Parker And The Gypsy

The gorilla’s face scrunched up into a mighty scowl beneath the brim of his driver’s cap. “It’s Mr. George to you, Parker.” He jerked one large callused thumb in the direction of a long black limo that stood idling at the curbside. “Mr. Storm is waiting in the car. He’d like to have a word with you.”

“I’ve got one for him.” With a dark smile, Mike spat out the expletive between clenched teeth.

“That’s two words,” George objected.

“What d’you know? The ape can count.” Mike tried to elbow his way past, but with a low growl the driver clamped his hand around Mike’s upper arm.

Mike shot him a black, warning look, but the goon only tightened his grip, snarling, “Mr. Storm ain’t got no time to waste with you, wise guy. He told me to request your presence and I’m requestin’. Now, it can either be at your convenience or your inconvenience, if you get my drift.”

Mike’s hand clenched into a fist, his immediate impulse to deliver a solid blow to the big ape’s solar plexus. He didn’t know what stopped him. It was what a younger Mike Parker would have done. But maybe he was finally starting to get a little older and wiser. Maybe he remembered too well the result of his last encounter with good old George—three cracked ribs, a dislocated jaw and a night in jail.

And maybe it was nothing more than the besetting sin that had landed Mike in a heap of trouble more than once in his life—curiosity. It had been a couple of years since he had crossed paths with Xavier Storm and they hadn’t exactly parted on friendly terms. What the hell could Storm possibly want with him now?

After a brief hesitation, Mike forced himself to relax. “All right,” he said, breaking George’s grip with a quick, sharp movement. “I’ll go see your boss. Just keep the paws to yourself. I wouldn’t want to have to do anything that would mess up your pretty uniform.”

George gave a contemptuous snort but retreated a step. As Mike sauntered over to the car, the driver dogged his heels like a suspicious pit bull preparing to chomp into Mike’s ankle at any moment if he showed any signs of attempting to escape.

Mike noted the limo awaited him, eased next to the yellow curb of a no-parking zone. But that was typical of Storm’s arrogance, Mike thought sourly. From his penthouse high atop his hotel casino at the end of the boardwalk, the man thought he owned the whole damned town.

George stepped forward to open the rear door. He barely gave Mike time to scramble inside the limo before slamming it closed again. Mike sank down into an air-conditioned interior that was better outfitted than his office—dark luxurious leather upholstery, a minibar, a TV, a personal computer and printer. All of it was as sleek, cool and expensive as the man who sat in the opposite corner, speaking into a cellular phone.

Xavier Storm gave Mike a brief nod of greeting and continued with his conversation, which seemed to consist mostly of dictating orders to whoever was on the other end. Storm could have been an ad for Gentlemen’s Quarterly, not a strand of his thick black hair out of place, his tailored linen trousers crisp, his necktie perfectly arranged, his subtle pinstripe shirt immaculate, the square links that fastened the cuffs simple in design, but obviously solid gold.

He gave an impression of height and power even while lounging in the back of a limo, his hooded green eyes dispassionate, faintly bored as he listened to whatever excuses the subordinate was apparently whining into his ears through the phone. The cast of his features was gaunt, almost predatory. Mike supposed Storm could have been called handsome, if you liked that lean, arrogant look that many women appeared to, including Mike’s own ex-wife.

The chauffeur resettled his large bulk behind the wheel of the car. Never missing a beat in his phone conversation, Storm depressed a button, raising a tinted glass, turning the back seat of the limo into a very private, sealed-off world.

“How cozy,” Mike muttered, his fingers drumming out an impatient tattoo on the armrest. Between the minibar and a seat large enough to be a bed, Storm really had it made. Make-out city if the rumors about Storm were true. An unwelcome image surged into Mike’s head no matter how hard he tried to fight it.

So was it here in the back seat that Storm had seduced Darcy, or had he deemed her worth the cost of a hotel room?

The thought no longer had the power to burn Mike with a jealous rage, but the cold ashes of his hate for Storm remained.

Even if it hadn’t been for the bad blood between them over Darcy, Mike feared his dislike of Storm would have still been intense. There was just something about the man and his mocking arrogance that brought out in Mike a side of himself he didn’t like. Storm’s wealth and breeding was like a slap in the face, a constant reminder to Mike of who he was and where he came from. The son of a no-account gambler and petty con man from the wrong side of the tracks. Little Mikey Parker, the throwaway kid, worth more dead than alive even at the tender age of twelve.

