Wicked Obsessions (23 page)

Of their own accord, her legs opened and her body squirmed in search of its other half.

Click-whirr.
"Now, darlin', nice and easy-like, sit up with your back to the camera."

She no longer thought to refuse him, as she could see and hear by the roughness in his voice that the game was clearly a tie at this point. Again he set the camera down and came up behind her to position her the way he wanted her.

"The camera liked that little bit of skin, darlin', but it wants to see some more." His fingers grazed the swells of her breasts as they closed around the robe's edges. "Let's show it some of this gorgeous back," he said, easing the covering off her shoulders. His knuckles caressed her skin as he slowly dragged the material all the way down her arms to her wrists. "Straighten your spine, darlin'," he whispered, and his finger stroked the length of that column.

The gooseflesh he raised had nothing to do with the temperature in the room.

"Such a beautiful back," he complimented as the rest of his fingers entered the play and made a shivery path over her shoulders. "Almost as beautiful as the front." His hands cupped her breasts, and she leaned back against him.

"Drew,
please."
She moaned when his fingers toyed with her nipples. "No more."

"No more?" His voice was husky with the urgent desire for quite the opposite. "Or more?"

In answer, she turned, unbuckled his belt and pulled down his zipper. His hands joined hers to quicken his undressing and in seconds his naked body was stretched out over hers, just like the scene he had described to seduce her.

Before she welcomed him into her body and granted them both what they desperately needed, she begged a favor. "Please destroy that film."

His sexy grin was full of mischief. "What film?"

Chapter 14

Juliette was not very happy about having to come up with a plan that had to be carried out so fast. She preferred plans that took time to prepare—the kind that showed how very smart she was. But Selena had explained why they must hurry, and Juliette did the best she could within the set rules.

Some rules couldn't be changed, however. First, no one must see or hear anything that happens to the bad person. Second, when the bad person is hurt, the police must believe it was an accident or that another bad person is to blame. And third, above all, the good person must be protected from both bad people and the police.

After Selena heard the terrible, hurtful things Detective Kidder had said to Teri, she went straight home to Juliette. It wasn't until the next morning, though, that they finally agreed on a safe enough plan.

The bad policeman was very eager to get some kind of proof that Teri and Drew were guilty of Rico's murder, and Selena had promised to contact Kidder if she thought of any little bit of information. All she had to do was offer a string that he couldn't resist pulling. By the time he realized what was on the other end of the string, it would be too late.

Throughout the day on Friday, Selena placed calls to the police station, asking for Detective Kidder in a variety of voices. Since she was aware that all incoming calls were recorded, she never left any messages, nor did she intend to talk to him if he was in, but she knew of no other way to track him down. The station would not give out his home number or address, and he wasn't listed in the phonebook. That meant the first part of the plan was going to depend on a little logic and a little luck.

Selena figured that if he wasn't at the station, he was either at home or out doing whatever detectives did. And in this one's case, that seemed to involve a lot of time bothering Teri. If Selena guessed right, she would have to act on the spot, which meant she had to be prepared.

Before leaving her apartment and heading for White Plains, she transferred one of the special packages from her freezer to a slightly larger bag with ice, then chose a purse big enough to conceal that and all the other items she might need, depending on how things moved along.

Juliette was definitely not happy with all the "ifs" in this plan, but they didn't seem to have much choice.

The sun was low in the sky as Selena drove out of Manhattan, but it was still light enough for her to wear her large dark sunglasses. She had pinned her hair up and covered it with a floppy, man's fishing-style hat. The red wig would no longer be necessary. Because of the unusually mild weather that June evening, her long, tan trench coat would not seem too out of place if anyone happened to see her. But all anyone would actually
see
was a tall, genderless person carrying an oversized denim shoulder bag.

The little luck she needed was waiting for her when she reached Teri's street and slowly passed the house. Everything was perfect.

The detective was sitting in a car across from the house and hadn't noticed her drive by. Selena wondered if Teri knew he was there, hoping to catch Teri in some naughty behavior, or simply hoping to push her into a confession by his constant annoying presence. It didn't matter. Soon none of his foolish suspicions would matter.

The second piece of luck was in Teri's driveway. Selena remembered Rico's car was still in the impound lot and Teri's car now sat outside in the drive. That car, and the lights in the house, which were on, assured Selena that Teri was at home and, more than likely, some neighbor would recall that if asked. Selena hoped a neighbor might also recall seeing the other car parked in the driveway.

She knew Drew Marshall had gone out of town on a big assignment. Apparently he was back and didn't want to wait to develop his film. There was just a splinter of light visible at the edge of the window, but it was enough to let her know he was hard at work. If her luck held, he would be at it for hours, and he and Teri would be able to provide alibis for each other's whereabouts that night, with the neighbors as witnesses. It was absolutely perfect.

She found a parking place around the corner and quickly walked back to Kidder's car. As he was watching the house, he didn't see her approach on the passenger side of his car. Hunched down, she rapped on the closed window.

Kidder jerked around, his hand flying to the holster inside his jacket.

Selena briefly lowered her glasses to help him identify her. "It's me," she said in as loud a voice as she dared, and when he lowered the window an inch, she added, "Selena. Let me in.
Quickly!"

