THE MASTER OF MURDER : The New Town

by James Tayler

  Judy stares into the distance. She has nothing to say. She sits on the cane chair, folding her arms round her crossed legs and resting her chin on the double pommel of her knees. After a while, she asks, sounding tense, almost hostile:

  “And why are you telling me all this?”

  “Why? Because you’re capable of doing quite a lot of things as others are able to solve equations. Your genius lies in physical love and beauty. Surely you don’t want to live out your life without making some mark on the world?” he questioned her.

  “But I’m still young! I’m not about to end my life….”

  “Do you have to wait any longer to even begin to live? Are you just a kid?”

  “So if I take my dress off, that’s helping isn’t it?” she questions him.

  “Listen, do you really believe that it’s important, for me, whether you bare your pubis or keep it covered?.....it depends on your powers of imagination, on your courage. Not on your fidelity to old customs.”

  Judy is serenely contemplating her thin blouse, her nipples pointing out through it. Adam, however, pays no attention, but continues to remind her of her duty as a woman.

  Judy relinquishes her grip on her imprisoned knees. She looks at Adam as she had been looking at him when he was holding the floor earlier.

  “Yes, it’s true…. It all adds up, in its given moment.” Judy declared.

  “Judy, I am not afraid, nor am I ashamed, to wager all the tomorrows of the world on your body!” he pointed out, “So do not fear or cry, Judy, the joy of tomorrow are greeting your carnal reality with outstretched arms.”

  Judy looks at him for a while, as if waiting. Her eyelids move, once or twice; then she closes her eyes and sits there, motionless. After a couple of minutes that seem too long to Adam she sits up straight, and, with slow-motion gestures, lifts herself off the seat. She strolled towards the pool. With a sigh she returned and installed herself at the umbrella table alongside the pool. She folded her arms and gazed blankly wondering if she was fooling herself, or if she really did have a shot at the job.

  She’d been sitting there a few minutes when she heard giggling coming from inside the house. Tina was at the sliding-glass door to the sun-room. The housekeeper was standing behind her. Jean gave the girl a little nudge. Seeming to find her courage, the child started out into the yard. As she neared, Judy knew instinctively what Tina was feeling….after all, meeting a strange adult could be every bit trying for her as a job interview was for Judy.

  Judy had always loved children, though she hadn’t been around them much. When she was, there was a natural affinity. Some people attracted cats, some attracted children. Judy seemed to attract both.

  Tina then shyly slipped her hand into Judy’s seeming to relish the connection between them. There was an honesty and innocence in the gesture that was touching.

  “Do you like papa?” Tina abruptly asked.

  Judy laughed. “Why, yes, he’s a very nice man.”

  “Lots of ladies like him.” The little one said.

  “I’m sure they do.” Judy stroked the child’s head, and pulled her closer, gently tickling her ear. Tina inched a bit closer. She seemed to like the affection. “Can I sit on your lap?”

  Judy was surprised at how quickly Tina had warmed up to her. “Sure.”

  In just a moment Tina was perched on her lap, looking quite content. “Jean says you’re very pretty,” she said.

  “That‘s very nice of her.”

  “I think you are, too.”

  “Thank you Tina. I think you’re pretty, also. And you have the nicest cheeks.” She said, giving one of them a pinch.

  The interview wasn’t going at all the way she’d planned. She’d pegged him right, though. He was a typical actor….full of charm and guile, and with an ego the size of the Grand Canyon, she wondered if maybe she’d been overly confident.

  “Judy,” he said, “there’s something about your expression that tells me you’re not pleased with me.”

  She handed him back his sunglasses. “Is it that obvious?”

  “I get the impression you don’t approve of me at all….which is okay, of course. Everybody’s entitled to his or her opinion. But I’m curious why.”

  “It’s nothing personal, perhaps it’s your reputation as the millionaire bad boy.”

  “Then it’s true.”

  She gave him her most professional smile. “Well, I’m not into ….movie games. Let’s put it that way.”