Mike felt familiar bitterness chum through his gut and mumbled, “The hell with this.” He reached for the door only to discover it was locked and there was no sign of a release button. Storm chose that moment to end his conversation. Snapping the phone shut and tossing it on top of the minibar, he turned toward Mike with an urbane smile.

“So sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr. Parker,” he said in a low purring voice. “It was good of you to agree to meet with me on such short notice.”

Mike shot him a glare. “It’s not as though I had a helluva lot of choice.”

Storm hunched one shoulder in a dismissive shrug. “Mr. George is a very devoted employee. But you have my apologies if he was a little...overzealous in carrying out my commands. I trust I didn’t drag you away from anything too important.” Storm arched one thin black brow as his gaze roved over Mike’s disheveled appearance. “May I offer you anything? A drink perhaps? Or a comb and razor?”

“No thanks, Storm. If I wanted to slit your throat, I would’ve brought my own.”

A glimmer of amusement appeared in Storm’s hooded green eyes. “Do I still detect a note of hostility, Mr. Parker? After all this time, I would have thought the little misunderstanding between us long forgotten.” After a brief hesitation, Storm asked, “How is Dulcie?”

Mike’s jaw clenched. The son of a bitch didn’t even remember her name. “Darcy is doing just fine for all I know. She’s probably living quite well down there in Florida with all the money she managed to clean out of me after the divorce.”

“Pity you didn’t think to have a prenuptial agreement,” Storm drawled. “You could have hardly expected to have formed a permanent relationship with a woman you found in a cake.”

“And you’d know all about permanent relationships, wouldn’t you, Storm?” Mike said with a sneer. “Didn’t I just see in the papers that you finished up your third divorce? In most ball games I’ve ever heard of, three strikes and you’re out.”

For a moment, Storm’s imperturbable mask slipped and his mouth tightened with what might have been pain if he’d been anything other than the coldhearted man he was. “Perhaps it would be better if I come right to the point.”

“Oh? You’ve got a reason for wasting my time? I’m dying to hear it.”

Storm ignored the sarcasm and went on. “I have reason to believe that you may soon be receiving a visit from a woman seeking the services of a detective. A woman from Aurora Falls named Sara—Sara—” Storm frowned slightly as he groped for the name.

Mike gaped at him. He didn’t know quite what he’d been expecting this little tête à tête to be about, but it certainly wasn’t this. He was so stunned, he forgot his usual caution about volunteering information and supplied, “Holyfield. Sara Holyfield.”

Storm’s eyes narrowed. “So the young lady has already been to see you.” It was more of a statement than a question, but Mike was hardly paying attention.

He still couldn’t fathom the connection. Sara and Storm? It was like trying to imagine an angel chatting with the devil over a friendly cup of tea.

“You know Sara Holyfield?” he demanded in utter disbelief.

Storm merely raised his brows. “Let’s just say I know of her.”

“You surprise me, Storm. I thought hardheaded businessmen like you confined your money dealings to this world. What’ve you been trying to do, find a way to take it with you?”

When Storm’s brow furrowed in confusion, Mike took a keen pleasure in needling him. “Looks like your sources are holding out on you. Didn’t they tell you? Sara’s a selfprofessed psychic. Some kind of a medium.” Mike dropped his voice to an exaggerated spooky hush. “The lady deals in ghosts, Storm.”

For a moment Storm looked taken aback, then irritated. “That particular aspect of Miss Holyfield’s life doesn’t interest me. It’s her reason for calling upon you that concerns me. She came to ask you to take on a missing-persons case, didn’t she? To search for a man named...John Patrick.”

“What if she did? What’s it to you?”

“Simply this.” Storm’s reply was soft and chilling. “I don’t want him found.”

Mike stared at him, astonished. As though he feared he had been too brusque, Storm hurried on. “I don’t know what induced this Miss Holyfield to meddle in this affair, but I assure you she has gotten in over her head.”

