Call it Love

by Kress, Alyssa

  "What?!"

  "Alex has these gambling debts, see." Diana must have seen Cookie's incredulity, for she hurried to explain. "Henry mentioned them to me. Anyway, Alex needs money in the worst way, and I'm afraid he saw the formula as a way to get it."

  "That's just crazy." But gambling debts would explain a lot of Alex's tension and secrecy lately. But stealing the formula—? "Where's Chess now? And Alex?"

  Diana gave her a sidelong look. "You would ask about Chess first. He's just as crazy about you."

  Cookie took a step forward. "Just tell me: where are they?"

  "You see, that craziness for each other? That's what I'm counting on." Diana's lips curved into a very strange smile. "Now that having Alex steal the formula didn't work out."

  The dread in Cookie's stomach flowed into a waterfall of terrified certainty. She began to back up. She hit the makeup counter at the same time that Diana removed a shiny silver gun from her coat pocket.

  "You can stop right there, Cookie. You see, you're all I have left now. The only way I know to bring Chess down."

  Struggling to keep her thoughts straight, Cookie tore her gaze from the gun. "It's you. You've been behind all the attacks on Scents Allure."

  Diana's smile broadened. "Not all of them. I merely continued what Bernard Korman started. He stole the classic formulas. I built off that success. True, my plan to cozy up to Chess and find out more secrets didn't pan out. Instead, he married you. But that was okay. I had a Plan B. I stole the ad campaign. Gave it to my boyfriend who was still working at Korman Cosmetics. That should have done it. That should have been enough to bring Chess down. But, no. You had to come in with your—"

  Diana broke off, curbing her apparently growing temper with another smile. "So I started in on Alex. After Henry told me about the gambling, I was pretty sure Alex needed money. The stupid boy was desperate. When he stole me a prototype bottle, I knew he'd be willing to steal the formula. I poured a gallon of ethyl alcohol into the production batter one day so they'd have to check the formula, and Alex would have a chance to see the combination to the vault. Unfortunately, Chess caught the idiot child about half an hour ago. Now all I have is you—but you're all I need."

  Even as she took in all this information, Cookie thought quickly. If she could keep Diana talking long enough, the rest of the cast would come in. "All you need for what? What are you after, Diana?"

  Her eyes hardened. "I'm after Chess. I have to destroy him. Then—"

  Cookie's heart tripped in her throat. Just a little bit longer. "Yes, then?"

  Diana's look turned shrewd. "We've waited here long enough. The rest of the troupe's about to return. Come outside to my car."

  Silently cursing, Cookie had no choice but to leave the dressing room and precede Diana to her trim little car. "You still haven't told me why you need to destroy Chess. What has he ever done to you?"

  "Get in the car." Diana guided Cookie to the driver's side.

  "You know, I'm really not that great a driver," Cookie remonstrated. "You may have noticed I don't own a car myself."

  Diana's delicate little jaw set. "Don't imagine I have a problem using this gun, Cookie. Get in."

  Cookie got in. Her fingers fumbled with the key Diana had left in the ignition. Despite Diana's bravado, Cookie was pretty sure the woman was not as cool as she was trying to appear. "What do you hope to gain by doing this?"

  "Back out of the space. Gently, now," Diana instructed. She kept the gun pointed at Cookie. "Taking you will completely demoralize Chess. Not to mention mess up the ad campaign. The launch will fail, and Scents Allure will fall down in ruins. Turn right at the street." Diana wore a satisfied smile. "Bernard Korman will be very pleased."

  "You want to please Bernard Korman?" Cookie turned right at the street. She drove as slowly as she dared.

  A desperate expression crept into Diana's eyes. "He'll have to accept me, then. He'll have to acknowledge I'm his true daughter—not the four useless dolls his late wife spawned. I'm the one who cares about the business. I'm his true and rightful heir. I knew that two years ago after I started working at Korman Cosmetics. I knew he was the man who should have been my father, not that trailer park drunk—" Diana cut herself off abruptly. She made a visible effort to erase the twisted expression that had taken over her face. "I'm better than that," she claimed. "And I'm going to prove it."

