Having an escort who had an NYPD badge to flash opened more doors than a run-of-the-mill guided tour could offer, Debbie Sue noticed.
Stage-door entry to a Broadway theater wasn’t in any of the brochures she had read. She hadn’t counted on an express elevator ride to the top of the Empire State Building, with no waiting in the tourist line, either.
Through all of this, Debbie Sue was busy observing the young detective and her fellow Texan. Detective McDermott was attentive and polite to all three of them, but his eye was unquestionably on Celina.
“You sure know how to make a good impression on the first date,” Edwina said to Matt as they exited the Empire State Building carrying bags of souvenirs.
The detective laughed. “It’s as much fun for me as it is for you. I was amazed by all the sights when I first came here, but with the job I do now, I tend to forget the great things to see and do.”
“You’re not from here?” Celina asked.
“Nah. I’m a small-town kid. Born and raised in Osceola. It’s about five hours northwest of here. Population two hundred sixty-five, most of whom are related to me.”
“But you seem so sophisticated and so…well, so citified. No one would ever know you weren’t born and raised here. You act as if you’ve never lived anywhere else.”
He laughed again. “One of the first things you learn in Special Forces training is that we each have it within us to be anything we want to be.”
Celina was leaning toward him as if she had been hypnotized. Though Debbie Sue hadn’t known Celina long, she could see she was truly a small-town girl whose sophistication level was far lower than the detective’s. Celina hadn’t told them her age, but she couldn’t be more than twenty-five or twenty-six, Debbie Sue surmised. No way could she let a fellow Texan be taken advantage of by a city slicker. She frowned and chewed on her bottom lip, looking for a way to change the mood. “Say,” she said brightly, “let’s go somewhere and have a drink.”
“Great idea,” Edwina said. “I’d like a martini. New York City style.”
“Now you’re talking,” Matt said. “If it’s a martini you want, the Blue Bar in the Algonquin is the only place to go. They have a martini on their menu that costs ten thousand dollars.”
“Christ-on-a-crutch,” Edwina exclaimed. “I’m guessing you pay up front when you order that.”
“Actually, you have to make a reservation for that drink.”
“No shit. That’s plumb crazy. And here I thought Texas had everything.”
Taking Celina by the elbow, the detective walked to the curb and hailed a cab. While they waited, Debbie Sue felt Edwina’s stare. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispered.
“You haven’t said ten words all evening. What’s going on with you? I know you’re tumbling something around that head of yours. What is it?”
“I’m trying to decide if I like him.”
“Why? What’s wrong with him? He’s been the perfect gentleman. He’s definitely taken with Celina.”
“I can’t put my finger on it. You know how you get these feelings? There’s just something about this guy. He’s too good-looking, too smooth. My instincts tell me there’s more to him than just good looks and good manners. I think it’s what we’re not seeing that’s bothering me.”
“Excuse me, but are these the same instincts that kept you in the company of a womanizing rodeo cowboy when you and Buddy were divorced? A man who most likely holds the record for paternity testing?”
“Okay, okay,” Debbie Sue said. “I never said my instincts were perfect.”
“The Algonquin is the oldest hotel in operation in New York City,” Matt told them as they walked through the lobby. Celina’s eyes darted everywhere. The surroundings looked like money with a capital M. Very old, very well kept money. The place even smelled like money. Just as in the blue-collar diner where she had eaten supper, Celina again had the impression that people were staring at her. Oh, my gosh, I’m not dressed right, she said to herself.
As if he were reading her thoughts, Matt placed a hand on her waist and pulled her closer. “You’re the most beautiful woman here. All eyes are on you.”
“That’s because this is a fancy place and I’m not dressed for it. I don’t feel right being here.”
“Don’t think that. They admire how you look. As for being here, all that’s required is that we cover our tab, and unless you or one of your friends orders that high-dollar drink, we’ll be all right.”
At the bar’s entrance, he stopped and spoke to a gentleman who ushered them to a table. Celina didn’t see Matt show his badge, but she did notice a transfer of money from his hand to the host.
