Rafael Sandoval didn’t snore exactly, but he made the most adorable sound as he slept. Ruby knew that the sun wouldn’t show its face for a good two or three hours, which made this prime time for her to go exploring. But staring into Rafe’s open bedroom door, she took a minute to stare at his handsome Colombian face, compact shoulders and smooth, hairless chest in the waning moonlight.
Ruby had slid out from between the satin sheets just moments before and stood with moonlight glinting off her mahogany skin. Standing at Rafe’s door she had actually been able to forget who he was, what he did, and why she was there. But that lasted only a second. Now she stood in the cold reality of morning and she was on the clock.
Wrapped in a terrycloth robe, Ruby moved like a wraith across the floor in the hall, then down the spiral staircase to the first floor. Her first stop was her purse, which she had abandoned on the sofa during a particularly intense kiss. From her bag she retrieved a small zip lock bag. She wanted a sample of Rafe’s product for analysis. She wanted rock-solid proof that he was smuggling drugs into the country before she went to Gorman to ask what the next step should be. Rafe had a sharp but simple mind, and Ruby wanted to know exactly what he was into before she ruined his world.
By the time Ruby reached the door to the basement she was regretting her decision not to wear a nightgown. The terry robe was rubbing her nipples raw. At the bottom of the padded stairs, Ruby stood still for a moment in the silence, allowing her senses to acclimate. Rafe’s full, finished basement was one big room the size of the entire house, sorted into areas by furniture groupings. The darkness moved in on her, but didn’t bother her. She was at home there. During her brief stint with the Central Intelligence Agency they had taught her to become one with the darkness. They also taught her how to search a room. She panned from left to right, taking in the sofa, pool table, bar, large aquarium, and television set. No sign of Hector’s gym bag, but she didn’t think it would be out in the open anyway.
She was about to begin her search with the bar when she heard a low hum followed by a thumping rattle. The gas furnace had just kicked in. It must have gotten a little brisk outside. The furnace was a good deal louder there in the basement than it seemed on the floor above. In fact, as she listened, she thought she detected a vibration that seemed out of place. Maybe she wouldn’t have to really search the place after all.
She felt her way to the utility area, at the far right, just past the half bathroom. When she opened the door, the sound of the roaring furnace doubled. The narrow space was stifling hot, in direct contrast to the cold wood floor beneath her feet. The furnace room was also a storage area, where Rafe had stacked folding deck chairs and what looked like a backyard canopy. He must have a lot of company, she thought, and this was the stuff he set up in his big backyard for cookouts and such.
Opening her robe to reduce the heat, Ruby crouched beside the furnace and waited for it to stop. Then she reached up to tap the duct leading out of the furnace. The duct ran horizontally for about four feet before turning upward to pierce the ceiling. Her tapping yielded a hollow sound until she reached the elbow of the duct, where the sound suddenly changed. Bingo.
She found the joint and pulled hard, separating the vertical aluminum tube from the horizontal piece, fighting against coughing as her actions shook dust from the top of the duct. Despite the musty odor of the little space she smiled when she thrust her hand into the duct. There she felt six plastic-wrapped packages, about the size of ten-pound flour bags, but flatter. Her instincts were still good. She had found the dope in the first place she looked. Or at least, she thought she had. At this point, it was still all supposition.
With a little effort, Ruby managed to pierce one of the bags with her pinky nail. She used the nail as a shovel, pulling back a scoop of the bag’s contents. With practiced ease she emptied her little scoop into her own plastic bag. It was powder, but it didn’t have the granularity she had felt when handling cocaine. Heroine then, much softer and more powdery, like talc or chalk dust. Well, she had him now.
From the top of the stairs a Spanish accented voice called, “Ruby? Are you down there?”
Linda hesitated as she approached the building and stopped just an arm’s length from the door.
“Are we sure we want to do this?”
“We’re sure,” Rico Steele said behind her. “The question is, are you sure?”
Linda looked up at the building she had walked into five days a week for the better part of a year. She had never been here on a Sunday before. Now it felt as if she were entering a haunted house. Her feet seemed frozen to the cold cement of the sidewalk and a razor wind cut through her light overcoat. She was grateful for the sweat suit Sherry had loaned her, even though it was a bit big for her. Her gaze wandered over her shoulder to Stone who stood behind her on her right.
“It’s still your call,” he said in his tombstone voice. “We can still go home, and Rico and I will still keep you safe until we can find a way to get your boss behind bars without the code book. You can stay with us as long as necessary. You know Sherry loves your son.”
