by Marie Astor
Seeing Janet turn the corner, Dennis slowed his gait. What he saw next surprised him; Janet stopped in front of the entrance to the Panther restaurant. The place that Petr Kovar owned, the place that could be the key to finding out Libby’s past …. Dennis stood back, trying to make sense of things. What was Janet thinking, going to Panther without telling him? It wasn’t like her to act like that. She always did everything by the book. Could it be that she was going there for reasons other than their assignment? Was it possible that through a colossal twist of fate she happened to have a date at the Panther restaurant with some man who, in a matter of minutes, would be ogling her breasts, seducing her with cheap lines? Dennis felt the blood pumping in his temples.
He had to calm down; there had to be a reasonable explanation. Suddenly it struck him: it was only five o’clock and Panther was not yet open for dinner. Just then the restaurant door opened and Janet was admitted inside. What are you doing? Dennis thought, as he crept closer to get a better view. Through the glass panels in the front wall he could see the staff getting the place ready. Janet was talking with one of the girls dressed in a black dress; the girl had an authoritative air and seemed to be giving her instructions. Then the two of them moved deeper inside the room, disappearing from view.
Dennis wished he smoked; at least then he would have a reasonable excuse to be standing on the curb, waiting for God knows what. Still, he decided to take his chances and raised the collar of his jacket. He tinkered with his phone; maybe he was just passing the time, waiting for a friend, or maybe he was a lost tourist looking for directions.
A few minutes later Janet came back into view. She was now wearing a black dress, similar to the dress that the girl she had been talking to earlier had on. A man with a bovine expression on his face approached her and said something to her; by the look on his face it was apparent that he ran the place. His face looked familiar; after several moments Dennis realized that the man resembled a younger and less impressive version of Petr Kovar. What are you doing, Janet? Dennis wanted to scream. Get out of there! But he didn’t; instead, he forced himself to be calm and slowly walk away. Janet was already in up to her ears; the last thing he wanted was to ruin her cover.
As he walked back, Dennis was consumed by a mixture of emotions that consisted of pride, irritation and plain concern. Getting a job as a waitress at Kovar’s restaurant was a very smart move, but it was also a very dangerous move. Part of him was proud of Janet for doing it, and another part of him was pissed. He wished Janet had talked it over with him first, but the deed was done now and the only thing left for Dennis to do was to support her.
***
Janet’s feet throbbed with fatigue and her head felt like it was about to explode. Whoever said that waitressing was an easy way to make a buck was a liar. She looked at the clock; it was one a.m., and finally her shift was over.
“You did well today, Janet,” said Mila. “Here’s your portion of the tips.”
Surprised, Janet counted two hundred dollars. That was pretty good indeed, but that was not what she was there for.
“You’ll do better next time,” Mila assured her, misreading the disappointment on Janet’s face.
The front door swung open, and Mila frowned. “We’re closed,” she yelled, storming off.
Janet was about to head downstairs to change, but she heard Mila calling her and turned around.
Mila returned accompanied by a burly-looking man who resembled the man Janet had met earlier, Roman. His arm was wrapped around Mila possessively, clutching her butt.
“Anton, this is Janet Maple, our new waitress. Janet, this is our manager, Anton Kovar.”
Janet struggled to keep her face neutral, while Anton’s oily gaze sized her up. How could she have been so dense? Roman resembled Anton, but more importantly both men resembled Petr Kovar. It was only now that she’d heard Anton’s last name that Janet made the connection: Roman and Anton were related to Petr.
“Nice to meet you, Janet,” Anton spat the words out, erasing their meaning. “Mila tells me you worked hard today. I like hard workers.”
“Very nice to meet you too, Mr. Kovar,” said Janet, lowering her eyes demurely. She had to make him believe that she actually needed this job.
“My brother, Roman, said good things about you too. He helps me run the place. Keep up the good work.”
“I’ll see you later, Janet.” Mila nodded. “Good night.”
“Good night—” Janet stopped short, as Anton groped for Mila, closing his hungry mouth on her lips. So her slaving away as a waitress had not been a waste after all; Mila was Anton’s girlfriend. From now on, Janet and Mila were going to be the best of friends.
Not wanting to disturb the love birds, Janet made her way downstairs. Janet changed quickly and was about to leave when Roman blocked her way in the hallway. His arms were crisscrossed on his chest and he had a toothpick in his mouth.
“You did good today, Janet,” Roman chewed his toothpick meditatively. “I like you,” he added.
“I’m glad I could be of service,” Janet replied neutrally. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
To her surprise, Roman stepped aside. “Playing hard to get? I like that in a girl. I like nice girls,” Roman laughed.
Spurred by Roman’s raucous laughter, Janet literally flew up the stairs. The prospect of being trapped downstairs with the beast scared the living daylights out of her. She made a mental note to buy a mace spray for her next shift.
Half an hour later, Janet dragged herself into the elevator of her building. Her body was aching for a hot bath. The thought of doing this all over tomorrow made her want to squeal for mercy, but she wasn’t going to quit now.
