Title: Undercover
Author: abbs007
Rating: ADULT (depends on the part)
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything remotely involved with Roswell or UPN so please don’t sue.
Summary: Detective Liz Parker thought that she had some unusual undercover assignments before, but trying to crack a baby-smuggling ring will be the toughest yet. Especially since she has to play a unwed, pregnant women. Even worse is that she has to pretend to be in love with Max Evans a macho, arrogant cop. That is until she has to spend time with him in close quarters.
Note: This based on a book I read like 6 years ago.
Chapter 1
It was after ten at night, yet the heat still lingered in the air. Max Evans tried in vain to remember the last time it had rained.
Another August in the South. Why he didn’t move up north when his parent’s had four years ago to escape the heat he didn’t know.
His day hadn’t gone all that well, first his car had a total meltdown, then he’d been yelled at, had coffee spilled on him and had a drunk throw up on his shoes. Some days Max wondered why he bothered getting out of bed.
He was almost home so he sighed in quiet relief. His apartment building stood before him like a safe haven from the mean streets.
“Hey, suger. You looking for a friend tonight.”
Max turned to see a women standing against a brick wall by his building, barely visible under the streetlamp. Though he could make out long flowing brown hair that fell around her behr shoulders, a white see through tank top that molded itself to full breasts, a skintight red Lycra skirt that was so short he wondered why she bothered wearing the thing, and legs that seeming to go for miles before ending in heals that were so high he wondered how she could walk in the things.
“Fuck” he said quietly to himself, did he really have to put up with such shit right in front of his apartment?
“What’s the matter honey? Cat got your tongue?” Without hearing his reply, she murmured provocatively, “You’re looking kinda lonely, how about you and me have a little party?”
Max felt the weight of his badge and weapon lying heavily beneath his sweat-damp clothing. This wasn’t the first time he wished he could ignore them. “Go away. This is a decent neighbourhood,” be muttered crossly.
She only came closer. A small hand tipped with long blue nails reached out to stroke Max’s behr arm. “Well aren’t we a strong one,” she cooed. “We could have ourselves some real fun. Wanna ask me up to your place?”
“I’d rather spend an hour looked in a room with a nest of cobra’s”, Max said and he meant it.
Brown doe eyes looked at Max with laughter in them. “Why suger I’m crushed.”
Max had had enough, he was tired, hot, hungry and pissed off. All he wanted to do was go to his apartment have a sandwich, a beer, and crash in front of the T.V for a couple of hours before going to bed – alone. He had just turned thirty, way too young to feel this old. This only made him even more pissed.
“Cut it out Parker, just tell why you’re here” he growled.
Liz sighed deeply dropping his arm at the same time. When she spoke her voice was still husky but brisk. “Lieutenant Valenti sent a message. He wants us both in his office at Eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
“I’m on assignment tomorrow. He knows that.”
Liz shook her head, making her hair dance around her shoulders. “Not anymore, something big has come up. Looks like we’re going to be partners again, Evan’s.”
Max groaned.
Liz shot him a look, “I’m not exactly stoked about the idea either, not after our last assignment.”
“What do you mean by that! Who’s the one-“
“Keep it down, will you?” Liz looked around making sure no-one heard that little outburst. “See this is exactly what I mean you have no self control. If you hadn’t lost it on that bust-“
“If I hadn’t LOST IT you’d be dead right now,” Max reminded Liz bluntly.
“I could have handled things if you hadn’t of burst in like that and blew my cover,” Liz threw back.
“Fuck, Parker, if I’d waited any longer you would have been carried out of there in a body bag. I never expected undying gratitude, but –“
“Whatever. So who took care of the guy who was about to blow your brains out, hmm?” Liz shot back.
“If only you’d-“
Liz lifted both hands, and took a step away from him. “Leave it I’m as tired as you Evan’s and I still got a couple of hours till I finish. If you've got a problem, take it up with Valenti.”
“I just might do that”.
“Fine.” Liz turned away walking to her car stashed around the corner.
“Hey Parker”.
Liz looked over her shoulder. “Yeah.”
“You look like a slut.”
Her eyes flashed, but her mouth just turned into a feline like smile. Her voice becoming liquid seduction again. “I’m paid to look like a slut Evan’s. But I think I pull it off don’t you?”
Liz reached out suddenly and grabbed Max’s right buttock and gave it a squeeze.
Max jerked away feeling his face start to heat up, even as a curse hissed through his teeth. She’d caught him off guard again god damit. “Keep your hands to yourself Parker.”
Liz laughed having won that round. “It might be a bit tough, but I’m sure I can manage” she replied with a smirk. “Sweet dreams.”
Max watched Liz walk away finding it too hard not to admire the way her ass swayed in that tiny, tiny skirt. It was one great body, he thought, feeling his jeans just get a little bit tighter. Just a bummer that it belonged to one Liz parker.
TBC………..
Undercover - CC/AU M/L ADULT [COMPLETE]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, Rowedog, ISLANDGIRL5, Itzstacie, truelovepooh, FSU/MSW-94, Erina, Hunter, Forum Moderators
Undercover - CC/AU M/L ADULT [COMPLETE]
Last edited by abbs007 on Mon Jun 30, 2003 2:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Max’s mood hadn’t improved much by 8:05 the next morning. He’d cut himself shaving, his car was in the shop so he had to bum a ride to work, and it was already ninety degrees outside.
Lieutenant Valenti was talking on the phone when Max stormed into his office. A women sat in one of the chairs on the other side of Valenti’s desk. She was reading a report but looked up when Max came into the office. She had long glossy brown hair, deep brown doe like eyes and a deceptively soft mouth. She wore no makeup, which made her a lot younger then she really was. Her clothing consisted of a pale pink blouse beneath a grey jacket that matched a knee length skirt. She wore sensible black shoes with a two inch heal on her feet. She could have been a teacher or even a librarian.
Ten hours earlier shed been a hooker.
Max nodded to her. “Parker,” he mumbled.
“Good morning Max,” her voice annoyingly friendly. “Sleep well?” she said with a smirk on her lips.
He knew he looked like shit, how the hell did she look so fresh after working till after midnight he wondered? He ignored her question.
Valenti finished his call greeting Max.
“Jim what’s going on here? You know how close I am to closing the Sutherland case, another couple of days and we’ll nail the asshole.”
“We’ve got enough on Sutherland to pull you off the case,” Valenti assured Max. “The other guys can wrap it up from here.”
Max really hated to leave a case before it was finished but he knew that Jim wouldn’t pull him without a good enough reason. “What've you got?”
“A possible baby-selling scam down in the west end. Nothing sold but enough to start an investigation. You and Parker will be on loan to the west precinct. We think it will take a couple of weeks to establish your cover - another couple to finish it off. If all goes well that is.”
Max groaned “I have to work a whole month with Parker? Maybe longer? You gotta be kidding me!”
“Hey it’s not exactly my idea of heaven either you know,” snapped Liz.
“You just better hold up your end this time,” Max warned her.
“You can kiss my end,” Liz shot back, her eyes challenging. “Off all the-“
Valenti laughed. “This is exactly why I want the two of you to work together on this one. You’re the perfect team.”
Max and Liz both turned to Valenti with shock evident in their faces.
“You’re going to be a couple in crisis,” he explained. “Two lovers being torn apart by unfortunate circumstances. The stress will start to show in noisy fights, tears loud enough for the whole neighbourhood to hear.”
Jim beamed at his own cleverness. “Like I said, the perfect team for this one.”
Max and Liz only glared at each other as Valenti began to explain more about the assignment.
Max and Liz were given the weekend to sort out everything they needed to clear up for the lengthy assignment. Max was told to pack his oldest closes in cardboard boxes. Nothing expensive or fancy which wasn’t a problem as he was often undercover, so he had twice as many ragged clothes as suits.
Max smiled to himself as he wondered what kind of costume Liz had to wear, she wasn’t a happy girl.
Two plainclothes cops broke into smiles as they saw Max walk into the office on Monday morning. Kyle Valenti, Jim’s son and Alex Whitman. They had been best friends since high school joining the force together, they were also partners. Kyle and Alex found great pleasure in other co-workers trials and tribulations. They were well known for their warped sense of humor.
Max eyed their overly cheerful faces with great caution. “Okay so what’s got you two so happy this morning? Have I been fired and haven’t been told about it yet? Or is someone slapping me with a lawsuit, or am I being charged with brutality? Spill.”
Alex’s eyes widened in innocence. “Hey nothing like that. We just wanted to wish you luck on your new assignment. Looks like this one is going to be real interesting.”
Max thought they were giving him shit about working with Liz again. Everybody knew that Max and Liz had been having problems with each other ever since Liz had transferred into the department that Max had worked for seven years a ago.
Max sighed. “Okay, okay have your fun. Yeah I’m working with Parker again, so what! We’re professionals and can put our past behind us to get the job done.”
Kyle nodded his head, the expression on his face much to serious to be believable. “I’m sure your right Evan’s you and Parker make a great team.”
Alex laughed.
Kyle ignored him and asked, “Have you seen Liz today Max?”
“No I’m supposed to meet her in Jim’s office.”
Alex seemed to be overcome in a fit of what might have been giggles in someone who wasn’t a tough police detective.
Kyle’s dark eyes were twinkling when he said, “She’s looking unusually lovely today.”
Max knew something was going on. Okay Parker wasn’t that bad looking, in fact she was god damn hot to be honest, especially if you didn’t know her. Everybody had seen her dressed as a bag lady, hooker, a drugged out teenager and a prim and proper career women. She must really look out of it to make these two react they way they were.
Suddenly he remembered their assignment, a slow grin started to form on his lips. “Where is she?” Kyle and Alex were only too pleased to help.
TBC……….
Max’s mood hadn’t improved much by 8:05 the next morning. He’d cut himself shaving, his car was in the shop so he had to bum a ride to work, and it was already ninety degrees outside.
Lieutenant Valenti was talking on the phone when Max stormed into his office. A women sat in one of the chairs on the other side of Valenti’s desk. She was reading a report but looked up when Max came into the office. She had long glossy brown hair, deep brown doe like eyes and a deceptively soft mouth. She wore no makeup, which made her a lot younger then she really was. Her clothing consisted of a pale pink blouse beneath a grey jacket that matched a knee length skirt. She wore sensible black shoes with a two inch heal on her feet. She could have been a teacher or even a librarian.
Ten hours earlier shed been a hooker.
Max nodded to her. “Parker,” he mumbled.
“Good morning Max,” her voice annoyingly friendly. “Sleep well?” she said with a smirk on her lips.
He knew he looked like shit, how the hell did she look so fresh after working till after midnight he wondered? He ignored her question.
Valenti finished his call greeting Max.
“Jim what’s going on here? You know how close I am to closing the Sutherland case, another couple of days and we’ll nail the asshole.”
“We’ve got enough on Sutherland to pull you off the case,” Valenti assured Max. “The other guys can wrap it up from here.”
Max really hated to leave a case before it was finished but he knew that Jim wouldn’t pull him without a good enough reason. “What've you got?”
“A possible baby-selling scam down in the west end. Nothing sold but enough to start an investigation. You and Parker will be on loan to the west precinct. We think it will take a couple of weeks to establish your cover - another couple to finish it off. If all goes well that is.”
Max groaned “I have to work a whole month with Parker? Maybe longer? You gotta be kidding me!”
“Hey it’s not exactly my idea of heaven either you know,” snapped Liz.
“You just better hold up your end this time,” Max warned her.
“You can kiss my end,” Liz shot back, her eyes challenging. “Off all the-“
Valenti laughed. “This is exactly why I want the two of you to work together on this one. You’re the perfect team.”
Max and Liz both turned to Valenti with shock evident in their faces.
“You’re going to be a couple in crisis,” he explained. “Two lovers being torn apart by unfortunate circumstances. The stress will start to show in noisy fights, tears loud enough for the whole neighbourhood to hear.”
Jim beamed at his own cleverness. “Like I said, the perfect team for this one.”
Max and Liz only glared at each other as Valenti began to explain more about the assignment.
Max and Liz were given the weekend to sort out everything they needed to clear up for the lengthy assignment. Max was told to pack his oldest closes in cardboard boxes. Nothing expensive or fancy which wasn’t a problem as he was often undercover, so he had twice as many ragged clothes as suits.
Max smiled to himself as he wondered what kind of costume Liz had to wear, she wasn’t a happy girl.
Two plainclothes cops broke into smiles as they saw Max walk into the office on Monday morning. Kyle Valenti, Jim’s son and Alex Whitman. They had been best friends since high school joining the force together, they were also partners. Kyle and Alex found great pleasure in other co-workers trials and tribulations. They were well known for their warped sense of humor.
Max eyed their overly cheerful faces with great caution. “Okay so what’s got you two so happy this morning? Have I been fired and haven’t been told about it yet? Or is someone slapping me with a lawsuit, or am I being charged with brutality? Spill.”
Alex’s eyes widened in innocence. “Hey nothing like that. We just wanted to wish you luck on your new assignment. Looks like this one is going to be real interesting.”
Max thought they were giving him shit about working with Liz again. Everybody knew that Max and Liz had been having problems with each other ever since Liz had transferred into the department that Max had worked for seven years a ago.
Max sighed. “Okay, okay have your fun. Yeah I’m working with Parker again, so what! We’re professionals and can put our past behind us to get the job done.”
Kyle nodded his head, the expression on his face much to serious to be believable. “I’m sure your right Evan’s you and Parker make a great team.”
Alex laughed.
Kyle ignored him and asked, “Have you seen Liz today Max?”
“No I’m supposed to meet her in Jim’s office.”
Alex seemed to be overcome in a fit of what might have been giggles in someone who wasn’t a tough police detective.
Kyle’s dark eyes were twinkling when he said, “She’s looking unusually lovely today.”
Max knew something was going on. Okay Parker wasn’t that bad looking, in fact she was god damn hot to be honest, especially if you didn’t know her. Everybody had seen her dressed as a bag lady, hooker, a drugged out teenager and a prim and proper career women. She must really look out of it to make these two react they way they were.
Suddenly he remembered their assignment, a slow grin started to form on his lips. “Where is she?” Kyle and Alex were only too pleased to help.
TBC……….
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
“Are you sure this thing is on properly?” Liz asked while tugging on the front of her cheap cotton top. “It looks really odd.”
Sergeant Tess Harding, the precinct’s property supervisor, nodded her head enthusiastically. “You look perfect in it, even more realistic than I’d expected when I first saw the thing.”
“It weighs so much, and it pinches,” Liz muttered.
Her best friend Officer Isabel Elliot laughed. “Man, I can’t get over how funny you look.”
Liz glared at her while fidgeting again. “Thanks a lot.”
Isabel shrugged tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Just you wait until Max sees you.” Liz groaned and covered her face with her hands.
“Where is Max by the way?” Asked Jim from behind his desk. “I haven’t seen him yet this morning.”
“Max is always late,” Isabel reminded.
“And always grumpy,” Liz added.
“If you don’t need anything else I really need to get the inventories done this morning.” Tess asked.
Jim waved her out. “No that’s fine but if you see Evans on the way out, can you please tell him that he’s needed in my office.”
“Yes sir.” Tess rushed out; she was always in a hurry that one.
Valenti looked at Isabel. “Is there a reason why you’re here or are you just bumming on the job?”
“You know I’m only hanging round to be close to you, Lieutenant,” Isabel replied while batting her eye’s and giving Jim a melting smile.
“Haven’t you got work to do?” Valenti asked.
Isabel just smiled and shook her head. “There is no way in hell that I’m leaving this office until Max has a look at Liz.”
“Would you just leave already? Go catch a criminal or something and stop harassing your fellow offices,” Liz grumbled. As much as she loved Isabel there were times when she really got on her nerves and right now happened to be one of those moments.
There was a quick knock on the door that opened before anyone had a chance to respond. Max walked through, yawning and scratching his unshaven chin. His brown hair was sticking out at all angles and his shirt and jeans so wrinkled they looked as if he’d just crawled straight out of bed while sleeping in them. “Sorry I’m late I-“
He stopped, his jaw dropping.
Liz cringed.
It started slowly. Max’s amber eyes crinkled at the corners, and his usually frowning mouth started to tilt upwards on one side then the other. His laughter started deep in this chest then erupted.
Valenti sighed. Isabel just sat back and enjoyed the show.
Liz watched this display with disgust. Damn it!! She knew he would react this way. Why couldn’t her costume for this assignment have been a backless leather minidress or something in that regard? I mean anything but this.
“Laugh it up Evans,” she snapped. “You don’t exactly look like model material yourself.”
Max wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Oh man, you should see yourself.”
“I have seen myself. I look like a whale.”
He made a great production of circling Liz his eyes fixed on the large bulge filling out the front of the cheap and ruffled maternity top. He laughed again. “How old are you Parker?”
“Twenty-five. Why?”
“You look like a sixteen year old who got knocked up in the back of a pickup truck.”
Valenti interrupted, his tone impatient. “Knock it off you two. We have things that we need to go over before you leave. Elliot, go do some work.”
