“I’m so happy for you,” I said in the most sincerely perky voice I could muster.
The other students straggled in from dinner and everyone got back to work. Derek made a show of circling the room and feigning interest in each student’s progress. He talked quietly to almost everyone, asking questions and voicing encouragement. When he was finished, he leaned against the front counter and checked his e-mail. The women in the room, including me, stole furtive glances his way at every opportunity.
A sociologist would have a field day here, observing female behavior as a new alpha male was introduced into the group.
My ladies’ chests were thrust forward, shoulders pulled back, hair fluffed more often, and laughter a bit more high-pitched. And maybe it was just me, but you could cut the tension with a bone folder. It felt as though an eternity passed before class was finally finished for the evening.
Alice was the last to leave. She waved excitedly, then flashed a stealthy look at Derek and gave me a thumbs-up. It was something a girlfriend would do.
I smiled and waved, but as soon as she was out the door, I slumped against the table, exhausted. Either she was a psychopathic killer or I had just betrayed a budding friendship. Either way, I felt sick at heart.
Derek stood behind me and massaged my shoulders. “You’ll feel much better once we’ve cleared her of any wrongdoing.”
I turned around and faced him. “You promise? Because right now I feel pretty awful. I wouldn’t blame her if she never spoke to me again.”
“She need never know,” he whispered. “And it’s all for a good cause.” He planted a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.” I grabbed my bag and we walked out arm in arm. In the gallery, Karalee was finishing up a small group tour of the facilities. There had been a lot more visitors this week because of the Twisted festival, and the hours had been extended. Refreshments were served all day, as well, and the caterers were starting to clean up.
Leaning close to Derek, I whispered, “Did you get some good photos?”
“I managed to get a number of close-ups of all the key players,” he said, his lips close to my ear. Tingles resonated across my skin as he moved his mouth along my neck. It took me a minute to recall that we were in the middle of the gallery in full view of people, talking about him taking pictures of possible murder suspects.
“Good job,” I managed, and exhaled. “The sooner Gabriel can look at the shots, the sooner we’ll be able to put an end to this charade.”
Derek drove to my place and parked the Bentley in the visitors’ space in the garage. “Do you think we can sneak in without anyone noticing?”
I laughed. “Not if we take the elevator.”
“Where are the stairs?”
“Right over there.”
“Good.” He touched my cheek, his hand warm on my skin as he turned my face toward his. He leaned in and kissed me and I savored the sensation. I was disarmed by his gentleness as his hands slipped through my hair and he pulled me closer.
His phone trilled loudly in the quiet of his car.
Derek groaned. “I’m going to throw that thing away.”
“It’s me, I’m cursed,” I said, flopping back in my seat. “Don’t blame the phone.”
He answered the call. After a minute, he hung up and leaned back against the headrest. With eyes closed, he said, “The prime minister’s jealous son-in-law just tried to kill Gunther.”
I spent another restless night alone. At four a.m., I couldn’t stand it any longer. I called Derek to get the scoop on Gunther and his would-be killer.
“Gunther is shaken but safe,” he said, his voice weary. “The son-in-law and his accomplice are both being held in jail until they can be processed for extradition.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“Yes, Gunther was club-hopping in North Beach and met a woman. She wanted to leave and Gunther didn’t want my men following him, so he pretended to use the toilet but instead snuck outside through the kitchen. When he circled around to the front sidewalk, he was assaulted. The son-in-law stood nearby as his henchman tried to stab Gunther.”
“That’s horrible,” I said, not adding what I thought of a man who paid thousands of dollars for protection and refused to use it.
“Yes, it is,” Derek said. “It’s lucky that my men are used to Gunther’s stupidity. They were there in time to rescue him and apprehend his attacker.”
“I’m glad it’s over,” I said.
“Yes, so am I.”
So this was it. He would leave town in the next few days and that would be the end of our budding friendship—or whatever it was. I wished him sweet dreams and we hung up. I was certain I wouldn’t sleep another wink, but I managed to doze off after a while.
Saturday morning, Derek picked me up at nine o’clock and we drove to Sonoma in record time. As we wound our way through Sausalito and into San Rafael, I finally related Guru Bob’s story of Gabriel.
“And this happened five years ago?” Derek said.