He seemed reluctant to move his large self, but after a little nudge, he hopped over to the bed and watched her from that vantage point. She Googled ecstasy and GHB and read everything she could. After about fifteen minutes, she realized that there were a whole host of symptoms she may experience in the next few days. The whole thing left her feeling depressed and she chuckled to herself. Depression was one of the possible side effects, along with fuzzy vision, inability to focus, memory problems and fatigue. Well, she had all those right now. Great. One Web site did say that some people experience no bad effects. Hopefully, that would be her.
Feeling overwhelmed, she clicked off the site and checked her e-mail. She decided there was nothing that couldn’t wait and closed the window. She debated playing a game of solitaire while waiting for Boggs to return but decided to just go to sleep. She turned off the light on the desk and crawled into bed. The blinds had already been closed and the room was dark. Mr. Rupert snuggled next to her and she wrapped her arm around him before falling fast asleep.
* * *
The woman frowned as her view of Toni went dark. And even though she was disappointed it had ended so soon, it had been one of the best nights of her life. She’d gasped out loud when she saw Toni standing there completely nude. Her entire body had reacted and she yearned to be close enough to touch her as she let her fingers lightly touch the screen. Even now, when she closed her eyes, she could see Toni standing there. So close and yet so unobtainable. At least for right now. She knew that very soon she’d be able to hold Toni close and really caress that wonderful body.
She played that twenty minutes of bliss over and over in her mind. When Toni had first sat down, she was horrified at the small bandage on her forehead. The area surrounding the white gauze was red and puffy. She was furious with Jan for having caused damage to Toni. She decided she’d need to handle that later.
She remembered seeing Toni chuckle shortly before she turned out the light. The woman closed her eyes and desperately tried to recall what she’d done right before Toni had smiled. After about ten minutes, she realized that she’d run her fingers through her hair on the right side five times, then three more. It was at that exact moment that Toni had smiled. The woman smiled herself and decided that five times plus three was critical. She repeated the routine and went to bed.
Chapter 21
Toni opened her eyes on Friday morning and smiled. Mr. Rupert was sleeping next to her on his back, with his rear feet in the air and his front paw resting on her chin. He was snoring. She rubbed his belly and he stretched his toes in response but continued to snore. She reached over him and touched Boggs’s cheek lightly and watched as she slowly opened her eyes and rolled over on her side, facing Toni.
“Good morning, babe.” Boggs pulled herself up, putting her head on her hand, and smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better than last night.” She gingerly touched the bandage. “This is still pretty sore, but not bad.”
“You and Mr. Rupert were sound asleep when I came up. I went back down and talked to Jessie for a while. She’s a great kid. I’m glad you invited her to our party. Can you believe we’ll be in our new place in two weeks?”
Toni sat up in bed, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. “I really can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem possible, and we’ve still got so much to do. But I am so excited.” She looked at her clock. “It’s still way early. How about going out to breakfast before work? My treat. For some reason I’m starving this morning.”
Boggs grinned. “Sounds great. You jump in the shower first and I’ll feed Mr. Rupert and make us some coffee.” She cocked her head and winked. “Unless, of course, you want to shower together.”
Toni laughed. “Although that sounds wonderful, I’d rather save that for when we have a few hours to spare.” She got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. “Can I have a rain check on that?”
“Mmm. Maybe I’ll just stay here and think about that,” Boggs said.
Toni peeled off her T-shirt and threw it at her.
Boggs caught it and held it to her nose. “Mmm. Smells good.”
The woman sat in her tall, dark leather chair with a steaming mug of coffee in front of her. She was staring at her laptop, watching as the early morning sun began to lighten Toni’s bedroom. She’d gotten up well before dawn and was on her third cup of coffee. She felt her body tingle when she thought she saw movement beneath the covers. That was twenty minutes ago.
