seventeen on my wedding day.”
“What difference does that make? You should improve with age.”
“Perhaps if there were a difference, I could explain it. Indifference is the trouble. I told you he was a dedicated man.”
“You love him?”
“By all means.”
“And he loves you?”
“Yes. Certainly. But there are things other than love, aren’t there?”
She was propped on one elbow, her chin in her hand. I eased my arm down and ran my fingers in the naked valley between her breasts. I felt the muscular tic run across her shoulders and the fingers at my belt twitched slightly and become motionless. I patted her cheek gently and put my hand back under my head. The fingers started in again. This time the snap popped loose and she pulled the zipper down halfway, then started rubbing soft circles into my belly.
“What things?” I asked her.
Now the soft circles widened and deepened and the fingertips were delicate feathers searching, finding and barely touching. “Understanding, for one thing.” She squeezed gently and her breath caught in her throat. “You understand,” she stated.
“Sometimes you have to tell them, Sheila.”
Her hand paused and her eyes lifted to stare into the darkness. “I ... can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s nothing to say.” She looked back at me again and I knew she was smiling. “I’d like to hit you with a big stick,” she said. “You know too damn much.” Her fingers squeezed again, deliberately hard and my breath hissed in between my teeth. “You’re awfully ready, aren’t you?”
“Obvious, isn’t it?”
“Really ready?”
“Really,” I told her.
“Let’s find out,” she said, and I lost her in the darkness. only the outline of her hair moving with the fluid motion of the waves that were breaking in the background, each roller seeming to come in with greater force until the tidal inundation swept up and over me in a thunderous crescendo and then the crescent moon fell back into place among the clouds and she was smiling down at me again.
“Nice?”
“Beautiful,” I said. “Nice?”
“Lovely,” she told me. She did all the little things and finished with the buttons on my shirt, then stood up, reached out her hand and pulled me to my feet. “Can I ask you something now?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did you want to see me?”
“You invited me to, remember?”
“Don’t hedge.”
I dug cigarettes out, gave her one and lit them. “I was going to see if I could get anything out of you about your husband’s plot to grab Barrin.”
“Change your mind?”
“Nope. Just my approach. I should have simply asked, right?”
“The answer would be the same,” she said. “He wants Barrin. It’s not just a toy like the other organizations he controls, it’s a project.” She took my hand and we started down toward the water to skirt the edge back to the path. “It’s a hangover from when your grandfather was alive. Cross was determined to be the biggest and Cameron Barrin was the only obstacle he had to hurdle. Poor Cross, he never could make it. That old man tripped him up every time he tried to move.”
“Now he thinks he has it made?”
“Well, he’s gloating. I’ve seen him do it before and when he gloats it means he’s won.”
For a minute we just walked, kicking at the sand. We reached the path and turned up toward the dunes. I said, “What’s he going to do with it if he gets it?”
“Have you ever seen a company raided, Dog?”
I nodded and helped her over a grassy mound of sand.
“He says it won’t matter because there’s nothing left to salvage anyway. He’s looking to the future when everything here can be his to do with as he likes.”
“Then he can’t be very happy,” I said.
She stopped and looked up at me. “You know about the beach being sold?”
“Somebody in the family bought it, I understand.”
“That somebody could be in trouble if there’s any way at all to do it. He’ll spend everything he has to get his hands on the Barrin property.”
“Hasn’t he got enough now?”
“Until he has it all, he’ll never have enough. I told you, Cross is dedicated.”
“Too bad.”
“Why?”
“Guys like that ache pretty bad when they can’t get the things they want.”
She caught the inflection in my voice and I felt that shudder run up her arm again. “Some things are just impossible,” she said.
“Not if you think about it. Now suppose I ask you something.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Why did you bother seeing me?”
“There was something I wanted to find out about you.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry?”
“No guilt complex, Mr. Kelly. My curiosity has always led me into odd situations.”
“It can get you into trouble.”
“That I found out a long time ago.”
I was going to say something, decided not to and steered her toward the end of the path. When we reached the car I held the door open and she got in. She had a pixie tilt to her eyes and she was smiling again. I got behind the wheel and turned the key.
“Are you taking me back to my car?”
“You’ve had your curiosity satisfied for one night, doll. Besides, I have a conference to attend.” I looked at my watch and it was a little after nine. “My cousins are finishing their meeting in thirty minutes. Then it’s my turn.”
“Dog...”
“Uh-huh?”
“We had a very interesting evening. Will you ever see me again?”
“Indubitably, kitten.”
“Even if Cross wants to kill you?”
“He’ll have to stand in line,” I said.
Hobis and The Chopper hadn’t had any trouble since they took up the stakeout. Three hours ago Hobis had reported that he thought there was a surveillance on Lee’s apartment but didn’t want to expose the setup by checking it out. I passed the word for him to get in somebody else if he wanted to assign a tail to be sure of it, but for him to hold his position.
My man at the other end said it would be done, coughed and lapsed back into French again. “I’ve had a call from the Continent.”
“So?”
“Pierre Dumont was shot just outside Marseilles.”
