“Oh, yes,” she sighed, taking him by the hand. “Come with me.” She led him into the bedroom, kicked the door shut, and locked it.
“I don’t know why you always lock the door,” Hickock said, tearing at his clothes.
“I don’t know either,” she said, letting the dressing gown fall from her shoulders. “It just makes me feel more secure.” She held out her arms to receive him, and they toppled onto the bed.
Outside in the hall, the young man with the stethoscope heard the bedroom door lock engage. He moved along the hall toward the bedroom wall and placed the stethoscope there. When he was certain that the couple were erotically engaged, he went back to the door, removed what appeared to be a small manicure kit from a pocket, took out two small tools, and began to work on the front door lock. In half a minute he was inside the apartment with his grocery bag. He removed a leather tool box from the bag and went to work.
In the bedroom, Hickock lay on his back, breathing deeply as he recovered from his orgasm. She went into the bathroom, came back with a hot facecloth, and began to wipe his penis. Hickock made a little noise.
“Oh,” she said, “I believe there’s something still there.”
This was the part Hickock liked best; while he had been essentially impotent with his wife for years, this girl could always get him going for a second round. “Use your mouth,” he whimpered.
“Why, of course,” the girl replied.
The young man listened at the bedroom door with his stethoscope, smiling. He’d better get out, he thought; Hickock would be finished in another few seconds. He picked up his grocery bag, let himself out of the apartment, and walked down the stairs to the basement, checking carefully on each floor that he was still alone. In the basement he found the building’s central telephone box and went to work. Half an hour later
he let himself out of the building and walked off down the street.
Hickock looked both ways on Fifth Avenue for his car. Not seeing it, he crossed the street, walked a few feet into the park, and waited. A couple of minutes later he saw the white Mercedes turn a corner onto Fifth Avenue. He stepped out of the park, went to the curb, flagged down the car, and got in. “Let’s go home, Ralph,” he said.
“Enjoy your walk in the park, sir?”
“Oh, yes,” he replied. “It always refreshes me.”
Chapter 4
Amanda swept into her office suite, wearing a smile that telegraphed good news to her staff. She waved Martha into her office and pushed aside the stack of items Helen and Barry had assembled for tomorrow’s column.
“It must have gone well,” Martha said, taking a seat and getting her pad ready.
“It went extremely well, my dear,” Amanda replied. “So well that there’s a ten percent raise for you when the new contract begins.”
“Oh, thank you, Amanda,” Martha gushed.
“And tell the others that there’ll be another five percent in their pay packets on the day.”
“They’ll be delighted.”
“Oh, tell Paul to sell the Cadillac, and he can keep ten percent of what he gets for it; I don’t want to see it again.” She handed Martha the car salesman’s card. “Call this gentleman and tell him I’ll want the new Mercedes delivered no later than four-thirty, and tell him to get the car phone number changed over. Call a music store and get a dozen CDs delivered for the new car’s stereo – you know the kind of thing I like – at least two Bobby Shorts and some Michael Feinstein and some chamber music. Give them to Paul so the salesman can show him how the CD player works. Make sure the salesman gets my vanity plates changed over, too.”
“Right.” Martha was making notes. “I’ll deal with the insurance; what value do you want to put on it?”
“A hundred and thirty-seven thousand dollars.”
Martha’s eyes widened. “Hickock sprang for the Six Hundred?”
“Of course he did. You’d better let the garage man know about the change; the doorman, too. Let’s not have any glitches.”
“It shall be done,” Martha said, rising. “You ready for lunch?”
“I’ll have a salad, then send Helen and Barry in, and we’ll get started.”
Martha disappeared, still writing on her pad.
Amanda still had the sick feeling in her stomach that had begun the night before, but her elation over the new contract and the Mercedes helped to drive it away. She felt very much better now.
When the salad dish had been taken away, Helen and Barry shuffled into the office and took seats.