by Dianne Emley
“I will.”
Peru placed his empty cup on the saucer and touched a napkin against his lips. “I need to take off. Rita will be back soon.” He pushed back the chair and stood.
Iris stood as well.
“Thank you for seeing me. I’m glad we talked.” He walked to the front door and opened it.
Iris walked with him down the steps and onto the brick path.
He held his hand out to her. When she took it, he clasped her fingertips and raised the back of her hand to his lips.
Out of the shadows at the side of the house walked Rita Winslow. She was trembling with rage. “I never dreamed you would betray me this way, Fernando. After everything I’ve done for you.” The pitch of her voice grew higher as she raised both fists. “You were nothing when you met me.” She slammed them against Peru’s chest until he grabbed her wrists. “Nothing!” Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Iris darted back toward the open front door as Peru tried to calm Winslow. “Rita, please. I met with Iris to talk about getting the fox for you. That’s all it was, sweetheart.” He kissed her tightly closed fists. “Are you going to calm down now? Can I let you go?”
He released her hands and she wheeled away from him, stumbling across the lawn. She pressed the back of her hand tightly against her mouth and held the other out as if she needed it for balance. Iris cowered against the door frame, her hand on the door ready to slam it if necessary, and watched the woman with a mixture of fear and pity.
Winslow turned to face Peru, standing on the grass. “You had Todd murdered, didn’t you? Your good friend Todd. Murdered him and stole my money and gave the fox to that bimbo,” she pointed angrily at Iris, “to bring into the States. I wondered why you wanted to come straight to L.A. Now I know.”
Still standing in the doorway, Iris spoke up. “Rita, I told you I can get you the fox. That’s all Fernando came to talk to me about.”
“Then get it,” Winslow snapped. “What’s taking so long?”
“I have to make arrangements,” Iris said.
“Arrangements,” Winslow said bitterly. “I know what kind of arrangements. You’re going to sell it out from under me, aren’t you?”
“Rita,” Peru said soothingly.
“A word of warning. Don’t underestimate me. I’m onto you. Both of you.” Winslow stomped across the yard and down the street. In a moment, there was the sound of a car engine turning over and accelerating as it drove away.
“Wow,” Iris said from the porch.
“Don’t worry about her. I can handle her.” Peru got into his car, which was parked in front of Iris’s house, and left.
Iris remained on the porch until Peru was out of sight. Then she walked down the steps and reached into the flowerbed, picking up the cigarette butt that Peru had tossed there when he first arrived. She looked at the brand. Marlboro.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The next morning, Iris walked into the McKinney Alitzer office with her head held high, her gait brisk, and her gaze sure, although her eyes were grainy from lack of sleep. She had put on her pale yellow silk suit which was fresh from the cleaners. It always made her feel snappy even if she was dragging. She smiled at her crew as she walked through the suite. Since she’d barely slept the night before, the many things on her mind not letting her rest, she was up earlier than usual and had beat most of her employees into the office. The ones who were already at their desks were surprised to see her. The ones who were used to coming in late but managed to skirt in just before Iris did would be even more surprised to see her. It was good to keep them off base. Iris reflected that everyone, herself included, had become too relaxed during the extended bull market which had floated all boats. This was risky business.
“Morning, Louise,” Iris called to her assistant who was dunking a tea bag into a cup of hot water.
“Well, good morning. You’re here bright and early.”
“Early, anyway.” Iris went into her office, which Louise had already opened, put her purse in the filing cabinet, and hung her jacket on a hanger behind the door. She grabbed her mug and strode into the lunchroom at the other end of the suite. She opened the door and was stunned to see Kyle Tucker in a passionate embrace with Dawn, the girl who had been sitting at her desk when she’d returned from Moscow.
They were equally stunned to see her. Kyle harshly pushed Dawn away as if that would undo what Iris had seen.
“Good morning.” Iris walked to the coffeemaker.
Dawn scowled at Kyle then left the room, smoothing her hair. Kyle swiped his hand across his mouth, but he didn’t get all the lipstick that had rubbed off on him. “Iris, I’m sorry about that.”
“Kyle, wasn’t that the woman who I heard has a fatal attraction for you?”
His pale complexion was bright red. “She is not a fatal attraction. Who said that?”
“I don’t want to see her in the office again.”
“All right. I understand.”
Iris left the lunchroom. On her way back to her office, she told the receptionist to call security if she saw the woman who had just left loitering in the suite. Back in her office, Iris had just started going through her phone messages when Lisa Roman, one of her new hires fresh out of business school, poked her head inside the door.
“Do you have a minute, Iris?”
“Sure. Come in.” Iris tried not to look irritated about having been interrupted. “Have a seat.”
Lisa smiled in a manner that seemed calculated to look competent yet engaging. Iris had practiced it herself many moons ago. “As you know, I’ve been over one hundred and twenty-five percent of quota each of the six months I’ve been here and—”
There was a high-pitched squealing noise, as if an animal had been stepped on.
“No more, Liz!”
Iris recognized the voice of David Wayne, the latest in a string of Liz Martini’s sales assistants.