So she had, if Sara was inadvertently doing something to trample on the mighty Storm’s toes. Oh, angel, what have you stumbled into here? Mike wondered. Though he maintained his nonchalant pose, all his detecting instincts went on full alert.

“If you know something that would be to my client’s benefit, I think you’d better tell me, Storm,” Mike said, shoving to the back of his mind the fact that he had thrown Sara out of his office and told her to go get herself a good shrink.

“All your client needs to know is that her quest to find John Patrick should be dropped. You should advise her to do so, and if she refuses to listen, you’d do well to back off from this case yourself, Mr. Parker.”

“Is that some kind of a threat, Storm?”

“Consider it an offer. I would be prepared to triple your usual rates if you could persuade Miss Holyfield to abandon this foolish search.”

“And what makes you think you can buy me like a cheap suit?”

Storm’s insolent green eyes raked over Mike, from his scuffed sneakers to his T-shirt “Because, my dear Mr. Parker, I could probably calculate your entire net worth to the nearest penny. And I fear the sum would likely be in pennies.”

Mike had been told that he was worth nothing in far more blunt ways but none had ever stung worse than Storm’s elegant way of expressing it.

He told Storm what to do with himself in a short but pithy terms and reached for the door handle, only to curse in frustration. He’d forgotten he was virtually a prisoner in Storm’s little luxury-bound den on wheels.

“I’m sorry if my lack of tact offends you, Mr. Parker. Despite your dislike of me, I bear you no ill will,” Storm said, adopting a more conciliatory tone. “I admire your talents and feel they are completely wasted trying to run some two-bit detective agency. I told you that years ago when I first tried to hire you to run security for my casino.”

“Well, maybe you should have spent more time trying to tempt me and less time tempting my wife,” Mike snarled. “I wasn’t interested in working for you then, Storm. And I’m not now. So I suggest you unlock this damned door before I find my own way out of here, like smashing that fancy little computer of yours through one of the windows.”

His angry gaze collided with Storm’s and held for a moment. Then Storm’s heavy lids drifted down, veiling his eyes. Reaching to his side, he depressed a button and the door lock clicked open.

Mike shoved the door open and thrust himself out of the car, but before he even had time to straighten, Storm’s silky voice echoed from the cavernous recesses of the limo.

“Parker, one last word of caution. You’d be wise to forget about taking on this case.”

“I’ve never been noted for my wisdom. Have a nice day, Mr. Storm.” Mike slammed the door closed and stalked off down the sidewalk without looking back. He charged upstream through a pack of stupid tourists who didn’t seem to know that if they wanted to find the boardwalk, they had to head toward the ocean, not away from it.

Crossing against the light, Mike was nearly grazed by a honking taxi and its cursing driver, but he continued blindly on for several more blocks before he managed to cool down.

When he finally paused to draw breath, he was more irritated with himself than Storm. Irritated that even after all this time, he’d still let the guy get to him.

“What a morning,” he muttered. First the queen of the gypsies and now the casino king, the two of them bizarrely connected by a ghost and a missing chump named John Patrick. It was like stumbling into the plot of an old mystery movie after you’d missed the whole first reel.

But it wasn’t his mystery, Mike reminded himself. Then why had he allowed Storm to believe he’d taken on Sara as a client? The answer was simple. For the first time since he’d met the guy, the smooth-polished Mr. Storm had actually seemed capable of breaking into a sweat like any ordinary Joe. Whether he was alive or dead, this John Patrick person obviously posed some sort of threat to Storm, which meant he had something to hide—a fact that didn’t surprise Mike at all.

Nobody pulled down the kind of millions and deals that Storm had and did it completely honestly. That was a bitter truth Mike had learned long ago from watching the antics of his own father. The only difference between Storm and Mike’s old man, was that Storm appeared to be the better gambler.

But maybe his luck was about to run out. Mike’s mouth set into a grim line. He’d owed Storm one for a very long time, and not just because of that business with Darcy. Even more because Mike had an innate dislike of all cheats and con men. And behind that Ivy League manner and prominent Philadelphia family background, Mike had always had a gut feeling that Xavier Storm would prove to be the biggest fraud of all.

The more he thought about it, the more nosing around into this Patrick business began to appeal to Mike.

Are you sure that’s what’s appealing to you? his inner voice tormented. Or the excuse to see a certain big-eyed, curly-haired angel of a blonde again?

