Wicked Obsessions

by Marilyn Campbell

  The calls from Gary and Mr. Kelly were very odd but before she could return either call, the phone rang. The caller ID displayed one of the numbers she'd just written down.

  "Hello?"

  "Is this Mrs. Gambini?"

  She recognized the angry voice from the message. "Yes. May I help you?"

  "This is Kelly. His boss. Where the hell is that bastard?"

  Teri forced herself not to respond as crudely. "Rico's not here and I don't know where he is right now."

  "Did he ever get home last night?"

  "He... he doesn't live here anymore."

  "Look, Mrs. Gambini, I'm sorry if I'm upsetting you, but Rico's in deep shit if he doesn't get in here pronto."

  Teri took a deep breath. "And I'm sorry, Mr. Kelly, but I haven't seen or heard from Rico since Friday. You will undoubtedly talk with him before I will, so you can stop leaving obscene messages on my voice mail."

  "Oh. I see." His tone indicated that he understood more than she did.

  She had thought it was strange when Rico hadn't tried to worm his way back home but she couldn't imagine anything that would keep him from showing up at work on time. Her mind jumped back to her earlier thoughts about what might have happened to him if he hadn't used the money to pay off his debt. Technically however, the thug had said he had until five o'clock today.

  Forcing those worrisome thoughts out of her head, she realized Mr. Kelly was the first person she'd told about Rico being gone from her life. Before returning to her studio, she called Selena to tell her she didn't need to come up today. She really wanted a little more alone-time before having to explain anything to her.

  "Are you sure you don't need me for anything? Just to keep you company? It's no trouble," Selena managed to insist with barely a suggestion of a whine.

  "No, really—I'm making some progress on the new painting and that's something I need to do without... company. In fact, I'm not sure I'm going to want to stop tomorrow for the shoot we discussed. I'll give you a call tomorrow morning and let you know."

  "But, um, how's everything going with Rico?"

  Teri paused. Selena asked that question in every conversation they'd had for the last several days, to the point where Teri had begun to regret having confided so much to her. She found it more comfortable to give the same noncommittal answer each time. "Fine. Everything's fine. I do have to get to work now, hon. I'll call you tomorrow." Teri knew if she could see Selena now, she'd be pouting, but she didn't have the patience to soothe her young friend today. She'd make it up to her later.

  She depressed the hang-up button and was about to call Drew when she realized he hadn't left a number. She checked caller ID but where his should have been, it only said Unknown. She thought of calling his cousin Ann at her office, then decided against it. There was really no valid reason he couldn't use the darkroom today while she was painting, as he had done two other times this week already.

  After putting out some cat food and refilling the bird feeders, she went back inside her studio and tried to use her painting to block out all thoughts of Rico. He was a full-grown man and she was no longer his caretaker.

  And she ordered herself not to give a single thought to what might happen at five o'clock today if he hadn't paid his debt.

  Teri had almost convinced herself to stop worrying about what he had done when she heard the sound of a car's engine in the driveway. She looked out the window expecting to see Drew, yet hoping it was Rico. Instead, there was a blue-uniformed officer getting out of a white and blue police car. Her stomach churned with the certainty that something had happened to Rico. She had been fighting it all morning, but that hadn't kept the truth away.

  Then again, what if Rico hadn't paid his debt and this was another messenger from that "certain Irishman"? Her perverse memory called up stories of criminals pretending to be cops. Might a killer also steal a police car to flesh out his disguise? For one cowardly moment she considered staying within her locked studio, but her common sense told her that would only postpone the inevitable. With trembling fingers she unlocked the door and stepped out onto the landing as the officer approached the front door of the house.

  "Officer?" she called down, and waited for him to locate the source of the summons. When he returned to the driveway and looked up at her through his dark aviator glasses, she noticed how his right hand rested on the top of his holster. Again, she had to force herself to speak. "May I help you?"

  "I'm looking for Mrs. Rico Gambini."

  Swallowing her cowardice, she descended the stairs to join him in the driveway. At least that way she was out in the open, on level ground, in case he turned out to be a fraud. "I'm Mrs. Gambini. Has there... been an accident?" She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

  "Not that I'm aware of," he replied in a way that made Teri think he had dropped the word "yet".

  "Is your husband at home?"

  "No." She made a mental note of the number on his silver badge, then decided to answer his next question before he asked. "I haven't seen or heard from him since Friday afternoon."

  "Is that normal?"

  She shook her head. "No. We..." She took a deep breath and decided the truth was the only explanation that would work. "I made him leave and told him to never come back. We're getting divorced. His boss called this morning. Said he hadn't shown up. He was really angry. Did he call you? Did Rico do something wrong at work?"

  He hesitated a moment, as if trying to decide if she was worthy of any information. Using a minimum of movement, he slowly extracted a notepad from his back pants pocket and a pen from his shirt. The sight of him preparing to write down anything she might say unsettled Teri a bit more before he finally explained.

  He glanced at his pad. "His boss is Mr. Kelly?"

  "Yes."

