Ultimate Thriller Box Set - Crouch Blake (лучшие книги без регистрации txt) 📗

The photos were done first, so I took them with me over to Fat Burger for a quick dinner. I was careful not to dribble anything on the pictures as I looked through them.

The first thing that struck we was how her eyes blazed, even in a photograph. The moment was frozen but her eyes were alive.

I felt the irrational fear that she might actually be able to see me and then I found, weirdly, that I wished she could.

I attributed the feelings to hunger and lack of sleep, because otherwise they didn’t make any sense.

I studied the pictures, first because I thought she was beautiful, and I was surprised that a cheapo camera like the Kodak disposable managed to capture the darkness of her hard nipples under her blouse. But then I studied the pictures for another reason. Something had changed about her over the two days, and I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Her clothes were different, of course, and the expressions on her face covered a lot of emotional range, but otherwise I couldn’t tell what had changed. But I knew something had. I could feel it.

I finished my burger, and went back to Thrifty and bought a magnifying glass before picking up my uniform next door.

When I got back to my car, I hung my uniform up in the backseat, got inside, and looked at the pictures again, this time with the magnifying glass. I had no idea what I was looking for, but it seemed like the professional thing to do. I figured there must be a reason why the magnifying glass is the universal logo for private eyes.

I looked her over real good. She may have been the most beautiful woman with the most perfect body I’d ever seen. And then there were those eyes, like the tractor beams Captain Kirk was always using to capture objects in space. Once you were locked in a tractor beam, good luck escaping without a fight.

I moved the magnifying glass slowly down her slender neck, almost like a caress, to professionally scrutinize the rest of her perfect body.

And then I noticed it, and I went back quickly over all the pictures to make sure.

I sat back and smiled at myself in the rearview mirror. I had just accomplished my first piece of true detecting based on instinct, investigation, and deduction.

In my mind, at that moment, I became a detective.

***

I was drying off from my shower and getting ready for bed around seven p.m. when there was a knock at my door. I could tell from the knock it was Carol, so I just yelled for her to come in.

It’s not that we had a secret knock or anything like that, she just knocks a certain way. Maybe there’s a rhythm to it or something.

I put on my terrycloth robe and walked into the living room, which means I also walked into the kitchen, den, and library at the same time.

“How’s it going, Magnum?” Carol smiled. She was still in her Anne Klein suit, the one she bought on sale and was so proud of, so I knew she’d just come from work without even stopping by her apartment first.

Actually, I didn’t know she did that. I deduced it. I wondered if maybe I’d been a detective longer than I’d thought.

“You weren’t home last night,” she said. “Did you get lucky?”

“I was on the case.”

“Uh-huh,” She went to the fridge and helped herself to a Coke. “What happened to your car?”

“What do you mean?” I asked quickly. For a minute, I was afraid that somehow she’d found out about the accident.

“There’s a new car parked in your spot.” She sat down on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table.

“It’s just something I rented so I wouldn’t be noticed,” I said, trying to sound casual. “But I am thinking, when this is over, of getting rid of my junker.”

I added that last part to cover the inevitable purchase of a new ride.

“What happened to your forehead?” she asked.

I reached up and felt a little lump on my brow, probably a bruise from the accident.

“Nothing. It’s just what happens when I think too hard,” I said. I really was in a hurry to get to the parts of my story that would impress her, not the stuff that made me look like an oaf. “So, do you want to hear about the case or not?”

“If it wouldn’t be breaching any rules about client confidentiality.”

She was teasing me, but I didn’t mind. I was eager to have someone to share my brilliance with. I wanted her to know I’d become a detective, to be my corroborating witness. I grabbed the packet of photos off the kitchen counter, plopped myself down on the couch next to her, and spread the pictures out on the table.

“I’ve laid these out in chronological order,” I said. “Take a look and tell me what you see.”

She took her feet off the table and leaned forward. “Is there something to see?”

“If you know where to look.”

She examined the pictures, then gave me a disapproving look. “You’re not talking about her nipples, are you?”

“I’m only interested in what’s pertinent to the case,” I said, trying to sound offended and superior at the same time. “Try and focus.”

“You’re serious about this.”

I handed her the magnifying glass. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Carol took the magnifying glass and leaned over the photos again. “Because you’ve never been serious about anything else before.”

I didn’t think that was true, and I wasn’t quite sure how to take the comment.

“She’s obviously got money,” Carol said, still scrutinizing the pictures. “Aside from the car, the clothes, and the jewelry, she’s had a lot of work done.”

“What work?” I asked like I already knew.

“Her nose, her eyes, her chin,” Carol replied.

No wonder Lauren looked sculpted to me. I’d have to learn to listen to myself. I was more observant than I thought.

“Maybe even her breasts, too,” she added, “mainly because I hate to think anyone was born that way.”

“That’s the obvious stuff,” I said. “The real story is more subtle.”

I was enjoying the hell out of this and feeling very smart. Because if Carol hadn’t spotted it yet, and I considered her a lot more intelligent than me, then my deduction must really have been clever.

She smiled at me.

I’d never seen a smile like that on Carol before. It was as if she was intrigued and amused and surprised all at once.

“You’re sure pleased with yourself. That’s a first, too,” she said. “Why don’t you just tell me, and save me the hard work and suspense.”

So I did. I showed her that Lauren wore a gold necklace, tiny earrings, and her wedding ring during her day at the beach. She was also wearing them when she went to Beverly Hills Collateral Lenders—but she was only wearing her wedding ring when she came out.

“Lauren hocked her jewelry,” I concluded. “The question now is why? Debts? Drugs? Blackmail?”

“Collagen? Botox? Lipo?”

Carol smiled. I gave her a chastising look, or at least my best shot at one.

“You’re not helping,” I said. “I’m trying to work here.”

She looked at me, as if she’d just noticed a giant mole on my cheek or something. “You are, aren’t you? I mean, you really do want to find out what is going on.”

“Of course I do. It’s my job.”

“You know something, Harvey? You may have stumbled into your true calling.”

“You think so?” I wanted to believe she was right.

Instead of answering me, she did something totally unexpected.

She kissed me hard on the lips and thrust her hand inside my bathrobe. I forgot all about my calling and answered a new one.

Chapter Seven

I guess something I learned from “Mannix” was true. Being a private eye really is an aphrodisiac to women. Carol had never attacked me like that before.

I’m afraid the surprise and excitement were too much, because I came in about three minutes. But I don’t think Carol minded; it calmed me down and allowed me to concentrate real hard on getting her off. And believe me, it took my complete attention. Pleasing a woman, especially Carol, isn’t easy and with me, at least, there’s a lot of potential for embarrassment and humiliation.