“No way!” Mike blurted out so loud that he startled several teenagers passing by. But despite his denial, he was once again overpowered by that feeling of Sara melting in his arms.

He was quick to shut it down with a vehement shake of his head. Despite the sizzling kiss they’d shared, he didn’t want to be anywhere near a woman who read tea leaves, who might want to try reading him. If he decided to go looking for John Patrick, he’d do it on his own, Mike resolved. “I can do just fine without the psychic services of Miss Sara Holyfield.”

Long after Mike Parker had slammed his way out of the back seat, the black limo continued to idle at the curbside. His shoulders slumped, Xavier Storm leaned forward, bracing his head upon his hands in a display of weariness he never allowed anyone else to see.

Waiting for some instructions from his employer, Storm’s driver eventually became concerned and lowered the tinted glass himself. Twisting around in his seat, Mr. George glanced anxiously back at Storm. “You okay, boss? You get that business with Parker all taken care of?”

With a long sigh, Storm straightened. “No, I handled the situation rather badly. I fear I overplayed my hand, Mr. George.”

A mistake Xavier Storm rarely made, but his usual icy calm had been badly shaken ever since he’d stumbled across the advertisement in the papers and realized that someone was looking for John Patrick. Why? After all these years? When he’d recovered from his initial shock, he initiated a few careful inquiries after the person who’d placed the ad, only to discover the situation had already grown worse.

Only yesterday morning, Miss Holyfield had cheerfully informed the newspaper she was discontinuing her ad in favor of a more direct approach. She was off to Atlantic City to hire herself a famous investigator, Mr. Michael Parker.

Storm’s mouth twitched into a grim smile that held little humor. “Of all the detectives in New Jersey, why did that foolish girl have to drag Parker into this?” he murmured.

“I dunno, boss.” Mr. George’s deep-set eyes darkened with concern. “But what are you going to do? If Parker and the Holyfield girl succeed in finding the truth about John Patrick...” the chauffeur trailed off.

“If they succeed, Mr. George?” Storm’s face set in taut lines, his voice assuming its customary dangerous purr. “Well, we will simply have to make certain that they don’t.”

Three

Mike guided his lipstick red Mustang convertible down the shaded streets of Aurora Falls. It was definitely a one-fast-food-joint type of little burg with Yuppie pretensions. Even the quickie mart sported a blasted pink-and-white awning.

As he turned the corner onto a street that looked suspiciously like one he’d already been down, his radio speaker blared out the sound of the Eagles warning him to take it easy. Probably way too loud for Dullsville, so Mike leaned over and switched the cassette tape off.

He brushed aside a bead of sweat trickling down his brow. The afternoon sun baked down through the open top of the convertible, making Mike curse his choice of apparel—dress blue jeans, his best T-shirt topped off with a navy sports jacket. Mike Parker, P.I. in his professional mode. Ready, perhaps, to make a better impression on Miss Sara Holyfield.

No way! Mike scowled his denial, quick and sharp, that his spiffed-up appearance had anything to do with Sara.

Oh, yeah? a voice inside him taunted. And so who’s the close shave, the freshly trimmed hair and the liberal dose of Mr. Manly cologne supposed to be for? The ghost?

Mike was beginning to find his inner voice damned annoying, especially when it was right. Okay, maybe he had given a thought or two to Sara when he’d spent that extra five minutes in front of the mirror this morning. If he wanted the woman’s cooperation, he had a few fences to mend with her after the way he’d treated her yesterday. Making a pass at her, flinging out sarcastic insults, chucking her out of his office.

When he saw her again, he’d be lucky if she didn’t tell him to go to hell. If he hoped to get any information out of her regarding this Patrick business, then he was going to have to turn on a little charm, a pretty scarce commodity with him.

But first, he was going to have to find her. After Sara had left yesterday, he tossed all the information he’d taken down about her straight into the trash. And wouldn’t you know it? It would be the one day Rosa would creep into work and decide to make herself useful by tidying up his office. Sara’s address and phone number were now buried somewhere in a city Dumpster.

But it shouldn’t be too difficult for Mike to locate her in a small town like this, should it? After all, he was supposed to be a detective. Squeaking through on the yellow end of a traffic light, Mike whipped the Mustang onto what he presumed to be Aurora Fall’s main street.