Isabel shot up giving him a salute. “Yes sir.” Walking past Liz she touched her shoulder. “Keep your guard up.”
Liz responded to the traditional farewell with the same answer she always gave. “Watch your back.”
As soon as the door was closed Valenti wasted no time in going over their cover one final time making sure that Max and Liz had their roles straight and their procedures agreed upon.
The story was that they were a down on their luck unmarried couple moving into the very low-rent district after having been thrown out of their last apartment for failure to pay the rent. Max was to act very unhappy about the arrival of a baby that he would have to support, making it clear to anyone that he came in contact with that the baby was a mistake. His unhappiness was supposed to make him have a bad temper and they were to make sure their arguments were heard be anyone within hearing distance.
Liz was positive that Max could play the part of a jerk. She wasn’t however so sure that she could pull her part off. Liz was supposed to adore the creep, making it clear to all that she would do anything for him.
“This is going to be the toughest assignment I’ve ever had,” Liz complained while trying to get comfortable in the chair she was sitting in. How did pregnant women sit comfortably with all this bulk and weight in their laps?
“Don’t think you can take it, aye Parker?” Max asked with a mockingly lifted eyebrow.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t take it,” she retorted. “I only said it would be tough.”
“If didn’t think that you could handle this assignment neither of you would have been given it,” Valenti said. “Liz you will have to befriend a lady called Maria DeLuca. She is the person our source named as being the next target for the baby broker. We need you to get close to her.”
Liz nodded. She always hated how she had to lie when she was undercover, but she was very committed to her job. If her lying would save an innocent baby from being sold as a piece of meat then she would lie with the best of them.
Finally satisfied that Max and Liz had their instructions down Valenti dismissed them.
Liz started to get up but fell right back in the chair still not used to having such a weight in her middle. Grinning Max stuck out a hand and pulled her up onto her feet. “I can tell right now this assignment is going to be loads of fun.”
Liz had to hold back a reply, as she was sure it would break the last of Valenti’s patience, which she really didn’t want to do.
Max wasn’t sure that the piece of junk called a car they’d been issued would get them to the run-down building in which an apartment had been discreetly scouted out for them. On the ripped back seat sat boxes and bags, which were supposed to represent everything they owned.
As they pulled up to the apartment building Liz was looking at it with much apprehension. Max wondered for a moment if she was finding the accommodations distasteful. He couldn’t blame her. The building was a slum. Still he’d stayed in worse places during the course of his job, and he knew Liz had too. “What’s the problem?”
She looked at him then. “What are we going to do if hey don’t rent us the apartment? Valenti never even mentioned the possibility.”
Max shrugged. “He didn’t think it was a possibility. The landlady’s not picky about who she rents to, as long as there’s a months rent in advance. We’re supposed to look desperate remember? In need of a place immediately.”
Liz took a deep breath then nodded. “Ok I’m ready now.”
Max thought it was very amusing that Liz couldn’t get out of the car without assistance. Liz however did not.
The buildings manager turned out to be a women of about fifty, thirty pounds overweight with artificial blonde hair. They told her their names were Max and Liz Powers and that as of yesterday they were homeless. Max told her that he had enough money to pay a month in advance but that he didn’t want to sign a lease.
The landlady who only gave a last name of McCauley, bought their story quickly especially when Max pulled out a wad of crumpled notes from his pocket for the first month’s rent. That seemed to suit her just fine instead of a lease or rent agreement. Liz noted that there wasn’t exactly a lot of people lining up to get an apartment as Ms McCauley admitted that there were three empty ones all on the same floor. The fourth floor, she added as she looked at Liz’s stomach.
Liz swallowed a sigh assuring her that the fourth floor was fine.
There was no objection when they mentioned that they wished to move in immediately. She only shrugged, throwing Max a key. “Third apartment on the left don’t mess it up.”
“We won’t be here long,” Max said. “As soon as I get myself back on my feet we’ll be out of here.”
“That’s what they all say honey,” Ms. McCauley said in a bored tone.
Jumping into her role, Liz spoke up defensively “My Max will get us out of here. Things may be tough at the moment but as soon as he finds a new job we are going to get a better place.”
Max threw her a glare. “Shut up Liz. This women doesn’t care about our problems.”
Ms. McCauley didn’t correct him. Liz was silent but she gave Max a sidelong glance. She would play her role all right but it didn’t mean that she had to like it.
Liz complained under her breath the whole way up the stairs to their new apartment, when they stopped she was breathless, sweating and more then ready to get rid of the bulky harness that added at least twenty pounds to her small frame.
The apartment was every bit as disgusting as Liz imaged it to be. The kitchen was so dirty that she couldn’t imagine eating anything that came from it. The living room was only slightly bigger than the kitchen. It had a couch, two broken down armchairs and a coffee table that looked like it would collapse if you put anything on it. The bedroom was barely big enough to hold a lumpy double bed, a broken chest of draws and a TV tray serving as a nightstand. The bathroom was a just as bad as the kitchen.
Max made sure that the toilet flushed and that the shower worked, muttering about the water not being nearly as hot as he liked. There was no closet.
They stood in the bedroom looking around in horror. Liz eyed the small bed, wondering what the odds of Max sleeping on the ragged couch in the other room were. She looked at him from under her lashes.
Max glanced her way at the same time. Their gazes locked and held for a moment. Then Max sighed deeply, ran a hand through his short brown hair and managed a forced smile. “Honey I’m home.”
TBC...............
“Are you sure this thing is on properly?” Liz asked while tugging on the front of her cheap cotton top. “It looks really odd.”
Sergeant Tess Harding, the precinct’s property supervisor, nodded her head enthusiastically. “You look perfect in it, even more realistic than I’d expected when I first saw the thing.”
“It weighs so much, and it pinches,” Liz muttered.
Her best friend Officer Isabel Elliot laughed. “Man, I can’t get over how funny you look.”
Liz glared at her while fidgeting again. “Thanks a lot.”
Isabel shrugged tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Just you wait until Max sees you.” Liz groaned and covered her face with her hands.
“Where is Max by the way?” Asked Jim from behind his desk. “I haven’t seen him yet this morning.”
“Max is always late,” Isabel reminded.
“And always grumpy,” Liz added.
“If you don’t need anything else I really need to get the inventories done this morning.” Tess asked.
Jim waved her out. “No that’s fine but if you see Evans on the way out, can you please tell him that he’s needed in my office.”
“Yes sir.” Tess rushed out; she was always in a hurry that one.
Valenti looked at Isabel. “Is there a reason why you’re here or are you just bumming on the job?”
“You know I’m only hanging round to be close to you, Lieutenant,” Isabel replied while batting her eye’s and giving Jim a melting smile.
“Haven’t you got work to do?” Valenti asked.
Isabel just smiled and shook her head. “There is no way in hell that I’m leaving this office until Max has a look at Liz.”
“Would you just leave already? Go catch a criminal or something and stop harassing your fellow offices,” Liz grumbled. As much as she loved Isabel there were times when she really got on her nerves and right now happened to be one of those moments.
There was a quick knock on the door that opened before anyone had a chance to respond. Max walked through, yawning and scratching his unshaven chin. His brown hair was sticking out at all angles and his shirt and jeans so wrinkled they looked as if he’d just crawled straight out of bed while sleeping in them. “Sorry I’m late I-“
He stopped, his jaw dropping.
Liz cringed.
It started slowly. Max’s amber eyes crinkled at the corners, and his usually frowning mouth started to tilt upwards on one side then the other. His laughter started deep in this chest then erupted.
Valenti sighed. Isabel just sat back and enjoyed the show.
Liz watched this display with disgust. Damn it!! She knew he would react this way. Why couldn’t her costume for this assignment have been a backless leather minidress or something in that regard? I mean anything but this.
“Laugh it up Evans,” she snapped. “You don’t exactly look like model material yourself.”
Max wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Oh man, you should see yourself.”
“I have seen myself. I look like a whale.”
He made a great production of circling Liz his eyes fixed on the large bulge filling out the front of the cheap and ruffled maternity top. He laughed again. “How old are you Parker?”
“Twenty-five. Why?”
“You look like a sixteen year old who got knocked up in the back of a pickup truck.”
Valenti interrupted, his tone impatient. “Knock it off you two. We have things that we need to go over before you leave. Elliot, go do some work.”
Isabel shot up giving him a salute. “Yes sir.” Walking past Liz she touched her shoulder. “Keep your guard up.”
Liz responded to the traditional farewell with the same answer she always gave. “Watch your back.”
As soon as the door was closed Valenti wasted no time in going over their cover one final time making sure that Max and Liz had their roles straight and their procedures agreed upon.
The story was that they were a down on their luck unmarried couple moving into the very low-rent district after having been thrown out of their last apartment for failure to pay the rent. Max was to act very unhappy about the arrival of a baby that he would have to support, making it clear to anyone that he came in contact with that the baby was a mistake. His unhappiness was supposed to make him have a bad temper and they were to make sure their arguments were heard be anyone within hearing distance.
Liz was positive that Max could play the part of a jerk. She wasn’t however so sure that she could pull her part off. Liz was supposed to adore the creep, making it clear to all that she would do anything for him.
“This is going to be the toughest assignment I’ve ever had,” Liz complained while trying to get comfortable in the chair she was sitting in. How did pregnant women sit comfortably with all this bulk and weight in their laps?
“Don’t think you can take it, aye Parker?” Max asked with a mockingly lifted eyebrow.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t take it,” she retorted. “I only said it would be tough.”
“If didn’t think that you could handle this assignment neither of you would have been given it,” Valenti said. “Liz you will have to befriend a lady called Maria DeLuca. She is the person our source named as being the next target for the baby broker. We need you to get close to her.”
Liz nodded. She always hated how she had to lie when she was undercover, but she was very committed to her job. If her lying would save an innocent baby from being sold as a piece of meat then she would lie with the best of them.
Finally satisfied that Max and Liz had their instructions down Valenti dismissed them.
Liz started to get up but fell right back in the chair still not used to having such a weight in her middle. Grinning Max stuck out a hand and pulled her up onto her feet. “I can tell right now this assignment is going to be loads of fun.”
Liz had to hold back a reply, as she was sure it would break the last of Valenti’s patience, which she really didn’t want to do.
Max wasn’t sure that the piece of junk called a car they’d been issued would get them to the run-down building in which an apartment had been discreetly scouted out for them. On the ripped back seat sat boxes and bags, which were supposed to represent everything they owned.
As they pulled up to the apartment building Liz was looking at it with much apprehension. Max wondered for a moment if she was finding the accommodations distasteful. He couldn’t blame her. The building was a slum. Still he’d stayed in worse places during the course of his job, and he knew Liz had too. “What’s the problem?”
She looked at him then. “What are we going to do if hey don’t rent us the apartment? Valenti never even mentioned the possibility.”
Max shrugged. “He didn’t think it was a possibility. The landlady’s not picky about who she rents to, as long as there’s a months rent in advance. We’re supposed to look desperate remember? In need of a place immediately.”
Liz took a deep breath then nodded. “Ok I’m ready now.”
Max thought it was very amusing that Liz couldn’t get out of the car without assistance. Liz however did not.
The buildings manager turned out to be a women of about fifty, thirty pounds overweight with artificial blonde hair. They told her their names were Max and Liz Powers and that as of yesterday they were homeless. Max told her that he had enough money to pay a month in advance but that he didn’t want to sign a lease.
The landlady who only gave a last name of McCauley, bought their story quickly especially when Max pulled out a wad of crumpled notes from his pocket for the first month’s rent. That seemed to suit her just fine instead of a lease or rent agreement. Liz noted that there wasn’t exactly a lot of people lining up to get an apartment as Ms McCauley admitted that there were three empty ones all on the same floor. The fourth floor, she added as she looked at Liz’s stomach.
Liz swallowed a sigh assuring her that the fourth floor was fine.
There was no objection when they mentioned that they wished to move in immediately. She only shrugged, throwing Max a key. “Third apartment on the left don’t mess it up.”
“We won’t be here long,” Max said. “As soon as I get myself back on my feet we’ll be out of here.”
“That’s what they all say honey,” Ms. McCauley said in a bored tone.
Jumping into her role, Liz spoke up defensively “My Max will get us out of here. Things may be tough at the moment but as soon as he finds a new job we are going to get a better place.”
Max threw her a glare. “Shut up Liz. This women doesn’t care about our problems.”
Ms. McCauley didn’t correct him. Liz was silent but she gave Max a sidelong glance. She would play her role all right but it didn’t mean that she had to like it.
Liz complained under her breath the whole way up the stairs to their new apartment, when they stopped she was breathless, sweating and more then ready to get rid of the bulky harness that added at least twenty pounds to her small frame.
The apartment was every bit as disgusting as Liz imaged it to be. The kitchen was so dirty that she couldn’t imagine eating anything that came from it. The living room was only slightly bigger than the kitchen. It had a couch, two broken down armchairs and a coffee table that looked like it would collapse if you put anything on it. The bedroom was barely big enough to hold a lumpy double bed, a broken chest of draws and a TV tray serving as a nightstand. The bathroom was a just as bad as the kitchen.
Max made sure that the toilet flushed and that the shower worked, muttering about the water not being nearly as hot as he liked. There was no closet.
They stood in the bedroom looking around in horror. Liz eyed the small bed, wondering what the odds of Max sleeping on the ragged couch in the other room were. She looked at him from under her lashes.
Max glanced her way at the same time. Their gazes locked and held for a moment. Then Max sighed deeply, ran a hand through his short brown hair and managed a forced smile. “Honey I’m home.”
TBC...............
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Liz’s first priority, after bringing in their stuff , was to clean up the apartment. She told Max that there was no way she was going to live in this dump, even temporarily, without getting rid of some of the crap.
Max just shrugged and told her to knock herself out. He then stretched out, as comfortably as he could, on the piece of junk called a couch and opened the newspaper he had brought with him.
The whole fourth floor heard their new neighbors first argument within half an hour of moving in. It wasn’t staged.
Max finally got off his butt and helped with the cleaning much to Liz’s satisfaction. It didn’t even bother her when he grumbled the whole time.
“Bathroom’s clean,” Max announced a couple of hours later as he walked into he kitchen where Liz had just finished cleaning the formerly grease-caked stove. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do? Scrub the walls with a toothbrush maybe? Repaint? Lay new carpet?”
She ignored his heavy sarcasm. “No, I think that’s everything for now.”
He growled.
Liz straightened and pressed a hand to he sore back. She had removed her harness when she’d started cleaning, but with a morning of wearing it and also two hours of heavy work, had left her tired and sore. “I don’t know about you but I’m quite hungry.”
“Well I’m not cooking,” Max said daring her to challenge him. “Not after cleaning that disgusting toilet.”
“So we’ll eat sandwiches. I bought bread and meat,” she replied.
Max nodded. “Okay that’ll do.”
“We should split the cooking and cleaning from now on. Fair enough?”
Max sighed loudly. “We’re working a sting Parker, not setting up house.”
“We have to eat and sleep here at least a couple of weeks. There is no reason that we should live like pigs just because we’re working.”
Max crossed his arms and looked at her mockingly. “I had no idea you were so domestic. So how come some lucky man hasn’t snapped you up and trapped you in the kitchen with a litter of little kids running around your feet, hmmm?”
Liz glared at him shouting back. “That’s because I haven’t found a man worth putting up with on a permanent basis. And no one’s trapping me in a kitchen!”
“More likely you-“
A knock at the door made them both still.
Max looked down at Liz’s slender figure beneath her huge maternity top. “Go hide in the bedroom,” he ordered, and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “I’ll get the door.”
His brown hair was messed his T-shirt grubby and his jeans were ripped at the knees. He hadn’t shaven in a couple of days. With a beer in his hand he looked exactly right for the role he was playing. Liz sprinted into the bedroom trying to strap on the harness as quickly as possible in case she was needed to make an appearance. She hated being caught unprepared like this. From now on maybe she had better wear this thing all the time.
Max waited until Liz had disappeared into the bedroom before answering the door. Letting his brows form into a frown, he ripped open the door. “What is it?” he growled.
The women at the door had dirt blonde hair that fell around her shoulders; heavily made-up hazel eyes, a faint two-inch long scare on her right cheek, and the heavy scent of cheap perfume. She was in the latter stages of pregnancy, only emphasized more by a too tight pink top and black stretch pants.
She tossed her hair over one shoulder. “You the guy who owns that heap of black crap parked in my spot?” she demanded, her Bronx accent sounding strange to his Southern ears.
Max lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t know the parking spaces were assigned.”
“Everyone knows that the parking space closest to the trash bin is mine,” she shot back. “You park there again and you just might find a few flat tires the next day.”
“Lady I don’t take too kindly to threats.”
“And you oughta know I ain’t no lady,” the women retorted, not intimidated at all by his tough-guy drawl. “And I got friends around here. Big friends, if you know what I mean.”
“Max?” Liz’s tentative interruption made Max glance around. She was standing in the doorway with the harness back on underneath her maternity top. She looked young, vulnerable and deceptively fragile. And very pregnant.
