Don't Make Me Choose Between You and My Shoes (10 page)

“Uh, I usually just wear something light and pinkish,” Celina managed to interject.

“But you've got great heart-shaped lips. You need more color. Don't talk while I put this liner on you.” Debbie Sue
outlined her lips with a rosy brown color, then filled in with swipes of rose.

In a scant twenty minutes the makeover mavens were standing side by side behind Celina and she felt as if she were being scrutinized by artists viewing their masterpiece. “Can I look now?” she asked.

Debbie Sue stepped out of her line of sight, exposing the mirror behind her. “What do you think?”

Celina had never done much to herself with cosmetics, having always been afraid she would look like a clown. When she walked to the dresser mirror and looked, what she saw left her too stunned to reply.

Edwina had parted her hair on the side, leaving only wispy bangs. The ends of her hair had been turned under with a curling iron. Celina picked up a hand mirror and turned her head from side to side, viewed the back of her hair. “Oh, my gosh. This doesn't even look like me.”

“Do you like it?” Debbie Sue asked, obviously anxious for approval.

“It's amazing. I love it. I mean, I love me. It's just…I don't know what to say.”

“Just consider it a mini-makeover, courtesy of the Domestic Equalizers,” Edwina said. “And when
we
say courtesy,
we
mean it's free.”

“Ed and I are good,” Debbie Sue added with a grin. “We can do more in twenty minutes than a lot of those city broads can do in an all-day spa.”

“I really do love it.” Celina continued to look in the mirror and touch the ends of her hair, feeling almost like it
didn't belong to her. “Thank y'all so much. I just hope your work won't go to waste.”

“Honey, looking beautiful is never a waste. A blessing, an inheritance and yes, sometimes a curse.” Edwina swung her long, manicured finger back and forth. “But never, ever a waste.”

On the elevator ride down to the lobby, Debbie Sue and Edwina talked and laughed nonstop, but Celina scarcely listened. Just thinking about Detective McDermott still had her unsettled. He was bound to be so worldly, so streetwise.

And he was so handsome and charming. How in the world had he remained single all this time? Then it struck her. What if he wasn't?

“What if he's married?” she blurted into Debbie Sue and Edwina's banter. “What if he intends to take advantage of me because he thinks I'm such a dumb hick I won't know the difference?”

Edwina gasped as her bony arm looped around Celina's shoulder. “He wouldn't dare. Besides, his partner said he doesn't have anyone to go home to.”

“He could lie,” Celina said.

“And if he did,” Debbie Sue replied, “he'd be a turd. A big-city turd. And Ed and I have a remedy for turds.”

“Yeah, we flush 'em.” Edwina's tilted her head back and filled the elevator with her raucous laugh.

“Right,” Celina said. “And I'll help you.”

The elevator's chime sounded and the door glided open. Squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin, Celina made her exit. She might be overreacting and playing the role of
drama queen, but she didn't care. Marriage was a sacred trust and she would never be a part of breaking one up. If this big shot showed up, she intended to let him know that she might be just a librarian from a tiny town in Texas, but she was no one's fool.

As she made her way to the fountain, she saw a throng of people all around it. She didn't see the detective and a small part of her was relieved. But a large part was disappointed. “See, I told y'all he wouldn't be—”

“Celina.” Her ear instantly picked up his soft husky voice. “Hey, I'm glad you came.”

She turned and right in front of her was the tall, dark and handsome big-city dude she was ready to put in his place. The cad that surely had a pregnant wife cooking his supper and darning his socks while she waited for him to come home.

His eyes moved all over her and came to rest on her face. “You look fantastic.”

“Uh, hi,” she managed, barely in a civil tone.

“I was afraid you wouldn't come. I thought maybe you didn't think I was serious.”

“Why, that never crossed my mind,” Celina said, hating herself for sounding like a Southern-fried fool.

“Detective?” Debbie Sue said. “Pardon me, but I want to introduce myself. I'm Debbie Sue Overstreet and this is my friend and partner, Edwina Perkins-Martin. We have an agency in Texas called The Domestic Equalizers.”

“Hey,” Matt McDermott said, shaking hands with them. “You're private eyes, huh?”

“That we are,” Debbie Sue answered and Celina heard
the note of pride in her voice. “We own the only investigative agency in Salt Lick, Texas.”

“That's just great,” Matt said, and Celina was impressed. If he had figured out that Salt Lick might not have over a thousand residents, he didn't show it. “Are you three ladies traveling together?”