Mostly because there was a sign that proclaimed helpfully Main Street. The wide boulevard planted with skinny striplings of trees and lined with a row of spanking new shops, tried desperately to convey an impression of old-moneyed charm. Like a gaggle of ladies wearing bonnets, almost every shop front was adorned with one of those prissy awnings, except for—

Mike slammed on the brakes, staring through his windshield • at the store set midway down the block. Instead of an awning, its doorway was overhung by a huge mechanical eye, winking open and closed, the Plasticine lashes drifting coyly up and down. Beneath this device dangled a sign announcing the store’s name in bright red letters. The Omniscent Eye. Then in small print, New Age Bookstore.

And Mike had been wondering how difficult it was going to be to find Sara Holyfield. As he studied the sign, a slow grin spread over his face. He didn’t realize he was holding up traffic until a horn blared loudly behind him.

“All right, all right,” Mike groused.

Easing his car into the nearest parking space, Mike got out, fed some change into the meter and then sauntered down the sidewalk for a closer inspection of Sara’s shop front. While the monster eye whirred merrily over his head, Mike couldn’t help chuckling to himself. He was able to imagine what a stir Sara’s advertising device must be creating with her nearest neighbors, a petite sizes boutique where Mike could see a snooty blonde working behind the counter, and on the other side an antique “emporium” complete with bay window. Mike liked Sara all the better for what must be her defiance of the local awning-and-swirly-sign dress code.

Ducking down, Mike paused to check his reflection in the shop glass, wetting his fingers and slicking down a stray cowlick of hair. Reaching for the handle, he pushed open the door.

As he entered the store, a symphony of chimes tinkled, but the noise was almost lost in the other sounds that swirled around him—watt speakers pouring forth the sounds of pattering rain, birdcalls and chittering monkeys. The illusion of having strayed into some kind of tropical rain forest was helped by the fact that plants littered the surface of counters, fronds and ferns everywhere, green waxy-looking leaves sprouting lush and exotic flowers.

Although small and cramped with merchandise, Sara’s shop seemed somehow cool and soothing after the bustle of summer traffic outside. The place smelled of books and some subtle fragrant incense. As the door eased softly shut behind him, Mike caught himself glancing around.

Shelves lined with texts promised to help him with everything, from thinking himself thin to channeling his past lives. Crowding the aisle were displays of tarot cards, herbal remedies, incense stacked like cinnamon sticks in glass jars, meditation tapes and CDs. Mike didn’t bother looking closer at those. Somehow he doubted he would find familiar musical groups tucked in among them.

Flicking one finger over a weird-looking goddess incense burner, Mike pulled a wry face. He supposed someone must buy this stuff considering some of the things his old man had been able to palm off on unsuspecting marks.

But thinking about his father was only sure to darken his day and Mike was in a reasonably good mood for once. He didn’t want to spoil it, so he was quick to shunt all thoughts of Robert Parker aside.

Edging cautiously past a stand filled with scented candles, he nearly bumped his head against some sort of circular rope hanging adorned with feathers, the sort of thing that could have been woven by a demented spider.

He was beginning to feel a little like the Alice kid who’d jumped down a manhole or something only to find herself alone in some kind of strange wonderland. The shop seemed deserted. But at the back of the store, he saw a doorway hung with a beaded curtain.

He headed for it and found the glass counter display of crystals and silver jewelry. An old-fashioned cash register that would make a satisfying ring when recording a sale sat on the well-polished surface.

Behind the counter, perched on a stool, her head bent over a book, was Sara. She didn’t even seem to have noticed that anybody had come into her shop. A customer could waltz in and rob her blind. But perhaps she didn’t have that kind of problem in a store like this. Maybe shoplifting spiritual doodads was considered bad karma.

Mike paused a moment to study Sara before making his presence known. She was just as beautiful and angelic as he’d remembered. Today she wore her hair pulled up high into a ponytail, ringlets falling down like a silken blond cascade, drawing attention to the delicate nape of her neck. Darkframed reading glasses balanced on the tip of her nose, magnifying the solemn intensity of her blue eyes, making her look at once sweet and sexy and...