The Taxman Killeth (5 page)

Again, muffled noise filtered
from between his fingers.

“Hell, if you’re asking me to let
go of you completely, I don’t know whether I want to do that.”

She became a frenzy of jabbing
and kicking.

“Okay, okay. I was joking. I’ll
let you go. You agree to the terms?”

Todd had to wait a few seconds
for the nodding of her head.

Please, Lord, make her keep her
word, he prayed, letting his grip slowly slacken. When free, Amy spun around to
glare at Todd.

“How the hell did you get into
my apartment?”

“Those old locks aren’t hard to
pick, Amy.”

“Yeah, well, I keep meaning to
replace it. It came with the apartment.”

“Not good safety practice to use
a former tenant’s lock. Can never tell who they know.”

“You were acquainted with them?”

Todd shook his head. Amy’s flesh
was flushed right down to the roll of towel mid-way down her bosom. Her hands
reached up and pulled the pale peach terry cloth further up over the fullness
of her breasts. He wondered what her legs looked like.

“How ‘bout we go sit on the
couch and talk?”

“I talk better with clothes on,
Mr. Coleman.”

“I can’t let you go walking off
to the bedroom alone.”

He saw her sparse brows furrow
into a frown.

“I’d say we were at
logger-heads, Mr. Coleman, because I’m not about to sit down completely naked
with a—”

“Suspected murderer.”

Briskly she nodded.

“How about I give you my jacket,”
he said, pulling the jacket from his shoulders.

“Are you kidding? That may take
care of the top half, but it will hardly cover my... the rest of me.”

Todd pulled his jacket back on.

“You’re quick,” he said.

Amy threw him a disgusted look.

“Okay, do you have a robe or something
like that to put on?”

“In the bedroom.”

“Well, then, why didn’t you put
it on before you came out here?”

“Because, Mr. Coleman, I didn’t
expect company.”

“You eat in the nude?” The idea
conjured up some pleasant visuals inside his head.

Amy sighed.

“I was going to switch on the
television before I got dressed. I wanted to hear whether there was any news on
your where—”

Todd smiled and spread his arms
out wide away from his body.

“And here you are. Yes, I know,”
she moaned.

“Let’s compromise, Amy. I’ll
walk you into the bedroom and turn my back while you quickly slip into a robe.
On condition that you don’t try to bop me on the head, or you might suffer a
serious penalty.”

Her eyes opened wide.

“I certainly understand.”

“No, you don’t. I was thinking more
of spanking than what was going through your mind.”

Chapter 5

Stay... For Supper

Amy carefully stepped around
Todd Coleman while never taking her eyes off him. Finally she faced the door
straight down the hallway and attempted to judge whether she could run for her
bedroom and lock the door before he could imprison her again in his vice-like
hold.

“Don’t even consider it, Amy; my
legs are longer, although I’m not too sure of that,” he said, taking a step
back to assess her.

Now’s your chance, Amy, go
for it.

“The only thing you’d manage to
do is lose your towel, and I might not want to give it back to you.”

Courage deserted her, and she
walked the hall to her bedroom, while Todd followed closely.

“Did you kill that man, Joey
Landis?”

“No.”

Simple reply, but it wasn’t an
explanation for what was going on. He seemed to sense her thought.

“I’ll give you the full story
when we’re settled in on the couch.”

Once inside the bedroom, she
immediately went to her futon bed and searched through the bed linen for the
cotton robe she had removed that morning.

“Boy, you keep a messier bedroom
than I do. I guess that’s your dirty laundry in a ball over there.”

“I was in a hurry this morning.”

“By the size of that pile, I’d
say you’re in a hurry every morning.”

Todd walked over and picked up a
silken garment. It was a pale pink teddy with white lace in all the right
places.

“I bet you look good in this.”

Forgetting the robe, Amy grabbed
the delicate material from his hands.

“Yeah, I think it would be kind
of nice if you changed into that instead of a stuffy robe, unless the robe
matches.”

Amy tossed the teddy onto the
futon and swung open the doors to the pine armoire. Rolled into a ball on the
floor of the armoire was her navy terry robe, the one with the collection of
breakfast stains.

