“Well, Jan, I think I can manage an autograph for you,” he teased back. “I mean, if you really think it will sell more real estate…”
“Hey, excuse me,” Lori said, rising quickly. “It looks as if my folks are leaving.”
“How late is it? My neighbors are coming for their kids.”
“Elevenish,” Jeff supplied. “Hey, maybe we should all get out of your hair—”
“Don’t even think it! Let’s let the old folks and the young ones go home, and then we can talk, just us, the old crowd. Don’t one of you move!”
“I have to move, have to say good-bye to the folks, and Gramps,” Andrew said, joining Lori.
“Let’s all say good-bye and all sit back down,” Ricky suggested.
They did. It was a long leave-taking, everyone kissing and hugging everyone else.
Lori’s mother offered Sean a rueful smile. Lori watched tensely, glad to see that Sean kissed her cheek and answered something she was saying, smiling.
She hugged Gramps tightly. “I’ll be talking to you!” he told her firmly.
She pulled back. He sounded angry. He was never angry with her.
“I watch, you know. I watch—and I know!” But he wasn’t going to say more then. He was upset, but he loved her, and he hugged her again before saying good-bye to his grandsons. Puzzled, she watched him, but his stern expression gave nothing away. She grew more worried, wondering if the cancer treatments weren’t affecting his mind.
Brendan, worn-out, decided to go home with his grandparents for the night, delighting Lori’s mother and father. She promised to pick him up early, but he told her to sleep late—he planned to do so himself.
Lori waved until they were gone. Tina kissed her and her parents good night, smiling to the others.
When the front door finally closed, Jan sighed. “Down to just us! Wow, I’m worn out! Brad, would you get me one of those wine cooler things?”
“Yep. Anyone else? Call out your orders, now or never.”
Ricky and Josh opted to help Brad with drinks, and in a matter of minutes they were all grouped around the patio together, Jan stretched out with Brad on a lounge chair, Sue on the ground at their feet, Ricky, in shorts, with his feet in the pool, Michael flat on the patio, Josh, Jeff, and Sean on chairs, Ted and Andrew seated Indian fashion between the loungers, Lori near her brother.
“To Jan, to a great party,” Brad said, lifting his beer. “And hell, to us—survivors!”
Lori didn’t think that Brad had meant that too literally, but Sue suddenly let out a soft sob.
“Ah, Sue… sorry,” Brad mumbled.
“It’s just we’re here, all together, while Ellie… while poor Ellie…”
“Sue, it’s all right. We all miss her,” Jeff said.
“And Mandy, too,” she whispered.
Lori involuntarily looked at Sean, painfully aware that all of them did the same. Sean rose and came over to Sue. “Sue, I didn’t kill Mandy.”
“I know you didn’t,” she whispered miserably. “It’s just that… we were all so bad to you!”
“It’s all right, Sue. Honest. A lot of time has gone by. I’m okay.”
She smiled, then inhaled on a shaky sob again. “If Ellie hadn’t been killed, maybe none of us would be here. I know that you all hadn’t really seen much of her. She was really so sweet, just looking for something right, you know?”
“We know, Sue. And it’s true, I hadn’t seen Ellie in a very long time, so I can’t feel what you’re feeling. I can’t really mourn her the way that you’re doing, the rest of us… I think that in a way, we mourn the girl we knew. We mourn a terrible loss of innocence, but then again, we all lost our innocence so long ago that I’m not sure that’s exactly right, either. We do hurt, though, Sue. But if I remember Ellie, she’d be glad that she brought the rest of us together.”
She finally smiled. She touched his cheek. “You came out all right, bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks.”
“Well, excuse me!” Michael protested. “He gets his name in lights, while I just plod away trying to save humanity, and he gets all the accolades!”
“Ah, Michael, it’s all right. None of the rest of us is rich and famous in any way. You’ve got to be careful of sounding jealous,” Jeff warned.
“He’s not jealous. That’s just the Miller Lite talking,” Sean teased. “You came out all right, big brother.”