Liz Parker was damned good at her job even Max wouldn’t imply otherwise, no matter how much she irritated him.
“What’s going on?” Liz asked, looking warily from Max to the women at the door. “What’s wrong?”
Max rolled his eyes. “It’s another crazy pregnant women,” he muttered in answer to her question. “Looks like I’m surrounded by them.”
Liz flushed. Max wondered how the hell she could do that on command, and she appeared hurt by his comment, which he knew she wasn’t. She looked at the women again “I’m sorry,” she said. “He didn’t really mean that. He’s just tired from moving in. Is there something I can help you with?”
She fell into her part so easily, making excuses for him, looking at him with anxious, adoring eyes. Max couldn’t help but be impressed especially since he knows how she really feels about him.
“I was just telling this chump here that I don’t want him parking his so-called car in my parking space again. Maybe you can help him remember,” the other women said in a cocky tone. “That is, unless you want my friends to have a little, uh, word with him.”
Liz’s brown eye’s widened in shock. “You have friends who would hurt him over this?”
“I got friends who would make him disappear like that.” The women snapped her fingers. “That is if I asked them to of course.”
Liz moved her feet nervously. “We won’t park in your spot again, will we honey? We didn’t know.”
Max ignored her. He carried his beer to the couch, sat down on the couch picked up the newspaper turning it to the sports section. He didn’t look up from it again.
Liz stepped closer to the door. “I’m really sorry about this we don’t want any trouble from our new neighbors. Max,” she lowered her voice and looked quickly toward the sofa. “Max’s just tired,” she mumbled again.
A look of what could have been pity crossed the women’s face. “What’s your name kid?” she asked.
Liz didn’t correct the women that she was a lot older then she looked. “It’s Liz,” she said. “Liz Powers. And that’s my–my husband. Max.”
“Husband, huh?” The other women obviously didn’t believe her-which is exactly what Liz wanted.
“I’m Maria. I live across the hall. If you wanna know anything else bout the way things work here you just come ask me. I guess you could come over for coffee or something sometime if you want,” she added, making it sound like she was doing Liz a big favor.
Liz suspected that most of Maria’s attitude was crap. She’d seen others like her hiding her fear behind anger and aggression. “I’d like that,” Liz said quickly looking over her shoulder at the couch. “If it’s okay with Max that is,” she added in a whisper.
Maria rolled her eyes in disgust “Of course,” she said sarcastically. She tuned around and walked away with a swagger in her hips that might have been sexy if she wasn’t pregnant.
“Thank you for stopping by,” Liz said then closed the door.
“What are you thanking that bitch for?” Max roared.
Aware that people may be listening Liz yelled back, “You could have said something! Do we have to start out making enemies of all our new neighbors?”
“We ain’t gonna be here long enough to make friends, and I don’t want you making friends with the likes of her,” he retorted.
“She seemed nice,” Liz protested, still standing close to the door.
“Nice? Her? She was a dragon lady. And did you check out her makeup she looked like a hooker. Probably is.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Just stay away from her, you hear me?”
Liz heard a door closing across the hallway. She wondered how much Maria heard. Enough she hoped to make her a little bit more sympathetic towards Liz.
The first contact come a lot sooner then either of them expected. Liz only hoped that the rest of the assignment worked out as well.
“So what do you think of her?” Max asked later on as they sat down to eat their sandwiches. “Think your going to be able to get tight with her?”
Liz was busy tying to figure out how to get close to the table with several pounds of stuffing in her lap. She finally gave up turning sideways in her chair, and reached for a sandwich. “I think so, she looked a bit lonely to me in need of a friend, maybe. That invitation to have coffee with her sometime was a legitimate one, I think.” She replied.
Max smiled “Don’t forget that she had friends, big ones at that.”
Liz giggled, “Did you believe her?”
“Not for a second, did you?”
“No, but she has guts I’ll give her that much. You looked pretty tough when you were staring her down at the door and she didn’t flinch once.”
“I looked touch huh?” Max seemed pretty stoked with that description.
Liz made a face. “Yeah Mr. Macho. You looked tough. Probably fooled her real good.”
He lifted both eyebrows, looking a bit offended. “Who was fooling? I am tough!”
“Well would you look at that, so am I.”
He grinned. She smiled back. They both blinked startled by the rare moment of shared humor.
Their visual contact was broken when a raised voice and the sound of shattered glass disturbed them. The noise seemed to be coming from right above them. Both automatically looked up as though they could see what was going on through the ceiling.
“Another domestic dispute,” Max commented.
“Do you think we sounded like that?”
“I hope so, I mean that’s what we’re supposed to sound like.” Max replied.
Liz sighed. “Just once I would love to be assigned to something glamorous living it up in some ritzy apartment among the beautiful people.”
She allowed herself to drift for a moment into a pleasant fantasy.
Max interrupted her daydream “you’d never pull it off.”
Liz straightened defensively. “I would too.”
“Admit it parker you’re blue collar to the bone. I bet your Dad was a construction worker or maybe a mechanic,” he teased with a grin. “I’m right aren’t I?”
She looked down at her plate toying with the rest of her sandwich. “I don’t know, probably,” she muttered.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
She glared at him. “I don’t know who my father was alright! I don’t even remember my mother. She dumped me when I was a baby. But I could carry off a high-class assignment if I ever got one. You just wait and see.”
“All right I believe you,” Max said his smile leaving his face. “You’re good at your job you probably could pull it off.”
They both finished their meal in silence Max didn’t speak again until after they had cleared everything away. “Liz?”
“Yeah?”
“What I said about your father I’m – uh – well – um I’m really sorry. I didn’t know,” he cleared his throat awkward with the apology.
Liz frowned concentrating on her cleaning. She hadn’t told him or anybody else for that matter about her past, she didn’t want anyone to have sympathy for her situation. She didn’t know why she told Max, she rarely talked about her childhood. It had just slipped out. “Just forget it, it’s no big deal.”
She tossed the rag in the sink wiping her hand on her jeans and spoke a bit too quickly. “So you think we should have another ‘fight’ tonight?”
Max shook his head. “Na we don’t want to overdo it on our first day here.” A glimmer of mischief appeared in his eyes. “How about we treat the neighbors to a round of rowdy lovemaking instead?”
Liz hated herself for blushing. “I don’t think so.”
“Well it would certainly add to our cover,” Max argued, his smile starting to reappear on his face. “What do you think Parker? Can you fake a noisy orgasm?”
She gave him a look. “With you, I’d have to - but not tonight. I have a headache.”
“You know some men might take that as a challenge.”
Liz deliberately turned her back on him. “Would you give me a break already. I think you flexed you ego enough for one day. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Just get ready to share it. There is no way in hell that I am going to sleep on that couch and its killer springs.”
Liz sighed. “You could always take the floor you know.”
“You take the floor if you’re so concerned about your virtue.”
“I’m not worried about my virtue. I’m worried about my rest. You most probably snore like buzz saw.”
Max was caught off guard enough to laugh. “I don’t snore Parker. I stayed awake all night once to make sure.”
Liz made a face in response to the old joke, relieved that the issue had been resolved in relatively good grace. So she and Max would be sharing the same bed. Big deal. She’d slept in worse conditions before. All part of the job.
But she’d never slept with Max Evans and for some reason that seemed quite a different prospect all together.
TBC………
Liz’s first priority, after bringing in their stuff , was to clean up the apartment. She told Max that there was no way she was going to live in this dump, even temporarily, without getting rid of some of the crap.
Max just shrugged and told her to knock herself out. He then stretched out, as comfortably as he could, on the piece of junk called a couch and opened the newspaper he had brought with him.
The whole fourth floor heard their new neighbors first argument within half an hour of moving in. It wasn’t staged.
Max finally got off his butt and helped with the cleaning much to Liz’s satisfaction. It didn’t even bother her when he grumbled the whole time.
“Bathroom’s clean,” Max announced a couple of hours later as he walked into he kitchen where Liz had just finished cleaning the formerly grease-caked stove. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do? Scrub the walls with a toothbrush maybe? Repaint? Lay new carpet?”
She ignored his heavy sarcasm. “No, I think that’s everything for now.”
He growled.
Liz straightened and pressed a hand to he sore back. She had removed her harness when she’d started cleaning, but with a morning of wearing it and also two hours of heavy work, had left her tired and sore. “I don’t know about you but I’m quite hungry.”
“Well I’m not cooking,” Max said daring her to challenge him. “Not after cleaning that disgusting toilet.”
“So we’ll eat sandwiches. I bought bread and meat,” she replied.
Max nodded. “Okay that’ll do.”
“We should split the cooking and cleaning from now on. Fair enough?”
Max sighed loudly. “We’re working a sting Parker, not setting up house.”
“We have to eat and sleep here at least a couple of weeks. There is no reason that we should live like pigs just because we’re working.”
Max crossed his arms and looked at her mockingly. “I had no idea you were so domestic. So how come some lucky man hasn’t snapped you up and trapped you in the kitchen with a litter of little kids running around your feet, hmmm?”
Liz glared at him shouting back. “That’s because I haven’t found a man worth putting up with on a permanent basis. And no one’s trapping me in a kitchen!”
“More likely you-“
A knock at the door made them both still.
Max looked down at Liz’s slender figure beneath her huge maternity top. “Go hide in the bedroom,” he ordered, and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “I’ll get the door.”
His brown hair was messed his T-shirt grubby and his jeans were ripped at the knees. He hadn’t shaven in a couple of days. With a beer in his hand he looked exactly right for the role he was playing. Liz sprinted into the bedroom trying to strap on the harness as quickly as possible in case she was needed to make an appearance. She hated being caught unprepared like this. From now on maybe she had better wear this thing all the time.
Max waited until Liz had disappeared into the bedroom before answering the door. Letting his brows form into a frown, he ripped open the door. “What is it?” he growled.
The women at the door had dirt blonde hair that fell around her shoulders; heavily made-up hazel eyes, a faint two-inch long scare on her right cheek, and the heavy scent of cheap perfume. She was in the latter stages of pregnancy, only emphasized more by a too tight pink top and black stretch pants.
She tossed her hair over one shoulder. “You the guy who owns that heap of black crap parked in my spot?” she demanded, her Bronx accent sounding strange to his Southern ears.
Max lifted an eyebrow. “I didn’t know the parking spaces were assigned.”
“Everyone knows that the parking space closest to the trash bin is mine,” she shot back. “You park there again and you just might find a few flat tires the next day.”
“Lady I don’t take too kindly to threats.”
“And you oughta know I ain’t no lady,” the women retorted, not intimidated at all by his tough-guy drawl. “And I got friends around here. Big friends, if you know what I mean.”
“Max?” Liz’s tentative interruption made Max glance around. She was standing in the doorway with the harness back on underneath her maternity top. She looked young, vulnerable and deceptively fragile. And very pregnant.
Liz Parker was damned good at her job even Max wouldn’t imply otherwise, no matter how much she irritated him.
“What’s going on?” Liz asked, looking warily from Max to the women at the door. “What’s wrong?”
Max rolled his eyes. “It’s another crazy pregnant women,” he muttered in answer to her question. “Looks like I’m surrounded by them.”
Liz flushed. Max wondered how the hell she could do that on command, and she appeared hurt by his comment, which he knew she wasn’t. She looked at the women again “I’m sorry,” she said. “He didn’t really mean that. He’s just tired from moving in. Is there something I can help you with?”
She fell into her part so easily, making excuses for him, looking at him with anxious, adoring eyes. Max couldn’t help but be impressed especially since he knows how she really feels about him.
“I was just telling this chump here that I don’t want him parking his so-called car in my parking space again. Maybe you can help him remember,” the other women said in a cocky tone. “That is, unless you want my friends to have a little, uh, word with him.”
Liz’s brown eye’s widened in shock. “You have friends who would hurt him over this?”
“I got friends who would make him disappear like that.” The women snapped her fingers. “That is if I asked them to of course.”
Liz moved her feet nervously. “We won’t park in your spot again, will we honey? We didn’t know.”
Max ignored her. He carried his beer to the couch, sat down on the couch picked up the newspaper turning it to the sports section. He didn’t look up from it again.
Liz stepped closer to the door. “I’m really sorry about this we don’t want any trouble from our new neighbors. Max,” she lowered her voice and looked quickly toward the sofa. “Max’s just tired,” she mumbled again.
A look of what could have been pity crossed the women’s face. “What’s your name kid?” she asked.
Liz didn’t correct the women that she was a lot older then she looked. “It’s Liz,” she said. “Liz Powers. And that’s my–my husband. Max.”
“Husband, huh?” The other women obviously didn’t believe her-which is exactly what Liz wanted.
“I’m Maria. I live across the hall. If you wanna know anything else bout the way things work here you just come ask me. I guess you could come over for coffee or something sometime if you want,” she added, making it sound like she was doing Liz a big favor.
Liz suspected that most of Maria’s attitude was crap. She’d seen others like her hiding her fear behind anger and aggression. “I’d like that,” Liz said quickly looking over her shoulder at the couch. “If it’s okay with Max that is,” she added in a whisper.
Maria rolled her eyes in disgust “Of course,” she said sarcastically. She tuned around and walked away with a swagger in her hips that might have been sexy if she wasn’t pregnant.
“Thank you for stopping by,” Liz said then closed the door.
“What are you thanking that bitch for?” Max roared.
Aware that people may be listening Liz yelled back, “You could have said something! Do we have to start out making enemies of all our new neighbors?”
“We ain’t gonna be here long enough to make friends, and I don’t want you making friends with the likes of her,” he retorted.
“She seemed nice,” Liz protested, still standing close to the door.
“Nice? Her? She was a dragon lady. And did you check out her makeup she looked like a hooker. Probably is.”
“You don’t know that!”
“Just stay away from her, you hear me?”
Liz heard a door closing across the hallway. She wondered how much Maria heard. Enough she hoped to make her a little bit more sympathetic towards Liz.
The first contact come a lot sooner then either of them expected. Liz only hoped that the rest of the assignment worked out as well.
“So what do you think of her?” Max asked later on as they sat down to eat their sandwiches. “Think your going to be able to get tight with her?”
Liz was busy tying to figure out how to get close to the table with several pounds of stuffing in her lap. She finally gave up turning sideways in her chair, and reached for a sandwich. “I think so, she looked a bit lonely to me in need of a friend, maybe. That invitation to have coffee with her sometime was a legitimate one, I think.” She replied.
Max smiled “Don’t forget that she had friends, big ones at that.”
Liz giggled, “Did you believe her?”
“Not for a second, did you?”
“No, but she has guts I’ll give her that much. You looked pretty tough when you were staring her down at the door and she didn’t flinch once.”
“I looked touch huh?” Max seemed pretty stoked with that description.
Liz made a face. “Yeah Mr. Macho. You looked tough. Probably fooled her real good.”
He lifted both eyebrows, looking a bit offended. “Who was fooling? I am tough!”
“Well would you look at that, so am I.”
He grinned. She smiled back. They both blinked startled by the rare moment of shared humor.
Their visual contact was broken when a raised voice and the sound of shattered glass disturbed them. The noise seemed to be coming from right above them. Both automatically looked up as though they could see what was going on through the ceiling.
“Another domestic dispute,” Max commented.
“Do you think we sounded like that?”
“I hope so, I mean that’s what we’re supposed to sound like.” Max replied.
Liz sighed. “Just once I would love to be assigned to something glamorous living it up in some ritzy apartment among the beautiful people.”
She allowed herself to drift for a moment into a pleasant fantasy.
Max interrupted her daydream “you’d never pull it off.”
Liz straightened defensively. “I would too.”
“Admit it parker you’re blue collar to the bone. I bet your Dad was a construction worker or maybe a mechanic,” he teased with a grin. “I’m right aren’t I?”
She looked down at her plate toying with the rest of her sandwich. “I don’t know, probably,” she muttered.
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
She glared at him. “I don’t know who my father was alright! I don’t even remember my mother. She dumped me when I was a baby. But I could carry off a high-class assignment if I ever got one. You just wait and see.”
“All right I believe you,” Max said his smile leaving his face. “You’re good at your job you probably could pull it off.”
They both finished their meal in silence Max didn’t speak again until after they had cleared everything away. “Liz?”
“Yeah?”
“What I said about your father I’m – uh – well – um I’m really sorry. I didn’t know,” he cleared his throat awkward with the apology.
Liz frowned concentrating on her cleaning. She hadn’t told him or anybody else for that matter about her past, she didn’t want anyone to have sympathy for her situation. She didn’t know why she told Max, she rarely talked about her childhood. It had just slipped out. “Just forget it, it’s no big deal.”
She tossed the rag in the sink wiping her hand on her jeans and spoke a bit too quickly. “So you think we should have another ‘fight’ tonight?”
Max shook his head. “Na we don’t want to overdo it on our first day here.” A glimmer of mischief appeared in his eyes. “How about we treat the neighbors to a round of rowdy lovemaking instead?”
Liz hated herself for blushing. “I don’t think so.”
“Well it would certainly add to our cover,” Max argued, his smile starting to reappear on his face. “What do you think Parker? Can you fake a noisy orgasm?”
