Lust, Money & Murder (13 page)

They both started laughing.

“The Turkey Roll,” Elaine said.

“Bet you’ll never forget that day, will you?”

No
, Elaine thought,
but not for the reasons you think.

He just stood there and they both watched the little toy wind down until it fell over on its side.

“Well?” he said.

“Well what?”

“About Friday night. Do you want to go to dinner, or not? I made reservations at Maison Godet. It’ll just be you and me.” He smiled. “No groupies allowed.”

Maison Godet was the best restaurant in Sofia, an, intimate, romantic setting.

No way was she going to set herself up for another letdown.

“What time?” she said.

“About seven? Pick you up at your place.”

After he walked away, she looked after him, thinking that the dinner would be a good chance to tell him that she was requesting a transfer.

* * *

When Friday night rolled around, Elaine took the afternoon off. It wasn’t so she could get ready for her evening out with Nick. She wasn’t about to do anything special to prepare—she just wanted to relax for a few hours, maybe take a nap so she wouldn’t get sleepy if they had wine at dinner.

No way will I do anything out of the ordinary to try and look prettier,
she thought, as she sat in the Salon de Pierre, having her hair and nails done.
No way will I spend my good money to try and impress him
, she thought, as she paid the clerk in the boutique for the soft, flowing cashmere dress that picked up the blue in her eyes.
No way will I get my hopes up just to have him cruelly dash them again
, she thought, admiring her new outfit and hairstyle in the mirror, her heart pounding madly at the thought of what might happen if he walked her up to her apartment to say goodnight.

I’m a bloody fool
, she thought, as she touched up her lips in the bathroom.
I’m the biggest bloody fool that’s ever walked this earth.

* * *

“You look nice,” Nick said simply, when he picked her up.

“Thank you,” she said. “So do you.”

Nick was wearing slacks and a sports coat over a sweater, which was about as dressed up as he ever got, except when someone from Washington visited.

When they were seated at the restaurant, Nick said, “You seem a little distracted. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. It’s just been a long week.”

“Yeah. For me, too.”

He started talking animatedly about one of his cases. “I think we’re going to bust the operation wide open.” It was a counterfeiting operation in Russia, but the printing operation was located somewhere else. Nick suspected it was in Croatia, but he wasn’t sure. “Without your help identifying the fakes, this would have taken months longer. We wouldn’t be nearly as far along.”

“I’m glad,” she said.

Despite her determination not to enjoy herself, she had a wonderful evening with Nick, as always. She had never felt more comfortable with any man in her life. The Russians had a word that described it perfectly—
rodnoi
. A warm, close, family-like feeling.

That’s exactly how she felt with Nick. Like they were meant to be together, always, forever.

By the time they were eating dessert, Elaine started to feel annoyed with herself for letting her infatuation run so wild. She had a wonderful job, and Nick was a fantastic boss who truly appreciated her skills. And the best friend anyone could ever have! Why was she about to screw everything up just because the man didn’t have any romantic interest in her? She felt selfish and stupid and immature. She ought to just delete the Request for Transfer and, once and for all, fix it firmly in her mind that Nick was a
coworker
, and that was all he would ever be. Period.

* * *

“You want to go have a drink somewhere?” Nick said, when they got back in his Mustang.

Elaine glanced at her watch—it was almost eleven.

“Come on,” he said, with a boyish grin. “We’ll go to a place none of my groupies can afford.”

She smiled, but on the inside, she wasn’t laughing. It amazed her how fast her feelings could flip-flop. How could he be so cold and start talking about his damn groupies? She sorely regretted ever calling them that. And how could he not know how she felt about him? He had to be an absolute moron if he couldn’t tell. But then, men were pretty blind sometimes.

“I’d rather go home, Nick. I’m tired.” She opened the car door.

“Ok. I’ll walk you up.”

“You don’t need to do that, Nick.”

“Yes I do.”

When they went inside the building and got on the elevator, Nick looked a little uncomfortable. He kept stealing glances at her, but she avoided eye contact.

They stepped off the elevator and she unlocked the door to her apartment. She turned to him and smiled. “Thanks for dinner, it was really nice.”

“Glad you enjoyed it.” Before she could turn away, he touched her chin. “Are you mad at me about something? I haven’t done anything to offend you, have I?”

No,
she thought, looking up into his brown eyes.
That’s just the problem, Nick. You never do anything to offend me
.

“I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

“Oh. Well, if I ever do offend you, you’ll tell me, right? I don’t think I could stand it if I ever hurt your feelings or anything.”

“Why’s that, Nick?” she said, now looking directly into his eyes.

“I...I don’t know. You’re just...too nice a person.”

They both just stood there, gawking at each other.

“I wanted to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed working with you this past year, Elaine. I’m not very good at saying this kind of thing...but you’ve really brightened up things around here. For me, I mean.”

“I’m glad,” Elaine said. “I like working with you, too, Nick.”

There was another awkward silence.

“Well,” Nick said, “I’ll see you Monday, then.” He hesitated just an instant, looking past her, into her apartment.

“See you Monday,” she said.

He just stood there, looking into her eyes.

Time seemed to have completely stopped.

Suddenly, he grabbed her and passionately started kissing her.

The next instant, they were falling all over each other, knocking over furniture. Nick kicked the door shut with his foot and pushed her down on the couch.

Elaine found herself tumbling down a long, deep, delicious tunnel of ecstasy. Nothing else in the universe existed except her and Nick. He tore off her clothes and devoured her, his lips and tongue exploring every inch of her body.