  "By kidnapping me..."

  "And bringing down Chess and Scents Allure."

  "...which you think will please Bernard Korman."

  Diana smiled. "He's been after Scents Allure for years. His coup de grace should have been stealing those classic formulas. He covered his tracks well, but I have my ways of gaining information. I know he got them and made cheap knockoffs from them. But the scheme didn't bring Chess down. By then, I'd already gotten a job at Scents Allure, figuring the best way to ruin the company was from the inside. I planned to become intimate with Chess, distract him, and maybe find out crucial company secrets. But then you came on the scene." Diana narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to fix that, though. Then Mr. Korman will see. He'll see I know how to give him exactly what he needs."

  "Oh, Diana." Cookie briefly closed her eyes. "I think you're in almost as much trouble right now as I am."

  ~~~

  The minute hand of the clock in the dining room pushed around to the top of the dial. The hour hand was on one. Chess sat at his dining room table, completely alone in the house, staring at the clock as each minute went by.

  He wondered. Would a woman make a date to discuss ending your relationship and then stand you up? She would, he mused, if her courage had failed her. She would if she'd decided to simply bug out without a farewell.

  But Cookie hadn't left him. Chess had already assured himself of this fact. Her clothes were still in her closet. Her plants were still spread throughout the house. Cookie would never leave without her clothes or her plants.

  The clock's hand moved again. It was now two minutes after one in the morning. The blood chilled in his chest. Where the hell was she?

  When the telephone rang, Chess jumped out of his chair, his nerves like bowstrings. His fist closed around the receiver with crushing force. "Cookie?"

  "Luther," a deep voice corrected from the other end of the line. "So, she isn't with you?"

  "I thought she was with you." Now the blood really did freeze in his veins. "Dammit, Luther, what have you done with her?"

  "I didn't do anything. She told me to meet her in the dressing room when the play was over, but when I got here, she was gone. I hoped you'd picked her up."

  Chess swore into the phone, adrenaline mixing with helplessness. "She didn't leave any kind of note?"

  "No." Luther paused. When he spoke again, the underlying panic in his voice revealed itself. "Except there was this black lace on the ground right outside the dressing room. I recognized it from her costume."

  Chess swore some more. He thought of the crazy maniacs who lived loose in the city. He thought of the way Cookie had always been leery of walking down that alley. Once or twice he'd gotten the heebie jeebies himself walking down there. Why would she have left without Luther?

  "Alex," Luther said. "Could Alex have picked her up?"

  Chess closed his eyes in relief. Of course. Alex had come, cried out his story, and Cookie had gone off to console him. "I'll call Kate's house."

  "Let me know—" Luther began, but Chess had already cut him off in order to dial his mother's number.

  "No, Alex is here with me," Kate told him over the phone. "Neither one of us has left the house."

  Panic swept over Chess again. "And Cookie isn't there with you?"

  "No. She isn't at the theater?"

  Quickly, Chess related his discussion with Luther. He ran a hand through his hair, turning to stare at the front door, willing Cookie to come through it. "Mother, I don't know what to do."

  "Go to the theater," Kate advised without a moment's thought. "You may see something there Luther hasn'
t. Meanwhile, Alex and I will go to your house in case she calls there."

  Chess closed his eyes, feeling fear well up. "Mother—" Tell me everything is going to be all right. Tell me I'm going to find her alive and well. "Thanks," he said and hung up the phone.

  Luther was still at the theater when Chess arrived. Although he attempted a calm composure, it was clear he was nearly as frantic as Chess. Cookie's fellow actor Peter was there as well, not even disguising his worry.

  "Let's see that lace," Chess demanded, even as he was getting out of his car in the gravel lot in back.

  Without a word, Luther handed it to him.

  Chess took in the spot of red in the center with a hard swallow.

  "That's the stage blood," Peter promised faintly.

  Chess nodded and, on impulse, brought the black lace close for a sniff. He frowned. It didn't smell like Cookie. It smelled, oddly enough, like Scents Allure Desire.

  "Desire?" Chess thought aloud. He gave Luther a blank look, thinking not seeing. "Who wears Desire?" Then his forehead cleared. "Phone," he demanded.

  Kate answered on the first ring.

  "I need someone to go back to the plant," Chess instructed her without a word of preamble. "Look in personnel records. I want the address for Diana Lorimar. Call me with the information on my car phone."

  "I'll send Alex," Kate agreed and hung up before Chess could protest this choice of messenger, assuming he even thought of protesting.

  In fact, all his thoughts centered on finding his wife...and how the hell Diana fit in.