She gave him a look. “With you, I’d have to - but not tonight. I have a headache.”
“You know some men might take that as a challenge.”
Liz deliberately turned her back on him. “Would you give me a break already. I think you flexed you ego enough for one day. I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Just get ready to share it. There is no way in hell that I am going to sleep on that couch and its killer springs.”
Liz sighed. “You could always take the floor you know.”
“You take the floor if you’re so concerned about your virtue.”
“I’m not worried about my virtue. I’m worried about my rest. You most probably snore like buzz saw.”
Max was caught off guard enough to laugh. “I don’t snore Parker. I stayed awake all night once to make sure.”
Liz made a face in response to the old joke, relieved that the issue had been resolved in relatively good grace. So she and Max would be sharing the same bed. Big deal. She’d slept in worse conditions before. All part of the job.
But she’d never slept with Max Evans and for some reason that seemed quite a different prospect all together.
TBC………
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Liz wore her usual oversized T-shirt for bed. It wasn’t sexy which was exactly what she’d had in mind when she packed it. Max wore a pair of old running shorts and nothing else. Liz almost swallowed her tongue when she first saw him. Damn. How could she have known he would look so good without his clothes? Lean, strong, tanned, sleek.
Great body, she thought, eyeing him. Too bad it belonged to Max Evans.
Max glanced up when Liz entered the room. He looked at what she was wearing and curled his lips. “Something tells me that didn’t come from a Victoria’s Secret catalogue.”
“I’m here to catch bad guys Evans not fuel your twisted fantasies.”
Max’s grin got bigger. “Who said you’re in my fantasies Parker?”
She tossed her hair. “Some things just go without saying.”
Max laughed holding up his hands. “Okay how bout we call a truce for the night I’m too fired to try and outmatch you.”
“You will never have enough rest to do that,” she retorted. “But I’ll call a truce if you will.”
Max turned off the lights and only the outside lights coming in through the window illuminated the room. “Right side or left?”
Liz blinked, then picked one at random. “Right.”
“Fine.” He climbed onto the left side of the bed and settled into the flattened pillow. He looked over his shoulder to where Liz still stood “you coming to bed?”
She cleared his throat. “Oh yeah sure.”
It took more nerve then she thought to make herself walk the three feet to bed and get in beside Max.
Come on Parker its only Evans. What’s with you tonight? She shook her head in disgust at her own uncharacteristic behavior.
“You got that harness thing handy in case something comes up in the middle of the night and you have to use it?” Max asked already sounding tired.
“Yeah it’s on the floor over here. I can get into it quickly if I need to, though I don’t expect anything to come up in the middle of the night.”
“Me either, but you never know. It’s always best to be prepared. In fact,” he added, a small smile on his face, “maybe you should sleep in it.”
“No way,” Liz said with feeling. “I’d never be able to sleep in the thing.”
“Pregnant women do it all the time.”
“Yeah well I ain’t pregnant, which I have to say I’m extremely pleased about.”
“Think you ever will be?” He sounded only mildly curious.
“I don’t see that happening in the near future.” For one thing you need two to make a baby, and there hadn’t been anyone in her life for quite awhile. Not since she and Sean had split two years ago because he had finally realized he hated her job and couldn’t continue being with an undercover cop. He hated the hours, hated the danger and the dark moods her job sometimes left her in. Had they stayed together for much longer he probably would have ended up hating her.
“What about you?” she asked to distract herself from the painful memories. “You planning a family anytime soon?”
“Hardly. I haven’t dated anyone since Pam moved out last year,” he grumbled into the pillow. “Everyone I meet these days seems to be either a bimbo or a shrew. Guess all the good ones are taken.”
“Oh yeah? Which one would you classify me as?”
“I wasn’t talking about you I was talking about the few women I have dated lately. But if I were to put you into one of the categories….” He left the sentence hanging.
Liz knew exactly which category he’d put her into. She snorted and turned her back to Max.
Max laughed softly, pleased that he’d finally gotten the last word, settling more comfortably onto his side of the bed.
Less then ten minutes later he was snoring. Just before Liz fell asleep she made a mental note to give him a hard time in the morning.
Liz woke up once during the night only to find herself plastered against Max’s warm behr back. He was fast asleep, thank God, fitted into the curve of her body like he had been made to snuggle with her.
Liz jerked away from him, scooted to the edge of the bed and went back to slept waking up every few hours to make sure that she didn’t end up moving towards him again.
She didn’t even want to think about the crap she would get from him if he had woken up to find her flush up against him.
Max was already up when Liz woke the next day. She yawned, stretched and swung her behr legs and feet over the edge of the bed. The room was warm since the air-conditioner didn’t work - no surprise there. She sat there for a few minutes trying to wake herself up properly.
Finally deciding she was awake enough to be coherent, she stood, ran a hand through her hair and headed for the bathroom.
Ten minuets later she walked into the kitchen smelling fresh coffee. Max was sitting at the table reading a tattered paperback book. He was still wearing the shorts but was now also wearing a white T-shirt. Liz made a determined effort not to look at his long, sturdy behr legs or the exposed piece of chest his V-necked T-shirt showed as she passed him on the way to the coffee. “Morning,” she murmured.
“Where’s your harness?” he asked eyeing her slim waist with a frown.
She made a face at him. “Wait until I have my coffee before you start picking on me will you?”
“I just think that you should get into the habit of wearing it. You never know-“
“Look Evans I know how to go undercover okay?” she snapped slamming a cabinet door. Something ran away from her on the countertop, and she shuddered. “God I hate this place.”
“You haven’t even been here for twenty four hours yet. You’re really going to hate it by the time the assignment’s over.”
“Thank you so much for trying to brighten my morning,” she muttered, splashing coffee into her mug.
Max took a deep breath and held up a hand. “Okay that’s enough. This assignment’s bad enough without us snapping at each other.”
“I agree but you started it,” she couldn’t resist saying as she carried her mug to the table.
He started to speak but then bit back his words. “Okay maybe I did,” he conceded. “Sorry.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Is that an apology I hear?”
“Don’t push it Parker,” Max warned.
Liz smiled into her mug. “Good coffee,” she said a moment later – her own gesture of peacemaking.
He looked satisfied by her effort. “You hungry?”
“What’ve you got?”
“Jelly filled doughnuts or cereal.” They’d brought in a very limited supply of groceries yesterday.
Liz shrugged. “Guess I’ll have doughnuts. Have you eaten?”
“No, I’ll have the doughnuts too.”
They both sat without moving for a minute both waiting for the other one to go to the cupboard. Liz gave up first. After all, she thought, Max did make the coffee. But he sure as hell shouldn’t get used to being waited on.
“So what’s the schedule for today?” she asked as she sat into the only other available chair.
“I’m supposed to start job hunting. I’ll ask around, talk to some of the local guys, establish a cover. You might want to go to the corner grocery store, meet some of the neighbors.”
Liz nodded. “Maybe I’ll ask Maria to recommend a store.” It would give Liz another excuse to try and get closer to her.
“Good idea.” Max ate a doughnut in three bites then reached for another one. “Don’t forget we aren’t supposed to have much money. Can’t afford any expensive foods.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “I hate to tell you this Evans but I can’t afford any expensive foods. God knows when I last bought the really good caviar.”
He sighed at her sarcasm. “You know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” she agreed coolly. “You’re telling me how to establish my cover again – like I don’t already know. It isn’t necessary.”
“Don’t start this again.”
“I’m not the one who keeps starting it.”
Max scowled and shoved himself away from the table. “I’m taking a shower.”
“Fine”
Liz sat brooding into her coffee after Max left the room. It hadn’t been much of a pleasant morning so far but she had to admit to herself that she had been no more agreeable then Max. Maybe it was because of their assignment and surroundings. Or maybe she was still embarrassed about sharing a bed with Max. But he really had bugged her by throwing out instructions as though she was a rather slow rookie desperately in need of his guidance.
Still they really should limit their fights as much as possible to the ones they staged for the neighbors. Whether they liked it or not they were partners – and partners had to stick together or the results could be disastrous. Even fatal.
Max apparently reached the same conclusion during his shower. His attitude had improved noticeably when he reappeared, his hair wet, the T-shirt he wore clung to damp spots on his back and his legs were now hidden by frayed and faded jeans. “You want me to help you make a shopping list before I go out?” he asked.
Liz shook her head offering a tentative smile. “I’ll just buy what’s on sale.”
He returned her smile. “That’ll work.” He pulled a hundred dollar bill from out of his wallet and tossed it on the table. “That should get enough for us to get by for a few days. It’s all we can risk spending at once, I think.”
Liz nodded. “I need more cleaning products as well I pretty much used them all yesterday.”
Max started to say something then stopped. “I was gonna tell you to be careful on those streets alone – but I don’t suppose you need me to remind you.”
Her smile widened a bit. “No. But thanks anyway.”
“Yeah.” He pushed his fingertips into the back pockets of his jeans looking a bit uncomfortable. “I’ll more then likely be back later on this afternoon.”
Liz wondered why she was suddenly reluctant for him to go. But she decided it was probably only because she would be bored out of her mind all day long. She’d just have to find something to do to keep her occupied.
Liz followed him into the living room, staying back out of view from the hallway when Max reached for the doorknob. “Bye.” She said.
“That’s all the money I got!” he roared in answer, standing very close to the thin door. “You’ll just have to make it enough.”
Liz didn’t blink at the change in pace. “But we’re out of everything,” she whined. “We don’t even have milk. The baby needs milk,” she added, patting her flat stomach.
Max tore open the door, though he held it at an angle that hid her from view. “Look, get off by back okay? I said that’s all I got. And I don’t wanna hear anything else about that damned kid today! You hear me?”
“But Max–“
“The hell with it, I’m going to try to find a way to make some money. You do whatever the hell you want.”
The door slammed behind him as he left.
Liz smiled to herself, hoping the performance hadn’t gone unappreciated. It was pretty good actually.
Her and Max might actually pull this thing off.
TBC…………
Liz wore her usual oversized T-shirt for bed. It wasn’t sexy which was exactly what she’d had in mind when she packed it. Max wore a pair of old running shorts and nothing else. Liz almost swallowed her tongue when she first saw him. Damn. How could she have known he would look so good without his clothes? Lean, strong, tanned, sleek.
Great body, she thought, eyeing him. Too bad it belonged to Max Evans.
Max glanced up when Liz entered the room. He looked at what she was wearing and curled his lips. “Something tells me that didn’t come from a Victoria’s Secret catalogue.”
“I’m here to catch bad guys Evans not fuel your twisted fantasies.”
Max’s grin got bigger. “Who said you’re in my fantasies Parker?”
She tossed her hair. “Some things just go without saying.”
Max laughed holding up his hands. “Okay how bout we call a truce for the night I’m too fired to try and outmatch you.”
“You will never have enough rest to do that,” she retorted. “But I’ll call a truce if you will.”
Max turned off the lights and only the outside lights coming in through the window illuminated the room. “Right side or left?”
Liz blinked, then picked one at random. “Right.”
“Fine.” He climbed onto the left side of the bed and settled into the flattened pillow. He looked over his shoulder to where Liz still stood “you coming to bed?”
She cleared his throat. “Oh yeah sure.”
It took more nerve then she thought to make herself walk the three feet to bed and get in beside Max.
Come on Parker its only Evans. What’s with you tonight? She shook her head in disgust at her own uncharacteristic behavior.
“You got that harness thing handy in case something comes up in the middle of the night and you have to use it?” Max asked already sounding tired.
“Yeah it’s on the floor over here. I can get into it quickly if I need to, though I don’t expect anything to come up in the middle of the night.”
“Me either, but you never know. It’s always best to be prepared. In fact,” he added, a small smile on his face, “maybe you should sleep in it.”
“No way,” Liz said with feeling. “I’d never be able to sleep in the thing.”
“Pregnant women do it all the time.”
“Yeah well I ain’t pregnant, which I have to say I’m extremely pleased about.”
“Think you ever will be?” He sounded only mildly curious.
“I don’t see that happening in the near future.” For one thing you need two to make a baby, and there hadn’t been anyone in her life for quite awhile. Not since she and Sean had split two years ago because he had finally realized he hated her job and couldn’t continue being with an undercover cop. He hated the hours, hated the danger and the dark moods her job sometimes left her in. Had they stayed together for much longer he probably would have ended up hating her.
“What about you?” she asked to distract herself from the painful memories. “You planning a family anytime soon?”
“Hardly. I haven’t dated anyone since Pam moved out last year,” he grumbled into the pillow. “Everyone I meet these days seems to be either a bimbo or a shrew. Guess all the good ones are taken.”
“Oh yeah? Which one would you classify me as?”
“I wasn’t talking about you I was talking about the few women I have dated lately. But if I were to put you into one of the categories….” He left the sentence hanging.
Liz knew exactly which category he’d put her into. She snorted and turned her back to Max.
Max laughed softly, pleased that he’d finally gotten the last word, settling more comfortably onto his side of the bed.
Less then ten minutes later he was snoring. Just before Liz fell asleep she made a mental note to give him a hard time in the morning.
Liz woke up once during the night only to find herself plastered against Max’s warm behr back. He was fast asleep, thank God, fitted into the curve of her body like he had been made to snuggle with her.
Liz jerked away from him, scooted to the edge of the bed and went back to slept waking up every few hours to make sure that she didn’t end up moving towards him again.
She didn’t even want to think about the crap she would get from him if he had woken up to find her flush up against him.
Max was already up when Liz woke the next day. She yawned, stretched and swung her behr legs and feet over the edge of the bed. The room was warm since the air-conditioner didn’t work - no surprise there. She sat there for a few minutes trying to wake herself up properly.
Finally deciding she was awake enough to be coherent, she stood, ran a hand through her hair and headed for the bathroom.
Ten minuets later she walked into the kitchen smelling fresh coffee. Max was sitting at the table reading a tattered paperback book. He was still wearing the shorts but was now also wearing a white T-shirt. Liz made a determined effort not to look at his long, sturdy behr legs or the exposed piece of chest his V-necked T-shirt showed as she passed him on the way to the coffee. “Morning,” she murmured.
“Where’s your harness?” he asked eyeing her slim waist with a frown.
She made a face at him. “Wait until I have my coffee before you start picking on me will you?”
“I just think that you should get into the habit of wearing it. You never know-“
“Look Evans I know how to go undercover okay?” she snapped slamming a cabinet door. Something ran away from her on the countertop, and she shuddered. “God I hate this place.”
“You haven’t even been here for twenty four hours yet. You’re really going to hate it by the time the assignment’s over.”
“Thank you so much for trying to brighten my morning,” she muttered, splashing coffee into her mug.
Max took a deep breath and held up a hand. “Okay that’s enough. This assignment’s bad enough without us snapping at each other.”
“I agree but you started it,” she couldn’t resist saying as she carried her mug to the table.
He started to speak but then bit back his words. “Okay maybe I did,” he conceded. “Sorry.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Is that an apology I hear?”
“Don’t push it Parker,” Max warned.
Liz smiled into her mug. “Good coffee,” she said a moment later – her own gesture of peacemaking.
He looked satisfied by her effort. “You hungry?”
“What’ve you got?”
“Jelly filled doughnuts or cereal.” They’d brought in a very limited supply of groceries yesterday.
Liz shrugged. “Guess I’ll have doughnuts. Have you eaten?”
“No, I’ll have the doughnuts too.”
They both sat without moving for a minute both waiting for the other one to go to the cupboard. Liz gave up first. After all, she thought, Max did make the coffee. But he sure as hell shouldn’t get used to being waited on.
“So what’s the schedule for today?” she asked as she sat into the only other available chair.
“I’m supposed to start job hunting. I’ll ask around, talk to some of the local guys, establish a cover. You might want to go to the corner grocery store, meet some of the neighbors.”
Liz nodded. “Maybe I’ll ask Maria to recommend a store.” It would give Liz another excuse to try and get closer to her.
“Good idea.” Max ate a doughnut in three bites then reached for another one. “Don’t forget we aren’t supposed to have much money. Can’t afford any expensive foods.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “I hate to tell you this Evans but I can’t afford any expensive foods. God knows when I last bought the really good caviar.”
He sighed at her sarcasm. “You know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” she agreed coolly. “You’re telling me how to establish my cover again – like I don’t already know. It isn’t necessary.”
“Don’t start this again.”
“I’m not the one who keeps starting it.”
Max scowled and shoved himself away from the table. “I’m taking a shower.”
“Fine”
Liz sat brooding into her coffee after Max left the room. It hadn’t been much of a pleasant morning so far but she had to admit to herself that she had been no more agreeable then Max. Maybe it was because of their assignment and surroundings. Or maybe she was still embarrassed about sharing a bed with Max. But he really had bugged her by throwing out instructions as though she was a rather slow rookie desperately in need of his guidance.
Still they really should limit their fights as much as possible to the ones they staged for the neighbors. Whether they liked it or not they were partners – and partners had to stick together or the results could be disastrous. Even fatal.
