Celestial Bodies (10 page)

“How’s that?”

“It’s, uh, the daughter. I... She’s, um, very attractive.” He waited.

“Is that going to be a problem?”

Nick pulled the receiver away from his ear and stared at it suspiciously for a moment. It sounded as though Peter was trying not to laugh. “No. It’s just that I don’t want to get involved with a suspect, and I can’t seem to help myself around her.” He grunted. “And I’ve already got enough problems.”

“You certainly do.”

Nick sighed dispiritedly. “Any news on the Maurice LeCoz mess?”

“They’ve set a date for the hearing. Our lawyer looks depressed, and LeCoz called personally to promise that you and I will never work in this business again. Have I left anything out?”

Nick rested his forehead against the glass booth and squeezed his eyes shut. “Pete... I’m sorry. I wish...”

“Yeah, I know, you wish you hadn’t done it. But you did, and it’s over now. And if we could turn back the clock, you’d do the same thing again. What else could you do?”

Nick smiled weakly and gripped the receiver with both hands. No matter how many times they discussed it, Peter supported him and the decisions that had led to their possible—no,
probable
—ruin. What more could a man ask for in a partner?

“Well, maybe our luck will change. Things are so weird in the House of Ishtar, it’s enough to make you believe in destiny and karma,” Nick said.

“See if Felix Stewart’s tarot deck can tell you whether or not we should start considering a new line of work,” Peter advised.

“I’ll check in again,” Nick promised.

“And until Diana Stewart stops being a suspect, you watch your step,” Peter cautioned.

“Right.” Nick hung up and headed back to the House of Ishtar. When he got there, he realized that he was growing pretty accustomed to the place. He had adjusted to the selection of Eastern and New Age music that played on the shop’s stereo, he didn’t mind the smell of burning incense anymore, and he even found some of the less intense customers rather likable.

Most of all, he counted on seeing Diana every day. He realized it with a hot rush of certainty when their eyes met as soon as he let himself into the shop.

“You were up and out early,” she said, noticing the newspaper he carried under his arm.

“Honesty compels me to admit that I snuck out for a cup of coffee.”

Diana laughed. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders in a torrent of disarrayed red-gold curls, as if she hadn’t brushed it yet. Her eyes held a welcoming glow, a subtle warmth that made his belly throb with longing.

Nick cleared his throat. “Why are you down here so early?” The shop didn’t usually open until ten o’clock.

“I’ve got things to do this morning. And Mrs. Bouvier is due any minute. Have you met her?” She leaned across the jewelry counter to pick up the appointment book, and the action made the plump curve of her breasts spill against the neckline of her aqua-colored dress.

Nick was mesmerized by the sight, by her healthy feminine beauty. He wished things were different. He wished he could just give her a good-morning kiss and—

“Nick? Is something wrong?” Diana had straightened and was looking at him with concern.
 

“No. Sorry.” He tried to remember what they’d just been talking about. “Um, yeah, I’ve met Mrs. Bouvier.”

“Oh.” Diana smiled uncertainly. Then she took a deep breath and forged ahead. “Listen, about last night...” She wet her lips, and he shifted tensely. “If it would be silly for me to get involved with someone just because of what I saw in the tarot, then it would be silly for me to
not
get involved with someone I liked, just because I didn’t want to get involved with someone because of what I saw in the tarot.” She paused. “Do you see what I mean?”

Nick blinked.

“What I mean is, maybe after the shop closes tonight, we could...” Diana shrugged. “I don’t know. Have dinner or something?”

He stared at her, desire warring with integrity.

“Nick, does the thought of eating dinner with me repulse you, or has Ishtar got your tongue?” she asked impatiently.

He had to make a decision, he realized. A split-second decision, and it had to be the right one. He had to choose between the most fateful feeling he’d ever known and the professionalism that was already in serious question.

“Nick?” she prodded.

“I, uh—”

There was a sudden clanging behind him. Saved by the door bell!

Nick whirled to face the newcomer. “Mrs. Bouvier!” He leaped forward to welcome her with exuberance.

The plump, pretty-faced woman fluffed her ultra-blond hair and smiled. “Why, Diana, this gentleman of yours makes an old frump like me feel like the belle of the ball again.”

Considering that Mrs. Bouvier possessed the best wardrobe, cosmetics, and jewelry that money could buy, Diana thought the term “frump” was a transparent attempt to win a compliment from the “gentleman.” But it worked.

“Girls half your age wish they could be so eye-catching, ma’am,” Nick said gallantly.

After a few more such exchanges, Diana realized this could go on indefinitely if she didn’t put a stop to it. Nick sure knew how to coat a well-used compliment with plenty of flirtatious charm to make it go down quick and easy. Since Felix still hadn’t come downstairs, she picked up the phone and called the apartment.

Nick kept up a steady stream of conversation with Mrs. Bouvier while he tried to think of a way to get her alone, so he could question her, subtly but thoroughly, about her consultations with Felix. The sooner he could close this case, the sooner he could come clean with Diana. And then they’d do a lot more than just have
dinner
together, he promised himself.

He had another scare when Mrs. Bouvier said he seemed familiar, that she thought she had seen him somewhere else. He assured her that she hadn’t, because he would surely remember that. Then he switched the subject back to her plans for her daughter’s twenty-first birthday party, still wondering how to get the lady alone so he could question her.