Janet jammed her key into the front door lock and turned it impatiently, eager to soak her aching limbs in hot water. She stopped short when she saw that the light was on in the kitchen. Usually, she left the light on for Baxter not to feel lonely, but not today. She had arranged it with her neighbor to watch Baxter and distinctly remembered turning the light off before she left for work.
Janet kicked off her shoes and clutching her purse in her hand crept into the kitchen. Her mind was working feverishly; if there was indeed an intruder in her kitchen, she was going to clobber him with her purse and then call 911. The plan might not have been a very bright one, but it was the only one she was able to come up with at the moment.
Janet’s hand stiffened as she prepared to strike.
“So how is it working for Petr Kovar? Did you make good tips?” At the sound of Dennis’s voice Janet dropped her purse on the floor.
“Interesting choice of weapon,” Dennis remarked, glancing at her purse. “Looks deadly.”
“I’ll have you know that my purse weighs close to three pounds,” Janet retorted. “You scared the crap out of me,” she collapsed on the chair. “What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you.”
“Why?”
“To make sure you’re all right.”
“You could’ve just called.”
“That would have been reasonable, but then I can hardly call your recent actions reasonable,” Dennis paused. “When were you going to tell me about getting a job at the Panther restaurant?”
“When I got my lead,” Janet retorted. Dennis wasn’t going to make her feel guilty, not when he crept into her apartment unannounced.
“Your lead? I thought we were partners.”
“I thought so too, but then you went off to meet with Libby on your own and left me in the shadow.”
“Is that what this is about? Don’t you realize—”
“I realize that you like to take the lead and that you like to be in the limelight, I get that, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to sit back and just let you call all the shots. That’s not how partnerships work.”
“Is that what you think? That I want to call the shots? Janet, we’re dealing with some really dangerous people here, and I don’t want you to get hurt. That’s the only reason w
hy I didn’t want you to meet Libby. I didn’t want you to be exposed.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I can see that. So tell me, what alias did you use for the job at Kovar’s? I assume that you’ve arranged for a fake driver’s license and such?”
Janet felt her face grow hot; she didn’t think of any of these things. Suddenly, she felt like a school kid being chided by her teacher. “I used my name.”
“You what?”
“I used my name. What’s the big deal?”
“What’s the big deal? Janet, don’t you realize it; all they have to do is run a basic background search on you and they’ll know who you are.”
“All they will be able to see is that I worked for the Treasury. So what? I could’ve been an accountant there.”
Dennis sighed. “An accountant? I would give Kovar’s people a little more credit than that. This is crazy. What’s gotten into you?”
Suddenly, Janet felt her eyes welling up. Maybe Dennis was right; maybe she was crazy and reckless, the very qualities she so often accused Dennis of. All she wanted to do was show him that she could hold her own, but instead she had made one hot mess. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to jeopardize our cover. I just wanted to help the case. It was supposed to be a surprise for you ...”
“Hey, it’s all right. I’m the one who’s sorry.” Dennis wrapped his arms around her, his protective warmth calming her. “I didn’t mean to come down on you like this. It’s just that if anything ever happened to you, I’d go crazy.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me. I have you to protect me.”
“That you do. You don’t make my job any easier by poking your nose into places where it might get chopped off,” Dennis grumbled, but Janet could see that he was running out of steam.
“So, do you want to hear what I learned today?” she asked proudly.
“I’m all ears.”
Forcing herself to ignore her fatigue, Janet summarized what she had found out during her shift at the Panther restaurant.
“Wow,” Dennis whistled after Janet finished. “So Kovar has his kin run the place for him. That’s good, that’s real good. One of them is dating the hostess, even better. What’s her name again?”
“Mila, Mila Brabec.”
“I’d like to meet her. You could introduce me as your cousin …”
“Yeah, sure. We can talk about all of that later, but right now I’m beat. I would kill for a hot bath,” Janet concealed her annoyance with a yawn. Sure, she wanted to get the dirt on Kovar and Libby, but her work dedication only went so far. Mila Brabec looked like a super model, and there was no way in hell Janet was going to introduce her to Dennis.
“You just stay here.” Dennis dashed off to the bathroom.
Janet heard the sound of running water and leaned back in her chair. Even the thought of taking off her clothes seemed exhausting. If she could just be magically transported into the hot water … She heard Dennis’s footsteps back in the kitchen.
“I can’t move,” Janet groaned.
Dennis kneeled beside her and took her foot into his hands. His strong fingers began to knead the sore muscles. “How does that feel?”
“Ohh, that feels orgasmic!” Janet exclaimed.
“Well, if I knew you were that easy to please,” Dennis chuckled, starting to work on her other foot.
Janet closed her eyes. This was heaven indeed.
“Come on, time for your bath.” Dennis helped her to her feet, undoing the zipper on her dress and sliding it off her body. Then he undid her bra and slid off her panties, lifting her into his arms. “Here we go.”
He carried her to the bathroom as though she weighed nothing at all. Gently, he lowered her into the water.
