CHAPTER NINE
WIPING HER SWEATY PALMS on her white pants, Sydney stood guard as Benno proceeded with breaking in, his seeming confidence making her wonder about his past yet again. Narrow screened windows flanked either side of the large bay. He stood in front of the one that had been left cracked open.
She wished he would hurry.
They’d spent the entire afternoon tracking down Fox and now people with day jobs were leaving work. She noted the increased foot traffic on the adjoining street. At any moment, a tenant from one of the other five second-floor apartments was bound to come home and catch them.
The sound of tearing fiberglass sent gooseflesh down her back. She glanced in Benno’s direction as he finished slicing through the entire length of screen. He folded his knife and stuck it in his pocket, deftly rolled up the fiberglass, then slid open the window and threw the evidence of the break-in inside.
“Ladies first.”
Not liking what they were doing, she checked the downstairs area thoroughly for any witnesses before edging back toward him. Benno had laughed at her suggestion of having the owner or manager open up the place for them. He’d said they wouldn’t get into the apartment without a court order unless they made the opportunity for themselves.
“Relax, already,” he ordered. “No one’s around. All you have to do is slip into the apartment and unlock the front door for me.”
Sydney ignored her foreboding and gathered the measly courage she had left. Pulling aside the heavy orange drape that blocked the window, she took one last cursory look around outside. No one. And inside, nothing out of place except the rolled screen.
“Do you want me to do it?” Benno asked, his tone becoming impatient.
Though Sydney would have loved to let him, she wouldn’t let on. After all, he was setting himself up for possible trouble because he was helping her find a con man. And if they didn’t find Fox, she would be in big trouble with the law. She couldn’t let Benno take all the risks.
“I’m smaller. It’ll be easier for me.”
Benno steadied Sydney as she swung a leg over the sill. His hands were warm and his grip firm on her sides. The situation evoked memories of other hands on her flesh.
Al Fox’s hands.
A felon’s hands.
Shifting her weight away from Benno as she stepped inside brought a measure of relief even though she didn’t relish being in the room alone. Her pulse erratic, she rushed to the door and flung it open.
Benno gave her a questioning look as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Sydney figured she appeared as frightened as she was feeling. But she wasn’t a coward; she was merely out of her depths. And she couldn’t help wondering what fate had in store for her next.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she told him.
Sydney noticed Benno didn’t add his assurances that he hadn’t either. But then his attention was off her and on the room itself.
“What a drab setting for a man who sounds like a peacock,” he commented.
She bristled for a moment, then realized she had no reason to defend the man who’d tricked her into a fake marriage. Taking a good look around herself, she was somewhat shocked by the lack of civilities and excess of filth. The room was sparsely outfitted, the few pieces of furniture obviously second hand and in need of cleaning. The room’s musty smell seemed appropriate to the setting.
Benno wandered toward the kitchenette. The small table was covered with food wrappers, and several bags from fast food restaurants lay crumpled on the floor.
“He must have had lunch here.” Benno picked up a container. “I can still smell the greasy fries.”
“Then he may be back at any minute.”
Panic warred with excitement at the possibility of facing down Al Fox. Of course that’s exactly what she’d been hoping for. Only caution dictated she not be so anxious – the man was probably armed.
“Odds are our Mr. Vita warned him,” Benno said. “Fox is probably long gone and I don’t picture him coming back. He can’t be sure you won’t call the police and have the building staked out. His hideaway isn’t safe any more.”
“Just in case you’re wrong, we’d better search the apartment fast and see what we can find.”
Benno was already opening a door. “This closet is empty.”
“You look around here. I’ll check the bedroom.”
The inner room was as sordid as the rest of the place, making Sydney wonder how Al Fox could have fooled her so well. His taste had appeared to be impeccable and when he was with her, he’d seemed something of a perfectionist. She couldn’t fathom how any human being could live like thishe place was a pigsty. More wrappers littered the dresser, half a donut lay on the night stand next to an ashtray filled with cigarette butts, and what appeared to be several days worth of newspapers were scattered across the floor.
“Fox was one hell of an actor, I’ll give him that,” she muttered, dropping her shoulder bag at the edge of the bed.
She started with the chest. Either other clothes had been hastily ripped from the drawers before he’d left or Fox had only these few things and didn’t care how wrinkled they were. She found nothing more revealing.
