Silver Linings, стр. 84
She had gotten as far as punching out the number nine when the man on the floor stirred. She hesitated, glancing in his direction. “Do you think we should hit him again, Evangeline?”
Evangeline hovered over the sprawled figure with On the Brink held at the ready. “I'll handle it.”
The man's lashes fluttered, and he looked first at Mattie and then at Evangeline with dazed eyes. “Bitches.”
“Be ready to cream him if he so much as moves an inch, Evangeline.”
“Too late,” the man muttered. “Trap's already closing on Abbott and Taggert. Too late to save them.”
Mattie froze. “Trap? What sort of trap? What are you talking about?”
The man's lips thinned in a vicious parody of a death's head grin. “Nothing you can do, bitch.”
“What is this trap for Silk and Hugh?” Mattie snapped, her fingers trembling on the phone.
“Like lambs to the slaughter.” The man's lashes fluttered weakly and he groaned. “Never know what hit 'em.”
“When the police find out what you were up to, they'll take care of everything,” Mattie said defiantly.
The man showed his teeth in another deadly grin. “Get real, bitch. As far as the cops are concerned, I followed a whore back to her apartment, and we had a little falling out, that's all. Happens all the time.”
“Not in my apartment,” Mattie said.
The intruder slid back into unconsciousness.
Evangeline and Mattie traded glances, and then Mattie went ahead and punched out the number of the emergency code.
Silence fell on the room while they waited for the police.
“I guess we should get ready for the cops,” Mattie said after a minute.
“Yeah. Look, Mattie, you want me to disappear or something?”
“Of course not. You're staying right here. This is my apartment and you're a friend of mine,” Mattie reminded her. “I assure you my reputation can withstand an investigation by the Forces of Moral Righteousness and the FBI combined. That's the beauty of having led a very dull life.” She eyed Evangeline's black lace nightie. “Still, it might not hurt if we both put on a robe or something.”
Evangeline grinned. “Yeah, wouldn't want 'em to get any ideas. I'll keep an eye on this turkey while you go find one. I've got something in the suitcase I can use.”
Mattie went back up to the loft to pull on her brown chenille bath robe and a pair of fluffy bedroom slippers. She surveyed herself in the mirror and decided it would have been impossible to look any more dowdy if she had deliberately tried.
When she got back downstairs she saw that Evangeline had found a see-through black negligee in her suitcase and was shrugging into it.
Mattie cleared her throat delicately as she surveyed the negligee. “I'm sure the Seattle police have seen just about everything, but there's no sense showing them more than necessary. After all, we do want them to keep their mind on business. Do you want to borrow a robe? I have a spare.”
Evangeline looked skeptically at what Mattie had on. “Does it look anything like that one?”
“I'm afraid so.” Mattie went to the closet and found the old faded bathrobe. “But we can replace both the one I'm wearing and this one when you take me shopping.”
“Well, all right.” Evangeline tugged on the old robe with a grimace of distaste. “Speaking of cops, just exactly what do you plan to tell them?”
“I don't know.” Mattie sat down on the couch. “We could tell them everything, I suppose, but who's going to believe it? We can't prove a thing about Rainbird or the rest of it. Also, I'm not quite sure how much of his past Hugh wants dredged up. I think we need diplomatic advice.”
“Who from?”
“From someone who knows about handling delicate situations like this. My aunt Charlotte.” Mattie was already punching in Charlotte Vailcourt's private number, the one that reached her anywhere, day or night.
When Charlotte came on the line, Mattie explained the situation as rapidly as possible. Charlotte's response was immediate.
“Say nothing about the Rainbird connection for now,” Charlotte advised. “You're right, we don't know how awkward any of this could be for Hugh or his friend. It's not up to us to start raking up their past, not after all the work they've done to conceal it. Also, he wouldn't want us calling attention to whatever he's planning to do on Purgatory.”
“I agree. He said it was personal business. What about this creep on the floor? Just another ordinary, run-of-the-mill rapist-murderer foiled by two savvy young businesswomen?”
“Exactly. As far as you know, you are two innocent women who were followed home by a homicidal pervert. These days no one, especially a cop, will even blink at that explanation. Happens all the time. And he probably won't say much of anything at all to the police without a lawyer. It's in his own best interests to keep his mouth shut.”
Mattie shuddered. Then she heard the sirens out in the street. “They're here, Aunt Charlotte. I'll call you later.”
It all happened just as Charlotte Vailcourt had predicted. The gun was a particularly damaging piece of evidence against the intruder, and Mattie's pristine background as a law-abiding, taxpaying member of the business community was unassailable.
When the furor had died down and the police had taken their leave, Mattie and Evangeline made tea. Evangeline toasted slices of whole-wheat sourdough bread while Mattie tried to call Hugh.
“No answer,” Mattie said, replacing the receiver reluctantly. “I'll try Abbott Charters.”
The phone in the office of Abbott Charters was answered on the third ring.
“Yeah?”
Mattie frowned at the chewing noises on the other end of the line. She was surprised how clearly she could hear them overseas. “Is this Derek?”
“Yeah,” said Derek. “Who's this?”
“Mattie Sharpe. I'm calling for Hugh.”
“I thought he was in Seattle.”
“You haven't seen him?”
“Not since he left for his vacation.”
Mattie decided not to mention the fact that Hugh's trip to Seattle was not supposed to have been