2 Big Apple Hunter (15 page)

“Let me call Armand and ask him what he makes of this,” he said as he reached in
to
his pocket for his phone.

“No!” I was adamant. “Don’t call anyone from the jewelry store. All four of the men today are connected to the store in some way.” I sat and thought some more. “Darby, when I walked up to the men at the theater, I couldn’t tell who was speaking, but I heard some words. For sure, I heard
Singapore
,
shipment
,
bitch
, and
river
. The last thi
ng I caught was Bernardo saying, ‘
A
rmand doesn’t know
.
’
Can you put any of that with anything?”

He put his head down for a
moment
while he thought
, He looked up a
nd said, “Nothing, Susan. Truly, it’s been all business the last two days.”

“Ok
,” I said not giving up
.
“
Then think again back to yesterday morning before your appointment. Did you see the man in the Indiana Jones hat leave with the woman?”

“Indiana Jones, huh?”
he asked with a half smile
.

“Yeah,” I said
sheepishly. “I’ve been calling him that in my head for two days even though he doesn’t look anything like Harrison Ford. It’s that stupid hat he’s wearing.”

“Well, I didn’t see them leave.
Maybe
they went out a back door.” He
paused
for a second as though
remembering
something. “Come to think of it, though, there was a
short
dust
-
up before my meeting. They actually fired one of the clerks.”

“Really?” I sat up straighter. This could mean something. “Why would they do that?
” I asked. “
Th
ey had
just opened
the store
.”

“They closed the office door
,” he said
,
“
but I
could hear
the raised voices
. The girl had
started to put out jewelry from a box
belonging
to someone else. She had assumed
because it was all priced,
it was ready to be displayed. When they checked, all of the pieces were still in the store but two.” The light bulb went off over
his head, and I could see
he made the connection. “You bought the two pieces, didn’t you?”

“Yep
,” I said
nodding
.
“
A simple black jade piece and a gorgeous
morganite with peridots came out of the box.
The other necklace was a mother-of-pearl out of their case. The mother-of-pearl and the morganite are the lost pieces. I sent the jade necklace to my mom in Texas.”

“Do you think they’re after the jade?” he asked.

“My guess is the morganite, but the jade’s a possibility. Maybe that’s why that idi
ot with Bernardo
was staring at my chest
in front of the theater
. Maybe he was actually staring at the j
ade necklace. All I know is,
something’s up, Bernardo is involved in it, and maybe Armand doesn’t know what’s going on.”

My phone rang. I
stood
up and pulled it from my purse. It was Mick. I quickly hit the ignore button. Darby gave me a raised eyebrow.

“That was Mick,” I told him. I closed my e
yes and shook my head as if to
erase the bad memory. “I can’t talk to him. I had a meltdown by the hot dog vendor and said some t
errible things. I told him
you were there to re
scue me, so he should know
I’m ok.”

Darby held out
his hands, palms up, and stared
at me as though he simply didn’t
understand me at all.
“Susan, call him bac
k. You’re making that man crazy,
”
he said.

“I can’t,” I said despondently. I plopped back down in the chair and covered my face with my hands. “I accused him of wanting to leave me because
I won’t have sex with him. I’m
embarrassed, and I think things are already beyond repair.”

Darby hung his head as if trying to think of something to say to reassure me. I didn’t give him the chance. “Did you get a signed contrac
t with Angelo Brothers?” I asked
.

He
gave me
a big
grin
and said, “I did. A big
one. I hope there really isn’t
any trouble with th
e
necklace fiasco. This job will keep me busy and in groceries for many months to come.” He looked at his watch. “What do you want to do about dinner?”

“I’m afraid to leave the room,” I
told him
. “I think those four men mean busin
ess, and I think we should
stay put until it’s time to leave for the airport. And even then, we should be careful.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” he said nodding h
is head. He stood up and headed for the
telephone
in the bedroom
. “Room service it is then. What do you want?”

“I don’t know
,” I said “
You know what I like, so go ahead and order whatever you think looks good for me. I want to shower and change clothes for the trip home, and then I’ll start packing.”

An hour later, I was ready for
our flight
and had almost finished packing when room service arrived. Darby had ordered Butter Nut Squash Soup for both of us, and two entrées – Striped Bass with Parsnip Puree for me, and a Grilled Sirloin Steak with Bernaise Sauce for him. The meal was superb, and, of course, compliments of Angelo Brothers.

“Susan,” Darby addressed me while slurping soup, “I was thinking more about the necklaces. The hotel manager took down my information about our room being rifled, but he didn’t have any reports from any of the other guests. Do you think those guys were in our room?”

The thought of those
repulsive
men handling my underwear almost killed my appetite. “I don’t know how they could have gained access, but it probably was them.
If they saw me run back here after I left Saks, they could have thought I dropped off the jewelry
before
leaving for the bus tour
.”