Max apparently reached the same conclusion during his shower. His attitude had improved noticeably when he reappeared, his hair wet, the T-shirt he wore clung to damp spots on his back and his legs were now hidden by frayed and faded jeans. “You want me to help you make a shopping list before I go out?” he asked.
Liz shook her head offering a tentative smile. “I’ll just buy what’s on sale.”
He returned her smile. “That’ll work.” He pulled a hundred dollar bill from out of his wallet and tossed it on the table. “That should get enough for us to get by for a few days. It’s all we can risk spending at once, I think.”
Liz nodded. “I need more cleaning products as well I pretty much used them all yesterday.”
Max started to say something then stopped. “I was gonna tell you to be careful on those streets alone – but I don’t suppose you need me to remind you.”
Her smile widened a bit. “No. But thanks anyway.”
“Yeah.” He pushed his fingertips into the back pockets of his jeans looking a bit uncomfortable. “I’ll more then likely be back later on this afternoon.”
Liz wondered why she was suddenly reluctant for him to go. But she decided it was probably only because she would be bored out of her mind all day long. She’d just have to find something to do to keep her occupied.
Liz followed him into the living room, staying back out of view from the hallway when Max reached for the doorknob. “Bye.” She said.
“That’s all the money I got!” he roared in answer, standing very close to the thin door. “You’ll just have to make it enough.”
Liz didn’t blink at the change in pace. “But we’re out of everything,” she whined. “We don’t even have milk. The baby needs milk,” she added, patting her flat stomach.
Max tore open the door, though he held it at an angle that hid her from view. “Look, get off by back okay? I said that’s all I got. And I don’t wanna hear anything else about that damned kid today! You hear me?”
“But Max–“
“The hell with it, I’m going to try to find a way to make some money. You do whatever the hell you want.”
The door slammed behind him as he left.
Liz smiled to herself, hoping the performance hadn’t gone unappreciated. It was pretty good actually.
Her and Max might actually pull this thing off.
TBC…………
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Liz had great difficulty getting her into the harness that morning. Probably because she was so reluctant to put it back on, she decided, remembering how quickly she’d done it yesterday when she’d needed to.
This was definitely the most awkward costume she’d ever had to wear. The harness was heavy and uncomfortable. It’s weight made her back and shoulders ache – even her legs hurt after wearing if for while. She had to wear a thin sleeveless T-shirt under it to absorb perspiration and prevent chafing; if only this could have been a winter assignment, she thought with a sigh, fanning her face with her hand as she looked into the spotty mirror.
Even if she were pregnant-God forbid-she would never have chosen the selection of maternity clothing she’d been given by the department. Most of them looked used, the clothes were cheap, flowered and decorated with so my frills and bows that Liz wanted to puke every time she put one on. She hated frills! What made maternity-clothing designers think pregnant women with low incomes wanted to dress like the babies they were carrying?
Tugging irritably at the pink and white flowered top she wore over pink polyester stretch pants, she turned away from the mirror in disgust and looked for her shoes; then spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to put them on with the bulky harness coming between her and her feet. How did pregnant women do these things? And why the hell would anyone choose to get into this position in the first place? And more then once, usually? She shook her head in bewilderment and twisted into an impossible position to tie her sneaker.
Tucking her handbag under her arm, she stood for a moment at the front door and took a deep breath, willing herself into the role she would be playing for the next few hours.
The hallway outside the apartment was dimly lit and poorly maintained. The once cream paint was dungy and cracked, graffiti scattered in several places. The light fixtures were rusted; several didn’t even work. The flooring was black and dirty white linoleum about the same age as the floor in her bedroom.
There was a window at each end of the long hallway. The glass looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. The whole place reeked of cooking odors, among which onion and boiled cabbage seemed prominent at the moment.
Liz thought sympathetically of the people who had to live here without having comfort in knowing that their occupancy would only be temporary. She’d been in worse accommodations before; seen some places so filthy and disgusting that it was hard to believe that human beings could live that way. It was always children that got to her the most. Someone had to look out for them when their parents failed to do the job-Liz had long ago appointed herself that task.
Liz patted her false tummy thinking of Maria DeLuca’s baby. If Liz could help it, that helpless baby would not be placed in the hands of people who cared more about money than human life.
She tapped lightly on Maria’s door to her apartment.
“Who is it?” Maria’s voice demanded from within.
“It’s Liz Powers,” Liz relayed tying to sound intimidated. “Your new neighbor.”
The door opened.
Maria DeLuca was not a woman to wear frills, even in pregnancy. Her bulging body was shoved into a tight green top and tighter black slacks; her swollen feet were put painfully into high-heeled black shoes. From appearance alone, Liz would have judged her to be in her late thirties, but some instinct made her take ten years off that figure. Maria was probably only three or four years older then Liz.
“Whaddaya need?” Maria asked, cocking one hip at an angle that looked absolutely painful, considering her condition.
Liz twisted her fingers in front of her and tried to look shy. “I uh have to buy some groceries this morning,” she explained. “I thought maybe you could tell me where you get yours? The place with the lowest prices,” she added.
Maria shrugged. “There’s one a couple of blocks away called Cochran’s that’s probably the cheapest.”
Liz nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
“They take food stamps.”
“Oh, we don’t have any food stamps.”
Maria looked surprised. “No? How come? You old man’s out of work, isn’t he?”
Liz looked anxious. “Yes, but he’s very proud. He won’t take assistance.”
Maria looked down at Liz’s stomach. “Not even for the kid?”
With a heavy sigh, Liz shook her head. “He’s - um well he hasn’t exactly gotten used to the idea of a baby yet,” she said. “He isn’t really very happy about it. He says if it weren’t for the baby, we wouldn’t be in the shape we ‘re in now. I’m sure he’ll change his mind once the baby gets here,” she added hastily, hopefully. “Max’s really a good man. He just worries a lot.”
“Typical of a man ain’t it,” Maria muttered in disgust. “Gets you knocked up, then blames you for it. If it was up to me, the whole lot of ‘em could just up and die.”
Liz giggles nervously. “I’m sure you don’t really mean that.”
“Don’t bet on it kid. You want a cup of coffee? Got some water boiling for instant.”
Liz allowed her face to brighten. “That would be nice,’ she said, faking delight that someone-anyone-was being nice to her, as though it were an unusual experience.
“Come on in then.” Maria deliberately kept any expression from her face, but Liz sensed she was a bit lonely herself.
Maria’s apartment was laid out exactly the same as the one Liz and Max shared. A small living room, tiny kitchen, one bedroom and a bath. Like theirs, her was furnished with cheap mismatched pieces. There were no pictures on the walls, no knickknacks on display. Apart from a slight clutter of discarded shoes and papers and a couple of empty soda cans, the apartment could almost have looked unoccupied.
Leading the way to the kitchen Maria glanced around as though aware of the impression. “I haven’t done any decorating,” she said by way of explanation. “I don’t plan to stay here long. Just till after the baby’s born.”
“When is you baby due?”
“About five more weeks.” She pressed a hand to the small of her back as she reached for coffee mugs. “None too soon, as far as I’m concerned. I ain’t never been this sore and achy in my life. But I guess you know that.”
“Uh-yeah. It’s not exactly a comfortable condition is it?” Liz maneuvered herself carefully into one of the chairs at the table that was identical to the one in her apartment.
Maria made a face at the understatement. “No,” she said wryly. “Not exactly.”
She slid a steaming mug in front of Liz then took the other seat with her own. “Oh,” she said as an after thought. “You want sugar or something? I’m out of milk, but I may have some powdered creamer.”
Liz shook her head. “This is fine,” she replied, after sipping the too-strong instant coffee. She had long since grown accustomed to lousy coffee.
“So when’s your kid due?”
“Not long after yours,” Liz answered vaguely.
“You doing that Lamaze stuff? Not me, I told ‘em I want all the drugs they can legally give me.”
Liz laughed and shook her head. “No way, I’ll take full advantage of whatever benefits modern medicine can provide.” And she would, too, if the time every came when she had to make that decision, she told herself with a hidden smile.
“Think ol’ Max will go into the delivery room with you?”
Remembering her tale, Liz nodded fervently. “Oh, I’m sure he will. He says he won’t now, but I think he’ll change his mind when the time comes.”
Maria sighed deeply and shook her head. Liz noted with amazement that Maria’s long hair didn’t even sway with the movement. Must be industrial strength hairspray, she decided wondering if it would hold up in a windstorm. She almost missed Maria’s words: “You really think that guy’s going to come around just like that?”
Liz twisted the coffee mug in her hands. “He’ll come around,” she insisted. “Max will be a good father.”
Maria shook her head again, and this time there was pity on her face. “Whatever you say kid.”
“Um-what about your baby’s father, Maria? Is he helping now?”
Maria shrugged. “Hell, I don’t even know who the father is.” She eyed Liz through her long, heavily blackened lashed. “Does that shock ya?”
“No of course not,” Liz said hastily, making sure she looked shocked.
Maria laughed without humor. “Yeah right. Man, where did you come from? A potato farm?”
“Soybeans,” Liz answered wide-eyed. “My father was a soybean farmer. How did you know?”
Maria laughed again, with real amusement this time. Her broad smile erased a good five years from her face. “You really are a piece of work. Hey, you want me to go with you to the store? I can show you around, if you like. And I could buy a few things, myself.”
“That would be great,” Liz said in delight. “Thank you.”
Maria gave her a stick-with-me-kid-I’ll-take-care-of-ya look. “You bet.”
It was just after six when Max returned to the apartment. He wiped dust and sweat off his face with the back of his hand, leaving a trail of mud across his cheek. His T-shirt clung wetly to his well-defined chest and his jeans were streaked with dirt. The grubby entranceway of the apartment building provided little welcome as he wearily entered, but he found himself looking forward to seeing Liz. Just to find out if she’d learned anything during the day, he assured himself hastily.
He shoved his key into the door of the apartment on the left and let himself in, immediately looking around for his partner. He found her in the kitchen, mixing something in a pan on the stove.
“I hope your hungry,” she said, turning to greet him. “I was starving, so I thought we’d eat early. I-oh,” she said, seeing him clearly for the first time. “You’re filthy. What have you been up to?”
Max couldn’t help grinning at Liz’ appearance-the pink and white flowered top and pink pants, the huge bulge of the harness she was still wearing, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her face flushed and damp from the heat of the stove. “I’ve been working.”
“Working where?”
“Construction crew. A guy walled off the job at lunchtime and the foreman hired me on the spot. I was kinda hoping it would take a few days to find something,” he added wearily. “Its too hot for that kind of work.”
“Poor baby,” she said mockingly. “So, did you talk to any of the guys?”
He shook his head. “Exchanged names with a few but that was all I had time for today. They kept me busy. I’ll start talking to some of them tomorrow. I have to report by eight.”
She looked at his sweat-drenched clothing trying not to look at the way his T-shirt clung to his chest. “You’d better keep plenty of water at hand while you’re working. You’ll dehydrate quickly in this heat.”
“The foreman’s real insistent on everyone drinking lots of water. He provides it, ice cold. I’ll need to pack lunch tomorrow thought. I never got a chance to eat today.”
“Then you must be hungry. Go take a quick shower and I’ll get this on the table.”
“Sounds good. Thanks Parker,” he said sincerely.
The smile she gave him was surprisingly friendly. “Sure.”
Hot water was in short supply in the building, but Max didn’t miss it when he stepped beneath the cool shower. He turned his face gratefully into the spray.
It had been pretty nice coming home to dinner and a smile, he decided, as he reached for the soap. He studied the pink bar for a moment, sniffed it and made a face at the floral scent, then shrugged and began to work up a lather.
It had been almost a year since he’d shared living quarters with a woman. He and Pam had lived together for four whole months after dating for almost a year-a record relationship for him. She had assured him that she would be perfectly happy just to be with him when he wasn’t working, that she could accept his long hours and frequently absent nights. Eight weeks later, she started complaining.
When she started hinting that she had marriage in mind-and a change of carrier planned for him-he’d realized that he couldn’t offer her what she needed from him. When she’d reached the same conclusion she moved out. Last he heard she was contently engaged to an accountant.
The breakup had left him rather bitter. Not that he’d been deeply in love with Pam; he knew from the start that his feelings for her hadn’t been that strong, though he’d been fond of her. It was just that he’d grown up watching the close, loving relationship between his parents and he’d always envisioned something similar for himself. He didn’t want to come home to an empty apartment every evening for the rest of his life-but when it had come down to it, he’d found himself unable to commit to the one women who’d made it clear that she wanted marriage and children with him.
Max was beginning to believe that there was something lacking in him. Maybe he hadn’t gotten a complete set of happiness genes, or whatever the hell it was that made others content in their life. Max wasn’t content. Not in his job, his surroundings, his future-his life. And he didn’t know what in hell to do about it.
He shook his dripping head in disgust as he stepped out of the shower. Liz was waiting in the kitchen with a fresh-cooked meal and the details of her first day on assignment. He had too much to do to waste time moping over his disappointments. He could do that another day.
TBC………..
Liz had great difficulty getting her into the harness that morning. Probably because she was so reluctant to put it back on, she decided, remembering how quickly she’d done it yesterday when she’d needed to.
This was definitely the most awkward costume she’d ever had to wear. The harness was heavy and uncomfortable. It’s weight made her back and shoulders ache – even her legs hurt after wearing if for while. She had to wear a thin sleeveless T-shirt under it to absorb perspiration and prevent chafing; if only this could have been a winter assignment, she thought with a sigh, fanning her face with her hand as she looked into the spotty mirror.
Even if she were pregnant-God forbid-she would never have chosen the selection of maternity clothing she’d been given by the department. Most of them looked used, the clothes were cheap, flowered and decorated with so my frills and bows that Liz wanted to puke every time she put one on. She hated frills! What made maternity-clothing designers think pregnant women with low incomes wanted to dress like the babies they were carrying?
Tugging irritably at the pink and white flowered top she wore over pink polyester stretch pants, she turned away from the mirror in disgust and looked for her shoes; then spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to put them on with the bulky harness coming between her and her feet. How did pregnant women do these things? And why the hell would anyone choose to get into this position in the first place? And more then once, usually? She shook her head in bewilderment and twisted into an impossible position to tie her sneaker.
Tucking her handbag under her arm, she stood for a moment at the front door and took a deep breath, willing herself into the role she would be playing for the next few hours.
The hallway outside the apartment was dimly lit and poorly maintained. The once cream paint was dungy and cracked, graffiti scattered in several places. The light fixtures were rusted; several didn’t even work. The flooring was black and dirty white linoleum about the same age as the floor in her bedroom.
There was a window at each end of the long hallway. The glass looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years. The whole place reeked of cooking odors, among which onion and boiled cabbage seemed prominent at the moment.
Liz thought sympathetically of the people who had to live here without having comfort in knowing that their occupancy would only be temporary. She’d been in worse accommodations before; seen some places so filthy and disgusting that it was hard to believe that human beings could live that way. It was always children that got to her the most. Someone had to look out for them when their parents failed to do the job-Liz had long ago appointed herself that task.
Liz patted her false tummy thinking of Maria DeLuca’s baby. If Liz could help it, that helpless baby would not be placed in the hands of people who cared more about money than human life.
She tapped lightly on Maria’s door to her apartment.
“Who is it?” Maria’s voice demanded from within.
“It’s Liz Powers,” Liz relayed tying to sound intimidated. “Your new neighbor.”
The door opened.
Maria DeLuca was not a woman to wear frills, even in pregnancy. Her bulging body was shoved into a tight green top and tighter black slacks; her swollen feet were put painfully into high-heeled black shoes. From appearance alone, Liz would have judged her to be in her late thirties, but some instinct made her take ten years off that figure. Maria was probably only three or four years older then Liz.
“Whaddaya need?” Maria asked, cocking one hip at an angle that looked absolutely painful, considering her condition.
Liz twisted her fingers in front of her and tried to look shy. “I uh have to buy some groceries this morning,” she explained. “I thought maybe you could tell me where you get yours? The place with the lowest prices,” she added.
Maria shrugged. “There’s one a couple of blocks away called Cochran’s that’s probably the cheapest.”
Liz nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
“They take food stamps.”
“Oh, we don’t have any food stamps.”
Maria looked surprised. “No? How come? You old man’s out of work, isn’t he?”
Liz looked anxious. “Yes, but he’s very proud. He won’t take assistance.”
Maria looked down at Liz’s stomach. “Not even for the kid?”
With a heavy sigh, Liz shook her head. “He’s - um well he hasn’t exactly gotten used to the idea of a baby yet,” she said. “He isn’t really very happy about it. He says if it weren’t for the baby, we wouldn’t be in the shape we ‘re in now. I’m sure he’ll change his mind once the baby gets here,” she added hastily, hopefully. “Max’s really a good man. He just worries a lot.”
“Typical of a man ain’t it,” Maria muttered in disgust. “Gets you knocked up, then blames you for it. If it was up to me, the whole lot of ‘em could just up and die.”
Liz giggles nervously. “I’m sure you don’t really mean that.”
“Don’t bet on it kid. You want a cup of coffee? Got some water boiling for instant.”