“We all came out pretty much all right, I think,” Sue said. “Well, okay, let’s see, Brad is a wealthy attorney, which we all expected.”
“Ditto here, if I may say so immodestly,” Jeff volunteered.
“Jeff, we expected no less,” Josh Kelly said with mock severity.
“Jan, whom we didn’t really expect to be anything but a pretty fluff ball on the PTA, is in the Million Dollar Club for real estate brokers,” Brad said. He ended his sentence with something of a yelp as Jan slammed an elbow into his rib cage.
“Fluff ball, indeed!” she exclaimed indignantly. Then she shrugged. “And Sue’s our entrepreneur. Lori teaches and takes the fashion world by storm. Ricky—”
“Ricky we always expected to be a cop, a macho man with a billy club bravado!” Brad said.
“Yuk, yuk!” Ricky said.
“Homicide. That’s pretty serious stuff. Ted, as a non-homicide cop, what do you do when you see a body?” Jeff asked.
“When I see a body?” Ted repeated. “Hmm. Now, what should I do, or what would I do?”
“Both,” Sue said.
“Well, protocol says that I ascertain if the body is a dead body, and radio in medical assistance or a homicide unit or both while I rope off the crime scene with yellow tape, see that no evidence is disturbed, et cetera, et cetera. I call in backup to assist me with crowd control, and I stand ready to report to homicide exactly what I found, saw, and so forth. Then I turn it all over to them, with two tons of messy paperwork, and wish to God I hadn’t been first on the scene. I probably have to show up in court, and it’s really nasty. So… in truth, if I found a body, I’d probably run like hell in the other direction and let the next guy on duty deal with it.”
“Ted! You wouldn’t!” Lori said.
He shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t. But bodies are Ricky’s bag. I like working with the community.”
“Oh, yeah. Stopping the rich girls in their red Jaguars and blue Porches!” Ricky accused.
“You both seem happy enough with your work, and that’s what’s important,” Jeff said.
“Are you happy, Jeff?” Sue asked.
He shrugged, stretching his shoulders. “Yeah, I am. Strange, I’m what I expected to be, and happy at it. I’m good at what I do.”
“I’m lucky, too. I love my work,” Michael said. “I don’t need the fame—of course, a little fortune would be fine. Who knows, maybe I’ll make a communications breakthrough one day and take the scientific world by storm.”
“There we go—fame without the fortune,” Brad said dryly. “I like my work, too. I’m good at it as well. I just love a good verbal fight.”
“I’ll agree with that,” Jan offered.
Brad grinned. “You’d better, or I’ll fight you.”
Lori smiled. “I could probably use more time on my design work, but I love teaching.” Brad made a strange noise. “Really!” Lori laughed. “I love kids, especially at age six.”
“I guess six is a good age,” Brad said. “It’s before kids talk back too badly, want a car, and tell their parents where they should go.”
“It’s a great age. Their minds are wide open, and they’re eager to learn, affectionate, and fun. I really, truly enjoy what I do.”
“You’ll never get rich teaching.”
“I’m not sure I need to be rich,” Lori said. “And I do love designing clothing—”
“You need to get rich enough to buy an alarm system,” Andrew suddenly said.
Lori hesitated, seeing how Sean’s eyes darted to Andrew and then fell on her.
&nbs
p; “I’m getting an alarm,” she said defensively.
“You need to do it tomorrow,” Sean said.
“Yeah, tell her,” Andrew said. “I told her I’d help her out if she needed the money.”
“Any of us would help her out,” Sean said firmly.
“The family can manage,” Andrew said.
“I can manage!” Lori exclaimed, realizing that everyone was staring at her.
“Lori, I had a client with one of the best security companies around,” Jeff Olin told her quietly. “He’ll give you great terms.”
“Thanks, Jeff, but—”
“Hey, anybody want another drink?” Jan asked, trying to change the sticky subject.