After a few minutes on the telephone, Diana slammed down the receiver. Nick and Mrs. Bouvier looked at her curiously.

“I’m terribly sorry, Mrs. Bouvier,” Diana said. “Felix overslept. It’s so rare for him, I never even bothered to check on him when I got up this morning. He won’t be down for twenty minutes.”

“Hunting up old incarnations for a chat must be pretty tiring,” Nick said with a straight face.

Diana gave him a look of dislike before saying, “I have to leave. I have an early appointment.”

“Where are you going?” Nick asked. It was unusual for her to go anywhere so early in the day.

“I’m having my legs waxed.” She held up a hand as he opened his mouth to say something else. “No. Don’t start with me. Can you attend to Mrs. Bouvier until Felix comes down? I should be back by the time we open for regular business.”

Nick kept his tone lighthearted. “Sure. No problem. It’ll be a pleasure.”

“It certainly will be,” Mrs. Bouvier added with a girlish smile.

Feeling a bit like a third wheel, Diana picked up her handbag, nodded to them both, and left the shop.

“How could I resist twenty minutes alone with such a charming lady?” Nick said to Mrs. Bouvier.

“Well, now, young man, what shall we talk about?”

It was enough to make you believe in karma, Nick reflected.

Chapter Five

THE LOVERS: TRUMP VI

Major Arcana

Meaning:
A choice of temptations; sexual and spiritual love; yang and yin.

Reversed:
Sundered relationships; quarrels; disharmony.

Despite a very busy day at the shop, Nick persuaded Diana to let him off work early. He made up an excuse. He was bursting with eagerness to talk to Peter and didn’t want to wait any longer.

He walked down to the bottom of Canal Street, boarded the ferry, and, after arriving in Algiers, walked the rest of the way to the offices of Tremain and Lowery Investigations.

When he reached the restored old building that housed their agency, he climbed the stairs to the second floor, swung open the tall wooden door with its stained glass window, gave his most flirtatious smile to Mrs. Milne, and inquired, “How’s the sexiest woman in Algiers?”

“Missing the sexiest man,” she replied with straight-faced crispness. “When will you be done with the Stewart case?”

“Looks like I’m all done now, in fact. Is Peter in?”

She nodded, and he knocked briefly at his partner’s office door before entering.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Peter asked. “Isn’t it time for your tea reading?”

“I got Mrs. Bouvier all to myself for nearly a half hour this morning,” Nick informed him, enjoying the first peace of mind he’d known for days.

“Excellent,” said Peter. “What did you find out?”

Nick flopped into a chair near Peter’s desk. “She pays Felix his usual hourly consultation fee and sees him once a week—more often if she’s troubled about something. He knows a great deal about her personal concerns, but never offers specific advice. She says she found his cryptic comments annoying at first—and I can definitely relate to
that
—but now she understands how to apply his deep and meaningful observations to her everyday life. He has never accepted any money from her other than his standard consultation fees, he never advises her about financial affairs, and he has never urged her to make payments, loans, or donations to anyone.”

“In other words, he’s clean.”

“Yes,” said Nick. “There’s also nothing between them that resembles, er, courtship. He’s strictly her spiritual advisor. Whatever you or I or Claude may think of astrology and tarot readings, Felix is sincere and running an honest business.”

“You sound relieved.”

“I like the old guy,” Nick admitted. “He’s pretty weird, but you’ll never meet anyone nicer.”

“So let’s close the case.”

“Agreed. I’ll have Mrs. Milne give Claude Bouvier a call and set up an appointment.”

“What are you going to say?” Peter asked.

“That Felix isn’t an opportunist and that, within the definitions of his profession, he’s certainly not a fraud. And although Mrs. Bouvier has a bit of a crush on him, he has expressed only professional interest in her. We can’t get dirt on someone who’s clean.” Nick shrugged. “That’s it. You start writing the report tonight. I’ll finish it first thing in the morning.”

“Wait a minute. Why can’t
you
start writing the report tonight, if the case is closed?” Peter demanded.

“Because Diana Stewart asked me out to dinner, and I haven’t given her an answer yet.”

“Ah,” Peter said.

“Actually,” Nick said uncomfortably, “we’ve had kind of a tense day, and it’s going to take a while to calm her down after I tell her why I’ve really been hanging around the House of Ishtar.”

“Since when is calming down former suspects part of the job?”

Nick shrugged. Then he shifted in his chair. “I like her a lot, Pete.”

There was a long silence. Peter studied Nick with amusement while Nick tried to look casual.

“Okay,” Peter said at last, relenting. “See you tomorrow.”

“Right.”

Nick checked his messages on the way out, then began the journey back to the French Quarter. Following a hunch—Felix would have called it precognition—he stopped at a drugstore on his way back. He wasn’t sure what inspired his purchase there, unless it was the fervent hope that he and Diana would celebrate to the fullest his successfully clearing her and Felix of suspicion.

As he slipped a few discreetly wrapped packets into his pocket, he had a vivid mental image of the look on Diana’s face when she had drawn The Lovers from Felix’s tarot deck. He smiled. She believed more than she’d admit, he was sure of it.

As far as he was concerned, though, it was just coincidence that the cards had correctly predicted they’d soon become lovers.