Marcia Clark - Trouble in Paradise

“How’d you get to the mall?” I asked. “Did you take the limo?”

“No, we took a bus. Her choice. She said she was tired of always riding in a limo.”

“Who can blame her?” Toni asked, deadpan.

But the sarcasm was lost on Erica, who was practically wringing her hands by now.

“When you went back to check on her, she was gone,” I said.

Erica nodded.

“Isn’t it possible that Tammy Susie just got lost?” Bailey asked.

Erica nodded. “Yeah. But she hasn’t called. And, believe me, she knows my number.”

“And I take it she didn’t answer when you called her,” I said. Erica shook her head.

Bailey shrugged. “Maybe she took off on purpose. Wanted to get away, have some kid time.”

Erica shook her head. “Not Tammy Susie. She lives for this show. That girl sucks up attention like a dry sponge.”

But even as she uttered the words, Erica turned away and swiped at her cheek. This wasn’t just about losing a job. She really cared about the little girl. By the looks on Bailey’s and Toni’s faces, I saw that those tears had undone all of us. We exchanged glances, and Bailey gave me a look that said, Why not? I saw her point. Given Tammy Susie’s access to limos and her history of wandering away, the police were unlikely to take action this soon. And at this point, there was nothing the police could do that we couldn’t. In fact, unencumbered by paperwork and procedure, we’d be able to do it a hell of a lot faster.

Toni put down her drink and looked Erica in the eye. “Okay, listen up. We’ll help you. But you have to calm down because we need you to be able to think. And I’m telling you right now that if we don’t find Tammy Susie pretty damn quick, we’re going straight to the police.”

“Thank you! Oh, thank you!” Erica swallowed her remaining tears. “You’re saving my life.”

“You have a picture of Tammy Susie?” I asked.

“Seriously? You’ve never seen the show?” We all shook our heads. Erica looked at us as though we’d just stepped out of a spaceship from Mars. “It’s only, like, the biggest reality hit since Survivor. ” She scrolled through her cell phone and then passed it to us. The face of a chubby little girl with a cupid’s bow of a mouth and blonde ringlets grinned back at me mischievously.

“So if someone recognized her, they’d know she was worth a lot of money,” Toni said.

“Which is what has you worried,” Bailey said.

Erica blanched visibly and wrapped her arms around her torso. “I’m just hoping she kept the scarf on. She had a red-and-pink scarf tied around her head, Gypsy-style. We were shopping for one of those long, wide skirts to match.”

Toni frowned. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to buy the skirt and then look for a scarf?”

Erica sighed. “Welcome to my world. Tammy Susie wasn’t about to let go of that scarf.” She described what the girl had been wearing. Other than the scarf, Tammy Susie was dressed unremarkably in a pair of cutoff jeans, a blue T-shirt with pink daisies, and white sandals. We told Erica we’d meet her in the lobby and went back to the room to change into kid-hunting attire. For Toni, that meant wedge sneakers that coordinated with her matching shorts and tank top. For Bailey and me, that meant running shoes and track pants. Bailey managed to make that look elegant. Me… not so much.

When we got to the lobby, Erica was nowhere to be found. We walked out to the front of the hotel-didn’t see her there either. But then we heard her hiss from behind a large bush just outside the lobby door. “Get us a cab,” she whispered. “Tell him to take us to the Royal Plaza.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “What are you doing in that tree? And by the way, I’m not sick of limos, so why don’t we use one?”

“The limos work for the show. If I call one, everyone’ll know I’m out here without Tammy Susie.”

I flagged down a cab while Toni muttered under her breath about white girls and their silly TV shows.

Erica’s description of the Royal Plaza Mall as Disneyland on crack wasn’t too far off. Actually, it reminded me of Oz. Or the top tier of a wedding cake. You could probably see it from space. Ornately carved spires of bright pink lined the rooftop, and turquoise canopies suspended like eyelids over white balconies stretched across the front of the building. A huge gold dome sat at the center of the plaza. I’ve seen bigger malls, but none that were brighter. And it was situated on the waterfront, just a stone’s throw from the port. I didn’t blame Tammy Susie for liking the place.

With Erica in the lead, we headed for the shop where Tammy Susie disappeared. I looked into the stores we passed and noticed that they were largely stocked with merchandise from high-end designers. If there was a casual skirt under two hundred dollars, I sure didn’t see it.

“A nine-year-old shops here?” Bailey said.

“For an outfit she’ll never wear again?” Toni added.

“Money’s not an issue,” Erica said. “The whole family’s stinkin’ rich. Now.”

As we wound our way through the mall, it occurred to me that it would be relatively easy for a kidnapper to blend into the crowd with Tammy Susie. Because Aruba had once been the property of the Netherlands-and before that had been conquered by Spain-there was a rich mix of ethnicities everywhere you looked. From tall and blonde, like Diederik, to short and black, there was every racial permutation in abundance here. A little blonde girl like Tammy Susie wouldn’t attract any notice, regardless of who was with her-unless you recognized her famous face.

I still hadn’t ruled out the possibility that Tammy Susie had deliberately flown the coop. Being the center of a show can be a lot of pressure for anyone, let alone a nine-year-old. And Erica had said they were in their third season. But the fact that she hadn’t called in-by now it’d been about two hours-did worry me. I thought about who might have snatched her. If it was someone who recognized her, we could expect a ransom demand soon-unless it was someone who’d seen her show, pegged it as the demise of civilization as we knew it, and was holding on to her to prevent any further erosion in the collective IQ level in English-speaking countries.

On a serious note, I was even more worried about the possibility that she’d been snatched by someone who didn’t recognize her… I couldn’t bear to think about where that scenario might end. It would be far better if this was a kidnapping for ransom. At least Tammy Susie’s people would have no problem paying up.

Finally, Erica stopped at a small boutique that featured brightly colored oceanscape and flowered clothing.

“You took her here? ” Bailey asked.

It was a fair question. I didn’t see any kids’ clothing in the window.

“First of all, I didn’t take her anywhere. Tammy Susie took me here. And depending on the cut, she’s big enough to wear women’s sizes. She takes after… both sides of the family.” Translation: it was a big-boned family.

Just to lighten the mood, I cracked a little joke. “Look on the bright side, Erica. You wouldn’t have known Tammy Susie’s dress size if you’d gone to work for Scorsese.”

Erica glowered at me. Hey, they can’t all be gold. Jeez. I shrugged and we entered the store. The decorator had a penchant for sensory saturation. Caribbean music and an overly sweet scent filled the air, and every inch was packed with bright clothing and accessories. Blouses hung on the wall, pants were draped on bamboo chairs, and costume jewelry dripped fetchingly from the branches of tiny metal trees. It was no mystery why a young girl was attracted to this kaleidoscope of the senses. A small, light-skinned Hispanic girl with waist-length hair who was standing behind a glass counter smiled at us hopefully. “Can I help you?”