An Officer and a Gentle Woman

by Doreen Owens Malek

“Well, this was mature,” Alicia finally said, looking around at the flood they’d created on the floor as her pulse returned to normal. “Who’s going to clean up this mess, I wonder?”

  Lafferty gazed at her sidelong and raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

  “Don’t look at me, buddy,” Alicia said darkly.

  “Work, work, work,” he muttered under his breath. “Slave, slave, slaving away twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week...” He sighed as he picked up a sodden towel and threw it in the sink.

  “That’s a big improvement,” Alicia said dryly.

  “Do you mind?” he asked archly. “I’m not finished yet.” He picked up another towel and added it to the pile.

  “I can’t believe I did this,” Alicia said musingly. “What’s next? High noon in Macy’s window?”

  “I’m game,” Lafferty said, standing and grabbing a dry towel and draping it around her shoulders. He took another for himself and wrapped it around his waist.

  “I’ll bet you are. Do any of the solid citizens who see you striding around in that straight blue suit, looking so capable, know what you’re really like?”

  “What am I really like?” he said, kissing her damp cheek and helping her out of the stall.

  “Insatiable.”

  He eyed her narrowly.

  “Not that I’m complaining, mind you,” she added, and he grinned.

  “It’s really amazing,” she continued.

  “What is?” He dropped two more towels on the flooded floor and pulled the shower door closed.

  “I am in the midst of the worst crisis of my life. I am about to be indicted for the murder of my husband. I should be miserable, and I was, until you showed up here last night looking like a drowned rat. Everything has changed since then. This morning I am the happiest I’ve ever been.”

  He enfolded her silently, and she felt the droplets still clinging to his shoulder dampen her face.

  “You know we have to get started on your case,” he said, his voice rumbling in his chest under her ear.

  “I know.”

  “I would love to stay here and...” His voice trailed off into silence.

  “Play?” Alicia suggested.

  He kissed the top of her damp head.

  “But we can’t,” he said. “We can’t waste time, Woods is already issuing subpoenas. The hearing will be scheduled as soon as he can cut enough red tape to get an early court date.”

  “You mean my case will be pushed up on the calendar?”

  “I’m sure Woods is trying.”

  “Do you think he’ll succeed?”

  “Yes.”

  “You sound pretty certain of that,” she said wanly.

  “Woods is DA, he’s been around for a while and he is owed a lot of favors. He’ll be calling them in now. All of them. He’ll find a favorable judge with an opening on his or her calendar, and if there isn’t an opening he will create one.”

  “That easily?”

  “I’ve seen him do it before with cases he didn’t want to win as badly as he wants to win yours.”

  Alicia stood still within the protective circle of his arms. A sudden shiver overtook her, and his grip tightened.

  “Okay,” she whispered. “You’re right.” She stepped back from him and looked up into his eyes. “Where do we start?”

  He met her gaze soberly. “I think we should begin with a little visit to your grandmother.”

  Chapter 7

  Several hours later Alicia was sitting in the passenger seat of Lafferty’s car, gazing out the window as they drove through the rolling farmlands of central New Jersey. She was wearing the jeans and sweater she had picked up at the main house before they left Scarsdale, and Lafferty had changed into fresh clothes when they stopped at his apartment. After a late lunch on the road they were nearing the country home of Alicia’s grandmother, Hannah Campbell Green.

  “I think you’re right. I think my grandmother does know something,” Alicia said suddenly.

  He looked over at her. “Why?”

  “Well, you’ve met her. Does she strike you as the type to give up information easily?”

  Lafferty snorted. “In a word, no.”

  “But when I told her I wanted your address she didn’t ask me why, she didn’t play coy or inquire what I was planning to do with it or conduct any kind of interrogation. She just read it off to me like Dan Rather delivering the evening news.”

  “Hmm.”

  “It was weird—it was like she had been waiting for me to ask.”

  “Well, when she came to see me she tried to make me feel personally responsible for you,” Lafferty said, “like I was your only hope, your only possible salvation.”

