“Dr. Cienfuegos’s office,” the cheery voice answered.
“Hey, Carmen, it’s Connie,” she whispered, then chagrin set in as she realized Victor couldn’t overhear in any case.
“How are you, Con?” Carmen replied brightly.
Connie hushed her and said, “Is Victor around?”
“Yes, but he’s busy. Do you want to talk to him? I can get him from the examining room.”
Connie rushed in. “Actually, I need to talk to you. Can you get away for lunch?”
There was hesitation on the line. “Con, is something wrong?”
“Not really. Victor and I. You know we spent time together over the weekend, but we’d like to sneak in some personal time when I come to get the cast removed.”
“So the getting the cast off thing isn’t just about the cast? That explains why that’s all he’s talked about this morning,” Carmen admitted.
Connie groaned and drew some stray hair off her face. “That’s the problem. Carmen, you know this is getting a little serious and I’m not sure about to do.”
“I get it, Con. I don’t need you to draw me a picture about what two adults do in their free time. If you can call it free time.”
“Please, sis. What if someone overhears you.”
Carmen laughed huskily. “What kind of help do you need, big sis?”
“A dress that he’ll notice. Some other things, you know,” Connie replied as she covered a flaming cheek with one hand, trying to hide her embarrassment. Luckily, there was no one else in the office to notice.
Again there was silence on the line, then Carmen’s husky laugh. “I get it.” Carmen went to name one of the shops along Coral Gable’s Miracle Mile and a time to meet for lunch.
Connie was about to hang up when she heard Carmen ask, “Just how crazy do you want to make him?”
Connie couldn’t contain her laughter. She thought about it for a second, and replied, “Very, very crazy.”
#
By mid-afternoon, Connie was fairly pleased with what she had accomplished. She had met two of the men whose names had appeared on all of the lists. They had been contacts of Jessica Wheeler and of the ad agency executive who had been victim number two. In addition, both had attended a party hosted by the television station where they had possibly met victim number three.
The problem was that neither of the men got her warning bells ringing. Both men had been with the company for some time. If the pathology had existed in either of them, it had remained latent up until now, unless the murderer had been more successful at hiding it before.
Two other men remained on her list. The information from their background checks would be available shortly. Hopefully those details would give her greater insights into the men and help narrow the field of suspects.
She had just arranged a meeting for later that afternoon with one of them, suspect number three, a man in the in-house regulatory section, when Brenda buzzed her. “Trevor Gordon is here. He wants to know if you have a moment to discuss your memo.”
“Sure. Please send him in.”
Trevor Gordon was a name she recalled, not just from the memo, but also from the list of the law firm contacts. As the product manager for a brand new prostate drug, it was likely he had discussed a number of issues with Jessica Wheeler. It was unfortunate that he apparently hadn’t listened since the company had received a cease and desist letter about their brand new product’s trade dress.
Connie rose as the door opened, came around the desk, held out her hand, and introduced herself. “Connie Gonzalez.”
Trevor Gordon smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He shook her hand and his was smooth and slightly cold. “Nice to meet you,” he said, his voice as icy as his touch. He raised the memo he held in his left hand. “Mind if we discuss this?”
“Of course not. Please sit down.” Connie motioned to a chair before her desk, sat down, and withdrew a copy of her memorandum from a neatly organized pile of papers stacked on the edge of her desk. “Where would you like to begin?”
“Jessica and I had discussed my choices and possible problems. Her opinion was quite different than yours.” There was no hiding the hostility in his voice. He had rolled the memo into a tube and slapped it against his thigh angrily while he talked.
Connie met his irate gaze dead on to see how he would react to being challenged. “The file passed to me doesn’t indicate that any discussion occurred.”
He remained silent, glaring, and gripped the tube of paper more violently, almost crumbling it in his grip.
Connie continued. “I have no doubt about my opinion. The case law is clear and we have the other side’s warning letter to prove they are not going to let us continue to do this.”
Trevor leaned close and jabbed a finger at her copy of the memo. “Do you know how embarrassing and expensive it would be for us to switch now?”
So he thought he could physically intimidate her? Interesting, Connie thought. She leaned toward him, meeting his challenge, and confidently said, “My opinion stands, Mr. Gordon. You want to keep on using this color and shape for the drug, fine. My next memo will be on how to defend the lawsuit that’s sure to follow. We’ll judge then how truly embarrassing and expensive this could be.”
His face flushed a deep crimson color and he rose to his six foot plus height. “We’ll talk about this again.” He walked out, nearly bumping into Brenda in his anger-filled haste.
“Hi, Trevor,” the young woman said and beamed a smile at him.
Gordon merely grunted and tossed a last hostile glare at Connie before he stalked away.
“Whoa. You pissed him off royally,” Brenda said.
“Yes, I guess I did,” Connie acknowledged with a smile as she took a stack of papers and messages from her assistant. “Is he always like that?” she asked, rifling through the messages for one from Victor. There were none.
“Yes and no,” Brenda hemmed, obviously uneasy.
