Unforgettable (25 page)

“
Sarah Johnson, her
children, dog, three cats, a snake, and two lizards are being moved
to a safe house as we speak.”

“
How is she,” asked
Jack.

“
She was thrilled that the
officers woke her up, made her pack when she’s having pains all
over the place. Gathered up her brood. Had a lot of nice things to
say about you, too, Jack.”

Dennington walked in from the back
door.

“
Detective Dennington,”
Silverman greeted her. “So glad you could drop by since you were in
the neighborhood. Have a brownie. Sam might share with you.” He
didn’t look at her but grinned his impish grin.

I wasn’t laughing.

“
At sun up my techs are
going to start studying the angulations and distillations and
constellations of these photos so that we can figure out where he
was positioned. Knowing him I don’t think he’ll go back. He’s a
smart little psychopath. It might give us some clues, though. Now
you all carry on…And, need I say, do not leave this woman alone.
Princess, you ever thought about modeling? I mean…gonna have to
wake my wife up when I get home,” he chuckled all the way to the
front door.

I slept in Jack’s arms. I loved the
feeling of his skin next to mine and the soft rhythm of his
breathing. I smiled and slipped my hand down, caressing
him.

He stirred.

“
What are you
doing?”

I buried my face in his chest and
worked down, taking him into my mouth, enjoying the intensity. He
moaned.

“
God, woman, you are full of
surprises.”

Tuesday

It had been two days of no filming,
just eating and sleeping. And loving.

The phone rang in the office and woke
me. I heard Jack talking and then Fritz.

“
We had a bit of a fight,”
Fritz said.

“
About…”

“
Sam. A word of wisdom here,
lad. If your girlfriend works for the FBI and she’s watching
…’friend’, don’t kiss ‘friend’, don’t put your hand down ‘friend’s’
pants, and, for Christ’s sakes, don’t offer to pay her a million
bucks for a night of splendor.”

“
What the hell were you
doing with my Sam like that?”

“
I was doing it for you,
chum…”

I almost laughed out loud.

“
She was gettin’ all afraid
about you wanting sex so I just demonstrated to her that sex was a
wonderful thing.”

“
You horny, lascivious
bastard. I’ll take care of Sam’s sexual…what’d you call
it…splendor.”

Fritz laughed.

Jack walked in, without his crutches,
and I quickly got dressed.

“
What’s up?”

Fritz handed him a dark blue
suit.

“
Meeting.”

“
With…”

“
David, some of the money
people. He just called and wants us there. Gloria and Roger are
going to be with you until we get back.”

“
Okay, just me and Tonto
again. At least he laughs at my jokes.”

Roger and Gloria were fighting about an
answer on Jeopardy. I was incredibly bored and went into the
kitchen. I found beef stock in the freezer from Sarah and made
French onion soup. We ate at about two.

“
I’ll help you with the
dishes,” Roger offered.

“
No, please, let me do…” He
grabbed me and threw me to the ground, talking into his
earpiece.

“
Intruder, backyard by the
fountain. Five ten, possible weapon in his hands, jeans, red
shirt.”

Gloria flew out the door with her
weapon drawn. I could hear people running and shouting.

Roger hovered over me.

“
Can I sit up?”

“
Nope. Stay where you
are.”

“
Who is it? Doesn’t sound
like Welsh.”

“
Nope. Too small. Wrong body
build.”

Gloria came back in breathing
hard.

“
It’s a Bryan Litchfield.
Paparazzi. Police are carting him off for trespassing. Fool’s lucky
he didn’t get shot. I think,” she laughed, “I think he wet his
pants when he saw all the weapons on him. Pretty funny.”

“
Can I please get up
now?”

“
No. You have to stay there
all day.”

He tickled me but I managed to stand up
and pull the sprayer from the sink blasting his face with
water.

He grabbed strawberries from the
counter and threw them at me like tiny grenades.

Gloria opened the refrigerator and came
out armed with eggs and ketchup.

I opened the flour canister and dumped
it on his head followed by more water making a lovely
paste.

And the war was on.

“
Excuse me,” Jack was
suddenly standing there stunned. “Are we all eight years old
again?”

Fritz walked in and began laughing
hysterically.

We were all dripping wet with bits of
food and condiments hanging from our hair and face.

“
Sir, yes sir,” Gloria and
Roger stood at attention.

“
We had an intruder,” Roger
said.

“
So you decided to have a
food fight to scare him away?”

“
Roger started it,” I
said.

“
Yes, sir. Roger, sir,” said
Gloria.

“
The policeman outside, who
did not have any food dripping from him, said that it was a
paparazzi.”

“
That would appear to be the
case, sir. Came over the back fence.” Roger, bit his lip to keep
from laughing.

A large blob of watered flour dropped
off my head and slid down my cleavage. It was more than the three
of us could bear. We broke into debilitating laughter.

Roger shoved us outside to hose
off.

“
I’m not cleaning it up,”
Jack was ripping off his uncomfortable suit.

“
Don’t bloody hell look at
me,” Fritz was tip toeing through the mess.

“
I think it’s time for a
party,” Jack said. “Call David, of course, but tell him he has to
behave. And the caterer. I’m feeling like barbeque.”

“
You’re always feeling like
barbeque,” Roger yelled.

I put a clump of flour on his nose on
the way out.