  ~~~

  Cookie sat on the metal grill that ran parallel to the concrete roadway. Her feet and ankles hung out over a large quantity of empty air. Far, far below she could make out the tiny ripple of waves in the moonlight. "Diana, I think we made a mistake coming to Golden Gate Bridge. We should have stayed at your apartment."

  "Evidence," Diana replied. "It would be impossible to hide it all if I did you in my apartment."

  "But this is so—" high up. "—Public," Cookie returned. At least she'd been able to use the opportunity when leaving Diana's apartment to quietly drop one of her hair combs in the street, just as she'd dropped her lace bodice outside the theater dressing room door. Gretel dropping bread crumbs. Cookie had no idea if anyone would find the clues, or if they'd be able to understand them.

  By now she figured both Chess and Luther would be wondering where she was, frantic, if she knew either one of them. She could only hope Chess would connect the hair comb with Golden Gate Bridge. The one time they'd walked across together, the wind had taken one of her hair combs.

  Diana stood by her side, the revolver held comfortably in one hand. She looked out over San Francisco Bay with a deep and contented sigh. "This is perfect," she disagreed.

  So far, Cookie had not been able to convince Diana that Bernard Korman had no wish to see either Cookie or Chess hurt. So proper and polished on the outside, Diana was a chaos of insanity on the inside. From what Cookie could gather, Diana had raised herself out of an impoverished and denigrating home, refined and educated herself until landing an entry-level position at Korman Cosmetics, where she'd developed a daddy-crush on Bernard Korman. Upon witnessing Korman's rivalry with Scents Allure, Diana had conceived the idea of taking down Korman's competitor from the inside. The task had turned out to be more difficult than she'd planned.

  "Chess will forever be haunted by the idea of you going over the edge," Diana now claimed.

  "So will the jury after you're arrested."

  "Why would anyone assume you were pushed? January is coming up, and the man you love is going to divorce you. It will look like suicide."

  There was an uncomfortable drop of truth in the crazy woman's reasoning. If it weren't for the baby, how did Cookie know Chess would want to stay in the marriage? Oh, sure, he was emotionally shy, but could anyone be that shy? He ran scared any time he thought Cookie was going to bring up their relationship. Maybe he did want a divorce in January.

  Of course, any question about whether or not Chess wanted to continue the marriage could rapidly become moot considering Diana might make him a widower before he had to decide.

  Cookie tried not to look far, far down again. At least Diana seemed to want to gloat for a while before taking action. Cookie was wondering if there were any way to stall her even further when, from the corner of her eye, she caught a movement at the land end of the bridge. She blinked in order to make sure she hadn't imagined it.

  But they were still there. A small army of black-and-whites. Relief washed through her followed by pride. Chess had found both the lace and the comb. He'd understood!

  Now the burden was on her. Cookie had to distract Diana from noticing the uniformed figures getting out of their cars. It was time to stage the scene she'd been preparing ever since she'd learned Diana wanted to please Bernard Korman.

  "You know, there's a serious problem with the suicide angle," she informed Diana.

  Diana's gaze swung down to Cookie, just as Cookie had wanted. "What's that?"

  "I'm pregnant. Any number of people, including my doctor, can confirm it."

  Diana's jaw firmed. "That could be even more of a reason you'd despair." Her tone tried for confidence, but Cookie could see that she was shaken. Was she shaken badly enough to change her mind about murdering Cookie?

  No sense taking any chances. Past Diana's shoulder Cookie could see a line of men approaching, slow, crouching low. The sight of them could provide the trigger that set Diana off.