Liz allowed her face to brighten. “That would be nice,’ she said, faking delight that someone-anyone-was being nice to her, as though it were an unusual experience.
“Come on in then.” Maria deliberately kept any expression from her face, but Liz sensed she was a bit lonely herself.
Maria’s apartment was laid out exactly the same as the one Liz and Max shared. A small living room, tiny kitchen, one bedroom and a bath. Like theirs, her was furnished with cheap mismatched pieces. There were no pictures on the walls, no knickknacks on display. Apart from a slight clutter of discarded shoes and papers and a couple of empty soda cans, the apartment could almost have looked unoccupied.
Leading the way to the kitchen Maria glanced around as though aware of the impression. “I haven’t done any decorating,” she said by way of explanation. “I don’t plan to stay here long. Just till after the baby’s born.”
“When is you baby due?”
“About five more weeks.” She pressed a hand to the small of her back as she reached for coffee mugs. “None too soon, as far as I’m concerned. I ain’t never been this sore and achy in my life. But I guess you know that.”
“Uh-yeah. It’s not exactly a comfortable condition is it?” Liz maneuvered herself carefully into one of the chairs at the table that was identical to the one in her apartment.
Maria made a face at the understatement. “No,” she said wryly. “Not exactly.”
She slid a steaming mug in front of Liz then took the other seat with her own. “Oh,” she said as an after thought. “You want sugar or something? I’m out of milk, but I may have some powdered creamer.”
Liz shook her head. “This is fine,” she replied, after sipping the too-strong instant coffee. She had long since grown accustomed to lousy coffee.
“So when’s your kid due?”
“Not long after yours,” Liz answered vaguely.
“You doing that Lamaze stuff? Not me, I told ‘em I want all the drugs they can legally give me.”
Liz laughed and shook her head. “No way, I’ll take full advantage of whatever benefits modern medicine can provide.” And she would, too, if the time every came when she had to make that decision, she told herself with a hidden smile.
“Think ol’ Max will go into the delivery room with you?”
Remembering her tale, Liz nodded fervently. “Oh, I’m sure he will. He says he won’t now, but I think he’ll change his mind when the time comes.”
Maria sighed deeply and shook her head. Liz noted with amazement that Maria’s long hair didn’t even sway with the movement. Must be industrial strength hairspray, she decided wondering if it would hold up in a windstorm. She almost missed Maria’s words: “You really think that guy’s going to come around just like that?”
Liz twisted the coffee mug in her hands. “He’ll come around,” she insisted. “Max will be a good father.”
Maria shook her head again, and this time there was pity on her face. “Whatever you say kid.”
“Um-what about your baby’s father, Maria? Is he helping now?”
Maria shrugged. “Hell, I don’t even know who the father is.” She eyed Liz through her long, heavily blackened lashed. “Does that shock ya?”
“No of course not,” Liz said hastily, making sure she looked shocked.
Maria laughed without humor. “Yeah right. Man, where did you come from? A potato farm?”
“Soybeans,” Liz answered wide-eyed. “My father was a soybean farmer. How did you know?”
Maria laughed again, with real amusement this time. Her broad smile erased a good five years from her face. “You really are a piece of work. Hey, you want me to go with you to the store? I can show you around, if you like. And I could buy a few things, myself.”
“That would be great,” Liz said in delight. “Thank you.”
Maria gave her a stick-with-me-kid-I’ll-take-care-of-ya look. “You bet.”
It was just after six when Max returned to the apartment. He wiped dust and sweat off his face with the back of his hand, leaving a trail of mud across his cheek. His T-shirt clung wetly to his well-defined chest and his jeans were streaked with dirt. The grubby entranceway of the apartment building provided little welcome as he wearily entered, but he found himself looking forward to seeing Liz. Just to find out if she’d learned anything during the day, he assured himself hastily.
He shoved his key into the door of the apartment on the left and let himself in, immediately looking around for his partner. He found her in the kitchen, mixing something in a pan on the stove.
“I hope your hungry,” she said, turning to greet him. “I was starving, so I thought we’d eat early. I-oh,” she said, seeing him clearly for the first time. “You’re filthy. What have you been up to?”
Max couldn’t help grinning at Liz’ appearance-the pink and white flowered top and pink pants, the huge bulge of the harness she was still wearing, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, her face flushed and damp from the heat of the stove. “I’ve been working.”
“Working where?”
“Construction crew. A guy walled off the job at lunchtime and the foreman hired me on the spot. I was kinda hoping it would take a few days to find something,” he added wearily. “Its too hot for that kind of work.”
“Poor baby,” she said mockingly. “So, did you talk to any of the guys?”
He shook his head. “Exchanged names with a few but that was all I had time for today. They kept me busy. I’ll start talking to some of them tomorrow. I have to report by eight.”
She looked at his sweat-drenched clothing trying not to look at the way his T-shirt clung to his chest. “You’d better keep plenty of water at hand while you’re working. You’ll dehydrate quickly in this heat.”
“The foreman’s real insistent on everyone drinking lots of water. He provides it, ice cold. I’ll need to pack lunch tomorrow thought. I never got a chance to eat today.”
“Then you must be hungry. Go take a quick shower and I’ll get this on the table.”
“Sounds good. Thanks Parker,” he said sincerely.
The smile she gave him was surprisingly friendly. “Sure.”
Hot water was in short supply in the building, but Max didn’t miss it when he stepped beneath the cool shower. He turned his face gratefully into the spray.
It had been pretty nice coming home to dinner and a smile, he decided, as he reached for the soap. He studied the pink bar for a moment, sniffed it and made a face at the floral scent, then shrugged and began to work up a lather.
It had been almost a year since he’d shared living quarters with a woman. He and Pam had lived together for four whole months after dating for almost a year-a record relationship for him. She had assured him that she would be perfectly happy just to be with him when he wasn’t working, that she could accept his long hours and frequently absent nights. Eight weeks later, she started complaining.
When she started hinting that she had marriage in mind-and a change of carrier planned for him-he’d realized that he couldn’t offer her what she needed from him. When she’d reached the same conclusion she moved out. Last he heard she was contently engaged to an accountant.
The breakup had left him rather bitter. Not that he’d been deeply in love with Pam; he knew from the start that his feelings for her hadn’t been that strong, though he’d been fond of her. It was just that he’d grown up watching the close, loving relationship between his parents and he’d always envisioned something similar for himself. He didn’t want to come home to an empty apartment every evening for the rest of his life-but when it had come down to it, he’d found himself unable to commit to the one women who’d made it clear that she wanted marriage and children with him.
Max was beginning to believe that there was something lacking in him. Maybe he hadn’t gotten a complete set of happiness genes, or whatever the hell it was that made others content in their life. Max wasn’t content. Not in his job, his surroundings, his future-his life. And he didn’t know what in hell to do about it.
He shook his dripping head in disgust as he stepped out of the shower. Liz was waiting in the kitchen with a fresh-cooked meal and the details of her first day on assignment. He had too much to do to waste time moping over his disappointments. He could do that another day.
TBC………..
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Liz was just setting a dish in the center of the table when Max rejoined her in the kitchen. She slid her hands out of the tattered oven mitts she’d worn and glanced over her shoulder at him. “You like lasagna?”
“I love lasagna,” he assured her.
“Good. I know it’s kind of hot for such a heavy dish, but I got this sudden craving when I was in the store and saw the lasagna noodles. I hope its good-I had to buy the cheapest ingredients, of course. There’s a tossed salad and whole-kernel corn to go with it.”
“Sound’s great. What can I do to help?”
“Everything’s ready. Have a seat. Oh, do you want anything to drink?”
Max grabbed a soda. He was already reaching for the lasagna when he took his seat. “I didn’t know you could cook, Parker.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Evans,” she countered, taking her own seat and reaching for the salad.
He realized that her statement was true. He knew almost nothing about her personal life. If she was involved with anyone, he hadn’t heard anything about it. He hadn’t even known she didn’t have a family until she let it slip yesterday. She’d be abandoned, she’d said. Had she grown up in foster homes? An orphanage?
It didn’t seem quite the time to ask such a personal question. Instead Max settled for teasing. “So, you had a craving for lasagna, huh? Aren’t you taking this pregnancy thing a little too seriously?”
Liz wrinkled her nose at him. “Cute Max.”
Max laughed. A moment later he sighed. “Man, this is good. Parker I take back a third of the ugly things I’ve said about you.”
“Only a third?”
“I’m feeling generous.” He dumped bottled Italian dressing on his salad and stabbed into it with his folk. “So, did you get a chance to talk to our friendly neighborhood hooker today?”
“Maria? Yeah. She made instant coffee for me and even went with me to the store. I think she’s taken me under her wing. She told the grocer to be nice to me or she’d have her big friends pay him a little visit.”
Max grinned. “How’d you manage that?”
“By convincing her that I was a sweet but slightly dim-witted helpless woman living with a self-centered jerk of a guy who treats her like shit.”
“Me right?”
“You,” she happily confirmed.
He sighed. “And she bought your helpless-little-victim routine? She may be softhearted, but she’s not exactly perceptive.”
“Hey, I’m good at what I do Evans. And Maria’s sort of nice,” she added, stirring her folk through the thick sauce on her plate.
“Nice?” Max repeated, remembering the loud-voiced women who’d yelled at him the day before. “Yeah, right.”
“She is,” Liz insisted. “She’s just had a tough time of it. Her mother threw her out when she was just fourteen because the mother’s latest boyfriend was developing a thing for Maria, instead. Like a lot of homeless teenagers, she turned to the street to support herself,”
“And probably a drug habit,” Max added cynically.
“For a time,” Liz said quietly. “She claims she kicked the problem a couple of years ago. She’s been tying to save enough money to move somewhere else and start over, but getting pregnant threw her off schedule.”
“So how come she didn’t have an abortion?”
“For religious reasons. She considers it a sin.”
Max chocked on a bite of lettuce and reached for his soda. “You’re kidding.”
Liz shrugged. “You should know as well as I do not to stereotype people. Some of the most hard-luck cases I’ve met have often turned out to be more complex than I’d expected. Even William Thacker was a devoted Catholic remember?”
Max scowled at the mention of one of the most ruthless killers he’d ever brought to justice. “So he claimed.”
“Kyle and Alex said he had a shrine to the Madonna set up in his house. Candles, statue, rosary, the whole bit. His maid said he spent an average of an hour a day in there.”
Max shook his head. “This is one hell of a crazy job we’re in Liz.”
“Yeah. But don’t you love it?” she asked with a grin.
Max took another sip of his soda to avoid answering. “Sounds like Maria told you a lot about herself today,” He said when he set the can down.
“She’s a real talker.”
“She say anything about her plans for her baby?”
Liz shook her head. “The baby was one thing she wouldn’t talk about, except to say that she didn’t know who the father was. Every time I tried to lead her into a discussion of the babies future, she changed the subject.”
“Sounds like a good indication that she is thinking about selling it.”
“Maybe.” Liz frowned and played with her food some more. “But I don’t know Max. There’s something…”
“What?” he prodded.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess I’ve got a lot to learn about her yet.”
“Yeah well don’t push it. You don’t want to get her suspicious.” Almost as soon as the word’s left his mouth he realized that he’d unconsciously given him advice on doing her job again. He waited for her to yell at him about it, but she let it pass, surprisingly enough. Since he didn’t expect all this goodwill to last, he decided to keep his mouth shut and enjoy it while he could.
Max declared it only fair that he clean up the kitchen since Liz had done the cooking. Liz didn’t argue.
Leaving the kitchen spotless behind him-at least, as much as possible under the circumstances-he rejoined her half and hour later. He found her in the living room; lazed on the couch watching the portable TV he had bought along with them. The picture was pretty fuzzy, since they weren’t connected to cable, but the sound was good.
“I brought you a soda,” Max said handing her a canned drink. “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it back.”
Liz popped it open. “I want it, thanks.”
“Sure. Shove over; I can’t see the TV from the chair.
She made a face, but made room for him on the couch, her movements unusually awkward because of the harness. “I’ve been tempted all afternoon to take this thing off, but I guess I’d better get used to wearing it.”
“Yeah. It has to be uncomfortable,” he said, realizing for the first time how bulky and hot the thing must be. “How are you holding up?”
“My back and legs are killing me,” she admitted, and then smiled faintly. “Maria tells me it’s all part of the condition. You wouldn’t even want to hear the other distasteful things she complained about.”
He laughed. “No, I’m sure I wouldn’t. Anything good on the tube tonight?”
She named a couple of popular shows. “That’s about it without cable.”
He nodded without enthusiasm. “Yeah, okay. Think we ought to have another noisy row tonight?”
She groaned. “I’m too tired to fight tonight. We just had one this morning. Couldn’t we wait until you get home from work tomorrow to start another? You can yell at me for not having food on the table when you get home or something.”
“Yeah that’ll work,” He grinned. “Never thought I’d hear you turn down a chance to call me a few choice names.”
She shot him a look. “I’ll save them up for tomorrow.”
As tired as they both were-Max from his hours of manual labor and Liz from a day of wearing the harness after a restless night-they were both quiet that evening. It had been a rather pleasant few hours, actually, Liz realized as the ten 0’clock news began. Who would have thought she and Max could have gotten along without a real quarrel for an entire evening?
“I don’t know bout you,” Max said after watching the weathercaster predict another day of blistering temperatures and wilting humidity, “but I’m ready to turn in. Tomorrow’s gonna be a killer.”
Liz nodded. “Yeah I’m tired too.”
Max stood and turned off the TV. Liz started to rise, then gave an exclamation of disgust when she lost her balance and fell heavily onto the couch.
Max laughed, but stuck out his hand to hoist her up. “Sorry, you got to admit it’s kind of funny.”
“I don’t have to admit anything of the sort,” she grumbled. “You try wearing this thing for a day and see how graceful you are.”
“I hate to tell you this Parker, but I doubt that our cover would hold up long if I was the one pregnant.”
“Funny Evans really funny.” She pressed her hand to the small of her aching back and groaned.
Liz changed in the bathroom; wearing the same oversized T-shirt she’d worn the night before. She found Max in running shorts again, already sitting on the side of the bed yawning.
It wasn’t as difficult to crawl in beside him-maybe because she’d been preparing herself mentally for it all day.
Max turned off the light. “Hot in here,” he commented, shoving the sheet off his chest.
“Mmmm. I wish the air-conditioner worked.”
Max mumbled in agreement.
Liz stretched out on her side, wincing at the sudden discomfort from a sore spot where the harness had rubbed against her hip. She closed her eyes, hoping a good’s night sleep would help her find the willpower to strap herself back into the thing in the morning.
“Roll over on your stomach. I’ll rub your back for you.”
Max’s word brought her eyes open in a hurry. “Uh-“
“Really,” he insisted. “You’ve got to be sore from hauling all that extra weight around. Maybe I can work out a few of the knots.”
Liz thought Max might be carrying this good-buddy bit just a tad bit too far. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get friendly with Max Evans, for reasons she couldn’t explain at the moment, had she tried. “Thanks, but I know you’re tired too. Get some rest.”
But he was already sitting up beside her on the bed, pushing her shoulder with one hand. “Roll over Parker. You can thank me later.”
She swallowed a groan and allowed him to shove her onto her stomach. A moment later, the groan escaped when his hands went straight to the small of her back, as though he’d somehow known just where to focus his ministrations. “You’re pretty good at this,” she had to concede after several long moments in which the only sounds she’d made had been sighs of pleasure.
“So I’ve been told,” he said smugly.
She frowned as she wondered exactly how many times he’d heard the words-and how many women had said them. Not that it was any of her business, of course, she reminded herself hastily.
His hands settled on her shoulders. She winced at his firm kneading of the knotted muscles he discovered there, but a moment later she felt herself turn to oatmeal beneath his palms. He really was good at this she thought. Wonder if he’s this good at……?
She stiffened. Whoa Parker. Let’s not get carried away here.
“Relax,” Max murmured, pushing his thumbs into the hollows of her shoulders. “You’re getting all tense again.”
You don’t know the half of it, Evans she thought. She cleared her throat and shrugged him off. “That’s enough. I feel a lot better now. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He slid back down into the bed and settled into his pillow with a lot of squirming and shifting. Finally he was still, and Liz let out a faint sigh. This was much better, she thought firmly. Max on his side of the bed, she on hers.
Much safer all around.
TBC………
Liz was just setting a dish in the center of the table when Max rejoined her in the kitchen. She slid her hands out of the tattered oven mitts she’d worn and glanced over her shoulder at him. “You like lasagna?”
“I love lasagna,” he assured her.
“Good. I know it’s kind of hot for such a heavy dish, but I got this sudden craving when I was in the store and saw the lasagna noodles. I hope its good-I had to buy the cheapest ingredients, of course. There’s a tossed salad and whole-kernel corn to go with it.”
“Sound’s great. What can I do to help?”
“Everything’s ready. Have a seat. Oh, do you want anything to drink?”
Max grabbed a soda. He was already reaching for the lasagna when he took his seat. “I didn’t know you could cook, Parker.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Evans,” she countered, taking her own seat and reaching for the salad.