Linda turned to face the door and straightened her shoulders. “Nope. That would be hiding. Can’t do the hiding thing. Got to do this. Got to do this for Danny.” With that she pulled her pass card from her purse and swiped it through the afterhours security device. The door clicked and she pushed it open. As she stepped into the lobby, she tossed the card to Stone.
Linda concentrated on moving at her usual pace. Stone had equipped her with a stack of file folders as her assumed reason for being in the office on Sunday morning. She had worked up a nice little story about why her boss had ordered her in on Sunday, but the security guard hardly looked at her as she passed. His eyes were drooping, and she guessed he had been there all night. And really, why should he stir? Lawyers put in a lot of night and weekend hours, and he had no way of knowing she wasn’t somebody’s junior associate.
She could see, though, that neither lawyers nor anyone else put in a lot of Sunday morning hours. The whole building seemed deserted. The ride up in the elevator seemed downright spooky. The sound of her shoes echoed behind her as she walked down the hall toward the office. Unlocking the door felt somehow very different than when she did it on a Monday or Tuesday morning. As she turned on the lights she half expected to see her boss, Irv Jerome sitting at his desk, chewing a bagel as he so often was when she arrived during the week. He worked mad hours, but getting there before dawn seemed to pay off for him.
Linda looked around the office for what she knew would be the last time. She had never quit a job without giving plenty of notice before, and this too felt funny. Sure, Mr. Jerome might have people looking for her now, but he wasn’t really a bad boss to her. He paid well, complimented her on her work, and had given her a nice Christmas bonus. Mr. Steele and Mr. Mason had told her to hurry, but they also said they’d be right outside and there was nothing to worry about. Maybe she could take care of that unfinished correspondence before she left.
No. What was she thinking? She should find the book, get it and get out of there before something went wrong. And she would, after she took care of one thing. As quickly as she could, she ran to the powder room, filled the water can, and watered all the plants. That should hold them for a while.
Now Linda felt as if she could get down to business. She sat behind her reception desk and began emptying the lower left drawer. Beneath all her office supplies lay a false bottom, which she could just tip up with her fingernails. Beneath that false bottom lay a plain green ledger book, very similar to the record book Steele and Stone already had. Of course, this was the one that would make the information there make sense. Feeling both relief and guilt, Linda laid the book on her desk and opened it, just to verify that her memory was true. Yes, there they lay, those odd little squiggles that would soon translate into jail time or worse for one crooked lawyer.
The sound of a key in the lock froze her in place. Her heart rate tripled and her hands locked down on the book as if to keep her world from spinning out of control. While she stared at the door it opened inward, and Irv Jerome stepped into the office. He wore khakis and a golf shirt, as if he had stopped off on his way to the links. She might have believed that if not for the three muscle men who followed him in.
“Putting in a little extra time, Ms. Perry?” Jerome asked through his movie star smile. “I imagine you might be hanging around a little longer than you expected.”
Amy Brooks looked for all the world like a typical fourteen-year-old girl. She wore run down sneakers and the popular baggy jeans under a jacket that seemed to be made of parachute silk. She had her mother’s blond hair, only worn in a straight and unflattering style. They were her mother’s facial features too, except that Amy’s face was makeup free. She walked with that slightly awkward gait that young girls have when they’ve recently sprouted longer legs and arms. She seemed a little taller than her age would imply, but that was probably because of her thin frame. She had her mother’s trim figure, except that no breasts had begun to sprout yet.
Chastity could relate to that. She had lived through that torturous period. Even in that way, Amy seemed typical. Of course, that was the view from the windows of Chastity’s Mazda MX-5. She wondered what it was like up close. She also wondered where Amy was going on an early autumn Sunday morning. In some neighborhoods she would be an attractive target for the predators. Here, she wore her innocence like a shield, oblivious to just how safe she really was because she had no idea that she was being followed.
The powder blue Mazda rolled gently in first gear. Chastity pulled to the curb fifty yards ahead of Amy and powered down her window. As Amy came even with the car, Chastity whistled to her.
“Hey, Amy, what you up to, girl?”
Amy stopped, startled but not frightened. She crouched just a little to stare into the window. She seemed to recognize the Asian lady in the powder blue jogging suit that matched her sports car.
“It’s me, Chastity. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Amy smiled. “My mom’s friend. You were at the hospital, right? Cool car!”
Chastity nodded and returned the smile. “It’s cold out. You need a lift somewhere?”
Amy thought for a moment. “Not really. I’m not going anywhere in particular, just, you know, walking.”
“I get it. Well, how about riding instead? And maybe a soda or something?” When Amy hesitated, Chastity held up her cell phone. “I’ll give your mom a call so she won’t be worried or anything, okay?”
