"When was the last time you had a home cooked meal?"
"I couldn’t even tell you."
"Then it’s settled, I insist."
"Well since you put it that way, Mrs. Josephs, I accept."
"Good. You just have a seat at the table. Ben, you call the children." I looked over at Ben as his wife went back in the kitchen. The frown on his face let me know how he felt about me staying for dinner. I didn’t care; I was having fun with this. And besides; I was hungry and everything did smell delicious. Ben rolled his eyes and went to call the children to dinner.
Everything was wonderful; I made a complete pig of myself. She really was a good cook. Ben was pretty quiet during the meal, as one might expect for a man in his position. But his wife was a very entertaining conversationalist. I’m a sucker for a good conversation. Ben had a nice family, two very polite kids. After dinner, they excused themselves. His wife got up and cleared the table. "Ben always has a brandy after dinner. Would you like one, Mr. Mitchell? I mean Patrick."
"Thank you, that would be nice."
"What you think you doin’?" Ben whispered.
"Having a brandy after dinner, — with Ben." As soon as his wife and the children were out of eye and earshot, I took out my gun. "You go get those pictures. I’ll be in the kitchen with your wife."
Ben got up and walked away, while I joined her in the kitchen. "I just wanted to thank you for twisting my arm and having me to dinner, Mrs. Josephs."
"Please, call me Renée."
"Well, Renée, everything was wonderful. Where did you learn to cook like that?"
"I’m a country girl. My grandmother taught me. Didn’t you know, all us country girls can cook like this?"
"Where you from?"
"Flowery Branch, Georgia. I know you never heard of it."
"No, I can’t say that I have." I laughed, as Ben returned with an envelope. He handed it to me and I opened it and looked inside to verify the contents. I thought Ben was gonna faint. "Well, people, I really do have to go now, but, Ben, Renée, thank you very much for having me to dinner."
"It was our pleasure havin’ you." Renée said, leading me by the arm to the front door. "Anytime that you’re in the neighborhood, promise me that you’ll stop by."
"I don’t get out to Brooklyn much, but I won’t hesitate to stop by if the need arises. Right, Ben?"
"Right," Ben said, as he walked out the house.
"Pleasure meetin’ you, Renée." I smiled seductively, her left eyebrow went up, and she blushed.
Once we reached the sidewalk, I stopped and turned to Ben. "That’s a real nice family you have there, Ben."
"Thank you. You got what you came for, now get out of here," Ben said looking away. Tryin’ to sound tough.
"Renée seems like a good wife. Too nice for you to be cheatin’ on her and blackmailing women."
"Yeah, sure."
I took out my gun again and pointed it at his head. It was dark and besides, I got what I came for so I really didn’t care who saw me now. "Don’t act tough, Ben. You deserve to die for what you’ve done, and I will come back here and kill you if I hear that you’ve even called Mrs. Childers again. Get me?"
"You won’t."
"When were you supposed to see her again?"
"Tonight."
"Where and when?"
"Ten o’clock at Halcyon."