“I walked around the front of the fence,” he said as he put her down. “Come on, let’s go.”
Silently laughing, Chelsea ran behind him. It felt good to know that he had done all that just to get his hands on her backside. They went to the back of the house and looked inside. It was as barren and threadbare as the outside. They were squinting through the dirty window into the kitchen, with its old appliances, a few cheap cooking pans on the counter.
Beyond the kitchen was a small room with an old couch and chair.
Chelsea moved away from the window. “Maybe she’s in the bedroom.”
“I doubt it. He’s leaving,” Eli said and they ran around to the front of the house. He crouched down behind a bush that hadn’t been pruned in years and motioned for Chelsea to join him. She got between his legs and it seemed natural when his arms went around her shoulders.
They heard Orin open and close the front door, then lock it.
“He’s leaving her in there alone?” Chelsea asked.
Eli put his hand out to part branches of the bush so they could see.
The man they saw didn’t look like the same one who’d entered the house. He had on a suit of perfect fit, the dark fabric having no gloss to it. There was nothing synthetic in that material!
“London. Savile Row,” Chelsea said. “Custom-made.”
“Exactly,” Eli replied.
They watched him open the car door.
“Come on, let’s go,” Chelsea said. “We have to follow him.”
But Eli’s arms held her in place. “Wait. I think I know what he’s going to do.”
They stayed hidden and watched as Orin reached inside the car, pushed a button, and the garage door went up. He drove the car inside, then there was silence.
“Think he’s getting the briefcase and watch out?”
“Yes,” Eli said. “What’s that smell on your neck?”
“Charred wood, fried-chicken grease, and probably lemon from the pie you made me eat. I really need to take a shower.”
“I think you should start a perfume line.”
She turned her head toward him, his face close to hers.
But then they heard a car engine start and Eli stood up so fast Chelsea sat down hard in the dirt. By the time she got up, dusting off her behind, the car was gone. “What was it?” she asked.
“Mercedes E63.”
“That’s about a hundred grand,” Chelsea said.
“Do you know the price of everything?” he asked over his shoulder as they ran across the potholed road to his car. Her silence made him suspicious. He stopped at the car door. “You didn’t have to buy your boyfriends gifts, did you?”
“Of course not,” she said and hurriedly got into the car.
As Eli got behind the wheel, he gave her a glance as he started the engine.
“Don’t look at me that way. There were extenuating circumstances. Besides, what’s the difference? I’m sure you handed out a few sparkly stones to your girlfriends.”
“No,” he said. “Never.”
“And that’s why they’re past girlfriends.”
“And your boyfriends are present?”