Stuart Woods - Hothouse Orchid

“No, I was self-employed. I invented things.”

“What sort of things?” she asked.

“Office equipment, small kitchen appliances and gadgets.”

“Did you sell them on late-night TV?”

“No, but some of the kitchen stuff was sold that way. I usually sold the ideas to a company that would manufacture and distribute the product and pay me a royalty.”

“Was that lucrative?”

“Surprisingly so,” Teddy said. “My wife was astonished; she always expected me to remain as poor as I was when we married.”

“Are you divorced?”

“No, widowed: four years ago, ovarian cancer.”

“I’m sorry,” Holly said.

“It’s often misdiagnosed,” Josh contributed.

“As it was in her case.”

“Teddy…” Holly began.

“It’s Jack.” He didn’t twitch.

“I have the feeling we’ve met someplace before.”

“Not that I recall,” Teddy replied. He smiled. “I think I would have remembered. Do I remind you of this Teddy? Who was he?”

“Just someone I knew a while back, and, yes, you remind me of him a little.”

“Well, I hope your memories of him are pleasant ones.”

“Not entirely.”

“Uh, oh,” Teddy said. “I’m going to get blamed for the old boyfriend. I can see it coming.” He laughed.

Holly was about to reply when Lauren walked into the room, looking smashing in a tight dress. “Is everybody drunk yet?”

“No,” Josh said, “but we’re working on it.”

“Dinner’s in twenty minutes,” Teddy said, looking at his watch, “so you’ve got time for a refill.” He got up and freshened the drinks.

Twenty minutes later, Teddy was slicing boeuf Wellington and serving vegetables. Holly had nailed him, or had she? Maybe she had only caught a whiff of his identity and had already dismissed it. In any case, she hadn’t taken a shot at him yet. He poured the wine and sat down to dinner.

They had finished dinner and were on brandy.

“Lauren,” Holly said, “you’re a lucky woman to have a man who cooks like that. It was the best dinner I’ve had in years. And beef Wellington! You don’t see that anymore.”

“Thank you,” Teddy said. “I like the old dishes best, the ones before cholesterol was invented.”

“My father died of things like beef Wellington and bacon cheese-burgers,” Josh said. “But he loved every minute of it.” He turned to Lauren. “By the way, I haven’t congratulated you on capturing your serial killer.”

“Well, thanks,” Lauren replied, “but I’m afraid he captured himself before we could. Fact is, we were getting nowhere fast.”

“I’m sure he would have tripped himself up soon,” Teddy said. “These criminals always do, don’t they?”

“Nearly always,” Holly said. “It’s tough when you have a police officer as a repeat criminal; he knows all the investigative techniques and how to avoid leaving trace evidence.”

“Well, in any case, good riddance,” Teddy said, raising his glass.

“Good riddance,” they all said, and drank.

“I have some other news,” Lauren said. “Jack and I are thinking of…”

Teddy held up a hand. “Stop,” he said, laughing, “that’s still a secret.”

“Does it have to be?” she asked.

“For the time being.”

“Oh, all right,” she said.

“Then your answer is yes?” he asked.

“That’s still a secret, too,” Lauren said.

“Holly,” Teddy said, changing the subject as fast as possible, since he didn’t want her to know his plans, “you’re on vacation?”

“Yes, but I’m having to start thinking about going back.”

“Have you enjoyed yourself here?”

“Very much.”

“Where are you staying?” he asked.

“Oh, I still have my house here, from the old days,” she said.

“Are you considering selling?”

“No. I think I’ll always want it to come back to,” Holly said. “Why? Are you thinking of buying?”

“Well, I’m renting this guesthouse,” Teddy said, “but it’s getting small fast.”

“Especially with me around,” Lauren said.

“That is a factor,” Teddy said, laughing.

“You wouldn’t want to live in Holly’s house,” Josh said. “It’s like an armored hothouse, with all the improvements her employer has made.”

Teddy knew about the improvements made for higher-ups in the Agency, but he pretended not to. “Improvements? What kind?”

“I don’t think we need go into that,” Holly said.

“It’s top secret, huh?” Teddy asked.

“No, just not talked about outside the Agency. You’ll have to remember that, Josh.”

Josh threw up his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m unaccustomed to keeping state secrets.”

“Don’t make too big a thing of it,” she said.

“I can see why they would be protective of their people,” Teddy said. “After all, there are terrorists out there who would love to lob a few sticks of dynamite into an American intelligence officer’s bedroom.”

“Now, that’s a disturbing thought,” Josh said.

Holly elbowed him in the ribs. “Unless you change the subject, you’re not going to have to worry about the safety of my bedroom.”

“How ’bout them Gators!” Josh said.

“That’s too big a change of subject for me,” Teddy said. “The only sport I follow is Tiger Woods, and he’s out for the season.”

Jimmy Weathers was getting ready for bed when his phone rang. “Hello?”

“Jimmy, it’s Irma Taggert,” said the chairwoman of the city council.

Jimmy’s heart sank. She was going to tell him he didn’t get the job. “Good evening, Irma.”

“I’m sorry to call so late, but we just got out of a very long council meeting about a lot of subjects.”

“That’s all right, Irma.”

“I just wanted to be the first to congratulate you; you’re the new Orchid Beach chief of police.”

Jimmy was stunned. “They voted?”

“We did, and we voted for you. It was… well, nearly unanimous.”

“I don’t want to know who voted against me,” he said.

“Then I won’t tell you,” she said.

“Irma, I really appreciate your confidence, and I hope you’ll pass that along to the others, first chance you get.”

“I’ll do that, and you’ll get a confirmation in writing tomorrow morning. We’ll have to negotiate a contract, of course, but I can tell you it will be very close to what Bruno got. You’d better hire a lawyer to represent you.”

“I’ll do that, Irma, and thank you again for letting me know so quickly. I’m not sure I’ll get much sleep tonight, but I’m very, very happy about this.”

“So am I, Jimmy. Good night.”

Jimmy hung up the phone and got into bed. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about himself wearing the chief’s badge and sitting in his office with his own secretary. And best of all, he had now made himself completely safe, since he could control any further investigation into the series of rapes and murders.

All he had to do now was learn to control his impulses.

Josh and Holly were driving home from Jack Smithson’s house. “I’m sorry I mentioned the fortifications at your house,” he said. “Too much to drink, I guess.”

“Oh, it’s all right. Part of our training is never to discuss our work, so when somebody does, it sets off alarm bells.”

“I won’t do it again.”

“Thanks.”

“Say, what made you call Jack Smithson ‘Teddy’?”

“That was kind of strange, wasn’t it? I think that, almost unconsciously, he reminded me of someone else.”

“Who’s Teddy?”

“You remember a few years back when an ex-Agency employee went on a killing spree, knocking off various right-wing political figures?”