It’s time. Long past it, really. She won’t be able to ignore me this time. Will she rant or cower? The Great Lady. The Star. The fake. I’ll bring her low, make her crawl for help that won’t be there. But for now, let her rant . . . please. Only later will it need to be fear; only then will she have to quiver and beg and recognize. I’d kill to see that. Have killed. I tingle when I think of her taking her last breath. Anticipation courses through my veins like a drug, warming me in tender places. Her last breath. Her end. Me standing there. Watching.
Soon she’ll hold my letter; my words will be in her head. This time her hands will surely tremble as the full weight of my loathing floods out. On an endless loop, the moment plays. Her hands. My hate. Every frame, every image, a feast to savor one morsel at a time, slow and easy, as I digest each bite in infinite stages, stretching a lifetime between first taste and last.
Now.
Stark white paper, bright red pens lined up like bloody soldiers. What a presentation it makes. The paper feels cool under the reverent sweep of my hand. It’s almost a shame to write on it . . . almost.
Just the right words.
A monstrous debt is owed; payment is now due.
Where to begin . . . ?
Ah, yes . . .
Dear Bitch . . .
“You know that bike cost more than my first car, right?” Ben said as I coasted up to him on the bike path at Promontory Point.
I’d spotted my old partner a half mile out, sitting on the weathered bench under a stand of bur oak, his back to the Museum of Science and Industry. He was hard to miss. His burly-cop body all but dwarfed the resting spot. I dismounted, took my helmet off, smiled. I wasn’t surprised to see him. We’d arranged the meet.
“First car and likely your current car, which, pardon my français, is a rolling piece of garbage.”
“It’s only got ninety-six thousand on it. What’re you talking about?”
I hooked the helmet onto a handlebar, slipped my towel out of the frame bag, and grabbed my water bottle from the bike’s down tube, and drank deep. Ben’s bench marked mile twenty-eight on my round-trip trek to tip-top shape and improved mental focus, a trek that hit every high point along Chicago’s lakefront, from this spot south all the way north to Lincoln Park Zoo and back. Normally, I didn’t stop until I hit the bagel shop around the corner from my apartment a mile or so west, but today Ben came before my whole wheat with raspberry cream cheese.
“Eight thirty on a Sunday morning, most people are still in bed.” He had draped his blazer across the back of the bench and had loosened his collar and tie. Cop clothes. He’d just clocked out of a midnight to eight.
“Yeah, but look what ‘most people’ are missing,” I said. “It’s a beautiful morning.”
And it was. It was a week before Labor Day, the unofficial end of a mild summer, and Lake Michigan shimmered like blue-green glass, slow moving compared to the traffic building behind us on Lake Shore Drive. On the bike and pedestrian paths, the truly committed were on the move, driven by whatever internal spark goosed them along. Ben took a sip of coffee out of a Dunkin’ Donuts cup. I plopped down on the bench beside him, slipped off my riding gloves, and stretched my legs out.
“You’re sweating,” he said.
I slid him a look, amused, then toweled off a bit. “That’s what happens when you raise your heart rate. When’s the last time you did that, by the way?”
“Vegas. Her name was Sherrie. Damned good memories. How many miles you up to at a pop, you don’t mind my asking?”
“Today? Fifteen up, fifteen back. From here, another mile to my shower nozzle. It really wakes you up.”
Ben stared at me without enthusiasm. “I can see that. I might get into something like that one of these days.”
The man was built like a Bears linebacker, wide, solid, and lead of foot. I doubted his monster feet would even fit on a pair of bike pedals.
“Not a bad idea. One you’ve had for the whole time I’ve known you, yet you haven’t made it onto a single bike seat yet.”
“I’m thinking a Harley-Davidson might make it a little easier on the cartilage,” Ben said.
I gulped more water, swallowed, the bottle almost empty. “No doubt. Wouldn’t do a thing for your heart rate, though.”
He shot me a mischievous grin. “Would if I rode it right.”
I needed to refill my bottle. There was a water fountain across the path, but I didn’t feel like making a go for it yet. I was tired. I stared at the fountain instead, willing it to come to me.
Ben stretched his arms over his head, yawned. “Sorry I had to kick your new boyfriend to the curb, but things got awkward. No hard feelings?”
