AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ten o’clock came, and they still hadn’t returned. Ready to climb the walls, he called Mike and Gif. “They’re still out, but I thought I’d go ahead and report the day’s events.”
He started by relating the breakfast table conversation and concluded by saying, “Jasper’s nursing suspicion of me, but hasn’t come after me with a hatchet.”
“Ye
t,” Mike said.
Drex asked if there had been anything out of Rudkowski. Not a peep.
“Which is a good thing,” Gif said.
“Or not,” Mike intoned. “If we’d heard rumblings, at least we’d know what he was up to.”
Drex agreed. “It’ll be eating at him that I inquired about Marian Harris, and then left for a two-week vacation to an unknown destination. He’ll be looking for me. I’m on borrowed time here.”
He cited the little he had to show for the time he’d already spent in residence and, pursuant to that, finally worked his way around to telling them about Talia’s visit. “She just appeared, took me completely off-guard.”
He told them about scrambling to close his laptop before she could see what was on the screen, making himself decent, and ensuring that his pistol, ID, and night vision binoculars were out of sight. “Fortunately I’d already put away the surveillance equipment.”
Mike gave a grunt. “She came uninvited?”
“Like I said. She was hand-delivering a list of good local restaurants. I had hoped to get a sampling of Jasper’s handwriting. Instead, Talia brought over a typewritten list she had compiled. At his request.”
“How long did she stay?”
“Hmm, ten, twelve minutes.” At least twice that long.
“What all did you talk about?” Gif asked.
“She asked to read my manuscript. I told her no way in hell. Words to that effect. Then she started in on me, asking about my past. I turned the tables on her and asked why she should care.”
“Why should she care?” Mike asked.
“She’s afraid her friend will develop a crush on me.”
“Her friend Elaine?”
“Yeah. Talia was mother-henning. I set her straight on why I asked Elaine to dinner.” He gave them the basic info, skimmed over the details.
He skimmed over a lot. He didn’t describe to them Talia’s old, holey jeans and how perfectly they fit her well-defined buns. Did they really need to know what her high, round B-cups did for a plain white t-shirt? He didn’t mention the beer. For sure as hell he didn’t tell them about lifting the speck of chocolate off her face with his thumb and wishing he could have licked it off and then stayed to tease the corner of her lips until they parted for him.
Because he didn’t go into any of that, he couldn’t account for the solemn silence that ensued when he finished. “Guys? Have you nodded off?”
Mike asked, “You at your computer?”
“No. In the bedroom.”
“I just sent you an email. Call us back after you’ve looked at it.”
He disconnected before Drex could say anything more.
He rolled up and off the bed, went into the main room, and opened his laptop. The subject line of Mike’s email was empty, nor was there any content in the body of it. It had an attachment.
Drex opened it, and his heart blipped with excitement when the photograph taken aboard Marian Harris’s yacht came up full screen. The boys in Bombay were geniuses and worth every penny they charged. The picture had been clarified and enhanced, and the quality was far better than Drex could have hoped for.
He zoomed in on the figure of the man he suspected was Jasper Ford. “Damn!” He’d hoped for a voilá!, for an unmistakable image of the man living next door.
But the improved color density had sharpened the contrast between the brilliant sunset and the male figure silhouetted against it. His features remained dark and indiscernible. His hair wasn’t a sleek ponytail, but a wreath of frizzy curls. The nose in profile? It could possibly be Jasper’s, but Drex couldn’t swear to it, and, besides, he could have had rhinoplasty. Even a slight alteration could make a significant difference in his appearance.
