The Gypsy Queen: A Matt Preston Novel (Matt Preston Series Book 3)

by Paul Shadinger

  Ralph grinned at me as he continued, “She’s the only woman I’ve ever met who is as sexed as I am. I know this is too much information to share,” I was still hoping he would stop, but he kept on babbling, “Usually once I have a woman, I lose interest in them. A lot of men say they wish there were better endowed,” Ralph pointed at the front of his pants. “You know what I mean?” I rolled my eyes. “Well, I want to tell you it can be a curse. Not to brag, but I am pretty big and—”

  I shouted, “Damn it Ralph, please stop. Now! Enough! Shit dude, you have to stop this. Don’t you understand? This is not something I need, nor do I want to hear. My God, why do you feel you need to share this with me? How do I get you to stop?”

  “Matt, I want you to understand what happened with Melissa. It was so different with her. She was at me all night. Things just fit really well with her and—”

  I put my hands on his shoulders and turned him to face me. I leaned in close. “Ralph, look at me.” Once I had his attention I continued, “Listen to me. I don’t want to hear this, any of it. I am glad that you found your lady friend and I’m sorry she’s gone. Do you understand? Now stop! I’ve had enough, I am leaving.”

  “Matt, wait! I need to make you understand why I need to find her! I need you to understand why she’s something totally different than any other women I’ve ever known—you know, like been with? Both of us wanted more of, well, more. She wanted me more than any woman ever has in my whole life. I’ve never had a woman beg me to do it again, and again and—” I held up my hand again in warning. “It was wonderful. It’s never been like that with any woman in my past. We barely made the next day’s class and that night was just like the first one if not better. We skipped the third day’s meetings and just stayed in bed. We rode together to the airport in my rental and at her suggestion we parked on the roof of the parking garage and made love one more time. As I dropped her off at her airline, she leaned over, kissed me, put her business card and her panties in my coat pocket telling me it was to help remember her by, and then she just disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?” I asked with what I was sure was a puzzled look on my face.

  “I mean she absolutely disappeared!”

  “I’m sorry Ralph, what do you mean by absolutely disappeared? Was there like a cloud of smoke and she wasn’t there?” I asked.

  “Matt, I looked for her and I couldn’t find her again, anywhere! I called the number on her business card and I was told it was disconnected. I Googled the address on her business card and it comes up as an empty lot. When you enter the name of her company it’s nonexistent.”

  I asked, “You said it was almost six months ago, why’d wait so long?”

  “Partly I just thought I’d get over her, but I haven’t. Another problem is I’ve been so swamped getting this new program ready to release, I just haven’t had any time. I really thought I’d get over her. I usually do.

  “I’ve only been with two other women since I met her and now when I try to do it, I’m thinking of Melissa, that’s her name. Any time I’m doing anything I compare them to her. I want to see her again,” Ralph paused. “No, that’s not true, I have to see her again. Matt, you have to find Melissa for me. PLEASE!” he begged me.

  I cannot begin to tell you how much I didn’t want to get involved in this. I’m not a dating site or something on that order. My email address is not ‘get laid at Matt’s hookup at lover’s dot com.’ I tried to reason with him. “Ralph, too much time has passed. Give it up,” I held my palms up. “This is a lost cause. Give it up. I don’t care how good she was, this is a really long shot and you need to give it up!”

  He reached out and took me by the shoulders. “If this wasn’t important, I wouldn’t ask you. Believe me! But it is! I really want to see her again.” He paused and by the look on his face, I could tell there was something else he was holding back.

  I wanted to end this conversation. “Well? You seem to want to tell me something else. Out with it.”

  “One night during our pillow talk,” he paused, “you know what pillow talk is?”

  What does he take me for? Some geek who’s never been with a woman? “Ralph, I’m not a virgin. Yes, I know what pillow talk is. What did you discuss?”