“Yeah, let’s drink to the fact that we’re all just thrilled to pieces with our jobs!” Michael said.
“Oh, yeah, so fucking happy,” Andrew muttered.
There was a sudden silence, and he looked up as if he hadn’t really expected anyone to hear him. He shrugged. “I always did want to make films. I didn’t become the lawyer I was expected to be. But I’d be happy if only…”
“Ah, come on, Andrew!” Brad said impatiently. “You’re not doing anything illegal or all that terrible.”
“Yeah,” Sue said dryly. “Brad should know—since he was in one of the films.”
Jeff Olin suddenly cleared his throat. “Brad wasn’t the only one.” He found everyone staring at him, and he quickly added, “Hey, I needed the money for school, and it paid really well. Brad worked for Andrew, I worked for Andrew, Josh worked for Andrew—”
“Hey, wait a minute! Let me volunteer that information myself!” Josh protested, blushing.
“You guys all did… am I getting this right?… porno flicks?” Sue inquired, stunned.
“Adult films, if you don’t mind,” Andrew said.
“Hold on here!” Ricky protested. “You let all these guys do porno flicks—sorry, adult films—and you never called me and offered me a shot at it?” he demanded, feigning outrage.
“I’ve never ignored a live body,” Ted put in.
Andrew leaned his head back, groaning. “I’m trying to be the next Fellini, Antonioni, Polanski… and this is what I get.”
“Dreams change. We never quite get a real grip on them,” Sean said quietly. “But if you want to make a certain kind of film, Andrew, you will. Just don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal.”
Andrew flashed him a sudden smile. “I probably could get by with a cheaper car,” he mused. “A few less expensive dates… maybe get some investors and finance something I really want to try…”
“Do it,” Lori told her brother passionately. “Do it, don’t just talk, and don’t just dream. Do it.”
He shrugged
“Wait a minute!” Ricky protested. “Don’t talk him out of doing porno films when I’m just about to get a starring role.”
“Oh, you guys are still disgusting!” Jan declared. “Now you’re old and disgusting instead of young and disgusting.”
Sue started to giggle. “I think that we should just all be grateful that we’re still in decent enough shape to be in porno flicks!”
“Is that an offer to work for me, too?” Andrew asked her.
Still smiling, she shook her head. “No, I’m the coffee entrepreneur, remember. A ‘Mrs. Olsen’ for our decade.”
“I think you’d look damned good in one of my movies, Sue!” Andrew said.
“Here, here!” Ted agreed. “And, Lori, whew, we’ve got to get you into something hot and steamy—”
“Hey! That’s sick. Lori is my sister!” Andrew protested.
“I can’t be in that one,” Josh teased. “Ugh. We’d have to be too careful of inbreeding. I mean, look at the royal family.”
Lori rolled her eyes. “Sue’s right—I feel as if I’m back in the halls at school and you guys of the 4F Club are all at it again.”
“Yeah,” Ricky said, “but Sean is back to put us all in our places again, so everything’s all right, huh, Sean?”
“She was new to the school back then, and you were torturing her,” Sean reminded him.
Ricky grinned. “The good old 4F Club. It was fun back then. We didn’t have the least idea of what we were talking about.”
“As if we do now half the time!” Ted said with a sad shake of his head.
“Don’t be silly!” Sue told him. “We’re all gorgeous, and, Ted, you can have whatever you want in life. Just go out and ask for it.”
Jan suddenly yawned.
Sean was the first to stand. He looked at Lori, reached for her hand, helped her up. “Jan, this was great. Really great. Thanks.”
“We have to do it again,” Brad said.
“We should plan something once a month. Report on career achievements—and even failures!” Andrew said.
“Sounds good,” Michael agreed. “It’s fun coming together for a real reason.”
“Lori can host the party next month in her new place,” Andrew volunteered for her, setting an arm around her shoulder.
“Andrew!” Jan said.
“My place. Four weeks from tonight,” Lori agreed. She hugged Jan and then Sue, and started to wave to the others.