“It’s just for two hours. Jeesh.” Liz retorted. “I swear you stepped on her on purpose.”
Undeterred, Lisa continued. “Since I’ve been performing at such a high level, I feel I’ve earned my own sales assistant—”
David Wayne stomped into Iris’s office. He sneezed violently. “I told her I’m allergic to dogs. She keeps bringing these animals into the office. Why do you permit this?”
Lisa scowled at David for having interrupted her carefully prepared presentation.
Liz squeezed past him into Iris’s office, cradling a miniature poodle under each arm. “It’s just until the vet opens at nine, for goodness sakes.”
David complained, “This is a business office. Not a kennel.”
Kyle Tucker pushed into the office carrying a fire extinguisher. “I’m sorry, Iris. I tried to stop her—”
Lisa petulantly stood and said, “I’m having a meeting with Iris!”
Iris said loudly, “Look, everyone except Lisa leave. I’ll deal with you one at a time.” She noticed the fire extinguisher. “Kyle, what…?”
Iris’s phone rang. The display indicated Louise was calling. Iris picked up.
“Iris, Garland’s on the phone.”
Iris pressed her eyes closed. “Everybody, please!” she shouted over the commotion. “I’ll catch up with you later.” She picked up the phone, “Hi, sweetie.” She snapped at the group, “Now, please.”
“What’s going on there?” Garland asked.
“What isn’t going on?” She heard static on the line. He was probably calling from an airplane. “How are you? What’s up?”
“Flying to your arms, sweetheart.”
“Flying to…?”
“Palm Springs weekend. I’ll be at your house around two. I rented a car. We’ll be in the desert in time for cocktails.”
“Oh.” Iris had completely forgotten about Palm Springs. Roger Weems had called her after Fernando Peru had left the previous night about meeting on Saturday to set up the buy of the fox. She couldn’t get out of it. She knew Weems wouldn’t let her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t go out of town this weekend.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t talk about it here.” She nervously twirled a lock of her hair.
“What’s going on?”
“Just come to my house like you planned. I should be home by two. If not, you know where the key is hidden.”
“Is this something I should be worried about?”
“No, it’s ah, just a funny thing that happened.” She laughed nervously. “I’m glad you’re flying in because I wanted to talk to you about it in person.”
“Okay.” His tone was guarded. “See you then.”
Of the people Iris had chased out of her office, Lisa Roman was the only one still waiting outside. When Iris hung up the phone, she peeked inside the door. Iris waved her in and Lisa continued her pitch about why she deserved her own assistant.
After Lisa had barely started, Louise buzzed Iris.
Iris frowned apologetically to Lisa and picked up the phone. “Yes, Louise.”
“It’s Jim Hailey from New York.”
Iris said to Lisa, “I’m sorry but I have to take this call in private. I’ll think about what you said and get back to you, okay, Lisa?”
Iris closed the door behind her. Jim Hailey, the head honcho in New York, was calling her. She wondered if the rumors about Sam Eastman’s forced retirement were true.
A few minutes later, she’d found out. They were true. Hailey had offered her the regional manager position. She asked for a few days to think about it.
Iris had intended to beat Garland to her house, but the rest of her day had been as nutty as the way it had started and she didn’t leave the office until two o’clock. Kyle’s girlfriend had slipped into the suite and set a fire in his garbage can, miffed at how he had pushed her in the lunchroom. Iris pacified Liz’s allergic assistant and received a promise from Liz that she wouldn’t bring the dogs into the suite—a promise that Iris knew would be broken the next time the dogs had an appointment with the veterinarian or beauty parlor.
Garland had considerately parked the rental car in the street, leaving Iris’s narrow driveway open so she could pull the Triumph into the garage. When she went inside the house, she found him sitting at the dining room table, as she had feared.
Without a word, he rose to meet her at the door and they hugged and kissed and hugged some more. She pressed her cheek against his and tightly closed her eyes. She had missed him terribly.
After they’d separated, she looked through her mail and asked, “How was your flight?”
“It got up okay and it came down okay, so it was fine.” He strolled into the dining room and gestured at the table. “What have you got here?”
When Iris couldn’t sleep the night before, she’d spread out the photographs that she’d taken from Todd’s Moscow apartment. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but hoped that some clue might be hidden among them. “Oh, I was just looking through the stuff I brought from Moscow.” She quietly added, “Todd’s stuff.”
“Does this have anything to do with what you wanted to talk to me about?”
She heard the concern in his voice. She exhaled at length and then walked to the china cabinet and took down two wine glasses. “I have some chardonnay open or would you like merlot?”
“Chardonnay’s fine.”
While she got the wine and glasses, she told him the other big news. “Jim Hailey called me today. He’s forcing Sam Eastman to retire and he’s offered me the regional manager position.”
“Iris, that’s great!” Garland swept her into his arms and gave her a big hug and a kiss. “What did you tell him?”
“That I want to think about it.”
“But you’re going to accept it.”