“No, we just met today,” Debbie Sue said. “Just before your presentation, in fact. Which, by the way, we enjoyed.”

“Thank you. Is this your first trip to New York City?”

Celina stood by as Matt and her new friends made polite chitchat. Suddenly she heard a voice that sounded like her own. “So, is your wife at home darning your socks while your supper gets cold on the table?”

Matt, Debbie Sue and Edwina all three turned and looked at her as if she had said something in an extinct language.

Finally, a slow smile tipped up the corners of Matt's almost perfect mouth. “No, Celina, there's no one at home waiting for me. I'm not married. You?”

“I live with my grandmother.” She closed her eyes and cursed herself. So much for sophistication and glamour. So much for mystique and depth.

He leaned closer and looked into her eyes. “Then I envy you, Celina. My grandmother helped raise me and I can't think of a better place to be than at my grandma's house.”

His words went straight to Celina's heart.

His attention turned to Debbie Sue and Edwina. “You know, it wouldn't be right for Celina to go out alone with a stranger in this city. Even a cop. Why don't you two ladies join us? I'd love to show you New York.”

“Great,” Debbie Sue said.

“Lead me to it,” Edwina followed up.

Detective McDermott ushered all three out of the hotel lobby and into the bright lights, the strange smells and the din of the Big Apple. “Let's start with Times Square. Ladies, watch your step coming off that curb.”

H
aving an escort who had an NYPD badge to flash opened more doors than a run-of-the-mill guided tour could offer, Debbie Sue noticed.

Stage-door entry to a Broadway theater wasn't in any of the brochures she had read. She hadn't counted on an express elevator ride to the top of the Empire State Building, with no waiting in the tourist line, either.

Through all of this, Debbie Sue was busy observing the young detective and her fellow Texan. Detective McDermott was attentive and polite to all three of them, but his eye was unquestionably on Celina.

“You sure know how to make a good impression on the first date,” Edwina said to Matt as they exited the Empire State Building carrying bags of souvenirs.

The detective laughed. “It's as much fun for me as it is for you. I was amazed by all the sights when I first came here, but with the job I do now, I tend to forget the great things to see and do.”

“You're not from here?” Celina asked.

“Nah. I'm a small-town kid. Born and raised in Osceola. It's about five hours northwest of here. Population two hundred sixty-five, most of whom are related to me.”

“But you seem so sophisticated and so…well, so citified. No one would ever know you weren't born and raised here. You act as if you've never lived anywhere else.”

He laughed again. “One of the first things you learn in Special Forces training is that we each have it within us to be anything we want to be.”

Celina was leaning toward him as if she had been hypnotized. Though Debbie Sue hadn't known Celina long, she could see she was truly a small-town girl whose sophistication level was far lower than the detective's. Celina hadn't told them her age, but she couldn't be more than twenty-five or twenty-six, Debbie Sue surmised. No way could she let a fellow Texan be taken advantage of by a city slicker. She frowned and chewed on her bottom lip, looking for a way to change the mood. “Say,” she said brightly, “let's go somewhere and have a drink.”

“Great idea,” Edwina said. “I'd like a martini. New York City style.”

“Now you're talking,” Matt said. “If it's a martini you want, the Blue Bar in the Algonquin is the only place to go.
They have a martini on their menu that costs ten thousand dollars.”

“Christ-on-a-crutch,” Edwina exclaimed. “I'm guessing you pay up front when you order that.”

“Actually, you have to make a reservation for that drink.”

“No shit. That's plumb crazy. And here I thought Texas had everything.”

Taking Celina by the elbow, the detective walked to the curb and hailed a cab. While they waited, Debbie Sue felt Edwina's stare. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispered.

“You haven't said ten words all evening. What's going on with you? I know you're tumbling something around that head of yours. What is it?”

“I'm trying to decide if I like him.”

“Why? What's wrong with him? He's been the perfect gentleman. He's definitely taken with Celina.”

“I can't put my finger on it. You know how you get these feelings? There's just something about this guy. He's too good-looking, too smooth. My instincts tell me there's more to him than just good looks and good manners. I think it's what we're not seeing that's bothering me.”

“Excuse me, but are these the same instincts that kept you in the company of a womanizing rodeo cowboy when you and Buddy were divorced? A man who most likely holds the record for paternity testing?”

