“Are you okay?” he called to Amanda, his voice filled with concern for her. “I could run after him.”
“No!” Amanda pulled herself upright, appalled at the instant mess the usually neat living room had become. At the bedroom door, she called out, “We’re okay out here. Cissy, are you all right? Please…” she turned to Marc, “put the gun away.”
Cissy’s bedroom door tentatively opened and a wide-eyed, disheveled, short-blond head peeked out.
“I was in thebathroom,” she announced to Amanda, “And I’d just gotten out of the shower, when I thought I heard something. You know hownoisy this place can be sometimes. I didn’t think athing about it until I put on a robe and wrapped my head in a towel.” She stooped to help Amanda gather the scattered drawing materials. “And I came out here to fix myself a cup of broth. Honey,” she said earnestly, “I have not had asingle drink this morning. Oh, my…” She noticed Marc righting the drawing table and touched her hand to her still-damp head.
“I justfelt something was wrong,” her voice rose dramatically as she continued her recitation of events. “So I sort of ‘tsk-tsk’-ed to myself and said ‘oh dear, how silly of me’ and nonchalantly sashayed back into the bedroom.” She turned to Marc as he straightened a fallen lamp. “Where I closed the door like I was looking for something behind it? And slid the bolt ever so quietly.” She turned back to Amanda. “Honey, you wereso right to have those bolts installed.”
Back to Marc. “She is so clever, so clever, no wonder she’s doing so well at work. And then I listened at the door,” she re-enacted for them both. “Andheard something. Well, I could have fainted dead away, but I thought I’ll be brave, I’ll call my very practical roommate who will know exactly what to do. And you did, you saved me. You both did.”
Exhausted, she sank onto the sofa and, having finished her recitation, immediately gave her whole attention to Marc. He repositioned the drawing table in its original position as Amanda took deep breaths of relief and continued to straighten the room.
“Who on earth areyou, you handsome thing?” Cissy was her old seductive self. “How will Iever repay you for being such a knight in shining armor. Amanda, honey, you are indeedtwice blessed. Especially after last night,” she added coyly.
At Marc’s questioning look and wry smile, she leaned forward. “Did she tell you about the most extraordinary…”
“Cissy! You might want to go…check your hair while we see if anything’s missing.” Amanda’s firm tone segued into a lilting cadence. “We’ll see about the lock before we go. How did the person get in?”
Cissy looked slightly embarrassed. “It might have been me.” At Amanda’s puzzled look, she continued. “Well, you know how that kid on the third floor isalways forgetting his key and runs his hand up and down all the buzzers? I thought it must have been him, right before I went in to take my shower, so I rang back but I never heard him run past the door up the stairs, so then I thought it must be those menu people and they’re soquiet.”
“Okay, okay,” Amanda said in exasperation. “We all do dumb things. Now, you’ll know not to do that again, right?”
“Never,” Cissy said contritely, tugging at the neck of her silk, patterned robe. She gave Amanda a grateful hug. “Thanks for coming. I won’t let this upset me. I’ll be fine. I do think my hair may need the touch of a comb. I’ll only be a minute.”
“She’ll be ten, at least,” Amanda said, sotto voce to Marc as she began to check the room and he went to inspect the door. “She’s really a terrific person who has had to overcome some pretty rotten breaks. We’ll do a proper introduction when she comes back out. You can pretend to be an interested investor.” She chuckled. “Good-looking and rich. I may have to beat her off you with my poor, battered drawing table.” She began to carefully check the room.
Marc smiled and turned his attention to the door. “He used a pry bar. And he cut the chain with a lock cutter. He certainly knew his stuff. A little more prepared than a common thief looking for stuff to hock. What’s missing?”
Amanda’s face was filled with surprise at the realization. “Nothing. Except my files have been wrecked.”
He was quickly at her side. “Sit down, you look a little pale.”
“Marc, I was debating whether to tell you or not. This morning, when I got to work, I discovered the files in my office had been gone through. There was no sign either the company doors or the door to my office doors had been forced. I… I…” She hated implicating anyone. “There’s no reason for anyone in our production unit to go through my files. There are very few, if any, secrets in that office. But something odd is going on.”
Marc’s broad forehead furrowed. “Your office and now your apartment? You’re damned right something funny’s going on. I think I’d better have a talk with my older brother right now. Just to be sure he’s told me everything I need to know. The man is a ditz,” he grumbled. “You gonna be okay here? You got a super or something that can take care of the door? I’ll wait ‘til it’s fixed. Why the hell didn’t anybody stick their head out with all the racket? Damn New York.”
“To be so in love with the Village, you’re certainly short with Chelsea. Nobody’s home during the day on this floor. Everyone works.”
“Oh.” His angry look softened. He leaned closer, studying her distracted look. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“I had the strangest sensation when the man leaped out from behind the drawing table and dashed out.” She bit her lip. Dare she trust this man?
He waited.
“It… he…the body shape… reminded me so much of Mr. Wilde.” She rushed on, appalled that she had actually voiced such a terrible accusation. “Which makes no sense, of course. I can’t imagine him moving that quickly; he’s almost as old as Professor Angeli. But… but I suppose with adrenaline… No! No. It’s not possible.”
“What’s not possible?” Cissy appeared from the bedroom, clad in a skimpy top and even skimpier skirt, her hair a golden casual poof topping her freshly made-up face. Amanda tensed as Marc visibly reacted with a show of pleasant surprise and interest.
“Oops. Did I interrupt something? Now, you two just go on chatting while I run down to the super’s. I am quite pulled together,” she said brightly, delicately readjusting her top so her unfettered breasts inside became even more apparent. She dashed from the apartment waving Amanda and Marc to stay seated.
“Will the super be able to handle that?” Marc’s sardonic look followed Cissy’s exit.
“Mr. Raymondo is very responsive to our needs. His wife sees to it that he’s not too responsive.”
He laughed and Amanda felt her throat tighten. She wanted so desperately to let her bottled-up feelings flood free. She had become used to tension at work, the pressure of surviving in this city, the chaos of living with Cissy. She had been in tricky situations before but she had never before felt… fear.
Marc put his arm around her and pulled her close as if understanding her sudden apprehension. He held her tight. The warmth of his powerful body, the security of his embrace, melted the tension and unleashed her tightly wound nerves. Amanda began to cry.
The raking sobs came quickly, and just as quickly subsided. That was what she needed. Just to let it out. She sucked in great gulps of air, forcing her mind toward blankness, allowing the containing grip of the male arms around her to give her the freedom to relax completely and slowly reassemble herself.
He said nothing. She felt the solid thump of his heart beat steadying her, righting her. A final shuddering sniffle and she was her old in-charge self again.