Smoke Ch. 04

"Well, then, here," Cooper said, pulling out his wallet and handing over five twenties.

"I don't have any change, right now," Greg said, indicating his empty pockets.

"That's all right. We know where to find you. When can we move in?"

"Any time you want, unless you want to paint it a different color... I just painted it four months ago."

"No, it's fine. If we change our minds, can we do it, ourselves?"

"Sure. Let me get you the keys. Do you have much furniture?"

Cooper was at a loss. Did they move over Stedman's furniture or send for their own? It would have to be Stedman's, at least for now, until he knew the transfer would come through.

"Yes, we've a couple of things. Thanks."

They shook hands again and Cooper gave his wife the keys. Taking a last look around, they locked the door and walked down the street. Getting in the car, they all started talking at once.

"Let's get out of here, right now, before we look suspicious."

"Did you get the place?"

"Yes, we're in. We'll need a few things from Stedman's apartment. Did he have any relatives that would mind?"

"He's got a sister back in Utah, that's about it. We'll take care of it, don't worry about it. What do you need? A bed, right? Let's just move the whole place over."

By the time evening arrived, all the furniture had been moved and set in place. Stedman's personal items were packed to be shipped to his sister following a phone call to the Salt Lake City office. Bad news should be delivered in person, not over the phone, was the Bureau's standard. The job was difficult enough without the harsh reality of death being delivered by an impersonal phone call.

Two days later, Sophia had the opportunity to meet Angela and was invited in for coffee. She looked around the woman's apartment but couldn't really see anything out of place. 'What am I looking for, anyway? Hammer and sickle on the wall? Guns lying around the room?'

"How do you like it, here," Sophia asked. "We're from Baltimore and this is so different."

"Never been here, before?" Angie inquired.

"No, pretty much stayed on the east coast. I'd like to stay here, forever. The weather is SO much nicer."

"So, what's your husband do?"

Sophia already had practiced the cover story. "He's an insurance salesman."

"Wow, that allowed you to move west? He must be very good at it."

"Oh, yes," Sophia lied, "he's one of their top men and they sent him out here as a thank you."

"Maybe he can give us a quote. What is it? Car insurance?"

"No, life insurance, annuities, things like that... he does stock and bonds, also. I'll talk to him if you want, but he prefers not to sell to friends... you know, in case things go wrong, but I'm sure he could send someone else over for you.

"What do you do?"

"Right now I'm taking some classes at the local JC. Nothing special, I just want to finish my degree."

"Wonderful. I'd like to do that, someday. Right now, I just want to lie on the beach and soak up a suntan. God, I love California." Sophia felt like she was in a movie, improvising her lines as the cameras rolled. Loving California, though, that was the truth. If Elliot couldn't transfer his FBI position, he could always join a police force, there were enough of them.

"I'll bring you home some papers so you can see about what classes they have... Winter here is too cold to lie on the beach. So, what do you like to do for fun? I've a friend, Suzy and she and I like to go dancing."

"Dancing? I don't know. Elliot has two left feet when it comes to that."

"Who needs husbands? There's plenty of good looking young men out there, just waiting for a woman to hold."

"You go out without your husbands? I don't know... that sounds kind of..."

"Exciting?" Angie laughed. "Ask him. It couldn't hurt to ask. You might like it. We sure do."

Shortly, using the time as an excuse, Sophia went back to her apartment and closing the door, leaned against it. "Foooffff," she said. "Is it California or is that woman just nuts? How'm I supposed to ask Elliot something like that?"

Elliot, on the other hand, was organizing a new surveillance team to shadow Al Meadows. The man seemed to have no purpose and traveled all over the county, from Bellflower back to Hermosa by Rosecrans, one long twenty mile drive. Another time, out to Pasadena along the Arroyo Seco Parkway, brought him out to the Rose Bowl.

But then, Meadows took the Angeles Crest Highway and headed over the San Gabriels toward Palmdale. They only got halfway there, though for the road wasn't finished. 'Maybe,' Elliot thought, 'that was what he was trying to find out. Plenty of good places to hide out here... I wonder if Stedman is lying in a grave out here, somewhere.'

