Seams of Destruction

by Alene Anderson

  “That’s so sad. No wonder you looked the way you did when I told you about David.”

  “But the saddest part of all was the way Chase reacted to finding Lisa with another man. It was like he had developed a death wish. He took risks in direct opposition to the commands we were given. We were into our sixth month of the tour. We had three months to go. Four of us were carrying out a mission behind enemy lines. Remember that picture you saw of me at the house?”

  She nodded.

  “Chase took that right before we went on that mission.”

  “I love that picture,” she said.

  He stared at her for a moment, as though he wanted to ask her a question, and then continued, “Our instructions were to locate a building where some members of the Taliban were rumored to be hiding out. We had orders to capture them. Before we could stop him, Chase ran toward the building. As soon as he stepped inside, the building exploded. I never saw Chase again.”

  Jade gave what sounded like a sob and covered her mouth with her hand. Mitch looked at her and saw her beautiful green eyes shimmering with tears. He picked up his cup and drank the last of the coffee.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said, waving at their waiter.

  After their dinner had been paid for with a credit card funded by Sorrento’s, Mitch stood and waited for the model to precede him out of the restaurant. As they strolled down the street, Mitch was startled when he felt Jade’s hand slip into one of his.

  “I’m sorry about your friend,” she whispered, as he looked down at her.

  “I am, too,” he said, squeezing her hand. “After that happened, I decided I had enough of war and when the opportunity came to be discharged, I took it.”

  They walked along in silence. Mitch felt strangely comforted by Jade’s warm hand. More at peace than at any time since the death of his friend.

  As they strolled along the busy street of Via della Spiga, back to their hotel, Jade stopped numerous times to look at the fashions displayed in the windows they passed.

  “You love clothes, don’t you?” Mitch asked as she pulled him over to a window to point out a pair of shoes.

  She smiled. “How can you tell?”

  “The way your face lit up when you looked at those dresses in that last window.”

  “It’s early yet. Let’s walk over to the cathedral,” she said, pointing to a building with several spires reaching toward the sky.

  Mitch was happy to prolong their walk. Jade’s warm hand was still holding his.

  Did their clasped hands mean anything to her, he wondered. Once again he reminded himself he shouldn’t get involved with Jade. There was no future in it. At the first opportunity, he let go of her hand.

  They walked across the plaza making their way through the throngs of people who were laughing and chatting while they took pictures of the magnificent cathedral.

  “It’s such a lovely evening, I hate to go back to the hotel,” Jade said. “But we should make it an early night so we can get up in the morning for our run. You’ll love it. The streets will be practically deserted.”

  “Maybe we can stop for breakfast while we’re out,” Mitch suggested.

  Jade smiled up at the tall man beside her. “How can you think about eating after that big dinner you just had?”

  He smiled back, knowing there was no need to respond.

  “A couple days after the first fashion show, there’s going to be a shoot here on the plaza,” she said.

  He raised questioning eyebrows. “Shoot? Should I bring my gun?”

  “No, silly. It’s a photo shoot. I’ve been chosen to model one of the outfits from Sorrento’s. A photographer will be there to photograph me. The photos will appear in Vogue. It will be good advertising for us.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  “I think you’ll enjoy it.”

  “I’m sure I will. I think I’m starting to get into this fashion thing.”

  “Mitch, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

  He turned to her, a questioning look on his face.

  “One of the models has a problem and I would like to help her. Since you will need to be there, I wanted to tell you beforehand.”

  “You certainly don’t need my permission, but I would like to hear about it.”

  “She contacted me before I was arrested and I told her I would help her when we met here in Milan. It involves money.”

  “How much?”

  “A few thousand. I can afford it.”

  “Do you trust her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why does she need it?” Mitch asked, concerned the other model might be trying to scam her.

  “Her boyfriend cleaned out her bank account and took off. Now the bank is threatening to foreclose on her apartment. She lives in New York City. We went to Barbizon’s together. I did talk to her bank and confirmed her story.”

  “Can I make a suggestion?”

  “Of course.”

  “Instead of giving the money directly to her, would you mind having it wired into her bank and applied directly to her mortgage?”

  “Good idea. That way I won’t have to worry something will happen to the money before she can use it.”

  “I’m assuming since her boyfriend was able to clear out her bank account, his name was on it.”

  “Obviously, but I’ve already told her, she should close out that account and open a new one in her name only.”

  “Has she done that yet?”

  “I hope so. I will check when we meet with her.”

  They had reached their hotel and as they ascended in the elevator to the floor where their suite was located, Jade said, “You are much nicer than I thought you were at first.”

  “Funny, I was just thinking the same about you,” he teased.

