John Lutz - Mister X

She took a bite of omelet and chewed for a while, letting him think she was mulling over his proposition. "It isn't so simple, Yancy."

"So bring some furniture."

"I don't mean that. It's the…"

"What? Appearances?"

"No, I don't give a rat's ass about appearances. I'm talking about how it'd be between you and me."

"It'd be the way it is now, only more of it."

"No, it wouldn't be exactly the way it is now. We'd soon become…a couple."

He smiled handsomely at her with his refreshing blankness. "Yeah, I can count."

"What you're proposing is something like a marriage. In fact, if we lived that way long enough it'd become a common-law marriage."

He forked in more omelet, then swallowed and took a sip of coffee. "A legal technicality."

"I'm not cut out for marriage of any kind."

"I wouldn't say that. You're a hell of a good cook. And you look terrific in that apron."

"Ugh! See, you're trying to domesticate me already."

"Like a wild mare in a corral," he said.

Horse analogies while I'm wearing an apron like June Cleaver? What the hell does he mean by that?

This was the kind of thing that could be a problem. While Yancy was ostensibly transparent, there were times when he thought in ways that baffled her. Or was that simply a complicated way of saying he was devious and a skilled liar?

Pearl warned herself: Don't make a two-sided problem six-sided. For that matter, don't create a problem where there's no problem at all.

An amused comprehension glowed in his blue eyes. "Do you think I'm too old for you?"

"No. You don't seem too old for anybody."

"Maybe you don't like the white hair," he said.

"It's more the dark roots."

"I explained why I-"

"Yeah, but it seems dishonest."

He seemed mildly surprised. "It's not dishonest. Not even illegal, immoral or fattening. It's simply me, slightly altered for convenience."

"But you seem to alter almost everything for your convenience."

"Why not, if it's convenient?"

She smiled to temper any insult. "To tell you the truth, darling, everything you say is subject to doubt."

"That kind of consistency is hard to find in a man. Anyway, truth is an amorphous concept."

"You do tell the kind of lies I like. Practical lies."

"So move in with me. We'll tell the neighbors we're siblings. Let them think we're doing unspeakable things to each other."

Yuk! Yet Pearl had to admit there was something about such a charade that tickled her perverse side. Not the notion of sibling sex-that was absolutely repugnant. But its very repugnance made it kind of appealing as a pretend way to put one over on the neighbors. Yes, horrifying the neighbors could be fun.

No, no, no!

But for a moment the devil in her mind had considered it. That was the sort of thing that made her uneasy about being so close to Yancy. He seemed to understand her entire spectrum of emotions, and he could play it as if it were a harp. That made her feel vulnerable. Floating a sister-brother illicit relationship rumor as a diversion while simply living together. Quinn would never suggest such a sick thing, even jokingly.

Serious, obsessive Quinn.

It struck her again: Maybe Yancy's appeal was that he was so unlike Quinn.

So what's wrong with that?

"If it would make you feel better," Yancy said, "we could tell people we've been married twenty years. Even have families out there from previous marriages. And in-laws. Though I don't have any of either."

More lies.

"Do you have any family in the area?" he asked.

Pearl hesitated. But why lie like Yancy?

"Just my mother," she said. "In New Jersey."

"No kidding? I'd like to meet her. You know what they say, if you're going to pretend to be married to a woman, you should meet her mother."

"No," Pearl said, "you shouldn't."

"So think about my offer," Yancy said.

"This is me thinking," Pearl said. She stood up from her chair and began clearing the table, even though there were a few remaining bites of omelet on Yancy's plate. "I've gotta get outta here and go to work."

Yancy sat back and crossed his arms, watching her and grinning lewdly.

"That apron!" he said. "There's something about a really sexy woman wearing an apron."

"Try thinking of something else."

"Washing the dishes bare-breasted?"

"Don't ever do that in front of me," Pearl said.

Renz had finally relented and agreed to talk to the woman. Now he wasn't sorry.

Her name was Adelaide Price, and she was from Detroit. In several letters to Renz she'd explained how she'd been attacked six years ago by a masked assailant. She'd fought her way free and crawled from her apartment into the hall. Her attacker had followed and dragged her back. Then, for some unexplained reason-possibly fearing she'd been seen in the hall-he broke off the assault and ran.

She'd turned the attack into an opportunity. After a locally bestselling book, degrees in psychology and criminal justice, and a series of media appearances, she'd become a frequent guest on Detroit TV as an expert on crime and criminals. Her fame had lasted more than fifteen minutes. She was good for ratings and someone to be taken seriously.

Now she was badgering Renz for an assignment as profiler in the reopened Carver investigation. Not only was she personally politicking for the job, she'd enlisted the help of several prominent people in Detroit who might know several prominent people in New York. That got Renz's attention.

Finally he'd agreed to see her for a number of reasons, not the least of which were her references. Her freelance work as a crime psychologist and profiler had led to several arrests and convictions in Detroit, and a Captain Mark Drucker had given Adelaide Price the highest of recommendations. So high that Renz suspected that Drucker, an old friend of Renz's who was a notorious womanizer, had an intensely personal reason for helping Adelaide Price. That was okay with Renz. He owed Drucker a favor, and in the world of Renz and Drucker, favors owed and paid were the currency of the realm.

And here she was.

Adelaide Price was surprisingly attractive, in her thirties, tall, with honey blond hair, brown eyes somehow made to appear blue with violet eye shadow, and full red lips. Her build was slender but athletic, and she had long, shapely legs that showed well in the short brown skirt she wore.

Renz smiled at her, and she smiled back. If Drucker had gotten into her pants, Renz could understand his motivation.

"We need to be honest with each other," he said.

She nodded and gave him a glance with her brown-blue eyes. She knew how to use those eyes so she seemed to be gazing up at Renz even though they were seated on the same level.

"Honesty above all," she said.

Renz thought that was just what someone dishonest would say. He decided to give her a taste of honesty to see how she'd react.

"Okay," Renz said. "My understanding from people I've talked to in Detroit is that you are an ambitious, hard-driving bitch."

"That's pretty much true," Adelaide Price said. "And my friends call me Addie."

Her sexy, throaty voice reminded him of someone he couldn't quite place.

"We're not friends yet," he said, "but I'll make it Addie. You can call me Commissioner Renz."

Adelaide-Addie-appeared unmoved by his snub. "My reason for wanting this assignment is due to my ambition," she said. "It does run strong in me. I never saw wanting to get ahead as a crime. Or a liability."

"It's an asset," Renz said, recognizing her as one of his own. "So in terms less general than mere ambition, tell me why you want this assignment."

"I don't consider ambition mere, but I get your point. Vengeance figures into it, too."