“Would you mind turning around?”

“Going to surprise me, huh?”
Before he turned around he warned her not to try anything tricky. Given the
difference in their sizes, he was apt to come out the winner.

“Shut up and turn around.”

He did, while keeping his eye on
the vanity mirror in the corner of the room. He watched as Amy let the towel
slip to the floor, revealing her bare back and shapely buttocks. Now if she’d
only spin around frontwards, he thought. Instead, Amy bent over and picked up a
dark heavy fabric. When she stood, he saw that she was slipping an unattractive
wrap over her shoulders. His moan must have been audible, because Amy shouted
that she wasn’t taking all that long.

“Honey, it’s not the length of
time you’re taking, it’s that awful sack you’re putting on.”

“What?” Amy swung around,
clutching the robe together. “But how did you know what I was putting...” Her
eyes opened wide when she saw the location of the vanity mirror. “You peeping
Tom,” she shrieked and picked up a fleece-lined slipper to throw at him.

“Lord, don’t tell me you’re
going to put those ugly things on, too.”

Amy dropped the slipper and
quickly sashed the robe. Out of spite, she wiggled her feet into the tan fleece
slippers and started for the living room. But once seated on the couch she
quickly discarded the hot slippers and tucked her legs under her.

Todd followed carrying the
teddy.

“This would sure look a lot
better than that...”

He sat down and started sniffing
the air.

“What’s the matter?”

Todd leaned toward Amy and took
several quick sniffs.

“Wow, that thing smells musty.”

“I haven’t worn it in a long
time.” She was about to say that it was clean, but realized no one would
believe her. Certainly not Todd, who was sitting inches away from her. “I meant
to launder it.”

“When? Back before the war?”

“Which war?”

“I was thinking of the Big One.”

“I wasn’t even born yet. My
parents weren’t even born yet.”

“Feels nice, too.” Todd was
rubbing the silk teddy between the pads of two fingers.

“Put that down and get on with
your explanation,” Amy said, drawing the collar of her robe up over her neck.

Todd spread the teddy across the
arm of the couch.

“What do you want to know, Amy?”

“Did you kill Joey Landis?”

“No.”

“Who did?”

“It’s possible that someone in
your office either killed him or commissioned the murder.”

“Why would a person in a legal
firm get involved in a killing?”

“Because they had something to
hide.”

“And what was that?”

“Illegals. Listen, Amy, I’m
going to be straight with you because... basically, I need to trust someone.”

“Why me?”

“Gut feel. I work for the
Federal Government, kind of in an unofficial way. They call me in from time to
time to do undercover work. I’m known through my career in the Marines. Joey
and I worked together. Matter of fact, it was Joey who had the contact for this
caper.”

“So he was your partner.”

Amy saw the pain cross his face.
His eyes hooded by furrowing brows, his nostrils constricted, and his lips
stuttered over unsaid words.

“He was more than a partner,
wasn’t he?”

Todd nodded.

“Want some coffee? Or I might
have a beer left in the fridge from the pizza party.”

“The beer sounds good.”

She sprang to her feet. Her
soles slapped against the wooden slats of the floor as she walked.

“Good thing you can’t see the
inside of my refrigerator from there,” she said while taking out two beers. “We
hit pay dirt,” she said, holding both bottles up.

“So what’s this ‘illegals’ stuff
you’re talking about?” She twisted off the bottle caps and began her search for
clean glasses.

“I’ll take mine out of the
bottle.”

Amy shrugged. “I’ll join you.”

Back on the couch, Amy handed a
beer to Todd. She felt the warmth of his hand cover hers until his palm slipped
down to hold the bottle.

“Aren’t you hot in that thing?”

“You were telling me about the illegals,
Todd.”

“Yeah.” Todd swallowed back a
mouthful of brew. “There is a person in your office who is helping get illegal
aliens into this country and making big bucks at it. The Feds approached the
accounting firm you use and asked if we could pull a switcheroo for a few days.
Man, let me tell you, I had to bone up on a lot of accounting I had forgotten.”