  "Apparently, Rico never checked in properly at the end of his shift Saturday. Just left his truck in the lot with the keys and some mail still in it. He said Rico broke a rule now and then but this was more than an infraction. Kelly also advised that your husband's car was in the employee lot and no one could say for sure if it had been there continuously since Saturday or not."

  "What?" The knot in Teri's stomach tightened. "That doesn't make any sense, unless he... went off with someone else." She exhaled heavily. That was probably why Kelly had sounded like he knew something she didn't. "What should I do?"

  "Tell me, Mrs. Gambini, were the problems between you and your husband sufficient to cause him to take off?"

  She frowned, thinking again of the seven-thousand-dollars in cash she had handed Rico a few days ago and came to the same conclusion she had before. It wasn't enough to run away on. "I don't think so."

  "Any other problems that might have caused him to disappear on his own?"

  On his own? As opposed to, with someone else's help? Teri considered telling the officer about the gambling and the animal that had threatened her, but the consequences of pointing a finger at someone so dangerous without any proof were too great. She still held on to the possibility that Rico might show up later today with a screaming hangover and empty pockets. She elected the coward's answer. "I'm really not sure."

  The way the officer's mouth curved downward suggested he didn't believe her. "Well, that's about it, then. Thank you for your help." He put away his pad and pen and walked back to his car.

  "Just a moment," Teri called as he opened the car door. "What are you going to do now?"

  "Basically, the post office just asked us to keep a lookout for him. There's no official complaint against him. So unless someone files a missing person's report, there's nothing else for us to do."

  "But what if... what if Rico doesn't show up today?"

  "Anytime after twenty-four hours, you can file a missing person's report. Then the process begins with tracking down when and where he was last seen."

  Teri was about to ask another question when Drew's car pulled into the driveway next to the police car. She watched the officer's car back away and tr
ied to give Drew a pleasant greeting. It fell short, which he noticed immediately.

  "Good mornin'," Drew said, eyeing the retreating vehicle. "Trouble?"

  She would have lied without hesitation except for the fact that he had been part of the audience that had witnessed her previous humiliation. But that didn't mean she had to tell him any details. "I don't know yet."

  A big gray tomcat that had been crouching beneath the stairs throughout her discussion with the police officer now sauntered out to inspect the new arrival. When the animal rubbed itself against Drew's snakeskin boot and meowed, he leaned over to pet the creature's furry head. The little kindness earned a mental nod of approval from Teri. Her gaze moved to the photographer's case slung over his shoulder and the shopping bag in his hand, and she changed the subject. "Do you have a lot to do today?"

  His grin gave her spirits a little lift. "Yes, thank heavens. Having Ann on my side is getting my new career off the ground in a hurry." Holding up the bag, he added, "I picked up a few props for some still-life pics for a public relations firm. They do a lot of print ads so it could mean a lot of work for me. I sure wouldn't object to any advice you might be willin' to part with." This time his smile was accompanied by a wink.

  So far, Teri hadn't been able to keep herself from offering her advice whenever he worked in her studio. Each time she did, she apologized for interfering and he assured her he appreciated her help. When he didn't push her any further about the police visit, she was the appreciative one.

  On the climb back up to her studio, Teri replayed her conversation with the police officer. Maybe she should have told him about Rico's gambling. But that only brought her back to the potentially dangerous role of accuser. Was she willing to go through mug shots looking for the man who had threatened her? She realized her fearful reaction to the idea was probably what that animal had counted on when he'd confidently issued his veiled warnings in front of witnesses.

  Damn! How could Rico have involved her in something so awful? It now seemed entirely possible to her that Rico had blown the money and was hiding out somewhere. In fact, he would probably be calling any minute, begging for her help. The mere thought of his daring to ask her for more money riled her so much, most of her fears fled from her mind.

  Drew gave a soft whistle when he saw the nearly completed painting on Teri's easel. "You are one talented lady, ma'am."

  Teri smiled her thanks for the compliment as she donned her painter's smock. That Texas drawl of his was enough to dispel the last of her fears. She was suddenly very glad she hadn't had his phone number to stop him from coming today. "I almost called you this morning but I don't have your number. It didn't come up on my caller ID. Are you still staying at Ann's?"

  He was busy spreading out the contents of his shopping bag on the table as he answered. "Oh. I thought you had my cell number." He wrote it down for her. "As to staying with Ann... as of yesterday afternoon, I moved into a place in Tarrytown. It's just a furnished efficiency, but it's all I need at the moment. It was wonderful of Ann to let me stay, but I was really ready for a space of my own."

  "Still, you're lucky to have her."

  "Don't I know it. She says she has a weakness for lonely cowboys."

  Teri chuckled. "Her and a few million other women." When he turned his head back to her and raised one dark eyebrow, she quickly added, "It's one of the so-called feminine fantasies, which is why historical western romances have always been so popular."

  Turning the rest of his body toward her with his hands fisted on his hips, he gave her his full attention. "You mean women find something romantic about cleaning stables and listening to cattle moan all night?"

