She pulled away and parked farther down the street and looked at her watch. "Okay, a cab should be here in fifteen minutes, tops. If she"s a smart girl, she"ll leave. If she doesn"t, she"s a dope."
She sat there, and in nine minutes, a Yellow Cab pulled up and honked. Jane came running out and got in. Delia smiled happily and drove home.
Detective Delia Grainger was extremely happy that Miss Jane Whiting of Evanston was not a dope.
Chapter 20.
Rae woke in the middle of the night, bolting up and screaming. Sarah woke and looked around. She was not used to sleeping with someone who scared the life out of her.
"Rae, sweetie. It"s okay." Sarah sat up and put her hand on Rae"s arm. She was shocked to see Rae in a pool of sweat.
"d.a.m.n it." She ran her fingers through her hair. "When will it stop?" she exclaimed angrily. She then sat on the edge of the bed, and Sarah crawled up behind her and put her arms around her.
"Lay back. It"s only a dream," Sarah said.
Lulled by her voice yet again, Rae allowed Sarah to pull her back in her arms. She took her position and laid her head on Sarah"s breast, listening to her heartbeat.
"Sorry I woke you." She sighed tiredly.
"Woke me? You scared the s.h.i.t out of me," Sarah admonished softly. "See what you"ve done to me? Now I"m swearing." She kissed her head and rocked her.
"You can"t catch anything good from me. Don"t change. Don"t be like me, ever."
"You"re a good woman. I"m not in the habit of a.s.sociating with rabble."
Rae held her close. She took a deep, quivering breath and whispered, "Some days, I feel so lost."
Sarah kissed the top of her head. "Someday, I"ll find you."
Rae cuddled close. "Sarah?"
"Hmm?"
"I think I"m falling for you." She kissed the top of her breast. Sarah let out a small gasp and smiled. Then with such quickness, Rae loomed over her, smiling in the darkness. She kissed Sarah deeply, once again amazed at the feeling that engulfed her.
Rae pulled away and sensed Sarah starting to say something. She quickly kissed her again, leaving her breathless. "Don"t say anything. Just let me make love to you."
Sarah sighed. Who was she to argue?
Early in the morning, Rae woke and dressed quickly. She watched the slumbering Sarah as she lay on her stomach, the blankets dangerously exposing her thigh. Rae shook her head as she smiled. How lucky could she possibly get? Then a wave of panic wafted over her. What if she realizes what a nutcase I am and leaves? The thought was not foreign to Rae. It was quite possible that it would wind up that way.
Smiling sadly, Rae knelt on the bed and kissed her shoulder. Sarah moaned and opened one eye.
"Hey...What are you doing?" she mumbled.
Rae kissed her shoulder again. "I"m going to check out Amy"s apartment."
Sarah tried to rise, but Rae put an arm on her shoulder. "Sleep in. I"ll be back for breakfast."
"Breakfast? What time is it?" She looked at the clock. "Rae, Rae. It"s only five thirty." She moaned and looked at her. "Can"t you sleep?"
Rae just looked down at her worried face. "What a woman." She sighed and kissed her cheek. "I"ll be back in a couple of hours. You have the coffee ready."
"Yes, dear," she mumbled sarcastically.
Rae playfully slapped her rump, and Sarah let out a tiny screech and hugged the pillow.
The apartment was the same as they first found it. Overturned chairs, papers strewn about. Rae gingerly looked around, trying to gauge the mess as she closed the door. This was no robbery. Nothing of importance had been taken. Expensive stereo equipment was still intact. A huge TV stood untouched.
Then Rae looked around again and noticed the furniture. The couch and recliner leather, not vinyl. She walked into the kitchen. There was an enormous wine rack in the far corner. Rae picked up a bottle. Her eyes widened as she whistled softly. "Rothschild." Eight or ten bottles of different kinds of wine. One, a bottle of Bordeaux, from 1974.
She put it back in the rack and looked around. There on the sink was a matchbox. Rae picked it up and turned it over. On the cover was a large snake and under it the words The Snake Pit. Rae looked at it curiously. Then it struck her. The Snake Pit was a gay bar on Halsted Avenue.
She walked into it once, and that was enough. It was a seedy bar. Gay and straight men and women frequented it for s.e.x and drugs in the lower level of the bar. She opened the matchbox to see a number written inside. She picked up Amy"s phone and dialed the number.
After a ring or two, a voice came over the phone. "What?" a male voice barked. Rae held her breath for an instant, and before she could speak, the man barked again. "How did you get this number? Who the f.u.c.k is this?"
Rae hung up and put the phone down. For some bizarre reason, she was scared. Rae Jefferson rarely got scared. She nervously looked around the kitchen and walked down the hall into the bathroom, then she went to Amy"s bedroom. She looked around and noticed the sheets on her bed were pure silk. She sat on the edge of the bed and looked on her nightstand. Nothing out of the ordinary, she thought, then opened the drawer. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed all sorts of s.e.x toys in various vivid colors. She picked up a harness with appropriate accoutrement attached.
Rae shook her head. "Doesn"t anyone have s.e.x the old-fashioned way anymore?" Sarah should see this, she thought. She gave the harness one more look.
She then looked in the closet and found what she thought were expensive shoes and boots. The closet floor was filled with them.
"How many pairs of shoes does one woman need?" She scratched her head, then closed the closet door.
As she stood there, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she shivered violently. She stood frozen, trying not to breathe and listened. Did she hear something in the hallway? Swallowing with difficulty, she crept to the bedroom door.
She looked out into the hallway and saw nothing as she retraced her steps from the bathroom, to the kitchen, then back into the living room.
The hair on the back of her neck bristled as she looked at the front door. She knew she closed it. It was now wide open.