She held her glass up and he clicked his against it. “I want to think about it. Sometimes that office makes me want to scream with all the personalities and pettiness and power struggles. I know I’d face that anywhere, but a change would be nice. A pay raise is always nice.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“I need a few days, that’s all. Let’s go outside.” She walked out the kitchen door, down the side yard, and into the backyard. She used a paper napkin to wipe the dust and smog particles that had accumulated on the two Adirondack chairs. She and Garland sat, putting their glasses on the matching table between the chairs.
“So tell me what’s going on,” he said.
She took a long drink, then told Garland the story of the fox. He listened without expression but Iris could tell he didn’t like what he was hearing. He didn’t comment until she’d finished.
“So Weems wouldn’t tell you the real reason he has such a hard-on to get Rita Winslow.”
“He said I didn’t need to know.”
Garland silently looked at the ocean. After a while, he said, “You don’t need to participate in this. Weems can’t force you. He can’t prove that anything was in the urn you brought back. It’s all speculation on Weems’s part. Walk away, Iris.”
“He said he’ll arrest me.”
“Let him. Call his bluff. If he does, we’ll take it from there.”
“Honestly, I want to do it. Todd Fillinger was murdered. Someone has to pay for it.” She set down her empty wineglass.
Garland gave her a stern look. “Let the authorities take care of it. Weems can find someone else to buy the fox and sell it to Winslow.”
“He says I’m the best one to do it. I’m not in law enforcement. Weems says crooks can smell a cop a mile away.”
“Bull. Police do undercover work all the time.”
“I’m already involved with Winslow and Peru over the fox.” She held her hand against her forehead, shielding her eyes from the bright late-afternoon sun. “The timing is perfect. Inserting someone new could jeopardize everything.”
Garland’s jaw grew rigid in a way that she knew only too well. He said nothing.
“Garland, all I have to do is make a phone call—”
“And meet with some creep. And then meet with more creeps.”
“With FBI agents everywhere.”
Garland rose from the chair and held his hand out for her to do the same. He put his arms around her and she rested her head against his shoulder.
“I don’t mean to be a jerk about this,” he said quietly. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” He held her away from him and looked into her eyes. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
She blinked back tears, touched by the depth of his feeling for her. “It’ll be all right. It’s kind of exciting in a way.”
He gave her a wry smile. “I figured that was part of it.”
She dragged her knuckle underneath her eye. “If I can help find out who murdered Todd and set me up, I have to do it.”
He dropped his arms. “Frankly, that’s been the hardest part for me, knowing that you’re still in love with Todd.”
She looked at him and didn’t say anything.
“I know you didn’t go to Moscow to investigate investing in art galleries. Any investing you wanted to do, you could have done from here. You hate leaving L.A. I can hardly get you to New York, much less Moscow.”
In the bright sunshine, she saw things perhaps more clearly than she wanted. He wasn’t accusing or angry. He was presenting the truth, which she had finally accepted. As she had suspected, Garland had it figured out from the beginning but had the grace to let her work through it on her own.
“I believe you went to Moscow to apologize to Todd face to face for leaving him at the altar, but that’s not the main reason you went. You went to see him, pure and simple. You went to see him, Iris.”
“Yes.”
“Because you’re still in love with him.”
She backed into a chair and sat with a plop, drained of energy. “No.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I was in love with him, but that ended five years ago.”
He walked to the edge of the yard and stood looking a
t the sparkling ocean.
“When Todd and my wedding date got close, I don’t know what happened. All of a sudden, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I felt like if I didn’t get away, I would die. I ran, all the way back to Los Angeles.” She looked at her hands in her lap. “Years later, Todd’s invitation came and I thought if I saw him, I would finally figure it out.”
Garland turned to face her. “Did you?”
“No. I’m more confused than ever.”
“In my humble opinion, I’ve figured it out,” he said brusquely then drank the rest of his wine. “You fell in love with a con artist. On some level, back in Paris, you knew. Those excellent instincts of yours made you come home.”
“That’s hard for me to admit.”
“Iris, Todd Fillinger ended up shot full of holes on a Moscow street because he participated in a multimillion dollar art heist. His cohorts double-crossed him.”
“I still can’t believe that Todd was involved in the theft of the fox. If he was, he must have been desperate.”
“Desperate to have a couple of million bucks.”
She grimaced.
“Iris, if I can go a little farther without you getting pissed off at me, I believe he lured you into his scheme. A good con artist knows his mark. If he couldn’t draw you to Moscow by guilt alone, he’d toss in an investment opportunity. There was likely an element of revenge on his part. He was probably going to hide the fox in your luggage or in some gift he was going to give you. Then the whole thing blew up in his face. But his buddies knew you were the perfect courier, so they hatched a plot to use you.”
She closed her eyes. Bursts of yellow and red exploded on the insides of her eyelids. He was right. Her conflicted emotions about Todd that she’d been wrestling with dropped away and everything became clear. “How could I have been so naïve?”
He walked behind her and massaged her neck and shoulders. “Don’t beat yourself up. We all have our weak spots. I’m just glad you’re okay. Todd manipulated your basic honesty and loyalty and desire to do the right thing. You don’t owe him anything.”
“What about his sister and niece and nephew? What about me? That drug addict Dean Palmer played me. I was the perfect pushover.”