by Simon Wood
sure how lions lived in their natural surroundings, but he was sure they didn’t live within twenty feet of where they shit. The lion dropped to the ground by its mate.
“There’s no place like home, eh, Toto?” he murmured.
The crowd to Josh’s right parted right on cue and Bell came through the gap they created for her. She caught Josh’s eye, smiled seductively, walked over and stopped in front of him.
She was the same sexy Asian woman he’d had an affair with nearly two years before. She was a small
woman, only a little more than five feet, with a delicate frame that looked as if she’d break if he held her too tightly. Her skin, the color of coffee with too much cream, was all too abundantly on show. Dressed for a warm spring day, she wore a khaki skirt that stopped three inches above the knee, more provocative than if she wore no skirt at all. The white tank top with spaghetti straps covered a minimal bra for her small breasts. She had the most provocative features he’d ever seen. Her almond shaped face had full lips, dark, knowing eyes and unusually curved eyebrows that always seemed to hint that she knew something he didn’t. Although he detested her, he still couldn’t help but drink her in.
“You look like a lost little boy, sitting there all on your own. Cheer up, things could be worse.”
He stared up at her. “How?”
Bell sat down next to him on a bench donated by a local resident. She flicked her long hair with the back of her hand and the raven strands tumbled over her shoulder obediently. She stretched out an arm along the bench behind Josh.
Without looking at him, she said, “You could be at home explaining what you did all those years ago to your wife. Couldn’t you, hmmm?”
Josh felt Bell’s arm snake around his shoulders. Her touch repelled him, although it once would have made him instantly hard. He uncurled her arm, placing it on her lap.
“Don’t you like that?”
Josh shot her a disapproving look. “I thought you were here to conduct some business.”
“Oh, Josh. It doesn’t have to be all business. I know you’ve got my money, but I thought we could socialize for awhile.”
“I don’t feel like socializing.”
“But I haven’t seen you in such a long time. You look good. I see you’re still in shape. You’re one of the few men I know who has the butt to pull off a pair of jeans,” she said.
Josh steered the discussion back on track. “Bell, why have you come back?”
“I’m a Sacramento girl born and bred. I don’t see why I should be away from my home, my friends…
my lover.” She flashed Josh a coy smile.
Did she honestly think they would pick up where
they left off after what she had done? “We’re not getting back together. Are you crazy?”
Bell seemed unaffected by the accusation. “You never can tell.”
“Why did we have to come here? It’s too public.”
She looked away and briefly surveyed the zoo, its animals and its patrons. Without looking at Josh she
spoke seriously, a side of her Josh rarely saw. “It’s strange. I’ve been away less than two years and I have yearnings for the weirdest things. I don’t know why, but it’s the little things you miss. This is one of them. I haven’t been to this zoo since I was a kid and a lot’s changed since then. I’m not even a big zoo fan, but when I came back to Sac, the memories flooded back and I just had to come. Do you like zoos?”
Josh wasn’t sure whether to believe what Bell was saying.
She never seemed that sentimental before, but maybe San Diego hadn’t been kind to her. “Not particularly.”
Bell snapped out of her reverie and returned to her normal self. “Well, do you have my money?”
Josh removed the envelope from underneath his
denim shirt. He placed the envelope on the bench between the two of them, letting his hand rest on it. As he went to ease his hand back, Bell placed her hand on the back of it and applied pressure to keep it in place for a moment. Josh yanked his hand out from under hers.
The transaction looked more conspicuous than if Josh had just given her the five thousand straight from his wallet. Bell laughed and threw her head back. She picked up the envelope and slipped it into her purse.
People meandered past without noticing the transaction.
Unable to comprehend their behavior, the lion
watched with keen interest the activities of the two people on the bench.
“Josh, you’re so easy.”
Her sense of humor didn’t impress him. “Does this money mean you’ll keep out of my life here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Jesus, Bell, I can’t have that. I can’t live not knowing when you’re going to pop up next.” Josh felt his
cool slip from his grasp.
“I’m sorry. That’s the price you have to pay for being a criminal. If you’d been a good man, a faithful man, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” Bell’s expression hardened into a sneer. “So you’d better get used to it.”
“But every criminal eventually pays his debt to society,”
he said.
“Yeah, but some crimes warrant the death penalty.”
Josh said nothing. She had him. He was cornered
just like the animals. He couldn’t live like this. His only way out Was to confess and take his chances. He would only tie himself in frustrated knots waiting for Bell to issue another demand. He would tell Kate about the kickback and the affair and hope to God she would forgive him. It wasn’t an enviable choice, but perhaps necessary.
“It won’t be that easy to get rid of me, Josh.”
“You wouldn’t have much hold over me if I told Kate.”
She looked at him with a crooked smile, amused by his attempt at trying to get the upper hand. “Do you think Kate would understand what you did? Besides, even if you did, I’ve still got you for the bribe. I’m sure that your employers, the police and the people living in that apartment complex would be most interested in your part in its dubious construction.”