Darby nodded his head. “Speaking of the bus tour,
” he said, “
fill me in on what kind of mischief you’ve been into while running around New York City all by yourself.” He had a big smile on his face. It warmed my he
art to see him smile
, a
nd I knew
he was no longer upset with me.

For the next hour, I regaled him with tales of my adventures. At times he laughed, at times his mouth
hung open, and at times he
smiled and shook his head. He especially liked Chase’s line of meeting once a month in a capital city around the world. “I’ll have to remember that one and maybe use it one day,” he said with a laugh.

We finished our packing, grabbed our bags, and took the elevator to the lobby. No one was around; nothing was amiss. Darby checked us out, and the doorman hailed a cab for us.

We climbed in, and Darby surprised me by addressing the cab
driver
. “There’s $100 in it for you if you get us to the airport safely
” he said
.
“
No one stops us. No one cuts you off. And be careful if anyone gets too close.”

The driver
swung his head around to look at
him and snapped, “Waddaya think you’re in a movie or somethin’?”

“No,” he said fr
owning at the driver. “I’m
serious, and if you can’t do it, we’ll take another cab.”

“Hold your horses, I can do it,” the driver said. He put the cab in gear and pulled away from the curb.

We arrived at the airport in record time. There wasn’t a single incident along the way. When we
stepped
out, the driver
stepped
out, too. He held out his hand for the fare and the
extra money. Darby gave both to him
. The driver had a gigantic smile on his face, and we heard him mumble as he got back in the cab, “Tourists!”

By 9:30, we were in the air and on our way home. Darby and I were pretty much talked out now. I put my head back and closed my eyes to relax. I smiled. I had tackled New York City by myself, and for the most part, I had won!

Monday morning brought black skies, lightning, and thunder. Usually, I love a good storm, but this morning it felt foreboding.

I dressed quickly in black slacks and pulled on a pretty tunic with blue/white/black geometric squares and flutter sleeves. Hair and makeup done, I grabbed my camel trench coat, left
the apartment, and drove the twenty
minutes to the center.

Angela had already opened
and
was
taking inventory. The bad weather meant a slow day in the center, so she had taken the initiative to tackle the much-needed, tedious task. Grace would be in shortly and would be on deck to take care of anyone coming through the door. I decided to spend the morning in my office to work the telephone. I had a stack of questionnaires from people who had come into the center over the past several months but had decided not to enroll.

Over the course of the morning, I called each of them and offered a free 10-pound weight loss program. It was fairly easy to lose weight with our quick-start program, and many times customers would enroll in the full program after they lost their first ten pounds.

By noon, I had set seven appointments for
the coming afternoon. I
used the bad weather to my advantage and encouraged people to come in as there was nothing else to do in the rain.

I stepped out of my office to check on the girls. Angela was just finishing the inventory, and Grace was cleaning the bathroom. I advised them to be prepared to enroll 10-pound programs after lunch.

I returned to my office and sat down reflecting on my weekend in New York. There were so many high points, but my mind didn’t want to
reflect on them
. As unsettling as the men wanting the necklace was, my mind didn’t want to go there either. My mind kept going back to the terrible things I blurted out at Mick when I was so freaked out. He didn’t call back after I hit the ignore button on my phone, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be calling again.

I was overwhelmed with sadness. Mick was an attractive, extremely desirable guy. He would have no problem whatsoever meeting someone else. I always noticed other girls
looking him over when
we were out together. Why would he want to stay with me and my immature friends when he could have someone who didn’t hold him at arm’s length and make him crazy?

Angela stuck her head in the doorway and caught me looking like my w
orld had ended. “Are you ok
?” she asked me, concerned.

I smiled at her and said, “I am. What can I do for you?”

“There’s a woman here to see you
” she said
.
“
A Mrs. Ross, and she asked for you specifically.”

The name wasn’t familiar. She wasn’t one of the appointments I had set for the afternoon. “Thanks, Angela,” I told her. “I’ll be right out.”

I stood up and took a moment to shake off my sadness. I wanted to greet Mrs. Ross with a smile and give her my full attention. I walked through the center to the waiting room and greeted the woman. “Mrs. Ross,” I said as I extended my hand to her. “I’m Susan Hunter. It’s nice to meet you.”

She stood up and shook my hand
,
but she didn’t speak. She looked vaguely familiar, and I wondered if she kn
ew my mother. There had been
many women in and out of our home over the years with Mom’s bridge club, Tupperware parties, and coffee klatches.

She followed me through the center and into my office. I walked around my desk to sit down and motioned for Mrs. Ross to have a seat in front of the desk. She surprised me by turning around and closing the office door before taking a seat. Did she want privacy? Some women were very shy when talking about their weight gain and desire to lose weight.

“How can I help you, Mrs. Ross?” I asked her.

“Well, well, well,” she said dryly. “Look at you, acting like the bloody big shot. You have your own office and everythin’.” She looked around the room.

My heart felt like it had just received an electric shock. My chest tightened. Mrs. Ross had an English accent.