The Taxman Killeth (8 page)

“You found it.”

“On the floor behind the futon.
You really need a housekeeper.”

“That’s why I’m letting you
stay.”

Todd laughed.

“I must get into my apron and
prepare Mademoiselle’s dinner.”

“Dismissed,” she airily said.

Five minutes later, Amy was
settled into the warm soothing comfort of her bathwater. She rolled her head
around feeling the tension ease. This man could become a necessity in her life
if he continued to pamper her. He was intelligent, handsome, built, a
gentleman...

Todd barged into the bathroom,
holding a tray on which rested two glasses of wine.

“I’ve got to get a lock for that
door.” Amy’s body sunk lower in the tub and she tried to sweep the bubbles up
around her neck. “I could have been naked.”

“You are naked, but
unfortunately I can’t see anything.”

Amy saw his eyes squint as if
trying to see through the thin layer of bubbles.

“Get out.”

“I brought this for you,” he
said, handing her one of the glasses.

“Thank you.” She grabbed the
glass. “Now get out.”

Todd lowered the lid on the
commode and sat down.

“What did you think of my
sister?”

“What does it matter? Get out.”

“I don’t know. For some reason
your opinion is important to me. She used to look a lot better than she does
now. Matter of fact, when she was a teenager, Mom and Dad had a hard time
keeping the boys away from the house. At that time I was in the service, and
she would write me long letters of complaint about how over-protective they
were. I guess I didn’t do as good a job as they did.”

“Aren’t your parents still
around?”

“No. They died within six months
of each other. Both had cancer.”

“Sorry.” Amy sat a little higher
in the tub. She wanted to see his face better. “How old was she when they
passed away?”

“Seventeen. Believe it or not, I
talked her into continuing school. She was ready to take her high school
diploma and start working. I told her she would do a lot better if she went to
college. I even helped her select the right school. Without my help, maybe she’d
be living in a place like this, with the potential for a better life than she
has now.”

“Then again, she might have
ended up in the same mess. Besides, what’s so good about my life? I’m sitting
naked in a bathtub talking to a murderer.” Amy was sorry she had said that.
Todd’s eyes shut briefly, then he got up and went to the doorway.

“Dinner should be ready in
fifteen minutes.”

He closed the door before she
could apologize.

Todd didn’t know why it hurt so
much. The whole day he had worried about Amy and wondered whether he should
have run the chance of being caught instead of sending her. Hell, this wasn’t
the self-preservation instinct that had brought him through a number of
mishaps. The woman was too attractive and he was too needy.

By the time Todd had set out the
food, Amy came walking in, wearing the pastel green robe that emphasized the
color of her hair and the richness of her eyes. Her skin was flushed from the
warm water, and she smelled of jasmine. His body responded; he fought for
control. He turned back to the counter, sorry now that he had turned down the
lights and lit two candles. He had to gain some space away from his feelings
for this woman.

“Can’t see a damn thing,” he
said, moving toward the light switch.

“No, please. I like it.”

Her voice was soft, caressing
his longing, feeding the rising desire within him.

“I prefer to see what I’m
eating,” he said, flipping the switch. He then blew out the candles.

“I’m sorry, Todd, for what I
said about you being a murderer. I don’t believe that and neither does your
sister.”

“My sister?”

“Yes, she’s read about you.”

“Damn, it must be killing her.”

“We’re both more concerned about
you.”

“Let’s eat.”

Throughout dinner Todd kept
trying to turn the conversation to what Amy’s life was like. All he could learn
was that she had a widowed mother who tried to be quite active in her two
daughters’ lives. Amy considered herself lucky to live on the opposite coast.
Her sister still lived within a mile of their mother and often called to ask
about nursing jobs in San Francisco.

“I thought your sister was into
antique jewelry?”