Josh looked around furtively, checking that someone hadn’t overheard them.
“Don’t worry, Josh. No one here cares about you
and your sordid past,” she reassured.
“So what will it take to get rid of you?”
She paused for a moment. “A lifetime of watching
you squirm because of what you did to me.”
He saw the hatred ablaze in her eyes. “What did I do to make you hate me that much?”
“You dumped me. You had your fun. You came to
me when you had problems at home. You promised
you’d leave her for me, but you chickened out when things got all lovey-dovey again. You shit on me, Josh.”
A woman with her preschool age child walked past
Josh and Bell. Offended by the foul language, she grabbed her daughter’s hand and sped past. She muttered her disgust as she went.
Bell embarrassed him, but she ignored the woman.
“I don’t regret breaking up with you. It was wrong to cheat on Kate. I regret the affair. I betrayed my family and I was wrong.”
“What about me?” she demanded.
“What I did to you was wrong. I never should have gotten involved with you and I apologize to you, right now. I’m sorry.”
“And you think that’s enough?”
“I want it to be enough. I want to be left alone. I don’t care about the money. I don’t want to see you prosecuted for blackmail. I just want peace in my life.”
“I’m not sure that I can grant you that.” Bell stood up. “We all have wants, but we rarely get them.”
Still seated, Josh grabbed her wrist. “This can’t continue.
You know that.”
“I know.” Her smile weakened and she looked away.
He let go of her wrist. Bell walked toward the exit.
He watched the bustling crowd moving from one habitat to another
swallow her up.
The professional was perfectly camouflaged amongst the tourists. His target hadn’t spotted him in the crowd. He was good at just fitting in, disappearing amidst the masses. And he doubted anyone in the zoo would remember him by the time they got home. Not even that guy with his two brats in tow who walked right into him at the jaguar enclosure while he watched his target take a seat on the bench. The family man had looked stunned and apologized profusely, swearing blind he hadn’t seen the professional. The hit man took the remark as a compliment.
He watched from no more than twenty feet away,
but found it difficult to listen with all those damned kids whooping like monkeys.
The trip to the zoo had puzzled him. His target had left the house, visited a drugstore, gone to the bank, then come to the zoo. Why hadn’t he brought his
daughter? What good father didn’t bring his daughter to the zoo? But a short fifteen-minute wait revealed all—a clandestine meeting with a woman. What is Mr.
Michaels up to? Is he a bad boy? A lady friend to keep perhaps? This was something the professional would enjoy watching.
Sometimes in his investigations he came across some interesting alternative lifestyles his targets kept. One of his targets had a taste for peep shows and prostitutes when he was not with his happy family at home. Another had been a cross-dresser. It had been hard not to laugh when he saw an overweight middle-aged man
prancing around like a little girl. Several had kept mistresses, and Michaels was turning out to be one of
those. There’d been so many little oddities he had gazed upon in the course of his work. The human race never failed to amaze him.
This meeting was different, not quite what he had expected. His target didn’t look too pleased to see the woman. The professional saw Michaels snap his arm away. Rejecting her affections. Is that money I see being exchanged? Michaels was turning out to be a very
interesting assignment. The professional decided the woman wasn’t a mistress. She might have been once, but not now. It looked like extortion was the name of the game these days.
The professional smiled. There’s an angle here I can exploit. Mr. Michaels, you’re giving me a lot of material. A germ of an idea began to grow. It would be messy, but it would be very dramatic if it worked. It would be one of his best efforts. He leaned his head against the rail of the polar bear habitat, one person among many, but his was the only head not turned toward the marine mammal.
He watched the woman get up and leave his target. It looked like a touching moment and he wished he could tell what was being said. He would look into lip reading classes after this contract. She headed in the direction of the exit and he followed. He could afford to
leave Michaels alone, for now. He had what he needed on him for the moment. He wanted to find out more about this woman. She could be useful.
In the parking lot, the woman got into a black Chevy Cobalt coupe and the professional followed in his Taurus.
He shadowed her progress north across town to
the Radisson Hotel. She went in and he kept a reasonable distance behind. At the entrance, a doorman
greeted her and he checked out her ass after she passed him. The professional was greeted similarly, but without having his ass checked. The woman walked up to
the young female desk clerk.
The professional picked up a free local newspaper off a stand and made sure he got close enough to hear the conversation.
“Hello, how can I help you?” the desk clerk asked.
“Any messages for room three-oh-seven?” she asked.
The desk clerk checked and told her there weren’t any. The woman headed over to the elevator.
The professional went up to the other clerk on duty, a bored looking man in his thirties. “Excuse me, could I use your restrooms?”
“Yes, sir. No problem, just turn left at the restaurant and they’re on your left.” The desk clerk leaned over the counter and pointed to his right, in the opposite direction of the elevators.
“Thanks,” the professional said and smiled.
“Not at all, sir.”