He realized that her statement was true. He knew almost nothing about her personal life. If she was involved with anyone, he hadn’t heard anything about it. He hadn’t even known she didn’t have a family until she let it slip yesterday. She’d be abandoned, she’d said. Had she grown up in foster homes? An orphanage?
It didn’t seem quite the time to ask such a personal question. Instead Max settled for teasing. “So, you had a craving for lasagna, huh? Aren’t you taking this pregnancy thing a little too seriously?”
Liz wrinkled her nose at him. “Cute Max.”
Max laughed. A moment later he sighed. “Man, this is good. Parker I take back a third of the ugly things I’ve said about you.”
“Only a third?”
“I’m feeling generous.” He dumped bottled Italian dressing on his salad and stabbed into it with his folk. “So, did you get a chance to talk to our friendly neighborhood hooker today?”
“Maria? Yeah. She made instant coffee for me and even went with me to the store. I think she’s taken me under her wing. She told the grocer to be nice to me or she’d have her big friends pay him a little visit.”
Max grinned. “How’d you manage that?”
“By convincing her that I was a sweet but slightly dim-witted helpless woman living with a self-centered jerk of a guy who treats her like shit.”
“Me right?”
“You,” she happily confirmed.
He sighed. “And she bought your helpless-little-victim routine? She may be softhearted, but she’s not exactly perceptive.”
“Hey, I’m good at what I do Evans. And Maria’s sort of nice,” she added, stirring her folk through the thick sauce on her plate.
“Nice?” Max repeated, remembering the loud-voiced women who’d yelled at him the day before. “Yeah, right.”
“She is,” Liz insisted. “She’s just had a tough time of it. Her mother threw her out when she was just fourteen because the mother’s latest boyfriend was developing a thing for Maria, instead. Like a lot of homeless teenagers, she turned to the street to support herself,”
“And probably a drug habit,” Max added cynically.
“For a time,” Liz said quietly. “She claims she kicked the problem a couple of years ago. She’s been tying to save enough money to move somewhere else and start over, but getting pregnant threw her off schedule.”
“So how come she didn’t have an abortion?”
“For religious reasons. She considers it a sin.”
Max chocked on a bite of lettuce and reached for his soda. “You’re kidding.”
Liz shrugged. “You should know as well as I do not to stereotype people. Some of the most hard-luck cases I’ve met have often turned out to be more complex than I’d expected. Even William Thacker was a devoted Catholic remember?”
Max scowled at the mention of one of the most ruthless killers he’d ever brought to justice. “So he claimed.”
“Kyle and Alex said he had a shrine to the Madonna set up in his house. Candles, statue, rosary, the whole bit. His maid said he spent an average of an hour a day in there.”
Max shook his head. “This is one hell of a crazy job we’re in Liz.”
“Yeah. But don’t you love it?” she asked with a grin.
Max took another sip of his soda to avoid answering. “Sounds like Maria told you a lot about herself today,” He said when he set the can down.
“She’s a real talker.”
“She say anything about her plans for her baby?”
Liz shook her head. “The baby was one thing she wouldn’t talk about, except to say that she didn’t know who the father was. Every time I tried to lead her into a discussion of the babies future, she changed the subject.”
“Sounds like a good indication that she is thinking about selling it.”
“Maybe.” Liz frowned and played with her food some more. “But I don’t know Max. There’s something…”
“What?” he prodded.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I guess I’ve got a lot to learn about her yet.”
“Yeah well don’t push it. You don’t want to get her suspicious.” Almost as soon as the word’s left his mouth he realized that he’d unconsciously given him advice on doing her job again. He waited for her to yell at him about it, but she let it pass, surprisingly enough. Since he didn’t expect all this goodwill to last, he decided to keep his mouth shut and enjoy it while he could.
Max declared it only fair that he clean up the kitchen since Liz had done the cooking. Liz didn’t argue.
Leaving the kitchen spotless behind him-at least, as much as possible under the circumstances-he rejoined her half and hour later. He found her in the living room; lazed on the couch watching the portable TV he had bought along with them. The picture was pretty fuzzy, since they weren’t connected to cable, but the sound was good.
“I brought you a soda,” Max said handing her a canned drink. “If you don’t want it, I’ll take it back.”
Liz popped it open. “I want it, thanks.”
“Sure. Shove over; I can’t see the TV from the chair.
She made a face, but made room for him on the couch, her movements unusually awkward because of the harness. “I’ve been tempted all afternoon to take this thing off, but I guess I’d better get used to wearing it.”
“Yeah. It has to be uncomfortable,” he said, realizing for the first time how bulky and hot the thing must be. “How are you holding up?”
“My back and legs are killing me,” she admitted, and then smiled faintly. “Maria tells me it’s all part of the condition. You wouldn’t even want to hear the other distasteful things she complained about.”
He laughed. “No, I’m sure I wouldn’t. Anything good on the tube tonight?”
She named a couple of popular shows. “That’s about it without cable.”
He nodded without enthusiasm. “Yeah, okay. Think we ought to have another noisy row tonight?”
She groaned. “I’m too tired to fight tonight. We just had one this morning. Couldn’t we wait until you get home from work tomorrow to start another? You can yell at me for not having food on the table when you get home or something.”
“Yeah that’ll work,” He grinned. “Never thought I’d hear you turn down a chance to call me a few choice names.”
She shot him a look. “I’ll save them up for tomorrow.”
As tired as they both were-Max from his hours of manual labor and Liz from a day of wearing the harness after a restless night-they were both quiet that evening. It had been a rather pleasant few hours, actually, Liz realized as the ten 0’clock news began. Who would have thought she and Max could have gotten along without a real quarrel for an entire evening?
“I don’t know bout you,” Max said after watching the weathercaster predict another day of blistering temperatures and wilting humidity, “but I’m ready to turn in. Tomorrow’s gonna be a killer.”
Liz nodded. “Yeah I’m tired too.”
Max stood and turned off the TV. Liz started to rise, then gave an exclamation of disgust when she lost her balance and fell heavily onto the couch.
Max laughed, but stuck out his hand to hoist her up. “Sorry, you got to admit it’s kind of funny.”
“I don’t have to admit anything of the sort,” she grumbled. “You try wearing this thing for a day and see how graceful you are.”
“I hate to tell you this Parker, but I doubt that our cover would hold up long if I was the one pregnant.”
“Funny Evans really funny.” She pressed her hand to the small of her aching back and groaned.
Liz changed in the bathroom; wearing the same oversized T-shirt she’d worn the night before. She found Max in running shorts again, already sitting on the side of the bed yawning.
It wasn’t as difficult to crawl in beside him-maybe because she’d been preparing herself mentally for it all day.
Max turned off the light. “Hot in here,” he commented, shoving the sheet off his chest.
“Mmmm. I wish the air-conditioner worked.”
Max mumbled in agreement.
Liz stretched out on her side, wincing at the sudden discomfort from a sore spot where the harness had rubbed against her hip. She closed her eyes, hoping a good’s night sleep would help her find the willpower to strap herself back into the thing in the morning.
“Roll over on your stomach. I’ll rub your back for you.”
Max’s word brought her eyes open in a hurry. “Uh-“
“Really,” he insisted. “You’ve got to be sore from hauling all that extra weight around. Maybe I can work out a few of the knots.”
Liz thought Max might be carrying this good-buddy bit just a tad bit too far. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get friendly with Max Evans, for reasons she couldn’t explain at the moment, had she tried. “Thanks, but I know you’re tired too. Get some rest.”
But he was already sitting up beside her on the bed, pushing her shoulder with one hand. “Roll over Parker. You can thank me later.”
She swallowed a groan and allowed him to shove her onto her stomach. A moment later, the groan escaped when his hands went straight to the small of her back, as though he’d somehow known just where to focus his ministrations. “You’re pretty good at this,” she had to concede after several long moments in which the only sounds she’d made had been sighs of pleasure.
“So I’ve been told,” he said smugly.
She frowned as she wondered exactly how many times he’d heard the words-and how many women had said them. Not that it was any of her business, of course, she reminded herself hastily.
His hands settled on her shoulders. She winced at his firm kneading of the knotted muscles he discovered there, but a moment later she felt herself turn to oatmeal beneath his palms. He really was good at this she thought. Wonder if he’s this good at……?
She stiffened. Whoa Parker. Let’s not get carried away here.
“Relax,” Max murmured, pushing his thumbs into the hollows of her shoulders. “You’re getting all tense again.”
You don’t know the half of it, Evans she thought. She cleared her throat and shrugged him off. “That’s enough. I feel a lot better now. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He slid back down into the bed and settled into his pillow with a lot of squirming and shifting. Finally he was still, and Liz let out a faint sigh. This was much better, she thought firmly. Max on his side of the bed, she on hers.
Much safer all around.
TBC………
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Usually an early riser, Liz didn’t wake the next morning until Max touched her shoulder. She blinked, then squinted up at him, trying to adjust to the light in the room that had been pitch-dark when she’d closed her eyes. Max was already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and he carried a black metal lunch box, looking for all the world like a typical construction worker heading off to the job.
“Sorry to wake you,” he said. “But I thought you might want me to let you know I’m leaving.”
“Yeah, thanks. I can’t believe I slept so late.”
“It’s only seven-thirty. Go back to sleep, if you like. I wanted to let you know just in case you hear a strange noise in the other room,” he added with a smile.
“Oh thanks so much. I’ll sleep just fine now,” she grumbled, though they both knew she was teasing. Liz had long since stopped losing sleep over strange noises in the night. She’d never sleep at all if she lay awake worrying about that sort of thing.
He ruffled her hair, which was already tousled from the pillow. “See you this afternoon. Don’t forget we have a fight scheduled.”
“Mmm. I’m looking forward to it,” she said while yawning.
Max chuckled and took a step backward, then cursed beneath his breath when he nearly fell over Liz’s harness, which was lying close at hand on the floor.
“Hey watch it!” Liz said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “You’ll hurt poor Junior.”
He grinned, scooped the harness off the floor and tossed it into her lap. “What kind of mother are you anyway? Leaving your poor unborn child lying on the floor where just anyone could step on it.”
Liz returned the grin, and waved him towards the door. “Get out of here already would ya? You’ll be late for work.”
His eyes lit up. “Yeah. Then maybe they’d fire me.”
“Forget it Evans. You’ve got to snoop around with the guys there, remember? Baby-selling rumours right?”
He gave a deep sigh. “Oh yeah. Right. Have a nice day, Parker. I want this apartment spotless when I get home, and my dinner waiting on the table.”
Her response to him was delivered in a sweet, friendly voice. It was also anatomically impossible, he assured her as he left for his undercover job.
Liz realized she was still smiling as she padded into the bathroom after Max left. She looked at her reflection in the spotty mirror with some surprise, noting that she look rumpled but oddly pleased with herself, for some reason. Strange. She had almost enjoyed living with Max Evans the past couple of days.
The heat must be getting to her.
Max was trying to get enthusiastic about the ham sandwich and apple he’d brought for lunch when he was approached for the first time by anyone wearing what might have been a reasonably friendly expression. He’d soon found out that high temperatures and closely supervised, physically demanding work didn’t make for a pleasant work environment. His co-workers were too hot and too busy to spend much time-sharing pleasantries. So he was a bit surprised when a young guy in his early twenties approached him at lunchtime with a cold canned soda.
“The boss provides drinks for lunch, he explained. “I’m not sure if anyone told you.”
“Thanks,” Max said, gratefully taking the soda and resisting the temptation to rub the icy aluminum can against his burning face. “I can sure use this.”
“Yeah, can’t we all.” The other man sat on the ground not far from Max and opened his own lunch box, looking inside without much enthusiasm. “Wallace tries to convince us he keeps the drinks iced down out of concern for our well being, but everyone knows he’s just tying to keep us from bringing beer in our own coolers. He’s a real fanatic about beer on the job.”
“Safer that way,” Max agreed.
The younger man shrugged. “A beer or two don’t make much difference, especially in this heat. But I need the job, so I try not to screw up.”
“I know what you mean. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t need the money,” Max said grimly.
“Ain’t it the truth.” The younger man swept off his hard hat, revealing sweat-soaked blond hair. “I’m Doug Patterson.”
“Max Powers.”
Doug nodded and stuffed half a sandwich into his mouth. The he grimaced. “Nothing worse than warm bologna and mayonnaise,” he grumbled around a mouthful of bread and meat. “I keep telling the wife to stick to mustard, but she forgets. Or so she claims. Sometimes I think she’s doing it on purpose. Every time she’s pissed off at me about something-bologna and mayonnaise.”
“Max chuckled “Women.”
“You got a wife, Max?”
“Sort of.” Max took a bit of his ham sandwich and decided warm mustard wasn’t much more appealing than the mayonnaise, though it was probably safer.
“Sort of?”
Max shrugged. “Got a woman. We’ve been living together for a while. She sure as hell acts like a wife.”
Doug grinned. “It must be genetics or something. Let ‘em move in and the next thing you know, you’ve got a ring in your nose.”
“Ain’t no ring in this nose,” Max muttered
“Sure Powers. I hear ya.” Still grinning, Doug finished his sandwich and unwrapped a second one.
“Got any kids, Patterson?” Max asked after a moment,
“No. The wife has been hinting about having one, but I think we should have a little more money stashed away first. She’s going to nursing school. Soon as she finishes, she’s going to find a job in a hospital and I’m going to start night classes.”
“Yeah? What in?”
“Electronics. You know the business school that’s always advertising on TV? They keep talking about how much money you can make repairing computers. I’m thinking of giving it a go. At least it’s inside work.”
Max nodded. “Sounds good. Computers are definitely they way to go.”
“You got kids?”
“One on the way.”
“Congratulations.”
Max scowled and shook his head. Drops of sweat flew with the movement. “Condolences would be more appropriate. You stick to your guns. Go to school; get a decent job before you have to support a kid. If not you’ll end up like me, living in a dump with a whining, dissatisfied women, trying to scrape up enough money for medical bills and baby things.”
“Don’t want a kid, huh?” Doug asked sympathetically.
“I’d rather have a life,” Max muttered. “I used to have one. Don’t know what the hell happened to it.”
“Women,” Doug shook his head repeating Max’s earlier statement.
“Yeah.”
“At least you’re hanging around,” Doug offered, as though tying to find something encouraging to say. “That’s more then some guys would do in your shoes. I know heaps of guys that split the minute their misses got knocked up.”
Max sighed, “It’s tempting,” he admitted. “Liz-my women-well, she’s okay. I’d kind of hate to leave her. But this kid.” He stopped and shook his head again, then wiped off the trail of perspiration that trickled down his right cheek. “I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to stick it out.”
If Doug knew anything about baby sellers operating in the area, it certainly wasn’t apparent in his expression. “Hang in there Powers,” he said. “You’ll make it somehow.”
No, Max thought. Dough Patterson wasn’t the type who’ll lead him to his quarry. Patterson was still young and optimistic, still believed everything would work out with time. If his wife suddenly announced that she was pregnant-and she probably would before long-Patterson would simply sigh, mentally saying good bye to his plans at a career and work twice as hard to do what he considered his duty as a man. Poor sap. But Max almost envied Dough his dreams. At least Doug still had them.
“Hey, Powers! Patterson! You guys planning on getting back to work anytime soon? Or are you waiting for a freakin’ invitation?”
Max and Doug exchanged wry glances in response to the bellowed order and closed their lunch boxes. So much for pleasantries.
Liz was standing in the hallway early that evening, chatting to Maria when she spotted Max out of the corner of her eye. She turned to greet him with deliberately breathless enthusiasm. “Max! Hi, sweetheart. You’re home earlier than I expected.”
He looked without smiling from her to Maria. “What are you doing out here?” he asked, directing the question to Liz.
“I went to get your newspaper,” Liz replied showing the paper tucked under her arm. “I ran into Maria on the way back in. She was just telling me about…”
“You got my dinner ready?” Max interrupted, ignoring Maria.
Her bright smile slowly faded. “Well no, not yet. But it wont take me long to fix something,” she assured him hastily, nervously. “I just didn’t think you’d be home until…”
“Get inside.” Max’s words were cold and harsh, his eyes blazing.
Liz privately decided she was glad she knew he was only acting for Maria’s benefit. Max was just a bit too good at this. A meeker women than she might have been genuinely intimidated by the look he gave her.
Maria moved protectively closer. “Hey, lighten up,” she said to Max. “I’m the one who’s kept her out here talking.”
Max pointedly continued to ignore Maria. “Inside, Liz,” he repeated, jerking his chin toward the apartment door.
Liz swallowed audibly and looked at Maria. “Don’t worry, he’ll calm down,” she whispered. “He’s just hot and tired and…”
“Liz! Get in the God damned apartment!” Max roared.