  Alicia smiled at him. “She was right.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not my point. She thinks for some reason that I’ll be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat, so she would certainly want me to continue working with you in some capacity. That’s why she gave you my address.”

  “I guess so.”

  “She also thinks I have a major crush on you,” Lafferty added, shooting Alicia a sidelong glance

  “She said that to you when she came to your apartment?” Alicia asked, aghast.

  “She implied as much. She kept dropping hints about how attractive you are.”

  Alicia groaned. “Hannah was never subtle.”

  “I think she noticed that I wasn’t arguing with her.” Lafferty chuckled.

  Alicia sighed. “Well, she certainly agreed to this visit readily enough.”

  “Is that unusual? Do you generally have to make appointments weeks in advance to see relatives?”

  “You don’t know Hannah. She kept the president of the Colonial National Bank waiting for two hours in her study because she wanted to judge a local flower show and the spring calla lilies were delivered late.”

  “Imperious, huh? Yeah, I got that.”

  “I just wonder why she hasn’t come forward with what she knows,” Alicia said thoughtfully.

  “That’s what I plan to find out today.”

  “That’s the turn at the next corner,” Alicia said.

  “A private drive?”

  “Yes.”

  Lafferty turned where she indicated and drove for several hundred yards before they encountered iron gates barring the road and a call box on the right side of the barrier. Alicia opened her door and went over to it, talking into the speaker to somebody at the house. Seconds later the gate buzzed and the two metal sections parted.

  Alicia got back into the car.

  “Where’s the angel with the flaming sword?” Lafferty asked dryly.

  “On a coffee break This is nothing, believe me. When I was a kid there was a full-time security guard in that fieldstone hut over there. Armed.”

  “So Hannah’s feeling a little more secure these days? She doesn’t see the need for a mercenary anymore?”

  “Now she’s got the house wired like the Pentagon. More electronic surveillance, less manpower. It’s the age of the microchip, haven’t you heard?”

  They were proceeding down a long drive lined with marble busts and overhung with ancient maple trees At the end of it loomed a three-story brick mansion with six gables. Two wings flanked a central colonial edifice with wide steps leading up to double, leaded-glass doors. Extensive gardens fronted the house and swept around to the back on either side.

  “And who are these people?” Lafferty asked, indicating the statues. “Ancestors?”

  “Greek and Roman writers, philosophers, statesmen. My great grandfather was a student of the ancient world.”

  Lafferty looked over at her inquiringly. “No kidding?” “No kidding. Rich people aren’t necessarily stupid, Mike,” Alicia said quietly.

  “No, they just have a lot more time to pursue self-indulgent hobbies because they don’t have to work,” he answered.

  “When I was thirteen I was given a trip to Paris when I learned all the names of the people represented here,” Alicia
said, trying to lighten his darkening mood. She should have known that bringing him into this cocoon of privilege was going to be a tricky process.

  “A trip to Paris? When I won the ninth-grade algebra contest, I got a pass to a Mets game.”

  “That’s Plato,” Alicia said, ignoring the jibe as she pointed to a bearded figure on their left.

  Lafferty followed her gaze

  “And that’s Plato’s pupil Aristotle. He tutored Alexander the Great.”

  “I know who Aristotle was, Alicia. I have a Master’s degree. Didn’t your grandmother tell you that? She did an extensive background check, she knows all about me.”

  Alicia reached over and covered his hand on the wheel with her own.

  “Relax, Mike,” she said. “Don’t let all of this get to you. I know the atmosphere here is a bit intimidating ”

  He looked at her testily, then sighed. “I’m sorry. I knew your family had money, of course, but this...” He made a sweeping gesture to indicate the house, the grounds, the marble fountain in the circle at the end of the drive. “There must be thirty acres here.”

  “Thirty-five.”

  “And how many rooms in that house?”

  Alicia shrugged. “Never counted.” She studied his grim profile and added, “It has nothing to do with us.”

