Forever

Chapter 6

It echoed in the stairwell, sounding like a machine gun.

The door of Theo’s apartment was thrown open and Matheson stood there, pointing his 9mm at my head. When he saw it was me, he eased his finger off the trigger and lowered the gun.

“Good morning, sir.”

“Wills, what the f**k…?” It was Theo, grumbling from inside the apartment.

“Mr. Vincent is grinding his coffee.”

“Huh?” Theo came up behind him, running his hands through his chestnut hair and yawning. “How come?”

“I have no idea. You want to ask him?” Matheson lounged against the doorframe.

“Vince? Why are you grinding coffee on the stairs?”

“I have a houseguest. I didn’t want the noise to wake him.”

Matheson’s eyebrow climbed, but he said nothing.

“I have a hand grinder.” Theo hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pajama pants. “You could have used it.”

“I didn’t want to wake you.” I scowled at him. He could have told me about it when I was picking his brains about the best coffee to buy.

“Too late for that.”

“Sorry. Theo, I need a favor.”

“You’ve got it. What can I do for you?”

“I’ve bought a condo in Aspen Reach. The woman who used to own it liked pink, and—”

“Jesus! Don’t tell me you bought Delilah Carson’s place!”

“You’re familiar with it?”

“Are you kidding? I was there!”

“You were there, babe?” Matheson’s attitude was no longer relaxed.

“Well, we’d tricked with her once or twice, and she called to ask if we’d mind working a threesome with her.”

“When was this?”

“Oh, around the beginning of the year. Maybe a little earlier.”

Matheson turned white. Lines bracketed his mouth, and he growled under his breath.

“So? Oh, what? You’re worried I may have gotten f****d? That was my job, smart guy!” Theo smacked his shoulder. “But just to set your mind at ease, I wasn’t f****d. That time. I was in her crawl space, and I filmed it. Spike got to f**k this gorgeous babe’s ass while she deep-throated Pretty Boy, and then the two of them kissed while the john jerked off. Hot stuff, I wanna tell you! I made them a copy. They took it with them, but if you want me to look for the original…. You could take it with you on one of your troubleshooting trips out of town and jerk off yourself.”

“Don’t bother. Mr. Vincent.” Matheson gave a brief nod and reentered the apartment, his stride stiff and angry.

“Y’see, Vince? I knew he was living in a dream world. It’s dawning on him, what I did, and he can’t deal with it.”

“You think so?”

“What else am I to think?” He looked miserable.

How could he be so dumb?

“Bascopolis, her murder was all over the front page of every newspaper in town around the beginning of the year. You think maybe he was worried you could have been in her condo at the same time she was killed? That maybe it could have been your body found there as well?”

“Yeah, but—”

“You said you were up in the crawl space? How come?”

“He was a new client. Delilah said she was a little unsure of him. After he left, she laughed and said she felt really silly about how nervous he’d made her beforehand, but I could see she was still nervous. I asked her if she wanted me to make copies of the tape. She said yes, and Spike begged me to make one for him and Pretty Boy, too.” He looked sad. “She was dead before I had the chance to give her the original and the other copies.”

“Yeah, well—”

“Funny thing. I happened to see a picture of him in the Post a couple of weeks later.”

“Who, the john?” That startled me.

“Yeah.” He snickered. “He was with the Pres in the photo, and he had his clothes on, but it was him. And y’know what was even funnier?”

“No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

He went on as if he hadn’t noticed my sarcasm. “The Pres was commending him for being such a morally upright member of the intelligence community.”

“Really.” Now that was a very interesting tidbit. “Do you happen to remember his name?” You could never tell when information like that could come in handy.

“No. Sorry. You know I’m not into politics.”

I knew that, but it was worth asking. “What happened to the original tape?”

“It’s around somewhere.”

“Mind looking for it for me?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

He didn’t ask me why I wanted it, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about being thought a voyeur.

“Uh…. You really think Wills was worried about me? I…I never even thought of that.”

“Yeah, well, check with him before you start assuming you know what he’s thinking.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He started to turn to go into his apartment. “Oh, good luck with the condo. It really was pink.”

“Thanks. It still is. If you have some time, would you be interested in overseeing the redecorating?”

“I’d get to choose the colors and arrange all that neat furniture you bought? You bet!”

“Thanks. I’m taking some time off…. Oh, very funny.” He’d staggered back, his hand on his chest, as if the shock had given him a heart attack.