Jack was in jeans, stretched out on the
bed, when I came in.

“
You’re dripping. And
shivering. I think I’d better help you out of those wet
things.”

I hesitated and then walked to
him.

“
You know as soon as we
start anything someone will…”

Fritz walked in. “Sam you’re dripping.
Go get some clothes on,” he scolded. “Jack’s tired but I’d be happy
to help.”

“
He’s horny again,” Jack
laughed.

I was puzzled.

“
They had a fight,” Jack
explained.

“
Oh, I’m so sorry. Come
here, I’ll give you a hug.” I laughed chasing him through the
house.

“
Stay away from me, you
wench, you’re all wet, this is a very expensive suit.”

I toppled him in the living room and
lay down on top of him, wringing out my hair on his
chest.

“
You’re not fighting. You’re
supposed to fight.”

He had his arms around me, sliding his
hands down to my chilly wet cheeks.

“
I forgot,” he whispered,
grinning.

I bit him on the shoulder, wriggled
away, and went upstairs to change.

When I came back Jack was at his
desk.

“
I hear we’re having a
party.”

“
Indeed we are.”

“
Why?”

“
Two reasons, you’ll find
out soon.”

He held me for a long time and then
people started bringing in bags and boxes of food. We wandered out
to the pool.

I had on a new black halter dress with
my hair up, something I hadn’t done in a long time.

People were arriving, people whose
faces I actually recognized.

“
It’s the crew!”

Fritz came in from a game of
basketball.

“
Correct, love. You look
spectacular.”

“
Here’s our Dorothy,” a
bearded cameraman grabbed me and pulled me into the
crowd.

“
She killed the Wicked Dick.
Ding dong the dick is dead,” he sang and they all followed him
around as they sang in a Conga line.

David walked in, laughing. I made my
way to David and Jack.

“
David! It’s so good to see
you,” I kissed him on the cheek and gave him a big hug. He held
onto me.

He yelled, “announcement you
heathens.”

They all laughed. “As you all know our
previous director, Mr. John Black, has been excused.”

The crowd cheered.

“
What you don’t know is who
is going to replace him. After meeting with the powers that be we
have decided to offer the job to none other than our gracious host,
Jack Nolan. And…he said yes.”

Jack bowed.

The crowd cheered again.

“
I have an announcement,”
Jack said, “much more important than our little business deals, I
just received this picture from our very own Sarah Johnson.” He
showed it to the crowd.

“
May I introduce Rose
Johnson Wehrner, eight pounds, six ounces. And yes, she finally has
a girl!” He handed copies of the picture out to the
crowd.

I looked at Jack. He was smiling at
me.

“
I never saw what women see
in newborns,” said David, “their faces look like something
from
Chuckie
. They
make bizarre noises. Have no career goals.” He laughed.

“
Fritz and I have talked
about babies. Babies and castles. I need another drink.”

“
Fritz. Talking about
babies?” David drank the rest of his wine.

Jack stared into his scotch, swirling
the ice cubes.

“
Yup.”

“
Jack, my friend, you’d
better not screw this up with this woman. There are so many of us
on your heels you just might get trampled.”

I sipped the last of my margarita and
got another. David pulled me onto his lap, kissing my
neck.

“
I love your hair up. Now I
can attack your neck much easier.”

Jack threw ice at him.

“
There are three kinds of
women in this world, Jack,” he said. He wrapped his non-drinking
arm around me.

“
Oh? Tell me about it
maestro.”

“
There’s the first kind
that’s like a thunderstorm, filled with electricity and excitement,
beauty, and danger. It doesn’t last long and there’s a lot of
broken stuff to clean up afterward. Hence, my first
wife.”

Jack nodded and saluted him, pouring
another scotch.

“
And the second
kind?”

“
Rollercoaster. Up’s that
make you cum in your pants, and downs filled with twists and turns
that rip your heart out.”

“
Second wife,” they mumbled
in unison.

They saluted again.

“
And then there’s women like
Sam. Extremely rare. Fragile. Mysterious. And genuine. Most of all,
genuine.” He pulled me closer to him and I lay my head on his
shoulder. He had wonderful shoulders.

“
That’s very sweet,” my
margarita said.

“
And you fall in love with
her, with your very
soul.
And once you’ve been touched by her you’re never
the same again, like some rarified fire. That’s our Sam. What she
gives is real. ”

Jack nodded.

I closed my eyes and kissed what I
think was his neck.

Jack took my hand and uncoiled me from
a protesting David.

“
What are we…?”

“
Dance with me,” he nodded
to the DJ and walked me to the deck. He held my hand close to his
chest and sang softly to me,
Unforgettable.

“
Nat King Cole! My dad loved
him.’”

“
My mom, too.”

He dipped me and I laughed.

“…
its incredible that
someone so unforgettable thinks that I am unforgettable,
too,”
he sang, wrapping me in his arms and
kissing me.

“
I love you so much,” I
whispered.

“
I love you, sweetheart,” he
kept me in his arms. “I want you so much. I want you
forever.”

“
People are starting to
leave, perhaps we should go up to bed.”

“
Those are the sweetest
words I’ve heard all day.”

“
But we still can’t…for a
couple of days.”

“
I’m sure we’ll think of
something.”

Silverman checked the
evidence locker one more time. Everything from the supposed suicide
case was gone. Not even a scrap of lint.