  “Like hell it doesn’t. And how many other houses, condos, apartments, plantations and estates?”

  “Hannah likes you,” Alicia said, ignoring his question. “She wants you to work on my case, you said that yourself.”

  “She wants me to get you off the hook, Alicia She thought she could use my attraction to you to persuade me to do that.”

  “She’s a pragmatist,” Alicia said lightly, trying to change the subject.

  He didn’t answer, slowing the car as they approached the front door. The fountain, a statue of Poseidon spewing water from his upturned mouth, sprayed droplets into the air as Lafferty parked next to a large puddle, a reminder of the storm which had just passed.

  “It doesn’t matter what Hannah thinks, Michael,” Alicia said. “I know what I think.”

  He stopped the car and looked at her. “Do you?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that I don’t exactly fit in with the opera crowd, and I can’t see you tossing back brewskis at the Queens County NYPD softball games.”

  “So?”

  “You want me now because I can help you. I would not be your bedmate of choice if you weren’t looking down the gun sights of a grand jury hearing.”

  She threw up her hands, exasperated. “I wanted you before I ever thought you would help me. I wanted you when you were putting me in jail!” She heaved a heavy sigh. “Michael, do we have to have this particular discussion right at this moment, on my grandmother’s doorstep? I realize that this environment is making you feel insecure but...”

  Lafferty closed his eyes and put his head back against the seat. “Don’t psychoanalyze me, Alicia.”

  Alicia sighed. “You do choose your moments to get all macho and stubborn, don’t you?”

  “So, I am an extremely hard-headed man,” he intoned levelly, without opening his eyes.

  Alicia suppressed a grin. She edged over to his side of the car and kissed his nose. “I happen to be fond of your extremely hard head.” She kissed his eyelids. She bent and kissed his right hand, which still rested on the wheel, then ran her hand up his thigh. “And your exquisitely hard...”

  He grabbed her and wrestled her down on the seat. “I should wash your mouth out with soap,” he said roughly, pinning her and slipping his hand under her sweater to find her skin.

  “Didn’t you already do that this morning?” Alicia asked innocently.

  “I have other things in mind for these luscious lips,” he murmured, pulling her with him as he sat up again and kissed her neck, her cheek and finally her mouth. Silence ensued until Lafferty suddenly said in a strangled voice, “Who is that?”

  Alicia craned her neck to look over his shoulder. “Um, that’s Gibbs.”

  “Gibbs?”

  “My grandmother’s butler.”

  “Her butler?” Lafferty released Alicia, and she straightened her clothes as he moved away from her. “What is he doing standing on the driveway?”

  “He’s come to escort us into the house.”

  “The house is twenty feet away.”

  “That’s his job, Mike, and don’t go all Karl Marx on me again. Now come on, since he has seen us we’d better get going.”

  “I wonder how long he was standing there,” Lafferty muttered as he got out of the car and went around to open the passenger door for Alicia.

  “Long enough. But he won’t say anything, he’s an old family retainer, and they don’t talk unless tortured.”

  The butler walked toward them regally as he saw them leaving the car.

  “What’s that vest he’s wearing?” Lafferty said in an aside to Alicia.

  “A waistcoat in the family colors,” Alicia replied

  “I see. Your grandmother has her own army?” Lafferty inquired darkly.

  “It’s a tartan, Michael, and I want you to stop it right now. I mean it,” Alicia hissed.

  Lafferty subsided as the butler paused before Alicia, who extended her hand and said, “Hello, Gibbs. It’s nice to see you again so soon.”

  “Miss Alicia. A pleasure to see you also. Your grandmother is expecting you in the library.”

  “Gibbs, this is Detective Lafferty.”

  The butler nodded at Lafferty and then turned and led the way up the wide brick steps into the house. Lafferty didn’t look at Alicia as they entered the dim, cool vestibule. The front hall was a large expanse of marble flooring with cherry wainscoting that rose halfway up the silk-covered walls, which were hung with gold-framed portraits. An oak staircase climbed to the upper floors, dividing into two on a wide landing. An oval Aubusson rug the size of a handball court hushed their steps as they walked across it and a Baccarat chandelier on its dimmest setting lit the silver accent pieces in the hall with a soft glow.