“Time to wake up, sweetheart,” she said aloud. She took another sip of her coffee and placed it in the center of the thick square coaster. Remembering her realization from last night, she ran her fingers through the right side of her hair five times, paused for a moment and did it three more times. She was instantly rewarded by seeing Toni move her hand and touch that huge cat. Then she saw the hand reach farther, outside the view of the camera. There was a rustling noise, then loud and clear she heard another woman’s voice.
Oh, my God! There was another woman in bed with her. How could that be? She shoved her chair away from the desk. But Jan said she lived alone. The woman shook her head in disgust. Some things couldn’t be trusted to others, she chastised herself. Her hands balled up as she thought about what she could possibly do to punish Jan. Her mind was racing when suddenly she realized that she was missing what was going on. She scooted closer to her laptop and strained to hear every word, every nuance.
She watched intently until there was no sound and no movement. She was frustrated and angry, thinking that someone else was sharing Toni’s bed. She’d run her fingers through her hair five times, then three more, when it suddenly hit her. That other woman had basically propositioned Toni, asking her to shower together. And Toni refused. The woman smiled. Yup. Toni had flat out refused. She felt a little better and took a sip of her now cold coffee and grimaced.
After reheating her coffee downstairs in the kitchen, she tried to remember what Toni had said and not just the way she looked, although that was almost beyond belief. She’d never seen someone wake up in the morning looking that good. Even though her hair was sticking up and she wore a ratty looking T-shirt, Toni was positively radiant. What had she been saying? She closed her eyes to concentrate, but the only thing she could see was Toni’s body when she’d stood in front of the laptop the night before. She shook that image from her mind and tried to focus on the words she’d heard this morning. Toni talking about moving, she recalled. In two weeks. Damn it. I don’t have much time. She went back to her study, called Jan and then Mike, anxious to put the wheels in motion. Then she tapped into Toni’s e-mail and began reading each and every one.
* * *
Toni made it through her day on autopilot, grateful that she didn’t have any court appearances. Martin had agreed to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter but his court date wasn’t for several weeks. She’d had difficulty concentrating on her work all morning and had to write and then rewrite several documents. Her boss, Anne Mulhoney, stopped by around ten o’clock and told her to go home, but she insisted on staying. She muddled through the rest of the day, but by three thirty, she gave up all hope of accomplishing anything more.
Frustrated, she pushed her chair back from her desk and put her feet up on an open drawer. “I am so worthless today,” she muttered to herself. She grabbed a legal pad and began to list the things left to do before they moved into their new loft. She’d made note of all the places she’d need to put in a change of address and was just starting to list the utilities when Boggs poked her head around the corner.
“Hi, gorgeous. Busy?”
Toni grinned and waved her inside. “Not at all. I’ve been totally useless today. In fact, I was just making a list of address changes. What should we do about the utilities?”
Boggs sat in the only available chair and stretched out her legs. “Well, I think we should have utilities, babe. They come in handy.”
“Very funny. I meant whose name?”
Boggs laughed. “I know, I
was just giving you a hard time. I asked Aunt Francie to take care of that for us. All utilities are in both names and they’ll be turned on the twenty-ninth. Is that okay? I guess I should have asked you first.”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s perfect. Now I can cross that off my list, although I do need to notify them about stopping service at my townhouse.”
Boggs nodded. “Me, too. But right now I’m ready to get the hell out of here. Can you leave now?”
“Well, I’m not doing anything worthwhile here. Anyway, Anne told me to go home hours ago.” She grabbed her blazer and briefcase.
“How about going to my place first. We can do some packing and I can feed the fish and get some clothes together. And laundry again. Before we leave we can call in the order for Chinese food. How does that sound?”
“Like heaven,” Toni said. “Especially if you offer me a huge glass of wine.”
By six fifteen they were back at Toni’s with a huge box of Chinese food. Boggs was pouring them each a glass of Riesling while Toni went upstairs to change.