Boyfriend? I chuckled. “Funny, the way he told it, he kicked you, and if I’m not mistaken, I told both of you things were going to get stupid.”
He was referring to Detective Eli Weber, his latest ex-partner, my new . . . friend. I had met him a couple months ago while investigating the murder of Father Ray Heaton, my surrogate father. He had been a kind man, a patient man, especially with me. Pop. That’s what I’d called him. I was still grieving his loss, missing him.
Ben and Eli had tried partnering, but it had lasted only a few weeks. The closer Eli and I got, the weirder it got for all three of us. It wasn’t as if Ben and I had designs on each other. He was a pal, like a brother almost, but what woman wanted her brother working with the guy she was sleeping with? Not a single one.
“It’s not like he was giving me a blow-by-blow,” Ben said. “But still . . . whatever. Let’s talk about something else.”
The fountain was playing stubborn. It still refused to budge. I sneered at it. “So, what’s up? Why are we sitting here on a bench on a Sunday morning, when I’ve got a bagel waiting for me?”
He tapped his newspaper against his thigh, eyed the trees. “I asked you here because I have a job for a talented ex-cop turned PI such as yourself. Interested in taking on a little something?”
“Depends on what it is.”
He glanced at me, shook his head. “Must be nice. Captain of your own ship, mistress of your own fate. No more having to take whatever croaks or pukes in front of you. You’re just out there, footloose and fancy free.”
I kicked off my shoes, wiggled my toes around in my sweaty socks. “Yeah, life’s sweet. Stop stroking me.”
“Patience is a virtue,” Ben said.
“So is chastity,” I said, “but in for a penny, in for a pound.”
Ben breathed in deep, let the breath out slow, a smile on his face. “Weber’s one lucky bastard, I tell ya.” He tilted his face toward heaven, eyes closed, as if working on a tan. “Vonda Allen.”
I groaned. Vonda Allen was a fusspot prima donna, the publisher of her own glitzy magazine, called Strive, which leaned heavily toward glitterati puff pieces. Ben worked security for her on his off-hours to pay for some white-guy fishing boat he was mooning over, but that didn’t stop him from complaining about the woman’s prissy ways.
I waited for more, but apparently, he wasn’t in any hurry. He knew the slow approach got under my skin. We’d partnered together for years. He knew I didn’t do long and drawn out, which was why he was smiling, messing with me.
“The great Vonda Allen, the woman with her finger on the pulse of urbane and upwardly mobile black folk, the movers and shakers, the stride makers.” I was reciting Allen’s well-worn hustle, often repeated whenever she showed up anywhere to get her picture taken. I’d skimmed her magazine only once or twice before deciding I wasn’t quite urbane enough for what she was laying down. Ben wasn’t urbane enough, either, or in any way black, but the money was good, and a side gig was a side gig. I broke first, but only because I had a full-day nap planned. “So?”
“Allen thinks some numnuts has a thing for her. The idiot’s been sending her notes filled with not-so-sweet nothings, and now she thinks he might want to cancel her subscription permanently, if you get what I’m saying.” Ben reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it to me. “Flowers, too, and there’ve been some nuisance calls.”
When I unfolded the paper, the words Dear Bitch, scrawled in red, leapt out at me. The rest of the page was filled with vile expletives, thrown in to hammer home the writer’s obvious disquiet.
I refolded the paper and handed it back. It was a copy, not the original. “He’s imaginative.”
Ben shrugged. “He overuses the word fuck, you ask me. A true sign of a limited vocabulary.”
“And Ms. Allen’s upset by the crudeness?”
“I figure she’s been called bitch a few times. Never, I guess, by mail.”
“Just the one?”
“The only one they’d share. Kaye Chandler, her assistant, gatekeeper, whatever you want to call her, made a copy and slipped it to me. Allen ordered her to shred the rest in a show of utter defiance—her words, not mine. Chandler thought I might be able to do something. Convince Allen to take things seriously, if nothing else.”
“Define ‘the rest.’ ”
“More than one, less than a dozen. That’s as close as I could get. All sent over the past couple months. Allen doesn’t want to talk about it, and Chandler doesn’t talk about what Allen doesn’t want to talk about. Long story short, Allen wants to avoid making a big thing out of this, but she wants her ass covered.”