  Alicia waited for Lafferty to make a sarcastic sotto voce remark as they were led past the equally opulent sitting room to the second set of oak sliding doors. But when she glanced at him she saw that he had slipped into detective mode as they entered the house.

  He was all business now.

  Gibbs knocked and waited for Hannah’s voice before opening the doors and gesturing for them to precede him.

  Hannah Green rose as her company arrived, and she held out her arms to Alicia.

  “My dear,” she said as Alicia returned her embrace and kissed the old lady’s cheek.

  The room was an old-fashioned library, which must have changed little since Hannah’s husband died. Paisley drapes in a muted dark green silk swept across a large bay window with leaded panes. Tiffany and Stiffel lamps placed strategically on items of oak furniture cast pools of light on the parquet floor, even though it was still day outside. The walls were lined from floor to ceiling with books, heavy volumes encased in leather as well as more recent additions in paper covers. A ladder stood in a corner and two stepstools were positioned near the door to the hall. A dying fire in a brick fireplace with Dutch facing tiles and a marble mantel gave off warmth to ward off the spring chill. Hannah had been seated before the fire in a plush armchair reading a newspaper when they arrived.

  Gibbs remained in the background as Hannah turned her steel-gray eyes on Lafferty. She set her glasses and her paper down on an end table.

  “Detective,” she said crisply, putting out her ringed fingers delicately. “Handsome as ever.”

  Lafferty shook her hand. “Mrs. Green.”

  Hannah was wearing a navy silk blouse with a long skirt. Her iron-gray hair was in a bun and marcasite diadems hung from her ears, matching the pendant around her neck.

  “Please join me,” she said, gesturing to the sofa that faced her chair. “Gibbs, tell Mary to bring the tea.”

 
Gibbs bowed his head and left the room, closing the door behind him. Alicia and Lafferty sat on the burgundy leather sofa facing Hannah’s deep upholstered chair before the fireplace.

  “You don’t know how happy I am to see you here with my granddaughter, Detective,” Hannah said, sitting again herself.

  Lafferty said nothing.

  “When Alicia told me you had taken a leave of absence from the police force I was very concerned,” Hannah added evenly, arranging her striped bombazine skirt over her legs. “I had been confident that with you on the job my granddaughter’s case would at the very least be investigated fairly.”

  Lafferty looked at Alicia with raised brows and then back at Hannah. The old lady was laying it on thick; she was definitely up to something.

  “I took a leave because the district attorney wants to convict Alicia and I think she is innocent,” he replied. “Since the police force functions as the investigative arm of the prosecutorial system I thought it only fair to remove myself from the case. If I had stayed I would have been working at cross purposes to my superiors.”

  Hannah nodded sagely. “Nicely stated, Detective. I think what you meant to say is that you and Alicia are now an item and it would have been a conflict of interest for you to be sparking with the murder suspect while the case was pending.”

  Lafferty stared her down. “Exactly.”

  Hannah laughed delightedly. “I do like him, Alicia,” she said, glancing at her granddaughter.

  “So I have gathered,” Alicia said dryly.

  Hannah sat back in her comfortable chair and surveyed Lafferty measuringly.

  “I am never wrong about people,” she said, raising a forefinger for emphasis. “I knew in my heart that Joe Walker was the runt of that whole Walker litter, but I let his fortune and his family connections overrule my good judgment, to my regret and Alicia’s. And I knew you, Detective Lafferty, were the genuine article the very first time I met you.”

  A knock sounded on the door

  Hannah said, “Enter.”

  A uniformed maid arrived bearing a silver tray set with an elaborate teapot, china and an assortment of tiny pastries. She put the tray on a coffee table and waited.

  “I’ll serve the tea, Mary, you may go,” Hannah said pleasantly to the girl.