Dietz leaned forward. His thick black hair looked dyed.
"What's that, dear? What don't you do?"
"Let strange men buy me drinks in hotel bars."
"Am I ' bad stranger'?" He grimaced. "Anyway, I thought you looked like a-" He smiled. "You know… adventuress?"
She shook her head. "You definitely had me wrong." "Okay," he said, turning serious. "You're a lawyer from Chicago. What brings you to New York?"
"I'm taking a deposition in the morning. I'll fly back in the afternoon."
"First class, too, I bet. And you'll take your time with the dep at two hundred thirty per. Right?"
She gazed at him with faint disgust. "I don't talk about my fees. "I I "Sorry.
No, you're not. She leaned forward, engaging his eyes. "What about you, Phil? You look like a player. So tell me-what's your game?"
He laughed. " ',' ''-l like that!" He took a long sip from his Scotch,
"I'm here to make a deal. If it goes down-well, old Phil here is going to be rich. Very rich."
She stared at him. She detested braggarts. You won't be boasting like that in the morning. Then she noticed that he was looking her over like a shrewd gambler inspecting a filly before a race.
"You're a very attractive woman. But you know that already, don't you?"
She winced. "Is that your idea of a clever remark?"
"Take it any way you like."
The hook was in, she knew, although he was trying not to show it.
"Well," she said, stifling a yawn, "time for me to be getting back upstairs."
"Whats-a-matter?" He pretended to be surprised. "It's early!" He showed her his watch. "Just eleven-fifteen." He paused. Now he'll go for it.
"What do you say we move someplace… you know… a little more comfortable?" He grinned.
She studied him coldly. "My room-is that what you're thinking?"
He shook his head, opened his palm, showed her his key. "I was thinking of old sixteen-sixty-four."
"Sorry. It's been fun." Her rejection caught him short. "What's the matter? Janekhad an edge to his voice. "Have I offended her?"
There was you? Did I do something wrong. she reached for his hand, rubbed her finger across his wedding band.
"This, my friend, is where I draw the line."
"Oh, that old thing."
"Yeah, that old thing."
She let his hand drop. He stared at her, deflated.
"All I meant was, you know… "
Now he's sputtering."
"Yeah? What did you mean?"
"Just a drink, from the minibar. No obligation, no expectation. You can leave whenever you want." He showed her a sincere expression, then raised his hand as if taking an oath. "Honest Injun!" His smile did not disarm her. It wouldn't evenfool his mother.
"Well -.." She pretended she was considering his offer. He peered at her eagerly. "Well," she said again. "All right. Just one drink."
In "old 1664" she moved to take control.
"Lie back," she told him. "Loosen your tie. Take off your shoes. Get comfortable." She took his key from his hand, unlocked the minibar, set to work. Dietz, amused, reclined on his bed and watched. observed.
"You make a very attractive bartender," he o Hey." Wow! The Great Seducer!
"I worked my way through law school tending bar." She turned slightly, slipped the KO drops into his drink, then turned back and handed him his glass.
He looked at it like it was poison. "What's this?"
"Gelsey's Special. Drink it. It'll make you feel good."
He sniffed at it, made a face. "I'm more of a straight Scotch guy myself."
"What's the matter? Afraid of something new?"
"Not really… "
She studied him. "I didn't figure you for a stick in the mud, Phil.
The taunt upset him. "I'm not a stick in the mud."
"A little stodgy, then?"
"Not stodgy at all."
"Good." She grinned. "I like an adventuresome man."
"I just prefer-" "Come on, Phil. Drink up," she said kindly. "You might like it.
Wouldn't that be a surprise?"
He hesitated for a moment, then clicked his glass against hers and quickly drank off half the potion.
Gotcha! All she had to do now was string him along a couple of minutes more.
"What do you think?"
"It's different, I'll say that for it.
"Of course it's different." She felt flushed with confidence. "And so am I," she added.
"You got a point there."
She laughed, started toward his bathroom.
"Where're you going?"
"To the powder room. I'll be right back. I just have to make a few"-she giggled-"preparations." She shut the bathroom door, her back against it. Jesus! She'd been worried when he sniffed the glass, as if he'd actually suspected something. But in the end he was an oaf like the rest of them, unaware of anything except that he was alone with an attractive woman and that he ought to get busy bedding her down, because, of course, that's what she wanted even if the sultry little bitch didn't know it yet.
When she felt enough time had passed, she opened the bathroom door and peered across the room. He must have heard her because he turned his head. His face was pale. He didn't look well at all.
"You okay?"
"A little wheezy." He tried to hold up his empty glass. He didn't have the strength. "What'd you give me?"
"Nothing." "Something… know it… "Love drops," she said. "I gave you love drops."
"Love drops?" He rubbed his eyes. His voice had lost its edge.
"Umm-hmmmm."
"You mean like a… aphrodisiac?" he asked.
"Uh-huh… "
She watched him silently, curiously, as he let go of the glass. It rolled across the bed and fell with a gentle thud onto the carpet.
You're dead meat, she thought.
"My eyelids… heavy… "
"Let yourself go, Phil. Try and sleep."
A mild glare of anger in his eyes. "You spiked it, didn't you?"
"A nice girl like me?"
She waited for the flash of terror, but he was too far gone. He closed his eyes and began to snore. She smiled, shook her head, then slipped on a fresh pair of surgical gloves and set to work cleaning up the room..
In the end she decided not to freak him out. No scissors work tonight-just pick the guy clean and split. She put his cash (three hundred dollars plus change), Rolex and wedding band into her purse.
He'll really sputter when he tries to explain that missing ring! She pulled off his already loosened tie, unbuttoned then spread open his shirt, sat astride him with her marker poised just above his skin. Think of a good message, one that'll really get to him. It didn't take her long to come up with an appropriate slogan. She wrote across his chest in mirror-reverse:
As she was dismounting his prostrate form, she noticed somethings little edge of khaki fabric peeking out of the top of his pants. Aha! What have we here? She unclasped his belt, unzipped his fly and pulled down his trousers to his knees. There it was, a money belt, and she'd almost missed it, too. Okay, let's see what you're hiding. Let's see if you're Mr. Bucks.
She pulled the belt off him. It had been strapped on so tight it left a pink imprint on his skin. She opened the flaps, explored the pockets, came up with a thousand dollars in hundred-dollar bills and a small object carefully wrapped in plastic foam.
Expecting a diamond, or at least a ruby, she was disappointed to find a piece of hard, transparent material covered with tiny lines. She held the object up to the light. What the hell was it? Some sort of computer chip? Dietz, she remembered, had spoken of a deal that would make him very rich."
Well, good-bye deal! She popped the chip into her purse with the other loot, then went back into the bathroom, checked herself in the mirror, returned to the bedroom, looked around, saw everything was clean, moved over to the room door, looked back at Dietz and blew him a kiss.