We sat quietly, listening to the leaves rustle overhead.
“She has no idea who’s sending them?”
“She says no, but that doesn’t necessarily mean no. I’ve been a cop a long time. I know when I’m being given the business. And, honestly, it could be just about anybody walking. Allen’s a real barn burner and doesn’t exactly tread lightly.”
Two women jogged by. Ben’s eyes followed them coming and going until they were well out of sight.
“So, you’re going to look into it?” I asked. “Officially?”
“Nope. I’m to stay close. That’s it. Allen has less than politely declined my advice to involve the department, and I sure as hell can’t force her. So, my job is to just stand there, looking big and tough, and hope Mr. Poison Pen runs out of ink and steps off.”
“So where do I fit in?”
Ben pressed his lips to the rim of his cup, found the brew cold, and chucked the liquid over his shoulder onto the grass. The cup, he crushed in a beefy palm as he looked around for a can to toss it in. The can sat next to the water fountain across the way, but it didn’t look like Ben wanted to make a go for that, either. “I’m figuring it might be good to double up on this one.”
“Since when do you need a co-babysitter?”
“I don’t. But you’re a woman, and she’s a woman. You’re black. She’s black. See where I’m going with this? Thought you might be able to get something out of her I can’t.”
I slanted him a look. “Oh, you did, did you?”
“She’s got a lot at stake presently. There’s talk she’s closing in on a deal for her own talk show, and she’s got a memoir coming out next week. There’s going to be some fancy wine-and-cheese things happening, a couple book signings, some talk or other over at the Harold Washington Library. That’s a lot of flesh-pressing, a lot of opportunities for some nut to take a shot. I’m figuring a good look at some high-profile security and he’ll wisely find some other way to get his jollies.”
“What about your day job?”
Ben tossed his crushed cup into the air and caught it. “Three-week furlough started the minute I clocked out this morning.”
I frowned. “Two bodyguards for a few crank letters? Sounds a little heavy handed.”
Ben leaned back and crossed his arms against his wide chest. “Maybe. But who am I to tell the not-so-idle rich how to spend her money?”
I drained my water bottle, but my throat was still dry. I sighed, knowing I was going to have to make a move for the fountain. “You say she’s difficult.”
“Oh, she’s difficult, all right.”
“Bodyguard for a bitchy magazine peddler . . . ,” I muttered. “You run out of cop friends looking for an easy side job?”
“No, but besides the female and black thing, I’d like somebody on this who can’t get busted down for telling Allen where to stick her inserts. That wouldn’t be a problem with you.”
I let a beat pass while I thought it over. “I don’t do big and tough, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“So, you’ll be lean and mean. All she’s looking for is a competent buffer.”
“I’m not mean.”
“You’re opinionated and not the least bit bashful. And cocky as the day is long. Also, a little standoffish.”
I glared at him.
Ben took a long look at my face. “And you’re thorny . . . but sweet on the inside. Like a pineapple. Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate your uniqueness. Just letting you know I see you.”
Thorny? What? “Bottom line her for me.”
“For one thing, she’s as aggressive as a feral pit bull. She likes head games—prying, digging, seeing how much she can get away with. All the while she’s got zero tolerance for the same kind of treatment. You wouldn’t believe the turnover rate in her office.” Ben let out an impressive whistle. “I’d say money seems real important to her—who has it, what she has to yank to get at it—and she does all her wheeling and dealing with the sincerest look of insincerity on her face. It’s bone chilling, really. I can’t completely rule out demonic possession.”
I said, “Might explain the ‘Dear Bitch.’ ”
Ben chuckled. “Might at that.”
We sat enjoying the breeze, watching the joggers, the lake, the trees. No rush. Ben and I’d ridden in a cop car without killing each other; we could certainly share a bench on a slow Sunday morning without it getting awkward.
“This gig sounds like a real pain.”
“Pays five thousand for the week, to start. Open to re-upping, if necessary.” Ben nodded at the bike. “More than enough to buy a pretty pink basket for that rolling investment of yours.” He stared at me and shook his head. “You know you could look a little impressed. You heard me when I said five Gs?”
“I heard.”