Once seated, the ritual of getting to know each other continued. The more they drank, the more they revealed. To Celina’s surprise, Matt came from a large Irish family and a long line of cops. He was the youngest of seven children. He had six older sisters.
“No wonder you seem so at ease with women,” Debbie Sue said.
“Were you their baby?” Edwina teased.
“Their baby, their pupil, their dance partner and eventually their confidante. It was great. They still fuss over me and try to protect me. One thinks I’m too thin, another too heavy. I need to be married, I need to keep looking for the right girl. If I ever bring a wife into my life, she’ll have to be tough, to deal with my sisters.”
Edwina ordered another round of drinks. The longer the evening wore on, the bolder the stories and jokes got. Celina absorbed every word, laughing at one point in an embarrassing snort. She had never had so much fun. Her life in Dime Box seemed a planet away. Could she return there and be content?
A question came to her. How had Granny Dee left this pulsating place? This glamour? This activity? The answer came just as quickly as the thought. For love. She had done it for love. Celina sneaked a glimpse in Matt’s direction. He was so different from what she had first thought. Like her, he was from a small town. He had strong ties to his family. He was ambitious and hardworking. But how could something come of this chance meeting? They lived two thousand miles apart and she was here for only four days.
Debbie Sue asking Matt a question jolted her from her musing. “Detective McDermott, are you working on an interesting case now?”
Matt had loosened his tie and was sitting in a relaxed posture. “All cases in homicide are interesting. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it.”
“I read an article about some murders the NYPD thinks are linked.”
“Oh, you mean the seven prostitutes? There’s been a lot of publicity about that.”
“The article said they’d been murdered in nice hotels. No sleazy rent-by-the-hour places. And they were all strangled. The article said the police have no leads.”
“NYPD might be holding information back. They rarely release everything they know to the press.”
“I just figured no one was working on it very hard because the victims were prostitutes and no one really cares,” Debbie Sue said.
Matt’s jolly demeanor changed. He straightened and drilled Debbie Sue with a direct look. “That’s not true. Cops care about clearing cases. And they care about the victims no matter who they are.”
Sensing the tension in his reply, Celina asked, “Y’all want to hear my theory?”
“We’d love to,” Matt said, relaxing again and turning to her with a smile.
“Okay. Now mind you, I have no experience, but I’ve read a ton of books about the criminal mind and crime solving. And I wrote a paper on criminal psychology in college.”
Edwina stared at her slack-jawed. “You don’t say,” she said.
Celina laughed. “I’m a librarian, remember? I read everything, including labels on bottles and jars.”
“So, give us your theory,” Matt said.
“Well, I’m betting he takes them to nice places because he fits into that environment. He probably wears a business suit and a tie. He meets them in the hotel bar or the lobby. I’ve read that strangulation is the most personal type of killing. A killer is very close to the victim, physically, I mean. Close enough to see her face. To him, it’s all about power.”
“Not a bad assessment,” Matt said, still smiling. “You really have done your homework.”
Celina grinned, looking around the table and tapping her temple with her forefinger, “See? I know something about detecting too.”
“You sure do,” Edwina said. “Now put those skills to work and tell me where the bathroom is. My eyeballs are floating.”
By the time Celina and her new friends left the steeped-in-tradition Algonquin Hotel bar, just before 2 A.M., the entire bar staff and most of the customers knew them by name. Edwina had gone to each table and hugged the occupants good-bye. She had invited all of them to Salt Lick for a “big ol’ barbeque with all the fixin’s” and had offered Debbie Sue and Buddy’s home as sleeping quarters.
Stepping into the warm night air Celina was stunned to find the streets still alive with activity. And smells. The brilliantly lit giraffe at Times Square peeked from behind its sign at the streets below. A Styrofoam cup of coffee, four stories tall, steamed and looked so real she could almost taste it. This truly was the city that never slept.
“I can’t believe there are so many people up and around this time of the morning,” she said to Matt, no longer fearing that she might sound like a country mouse.
