There was an equally good chance it was a street punk looking for an easy score. The words, as much as the matter-of-fact way she uttered them, caused him to pause for just a moment. It never hurts to be prepared.
No, it doesnt. He turned, once hed reached the open door, and studied her. She snapped off the light switch before following him into the upstairs hallway. He wondered how many women in his acquaintance would have dealt with the possibility of a stranger in her house with such cool calculation. There was no evidence of alarm in her demeanor, just a certain competency that was at odds with the unmistakable femininity of those long legs and lean curves. The observation was undeniably chauvinistic, so he wisely refrained from sharing it.
I did telephone, he offered, surprising himself by making the explanation. There was no answer at your house, and apparently youve had the phone here disconnected. I decided it wouldnt hurt to swing by and see if I could catch you. You didnt answer the doorbell, but I heard music from somewhere in the house and followed it.
She brushed by him, sending him a sidelong glance before she led him toward the steps to downstairs. I didnt expect to hear from you until tomorrow.
I had business in the city, so I decided to drop off the contract I had my lawyer draw up. He held up the hinged file he carried. As well as a complete copy of the old investigative report.
If truth be told, his business in the city could have waited or could at least been delegated. But hed found it strangely difficult to focus once shed left his office that afternoon. Theyd decided upon a course of action, and now he was anxious to see it through. Anxious to see what answers, if any, her investigation would supply.
I thought if you had some time tonight, you could go over the contents of the file and decide where you want to start. He followed her into a small downstairs living room and, waiting until shed seated herself on the sofa, sat in a nearby chair. He looked with interest around the room hed merely glanced at his first time through. There was a battered recliner in one corner, facing a TV and stereo setup. It didnt take much imagination to figure that the chair had been well used by the man who had lived here. Above it hung a sampler, on which someone had painstakingly embroidered the words Integrity Above All Else.
He gestured to it. Your work?
My one-and-only attempt. It was my dads favorite saying. He had what some might consider an outdated code of honor.
James thought of the family crest that hung above the doorway in his family home. Honor. Duty. Devotion. It was the creed that his father had lived by. He and his brothers had grown up attempting to do the same. Not everyone, he murmured.
When her gaze turned quizzical, he opened the file he carried, took out the contract inside. Withdrawing a gold pen from his suit jacket, he handed both to her. I had my lawyer draw up this contract. The terms are outlined clearly in it, and theyre not negotiable. We already discussed this, but youll want to read the confidentiality clause near the bottom. If you or anyone in your employ violates it in the slightest, Ill direct my attorney to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law. Am I understood?
As you say, we discussed that earlier. Her voice was cool. She scanned the rest of the document, and he used the time to watch her. It was no hardship. Shed tamed that unruly tangle of hair by hauling it up in a knot and securing it somehow. The simple cotton shirt she wore was marred with dust, no doubt encountered upstairs, as were her shorts, which showed an intriguing length of slender thigh.
Not for the first time he noted that she didnt fit his notion of a private investigator. If he was lucky, she wouldnt fit anyone elses, either. Once shed left his office, hed been plagued by doubts about the wisdom of his choice. The feeling was too foreign to be borne comfortably. He could put an army of more experienced investigators on the matter, but she might be able to provide the one thing that no one else coulda direct line to her fathers old contacts. It was possible that one of them knew something about the case hed worked that hadnt been contained in the mans report. That, coupled with his reluctance to spread the word of these threats, had cemented his decision. He could spare a week. And if she failed to come up with anything new He gave a mental shrug. Then there would be time enough to select another individual.
When she was finished, he took the contract, studying the signature with a sense of amusement. Your full name is Victoria?
He noted her barely concealed wince. Use it at your peril. And be warned that the last guy to call me by it lost his right front bicuspid.
Ill be sure to remember that. Do you have a cell? When she rattled off a number, he jotted it down on the top of the contract, before setting it aside and handing her the hinged portfolio hed brought with him. Youll find mine on the outside of the top file folder. Dont hesitate to call, regardless of the hour.
Are you sure? Her tone was light, but the expression in her eyes was speculative. I dont want to be responsible for interrupting business. Or whatever.
Business will take a back seat to your reports, and whatever will have to wait until we get this he nodded toward the portfolio shed set on the table beside her taken care of. Upon reflection, a personal life of any type hadnt been a priority for much too long. Few women tolerated being set aside once he became embroiled in a particularly challenging contract. He tried, and failed, to recall the last time hed been involved in a halfway serious relationship. If he was actually spending time wondering if his P.I.s legs were as silky as they looked, perhaps his sister, Ana, was right, and he was becoming too focused. Not that hed ever admit as much to her.
As long as youre here, I did think of a question earlier. She slid to a more comfortable position in her seat and crossed one long line of leg over the other. Who was the third person in the car with your parents?
It took a moment for him to switch mental gears. Lucy Rappaport. She was the young wife of our production manager and a good friend of my mothers. Theyd been on their way to New Orleans, where my father had business. The women were going to shop and have dinner there. The subject brought him back with a crude jolt to the business at hand. She and her husband had an eighteen-month-old son.
The tragedy that day hadnt been limited to his family. Marcus Rappaport still worked for them, having risen high enough in the corporation to be his right-hand man. Although he was considered one of the most eligible men in the parish, hed never remarried. Some losses, James knew, left a void that couldnt be filled.
The time frame of this case will make it challenging, Tori stated. Witnesses move away or die. Memories fade. But technology has grown more advanced, too. She gave a shrug. Maybe that will prove to be to our advantage. She began pulling things from the file hed brought and arranging them in piles around her on the sofa, in an order that made sense only to her. At any rate, I intend to reinterview the people who processed the accident scene, at least those I can get hold of. Is the name of the salvage yard the car was sold to included in this file?
The remains of the car were destroyed long ago. And he knew that precisely because hed already attempted to trace it. Theres nothing left to examine with new technology. James felt a surge of impatience, which he tempered. There ought to be ways to find the truth that he hadnt thought ofought to be avenues to explore that he hadnt considered. Not for the first time he questioned whether hed made the right choice pursuing this thing.