"Let's turn around before he notices us and duck down one of these side roads."

"Next one's five miles back."

"Well, don't get us killed; just get us out of here."

By the time Cooper had returned to Hermosa, it was both late and dark. Sophia was asleep and he tried his best not to wake her up, to no avail.

"Honey... what happened?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, it just took longer than I thought. We went all the way out there for what seems like nothing, but I'm thinking he's either pretty smart and trying to see if he's being tailed or trying to see if the Angeles Crest is finally finished."

"What is that, a road?"

"Yeah," he said, taking off his shirt and tossing it into the hamper. "It goes from this side to that side but it's not finished." He took off his pants and threw them in. "God, I'm so tired."

"Is this the way it's going to be? I was hoping we'd have time to be together. Wait 'till you hear what I did today."

Cooper sat down on the edge of the bed. "What?" he asked as he peeled his socks off.

"I had coffee with your femme fatale, upstairs. Seems she's quite the student at some school called El Camino Junior College, studying... ready? She's studying engineering. Quite the feminine thing to do, don't you think?"

"Oh, I suppose it has its moments. What else?" He scooted his shorts off and went into the bathroom.

"You're not going to believe it. She wants me to go slutting with her and a friend Friday night. Evidently the two of them go out dancing with other men and she seems to think you'd be good with that."

"Damn. You're kidding, right?" He started brushing his teeth and stepped into the shower.

"No, I'm not," Sophia answered, walking into the bathroom as he turned on the water.

"What'd you tell her?"

"I told her..."

"What?" He turned off the water.

"I told her I'd ask..."

'Oh, shit! She didn't?'

The next morning, last night's conversation lay on the breakfast table like an elephant. 'This is insane, he thought, 'we've been here less than a week and already she's been asked to cheat. Maybe moving here wasn't such a good idea.'

"I've got an idea. Why don't you find one of your hunky FBI agents to follow us and then he could be my date after I get there. That way, you've got nothing to worry about."

"You're actually thinking about this, aren't you? Damn, Sophia..."

"Listen, Mr. Secret Agent Man, you're the one that wants to get close to these weasels and this is a good way. Let me know, tomorrow's Friday and I need to know."

He was frustrated. This investigation was NOT going the way he expected and now THIS? He got up and dialed the phone. "Hey, Jim, it's me, Elliot. Listen, how'd you like to go dancing with my wife? What do you mean, you'd have to ask your wife? That's all I wanted to hear, that's all I wanted to hear. Let me fill you in on it."

For the next half-hour, the two agents made plans for the next evening and when Friday afternoon arrived, Elliot and Sophia were finalizing their plans.

"His name is Jim and he's married and he's going to follow and then meet up with you once you're inside. He'll introduce himself and that's that."

"Are you sure about this? I can see a million things going wrong with this. What if he doesn't show up? Then, what? I don't want to be fighting off men all night when I supposed to be dancing with them. Maybe, I should just tell her I changed my mind or I'm sick or something."

"No, you were right the first time. This is a great opportunity, just like getting this apartment. It'll all work out, you'll see."

After dinner, a very quiet dinner, Sophia dressed to go out and returned wearing a very tight, black dress.

"Where'd that come from," he asked.

"Angie took me out to buy it. Put it on your expense account. How do you like it?"

"I'd like it more if it were for me."

She stuck her tongue out and said, "Well, wish me luck. I don't know what time I'll be home..."

"I told Jim to bring you home. Let her think you got lucky."

"That's a good idea. See you later." She swished out the door and he could hear her knock on the door upstairs. "Hi... I'm ready to go..."

The music was loud, the room was hot and the drinks were strong.

"Hi... I'm Jim, would you like to dance?"

"Sure," Sophia said, getting up, quickly.

"Wow," said Suzy, "she sure got up in a hurry. You'd think she did this all the time."

"Well, maybe she does." The two women laughed and watched as their new friend spun around the floor with her dance partner.

"So, how's this supposed to work," she asked. "A couple of dances and then we're out of here?"

'Wow, this was easy.' "Yeah, sure, that'll work, unless you want to leave right now?"

