suggesting that she give Franco Finnelli a try on her own, adding that he was in town at that very moment.
'They'll tell you he isn't, of course,' she said, 'but in fact he's spending a week at his townhouse over in Windhaven Heights.'
Nikki had hardly paid any attention, shell-shocked as she was, and doubting whether she could believe Amanda anyway. Her sole thought had been to get the hell out of there and hide her humiliation before she broke down and went completely to pieces before a total stranger. But now, as she thought back on it, she felt that Amanda had been telling the truth.
What the hell, Nikki thought as she started the car, she couldn't be in any worse shape, basically, than she was right now with her career. So if Finnelli wasn't really in residence, who cared? How much trouble could she get in for checking, anyway? And with the mood she was in, even if she'd decided not to shoot Friedman, nobody was going to give her very much grief about anything or they'd end up with a.32 snub nose shoved up their ass, she'd guarantee them that!
It was a long trip over to the Windhaven Heights tower, and Nikki used the time to formulate her course of action. Finnelli wasn't expecting her and he wouldn't be glad to see her-he didn't know anything about the way Howard Friedman had screwed her, and if he did, Nikki was sure he wouldn't give a shit. So she had to approach this right. And if Amanda Trafalgai's building had security in the lobby, it was a foregone conclusion that Windhaven Heights did, too. You could bet your rosy red ass on that!
She glanced at her watch. It was after midnight now, and that should help her. Even if these buildings employed more than one security guard during the day, they almost always cut back to a single man at night… Which made a hell of a lot of sense, Nikki, reflected, since most of the break -ins and bullshit that went on in the apartments and condos happened at night! Christ, these security agencies must be run by the fucking government or something…
But it was going to work out dandily for her, because if Windhaven Heights just had one guard on duty after midnight, he wasn't going to stand a fucking chance!
Nikki parked up 'the street from the soaring tower and walked to the revolving doors in the center of the brightly lighted, glass-enclosed lobby. Yeah, there was the guard behind the huge desk next to the tenant intercom switchboard, looking soldierly as hell in his drab gray uniform. Nikki had it all figured out. She opened her vinyl coat as she came in, fluffing her hair and frowning as if reacting to the lobby heat. But as she did so, she gave the guard an excellent chance to watch her big breasts in action through the clinging material of her yellow sweater.
It didn't take long to learn how to use 36-DDs.
She strode straight up to the desk, glancing around and hoping to God the lobby stayed empty for the next minute or two. She looked straight into the guard's eyes and smiled warmly, a single lock of brown hair curling sexily over her forehead.
'Hi, there,' she said easily. 'I'm supposed to see a Foster, on the thirty-third floor, I think.'
The guard eyed her up and down and his lips twisted sardonically. 'You're not a working girl, are you, Sweetheart?'
'Yes, as a matter of fact I am!' Nikki returned sharply. 'I work for the Freidman, Tasker and Hargill modeling agency, and if I hear one more crack like that, you're gonna be wishing you'd kept your mouth shut!'
The guard retreated visibly in his manner and looked quickly down at his roster book. 'And you're looking for who…?'
'Mr. Foster,' Nikki said, stepping around beside the desk and peering at the book with him. 'I don't know the first name, but I think he's in thirty three-oh-four.'
'Nah, our numbers don't run that way,' the guard said, sliding his finger quickly down the long line of names. 'We have a thirty-three-dee, though… '
Nikki slipped her right hand into her purse and worked her fingers quietly through it while she watched the guard search the list.
'Nope,' he announced, 'three-three-dee is Blumquist.'
'Gosh,' Nikki said disappointedly. 'Well, do you have the names listed alphabetically?'
'Yeah,' the guard replied, flipping to the back of his ledger. 'But I'll tell you, dear, I've been here six weeks, and I don't recognize that name… I don't think we have any Foster-'
'No shit, Stupid,' Nikki said, and cracked him smartly behind the ear with the barrel of the revolver. He collapsed like a doll on top of the desk, his grey bus driver's cap tumbling to the floor. She took a quick look at his head, twisting her mouth when saw the angry red cut on his ear, already oozing a trickle of blood. Damn, she hoped she hadn't hit the bastard too hard!