Though she expected the closet to be empty, she checked it next. The bar was bare but for a few hangers with articles of clothing, all of which she recognized. He’d left them as if he wanted no reminder of her.
Sadness threatened to overwhelm her, but Sydney steeled herself, ordered herself to remain detached. She inspected the clothes, searched through pockets, including those of a heavy sweater he’d worn the day he’d proposed. Nothing. Touching the sweater sleeve, she closed her eyes and visualized the man she’d fallen in love with.
She’d just said yes to his proposal and he was holding her and wearing that devastatingly crooked smile.
His face neared hers to claim a kiss...
She shuddered at the memory.
Then a hand on her shoulder made her jump. Her eyes flew open. “Benno.”
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Just a little jittery,” she lied, swinging out of the closet and trying to pass him.
His hand shot out, preventing her from going anywhere. Benno pulled her against his chest and wrapped both arms around her as if to stop her trembling. Sydney couldn’t help but press her cheek against the front of his soft brown shirt. His heart beat strong and steady beneath the finely woven material. Being held by him, leaning on him both literally and figuratively, felt so right.
And only a few hours before, she had thought she was unwilling to get close to any man.
“Better?”
Wondering how she could feel so content in his arms, especially here, especially with the memories she’d conjured, Sydney lifted her head to meet his gaze.
“Much.”
He was staring at her in a way that mesmerized her. She told herself she should pull away from him, but she couldn’t move. Didn’t want to move. His expression intense, Benno lowered his head as she had remembered Al Fox doing. She forced away the recollection and lifted her face.
Benno’s mouth demanded hers. Sydney let loose the emotions she’d been trying to deny. For days, she’d fought her attraction to this man and yet should have known that some physical exploration was inevitable. She responded as if she hadn’t been held in years, as if the embrace were an affirmation of her own desirability.
Evidence that she desperately needed.
And Benno’s kiss was more wonderful than she could have imagined. She felt intrigued. She felt plundered. She felt alive.
She was so caught up in the wonder of Benno’s embrace that she didn’t realize they weren’t alone until a strident female voice demanded, “What in blue blazes is going on here?”
Sydney jumped and pushed at Benno’s chest. Caught red-handed. She was ready to confess everything and plead the woman’s mercy.
Benno, on the other hand, kept his head... and an arm around Sydney.
He gave her a warning squeeze before asking the woman, “And who might you be?”
Reed thin and wearing hot pink shorts, a lime green halter top, and several colorful necklaces, bracelets and earrings, the brassy fiftyish redhead drew herself up to her full height which would have been considerable even without the three inch feather-decorated purple slides.
“I’m the one doing the asking around here. Ida Mae Sims. This is my building.”
”And you always come waltzing into your tenants’ apartments without being invited?” Benno challenged her.
Sydney gave him an exasperated look. Why wasn’t he trying to charm the woman?
“You aren’t my tenants,” Ida Mae said, jingling her rhinestone decorated key ring at him.
“No, but Al Fox is. We’re waiting for him.”
The landlady’s mouth puckered, giving her narrow face a pinched look. “Is that no-good scoundrel gonna be here soon? I thought you was him. That’s why I came up here. To collect the rent. He’s good at giving me a song and a dance instead of hard cash.” She narrowed her heavily made-up eyes suspiciously. “And how do I know you’re his friends?”
“How else would we have gotten into this place if he didn’t let us in?” Benno asked smoothly while Sydney prayed the landlady hadn’t noticed the screen.
“I don’t know, but I want you outta here.”
“That won’t make Al happy.”
“Tough. When he makes me happy by putting a rent check in my hand–” She tapped one palm with long purple nails. “–then everything will be ducky. You tell him that when you see him. In the meantime, I’m gonna get my gentleman friend to change the lock.”
“We can wait right here and give Al your message,” Sydney said. To appease the woman, she added, “I’m sure he’ll want to square things with you.”
“Well, I ain’t sure of no such thing, so you two get out of here right this dang minute.”
She waltzed around behind them and herded them out of the bedroom. They were through the front door before Sydney remembered her shoulder bag.
“My purse. I left it in the bedroom.”
Ida Mae sighed and fussed with the magenta silk flowers in her hair. “All right. Go on and get it.”
