Page 62 of The Presidents Shadow

“YOU’RE CUTE, BUT if you shred my pillow, I swear—” Belinda begins, then shrieks when Maddy transforms from a squirrel back into her usual self.

“Holy shit!” Belinda screams, jumping to her feet, holding the aforementioned pillow above her head, and smacking Maddy in the face with it.

“Unhelpful,” Maddy says, rubbing her nose.

“Sorry, I just…” Belinda looks from Maddy’s face back to her feet, as if expecting her to suddenly shrink back into a furry animal again.

“We’ve had every form of vermin in this room. Rats, mice, cockroaches. Not to mention a perverted gynecologist. But, man, we’ve never had a squirrel that turned into a woman. What the hell, girl? You holding out on me?”

“Let’s just say I have some special skills,” Maddy says.

They laugh. They hug. For all their terrible arguments and emotional disagreements in the past, they embrace each other tightly, and for a good long time.

“Nice place you got here,” Maddy says. Her voice has only a mild, teasing note of sarcasm, because it’s not that bad.

Maddy was expecting a prison cell with a toilet in the middle of the room.

But Belinda’s room looks like it could be any college dorm.

That is, if the students were forbidden to add any decorative touches.

No photos. No pictures taped to the wall.

No comfortable visitors’ chair. No video.

Only two twin beds, each covered with a coarse gray blanket, and one closet without a door.

Maddy gestures to one of the beds and asks, “So, who’s your lucky roommate?”

“Oh, just a mass murderer and part-time serial killer,” Belinda says. “Good work if you can get it.”

They settle down for a visit—a visit that could immediately force Maddy back into her disguise if a guard or matron or roommate comes along, so they talk quickly.

“I wanted to see you, not just talk to you for three minutes on a cell phone.” Maddy pauses, then adds, “And I’ve got to say, you are looking terrific.”

“Amazing what three square meals a day and a good night’s sleep will do for a girl,” Belinda says.

Then Maddy turns serious.

She tells her that she’s been gathering information about the scumbag who is kidnapping and possibly killing Belinda’s friends.

“I uncovered some very specific information over coffee with Kailyn, Mama-Girl, and a few others. They said—”

“Wait a fucking minute, lady,” yells Belinda. “You had coffee with Mama-Girl? I’d like to have seen that. How many pancakes she put away?”

“The equivalent of half my paycheck,” Maddy says. “But it was worth it.”

Maddy tells Belinda about the green Escalade; Belinda remembers it well.

“Yeah, that’s right. I saw that car about a million times. The one with the darkened windows and the hula dancer bobblehead on the dashboard,” she says.

Maddy’s entire face brightens.

“Cool. Very cool. You just gave me a piece of info—the hula bobblehead—that I never had before. I should come here more often.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Belinda says. “Come on Wednesdays, that’s when the hairdresser is here. She can trim up that tail for you. Is that how you got Mama-Girl and the pack to trust you? Showed up as a little furry animal?”

“No,” Maddy says. “I impressed everyone with an incredible display of power, strength, fortitude, and judo.”

Belinda stares at her blankly.

“I kicked three guys’ asses at the same time,” Maddy simplifies.

“Bet the girls liked that.” Belinda laughs.

“I did, too,” Maddy says. “I know you think I’ve been bullshitting you, but I care about you, about them, about Mama-Girl.

None of you asked for this life. You fell into it, or were forced there.

No one deserves to live like that, not you, not these young girls, and not even a tough old hen like Mama-Girl. ”

Belinda looks down at the floor. Then she looks back up and holds the palms of her hands against her eyes, not wanting Maddy to see her cry. After a few moments’ silence she speaks.

“You are really doing what you promised you’d do. Helping us. You’re just about the only person who’s ever made a promise to me and then kept it.”

“And I’m going to do more than that,” Maddy promises, but she is interrupted by the sound of voices coming down the hall.

Belinda speaks in a loud whisper.

“You got to get out of here.”

Within a few seconds, Maddy—back in squirrel form—scurries away.

“Damn,” Belinda says, staring at the spot her friend had been in. “That is one cool-ass trick.”