"No, let's stick with the plan... got to make it look good for those two."

"OK, whatever you want."

The phone rang, its jangling waking him up. "Huh... who is it? What time is it?"

He listened, glancing at his wristwatch. "WHAT!!! What do you mean, she's left and gone? What the hell! When did you get there? What do you mean, too late? Damn it!"

He paced across the room as far as the cord let him. "The other two were still there? How'd you find out? You heard them talking... she took off with a guy named Jim. Oh, shit, she thought he was you.

"Come and get me... no, where are you? I'll get there quicker by myself; how do I get there?"

He grabbed his keys, wallet and gun, ran out the apartment to his car on the street, jumped in and burned rubber going away.

By the time he was at the corner, his phone was ringing.

"Where's Sophia?"

"Well, it's nice to see you, too, Elliot."

"Forget that, where's my wife?"

"Kind of possessive, aren't you?"

"Listen, lady, cut the shit. Where is she?"

"If you're going to be that way about it... how the hell do we know? She left over an hour, almost two hours now with some guy named Jim. Seemed like she was expecting him... Something going on you don' know about, Elliot?" Angie batted her eyes.

"What'd this guy look like?"

"What do you think? Tall, dark and handsome... sure could dance, from what we saw. Maybe you should go home like a good little boy and wait for your wife to come home."

She smirked and it was all he could do not to slap the look off her face. Red-faced, he left to the sound of their laughter. 'Case be damned,' he angrily thought, 'I should just take her into custody now. Who'd be laughing then, bitch.'

Elliot went outside and walked over to the other agent. "Don't say a damned thing. She left with some guy named Jim thinking it was you. This is SO screwed."

Sophia and her new 'friend,' Jim, were having a late dinner at Tony's on the Pier in Redondo. His idea of dinner made sense to her, since she didn't want to return too early to the apartment and give away the game. She wondered if her husband was nearby and if he was, why didn't he make his presence known?

Once they were away from the dance, it should have made no difference. 'Maybe,' she thought, 'it had to do with some Bureau regulations about breaking cover.'

"The halibut here is very, very good. What would you like to drink?"

"Oh, just a coke, is fine, thank you. What's the expense account on this?"

During the drive over, she had asked him several questions that really made no sense to him... this was another one. 'Expense account? It was whatever he wanted to spend.'

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that."

"Uncle's dime, huh? Well, then, I'll have the lobster."

'Damn, if she wasn't so hot I'd do a 'dine and dash' on her. Lobster! This doll must think I'm made of gold, or something. I know she's stepping out on her old man, I can see the rings plain as day. This is a really strange date, that's for sure. Usually by now, we're knocking boots.'

"So," she asked, "how long have you been... you know?"

'Another crazy ass question...' "Oh, several years now..." 'There, that ought to work..."

"Do you find it exciting? I would think so, you know?"

"Oh, yes..." he said. 'Finally, a question that makes sense!' "You never know who you're going to meet or what's going to happen."

"Like, now?"

"Oh, definitely! Oh, good, here's our food." 'The sooner we finish the sooner we can get down to business.'

"It's been a while since I've had lobster... oooh, this one's different."

"Oh?" 'and, so are you..."

"I'm used to the Maine lobsters, you know, and I guess this is a Pacific one. Is my husband meeting us here or are you taking me home?"

The poor man almost spit his drink into his lap. 'It was crazy enough that some married women went out looking for someone else but for the husband to meet up?'

"Uh... I'll take you home after dinner, how's that?"

"That's great. I'm having a good time, I didn't think I would but you've been so nice to me. I really appreciate it."

Jim was confused. He'd women who begged for it but never had anyone said they appreciated it. 'Why not,' he thought, though, 'first time for everything.'

"Yeah, sure," he said...

"Good, let me give him a call to make sure he's home. Excuse me, please." Sophia got up and went to the pay phone by the restrooms. He watched from the table and immediately knew something was amiss. She was looking straight at him, red-faced and nervously looking around the restaurant for something, someone.

"Something's wrong," he said to himself.