“She has a small store and she’s
able to make a decent living, but she’s trained as a nurse. Mom is always
trying to get her back into working for a hospital. She thinks my sister would
stand a better chance of getting married, especially to a doctor. Stella, my
sister, doesn’t like being told what work hours to keep. That’s why she’s never
bothered to follow-up on job ads I’ve sent her. Stella’s also quite content
being single.”

“And you?” Todd surprised
himself with the question.

Amy shrugged.

“Sometimes I think it would be
nice to have a man around the house. Look at the service I could get.” She
spread her arms wide across the counter setting.

Todd laughed, feeling
uncomfortable with her remark.

“I’m told I’m not always a
prize.”

“Maybe you haven’t had the right
inspiration.”

Todd stood and started piling
the dishes.

“What about desert?”

“You make the coffee, and I’ll
set the desert on the cocktail table. I’d like to see the late news.”

By the time the coffee was done,
Todd had filled the dishwasher and laid out the desert. Amy heard the
television announcer give a short preview of the upcoming news. It was
international and had nothing to do with her guest. However, a while later,
while drinking coffee, they learned that the police now believed that Coleman
and Landis were running an illegal operation in the import/export business.

“Is that true?”

Todd shook his head.

“What would give them that idea?”

“We had a small business that we
used as a cover. We... rather, I export scuba gear to Central America. I
suppose they’ve figured out that we both had a lot more money than that
business would have brought in.”

“Money paid to you by the
government?”

Todd nodded.

“You’d better get to bed,” Todd
said after the news went off. He used the remote to shut off the set.

Amy began to clean off the
table.

“Don’t,” he said harshly. “I’m
sorry. Let me clean up; it will help to clear my head.”

“I’ll stay late tomorrow at work
and see what I can find out.”

“I don’t know whether I want you
involved in this.”

“I believe you didn’t kill your
partner and I’m volunteering to help.” He was about to speak when she
interrupted him. “And I’ll stay late whether you want me to or not.”

Without thinking, she leaned
forward and brushed her lips lightly across his, then quickly stood and
retreated to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Todd watched her exit the room.
He knew he had to get out onto the streets and gather more information. He
couldn’t let her risk her neck for him.

Chapter 9

A Late Night

The following morning, Amy found
Todd sitting on the livingroom couch, dressed in a black tee shirt and jeans.
His feet were bare and rested upon her glass coffee table. He was intently
watching a news program on television. At first she wasn’t going to interrupt
his concentration, but she noticed that the announcer was discussing the
European economy.

“Todd, was there any news about
the killing?”

He seemed to have to pull
himself out of a deep trance.

“There’s some coffee and toast
on the counter. I didn’t make a big breakfast this morning. I wasn’t hungry.”

“That’s okay. I told you I don’t
usually bother to eat anything before I leave for work. Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? Nah, I’m only a hunted
killer.”

“I mean, you seem moodier than
you’ve been. Did you learn anything new this morning?”

“No. But I’ve been thinking that
maybe I should move on. Get back on the streets.”

“You can’t do that. Your picture
has been in the newspapers and on T.V.”

“I can’t stay here forever.”

Amy was affronted by his
comment. Had he tired of her company so much that he would run the risk of
being caught? Perhaps she was a bit too aggressive in kissing him last night;
on the other hand, earlier he had been the one with the sensual innuendos.

“Wait at least until I search
through some of the records at work. It might give us some leads.”

“Not us, Amy, me. In a couple of
days I’ll have more than just this stubble,” he said rubbing his chin. “And my
hair will be longer.”

“For Pete’s sake, Todd, do you
really believe a scruffy beard and straggly hair is going to make you invisible
to the police?”

Not invisible, he silently
acknowledged, only harder to recognize.

“Well, I take it by what you
said that you’ll be here tonight when I come home. If we’re lucky I will have
gained some knowledge of the office hoodlum.”

Without bothering to drink the coffee,
Amy quickly got ready for work. Todd stood by the apartment door as she
gathered up her keys.