He pressed the button to unlock the doors, but instead of getting in front as he expected, she dived into the back seat and lay down. The shocked expression on his face was worth the banging her knee had received for her graceless action.

"
Hurry,
" she ordered breathlessly. "Get away before they see me!"

Kidder shifted his bulk in the seat behind the steering wheel, but he couldn't quite get around to see more than a tangle of long legs. Her head was too low behind his seat for him to see her, but he had no trouble recognizing her voice, even with the edge of panic in it. As he angled the rearview mirror, trying to get a look at her, he questioned, "Hurry
where,
before
who
sees you?"

"Them!
They'll kill me if they know I'm talking to you."

His nose told him this could be a trap. The dingbat could be helping her friends lure him away from the house for some reason. "I'm not going anywhere, Selena...
you
are. I'll give you to the count of five to tell me what you're up to, or you can get out of my car."

"Oh, no-o-o!" she whined. "Not you, too. After the way you talked at the funeral, I thought you'd help me."

Her sob was pitiful and Kidder relented. "Okay, kid. I'll listen, but no promises."

She sniffed several times before choking out her plea. "Not here,
please.
Can't we go somewhere else to talk?"

"We could go down to the station—"

"No!
Not there. I'm scared to death of police stations, and someone might see me, and then they'd find out, and then I'd be the next one dead." Her sobbing began in earnest.

"Okay, okay. Tell me two things and maybe I'll take you somewhere. Who are 'they' and why should I care what they do to you?"

Between sniffs and hiccoughs, she told him, "Teri Gambini and... and Drew... Marshall. They... killed Rico and... and I'm pretty sure they know that I know."

Years on the force, as well as years of marriage, had made him too skeptical to accept a woman's tears as proof of sincerity. "Hmmm. The other day, you didn't know anything that could help me in my investigation. You even convinced me that you didn't know about any close relationship between the two of them. Since you've gone this far out on the limb, why not tell me why I should listen to you now?"

"I was too scared. I thought I'd be safer if I kept quiet about what I knew." She sat up so that he could see her face in the rearview mirror. Slowly she removed the sunglasses and revealed her tear-streaked face. Then she took off the hat. "I'm the blonde you've been looking for. I was there. I saw them."

"Bingo!" he shouted with a bang of his fist on the steering wheel. When he looked in the mirror again, she was gone from view. "Selena?"

"I'm down here," she answered from behind his seat. "Now can we
please
get away from this house?"

He started the engine and drove several blocks before he saw a suitable place to park—the empty parking lot of the elementary school. "Okay. There's no one around here at this time of night. Come up front and talk to me."

Kidder watched her sit up and look around before deciding it was safe to do as he suggested. He felt a little sorry for the dingbat. She really did look scared to death. "Come on, I don't bite." That seemed to reassure her enough to get her to move. Even after she settled herself in the front seat he had to urge her to speak again. "I was right, wasn't I? They were having an affair, and the husband didn't want the divorce, so they knocked him off and set it up to look like a mob hit. Right so far?" She hesitated, but nodded her confirmation. "Were you having an affair with Rico Gambini?" This time she lowered her head before nodding again. "Did they know?"

"I think so, but Teri didn't really care, you know? I think maybe she thought if he had somebody else, he'd go for the divorce, but he wanted the money more than me." Her lip quivered, but she held back the new flood of tears that threatened.

"If you were there, how is it they let you live?"

"I was there, but they didn't see me. Until you told Teri about the blonde hair, they didn't know I'd been with him only minutes before they went into the apartment. Oh, Lord," she moaned, and hid her face in her hands. "If Rico hadn't sent me out of the apartment just then, I would have been there, probably still together, like... oh, dear Lord, what am I going to do? I'm too scared to figure it all out!"

"Let me help with a few questions so that I can get this straight in my own head." He wanted this to be the truth so badly, he hated to have to ask anything that might refute what she was saying, but if he didn't ask, Captain Hart would do the honors when he brought her in. "How is it you were in the apartment in the first place?"

She lowered her hands and steadily met his gaze. "I thought it was so romantic, him being a mailman and all. When I got the key and the typed note signed 'R' in the mail, I never thought it could have been from anyone else."

"What did the note say?"

"It was so-o-o cute. And sort of mysterious. But he liked to play pretend when we were together, so I thought it would be fun. It said I should go to such-and-such apartment on that day, take all my clothes off, and wait for a special piece of mail to be delivered to the door. So I did. When there was a knock on the door and I heard Rico say it was the mailman, and that I had to sign for a letter, I cracked up. I guess I don't have to tell you what happened when I opened the door. I thought he acted awfully surprised, but I figured that was part of the game."

"So you were sent there to receive a letter—naked—and he had a letter to deliver. And neither one of you questioned the other?"

She looked at him as if he was out of his mind. "Questions and Answers was
not
one of the games we played. Really, Detective, if I invited you into an apartment while posing in nothing but my birthday suit, would you be asking questions? Well, he didn't, and I didn't, until I saw Teri and Drew sneaking into that same apartment with another key."