  “I gave her a brief outline of the new game software my company is developing. Melissa gave me a few ideas on things I needed to either change or add to the new program and she gave me with some code to get started and to help keep things safe from hackers. She’s amazing at blocking hackers. She shared some of what she was doing and, well, that really doesn’t matter. What’s important is because I’ve used her ideas, I owe her for her talent. My program is going to make a ton of money once it takes off, and I don’t want any problems later. Since I used almost every one of her ideas, I don’t want to end up getting sued or something like that.”

  Ralph stood there looking at me and I should tell you I had no idea what to say. Besides having this very uncomfortable conversation, I didn’t want to go hunting for his woman! Evidently, he could see the indecision on my face. He took a deep breath and in what I considered his negotiating tone of voice he continued. “Matt, I’ll make you a deal. Take care of this and I’ll gift you a good chunk of stock in the new company we created to handle the new program.”

  I smiled at him as I shook my head. “Ralph, look, as for money, I’m comfortable with what I have. As for finding this lady, I really have no idea what to do, or even where to start.” I could see no need to explain to him about a woman whose father was murdered, who’d had asked me to help solve who had killed him. Because I had helped her solve the mystery, she gifted me a huge part of the fortune she inherited and there was also some Microsoft stock I bought at the beginning, money was the least of my worries.

  I could see the pleading look in his eyes. “Matt, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t really important. The guys,” he indicated the players still in the house, “discuss you when you aren’t around, and how impressed they are with you for everything. That comment alarmed me but I said nothing. “I don’t know who to turn to except you. Will you do this for me? Please? I’m worried about her.”

  “Oh, why?”

  “Well,” I watched him fidget and I wondered why he was so nervous. “Just ‘cause I care about her and all. Ya’ know.”

  I thought about his request. I knew I wasn’t getting the whole story here, but I liked Ralph, even if he was a bit oversexed for my taste. But I’m not the person to judge anybody, I was in no position to throw stones. Against my better judgment, I smiled at Ralph. “Oh shit, Ralph, give me her card and I’ll take a little time tomorrow and check it out. I’ll see what I can find out. No promises. Okay?”

  At first Ralph looked at me with a most serious expression. Then, slowly a big grin came over his face, obviously contented I would try and help him. “Oh, and one other thing,” I waited for Ralph to look at me as he acknowledged my request, “I want you to cool it with the gossip about me and please ask the others to do the same. As far as you’re concerned, I was a bandsman in the Army. I played piano and drums. Do we understand each other?”

  Ralph smiled at me. If I didn’t know better, I would swear there were tears in his eyes as he grasped my hand and pumped it up and down. This must have been quite some lady to have that much of an effect on him. Considering his love life, I kind of wanted to find this gal just to see her.

  I’ll always think I decided to help him because I wanted to meet this mystery woman and satisfy my curiosity. But there was still something eating away at me about his strange request. Something was telling me to leave this alone. This was bad juju.

  In hindsight, gee, I wish I’d listened to that little voice inside of my head. The one that screamed, “Run away, Matt! Run away!”

  But I didn’t.

  You would think I would start to pay attention those voices of warning after a while… I guess that was my
bad!

  Anyway, that’s how my next adventure got started.

  CHAPTER TWO

  I’d pulled the ‘66 Corvette out of its storage place earlier in the evening, and I was driving it tonight. I think everybody one way or another has a favorite car and this Corvette is mine. At times I tend to drive too fast and I’ve put myself in some real stupid, serious situations driving, and always, at the last moment, she came through and saved my fat ol ass. The car will be in a drift and just when I think I’m in big trouble, the Pirellis grab, the car straightens out and away we go. I tend not to do that so much anymore since she’s getting old and is very fragile, but I love that car.

