That New York evening at dinner he had told her the gifts were for never expecting anything of him. That was when she knew Jag had big bucks and would shell them out. Who besides a fool would spend that much money on a hooker unless he had a ton of it? Jag sure wasn’t some backwater on his first trip to the city who’d get caught up in the glamour atmosphere of beautiful girls and fast-flowing whiskey and max out his American Express card. What she didn’t like so much was having his security detail, usually just one man, follow them around when they went out of Atlantic City. He was always out of sight, but she felt his presence nonetheless. Jag told her the shadow was a necessary fixture in his life in government. She wondered if that was a fact. She was adjusting an earring when he knocked again. “Just a minute,” she sang, downing a second Valium for insurance, which Doc Ricardo supplied to her.
She scanned the living room and dimmed the lighting another notch. As she stood by the door, she mentally ran through her lines that she would use later in the evening and nodded to herself. Game time. She cracked the door and gave Jag a mischievous look until he pushed it open wide and took her into his arms. At that very, most inopportune, moment, Maria Sanchez walked by in the hallway. The hotel’s head of housekeeping flashed Karly an embarrassed grin and picked up her pace. Karly had gone out of her way to make friends with Maria soon after occupying the apartment. Her housekeeping staff could be an ally or they could be a nuisance, and Karly often sent small gifts and flowers to Maria. They had become friends and Karly had called Maria for lunch many times over the years to unload her problems on her. Even The Bad need a shoulder to cry on sometimes, Karly told herself. But there was something in it for Maria, too, Karly knew: Straight-laced Maria was able to glimpse a world that was forbidden to her.
“Don’t you look great!” Karly chirped after Maria passed, clinging to Jag’s neck. “Sorry I kept you waiting, Big Guy.”
Jag had drawn away. “Who was that?” he said, peering down the hallway.
“Nobody important,” she whispered, pulling him into the room.
“Who was it?” he said, wanting to know who’d seen him there.
“Jaaag, come on. It was only Maria, the executive housekeeper.”
“The maid in the blazer! Always nosing around.”
He was over it now. He smiled as he pulled Karly close and craned around her shoulder to get a better look at the back of her. The bottom of the cocktail dress revealed her thighs, and her tiptoeing made her calves so very appealing. She was wearing nothing under the dress, and he felt the familiar excitement as he caressed her neck.
“How much time do you have?” she asked.
“Hour or so. It’s downstairs at seven, then back here little later.” He followed her to the sofa near the window overlooking the ocean. “I could use a drink.”
“Great, and I’ve got your stuff, of course,” she said, prancing over to the stereo. She was more playful than usual.
She put on a CD and said she’d do the drinks. “You can take the cheese into the bedroom. I mean, if the bedroom’s okay with you,” she said teasingly.
Jag liked the idea of having a drink or two, lying in bed with her, lights low, touching her skin, and it was okay with him if they put off lovemaking until later. For one thing, time was not unlimited now, and he’d have something to anticipate during the roast downstairs. After it was over, they’d have all night. All weekend.
Karly set their drinks on the bar and disappeared into the bathroom. Jag put them with the cheese on the bedside lamp table, sliced off a sliver, popped it into his mouth and drowned it with Scotch. Pepper cheese, it was. His favorite. He lowered the lamp, undressed and was propped up in the bed when Karly came out of the bathroom. Joe Cocker’s You Are So Beautiful wafted through the dim light. Jag recognized the black silk wraparound he’d picked out the last time he saw Karly. She let it drop to the floor and stood before him for a moment, the fair skin of perfect breasts blushing softly in the muted light. He wondered whether there could possibly be another woman as desirable as Karly. So much for putting sex off until later.
“Thought this moment would never come,” she whispered as she slid between the silk sheets. She ran her fingers through the hair on his chest and slowly let them work their way down to his sex. “Such a man, Jag, you’re such a man. I love looking at you.” She cooed it in a soft way he could almost believe. He always listened for sincerity on the many times Karly had told him he was the best of all of her lovers, how great his body was, how good he looked. No matter the level of a man’s self-confidence, he’d told himself, he doesn’t mind hearing those things. After they made love they lay quietly in each other’s arms for a few minutes before he handed her drink to her and sliced off more cheese. They chatted about tonight’s party and their plans for later. Life didn’t get any better than this. Karly drained her glass and lay silently for maybe a minute.
He didn’t give it much thought at first, but sensed she’d withdrawn a bit. He leaned back against his pillow and let another slug of the Scotch work. “You okay?”
After a slight pause, “Pretty well.” Her courage was waning.
Code words, he thought. “So what’s wrong?” He looked at Karly, thinking how quickly the moment had changed. Her face was pale.
The Valium and alcohol had failed her and Karly knew she had to reveal her plan before she was ready. She hesitated for several seconds. “Okay, since you asked.” She said it with the release of a deep breath, and swallowed hard. “Pretty soon, Jag…, I, uh, I will be too old for this work. I need you to help me with my, my retirement.” Her voice was a little hoarse now.
He sat up and leaned on his elbow. “Why in hell are you bringing this up now, Karly?” He was amused and annoyed at the same time.
She started to speak but Jag went on: “Anyway, you need to talk to a financial man about that kind of question, not me.” He settled back to the bed.
“No. No. Wait.” She put a finger to his lips. “Twenty-nine is ancient in this business, Jag. I need…” She paused when her voice broke.
“Say it.”
“Okay, look, Honey, I need a couple million dollars.” She delivered it in a little-girl voice.
He stared at her, not understanding.
“Now, Jag,” she sang. “I know all about this. If I invest it now I can have five, six maybe even eight million when I’m old.”
“Well, then, that settles it,” he said with sarcasm. “If you have the money to invest you’re all set.” He threw the sheet back and started to get out of bed, in no mood for her now.
More serious now, Karly grabbed his arm. “I don’t, but you do.”
“What?”
“You have it. You are my retirement,” She said, trying to maintain calm.
He quaked inside. “You…you’re serious? What’re you talking about?”
She looked at him with resolve: “You’re gonna give me the two million.”
Jag was dumbfounded. “You’ve gone crazy! It’s idiotic to think I’d do that, Karly, or that I have that kind of money.”
“Oh, you’ve got it, all right. I read the papers. Multi-millionaire, everyone knows.”
He’d seen that, too, and only wished it were true. But that was not the issue here.
Sitting upright now, he said, “This is insane! You’ve gone off the deep end, Karly.” Fury reflected in his face.
Karly regained her voice. “I don’t think so,” she shot back. She was sitting up too. “I know you, and you don’t want every voter in America to know the kind of slime pit you are, sleeping with your whore for years while you’re making high-sounding promises to your dumb-ass voters. A little three-month affair, that’s one thing, and even sleeping with the same woman for years while you’re married may or may not matter to many these days. But taking money from whoever believes in you and then laughing at their stupidity when you’re with me, buying me clothes and diamonds with the money they give you? That’ll get some attention. I can tell ’em lots of stuff about you, Jag. You’re nothing but a whore yourself. At least I admit it. I may not be as smart as you but I see through you like a piece of glass. And that big-deal father-in-law of yours? I bet he’d like to know what kind of man his daughter’s husband really is.”