The Investigators (Badge of Honor 7)

He had just dipped the first piece of steak into one of the egg yolks when there was a knock at the door.

“Shit,” he muttered, got up, stood behind the door and opened it.

Maybe it’s the newspaper.

It was Miss Susan Reynolds. She smiled at him some what shyly, met his eyes momentarily, and then looked away.

I love her. It’s as simple as that. Otherwise, I couldn’t possibly be this happy—maybe “thrilled” is a better word—to see her.

“Come in my parlor, my beauty, as the spider said to the fly.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be up,” she said as she walked into the room. The first thing she saw was his reflection in a mirror, and then the room-service cart.

“My God!” she said.

“A little birdie told me you were coming, and I wanted to be ready.”

“I was talking about the food,” Susan said. “But now that you mention it, put your pants on.”

“Do I have to?”

“Do you always eat that much for breakfast?”

“My mother taught me that the most important meal of the day is breakfast,” Matt said solemnly.

“I’m surprised you’re not as fat as a house.”

“May I offer you a little something while I put my pants on?”

“All I had at the house was a glass of orange juice,” she said.

“Help yourself,” he said, and started for the chest of drawers.

He saw, reflected in the mirror, that she was watching him. He put an innocent look on his face and covered his crotch with both hands. Susan shook her head and smiled.

The telephone rang.

He sat on the bed and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“I hope you were sound asleep,” Jack Matthews voice said.

“Why, Special Agent Matthews of the FBI!” Matt said. “What a joy it is to hear your melodious voice!”

Susan looked frightened, decided Matt was pulling her leg again, shook her head in resignation, and then, when he nodded, signaling that he was indeed talking to an FBI agent, looked frightened again.

Matt signaled for her to come to the bed.

“Are you alone? Can you talk?”

“I am alone and I can talk,” Matt said.

He swung his feet into the bed to give Susan room to sit down. She took one of the pillows and laid it over his midsection. Then she sat on the bed. Matt held the handset away from his ear so that Susan could hear Matthews.

“Were you out with the Reynolds woman last night?”

“Indeed I was.”