You have got to be the only person I know who doesn’t jump at the chance to put five grand away just for standing around.”
“Seems kind of high.”
“Why are you so suspicious? Next time I’m adding suspicious.”
I turned to face him. “Why’s it so high?”
He cleared his throat. “Well, for one thing, there’s her personality, which means she’s not easy to work for, and then there are the constraints.”
“What kind of constraints?”
“You’ll have to sign an NDA and take her secrets to the grave.”
My brows lifted. “Say what?”
“Nothing gets out of the office. From the kind of shoes she wears, who visits her, to who, or what, she may or may not be sleeping with. She’s paying for tight lips, which shouldn’t be a problem for you. Never seen anyone hold on to a confidence as tightly as you. You up for it?”
“A week could be a long time.”
“Oh, it’s going to feel a lot longer than a week. I won’t paint you a rosy picture.”
“You could try.”
“Nope. I’ve got my pride.”
I snapped on my helmet, slipped back into my shoes, eased my fingers back into my gloves, then tucked my towel back in the bag. I reached for Ben’s empty cup and took it with me as I trotted, at last, across the path for water. I ditched the cup in the trash can, filled my bottle, took a long drag, and then trotted back.
“One week,” I said. “And only because it’s you asking. But why do I get the feeling you’re luring me into a viper’s nest?”
Ben glanced up at me, smiled. “Because you’re a suspicious pineapple. Now git along, little dogie. Word of advice? Stop pedaling when you hit the Des Plaines River.”
Vonda Allen held sway from a pricey office suite in the John Hancock building, a sleek, tapered one-hundred-story behemoth sitting smack-dab in the center of the Mag Mile, right next to high-end retail shops that charged forty dollars for a pair of socks and to review-worthy restaurants with too-cool-for-school decor and clientele.
I’d dressed for business in a single-breasted navy suit, the hem of my skirt hitting my leg mid-thigh, a silk tee, nylons, and Italian sling-backs. Ben rose from the couch in Allen’s reception area when I walked in, and if his shirt and pants weren’t a different color, I’d swear he was wearing the same clothes he’d had on yesterday.
My introduction to Allen was scheduled for ten, and I was early. I was always early. I liked getting a feel for a place. I glanced around at the glass and chrome and high-end paintings, breathing in deep, catching a hint of sandalwood mingled with what I could describe only as unmitigated ego. Allen had a reputation for being haughty, and it showed. I had gone back and looked her up after my bench meeting with Ben and had found several interviews where she talked nonstop about her brand, whatever that meant. As I looked around at all the pretentious trappings, it was obvious to me that whatever her brand was, she was as serious as a heart attack about it.
The receptionist was a young black woman with a flat face and a forced smile. After I gave her my name and stated my purpose, she picked up the phone on her desk and called back to announce me, then hung up. “Ms. Chandler will be right with you,” she said before turning back to her computer.
Ben sidled up next to me. “Nice digs, huh?”
“It’s a little much.”
“You should feel the leather on that couch. It’s as smooth as a baby’s butt cheeks.”
I slid him a look. “What’re you doing feeling babies’ butt cheeks?”
He frowned. “Cute. You should really think about putting a couch like that in your office in place of that hobo pullout you’ve got now. Class it up a bit.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my office.”
Ben grinned and then did that Groucho Marx thing with his eyebrows. “You sure about that?”
I turned away from him. He was clowning, and if I didn’t stop it, it would go on indefinitely. The best thing to do was just ignore him until he reined himself in. I eyed the copies of all the glossy magazines fanned out on one of the tables, the faces of Chicago celebrities and political VIPs staring up at me with megawatt smiles. Ben caught me looking.
“The police superintendent’s in that one,” he offered in a stage whisper. “He’s no pretty boy, but he’s photogenic in a plain sort of way. I wouldn’t tell him that to his face, of course. I don’t think he’d take it as a compliment.”
I slid him a look. “Will you knock it off?”
He glanced past me and his smile disappeared. I turned to see what had prompted the shift, and saw a tall black woman rush into the reception area, a woman I assumed was Kaye Chandler, Allen’s right-hand. She moved like she had a purpose, fast, all steam and propulsion, her Louboutins regally kissing the carpet. She headed straight for Ben, zooming right past me.
