The Mysterious Women Series:Blackmail

by Paramita Choudhury

  Chapter 17

  As Sara entered the dining room, she found Zack busy with cell phone; he had his back to her talking to someone in the cell phone, standing near the window, he must be talking about recent attacks. Why would someone suddenly want to kill him? As it was a full moon night the moon light fell over his body, such a fine male species, broad shoulders, his hairs still messy, must have taken shower recently. Still in her thoughts her eyes went up to his face she found him staring at her. For a second she thought she was dreaming, just then a low rumble came out of his mouth, breaking the spell and making him look even more handsome God help me! "What?" she asked annoyed."Why are you wearing these antique pieces? When I told you there were dresses you could wear?" he asked."I couldn't find any, except a few menswears", may be the women he brought here took the dresses along with her as a token of love. "She must have taken those along with her", he said confirming her suspicion. She turned her attention towards a painting, it looks like one from the civil war times, but there is something different about it. As she brought her attention back to Zack, he was standing much closer now his eyes filled with rage "For goodness sake woman do you even know it was a Ted Baker Dobby Spot?" he said "which has now turned into Sara Aaland cut shirt." It was her turn to laugh, even in a fury he can humorous "I told you there were no other dresses and I couldn't wear my filthy dress anymore, so I cut its sleeves short". How can she laugh after messing up with my shirt? "Cut the sleeves short, you made it sleeveless". Suddenly her laugh turned into a smirk, she must be thinking of something now "You my boyfriend, are such a killjoy ". She surely knows how to handle me "I think I'm pretty hungry". He took a chair in the dining table and she sat opposite to him. For a house so sophisticated the dinner table was really a simple one, a four seated. When he removed the coverlids her excitement knew no bounds "Nothing could be better than mashed potatoes and Waldrof Salad ", she said."I thought the same" he replied while serving her some salad and potatoes, she couldn't wait to taste the salad, so she put some in her mouth and the taste as well as the aroma made her forget about anything else except its cook, "You are a great cook and I mean it", his face remained glum for some time and then turned into a smile "You are the first one to appreciate me for this." She noticed how happy he was with such a simple compliment, perhaps people took his performance for granted being a millionaire they think everything is possible for him and rarely compliment. After gulping down the last piece of potato she told him that she was too tired and would like to retire for the night. Both of them greeted each other and retired for the night.

  Next morning Michelle woke up earlier than her usual routine, the nightmare last night had drained her completely, so she put on her tracking shoes and went for a run. After a workout of about forty five minutes, the workout was not much successful as and was still tensed about Jeanne, she rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension that had settled there, then kicked off her shoes and propped her feet on a nearby chair, giving her toes a wiggle, let me check the answering machine . The first message was from the headquarters "Mitch there's a bad news; we got a body down near the Manhattan, her face totally smashed, Von suspects the body to be Jeanne's. The body has been sent to the forensics."Michelle's body went numb for a second, she couldn't think what to do, for so long I've been blaming Jeanne for this, her dead body means a bigger mafia is waiting for us and he knows of our little charade. She thought the morning would ease her anxiety but rather it increased, she thought sitting won't do any good to her, instead she should go to office and get half of her work done. So she quickly got dressed, prepared coffee and sandwich and when she was about to leave her phone rang for some time, she didn’t receive it and let it go to the answering machine it was a message from Sara "Hello it's me Sara, call me as soon as possible". She immediately called Sara" Hello, Sara its Michelle here, what's the matter"? From the other side Sara spoke "I was wondering if you guys got the assassinator yet"? "No, we haven’t been able to trace him or her" , she thought sharing the news of Jeanne wouldn’t do any good because right from the beginning she had been against that girl as paranoid as she was regarding this matter, she would directly blame Von." When I went to the washroom last night I met Elsa there she told me someone was waiting for me outside I thought the 'someone' must be Zack but later when we were on our way to a diner in Little Italy , we found someone following our car. Then in parking area Zack took down four of them, I don’t know where he hid the bodies though". A giggle escaped her lips, being with Sara gave her sometime to be herself. "In the diner he proposed me and then I found another pair of eyes and a gun pointed towards us we walked", "excuse me ", Michelle snapped "what did you say he proposed you? I knew this happening soon", when Michelle stopped Sara continued with her story " As soon as we're out of the place Zack grabbed my hand and started running towards the Buggati gun shots could be heard . He didn’t let me go home, he said it would be dangerous", "he is right we can't lose you like Elsa", her friend sighed. "Wouldn't you want to know anything about my dinner last night"? Sara asked excitement hidden in her voice.

  He couldn't sleep last night; dreams of his father haunted him like a nightmare. The only person who could relief him of his problem was Sara He wanted to see her face first thing in the morning, so he went to wake her up but he stopped just outside her door. He could hear her laughing and talking to someone, perhaps with her granny she told that the lady would arrive today. Just then he realized he had been eavesdropping all this while, so he quickly left the place.

  "The mashed potatoes were fabulous, he left ", Sara informed as she sensed Zack moving away from the door, thanks to her well trained ears."So you are telling me that the painting in the dining room has something missing," Michelle asked from the other end asked Sara "Yes the ones in the living room and library were all similar as if part of a series and this one seems to belong somewhere else", she replied. "And what about the goons have you seen them following you earlier?" the other woman asked. "No, but all these people are supposed to be from the same gang", she replied, "If you put it that way". "Alright, I'll check on that part as soon as possible, now go and enjoy your breakfast", Michelle teased. Now let me prepare an escape plan while I shower.

  When she entered the dining room she found him sitting near one end of the table sipping coffee, his eyes glued to the laptop. To make her presence known she sat opposite to him. "I see you are already done with your breakfast," she said. He looked up from the screen with a smile in his lips, "Yes, I have got a little elephant's appetite you know". "I would like some coffee", she stated looking at him in a pleading way, "Help yourself", he replied and ducked back to his task. So much for being romantic, she rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen like a woman on mission and soon joined him with coffee and chocolate cookies. His eyes still lingered on the laptop may be getting updates on the new project. She grabbed the quickest breakfast as humanly possible and left the room with utmost silence and slowly crept back to the room that was provided for her. She dressed up in her black gown, grabbed her purse and was about to leave but before that she took a last look of herself in the Gigantic mirror. Filth and dirt could be seen in her dress, due to last night's 'uncalculated fall' as he had placed while driving. Dirty or not it will do the task of hiding my body. Stepping out of the room she found him standing there "What do you think you are doing?"He asked with a stern look. "Going back to my apartment", she replied casually; as soon as he was about to protest, she said "I'll go to the NYPD and file a case". He had put on a poker face and right now she was totally exhausted to try understanding his expression "Alright, I'll come with you", he said after a while.