“Care to explain?” Connie pressed, wanting Brenda’s take on the situation.
Brenda shrugged. “Well, he is kinda cute.”
Connie had to admit that. Gordon was well-built with the kind of tanned, surfer-type looks popular among the beach crowd.
“Not my type.” Nope, her type was tall, dark, and dangerous in a different kind of way.
“Boy, is he my type, though. He’s generally nice to me and the rest of the girls, but we’re not ‘intelligent enough for him’ quote, unquote,” Brenda sighed. “You’re more his type. You, Jessica, and the other women with initials after their names. You’re smart enough for him, I guess.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. He rubs me the wrong way,” she said and filed away Brenda’s comments, mentally adding Trevor Gordon as a possible suspect, despite his absence on the other lists. Something wasn’t quite right about him. Her warning bells were ringing and she intended to find out why.
#
Brenda kindly offered up one of her guest passes and Connie was admitted to the health club which was conveniently located only two blocks away from her apartment, on the corner of 12th Street and Washington Avenue.
She learned from Brenda that she and Jessica Wheeler had occasionally run into each other at the weight center, but not in the aerobics classes. Jessica had apparently been of the same mind as Connie, preferring jogging to aerobics, and weight training to the yoga and Pilates classes.
In the weight room, Connie ran into Stone at the ab machine. As she looked around, she realized Trevor Gordon was at the other end of the room, working on his triceps. She waited for Stone to finish and he smiled at her as he completed his set.
“Can you show me how to use this?” Connie asked Stone, although she was well familiar with the equipment.
“Darlin’ it would be my pleasure,” he said loud enough for others to hear. As she stepped into the seat of the ab machine, Stone leaned close and whispered, “Take off the baggy t-shirt, Speedy.”
“What?” she hissed as they see
mingly went through the motions of adjusting the seat for her height.
“I assume you have one of those work-out bras underneath, so take off all the extra cotton and show off your hot little body. How else do you plan on attracting attention in a place like this?” Stone whispered again and peered around the room.
Connie settled into the seat of the ab machine and glanced around. Every female midriff in the place was bare except for hers. She gritted her teeth, hating it when Stone was right, and stripped off her shirt, tossing it on the floor beside her towel and bottle of water.
“Very good. Next time, try red. It’ll go better with your coloring.” He leaned over her and checked the weight stack. “How much do you normally do?”
Connie looked at the weights. “This looks good,” she said as she slipped her arms beneath the bar, careful to keep any excess pressure from the cast.
“By the way, check out the guy who’s waiting by the bench press,” she said as she bent at the waist to lift the stack of weights and completed the rep by slowly lowering the stack back just partway, maintaining the resistance on her abdominal muscles.
“Well, that looks real good, darlin’,” Stone said loudly and looked over as she had asked. “Who is he?” he asked under his breath.
“Trevor Gordon. We need to do a background check on him as well.”
Stone nodded and took a sip from his water bottle. “Any reason?”
“Intuition.” Connie continued with her set of exercises and Stone nodded again, waved, and walked away. They both knew Gordon would not approach if another man was by her side.
She did two sets of repetitions on the ab machine, then moved to another station, avoiding any equipment that required pressure on her left wrist. She kept an eye on Gordon the entire time. Finally she reached the leg press machine, slipping into it just as Gordon approached to use the same station. She chose her weights, and began her set of repetitions, sparing him a quick glance.
“Hi, Trevor. Sorry we got off on the wrong foot today,” she said between measured breaths as she lifted the weights off the rack.
“I haven’t seen you here before. You must be new.” He wiped a towel over his perspiration damp face and sipped from his bottle of water.
“I just moved into the area and Brenda was nice enough to let me come along and check out the club.” She finished the first set of repetitions, eased her arms down, and took a deep breath while she waited to start her next set. “Do you come here often?”
“All the time. A bunch of us get together here a couple of nights a week.” His response was not hostile like the tone he had adopted in the office. Much to her chagrin, his gaze danced between her breasts and bare midriff, just as Stone had intimated would happen.
“Well, that’s great. At least I know there will be someone here who can show me the ropes,” she nearly gushed, wanting to seem eager for his assistance.
Trevor smiled and loosened up before her eyes. “Well, I’m your man. We go for coffee down at the News Cafe after our workouts. Want to join us?”
Connie finished her set, stood, and smiled, pleased things were going as she had hoped. “I’d like that, thanks.”
Chapter 16
Victor rocked back on his heels and took a deep breath. Connie had finally arrived. Carmen had just announced her and advised she was leaving for the night and passing the switchboard over to his service. She had instructed the service that he was to be interrupted only for the most urgent emergency.
Connie opened the door a second later, making him wonder if she had been hesitating by the door as well. Making him smile as he thought she might be as anxious, and as eager as he, for this time together.
“Glad you could make it,” he said, turning and dropping a quick kiss on her cheek as she walked past him, leaving behind her scent. He breathed in deeply and held it in to savor that small piece of her.
“I am, too. How are you?” she replied, nervously fidgeting with her purse.