  He unlocked the door to their suite and stepped back to let her in. A red light was flashing on their phone signifying there was a message.

  “That has to be for you,” Mitch said. “The only person who would call me here is the Chief and he would call on my cell phone.”

  Jade walked to the phone and picking up the receiver, she dialed into the message center.

  “That was April, the model I told you about, wanting to know when we can meet,” she said as she hung up the receiver.

  “That’s up to you.”

  “How about we have her meet us here in the morning after our run?”

  “If you’re going to call her, don’t forget to give us time for both our run and breakfast.”

  She pulled a face and picking up the receiver, she dialed a room in the hotel. She talked for a few minutes and set up a time to meet.

  “It’s absolutely no problem,” Jade told the girl on the other end of the line. “We’ll see you tomorrow and get this all taken care of.”

  Turning from the phone, she said, “I’m calling it a night. We’re going to have an early wakeup call in the morning and I need to get to bed. It’s hard for me to function on less than eight hours of sleep. April can’t see us until after the fashion show tomorrow.”

  As she left the room, Mitch couldn’t help but think what a kind person she was. To take her own money to help a friend. There weren’t many people like that. Now he had one more thing to e-mail Matt about.

  He set up his laptop, turned it on and waited for it to boot up. When it was finished, he punched into his e-mail account. There was nothing from Matt. He wasn’t surprised because if he was still undercover, he wouldn’t always have access to a computer. The last time he had heard from him, he said he was using a computer in the public library.

  He thought he would write his brother an e-mail and bring him up to date. More than ever, he was convinced that Jade could
n’t have killed Reannan. But how was he going to prove it?

  Chapter 5

  Jade had been right about few people being on the streets early in the morning. After their run, they stopped at a restaurant that was open and had breakfast. They didn’t linger over their meal since Jade had to get back to the hotel and get ready for the fashion show.

  When they arrived at the building where the show was to be held, Mitch was surprised at the models’ appearance when they came in. Most of them wore old clothes and had their hair pulled back in a ponytail. They didn’t look at all like models.

  More like a girl dressed to do her weekly laundry. Someone was going to have to work a miracle if they were going to put on a fashion show. He chuckled to himself.

  He was sitting in a chair watching Jade do her hair and makeup. The other models were surprised to see a man in what they considered their domain and asked Jade about him.

  Before she could answer, Mitch said, “Jade has had a stalker and Sorrento’s have hired me to make sure she is safe at all times. I have been ordered to stick with her every minute so that means,” he added with a grin. “I get to watch you girls dress for the show.”

  The models laughed and made various comments like, “How awful,” “That would be so scary,” “How long has this be going on?”

  Under cover of the chatter of the models, Jade leaned over and said in a low voice, “It’s your story, you answer the questions.”

  The models soon lost interest in Jade’s stalker although several of them gave Mitch admiring glances. It didn’t appear to bother them that Mitch was seeing them in a state of undress as they put on the clothes they would be modeling. He had to admit to himself that he had never seen so many beautiful bodies in his life.

  If Mitch had thought Jade was beautiful before, he was blown away when he saw her as she walked out on the runway. He was able to stand behind a heavy curtain and watch as the models presented the fashions to the audience. The model’s name and the fashion house they were modeling for were called out. Paris for Versace, Diana for Chanel, April for Gucci, Angeline for Luxottica, Cecelia for Yves Saint Laurent, etcetera.

  When it was her turn to walk out on the runway, the Fashion Coordinator announced, “Jade, from the House of Sorrento.” He knew this meant she modeled exclusively for them, not for any of the other fashion houses as some of models did.

  Jade walked out in a black and white checked dress. One side of the dress was dropped down to expose a bare shoulder. The waist was caught in by a black belt with small white polka dots and a white wide-brimmed hat resembling a cowboy hat sat on top of her head. Her long hair was bound into a red turban with white polka dots underneath the hat. Dark sunglasses hid her striking green eyes from view. A long gold chain made of numerous small circles fell to her waist and three black bracelets hung loosely on her right wrist. Carmel-colored boots gave a dramatic flair to the outfit.

  Mitch could tell she was one of the favorite models because the crowd began to clap the minute she appeared. He felt warm all over as she began the walk down the runway. He knew he was falling for Jade.

  What was he going to do if she was guilty of murder?

  “Why did you tell that story about the stalker?” Jade asked Mitch as they walked back into their hotel suite after the fashion show.

  “Would you rather I told them the real reason? That you are a suspect in a murder case in LA and I am a cop who is here to make sure you don’t disappear.”

  “No,” she said, “you’re right, but where did you ever come up with that story about a stalker?”