  “You’re direct, Judy. I’ll give you that.”

  “Is this relevant?” she asked.

  “I always look at the whole person, I’ve put you off long enough, Judy. You wanted to make a pitch for the job, so go ahead.” He told her.

  Judy gulped, not having expected her moment in the spotlight to arrive so abruptly. “Maybe this isn’t a conversation for mixed company,” she said, indicating Tina with a nod of her head.

  “You’re right. Let’s stroll around the garden, shall we?”

  They got up, Adam patted Tina’s head. “Judy and I are going to walk around the garden, angel. You finish your juice and go to Jean, okay?”

  Adam took Judy’s arm, resting his hand in the crook of it as though they were close friends. She noticed how smooth and bronzed his hand was. The thing to do was ignore it, she decided. When they were beyond hearing range, he stopped and faced her. His hands went round her waist. It was now or never.

  Their bodies moved close to each other. Adam’s senses encouraged him to caress her rounded breasts and plant his lips on hers. He managed to chew her rosy lips and make her cry out, with both pleasure and pain. She felt his manly erection pressing hard between her thighs.

  All of a sudden, Judy experiences a crazy urge to give herself to him. “I’ll do it, and I’ll do it tonight, God help me.” She vows silently. She feels a slight wetness between her thighs. And before she can arrest the impulse, she leans toward Adam and whispers into his ears, caressingly:

  “Not here, and not now, Clint, maybe tonight that is if I do land the job.” She said, gently withdrawing herself from his firm grip.

  “I assume,” she began, “that what you had in mind for this job is hiring a gorilla to protect Tina….someone big and intimidating.”

  “It amounts to that, I suppose.” He said.

  Judy began walking again, making him follow her this time. “What’s this guy like, the one you’d decided to hire before I came along?”

  Adam smiled, admiring her guts. She was hitting the problem head-on, which showed courage. “He is a guy with a track record as long as your arm, he’s physically intimidating without being a dummy, and I’ve dealt with him before. I trust him.”

  “The last point, I can’t change,” Judy admitted. “I’ll simply have to depend on your ability to see I’m no less trustworthy.”

  The notion intrigued him. “You’ve got a point.” He replied mildly. “The real question is whether Tina will be safe.”

  “Granted.”

  “Assume for a minute I know how to use the pistol I carry in my purse, and that I’m as good in martial arts as my rating attests….” Judy took a deep breath before she spoke. “Before I came here, I was briefed that there was a woman breathing down your neck, getting this woman off the street will be my first priority.”

  “That’s the job of the police,” he said, puzzled by the drift of the conversation. “But it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a tough and competent man at the point of attack, the guy I have in mind is a professional bodyguard.”

  “Well, I’m both. And I’d like to play an offensive role, as well as providing Tina’s security. I’d like to see that this woman, whoever she is, is eliminated.”

  Adam was certainly taken by her enthusiasm and determination. Yet he had trouble choosing between the detective and the beautiful woman standing before him. Her effect was electric.

  “You’re not what you appear, are you?” he asked, his gaze drifting to her mouth. “You know something, I
certainly appreciate those who are pleasant and avoid garlic and onions before they make love.”

  Judy put her hands on her hips, “I’ll tell you what, you give me the job and I won’t eat garlic and onions while I’m in your house. How’s that?”

  Adam rubbed his chin. “You certainly drive a tough bargain. I admit I’m impressed with your ideas.”

  She could hardly contain herself. “You mean I have the job?” she questioned him.

  “I’ll offer you temporary employment until we see how things work out. Let’s call it probation. If you prove satisfactory, we’ll make it long term. Let’s say three thousand dollars for three days. That ought to give you a chance to show me what you’ve got. Will that be agreeable?”

  Judy extended her hand toward him. “It’s a deal.”

  Adam was observing her silently. Judy felt herself being drawn to him, though she resisted. It seemed for a moment he might even kiss her again. Then a wave of panic struck. She turned from him abruptly and started toward the house.