The professional went off in search of the restrooms as directed. He locked himself into a stall and sat on the toilet for a respectable time before flushing and leaving the restroom.
He returned to the reception desk. The male desk
clerk the professional had spoken to earlier was occupied with a customer. He approached the young female
desk clerk who had dealt with Josh Michaels’s secret woman.
She smiled at him.
“Excuse me, you have a lady in room three-oh-seven, an Asian woman, early thirties. Now I’m sure I know her from a company we used to work at and I wanted to check to see if it was her.” The professional managed to look benign, hopeless and charming all at the same time.
She checked her computer records. “Room three-oh
seven is a Miss Belinda Wong.”
“It is her,” he beamed.
The desk clerk beamed back, happy for him and for her. It was probably the first interesting thing to happen all day.
“Do you have a card with a phone number I could
call her back on?”
The desk clerk nodded. She gave him a matchbook
and pointed to the number on the back. “Just change the last three numbers with her room number and
you’ll get straight through.”
“Thanks very much,” he fawned.
“But don’t wait too long, she checks out tomorrow.”
“Does she now?” A crooked smile trickled across his face. “Thank you very much indeed for your help.”
The professional walked away from the reception
back to the parking lot. He would be waiting here tomorrow to see where she went.
The professional didn’t get far before the desk clerk called out to him. He stopped and turned around.
“Good luck sir,” she said in a hoarse whisper and grinned.
The professional grinned back and gave her a
thumbs-up.
The doorman showed the professional out of the hotel. Hello, Miss Belinda Wong, who are you and what do you want? The professional thought.
CHAPTER NINE
“Daddy, Daddy, I heard another car pull up,” Abby said, bouncing on the spot excitedly.
“Well, isn’t it your job to greet them?” Josh asked.
Abby agreed it was by nodding vigorously. She
bounded off down the alley next to the Michaels’s home to meet the visitors to the party. Wiener scampered behind her, acting as her second in command. As
she got to the front of the house, she found people getting out of a Toyota Camry parked curbside.
“Uncle Bo-bo and Aunt Nancy!” Abby called. Her
ribboned, pigtailed hair bounced as she ran, as did Wiener’s, whose ears were tied with similar ribbons.
She crashed into Bob Deuce and hugged him.
“Hi, Abby, you look pretty,” Bob said, picking
Abby up.
“Hello, Abby. Yes, you do look very grown-up,”
Nancy Deuce said, smiling.
“Thank you,” Abby said, grinning.
Bob nodded at the dog. “What’s up with Wiener’s
ears?”
“I wanted to put his ears in pigtails like mine,” she replied.
“Oh, very nice,” Nancy said.
“Who’s this?” Abby asked.
“This is a colleague of mine, James Mitchell. I
thought I’d bring him. Hope that’s okay?”
“Yeah, that’s okay,” Abby said. “Hello, Mr.
Mitchell.”
“Call me James,” Mitchell said.
Bob put Abby down at her request. She led the invited guests to her father in the backyard.
Josh was stocking an ice-filled bucket with beers on the lawn next to a trestle table. It was one of two tablecloth-covered tables smothered with snacks and drinks. At the
rear of the yard Kate manned the barbecue and waved to her friends. Other early arrivals sat at a picnic table with drinks. The CD player, relocated to the rear porch, sent music across the backyard.
“Hey, buddy, happy birthday,” Bob called across
the yard.
“Happy thirty-eighth, Josh,” Nancy added.
Josh looked up from the ice bucket and smiled at his approaching friends with a stranger in tow.
“I’m glad you made it.” Josh checked his watch. “A fashionable thirty minutes late, I see.”
The birthday invitations were for seven, but Josh didn’t expect most people until eight. Bob’s arrival swelled the numbers into double figures.
“Josh, I hope you don’t mind me bringing someone.
This is a colleague of mine, James Mitchell. He’s in the area for a few days with nothing to do and you know what that’s like, so I invited him.”
“No, not a problem.” Josh put out a hand to
Mitchell. “Hi, James, I’m Josh. You’re very welcome.”
“Thanks very much. I hope you don’t mind me gate
crashing. I’m not as desperate for a night out as Bob makes out.”
“No, really, make yourself at home. There’s plenty to drink and food soon,” Josh said.
“Is Kate manning the barbecue?” Bob asked.
“Yeah, I’m on drinks and public relations tonight,”
Josh replied.
“Barbecuing, that’s a man’s job. You’re losing your control, my man,” Bob said, in mock indignation.
“Oh, shut up, Bob,” Nancy said and punched her
husband in the arm.
“You forget, Bob, when it’s my birthday, my loving ladies do all the work for me and I get to enjoy my day.
So, who is in control now?” Josh responded.
“I think I’ll see if Kate needs any help now that the testosterone is flying,” Nancy said. “I’ll leave you to your fantasies.”
“Thank you, my love,” Bob called to her and blew
her a kiss.