“Excuse me, didn’t you just forget your brother and your cousin?” Josh asked.
She grinned, hugged them both, and headed out the door. She heard Sean saying his goodbyes, then heard him following her. She slipped behind her steering wheel, and saw him back by his car, saying good night to his brother. She started her engine, then discovered that he was at her window.
“Brendan went home with your folks?”
She nodded.
“Want to fool around?”
She nodded.
His dark blue gaze was devastating, his smile magnetic.
“With me, I mean.”
“I’m going to hit you in a minute.”
His smile flashed again. “I’m right behind you.”
She started her car, eased slowly onto the street. He was on her tail all the way.
She barely opened the door to her house before he was with her, urging her through, slamming the door behind them, fumbling for the bolts without looking at them, his eyes on hers.
Then the door was locked, and he was reaching for her. She cried out, throwing herself into his arms, leaping up at him and locking her legs around his hips.
He groaned, kissing her, fingers tangling in her hair. He raised his lips from hers at last. “I don’t think I can walk up the stairs this way.”
She laughed, starting to unwind herself from him.
“No, no, wait! Don’t… don’t move, let me try. It feels too good to stop…”
He didn’t quite make it. They stumbled on the third step. Laughing, he eased them down together. She couldn’t keep her hands off him, had to feel his flesh. She had his shirt out of his jeans, then her hands were in his waistband. Her fingers curled around him, freed him. He inhaled sharply, ripped at the snap of her jeans and tugged them off her where she lay on the step. His mouth fused with hers again.
Soon his body was joined with hers as well.
They were entirely unaware that a killer drove by in the night, thoughtfully studying the house…
But it didn’t matter that they were oblivious.
The killer had other business that night.
Although Sue had been in bed for over an hour, she was awake and immediately heard the soft tapping at her door.
Her heart took flight.
He’d come to her.
It was a miracle, this feeling. It was special, unique, so wonderful… something she wasn’t willing to share with anyone yet, because she’d been around, because it felt so real and so right, and yet she knew that you just couldn’t count on things so easily. It might have just been sex, because the sex of course had been so good, even if at the end there… but no matter, she could deal with that kind of a situation.
What mattered was she was certain that he had come back.
She ran downstairs,
prepared tonight. She had been out to the lingerie shop, purchased the sexiest black nightie with a matching robe.
She’d kept her makeup on—no, that wasn’t exactly true, she’d added to it, enhancing it. She was a little tipsy, too—she’d had a few too many wine coolers at Jan’s, but that was all right, too. It just seemed to add greater sensation and boldness to every move she made. She couldn’t wait to touch him…
If it was him. It might not be, she chided herself.
Who else, at this time of night?
She raced to the door and looked through the peephole.
She leaned against the door, her heart thundering.
It was him.
She fumbled with the locks, she was in such a hurry to open them, but then got something of a grip on herself and opened the door slowly. She could have played coy, but she decided not to.
“Hi.”
“Can I come in.”
“Of course.”
He smiled. God, he was great. She almost came in her new thong panties just looking at his smile. Who’d have imagined that he would want her after all these years?
“Wasn’t it a great party? But then, of course, you’d expect no less of Jan. Nice, so nice to be together…”
He set a finger on her lips and stopped her speaking. He kissed her then, and she felt as if she were melting.
“Want to come up to the bedroom?”
“I like it right here. You know what I want.”
She did know. And she was willing to comply.
He was more urgent tonight, rougher. And still, he was so charming and exciting… she was willing.
Even when what he asked hurt her.
“We need something more to drink,” he told her, later.
Another drink would be good now, she thought. She didn’t feel quite as excited, as filled with wonder, as she had before. Something was wrong; something was simply not quite right. She didn’t understand, and she was willing to laugh and joke and tease as they shared a bottle of her best champagne. She realized vaguely, leaning against the couch with him, that he didn’t touch anything, or hadn’t touched anything—other than her—until she’d come out with the champagne. And that they were drinking straight from the bottle.