  "There's another complication," Cookie continued, keeping her tone slow and thoughtful, drawing Diana's regard.

  Diana stared at her, expectant.

  Cookie hadn't trained for the royal art of acting for nothing. Her tone, her demeanor, her body language—she had Diana's full attention. "It involves Bernard Korman's precise relationship to Chess," Cookie went on.

  Diana's pretty brow furrowed. "What relationship?"

  "Haven't you ever wondered why Korman is so incredibly interested in Scents Allure? Haven't you ever wondered why, if he's so intent on destroying the company, he hasn't managed to do it by now?"

  Diana looked belligerent. "Chess is very clever. He's managed to wangle his way out of every trap Korman has set for him. But I'll put an end to that."

  The first of the policemen was only a dozen yards away. Cookie concentrated on her fingernails, however, drawing Diana's eyes to her hands. She ignored the physical discomfort of her stage, including the several-hundred-foot drop beneath her feet. The important thing was to command her audience.

  "Yes, Chess is clever, but Korman isn't actually trying to destroy him," Cookie claimed quietly.

  Diana's nostrils flared. "Don't be ridiculous."

  "Am I? Think about it."

  The first man was climbing over the guardrail, but he was still about twenty feet distant. In another second Diana would notice. She'd feel the vibration of the grill even if she didn't see anything.

  It was time for Cookie to throw her trump card, the one she'd been saving as a last resort. Cookie looked up at Diana with pure guilelessness. "Bernard doesn't want to destroy Chess because Chess is his son, his secret son. That makes him my child's grandfather. And I don't believe he'd thank you for sending his future descendant for a permanent dip in the bay."

  Diana's face turned white.

  At that moment the first policeman lunged.

  But Diana moved first. "You lie!" she screeched and jumped for Cookie.

  She would have connected, too, if it hadn't been for all those self-defense classes. Cookie pulled in her knees and rolled out of Diana's path.

  Diana's gun made a clunking sound on the metal grating and fell over the side.

  Cookie didn't wait to see if she could hear the later splash. She was up on her feet, crouched, and cursing the tight fit of Theodora's velvet gown. Her self-defense classes had not trained her for fighting in tight, sexy clothes nor for battle on a ledge that was only twenty inches wide.

&
nbsp; Diana came at her once again.

  Cookie dropped onto her back and lifted the woman over her head with her feet. She heard Diana land with a woof of air and then heard the sound of clothes sliding over metal. Cookie turned on her stomach in time to see a look of utter panic on Diana's face as her feet went over the edge.

  Cookie blinked, unable to fathom what she was seeing, unwilling to believe it. And then she saw the fingers still desperately clinging to the metal edge.

  "Diana!" She raced over to grab hold of the woman's hands. Diana was a homicidal maniac, but that didn't mean Cookie wanted to be responsible for her death. "Hold on."

  "Cookie!" Diana cried, looking up at her in terror. "Cookie, help me!"

  "The professionals will take care of that," a familiar voice snarled in Cookie's ear.

  She immediately felt herself drawn back from the edge. She was then lifted in the air and bodily heaved over the metal guardrail toward the street. Her feet touched solid concrete and then Chess was turning her to face him.

  "What the hell did you think you were doing!" His fingers dug into her shoulders, and his eyes blazed in the flashing lights from the police cars. "Dammit, you could have been killed!"

  Cookie gave him a shaky smile. "The thought did cross my mind."

  Chess gave a cry and pulled her against him. He closed his arms around her as though afraid she'd slip away. It was too tight, but Cookie didn't care. She needed to be held too tight.

  He was still yelling at her, but she couldn't hear the words. She supposed they didn't matter, just that he was there, just that his arms were holding her safe. When he finally did loosen his hold on her, it was to kiss her hard and fiercely, his hands roughly tangled in her hair.

  "Chess" Cookie whispered in his ear when he had clasped her to him once again. It was only then she began to realize how she felt, the painful pull of muscle from her backflip move. "Chess, I think I want to go to the hospital."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Chess was wearing a path through the linoleum in the hospital waiting room when Kate and Alex arrived.