  “Hey, Judy, where are you going?”

  “Home to get my suitcase,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Your suitcase?”

  “Yes, you don’t expect me to wear this dress for three days, do you?”

  A promise is a Promise.

  Judy’s mother was ecstatic when Judy told her the news. “Honey, he wants you!”

  “For three days, anyway.”

  She took her daughter by the shoulders and smiled happily into the blazing eyes that were the shade of her own. “I couldn’t be more pleased for you, Judy.”

  “Mom, it’s a job, not a marriage proposal.” She told her mom.

  Judy’s mother didn’t pay any attention. She blinked back the moisture in her eyes. “When I heard Clint Adam….the Clint Adam….was looking for someone like you, and that you would actually be living with him,” she said dreamily. “I regretted everything nasty I’d ever said to you about him and his movie business.”

  “Mom, I’m a personal aid. Anyway, I won’t be living with him. I’ll be staying in his house to be near his daughter. It’s not the same.”

  Judy’s mother smoothed her blond-going white hair with a graceful hand. Despite her rigors of age, she had managed to maintain much of her once youthful charm.

  “Darling,” she chided, “Don’t be naïve. You know perfectly well what he has in mind. He is a man, isn’t he and a bit of a bad boy, so be careful.”

  “Mother!”

  “Well, isn’t he?”

  Judy glared meaningfully. But deep inside she knew that she was right. She recalled the promise she had made to Clint Adam, and wondered how she was going to keep the promise. “That’s not the point. It’s what I have in mind that counts. This is a job. And that’s it.”

  Judy’s mother gave her a stern look and went to the sofa. She patted the cushion next to her, gesturing for Judy to join her. “I’m not suggesting anything unsavory, for heaven’s sake,” she said when Judy eased down onto the sofa next to her. “But it’s an opportunity, and you should regard it that way.”

  Judy gave her mother a sidelong glance. “An opportunity for what?”

  Her mom sighed the sigh of a mother. “Honey,” she replied with what was obviously the most patience she could muster, “the man is a millionaire and a famous movie star, apart from being a playboy. You’re a gorgeous girl. He must be knowing a million influential people….people who could help you.”

  It had always been hard for Judy to tell what her mother wanted most for her….a husband, or a career in the movies. Sometimes she thought her mom had mixed the two notions into the same glittery dream. She figured her mother probably wanted for her to be a star married to a star.

  “Mom, I’m not an actress. And if I wanted to be discovered, I’d go to a studio and pose naked. Don’t you see that your dreams are out of date?”

  Her mother’s lips trembled. It was the same old argument. She made sure Judy saw the tears filling her eyes. “If you knew how many young women would spread their thighs to….”

  “Mother, Clint Adam could offer me the entire movie world and I wouldn’t take it. I’m only interested in one thing….protecting his daughter and getting my job on track. If this case didn’t involve a little girl, and if I wasn’t flat broke, I wouldn’t even have taken the job.”

  Her mother pointedly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Will you at least keep an open mind?”

  “Mom, you’ve let yourself get carried away. The fact that I’m going to be spending a few days with Clint Adam doesn’t mean I want to change my career plans.”

  Judy’s mom turned away, stifling her response, holding her fingers against her rosy lips. “I suppose I’m interfering in your life.”

  “Don’t be silly, Mom. You have saved my butt a number of times, If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity and I’d be out in the street, besides.” She touched her mother’s cheek. “Please, Mom, accept the fact that I do what I do.”

  Judy’s mother tried to smile at her, blinking back the tears. “Did he think you were pretty?”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. We didn’t really talk about it.” She lied, she wasn’t about to give her mother any false hope.

  “I’ll be making good money, Mom,” she said. “That ought to please you. If the next few days go well, I could be at this for a while. If so, I’ll be back on my feet and out of your hair.”

  Judy peered over her mother’s shoulder. “I think my car may have packed up. The motor was sounding funny on the way over here. Maybe I’d better take a taxi to Adam’s. I’ll call the garage tomorrow and have them come and pick it up.”

