37- Be brave

“Yes, I suppose I do,” he agreed, then leaned across the table, his gaze
locked with hers. “But just so you know, sometimes when I’m watching you, it’s
because I find you both fascinating and stunning, and I can’t take my eyes off
you.”
She stared at him, openmouthed, as he sat back and lifted his glass in a silent
toast, then grinned. “Gives you something to think about, doesn’t it?”
“Mr. Lee, I don’t think we ought to go there, do you?” she said, clearly
flustered.
“Probably not,” he agreed readily.
Unfortunately, he was pretty sure it wastoo late to derail that particular train.
The ringing phone woke Mr. Lee out of a sound sleep, rousing him from a
dream in which he and Hazel were entangled on a feather mattress, engaging
in some very slow, incredibly provocative acts. Even before he picked up the
receiver, hehated whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Mr. Lee, why haven’t I heard from you?” his mother demanded in a petulant
tone.
“Good morning, Mother. How lovely to hear your voice,” he muttered,
knowing the sarcasm would go straight over her head. “What’sthe problem?”
“The problem is that you are not keeping me informed. Am I or am I not
your client?”
“You’re one of them,” he agreed, glancing at the clock and groaning when
he realized it was barely 6:00 a.m. He and Hazel had stayed out late the night
before, doing absolutely none of the things he’d wanted most to do, which was
probably why his dreams had been particularly steamy.
“The most important one, I should think,” she grumbled.
“Actually you’re the only one who’s not paying me,” he pointed out. “I took
on your case pro bono, if you recall.”
“I still think I should be getting an update from time to time. Have you found
Bobby? Will I be getting my money back?”
“I haven’t found Bobby. Asfor your money, we’ll know more about that
once I find out where he’s gone.”
“Well, if you don’t know anything, why on earth are you vacationing in
Wyoming, of all places?”
Mr. Lee gritted histeeth. “I am not on vacation. I’m following a
lead.”“Don’t you have investigators to do that?”
“Sure I do. They cost quite a bit. Shall I put their expenses on your bill?”
Adele O’Donnell Tinsley Warwick sucked in her breath. “There’s no need to
be snide, Mr. Lee.”
“I’m sorry,” Mr. Lee apologized automatically. “Since I have you on the line,
letme ask you again if Bobby ever said anything at all about any place he
particularly liked, some country or city he might be holed up in now? Is he the kind who’d hide all hisill-gotten gainsin a Swiss bank account, or would he
head for the Cayman Islands?”
“Neither. When he was with me, he seemed quite content to be in New York.
From my point of view, none of this makes any sense. I thought he was happy. I
thought we were happy. We were together for five years. Well, most of five
years. There was that period when I thought I might be in love with Mitchell
Davis, but he turned out to still have a wife tucked away upstate.”
“Yes, I recall,” Mr. Lee said wearily. Obviously, his mother made a habit of
deluding herself about the importance of a relationship. He sighed, then asked,
“What do you know about Rinaldi’s business partner?”
“Hazel? He rarely mentioned her,” she said dismissively. “I got the sense that
she was contributing very little to the business, other than a certain flair she had
with the customers and preparation of some of the dishes on the menu. Bobby
wasthe money man and the brains behind the place. I always had the feeling she
was holding him back, that her thinking was far too conservative.”
“Perhapsshe had good reason for being that way, since Rinaldi wasso
irresponsible where money was concerned,” he suggested.
“Bobby was a genius,” she said at once.
His mother’s criticism of Hazel and her admiring tone when she spoke of
Rinaldi, even after everything the man had done to her, made Mr. Lee cringe.
“Mother, are you anxious for me to find Rinaldi so we can put him behind bars,
or are you hoping to resume your affair with him?”
“How can you even ask me such a thing?” she asked indignantly.
“Because I honestly want to know the answer,” he said. “I get thisterrible
feeling in the pit of my stomach that you want the man back, even after
everything he’s done.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. He cheated me out of thousands of dollars. I wouldn’t
take him back if he begged me to.”
“Glad to hear it,” Mr. Lee said, though he wasn’t entirely certain he believed
her.
“Now, tell me again why you’re in Wyoming. Bobby certainly wouldn’t go
there. He hated anything primitive.”
“They do have hot and cold running water here, Mother.”
“You know what I mean. He was a sophisticated man.” She paused, then
added thoughtfully, “But that little partner of his wasn’t. Is that it? Is Hazel
inWyoming? Is she hiding out there?”
“Hazel is not ‘hiding out,’ and she’s every bit as sophisticated as you or I,”
Mr. Lee said impatiently, aware the moment the words left his mouth that his
mother would seize on them.
“Oh, dear,” she murmured. “She isthere. You’re not being taken in by her,
are you?”
“No more than you were by Rinaldi,” he said dryly.
“Mr. Lee, darling, do be careful,” she said with a rare display of motherly
concern.
“Believe me, Mother, in my profession, there are very few people I trust.
And after growing up with your unpredictable serial marriages, there are even
fewer women I trust.”
“Well, that’s okay, then,” she said, sounding pleased. Clearly she’d missed
the barb directed at her role in his distrust. Mr. Lee sighed at the realization that
shewas as self-absorbed as ever.
Only after he’d hung up did Mr. Lee realize exactly how pitiful his words
wereand how very badly he wanted Hazel Petrillo to be the person who broke
the pattern.
“Hazel, sweetie, the phone’s for you,” Hazel’s mother called cheerfully after a
tap on the bedroom door.
Hazel groaned and rolled over, burying her head under the pillow. She had
tossed and turned all night long, trying to escape the dream in which she was
running endlessly after a shadow. Bobby’s, no doubt. Not even her subconscious
would let her catch him, because apparently on some innate level she knew that
killing him was a bad idea.
“Hazel, are you awake?” her mother called.
“Yes,” she finally admitted. “I’ll be right there.”
For one fleeting second she allowed herself to anticipate hearing Mr. Lee’s
voice on the other end of the line. She was finding it increasingly difficult to
keep her guard up around him. Nor was she having much luck with keeping her
hormones in check. Dragging on her robe, she picked up her pace as she went
into the hallway to grab the nearest phone.
“Hello, doll,” Bobby greeted her asif they’d parted only days before and on
the very best of terms.
“Roberto Rinaldi, where the hell are you?” she demanded, shaking with
indignation. “Do you have any idea what sort of a mess you’ve left behind for
me to clean up? I have an attorney shadowing my every move. I believe you
know his mother.”
“Not Mr. Lee O’Donnell.”
“Bingo.”
“Sorry about that. Not to worry, though. I’ll get everything straightened out.”