“Okay, okay,” Debbie Sue said. “I never said my instincts were perfect.”

 

“The Algonquin is the oldest hotel in operation in New York City,” Matt told them as they walked through the lobby. Celina's eyes darted everywhere. The surroundings looked like money with a capital M. Very old, very well kept money. The place even smelled like money. Just as in the blue-collar diner where she had eaten supper, Celina again had the impression that people were staring at her.
Oh, my gosh, I'm not dressed right
, she said to herself.

As if he were reading her thoughts, Matt placed a hand on her waist and pulled her closer. “You're the most beautiful woman here. All eyes are on you.”

“That's because this is a fancy place and I'm not dressed for it. I don't feel right being here.”

“Don't think that. They admire how you look. As for being here, all that's required is that we cover our tab, and unless you or one of your friends orders that high-dollar drink, we'll be all right.”

At the bar's entrance, he stopped and spoke to a gentleman who ushered them to a table. Celina didn't see Matt show his badge, but she did notice a transfer of money from his hand to the host.

Once seated, the ritual of getting to know each other continued. The more they drank, the more they revealed. To Celina's surprise, Matt came from a large Irish family and a long line of cops. He was the youngest of seven children. He had six older sisters.

“No wonder you seem so at ease with women,” Debbie Sue said.

“Were you their baby?” Edwina teased.

“Their baby, their pupil, their dance partner and eventually their confidante. It was great. They still fuss over me and try to protect me. One thinks I'm too thin, another too heavy. I need to be married, I need to keep looking for the right girl. If I ever bring a wife into my life, she'll have to be tough, to deal with my sisters.”

Edwina ordered another round of drinks. The longer the evening wore on, the bolder the stories and jokes got. Celina absorbed every word, laughing at one point in an embarrassing snort. She had never had so much fun. Her life in Dime Box seemed a planet away. Could she return there and be content?

A question came to her. How had Granny Dee left this pulsating place? This glamour? This activity? The answer came just as quickly as the thought. For love. She had done it for love. Celina sneaked a glimpse in Matt's direction. He was so different from what she had first thought. Like her, he was from a small town. He had strong ties to his family. He was ambitious and hardworking. But how could something come of this chance meeting? They lived two thousand miles apart and she was here for only four days.

Debbie Sue asking Matt a question jolted her from her musing. “Detective McDermott, are you working on an interesting case now?”

Matt had loosened his tie and was sitting in a relaxed posture. “All cases in homicide are interesting. Otherwise I wouldn't do it.”

“I read an article about some murders the NYPD thinks are linked.”

“Oh, you mean the seven prostitutes? There's been a lot of publicity about that.”

“The article said they'd been murdered in nice hotels. No sleazy rent-by-the-hour places. And they were all strangled. The article said the police have no leads.”

“NYPD might be holding information back. They rarely release everything they know to the press.”

“I just figured no one was working on it very hard because the victims were prostitutes and no one really cares,” Debbie Sue said.

Matt's jolly demeanor changed. He straightened and drilled Debbie Sue with a direct look. “That's not true. Cops care about clearing cases. And they care about the victims no matter who they are.”

Sensing the tension in his reply, Celina asked, “Y'all want to hear my theory?”

“We'd love to,” Matt said, relaxing again and turning to her with a smile.

“Okay. Now mind you, I have no experience, but I've read a ton of books about the criminal mind and crime solving. And I wrote a paper on criminal psychology in college.”

Edwina stared at her slack-jawed. “You don't say,” she said.

Celina laughed. “I'm a librarian, remember? I read everything, including labels on bottles and jars.”

“So, give us your theory,” Matt said.

“Well, I'm betting he takes them to nice places because he fits into that environment. He probably wears a business suit
and a tie. He meets them in the hotel bar or the lobby. I've read that strangulation is the most personal type of killing. A killer is very close to the victim, physically, I mean. Close enough to see her face. To him, it's all about power.”

“Not a bad assessment,” Matt said, still smiling. “You really have done your homework.”

Celina grinned, looking around the table and tapping her temple with her forefinger, “See? I know something about detecting too.”

“You sure do,” Edwina said. “Now put those skills to work and tell me where the bathroom is. My eyeballs are floating.”

 

By the time Celina and her new friends left the steeped-in-tradition Algonquin Hotel bar, just before 2
A.M
., the entire bar staff and most of the customers knew them by name. Edwina had gone to each table and hugged the occupants good-bye. She had invited all of them to Salt Lick for a “big ol' barbeque with all the fixin's” and had offered Debbie Sue and Buddy's home as sleeping quarters.