Sydney gave the landlady a grateful smile and reentered the apartment. She headed for the bedroom and wondered if she could stall long enough to check out the other dresser. Before picking up her purse, she peered through the doorway to see if Ida Mae was watching.
“Hurry up now.”
The voice jarred Sydney and she knocked into the shoulder bag, which tumbled off the bed. Its contents shot across the floor.
“Damn.”
Bending over, she grabbed her wallet, keys and lipstick and dumped them back into the purse. But when she went for the Tarot pouch, the opening loosened and several cards slid out and flew under the bed.
“Double damn.”
Now she had to get on her knees and the floor was filthy. She collected the first few cards easily but had to flatten out to reach two others which had landed on a piece of paper almost out of reach. She nabbed the edge and dragged it and the cards toward her. Sitting back on her knees, she brushed the dust motes from the front of her sea green shirt.
Then she reached for the cards. They rested on a newspaper clipping, yellowed and fragile, with deep creases where it had been folded, perhaps for years. Curiosity made her pick up the newsprint. When she turned the clipping over, her eyes widened.
“What’s the doggone problem?” Ida Mae stood in the doorway, hands on her hips.
“I-I knocked over my purse,” Sydney croaked, carefully folding up the newspaper and placing it in her purse. “I was just picking up my things.”
The other woman came closer. “Tarot cards. You read Tarot cards?”
“Yes.”
”I love Tarot cards,” Ida Mae enthused. “Would you read mine? I’ll pay.”
Sweeping the loose cards into her bag, Sydney stood and rushed by the other woman. “No, sorry, I don’t have time.”
“I see.” Ida Mae yelled after her. “You have time enough for your boyfriend but not for an honest, hard-working woman who could use a little advise about her future well-being. So much for the feminine sisterhood.”
Her heart pounding, Sydney caught up with Benno who had wandered a ways down the landing. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Calm down, we’re fine.”
“You may be.” She kept going. “I need a drink.”
“You remember what I told you now!” Ida Mae yelled after them.
Sydney didn’t look back. Her mind was racing as fast her feet as she descended the stairs. They’d come to the conclusion that she was an innocent pawn in the game of murder, chosen merely because she’d been at a low point and vulnerable. Now she knew that theory was erroneous.
As if to reflect her charged emotions, the sky had darkened prematurely. Dull and gray, it threatened rain. If only a storm could wash away the panic she was feeling.
Benno caught up to her when they reached street level. “So what did Ida Mae tell you?”
“Nothing. She must have wanted us to remind Al Fox about the rent money.”
“Then why are you so upset?” he persisted. “Because we got caught or because we didn’t find anything? We could go back later to finish the job.”
“No. We don’t have to. I already found more than I wanted.”
“While you were getting your purse?”
Sydney nodded. How ironic. If she hadn’t gone back into the bedroom, she would still be operating on an incorrect premise.
“Let’s find a place to sit down and I’ll show you.”
Throngs of people crowded the streets despite the late hour. She would have thought they’d be home or at some restaurant eating dinner. When they entered the nearest bar called The Puffin, it was surprisingly empty. Claiming a quiet corner, Benno ordered a beer, Sydney a gin and tonic. She could use the gin straight, but she also wanted a clear head. While she needed something to calm her nerves, she had to be in charge of her faculties.
“All right,” Benno said after the waitress left to fill their order. “What’s the big secret you discovered?”
“It’s not exactly a secret, merely something I wish I didn’t have to face.” Rather than showing him the clipping immediately, she gave him some background. “Several years ago, I was in charge of a successful ad campaign for Flawless. That’s a line of competitively priced hair products and make-up aimed at the professional woman.”
“I’m familiar with the name.”
“Part of the campaign’s success was due to the model/actress I chose to be our spokeswoman. You may remember her. Honor Bright.” When Benno shook his head and shrugged, she retrieved the clipping from her bag. “Maybe you’ll recognize her then. Honor and I were out celebrating when this picture was taken. The next morning, it appeared in Variety.”
Her fingers trembled as she smoothed the newspaper clipping on the table. The photograph of her and Honor dominated the piece.
Benno looked as shocked as she’d felt when she’d first seen the clipping.
“So you found this in Fox’s bedroom,” he murmured.
“Proving that we’ve been deluding ourselves,” she went on. “Fox wouldn’t have had this in his possession unless I was his intended victim.”