“Are you still staring at your computer fishtank? Did you touch the keyboard to make it go?” She rubbed Mr. Rupert’s cheek and kissed his head before stripping down to only her bra and panties and digging in her drawers for clothing. After pulling on an obnoxiously bright neon yellow T-shirt and gray shorts, she sat down at her desk. “Beep beep, Mr. Rupert. Let me check my e-mail.” He moved just enough so that she could reach the keyboard and she quickly scanned the list, deleting most without even reading them. It took her less than two minutes and she was heading back downstairs, calling her boy to follow her. “Come on, buddy. We’re having Chinese food tonight. It’s one of your favorites.”
The doorbell rang just as she hit the bottom step and she looked through the peephole, opening the door for Jessie. The rest of the gang arrived within five minutes of one another. They sat in the living room, their plates overflowing with a variety of Chinese specialties. As always, Vicky’s plate was flooded with soy sauce. If you wanted to sample her food, you had to be quick. After they’d all finished and Mr. Rupert was taking the last of her beef and broccoli, Toni and Boggs gathered the dishes and got everyone a fresh drink. On their return everyone was opening and eating their fortune cookies.
“I’m stuffed,” Vicky announced. “I feel like my Halloween costume. And my fortune says Don’t take in too much.”
Boggs and Toni laughed hysterically along with Vicky while the rest of them just stared.
“Vicky dressed up as a sumo wrestler for Halloween last year,” Toni explained, still giggling. “Guess you had to be there.”
“Anyway,” Vicky continued, “I’ve got the background checks on our list of suspects.” She dug in her backpack, pulling out her notebook.
“And I made copies of everyone’s driver’s license photos,” Patty said while handing them out. “I put them all on one sheet.”
There were a few giggles as they looked over the sheet. “Jeez,” Toni said, eyeing the mugshots. “Not the most flattering, are they?”
“No one really looks like these photos,” Vicky said. “I bet you don’t.”
It was a deliberate challenge, and Toni laughed. “You’re right about that. My eyes are squinty and my hair is a lot longer on my license.” She laughed again. “At least my weight stays the same regardless of how much I actually weigh.”
Vicky was smiling. “Exactly. I picked a weight that I was happy with, even though I haven’t weighed that little since college.” She opened her notebook. “Okay, here we go. First is Nancy Manford. We had the info on her from a few months ago. She’s single, according to the state of Missouri. She’s had two DWIs, six convictions for disturbing the peace and a stalking charged that was dropped last fall.”
“I think that was when Rachel broke up with her,” Toni offered. “Talk about being bitter. She almost spits out her name when she talks about her.”
“Next we have Judge Mildred P. Crayton,” Vicky continued. “I wonder what the P. stands for? Anyway, no convictions, no surprise. Single. She’s a member of the bar, of course, and a consultant for Lambda Legal Defense. But now that she’s back on the criminal docket, she’s taken a leave of absence at Lambda. That’s it on her.”
“I ran her through the database at work,” Johnnie added. “Nothing there.”
“Okay, next is Doris Jackson. Also single. She owns Gertrude’s Garage. One DWI back in ’eighty-eight. She also owns a small investment firm. That’s it for her. Did you get anything, Johnnie?”
“Nope.”
“Karen Young. Again, single. Two speeding tickets back in ’ninety-nine. That’s it. She used to work fulltime for one of the Bank of Missouri branches as a VP in advertising. Now she’s just on the board. Derek Lemon had four speeding tickets and one drunk-as-a-skunk while in law school. He works for a huge firm downtown. Married with two kids. Last is Velda Schmirnoff. She’s also single and had an involuntary manslaughter prior. Apparently she fell asleep at the wheel and crashed, killing a guy. Turns out he was in a stolen vehicle, fleeing police. She got straight probation. That was back in ’eighty-four.”
“That’s terrible,” Toni said. “Poor woman.”
“Don’t let that fool you,” Boggs countered. “It could be any one of these people who had your car torched.”
“True,” Toni admitted. “Even though this information was interesting, I don’t think it gets us any closer to the boss. God, this is so frustrating.”
Patty’s phone rang before Toni could say anything more. After only a couple minutes, she disconnected. “That was Cathy. She said she’s certain that the person we’re looking for is a woman.”