As Amy’s eyes moved back and forth Chastity thought she knew exactly what the girl was weighing in her mind. Solitude? Or loneliness? Time to think? Or a chance to talk? Chastity knew better than to say a word to try to sway her and, ultimately, Amy nodded again and opened the car door.
“It is a little warmer in here,” Amy said, settling into the car seat.
In the furnace room, it was downright hot. Ruby felt perspiration burst from her skin as she heard Rafe’s footsteps coming down into the basement. The light coming in under the furnace room door told her that she couldn’t go out. What the hell was he doing up? Had she been gone that long?
Rafe called her name a few more times and she could follow him around the basement with her hearing. Finally he approached her. Ruby held her breath as he gripped the doorknob. If he suspected her, he would give the furnace room a pretty thorough search.
“Quit playing around, girl,” Rafe said. As it turned out he just opened the door, stuck his head in, and closed it again.
He couldn’t see her of course, stretched out flat on the hard floor covered by the folded canopy and vinyl deck chairs. The dust on the floor tickled her nose, but Ruby knew that a sneeze right then would be totally unacceptable. She had been lucky, she knew. The pieces of yard furniture on top of her must look pretty much the way they did before she burrowed under them.
Now came the really hard part. The furnace started again, offering cover noise. Very slowly, she pulled herself out from under cover and crouched at the door. She had to get past him, draw his attention away from the basement entirely, and keep him from ever thinking she might have been searching his house. Step one was to make sure the little Ziploc bag was hidden deep in her robe pocket. Step two was to drop the robe belt, allowing it to flow around her. Step three was for Ruby to grasp and slowly turn the doorknob, knees loose and ready for action.
She slowly eased the door open a crack. Rafe was walking toward the far wall, his back to her. This would probably be her only chance to get past him. Ruby took a deep breath, then a second and, with the third she stepped through the door, silently closed it behind her, and sprinted hard for the staircase. Her dark glistening body was chilled by evaporation, but she didn’t have time to think about that.
Rafe would hear her rapid footsteps, she knew, but surprise would slow his reactions. In her mind’s eye she could see him turning, his attention drawn to where she had been rather than where she was going. If the timing went the way she envisioned, he would have caught a flashing glimpse of her robe flying behind her and even a glimpse of her bare behind just as she reached the top landing. The hardest thing at this point was to force the small touch that would sell her later story. She managed a playful giggle as she reached the ground floor.
Without breaking her stride, Ruby dashed for the black leather sofa in the family room and snatched her purse from the cushion as she dived behind the couch. Breathing with her mouth open to reduce the sound, she divided her attention between listening for Rafe’s footsteps and shoving the plastic bag into her purse. Shortly she heard him walk past. He was no longer calling her name. She hoped that was not an indication of anger. After a few seconds of indecision, she heard him head for the stairs. Around the corner of the sofa she watched him go upstairs. He had chosen a silk robe.
Ruby was feeling a little silly, and a little cold as well. It was time to get Rafe’s attention, and she had a plan for warming up as well. After a slow ten count, she moved to the stairs in typically silent fashion. Half way to the second floor she purposely tripped, thumped her knee on a step and moaned, “Ow! Damn it!” in a loud stage whisper. Then she continued, but at the top of the stairs she came face to face with Rafe who was only a few yards down the hall.
“Oops!” she said in her usual loud squeak, flashed a broad grin, and scampered back down the stairs. With Rafe panting at her heels she scrambled back to the basement stairs. At the bottom of the stairs she panted as if exhausted, and slowed until Rafe’s arms wrapped around her. She had positioned herself well, so that when he spun her around, her back was to the pool table.
“Now what the hell was that all about, chica?” Rafe snapped, grasping Ruby’s wrist. His face held a mixture of confusion, irritation and surprise.
“Just a little hide and seek, sugar,” Ruby said, breathing more heavily than necessary. Her generous breasts were rising and falling in a way that periodically distracted Rafe from her chocolate brown eyes. “I wondered if you’d hear me leave my room. Then I wanted to see if you’d even come looking for me. And I wanted to see if you could even find me in this big old house. And now that you have, well, I guess you get the hidden prize.”
“The prize?” That was all Rafe had time to say before Ruby pressed her mouth over his. She pulled her arms backward and raised her legs around Rafe’s waist, causing their balance to tip so that Rafe was pushing her back onto the pool table.
“Hey, is somebody down there?”
Hector’s call from the top of the stairs was enough to start Ruby giggling, and Rafe quickly added his laugh.