Swiftly Nikki whipped the ledger around to the side of the desk, zooming her finger down through the alphabetical list to the Fs. Yep, there it was Finnelli, Franco; 19E. All right! She flipped the roster pages back to the front, to the original list, then slipped the book hurriedly under one of the guard's motionless hands. Glancing quickly around, she stuffed the.32 further into her purse and ran to the elevators, punching every 'Up' button she could see.
A car arrived in short order and she hustled inside, heaving a huge sigh of relief as the doors finally dosed in front of her. Wow! She brushed the hair back from her forehead with a hand that trembled just a little, watching the illuminated numbers climb toward 19. The lobby was the one place where she felt she could've really been loused up, so God Almighty, she was glad to get out of there!
The elevator stopped smoothly and opened with a friendly chime. Nikki peered briefly up and down the hall, then set out quickly for Finnelli's door. She strode quickly through the narrow, circular hallway, meeting nobody, hearing no sounds. When she came to 'E' she pressed the bell at once, then moved off to one side so he couldn't see her through the security peephole. She looked down at the rich crushed-pile carpet under her boots, then glanced at the expensive modern paintings adorning the walls. And this was just the frigging hallway, she thought. Yeah, rents in this place probably ranged from two to five thousand 'a month, depending on what was inside!
She pressed the bell again and then a third time, hearing a chime sounding deep inside the apartment. She stood fidgeting nervously, worried that someone might appear in the hall. Finally, she got the sense that somebody was on the other side of the door. No sound came to her as she stood back out of the way, dodging the peephole. Just to make sure, she leaned-across as low as she could manage and punched the bell button again.
'Yeah, who is it?' came a muffled voice from inside the door, sounding disturbed and irritated.
Well, Nikki was irritated, too. 'Emergency!' she called flatly. 'The building's on fire!'
There was no answer for several seconds. Then the man's voice came again: 'Kelly, is that you?'
Nikki rapped on the door several times with her knuckles. 'Hey, baby, you'd better get out of there!'
'Oh, for Christ's sake…!' Her heart leaped as she heard a lock being turned and the deadbolt being thrown back. She reached in her purse and pulled out the gun, leveling it just as the door opened with Finnelli grumbling, 'This better not be another one of your drunken-!'
'Stone-cold sober, baby,' Nikki snapped as he stopped dead, staring at her in surprise, and then backing up as he saw the revolver. She jerked it at him and pushed her way inside, ordering, 'Get back in there!'
He stumbled backward in confusion, his mouth opening, not knowing whether to obey or resist, clearly unprepared for anything of this type. Nikki recognized the classic, European features from pictures she had seen, but he seemed to be kind of spaced-out and distant, like he was on some kind of drug. He was wearing a white knee-length, bed jacket-type garment made of a thin, dainty fabric and decorated in front with embroidery and rows of vertical ruffles. It gave his body a soft, vulnerable, extremely sexy lift as he moved around.
Nikki slammed the door behind her and turned the lock, then, glancing at Finnelli she began working to shove home the bolt.
'Hey… what the hell is this?' he finally managed in a rather tremulous voice.
'Nothing to worry about,' Nikki told him, jamming the bolt in and turning back to face him, the gun waving aimlessly. 'Just a little professional visit. Strictly bus-'
'Frankie-e-e… who is it?' a female voice called shrilly from the next room.
Oh, my goddam, ass-kissing Christ, Nikki thought-another fucking broad! For a couple of moments she was stopped cold… this was something she absolutely had not counted on!
'Fran-n-n-n-n-kie-e… ' the voice called petulantly and very languorously. Nikki had the feeling she'd broken up a serious fucking scene when she started ringing the doorbell.
'All right,' Nikki said, regaining control, 'get back in there! Let's not keep the little darling waiting… '