  “Off the top of my head.” He grinned.

  Jade admitted to herself she was happy to have him in Italy with her. She liked the way he seemed to always be looking out for her, even though she knew he was there to guard her. She had never had that feeling with David, the feeling he was taking care of her. Maybe it was because they had known each other for so long and she had spent a lot of time away from him in recent years.

  She had always hoped that someday a man would want to take care of her. She was tired of being on her own. She knew this feeling had a name for it. Cinderella Syndrome. But she had felt that way for as long as she could remember. She accepted it as one of her character flaws and knew she wouldn’t bother to try and change it. At one time she had hoped David would be that man. But now she knew that was never going to happen. She thought about Mitch. No one had ever made her feel the way he did. She tried to think of the right word and could only come up with one. Cherished.

  She found it hard to believe that after feeling for so many years that David was the man she was going to marry, she was now beginning to hope it would be Mitch. She wanted so much to be proven innocent of the murder of Reannan so she could get on with her life. If for any reason she was convicted of the murder, she knew she would have lost all chance of ever being with Mitch.

  She no longer minded being handcuffed when he was out of sight. She had gotten used to it and she admired him for his principles in doing as he had been instructed by the Chief of Police in LA, even though his boss would never know, one way or the other.

  She went into the bathroom to shower in order to shampoo the holding spray out of her hair and wash off the remainder of the makeup she hadn’t removed after the fashion show.

  April would be arriving soon and she was glad she had told Mitch about the money she was going to loan the other model. She was grateful he hadn’t tried to talk her out of it, only made the suggestion that she wire it directly to the mortgage department at the bank in New York City.

  After getting out of the shower, she blew her long hair dry and let it hang loose. Dressed in a green top with a pair of white slacks, she walked out into the sitting room where Mitch was reading a newspaper.

  “You certainly look different,” he said, smiling at her.

  “Which look do you like the best?” she asked, knowing she wanted him to say her everyday appearance was his favorite.

  “I have to admit, you were very beautiful on the runway today but you also looked untouchable.”

  “Did you want to touch me?” she asked in a teasing voice.

  Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door and Jade knew it was April. Mitch went to the door and when he opened it, the model seemed surprised to see him. He motioned for her to come in.

  “Sit down,” Jade told her. “I’ve already told Mitch about our meeting today, so you don’t need to be afraid to talk in front of him.”

  April unfolded a piece of paper which she had been holding in one hand. “Here’s a current statement of my mortgage and what it will take to get me current.”

  “Sit down while I look at this,” Jade said.

  Not averse to having Mitch look at it with her, she held it out to him and perched on the arm of his chair while they looked at it together. The amount was close to what Jade had told Mitch earlier.

  “Here’s what I’m going to do,” Jade told April. “I’ll have my bank wire the amount you are delinquent into your bank with instructions to have it applied directly to your mortgage.”

  “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” April said. “I will pay you back but I’m not sure how long it will take me. I have some other bills I need to pay. I should never have put my boyfriend’s name on my bank account, but I didn’t dream he would do something like this. When I was traveling, it was convenient to have him pay the bills that came due when I was out of town.”

  “I hope you have taken his name off your account,” Jade said.

  “Actually, I have opened a whole new one.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “I’ll take care of this as soon as the time difference allows,” Jade told April as she walked her to the door.

  “What you’re doing is very kind,” Mitch said, as he picked the newspa
per back up.

  “I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want her to feel like a charity case, but it’s all right if she doesn’t pay me back.”

  “She’ll respect you more if you let her.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  She took the statement April had given her and set it by the telephone. She calculated the time change and made a mental note of the hour she should call her bank in LA.

  “What’s so interesting in the Wall Street Journal?” she asked Mitch. She wanted him to forget about the newspaper and talk to her.

  “Just checking on some of my stocks.”

  “I know you’re usually the one asking this question, but when are we going to eat?” she asked. She felt restless and wanted to get out of the hotel.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes. I always feel ravenous after a fashion show. I think it’s because I lose my appetite when I know I’m going out on the catwalk. I’ve never entirely lost my nervousness when I do a show. After it’s over, I’m famished.”

  “You certainly didn’t act nervous. In fact, you were incredible. The audience loved you.”

  “I have had to deal with my nerves since the very first fashion show I participated in.”

  Mitch smiled in sympathy. “Where would you like to eat dinner?”

  “Let’s try a new restaurant and we can plan our trip to Venice. We’ll leave in the morning and we’ll have two whole days for me to show you around.”

  “Have you ever taken David there?”

  “No, he’s never even been to Italy. I’ve invited him but he said he didn’t care to fly out of the country.”