  She laughed at his disbelieving expression. "More like they imagine riding off into the sunset on a big, black stallion across the wide-open prairie, with a barely civilized but immensely capable man." Her mind flashed an image of Drew as that cowboy with her cradled in front of him, between his spread thighs. She laughed again, this time at her overactive imagination, and started preparing her paints. "You should try reading one."

  Drew wasn't ready to abandon such a fascinating subject. He rolled a stool up next to hers and perched on it with one boot heel hooked on the upper rung. "Tell me more about these feminine fantasies."

  She thought he was teasing her, but his brown eyes were bright with sincere interest. "You really want to know?"

  "Sounds like the kind of inside information that could come in mighty helpful." Then, with a wink, he tacked on, "In my new line of work, that is. Marketing to the female psyche is a big part of an advertising photo."

  Teri groaned as she realized he was teasing a little, but she didn't feel threatened by him. It had been so long since she'd relaxed around a man that she couldn't remember how to counter innocent innuendo. She opted for a serious answer to his reasonable request. "Mind you, the only reason I know this is because of an article I read. Besides the cowboy, there's the Cinderella/Prince Charming fantasy and the captor/captive angle, where the heroine is more or less forced to do what she wanted to do anyway, but couldn't for one reason or another."

  "That one sounds twisted."

  Teri pursed her mouth thoughtfully. "It's probably best not to try to figure out what women fantasize about."

  Drew leaned forward, crossing his arms over his bent denim-covered knee. "And what about you, Teri? What's your fantasy?"

  His deep voice had softened, making Teri think of black velvet brushing against her bare skin. Her common sense told her not to answer, to get to work, to send him back to his side of the room. Her rebellious emotions demanded she answer and extend the luxury of his freely offered attention a little longer. "I... I don't know," she hedged with a shrug. His finger stroked her cheek and it felt cool against her warm flesh.

  "Why, I do believe you're blushin', ma'am. C'mon, tell the lonely, barely civilized cowboy which kind of fantasy makes you want to ride off into the sunset with a man."

  She laughed at him. "Why don't you get to work, cowboy?"

  "Cain't. Once my curiosity's aroused, it's like an itch that needs scratchin'. But I'll make you a fair trade. You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

  The twinkle in his eyes was contagious and Teri found the nerve to tease him back. "All right. My fantasy is to be on an island where there are no men at all. That way, I might get some work done!"

  Drew's hand covered his heart. "You wound me deeply. But I can take a hint." He rose from the stool, then lowered his head so that his departing words tickled her ear. " 'Course, now you'll be wonderin' all day just what my fantasy is."

  As he sauntered back to his paraphernalia, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, but let him have the last word. A few minutes later, when the tint she was blending looked about right, she realized she was still smiling. What kind of existence did she have, that smiling had become a noteworthy event? Why, the last time she'd had a good laugh was—

  Her brush froze in midstroke. It wasn't that long ago. Only about a week. When she and Selena were joking about... about how to get Rico out of her life permanently.

  Chapter 5

  Teri daubed her brush carefully on the canvas, creating a slightly raised area within a purplish cloud. Her moment of levity was over. Rico was back, at least in her head. With Rico, she had never been able to tease and walk away. He was the kind of man who only touched or cuddled as a prelude to sex, and never ever afterward. Now that she thought about it, the only time he even talked nicely to her was as a form of foreplay. Drew talked to her. Today he even teased her and encouraged her to play, without making her feel obligated to perform a personal service for him in return.

  Like a rancher's dinner bell, the reason clanged in her brain. His little act had fooled her completely, at least at that moment. Each time she had seen him before, he was kind and extremely polite, but there was nothing playful about him. If anything, she had noticed a sadness that overcame his expression when he was certain no one was watching. The teasing male routine, wi
th those not-so-subtle yet utterly safe innuendos, was all for her benefit. Rather than badger her to explain about the police officer or pretend he wasn't interested, he distracted her from her worries.

  She could not think of a single time when Rico had behaved so intuitively. In their relationship it had always been her responsibility to keep her antennae tuned to his needs if she wanted peace.

  Peace... was such a state ever going to be hers again? She had thought getting a divorce was going to bring enough additional anxiety into her life. What was she going to do if Rico really had disappeared? One thing for sure, she couldn't file for divorce. When she had made that offhand comment to Selena, she hadn't imagined it actually happening or the problems his "getting out of her life" could create.

  With a sigh, she set down her brush, wiped her hands, and walked over to the table where Drew was arranging some items on a swatch of ivory satin. When he turned to her, she held out her hand.

  He accepted it, but raised a questioning brow.

  "Thank you," Teri said with a poor attempt at a smile. When he grinned back, she knew she had guessed right.

  "Shucks. Tweren't nothin', ma'am."

  Her smile grew. "Stop that. You had me going there for a minute."

  He enclosed her small hand between both of his and squeezed gently. "I'll keep up the witty cowboy repartee if you'll keep smilin' for me... unless you'd rather talk about what's causin' those unsightly worry lines across your forehead."

  She wanted to laugh it off, but he was looking at her with such tenderness that she choked up instead. She turned, but his hands held her in place.

  "Easy," he murmured, tugging her back.