He released his breath and grinned. “Fine. Just fine, except for one thing.” He reached out, gently took hold of her hand, and drew her close.
Connie stood before him nervously and watched as his gaze trailed down her body and then back up to her face.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, worried as his face grew solemn. She glanced down at herself and wondered whether the dress Carmen had helped her choose was way too much. The cherry red dress left her shoulders bare, with only two smallish straps at the tops of her arms to keep up the bodice. The material clung to her body, displaying her curves in a way she had never thought possible.
Victor raised a hand and ran it along the exposed line of her collarbone. At his touch, she jerked her head up, met his intense gaze, and she knew then, there was nothing wrong with the dress.
“You look lovely,” he said, bent his head, and kissed her.
The breath left her body in a rush as his lips opened against hers. He rested his hand at her waist and drew her near until she just touched him. Barely touched him. The warmth of his body came off in waves. The smell of him, of the citrusy after shave he wore, wafted around, enticing.
She opened her mouth beneath his, tasted his passion, and bit back a moan. Shakily, she placed her hand on his chest, leaned closer, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, drew her the last few inches until their bodies were pressed together.
Connie relished the hard feel of his muscles, their strength as he cradled her to him. She raised her hands, passed her fingers through his hair, then skipped down to caress his cheeks and the firm line of his jaw.
He pulled away from her then, his gaze dark and dangerous. Glittering with desire. “I’m glad you were able to come. I’ve missed you.”
His words were a heady intoxicant. She had missed him also. “I wish it wasn’t so hard to find time to be together.”
He tenderly ran a hand along her cheek. “Let’s be thankful for this time and not waste it. I made some plans,” he said, motioning to his desk, which had been cleared of its usual files and reports and now boasted a crisp, white linen tablecloth, place settings for two, as well as some covered dishes. “Are you game for dinner?”
She smiled. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said and blushed as she thought of the foil packets tucked into her purse right next to her gun and cell phone. The three essentials for any modern woman, she jokingly thought.
“I thought we might deal with the cast first, though.” She wanted herself free of any encumbrances for later.
“Fine. Come with me. It’ll only take a few minutes.”
Victor wrapped an arm around her waist and smiled at her as they walked down the hall and into another room. He helped her up onto an examining table and brought over another smaller table on which he placed a small handheld saw. “Ready?”
When Connie nodded, Victor wheeled over a stool, sat before her, and turned on the saw. It had a high whining sound more like a dentist’s drill which always annoyed him. As he worked, using the circular rotating blade on the cast, he asked about her day and how it had been, glancing at her often. Admiring the way the red fabric lovingly clung to her body. Admiring the lean, lightly muscled shoulders and arms exposed by the dress. He was so busy with his physical perusal and the removal of the cast, he missed the question she asked him.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized and Connie repeated her question.
“How was your day?” She glanced at him innocently and he wondered how it was possible that she had no idea of the effect she had on him. Of what potent stuff she was. He realized in a moment of enlightenment that was one of the things he treasured most about her. Her total guilelessness. With Connie there would never be any pretentious games between them. She was just what she was. Open and honest.
“My day was boring, except for the thought of being with you,” he admitted, stopped the saw, and met her gaze. He wanted to be just as honest. “I had about two dozen patients to see after morning rounds. I went through them in record time, probably
because all I could think of was you.”
She smiled at him and ran her hand along his jaw. “It was the same with me. I went through the memos at the office and nearly hung up on Jeff while we were deciding what to do next. At one point he must have repeated his question about three or four times before I realized he’d been talking to me. It was scary.”
“Why?” Victor asked.
Connie’s face grew serious and she looked away from him. “Because I can’t afford this kind of distraction. I need to concentrate, and this ….” she said, motioning with her hand to the two of them. “I can’t let this interfere with what I’m working on.”
He cradled the side of her face and gently stroked it. “I understand, but I can’t forget about this,” he said, repeating her gesture with his free hand. “I can’t forget about what I feel for you and what I think you feel for me. It’s something we’ll have to learn to deal with.”
She nodded, reached up, and took his hand in hers, gave it a squeeze. “It’s something we’ll have to figure out.”
Victor took a deep breath of relief and smiled at her, returning to work with the saw, cutting through the last bit of the cast. When he pulled it off, she grimaced and flexed her fingers.
Connie glanced at her hand and wondered what had possessed her to ask him to take it off before dinner and whatever would follow. She shook her head and rotated her wrist. It moved, confirming that the pale, slightly wrinkled, alien-looking appendage was in fact her arm and hand.
“It looks funny,” she said, almost unconsciously.
He moved his hands gently over her fingers and then up her wrist, checking her out. The familiar warmth began again with his examination, as clinical as it was, but Connie was put off by her response and the condition of her arm. She pulled away from him. “Anything I need to do for now?”
Victor nodded. “I’ll give you a sheet of simple exercises and a lightweight brace to use if you plan on working out or doing anything strenuous that might strain your wrist.”
Now and Always Page 13