“Some are just waking up. And some haven’t been to bed yet. There are clubs, restaurants and bars that don’t even open until now. Where I came from, the streets fold up at nine o’clock and most self-respecting people go to bed.”
Celina tilted her head back, stretched out her arms and turned in a circle, drinking in the moment and her surroundings. “It’s all crazy. And wonderful.”
“Could you get used to living in this city?”
The question caught Celina off guard. He surely couldn’t mean anything by it. They had only just met. But there was something in his steady gaze that made her wonder. “Gosh, I don’t know. I mean, this place is like nothing I’ve ever seen. But I guess what it would boil down to for me is that it’s not home. Good old dull, predictable, sweet, soothing home.”
Matt’s mouth tipped up in a smile and he gave her an unexpected hug. “I’d have been surprised if you’d said anything else.” Releasing her, he gestured toward Edwina and Debbie Sue, who were standing at the curb having a contest over who could stop a cab first. “I need to remind them that your hotel is only two blocks from here.”
Before he could reach them, a cab pulled over and they climbed into the backseat, leaving the detective to shake his head and observe.
Celina could see the driver of the cab waving his arms and shouting. He attempted to open his door and crawl out, but Matt stepped forward, showed his badge and held the door shut. He bent to eye level with the driver.
“What’s the problem?” His tone spelled no nonsense and demanded a clear answer.
Edwina leaned forward. “Detective McDermott, this guy’s refusing to give us a ride back to the hotel.”
The eyes of the driver grew wide. “You police? You police? Anson hotel two block. They walk two block. You make them. This my cab.”
“We don’t want to walk,” Debbie Sue said. “You drive.”
“No. Get out. You get out now.”
“Nosiree-bob,” Edwina said. “We got money, you got cab, move it.”
“This is not your cab,” Matt said to the cab driver. “It belongs to the City of New York. You’re required to take fares anywhere within the metropolitan boundaries. Do it now, or I’ll call for a truck to tow this vehicle back to your garage.”
The driver blinked.
“Do you understand me?”
“Yes. Yes, okay, yes. I take them.”
Matt looked into the backseat and smiled, his relaxed personality back, “Ladies, have a nice ride.”
“Wait a minute,” Debbie Sue said and looked at Celina. “Aren’t you coming with us? You should come with us.”
“We’ll walk,” Matt answered.
“I don’t mind walking,” Celina said to Debbie Sue.
Celina stood with him watching the cab pull away. She turned, looked up at him and laughed. “Good grief, you’re Clint Eastwood.”
Chuckling, he took her arm and urged her along the sidewalk. “Come on. I’ll bet we can get to the hotel before they do.”
Sure enough, just as Matt said, they reached the hotel first. They waited in the lobby for the arrival of her new friends from Texas.
When Debbie Sue and Edwina appeared, Matt asked Edwina, “Did you give him a tip?”
“I gave him a coupon for a buy-one, get-one-free dinner at Dickey’s Barbeque Pit in Fort Worth. I don’t usually shaft somebody on a tip, but he was rude. I don’t believe in rewarding rude behavior.”
Debbie Sue yawned. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m beat. Ten o’clock will be here real quick and I’m going to my room. Detective,” she said, extending her hand, “thank you so much for a fun evening. I wish my husband Buddy could have been here to hear some of the stories.”
“Let me walk you to your room,” Matt said. “What floor are you on?”
“We’re on six,” Celina answered.
“Good. I’m on seven. It’s on my way.”
Herding the three women in the span if his arms he ushered them to the elevator.
Once they were at their door, Debbie Sue and Edwina said their good nights and hurried into the room, leaving Celina and Matt together outside the door. He touched the gold numbers on the room’s door. “Six eighteen. Rogenstein must be on the other side of you. He’s in six twenty. I remember it because it’s my badge number.”
“Who?” Celina asked.
“The detective who was with me in the demonstration earlier. Frank Rogenstein.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Celina said, laughing. “My gosh, was that just this afternoon?”