* * *

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he whispered, sometime in the middle of the night.

“I didn’t think you liked me.”

“My god, I’m crazy about you, I have been since the first day you walked into my life!”

When Elaine finally drifted off to sleep in his arms, her worst fear was when they awoke, under the sober bright light of morning, Nick would be all fidgety and awkward, regret what they had done, and tell her that it was a “slip”, that they should just go back to being coworkers and friends.

But that didn’t happen.

The next morning, he held her close to him, stroking her hair and her face, looking into her eyes.

They made love again, and then finally got up and dressed. He was going to Russia for a one day undercover operation and wouldn’t be back until late Sunday night.

She hugged him tightly. She didn’t want to let go of him. She was afraid that if she did, she would lose him.

“I won’t see you again until Monday morning,” he said, gently pulling himself back so he could look at her face.

“What are we going to do, Nick?”

“What do you mean?”

“At work. It’s going to be awkward, isn’t it?”

“How so?”

“Everyone will know. You can’t hide something like this from people. They sense it.”

Nick shrugged. “I don’t give a shit.”

* * *

Elaine stayed in bed long after he left, in a euphoric afterglow like nothing she had ever experienced, smelling his manly scent on the pillows, still hearing his voice, feeling his touch. It was all like a dream—she couldn’t believe it had actually happened.

She’d harbored a fear, partially instilled by Ashley, that if it did actually ever happen, it would be a letdown, that the real thing would never live up to her fantasies. But it turned out to be quite the opposite. Making love with Nick was even better than she had imagined, partially because she had never slept with someone for whom she had such strong feelings. Sex with Nick wasn’t complicated, it was easy and effortless—she would do anything to please him, and he seemed to have the same attitude towards her.

* * *

At about 10:30 am, her cellphone started ringing. Elaine was still in bed. She was in such a dreamy, exhilarated state that she was almost unaware of the sound until she realized it might be Nick calling her.

She pulled the blanket around herself and retrieved her cellphone from her purse.

The display said UNKNOWN CALLER.

“Hello?” she said, her voice still husky with lust.

“Hey, smart-ass.”

Elaine frowned. “Excuse me?”

“It is you, isn’t it?” a raspy male voice said. “The smart-ass who was in my anti-counterfeiting class at Laurel a while back?”

The memories of the training class at the Secret Service Academy slowly came back. It was Judd, or whatever his real name was, the instructor from the Treasury Department. Gene Lassiter. That was his name.

“Yes, it’s me,” Elaine said, sitting up in the bed.

“How come you never called me? Being sent to Bulgaria ought to be enough to get you fed up with working for the Secret Service.”

“It’s—it’s not bad.” She glanced over at the mussed up bedcovers. “I like it here.”
Especially now.

His voice changed tone. “I hate to tell you this, but you’re in trouble. Serious trouble.”

She sat up even straighter, suddenly afraid. She wondered if he could already know she had slept with Nick. “What do you mean?” she said cautiously.

“We shouldn’t talk about this on the phone. All I can tell you at this point is that the SAIC there is about to be arrested. You need to get the hell out of that office, and fast.”

Elaine was having a difficult time taking all this in. “Arrested for what?”

“It’s better not to talk about this on the phone.” He paused. “On Tuesday I’ll be in Berlin, on business. Can you meet me there for a chat?”

“Well...yes, I guess so.” Elaine’s mind was racing, trying to come to grips with what Nick might be doing to get himself arrested. And why Gene Lassiter would be warning her about it.

He said, “Tell your office you have some personal business in Berlin on Tuesday, a sick relative or something, and that you’ll just be out one day. Make absolutely sure no one knows anything else. Especially the SAIC. Is that clear?”

“Yes. Yes, sir.”

The line went dead.

CHAPTER 1.16

Elaine spent the rest of the weekend in a state of despair. She couldn’t believe that Nick was doing anything wrong. But then she remembered their trip to Belarus, and the $10,000 worth of Belarusian rubles he had smuggled back in his suitcase. He had asked her not to report it, saying that he would convert it to dollars and say that it had been found in Sofia. When they had gotten together for Elaine to fill out their DOPS, the money had not been mentioned. Nor had she heard it mentioned since.

On Monday morning, Elaine made sure she arrived at work before he did so she could make her reservations without calling too much attention to it. Nick would find out, of course—he had to approve any requests for personal leave.

At about 10:30 am, he appeared at her office door. “Hi,” he said simply. He gazed at her, smiling, his eyes saying more than words ever could. He lowered his voice a little. “How are you?”

“Fine.” She tried to behave as warmly towards him as possible. “How was Russia?”

“Made a lot of progress this time.” He opened his jacket and handed her a small bundle of $100 bills. “Check these out and see if any of them match the old ones.”

“Fine.”

He just stood there, watching her. Looking over his shoulder, he stepped closer and took her hand. He kissed it tenderly, gazing into her eyes. “You sure you’re okay with what happened between us?”

“Yes.” Her face flushed.

“I know it’s a little awkward...”

“Nick, I have to go to Germany tomorrow.”

“Germany?” he said, puzzled. “Why?”

“A friend of mine from college—Heather—who moved there with her boyfriend. He walked out on her last night.” Elaine felt horrible lying to Nick. But she told herself this was for the best—she would go talk to Gene Lassiter and straighten this out. Lassiter obviously was on the wrong track about Nick. Surely Nick hadn’t taken those Belarusian rubles as a real bribe. “Heather’s a basket case right now. I told her I would come see her.” Elaine added, “It will just be for one day.”