“Detective Mickerson,” she said.
“Ms. Chandler.” He glanced over at me. “This is Cassandra Raines, the private investigator I recommended.”
She turned to face me and took a moment to check me out. She looked to be in her fifties, dressed neatly in a paisley dress, her dark face well made up, short black hair layered in waves. My first thought was that Allen paid very well, but after taking in Chandler’s dull eyes, pursed lips, and the stern set of her prominent jawline, I had a feeling that despite the flash, I was looking into the face of a woman who hadn’t had a good time in forever and likely spent her days dancing at the end of puppet strings. For that, I decided, whatever Allen paid, it wasn’t nearly enough at all.
“Yes, the private investigator.” The way she said it sounded like she was slightly amused, as though Ben had said I was a kiddie magician or circus juggler. “Follow me. Vonda’s just about ready for you.” She turned to the receptionist. “Pamela, Vonda would like you to hold all calls for twenty minutes. Twenty, not twenty-one or twenty-two.” She didn’t wait for Pamela’s acknowledgment. She’d apparently given the young woman all she felt she needed to know.
Down the hall we went, passing boxlike offices on both sides, each box fronted floor to ceiling by glass. Most of the offices were empty, but not just empty. Vacant. Only a handful of staff occupied the others, men and women sitting glumly at small desks, tapping computer keys or cradling phone receivers between chin and clavicle. As we passed, each of them glanced up to look but then quickly lost interest and went back to what they were doing. None of the offices had privacy drapes or blinds. I felt exposed for them. It was like passing displays in a Museum for the Clinically Morose.
“You’re punctual,” Chandler said as we moved along. “Vonda insists on punctuality.”
I flicked a look at Ben, but he acted like he didn’t see me. “Uh-huh.” I was a little curious about what else Allen insisted upon, but let it go. “Does the staff know what’s been going on?” I asked. It would explain why half the offices were cleared out. Who wanted to work in close proximity to a woman with a target on her back?
“Vonda hasn’t authorized me to make a formal announcement. Besides, it’s Vonda who’s on the receiving end of all this nastiness, not staff.”
I let a beat pass, considered my words carefully. “If there’s a threat, the office, and those in it, could be at risk. They should at least be made aware, so they can be on alert.”
Chandler stopped abruptly, turned, and her eyes held mine. “You’re here for Vonda. She’ll inform the staff when she feels it’s the appropriate time. Security. Protection. That’s what she needs. Detective Mickerson has explained this to you?”
I watched her, mesmerized by the intensity, wondering about its source. “He did. But security doesn’t get at the source of the problem, does it?”
Ben cleared his throat. His signal to me to shut it. “Anything new since last time I was here?”
Chandler’s eyes shifted from mine to Ben’s. “Nothing that needs to concern you.”
Chandler then shot Ben a cold, off-putting look, which Ben returned in kind. He was a cop, not one to shrink under a withering glare. I smiled slightly, watching the face-off, though I had little doubt who’d win it. And, as I suspected, Chandler blinked first. I waited for Ben to follow up with another question or Chandler to volunteer more information. Neither did, so I jumped in.
“So, no more flowers or letters?”
Chandler gave me the same stare she’d just given Ben. It was obviously her go-to move, but she got the same from me as she’d gotten from him. Her sculpted eyebrows flicked upward, but she didn’t answer. Instead, she turned on her heels and walked on. Ben and I shot each other a “What the hell?” look, then quietly followed.
I wondered about the threats, though. Ben had told me Allen and Chandler had thrown evidence of them away, the flowers, the letters, all except the copy Ben had been given on the sneak. It was an opportunity missed. The flowers could have been traced; maybe the letters had had prints on them. Why destroy everything? Chandler was definitely Team Allen, though. Not much evidence of concern, or none at all, for the people around her. That was telling. Maybe it was a disgruntled staffer who was tormenting the boss, or a fan who thought he hadn’t gotten enough attention. Or maybe the heat was coming from someone a little closer to home. As for the flowers, flowers weren’t threatening, unless they were anonymous, unless they kept coming, unless they were unwanted.
The hall opened up into a small oval sitting area, with a large corner office on the far side. A. . .
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
