I hid a smile at the portrait above the mantle, an oil painting of Dr. Dave Deer himself, gazing self-importantly out of the heavy gold frame.

"Don't blame me for the decor," Elise said once we were seated at a large glass-topped dining table with metal legs and black metal chairs padded with cushions embroidered in gold and black. "We're renting this place, fully furnished. I wanted something somewhat less grand, but Dave insisted," she sent him an indulgent smile, "we needed room to entertain."

"Speaking of entertaining," he said, beaming, "we're having a party tomorrow night. I know it's short notice, but Elise and I would love to have you both attend. And of course, bring a guest if you wish."

"Thank you," said Ariana. "I'll come alone."

I wasn't sure whether Ariana would want me at the Deers' party, but when everyone looked my way I had to say something. "Sounds bonzer to me."

The maid, accompanied by a twin of herself also in black with a white apron, came in with the first course, a complicated salad with slices of smoked salmon. The first sip from my wineglass widened my eyes-this wasn't bad plonk at all. In fact, I had to admit it was pretty good.

"An excellent Australian wine," said Dave Deer. "Perhaps you recognize it, Kylie."

Oh, sure, like I'd ever have the money to buy top-of-the-line stuff. "Chardonnay," I said. "Margaret River area of Western Australia?" I'd cheated, of course. Having ripper eyesight, I'd read the district on the bottle's label.

"Very good." He looked impressed.

I felt embarrassed to have fooled him, so I said, "I didn't really know. I read the label."

Instead of being offended, he was amused. "You'll find honesty isn't always the best policy, Kylie."

"Dave and I have been talking about the idea of you going undercover at Deerdoc," Elise said to me. "We think it might work. We've got a cover story. You're to be my cousin, looking for a temporary job while you're in L.A. On Monday Dave's going to tell his assistant to take a couple of weeks' vacation, so you can fill in for her."

"Kylie can't be seen to be associated with Kendall & Creeling," said Ariana.

"We've thought of that," said Dave Deer. "Kylie can move in here with us. That's what Elise's cousin would do, if she existed." He sent a toothy grin my way. "We've got plenty of room, I assure you."

I felt a pang of alarm. Had Dave Deer always had a shark's smile?

After Ariana dropped me off, I did my security rounds, had a shower, and then Julia Roberts and I had a good night's sleep. I only woke briefly when Jules had a full wash at three o'clock. By eight in the morning I was dressed, well breakfasted with porridge and tea, and had studied a street directory called the Thomas Guide. I was ready to brave the streets of Los Angeles.

Ariana had mentioned that both Lonnie and Harriet would be in later. Even though it was Saturday, background checks on Deerdoc staff had to be finished. She said she'd be in the office by eight-fifteen to show me the ins and outs of the Mustang. True to form, she was there on the dot.

Ariana opened the garage, and I saw the car she'd called my father's pride and joy. No way did its vibrant red self look almost 40 years old. Ariana stood with her hand resting on the hood, rather like she was soothing some thoroughbred animal, as she explained how she'd turned the engine over every week or so to keep the battery charged. Then she drove the Mustang out into the lane and painstakingly took me through everything she thought I should know.