Suddenly Matt moved a step nearer and braced his hand against the wall beside her head. He was so close Celina could see a tiny scar on his upper lip, smell his woodsy cologne. He looked at her for long seconds before brushing her lips with his. It was soft and sweet, barely a kiss but more intimate than she had expected.
“I hope you don’t think I’m moving too fast,” he said softly, “but you aren’t going to be here very long.”
Celina surprised herself by placing her hand on his cheek and pulling him back for more.
“Ed,” Debbie Sue said, “get away from there. What’s the matter with you?”
Edwina had plastered her ear to the door. “Shhh, they’ll hear you. I just want to hear how things are going. You know, who makes the first move and all.”
“I guarantee it’s him making the move,” Debbie Sue said, now pressing against Edwina’s back and trying to hear also. “He hardly took his eyes off of her all evening.”
“I know. It was sweet.”
Debbie Sue straightened and planted her hands on her hips. “Sweet? You think it’s sweet watching a cobra move in on a helpless mouse?”
Edwina straightened, too. “Hell, Debbie Sue, you’ve been watching too much Animal Planet on TV.”
“I’ll have you know I worried all the way back to the hotel about leaving her alone with him.”
“C’mon. They’re two single, good-looking, healthy young people. They look like they were made for each other.”
“Humph. Says who?” Debbie picked up her makeup kit and padded to the bathroom.
Edwina followed and leaned a shoulder against the door-jamb. “You don’t like him, do you?”
Debbie Sue looked at her reflection in the mirror. “It’s not that I don’t like him. There’s just something about him that makes me nervous and I don’t know what it is.”
“Cut him some slack. He was in Special Forces. My Vic was one of those guys. They’re cut from a different cloth.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. But did you see the look on his face when he was talking to that cab driver tonight?
Edwina’s eyes widened and her palms lifted. “What’s with looks?”
“He looked like if that cab driver had twitched a wrong muscle, he would tear him apart.”
“Just think of the job he has, what he deals with every day. He has to be tough. Hell, I’ve seen Buddy Overstreet give a look that could stop a current in a creek after a gullywasher. He gave me that look when I asked him to fix a speeding ticket for me.”
Debbie Sue dug a hairbrush from her satchel and began to brush her hair. “You’re right. And I remember that I was afraid of Vic when you first introduced him to me. I didn’t trust him one little hoot. For a full year I hoped y’all would break up. But that was before I learned to love him too.”
“You’ve never said you were afraid of my Vic? How come?”
Debbie Sue secured her hair in a scrunchie, then slathered soap on her face, mumbling through her washcloth. “Well, there was the whole ex-wife thing. Every time she called I’d think he was going to leave and break your heart.”
“That was once a week. Why didn’t you tell me that back then?”
“I trusted you.” Debbie Sue said, drying her face and digging for her toothbrush. “I knew if he wasn’t the real deal, you’d pick up on it and send him packing.”
Just then the door opened and Celina floated into the room. Her hair was a little tousled and the perfect makeup job Debbie Sue and Edwina had done on her was more than a little smudged.
She leaned back against the door and sighed. “Don’t y’all just love New York City?”
“I was just telling Debbie Sue what a hoot it is,” Edwina said.
“Guess where Matt is taking me tomorrow night?”
Debbie Sue came out of the bathroom, exchanged a glance with Edwina and shrugged. “No clue.”
“To Madison Square Garden. Isn’t that romantic?”
“If you say so,” Edwina said.
“Don’t you remember me telling you, that’s where Granny Dee met my granddad? He was competing in a rodeo and it was love at first sight.”
“I do remember now. So he’s taking you to a rodeo?”
“No, I think it’s a basketball game, but it’s still romantic.”
Debbie Sue’s brow rose in an arch.
Edwina elbowed her in the ribs. “Get that look off your face and smile.”
“Ow! What look?”
“The one that looks like you just coughed up a hairball.”
“Oh, that look.”