The water was just hot enough to pleasantly tingle her skin. “Ahhhh,” Janet inhaled the scent of the lavender bath foam. “You are an angel,” she murmured.
“An angel with ulterior motives,” Dennis’s voice grew husky. “You’re looking mighty sexy in that bath, my lady.”
“Dennis!” Janet groaned. “Not tonight. I’m too exhausted. I can’t move a single muscle.”
Dennis shook his head. “So that’s how it starts.” By the tone of his voice she knew he was kidding.
“I’ll make it up to you in the morning, I promise,” Janet laughed. Their relationship hardly suffered from a lack of sex.
“I’m counting on it. Enjoy your bath. I’ll be back in a few to make sure you don’t fall asleep in the tub.”
“An angel,” Janet murmured. She closed her eyes and drifted away, lulled by the relaxing lavender scent.
Janet was not sure how much time had passed, but some time later, she was vaguely aware of Dennis lifting her out of the tub, rubbing her down with a towel, and carrying her to bed. “Good night, baby,” Janet murmured.
“Good night, Janet. You did well today. Sleep tight.”
Chapter 6
When Janet woke up the next morning the sun was shining brightly through the window shades, way too brightly. She felt as though she had been hit by a truck; every muscle in her legs and lower back ached. Up until now she had considered herself to be in pretty good shape, but apparently she had been mistaken. Waitressing kicked her butt.
The last thing she remembered was Dennis tucking her into bed, but he wasn’t in the bed with her now. Alarmed, she groped for the clock; it was eleven a.m. How could he have let her sleep this late? Frantically, Janet groped for the phone and dialed Dennis’s number.
“Good morning sunshine,” Dennis greeted her cheerfully.
“Dennis! Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Believe me I tried, but you wouldn’t budge, so I decided that the best thing for you to do was to get some rest. You do have another shift at the Panther tonight.”
“What did you tell Ham? I don’t want to get fired, you know. Waitressing is definitely not the right career choice for me.”
“I told him—”
“You told him about me getting a waitressing job at the Panther?” Janet cut him off.
“I told him that you’re doing some undercover work in the field. When the time comes, we’ll tell him the whole thing.”
“I just hope you won’t get me fired,” Janet mumbled.
“What time does your shift start today?”
“Six o’clock, but I have to be there at five. I’m still in training.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks. I’m going to need it. Waitressing isn’t exactly my forte.”
“Janet, you listen to me,” Dennis’s tone grew serious. “Anything happens, anything at all, you call me. I don’t want you to take any chances.”
“I can handle it, don’t worry. As long as I’m decent at my job, they won’t suspect anything. A waitress recently quit and they were pretty desperate for a replacement. I’m going to use the day to memorize Panther’s menu. I’ll be the best waitress they ever had. Well, I’ll try to be.”
“All right. Be safe. Call me if you need me.”
“I will.” Janet hung up the phone, hoping that she wouldn’t have to, not until she got some good leads.
All right, Janet thought, where did I put that menu? She was going to shower, have breakfast, and then spend the day memorizing the ingredients in the sauce for the chateaubriand and the glaze for the roasted duck, along with the rest of the pretentious dishes served at Panther, but first …. Janet longingly glanced at her bed. The softness of the pillows and the mattress was too beckoning to resist, and she plunged back into bed. It’d be nice to spend the day lounging, but no such luck. “There’s no rest for the weary,” Janet grumbled, forcing herself to get up.
***
Careful not to wake Anton, Mila slid out of bed. Over the past few months, she had perfected the art of making her movements quieter than those of a mouse. She threw one more glance at Anton just to make sure. Sex always made him sleepy, and now he was snoring loudly, his lips smacking, probably dreaming of
some vivid sexual fantasy Mila wanted to know nothing about. Anton’s after sex naps were deep but brief, so Mila figured that she had half an hour at best. She raced to the den where Anton kept all his business papers. The room was sparsely furnished: a computer desk, a leather couch, and a safe. Both the computer and the safe had coded access, and Mila had been unsuccessfully trying to break into both. She had even gone as far as calling up her second cousin in Prague who prided himself on being a hacker, but the kid turned out to be completely useless.
She had tried to watch Anton open the safe, hoping to figure out the combination that way, but every time she came near the safe, Anton shooed her away. He didn’t like her being in his “business room.” Mila strained her ears, waiting for the reassuring sound of Anton’s raspy snores. He was still asleep. Think, Mila murmured, racking her brain for numbers that were important to Anton: his birthday, his father’s birthday, his brother’s birthday. Definitely not her own birthday; despite her artful reminders, Anton had missed it and didn’t even bother to get her a gift as an apology. He knew that he needn’t apologize to her: the ties that bound her to him were strong enough to make her forgive him any offense. The only way to change things was for her to get into that damn safe and break into Anton’s computer.
“Mila!” Anton’s hoarse voice erupted from the bedroom.
Mila resisted the impulse to spring away from the safe, and instead tiptoed out of the room.
“Yes, darling?” she spoke in her sexiest voice, as she walked into the bedroom.