  Trying to put away Ralph’s strange request, I headed to pick up my lady friend Gladys. Traffic was light and when she came out, I was sitting in front of Robbie’s waiting with the top down and the heater blowing full blast. Boris, the bouncer, stood next to the car chatting with me. She blew Boris an air kiss as she passed by and then plopped down in the seat beside me. She leaned over and gave me a kiss that curled my toes. Smiling at me she purred, “Okay baby, let’s roll. I’ve had enough of this place for a while.” I slipped the car into gear, pulled up to the main road and waited for an opening in traffic. I saw my traffic window open and I stepped on the gas and pulled out onto the road. In no time we were quickly moving along down the street.

  We’d traveled a few blocks and my mind was still pushing around what Ralph had asked me to look into when Gladys put her hand on top of mine. I guess I’d been too quiet and at a red light she looked over at me and asked, “What’s the matter honey? You haven’t said a word to me since you picked me up. Are you angry with me?”

  I tried my best smile on her and said, “I’m sorry, babe. No, no! I’m not angry at all. A friend at the poker game tonight asked me to look into something for him. He met some gal a while ago, and he hasn’t been able to locate her since. He wants me to look for her.”

  “Why can’t he do his own looking?” she asked.

  “Ralph is in the middle of some big launch of this hot gaming program he developed and he claims he doesn’t have the time.” As I told Gladys about him, something in the back of mind set off an alarm. I didn’t know why, but now as I was telling Gladys about Ralph, something he’d told me about what he was creating had set off a warning in my head. The problem was I didn’t know what the warning was, or what it meant.

  Gladys’ eyes grew big and she had a funny look on her face. “Ralph?” she asked.

  “Yeah, he’s a guy at my poker games. About 5’ 10” with a big bushy moustache. Oh, and kind of sandy-blond hair tied back in a ponytail.”

  “I know your Ralph,” she told me in a matter of fact tone.

  My head snapped around as I looked at her. “Seriously?” I asked. “Oh wow! The guys at our card games call him Randy Ralph.”

  Gladys snorted as she laughed out loud. “No shit! I love it. We call him The Talker. He just wants to sit and talk to you. He doesn’t expect you to sit and talk to him for free. He pays the girls very well. Wants to ask lots of questions you know, like why you are a stripper and how long have you been a dancer and yada, yada, yada. He pays the girls to sit and talk, but he rarely has them dance for him. Some of the girls have made up elaborate stories they tell him just to screw with his head.” Gladys smiled at her recollections. “One of the gals actually did go on a date with him. I think he offered her so much money to sleep with him she just couldn’t say no. Anyway, she claims he’s hung like a horse.”

  I almost hit the car beside me when I swerved. I glanced over at Gladys. “Baby that’s not something I needed to know, or even wanted to hear. I’ve heard stories, and now thanks to you, every time I look at him, I’ll be thinking about what you just told me. You know, all men have issues with the size of their Johnsons. We want to be bigger.”

  Gladys laughed out loud and put her hand over on my thigh. She looked at me and in a sultry voice said, “Darling, you’re just right for me. It fits just fine!”

  I ignored her and continued, “The Germans have a word for what you just told me. Their word for head is Kopf, and their word for movies is Kino, so when you talk about something like Ralph and his, ah, equipment, that creates a mental image. They call that ‘Kopf Kino,’ or in other words, a head movie, a head movie about Ralph’s Johnson. So, thanks for that Kopf Kino.” I shook my head like a dog trying to shake off water.

  Gladys laughed as she clapped her hands. “I love it. I’ll use that. Kopf Kino!” We both laughed and she continued, “Even though he’s a very weird dude, I’d like to see what he looks like!” My head snapped to the right again and she quickly shook her head. “Not to try him out, just to look at it. Okay?” I sighed. “So, who are you trying to find for him?”

  “A woman.”

  For a second I thought Gladys was going to choke she laughed so hard. “Since when did you become a pimp?” she asked.

  “Cute! Bite me! He met some gal in Orlando at a computer convention of some sort and they fucked their ears off. Anyway, because he discussed his new software project with her and got some ideas from her that he used, now he needs to talk to her and it needs to be soon.” Again, the funny feeling inside of my head went off. I wondered what was going on.