“Listen,” he said, before
allowing her to turn the knob on the door. “I don’t want you to take any
chances. If anyone sticks around late, then forget your snooping. Understand?”

She nodded, because Todd had not
explicitly defined late. Did he mean midnight, one in the morning, or two or
three? She didn’t bother to ask because she intended to stay as late as
necessary.

“Thank God you’re here,” Trudy
said as Amy let the glass office door close behind her. “Pickle was hysterical.
He kept wanting to call you all day. Luckily Teddy was back. He was able to
quiet him for brief periods.”

“Teddy’s back from vacation?”

“Yeah, and he’s in with Pickle
right now.”

“You know, you really should be
careful using that nickname that we have for Pickens. Someday he’s going to
overhear one of your conversations, and we might both be out of our jobs.”

“The sour old coot is in his own
world most of the time.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

The paralegal, Teddy,
interrupted the women to inform Amy that Pickens was asking for her.
Immediately she went to the conference room.

“Finally. You don’t look sick.”

“I’m not; that’s why I’m back at
work.”

Pickens grumbled and sent Amy to
fetch additional information for him. Later she thanked Teddy for covering the
day before while she was out. She asked the paralegal about his vacation, but
he was vague, saying that he spent most of his time at home. He hardly ever
discussed his time out of the office with any of the staff. For a while, he and
Trudy had been an item, but both seemed to lose interest in each other after a
month’s time. He had grown up locally but never mentioned family or friends in
the area. That always disturbed Trudy, but Amy felt that he had a right to his
privacy.

At the end of the day, Trudy
popped into Amy’s office to let her know she was leaving.

“Want to walk me to the cable
car again?”

“Another date with Schwartz?”

“Yep. He doesn’t have the looks
of Todd Coleman, but he has one advantage. He didn’t kill his partner.”

Amy flinched at the comment and
was ready to defend Todd but realized doing so would only spike Trudy’s
curiosity.

“Matter of fact, he doesn’t even
have a partner. He’s a dentist with his own private practice, and he said he’d
like to work inside me for free.”

“That’s a direct approach.”

“No, no, no. He wants to take
out all my mercury fillings and fill them with that new white stuff they use so
that it looks like you don’t have any fillings. Only I’m a bit timid when it
comes to sitting in dental chairs. It took me ages to find a dentist I could
trust, and now I’m not sure I want to change.”

“Then don’t.”

“But it’s free.”

Amy shook her head.

“You’re right. I’ll get to know
him better first, before I go for this major change. Come on. I’ll be late if
we don’t leave right away.”

“I’m staying to do some work.
Have fun,” Amy called as Trudy waved ‘bye from the doorway.

A while later, Amy ran out to
fetch herself some dinner. She couldn’t be sure how late she would have to stay
and didn’t need a rumbling stomach giving her whereabouts away as she browsed
through files where she didn’t belong.

Around nine o’clock Amy walked the halls, checking each office. The only one with a light still on was Stu’s.
An hour later she checked his office again and the light was still shining from
under the door. She wondered if he could have forgotten to turn the light off
before he left. She decided to wait another hour before lightly rapping on his
door several times. The door swung open and Stu stood before her in baggy
trousers; his shirt was wrinkled as if he had been taking a nap.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was working late, and when I
saw the light under your door I thought I’d check and see if you were still
here. It gets lonely around here this late at night.”

“If you’re lonely, Amy, go to
the bar down the block, but don’t bother me.”

The door was closed in her face.

God, she thought, he’s certainly
become touchy since he heard of his pending promotion. Nothing to do, she figured,
but go back to her office and wait him out. She left her own door open in hopes
of spotting him when he left.

It was two in the morning, and
Amy was dozing when she heard the copy machine next door whip into action. A
few minutes later, Stu stopped at her door with a stack of papers and his suit
jacket over his arm.

“Still here?”

“I won’t be much longer.”

“Want me to wait? I can give you
a lift home.”