Stepping into the warm night air Celina was stunned to find the streets still alive with activity. And smells. The brilliantly lit giraffe at Times Square peeked from behind its sign at the streets below. A Styrofoam cup of coffee, four stories tall, steamed and looked so real she could almost taste it. This truly was the city that never slept.

“I can't believe there are so many people up and around this time of the morning,” she said to Matt, no longer fearing that she might sound like a country mouse.

“Some are just waking up. And some haven't been to bed
yet. There are clubs, restaurants and bars that don't even open until now. Where I came from, the streets fold up at nine o'clock and most self-respecting people go to bed.”

Celina tilted her head back, stretched out her arms and turned in a circle, drinking in the moment and her surroundings. “It's all crazy. And wonderful.”

“Could you get used to living in this city?”

The question caught Celina off guard. He surely couldn't mean anything by it. They had only just met. But there was something in his steady gaze that made her wonder. “Gosh, I don't know. I mean, this place is like nothing I've ever seen. But I guess what it would boil down to for me is that it's not home. Good old dull, predictable, sweet, soothing home.”

Matt's mouth tipped up in a smile and he gave her an unexpected hug. “I'd have been surprised if you'd said anything else.” Releasing her, he gestured toward Edwina and Debbie Sue, who were standing at the curb having a contest over who could stop a cab first. “I need to remind them that your hotel is only two blocks from here.”

Before he could reach them, a cab pulled over and they climbed into the backseat, leaving the detective to shake his head and observe.

Celina could see the driver of the cab waving his arms and shouting. He attempted to open his door and crawl out, but Matt stepped forward, showed his badge and held the door shut. He bent to eye level with the driver.

“What's the problem?” His tone spelled no nonsense and demanded a clear answer.

Edwina leaned forward. “Detective McDermott, this guy's refusing to give us a ride back to the hotel.”

The eyes of the driver grew wide. “You police? You police? Anson hotel two block. They walk two block. You make them. This my cab.”

“We don't want to walk,” Debbie Sue said. “You drive.”

“No. Get out. You get out now.”

“Nosiree-bob,” Edwina said. “We got money, you got cab, move it.”

“This is not
your
cab,” Matt said to the cab driver. “It belongs to the City of New York. You're required to take fares anywhere within the metropolitan boundaries. Do it now, or I'll call for a truck to tow this vehicle back to your garage.”

The driver blinked.

“Do you understand me?”

“Yes. Yes, okay, yes. I take them.”

Matt looked into the backseat and smiled, his relaxed personality back, “Ladies, have a nice ride.”

“Wait a minute,” Debbie Sue said and looked at Celina. “Aren't you coming with us? You should come with us.”

“We'll walk,” Matt answered.

“I don't mind walking,” Celina said to Debbie Sue.

Celina stood with him watching the cab pull away. She turned, looked up at him and laughed. “Good grief, you're Clint Eastwood.”

Chuckling, he took her arm and urged her along the sidewalk. “Come on. I'll bet we can get to the hotel before they do.”

Sure enough, just as Matt said, they reached the hotel first. They waited in the lobby for the arrival of her new friends from Texas.

When Debbie Sue and Edwina appeared, Matt asked Edwina, “Did you give him a tip?”

“I gave him a coupon for a buy-one, get-one-free dinner at Dickey's Barbeque Pit in Fort Worth. I don't usually shaft somebody on a tip, but he was rude. I don't believe in rewarding rude behavior.”

Debbie Sue yawned. “Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm beat. Ten o'clock will be here real quick and I'm going to my room. Detective,” she said, extending her hand, “thank you so much for a fun evening. I wish my husband Buddy could have been here to hear some of the stories.”

“Let me walk you to your room,” Matt said. “What floor are you on?”

“We're on six,” Celina answered.

“Good. I'm on seven. It's on my way.”

Herding the three women in the span if his arms he ushered them to the elevator.

Once they were at their door, Debbie Sue and Edwina said their good nights and hurried into the room, leaving Celina and Matt together outside the door. He touched the gold numbers on the room's door. “Six eighteen. Rogenstein must be on the other side of you. He's in six twenty. I remember it because it's my badge number.”

“Who?” Celina asked.

“The detective who was with me in the demonstration earlier. Frank Rogenstein.”