“She could be angry,” Richard warned.
Jimmy thought of the fire in Aggie’s eyes at lunch and the coolness last night.
“I don’t care,” he told the lawyer with a grin. “I like her when she’s angry.”
“We’re getting close to invasion of privacy,” Richard persisted.
“Don’t do anything illegal,” Jimmy clarified. “Just skirt the line. If she finds out, she can pretend she was a celebrity for awhile, stalked by paparazzi.”
“I doubt she’ll see it that way.” Richard’s tone was dryly amused.
“Step it up,” Jimmy glared. “Trace her credit cards. Send someone to Cincinnati. Talk to acquaintances. Maybe she faked the identity and she’s afraid she can’t keep up the charade.”
“I’ll try,” Richard finally agreed.
“You’re not going to be able to find out much by tonight,” Jimmy mused. “I don’t want to see her again until I have more information. If she’s lying, I’ll catch the witch at it and then all bets are off. She’ll do what I want or the contract’s void.”
Richard seemed dazed by his employer’s blazing intensity.
“What are you looking at?” Jimmy muttered.
“Nothing,” Richard shook his head as though trying to clear his vision. “Shall I leave a message at the hotel that tonight’s off?”
“No,” Jimmy decided. “You see her tonight.”
Richard held up his hands.
“Jimmy,” he protested, “I don’t mind being your three hundred dollar an hour gopher and calling a few detectives, but I’m not screwing anybody for you.”
Jimmy’s belly laugh erupted. The sound rolled around the office and carried with it the worst of Jimmy’s tension. He certainly didn’t want Richard to have sex with Aggie. The image was revolting. He wanted her all to himself, he realized. If she was troubled, he would fix her problems. He just had to find out what they were. He wanted the lunch-time Aggie back and in his bed.
“I don’t want you to screw her,” he said as he wiped his eyes, his laughter an echo in the room. “Just interrogate her. Like in a courtroom. Set up a hidden camera and I’ll watch the tape later.”
“Jimmy,” Richard sounded embarrassed. “You know I’ve never been in a courtroom.”
“You’ve seen Perry Mason. Pace back and forth and ask a lot of questions. We’ll think up some questions before she gets here.”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
“She sucks me in,” Jimmy admitted. Look what a sucker he’d been last night. Ten thousand dollars and all they did was sleep together, literally. “Intimidate the hell out of her, Richard, and get some straight answers.”
“I don’t think she likes me, “ Richard admitted.
“All the better,” Jimmy growled.
As Richard left the office, Jimmy swiveled his chair toward the window and put his hands behind his head. He was blind for once to the panoramic view of ocean and park and distant islands. He wondered for an instant whether any woman was worth all this effort. Then he pictured the glimpse he had caught of Aggie outside the restaurant on Danny’s arm. He remembered the surge of emotion he’d felt when he learned she wasn’t attached to his brother, the pure elation of realizing she had answered his ad, could be his for twelve nights. Eleven more nights, he thought. Ten, because tonight she would be with Richard. Once he had found out why she had changed, once he had unraveled the mystery of his complicated librarian, he was going to enjoy the best ten nights of his life.
Chapter 14
Richard waited stoically in the lobby. He was a lawyer, he reminded himself for the tenth time. All he needed to do was ask the woman some questions, an extension of their earlier interview. The fact that Jimmy had chosen her after his rejection made the situation awkward, but he was still the lawyer and she was still the woman selling herself. The difficulties of the previous night must to some extend vindicate his objections. He could guess what had happened, or more accurately, what hadn’t happened, last night. He had rarely seen Jimmy so testy. He must have been frustrated to an extreme, the kind of frustration only a beautiful but elusive woman could induce in a strong willed man.
Richard was determined to reveal Aggie Trout as a fraud. He had dozens of technical questions ready to trip her up. But if she wasn’t a phony, as he had half come to believe, he would try to persuade her to cooperate and treat his employer to the best nights she could give him. He wasn’t really pimping, he assured himself as he adjusted his necktie. He was protecting his client in an unusual situation.
The cab pulled to the curb and Aggie emerged. She looked eagerly through the lobby windows. She didn’t look cool, as Jimmy had described her. She looked hot, in every sense of the word. Her outfit sizzled, Richard smiled to himself at the unfamiliar word that had popped into his head. But she did sizzle. A full patterned skirt draped her hips and legs to mid-calf and swirled with her every movement. Her coat was open in front and revealed a sheer black blouse with a richly embroidered vest for modesty. She looked like a princess in a Hungarian movie, or maybe a gypsy.
Richard opened the door of the lobby. As he did, he saw recognition in Aggie’s eyes, and dismay.
“Where’s Jimmy?” she asked. She held onto the open door of the cab.
“He asked me to ask you a few questions,” Richard responded calmly. He didn’t want her to bolt back into the cab.
“Is he upstairs?”
“Yes.” The answer was the truth. Jimmy waited in his apartment for Richard’s report and the video. “Come inside.”
Though it wasn’t raining, the evening was damp and cool. Richard was surprised to feel a platonic need to get Aggie out of the chill. He took a step toward her, holding out his hand. Perhaps she sensed his concern, for she shut the door of the taxi and walked toward him. She ignored his hand and walked past him into the lobby.
Aggie’s eyebrows spoke for her when Richard pushed the button for the office floor. She remained silent as they entered the deserted lobby and walked down the hall to Jimmy’s office. Richard helped her off with her coat and placed it on a sofa. She walked to a chair in front of the desk and sat down.
“I’m not going to see Jimmy tonight, am I?” she asked bluntly.
She sounded disappointed, Richard noticed. He wondered if the emotion would register on film.
“He was not happy with last night’s…” he searched for a word.
“Non-performance?” Aggie supplied. “I told him I’d be ready tonight and I am.”
Richard groaned internally. Though he was convinced she was lying about something, she sounded genuinely eager to see his employer. He wondered what had been Jimmy’s problem last night. She talked and looked as if she couldn’t wait to hop into bed with him. He returned to the agenda and picked up a sheaf of papers.
“I need to ask you some questions.”
Aggie looked at the pile of papers and sighed.
“Go ahead.”
“What street do you live on in Cincinnati?”
“Beechmont.”
“Is that ‘ee’ or ‘ea’?
“It’s ‘ee’. What on earth is this about? I’m really Aggie Trout. I really am a librarian in Cincinnati.”
“Please be patient, Miss Trout. Does Beechmont run north-south or east-west?
“If you looked on a map, you won’t get this one right,” she commented. “Right where I live it runs to the northwest, but most of it is east-west. It wanders.”
“What cross street is near your home?” Richard persisted, though he was one hundred percent certain she was telling the truth.
“The closest major street is Hunley Road. Look, I resent this. I agreed to twelve nights of sex with a man I basically like, not twenty questions with a man who frankly…” she stopped.