A waiter walked over. "The lady asked me to give you this," he said and handed him a note. 'Dear Jim, I'm so, so sorry. There has been a terrible mistake and I thought you were someone else. I am so embarrassed. If you give me your address, I'll send you the money for dinner."

"Will there be an answer, sir?"

"Uh, no, please, just tell the lady the pleasure was all mine and to have a nice evening with her husband. What's the bill? Ah, hell, here's a couple of twenties, that ought to cover it. I'll just be leaving and she can come back to the table."

He gave a disappointed but friendly wave to her and left. Finally hanging up the phone, Sophia returned to the table to wait for her husband.

While all this was happening, though, Greg and Cindy were having a dinner all their own. He had set up the picnic table in the backyard and was grilling a large steak. She had just pulled a cherry pie out of the oven and was mixing a green salad.

There was just enough of a breeze to keep things cool and the darkness was broken only by the back porch light and a Coleman lantern at the edge of the table. Sitting next to her, he sliced a piece from the meat and fed it to her, a small bite at a time. A little bit of bbq sauce started to drip down her chin and he kissed it away.

"I love you," he said, matter of factly. It was a simple statement, as if someone had said, "the earth is round" or "the sky is blue," and his "I love you" had the same depth of truth the other two had. His hand covered hers and he gave her another bite.

"One, two or three," she asked.

"One, two or three bites?"

"No, silly, children. How many do you want?"

"However many God sends us, but, not for a while... I'd like to spend time with just us, if you know what I mean. I'd like a couple of years just to date you."

"You want to wait two years to get married?"

"No, I want to get married; I just want it to be like one long date."

Another juicy piece of steak headed her way and he played the fork on her lips.

Greg, she realized, was a man of simple tastes in the kitchen and a gourmet in the bedroom. Where he had learned to make love as he did, she didn't know and didn't care. If he was giving her a 'get out of jail' card she was going to extend the same privilege.

"I love you," he said again. "I can't seem to say it enough. When I look at you, I can't help wonder how lucky I was to have you come into my life... and, I don't mean how beautiful you are, and you are, I mean how sweet you are, how you care about me and fix my breakfast each morning and always have my vitamins waiting and my waffle hot and..." He couldn't say anything else.

What had started out as a chance encounter one night and then a golden opportunity to sleep with such a cute girl had finally turned into a full-blown love affair of the heart. He could only hope that she felt the same.

Another piece of steak went past her lips. God, how he wanted something else past her lips.

He shook his head. Love and sex were certainly intertwined and there were reasons the two could be kept separate but once they had decided to be together, there was very little to distinguish the difference.

There was nothing a man and a woman could do more intimate than sex. The very fact that a man entered a woman's body and left part of himself there...

He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, raise a family with her, share the joys and sorrows of life with her... 'Oh, Knotts,' he said to himself, 'you've got it bad.'

"This salad," he told her, "is excellent. I can hardly wait for that pie."

"Would you like it now?" She smiled, knowing full well neither of them could refuse.

Cindy was down on all fours, looking back at him. Greg was on one knee, the other leg bent with his right hand on her waist. He was slamming into her and she was making an "uh, uh, uh" noise as she rocked back and forth along with him.

Her right hand moved back to his stomach and he leaned into her harder, rocking her world as strongly as he could. He couldn't believe how fine her ass was and that it was all his. He didn't know when she had time to exercise but whenever it was, it was doing wonders for her. He put his left hand behind his own butt to help push himself into her harder, deeper...

She rolled onto her back and put both legs up on his shoulders. Both her hands went to his thighs, holding herself tightly to him as he knelt between her legs. Every time he pushed forward, her legs bent down like a pair of scissors opening and closing. Cindy looked between her legs up at him, smiling. Grabbing the blankets to keep from falling off the bed, she pulled herself back to him.

Cindy lay flat, once again and split herself open like a Thanksgiving turkey. He now had his hands on her knees and continued to pound her, bringing her closer and closer. She held his right hand, seeking the warmth, the romantic warmth that accompanied their lovemaking. It was almost impossible to imagine his cock pistoning inside her and yet she was watching it happen.

**********

Chapter 5

Martine shows Cindy how to heat things up...