“You did very well,” Amy said
earnestly. She was rewarded with a smile.

“Thank you. Anyway, I had orders
to go in and search the records as quickly as possible before anyone suspected.
Unfortunately for Joey, there must have been a leak.”

“How could you have searched for
the papers? That wouldn’t have been part of your job while doing the taxes.”

“Well, I was told there was an
attractive office manager, which there was, who if I wined and dined might be
able to give me access to the right information.”

“What? You mean that dinner we
had was only because you wanted to use me, and besides, you paid for it with my
own tax dollar, didn’t you?”

“Actually, it’s all our tax
dollars.”

Amy gave a big harrumph and then
got up to pace the floor.

“But, Amy, I enjoyed the
evening. I even enjoyed sitting in that barren windowless conference room with
you.”

“Oh, is it my turn to say ‘thank
you’ now. Forget it, buster. And you can remove your rear end from my sofa and
get out of here!”

“To go where?”

Amy sucked in air to tell him,
when he interrupted by standing and slipping his leather jacket off.

What a body, she thought.
Nope,
no way I’ll get sucked into this mess because of lust.

“Leave,” she calmly said.

“Can I crash the night? I don’t
even have the telephone number for the contact. Joey never gave it to me.”

“Can’t you just go to the police
and tell them your story?”

“Everyone will deny it. I’m
alone, Amy.”

Vulnerable.
Amy thought
he looked like the most vulnerable man alive until she noticed a dark object
protruding from the back of his waistband.

“What’s that?”

“A little something to keep me
company.”

“You’re not alone, then.”

“I have a permit for the gun.”

“Was it the one used to
pistol-whip Joey before he was stabbed?”

“No, but my other gun is missing
from the apartment.”

“You’ve a got a real arsenal.”

“It’s part of my work, Amy. But
I don’t go around killing my partners.”

“How many partners have you had?”

“Only Joey.”

Amy breathed slightly easier.

“Todd, why did you come to me?”

“Because no one will look for me
here.”

“There is at least one person
who knows that we had dinner.”

“Yeah, you’ll probably be asked
some questions, but I doubt anyone will search your apartment for me.”

“You expect me to lie.”

“I don’t expect anything, Amy. I
know better than that. I’m asking for help.”

“You’re a user. You were going
to use me to obtain some sort of evidence, and now you want to use me to hide
you out.”

“And to help find the person who
murdered Joey.”

Amy blanched.

“Listen, Amy, I don’t expect you
to do anything dangerous. You must work overtime on occasion; maybe you could
look through some files while you’re there.”

“I work for a law firm. Most
people work overtime, and I’d have to stay until midnight to be able to prowl
around like that.”

“Then do it. I’ll pay the cab
fare home.” He saw her frown. “I’d pick you up, but someone would recognize my
car. Do you own a car?”

“My life is simple. No car. No
condo. No pets. No ex-husband. No kids.” No boyfriend for the last six months,
she silently added. “My mother lives on the opposite coast. I owe no one money.”

“Pretty dreary. I’d say it’s
about time for a little excitement.”

“Being a voyeuse I get
excitement from my job. I hear all sorts of client problems at the office and
thank God I don’t have them.”

Todd moved toward her and she
took a step back.

“Where are you going?”

He stopped a few inches from
her.

“You have a loose eyelash that’s
about to fall into your eye.”

“How can you see it from there?”

“I’m very observant.”

“Part of your job,” she said,
allowing him to come closer.

He pulled a handkerchief from
his back pocket and gently wiped her left eye.

“Hold still, I almost have it.”
His left hand cradled her cheek as the right brushed the white cloth over her
lid.

His hand smelled male, and she
felt a rush of warmth cover her body. Too soon for menopause, she figured; had
to be the hulk before her disturbing the stability of her hormones. In a low
voice, she asked whether the stray lash was gone. He gifted her with a smile
and a nod that ended up in a kiss on her lips.

What am I doing, she screamed
inside her head, while her tongue tasted his in slow, leisurely waves. Her arms
slipped around his middle. Her fingers kneaded his back until she reached a
cold object, then Amy quickly pulled away.