  “I’d ask why he chose you to look, but I think I know why.”

  “Thanks.” I murmured. We pulled up in front of her apartment building and as she ran her hand up and down on the inside of my thigh, she asked me in. I politely declined as I had an early morning appointment and asked if I could come over the next night. She smiled at me as she replied, “You know what kind of a mood I’m in after I’ve danced. Who knows how I’ll feel tomorrow.”

  “I guess I’ll just have to take my chances.”

  She stuck out her tongue and got out of the car.

  I drove away wondering how tomorrow evening was going to work out. I just couldn’t get my head wrapped around spending the night with her. It wasn’t her, it was my problem. Well, mine and Ralph’s.

  ~ ~ ~ ~

  My dog Brianna, whom I call Beanie, was waiting in front of the elevator doors when I got home and from the way she was dancing around, I could tell she wanted to go outside. Now! We walked through the kitchen and as soon as the back door was open, she ran as hard as she could down the walkway and into the empty lot. A few steps into the lot she stopped and squatted down and stayed that way for a long time. I swear I heard a sigh of happiness as she did her business.

  I walked to the far end of the lot and leaned against the telephone pole. As I stood there I started thinking about the pole I was propped up against. I remembered just the other day I’d read where telephone landlines were becoming dinosaurs. With the advent of massive cell phone use, the landline home telephone was becoming extinct. Just like places to make a payphone call. Have you tried lately to make a phone call at a payphone? I’d best enjoy leaning against telephone poles while I still could. I found it strange how my mind was slowly turning into my grandpa’s mind. Every once in a while I’ll say something and I’m shocked to hear the words, the very same words my grandpa would say and I swore I would never say anything like that. So much for saying I would never do something!

  Eventually, my brain got to the stuff I was trying to avoid. My question: what was I going to do about Ralph? He’d given me information about Melissa, the woman he wanted me to find. I stood there looking down at the card. It was ivory colored and printed on heavy stock, a woman’s card, but it also suggested heavy money in the script and the quality of the paper. On one corner was embossed the letter H in old English script. As I stood there watching Bean poke around in the vacant lot, I pulled out my cell phone and on a lark, punched in the phone number printed on the card. The phone rang. Once, twice and halfway through the third ring a man’s voice answered. The voice said, “Code in.”

  I was so stunned I hesitated for a moment and then finally fumbled
, “Hello, I’m looking for Melissa Herman. Is she there?”

  Again, the man’s voice instructed, “Code in now!”

  “I don’t know the code, I’m—”

  The man’s voice now had an edge to it as he demanded, “Code in now!”

  “Like I said, I don’t know what the code is and—” I heard the click on the other end as the phone hung up. I stood looking at my cell phone and wondered what was going on. I distinctly remember Ralph telling me he had called the number, and the phone had been disconnected. He had said nothing about any code instructions. What the hell was going on?

  By now Bean was finished and I took a plastic bag, cleaned up after her and we went inside. I set Melissa’s card on the counter top and then placed my cell phone on top of it and headed off to bed. Bean jumped up and settled down on my side. As I drifted off to sleep I wondered briefly what I could do to get rid of Ralph. I didn’t want to get involved. I didn’t see a way I could find out about Ralph’s woman friend. From there my mind drifted to women in general and then to women and then to specific woman friends. Eventually I recalled few months ago when my two current lady friends showed up unexpectedly at the same time in the middle of the night.

  As I reveled in those pleasant memories, sleep wrapped its soft arms around me and as I drifted off, I know I had a grin on my face at the memory of that night.

  What a way to fall asleep.

  CHAPTER THREE

  During the night, little Beanie had moved around on the bed and as the sun peeked under the shade into my room, I found her now curled up tightly against my back. I have an idea for something scientists can work on: a way to get paint to stick to a surface as well as a little dog will stick to your back in the night. I’ve never been able to figure out how she can get so tight against me.