“Well, that eliminates Derek,” Vicky said. “Unless there’s something we don’t know about him.”
“I ran dry on Kevin Tucker’s love life,” Boggs said. “I talked to some neighbors and they say he had a different guy all the time. He hadn’t talked to his parents in ages, so I’m pretty much at a dead end there.” She sighed.
“Well, I found out some info about Dead Granny’s kids,” Johnnie said. “Sad life. Husband died in the ’seventies. They had two girls and two boys. One of the girls died years ago, as a teenager during childbirth. Dead Granny raised the baby—a girl—and we have no idea where she is. I talked to one of the other grandkids and she said that she works for some big company in a big city and sends them money sometimes. Always a money order, so there’s no way to trace those. She knew her first name was Jan, but that’s about all she knew. Not very informative.”
“Dumb as a box of hair, huh?” Vicky asked.
“Pretty much, yeah. Anyway, one of Dead Granny’s boys has been in prison for over twenty years for murdering his wife, and the other boy is in the Army, stationed in Germany right now. The last girl still lives in Little Rock in Dead Granny’s house. She works as a waitress at a truckstop there. She’s the one I talked to.”
“What about the other grandkids?” Patty asked.
“The Army brats are both in college back East.” Johnnie flipped through her notepad. “Prison dad had four kids. Dead Granny helped raise them with the help of the mother’s family. The oldest died in a car accident in ’ninety-nine. The second is married to a realtor there in Little Rock and has three kids. The third isn’t working and he’s had a few run-ins with the law, mostly small stuff like burglary and possession of marijuana. He’s been out of trouble for several years and seems to have an income, but no job. My guess is he’s dealing drugs or stolen merchandise. The last kid is doing a stint in county lock-up for his fourth DWI.”
“Do any have a connection to Fairfield?” Jessie asked.
“Well, before Cathy said it was a woman, my bet would have been on the third boy. No one has a concrete connection here, so that leaves the last one, Jan. We’re trying to find out more about her. I’ve asked an agent down there to talk to all the kids and see if they can come up with a last name. Back then, who knows what would have been put on the birth certificate since
the mother died in childbirth. Could have been the father’s name or the mother’s. Hard to say.”
“Well, at least it’s something to start with. Everything else seems to be a dead end, or at least no information to go forward with.”
Mr. Rupert jumped up on the coffee table at that moment, meowing loudly. He sat in the middle and continued to talk. “What’s the matter, buddy?” Toni asked.
Everyone watched him as he continued to meow and paw at a napkin. “Do you think he’s hungry?” Jessie asked.
“He’s always hungry.” Toni was puzzled. “But he had supper and licked our plates clean.” She reached over to pet him and he jumped toward her at the same time, knocking over Jessie’s soda and soaking her khaki pants.
Napkins flew as they tried to soak up the spill. Boggs got paper towels from the kitchen. Mr. Rupert was pacing back and forth on the couch.
“He seems upset about something,” Toni said as she tried to soothe him.
Jessie was blotting her pants.
“Come upstairs with me,” Toni said, grabbing Jessie’s hand. “We’ll get those pants washed out and dried in no time.”
Up in her bedroom, Jessie emptied her pockets and took off her pants, handing them to Toni. “I can do it,” she protested.
“I’ll do it for you. You can slip on a pair of shorts or sweatpants while they dry. Dig through the drawers for something.” Toni went into the bathroom to wash the soda out of the pants just as Jessie’s cell phone rang.
“Hi, Helen. Are you getting ready to go to work?”
Toni closed the door to give her some privacy and worked on the pants.
When she came out from the bathroom a few minutes later Jessie was closing her phone. “I see you found some shorts. Let’s go down and I’ll put these in the dryer. They should be dry in about twenty-five minutes or so.”
Back downstairs, the gang discussed options and guesses about who could be behind this mess. By the time Jessie’s pants were dry, they’d all run out of ideas. Johnnie was taking the first shift at the bar and Patty the second.
Compulsion Page 15