Sarah just stepped out of the shower when she heard the phone ring. Forgetting she wasn"t at home, she picked up the phone. The voice on the other end shocked her.
"Rae Jefferson?" the male voice asked.
"No, can I take a message?" Sarah pulled the towel around her.
"Yeah, tell her to back off. It was an accident, hear me? I saw her snooping. We had nothing to do with that woman"s death. Hear me? You tell her that."
Sarah stood there and nodded. Then shook herself, "Y-yes, I hear you. I"ll tell her, but wouldn"t you like to leave a name and number?" she asked nicely.
The man laughed. "Nice try. You tell her."
Sarah sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the phone. With that, she heard the front door open and was petrified. Someone was walking down the hall. She sat there, clutching the towel around her, wanting to scream.
It was Rae. She let out a sigh of relief and put a shaky hand to her forehead.
"What in the world are you doing?" Rae asked, smiling. She rushed over to her and knelt as she saw the pallor of Sarah"s complexion. "Sarah, what happened?"
Sarah explained in a trembling voice. Rae picked up the phone and dialed to recall the number. It was untraceable.
"s.h.i.t." She sat next to Sarah and put an arm around her. "You okay?"
Sarah stopped shivering and only nodded. "Who do you think it was?" she asked, holding on to her arm.
"I have no idea. But he said "we," right? Makes me think of Mike, Molly, and that Jerry Truman guy. I don"t know who else it could be," she said logically. She gave Sarah a healthy hug and kissed her wet head. "I"m sorry. You must have been petrified."
Sarah laughed. "It"s never a dull moment with you. Did you find anything out at Amy"s?"
Rae lay back against the pillows and explained as Sarah dressed. She poked her head out of the bathroom. "You think someone was in the apartment with you?"
Rae nodded gravely and told her about the matchbook. Sarah came out of the bathroom, brushing her hair. "The Snake Pit? What a den of iniquity."
"And just how do you know of this place?" Rae asked with a smug grin.
Sarah laughed as she walked over to her and sat on the bed. "Hey, I had a life before you," she said defensively, then saw the skeptical look on Rae"s face. "Oh, all right. I"ve never been in the place. I"ve only heard about it."
Rae tried to hide her smile. Somehow, she couldn"t get a good mental picture of Professor Sarah Connelly, head of the English Literature Department of Northwestern University, in a seedy bar like The Snake Pit.
"Are you going to go there?" Sarah asked eagerly and completely intrigued.
Rae chuckled. "Maybe, but to answer that maniacal look in your eyes, no, you can"t come with." She put her hands behind her head, closing her eyes.
"No," she repeated as Sarah playfully unb.u.t.toned her shirt. Rae laughed. "Stop it. You"ll be late for your cla.s.s. You"ll have to start giving Professor Nelson your paycheck."
Sarah said nothing as she lightly pushed open her shirt. "Why, Commander Jefferson, you forgot your undergarments."
"It"s no use," Rae said breathlessly. "You"re not going." She sighed. "You"re not."
"I only have a few cla.s.ses through midday."
"But I have clients..."
"Shh. This won"t take long. Then you"ll be on your way."
Rae moaned quietly and gave up, realizing she"d probably never have control with this woman.
Chapter 21.
Sarah sat in her office, rocking gently, gazing out the window and thinking of her morning with Rae. She didn"t even hear Betty knock as she came in.
"Well, you"re back. Yes, there"s a definite glow about you," she said and sat. Sarah whirled her chair around, grinning. Betty laughed affectionately. "So I take it the evening and morning went well?"
"Wonderfully so, Betty." Sarah sighed and laughed along.
Betty raised an eyebrow. "Is it s.e.x or is it love?"
Sarah smiled, she loved Betty. She"d been like a mother to her these four years.
"I don"t know yet. Rae Jefferson"s experienced and knows how to please a woman, that"s for sure. I don"t know the romantic side of her, if she has one. It"s been a long haul for her..." The soft knock at her door interrupted her.
It was a young man with flowers. Betty raised her eyebrows, and Sarah blushed horribly and covered her eyes. No one ever sent her flowers.
"Professor Connelly?" He set them on her desk and walked out. Sarah stood there, staring at them.
"Well?" Betty lightly rapped the desk with her cane.
"Was I supposed to tip him?"
Betty rolled her eyes and again tapped her cane on the desk. Sarah took a deep breath and opened them. It was a beautiful bouquet of yellow jonquils. She gave them a curious look. She didn"t know why she thought for sure they"d be roses. Betty gave a skeptical grunt.
Sarah took the card and read it, then laughed and held it to her chest. She handed the card to Betty, who read it out loud.
As I quietly thank the G.o.ds above, these will have to do until the spring... In the spring, you will have daffodils...10,000 daffodils.
Rae "Quoting from Wordsworth, no less." Betty smiled and put the card in the flowers. "Well, that should answer your question of her romantic side." She smiled and walked out, leaving Sarah gazing at the flowers.
For the remainder of the morning, Sarah knew she would have a hard time concentrating on her schoolwork.
Later that afternoon, Sarah stood by her window and grinned when she noticed Rae walking through the campus. She watched Rae"s graceful, confident figure make her way toward her building. Sarah pulled open her window, and totally out of character, she whistled like a sailor on leave.
Heads looked up, and so did Rae. She shielded her eyes from the Indian summer sun and grinned wildly as she waved.
"Good afternoon, Professor," she called up.
The students watched as they walked by. Sarah figured all of them wondered just what in the world was happening to Professor Connelly.
Sarah took one jonquil and held it out the window. Rae laughed heartily and nodded, motioning that she"d come up.