  She opened her purse and pulled out her wallet, finding only a five and a few ones. “I hate to ask, Mom, but could you spare me forty bucks or so until I get paid?”

  The forty dollars barely covered the taxi fare. Judy paid the driver took her suitcase and went to Clint Adam’s gate. When she’d left, she’d got the entry code to the security gate from Jean, so she was able to get into the grounds without buzzing the house.

  The sun was dropping low in the sky as Judy climbed the steps to the front door. Before she could ring the bell, the door opened. Jean appeared.

  “It’s you, ma’am. I wondered when you were coming back. Why you walking around the yard, anyhow?”

  “I was studying the security of the grounds.”

  Jean stepped out and took the case from Judy’s hand. “Come. I will show you the room. Dinner is in an hour. Mr. Adam, he said he will see you then.”

  Jean watched Judy with obvious satisfaction for a moment, then said, “Let me tell you something. Personally, I am glad you have come to the house. I worry about the little one since this crazy woman, she almost killed us.”

  “She won’t be troubling you again, Jean. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

  “But to tell you the truth, ma’am I worry for Mr. Adam as much as for the little one. He is very worried and not himself since this happened to the little one.”

  Instinctively Judy reached out and touched the woman’s arm. “That’s why I’m here now, Jean….to put his mind at ease.”

  The housekeeper shook her head. “It’s hard to believe someone so pretty could scare away the bad one.” She smiled devilishly. “Maybe Mr. Adam, he likes you for other reasons than because you a a personal aid. What do you think?”

  Judy shook her head. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”

  “Mr. Adam, he is a very nice man. He has the sex appeal, you know what I mean? And I don’t have to tell you how handsome he is. Any woman can see this for herself, no?”

  Judy nodded. “That’s the trouble with that type, though; they are very free with women. How can a man be normal when he leads this life?”

  After Jean had gone, Judy stood by the bed for a long time, wondering if she had been given some tremendous insight, or if her already confused state of mind had been mixed up even more.

  I
t had been a long, hot day so she decided to take a dip in the pool and change before dinner. Maybe she would do a couple of sprints and see if she was in trim form with her swimming.

  She changed into a revealing skimpy bikini and walked down to the pool with a large bath towel in hand. First she dived into the pool for a leisurely soak. As she hit the water it was really a luxury.

  Hearing the faint splash of water at the pool Adam strolled down to investigate as to who was swimming at such a late hour. There was delight on Adam’s face when he noticed Judy’s luxuriant body in the pool moving with grace like a swan. He stared at her. Neither he nor Judy said anything for a moment.

  “Good evening,” Judy managed, suddenly raising her head above the water, uncomfortable under his scrutiny. Adam moved toward her. There was intensity in his eyes that seemed to indicate appreciation.

  “You really are a graceful swimmer, I can now truthfully believe that you are talented in whatever things you mentioned to me earlier.” He said.

  “Since you were so very keen on seeing me swim in bikini why don’t you change and join me in the water?” Judy invited him.

  There was a slight hesitation on the part of Adam; Judy couldn’t be absolutely sure what he was thinking. There was something unnerving about his gaze and the way his expressive mouth seemed to be signaling a secret thought.

  Adam crosses his arms, in a display of patience. She knows what he is waiting for. He shrugs, looking obstinate, and examines her naked thighs: naked up to the groin, where the edge of her bikini draws a red line across the skin. To expose herself beyond that line is incompatible with dignity.

  Judy looked at him quizzically:

  “What I’m waiting to see,” he said, “is whether the dream of heaven is going to lead a daughter of man to damnation, or if the love of the real is going to win a soul, here and now.”

  Judy can’t help giggling. Still, her heart is heavy.

  The water in the pool looked inviting. Gently lit by the poolside lights and the reflected moonlight. Adam tried it with his hand, found it lukewarm. He turned his head toward the girl, a question in his eyes. The answer was an encouraging smile.