She jerked like a scared cat and ran toward the door. “I’m coming Max. I thought I’d make fried chicken for dinner. You like fried chicken,” she said, the words running together in her apparent eagerness to please him. “And mashed potatoes and gravy. And for dessert we could have…”
The door slammed shut behind them, leaving her and Max alone in their living room, Maria on the outside. Liz knew Maria would be listening, so she wasn’t surprised when Max continued yelling at her as though they still had an audience. She threw herself into her own role, loudly defending herself, bursting into noisy wails of distress. She jumped involuntarily when Max slammed his fist into a wall and ordered her into the kitchen.
She glared at him over her shoulder as she hurried into the other room. He didn’t have to look like he was enjoying this so much, she thought with a touch of resentment.
She heard the shower running as she set the table and reached into the fridge for the cold pasta and chicken salad she had prepared earlier that day. She’d known Max would be hungry and hot and tired, and would probably want something light but filling. With nothing else to do around the place during the day, it hadn’t bothered her to make dinner for him. In fact, she’d spent quite a bit of time on it, telling herself it was the least she could do to uphold her end of the assignment.
She put a basket of rolls and margarine on the table beside the main dish; along with a bowl of tiny green peas she’d cooked earlier, then reheated in the microwave. By the time Max joined her, his hair was wet and he had changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, she was pouring tea over ice in two large plastic cups. “Dinner’s ready,” she said, nodding toward the table. “Have a seat and dig in.”
He looked surprised, then pleased. “Hey, this looks good.”
“I didn’t think you’d want another heavy meal tonight, as hot as it’s been today.”
Max was already filling his plate. “I’m impressed, Parker,” he said after taking an appreciative bite of salad. “It’s amazing what you’ve been able to prepare with a hundred dollars worth of groceries.”
Liz shrugged, tying to hide her pleasure at the compliment. “I’m used to coking on a budget. Until I got my promotion last year, I was working on a patrol cop’s salary. Before that, I worked two minimum waged jobs while I put myself through the academy.”
He grimaced. “No one every promised us we’d get rich being honest cops.”
“No. But I’m getting by okay now.”
“Yeah. Me too, I guess. Of course, it’s easier for us-being single.” He clarified. “The married guys with families to support complain that they’re barely getting by.”
Liz shrugged again. “It’s just a matter of how you budget.”
He nodded and made a major dent in his dinner before speaking again. “Learn anything new today?”
“Nothing of any importance. You?”
Max shook his head. “Nothing. I sure hope Valenti is acting on a reliable tip. I’d hate to think I was going through this for nothing.”
“Does ‘all this’ include living with me?” Liz asked politely.
He grinned across the table. “The dinners got me in such a good mood that living with you seems like a job perk at the moment.”
Liz blinked, the shook her head at him. “Don’t get used to it Evan’s. The novelty will wear off fast.”
“Nothing says I can’t enjoy it while it lasts.”
“True. But you’re cooking all weekend. My generosity only stretches so far.”
“So does your shirt,” Max murmured, eyeing the faded blue knit top that was pulled tightly across her bulging middle. “I can’t get over how realistic that thing looks, even in a tight shirt.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Liz agreed, glancing down at her stomach. “Maria told me today I look about ready to ‘pop’.”
“She’s pretty big herself. When’s her kid due?”
“Four or five weeks. She said she saw the doctor this morning and he told her she looks like she’ll be on time if not early.”
“Did she seem excited?”
Liz shook her head, remembering the oddly stark look in Maria’s eyes when she’s talked about her baby. “No she looked….sad.”
“She’s selling it,” Max sounded convinced.
Liz didn’t know why she was having such a hard time reaching the same conclusion. Maybe it was because she rather liked Maria, despite her distaste for the life-style Maria had chosen.
Max pushed his well-cleaned plate away and leaned back in his chair with an exhale of satisfaction. “That was great, Liz. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Did you get a chance to meet any of the other neighbors today?”
Liz shook her head. “It’s been real quite. Of course, with the other two apartments being empty on this floor, I don’t see anyone unless I go downstairs. I thought I might run into someone when I went to get the paper, but I only saw a couple of little kids playing on the second-floor landing. I saw Ms. McCauley and said hello, but she only grunted and kept walking.”
“Real ray of sunshine, isn’t she?”
Liz giggled. “Yeah. Right.”
“What did Maria tell you about the other tenants? Anything interesting?”
Liz shrugged. “No not really just mostly old people on fixed incomes too scared to leave their apartments. Or single mothers on government, struggling to raise too many children without the help of the fathers. Maria’s very bitter about men right now. It’s obvious that she thinks you’re going to dump me to raise the baby alone.”
Max nodded. “That’s what we want her to think, isn’t it?”
“Yes” Liz finished her meal, then reached for her tea. “Max-you wouldn’t do something like that would you? Walk out on your kid, I mean.”
He frowned. “Hell no, I wouldn’t walk out on my kid, if I had one. Even if I couldn’t live with the mother for some reason, I’d make sure my kid was taken care of. Financially, physically, emotionally. I’ve got no use for those guys who make babies, then disappear.
Pleased with his reply, Liz nodded. “I thought you’d say something like that.”
“What about you?” he challenged, turning the questioning to her. “Can you imagine any circumstance where you’d sell your own child for cash?”
“No,” Liz said without even stopping to think about it. “I might not ever get around to having kids, but you can bet if I ever do, nothing would make me sell my child.”
Max searched her face for a moment then glanced down at her stomach and smiled. “Junior must be really relieved to hear that,” he said lightening the mood with his teasing.
Liz went along willingly with the change of mood. She patted her bulging tummy. “I’m getting, rather fond of junior, actually. He’s very well behaved. A lot less trouble than most people’s kids.”
“That’s what all the proud mammas say,” Max assured her gravely. “Of course, you realize the kid is half mine.”
“Let’s just hope he gets my personality instead of yours,” she murmured, one hand still resting on the padded harness.
“And my looks,” Max retorted, striking a male-model pose.
Liz rolled her eyes. “And your modesty, I suppose?”
“Naturally.”
She shook her head. “Just as well you and I won’t be having kids together, Evans. Poor little brats would probably get the worst of both of us. Of course, you have a lot more flaws to contribute than I do, but…”
“Hey! I resent that.”
“Facts is facts, Evans,” she said sweetly.
“Someday, Parker….”
“Yes?”
“Someday,” he said firmly, “someone’s going to have the last word with you. And I fully intend for it to be me.”
“Not in this lifetime Evans.”
He shook his head and shoved himself away from the table. “I’ll help you clean the kitchen. Then I might just barely be up to a couple of hours of TV before I crash for the night.”
“Real exciting plans,” she muttered tongue in cheek, reaching for her plate. “I was hoping you’d take me dancing tonight.”
He groaned. “If you knew how many tons of building materials I hauled today you wouldn’t even joke about that.”
“You never take me out anymore,” she wailed throwing herself suddenly back into character just to find out what he’d say in return. “I think you’re ashamed of me because I’m so fat and ugly.”
Max tossed a wadded-up paper towel at her, but went along with the charade. “Shut up and get out of my way, would you?” he hollered. “How’s a guy supposed to relax from a hard day’s work with a women always yapping in his face? Yap, yap, yap-you never give it a rest.”
“You don’t Lo-o-o-ve me!” Liz complained, her hands busy washing dishes and stacking them in the drainer beside the sink.
“Oh, for Christ sake!” Max cried in utter disgust. He pulled a canned soda out of the fridge and winked at her over his shoulder. “I’m gonna watch TV. You sit in here a sulk all night if you want. I don’t care.”
“Want some cookies to go with that?” Liz whispered. “Jerk!” she added more loudly.
“Sounds good,” he murmured back, then yelled. “Just shut the hell up, all right?”
He stormed towards the living room; popping the top on his soda can as he went. Liz threw an aluminum pan after him-noisy, but unbreakable. It landed with a clatter on the floor, missing Max by a couple of inches. He gave her a startled look, then shot her a grin before he disappeared.
Smiling, Liz finished wiping the countertop, then retrieved a handful of Oreo cookies from the cupboard before joining Max for another quiet evening of fuzzy TV.
Fighting with Max was actually turning out to be rather fun, she’d discovered to her surprise. Lieutenant Valenti had been right about their being well suited to their roles.
TBC…………….
Usually an early riser, Liz didn’t wake the next morning until Max touched her shoulder. She blinked, then squinted up at him, trying to adjust to the light in the room that had been pitch-dark when she’d closed her eyes. Max was already dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and he carried a black metal lunch box, looking for all the world like a typical construction worker heading off to the job.
“Sorry to wake you,” he said. “But I thought you might want me to let you know I’m leaving.”
“Yeah, thanks. I can’t believe I slept so late.”
“It’s only seven-thirty. Go back to sleep, if you like. I wanted to let you know just in case you hear a strange noise in the other room,” he added with a smile.
“Oh thanks so much. I’ll sleep just fine now,” she grumbled, though they both knew she was teasing. Liz had long since stopped losing sleep over strange noises in the night. She’d never sleep at all if she lay awake worrying about that sort of thing.
He ruffled her hair, which was already tousled from the pillow. “See you this afternoon. Don’t forget we have a fight scheduled.”
“Mmm. I’m looking forward to it,” she said while yawning.
Max chuckled and took a step backward, then cursed beneath his breath when he nearly fell over Liz’s harness, which was lying close at hand on the floor.
“Hey watch it!” Liz said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. “You’ll hurt poor Junior.”
He grinned, scooped the harness off the floor and tossed it into her lap. “What kind of mother are you anyway? Leaving your poor unborn child lying on the floor where just anyone could step on it.”
Liz returned the grin, and waved him towards the door. “Get out of here already would ya? You’ll be late for work.”
His eyes lit up. “Yeah. Then maybe they’d fire me.”
“Forget it Evans. You’ve got to snoop around with the guys there, remember? Baby-selling rumours right?”
He gave a deep sigh. “Oh yeah. Right. Have a nice day, Parker. I want this apartment spotless when I get home, and my dinner waiting on the table.”
Her response to him was delivered in a sweet, friendly voice. It was also anatomically impossible, he assured her as he left for his undercover job.
Liz realized she was still smiling as she padded into the bathroom after Max left. She looked at her reflection in the spotty mirror with some surprise, noting that she look rumpled but oddly pleased with herself, for some reason. Strange. She had almost enjoyed living with Max Evans the past couple of days.
The heat must be getting to her.
Max was trying to get enthusiastic about the ham sandwich and apple he’d brought for lunch when he was approached for the first time by anyone wearing what might have been a reasonably friendly expression. He’d soon found out that high temperatures and closely supervised, physically demanding work didn’t make for a pleasant work environment. His co-workers were too hot and too busy to spend much time-sharing pleasantries. So he was a bit surprised when a young guy in his early twenties approached him at lunchtime with a cold canned soda.
“The boss provides drinks for lunch, he explained. “I’m not sure if anyone told you.”
“Thanks,” Max said, gratefully taking the soda and resisting the temptation to rub the icy aluminum can against his burning face. “I can sure use this.”
“Yeah, can’t we all.” The other man sat on the ground not far from Max and opened his own lunch box, looking inside without much enthusiasm. “Wallace tries to convince us he keeps the drinks iced down out of concern for our well being, but everyone knows he’s just tying to keep us from bringing beer in our own coolers. He’s a real fanatic about beer on the job.”
“Safer that way,” Max agreed.
The younger man shrugged. “A beer or two don’t make much difference, especially in this heat. But I need the job, so I try not to screw up.”
“I know what you mean. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t need the money,” Max said grimly.
“Ain’t it the truth.” The younger man swept off his hard hat, revealing sweat-soaked blond hair. “I’m Doug Patterson.”
“Max Powers.”
Doug nodded and stuffed half a sandwich into his mouth. The he grimaced. “Nothing worse than warm bologna and mayonnaise,” he grumbled around a mouthful of bread and meat. “I keep telling the wife to stick to mustard, but she forgets. Or so she claims. Sometimes I think she’s doing it on purpose. Every time she’s pissed off at me about something-bologna and mayonnaise.”
“Max chuckled “Women.”
“You got a wife, Max?”
“Sort of.” Max took a bit of his ham sandwich and decided warm mustard wasn’t much more appealing than the mayonnaise, though it was probably safer.
“Sort of?”
Max shrugged. “Got a woman. We’ve been living together for a while. She sure as hell acts like a wife.”
Doug grinned. “It must be genetics or something. Let ‘em move in and the next thing you know, you’ve got a ring in your nose.”
“Ain’t no ring in this nose,” Max muttered
“Sure Powers. I hear ya.” Still grinning, Doug finished his sandwich and unwrapped a second one.
“Got any kids, Patterson?” Max asked after a moment,
“No. The wife has been hinting about having one, but I think we should have a little more money stashed away first. She’s going to nursing school. Soon as she finishes, she’s going to find a job in a hospital and I’m going to start night classes.”
“Yeah? What in?”
“Electronics. You know the business school that’s always advertising on TV? They keep talking about how much money you can make repairing computers. I’m thinking of giving it a go. At least it’s inside work.”
Max nodded. “Sounds good. Computers are definitely they way to go.”
“You got kids?”
“One on the way.”
“Congratulations.”
Max scowled and shook his head. Drops of sweat flew with the movement. “Condolences would be more appropriate. You stick to your guns. Go to school; get a decent job before you have to support a kid. If not you’ll end up like me, living in a dump with a whining, dissatisfied women, trying to scrape up enough money for medical bills and baby things.”
“Don’t want a kid, huh?” Doug asked sympathetically.
“I’d rather have a life,” Max muttered. “I used to have one. Don’t know what the hell happened to it.”
“Women,” Doug shook his head repeating Max’s earlier statement.
“Yeah.”
“At least you’re hanging around,” Doug offered, as though tying to find something encouraging to say. “That’s more then some guys would do in your shoes. I know heaps of guys that split the minute their misses got knocked up.”
Max sighed, “It’s tempting,” he admitted. “Liz-my women-well, she’s okay. I’d kind of hate to leave her. But this kid.” He stopped and shook his head again, then wiped off the trail of perspiration that trickled down his right cheek. “I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to stick it out.”
If Doug knew anything about baby sellers operating in the area, it certainly wasn’t apparent in his expression. “Hang in there Powers,” he said. “You’ll make it somehow.”
No, Max thought. Dough Patterson wasn’t the type who’ll lead him to his quarry. Patterson was still young and optimistic, still believed everything would work out with time. If his wife suddenly announced that she was pregnant-and she probably would before long-Patterson would simply sigh, mentally saying good bye to his plans at a career and work twice as hard to do what he considered his duty as a man. Poor sap. But Max almost envied Dough his dreams. At least Doug still had them.
“Hey, Powers! Patterson! You guys planning on getting back to work anytime soon? Or are you waiting for a freakin’ invitation?”
Max and Doug exchanged wry glances in response to the bellowed order and closed their lunch boxes. So much for pleasantries.
Liz was standing in the hallway early that evening, chatting to Maria when she spotted Max out of the corner of her eye. She turned to greet him with deliberately breathless enthusiasm. “Max! Hi, sweetheart. You’re home earlier than I expected.”
He looked without smiling from her to Maria. “What are you doing out here?” he asked, directing the question to Liz.
“I went to get your newspaper,” Liz replied showing the paper tucked under her arm. “I ran into Maria on the way back in. She was just telling me about…”
“You got my dinner ready?” Max interrupted, ignoring Maria.
Her bright smile slowly faded. “Well no, not yet. But it wont take me long to fix something,” she assured him hastily, nervously. “I just didn’t think you’d be home until…”
“Get inside.” Max’s words were cold and harsh, his eyes blazing.
Liz privately decided she was glad she knew he was only acting for Maria’s benefit. Max was just a bit too good at this. A meeker women than she might have been genuinely intimidated by the look he gave her.
Maria moved protectively closer. “Hey, lighten up,” she said to Max. “I’m the one who’s kept her out here talking.”
Max pointedly continued to ignore Maria. “Inside, Liz,” he repeated, jerking his chin toward the apartment door.
Liz swallowed audibly and looked at Maria. “Don’t worry, he’ll calm down,” she whispered. “He’s just hot and tired and…”
“Liz! Get in the God damned apartment!” Max roared.
She jerked like a scared cat and ran toward the door. “I’m coming Max. I thought I’d make fried chicken for dinner. You like fried chicken,” she said, the words running together in her apparent eagerness to please him. “And mashed potatoes and gravy. And for dessert we could have…”
The door slammed shut behind them, leaving her and Max alone in their living room, Maria on the outside. Liz knew Maria would be listening, so she wasn’t surprised when Max continued yelling at her as though they still had an audience. She threw herself into her own role, loudly defending herself, bursting into noisy wails of distress. She jumped involuntarily when Max slammed his fist into a wall and ordered her into the kitchen.
She glared at him over her shoulder as she hurried into the other room. He didn’t have to look like he was enjoying this so much, she thought with a touch of resentment.
She heard the shower running as she set the table and reached into the fridge for the cold pasta and chicken salad she had prepared earlier that day. She’d known Max would be hungry and hot and tired, and would probably want something light but filling. With nothing else to do around the place during the day, it hadn’t bothered her to make dinner for him. In fact, she’d spent quite a bit of time on it, telling herself it was the least she could do to uphold her end of the assignment.
She put a basket of rolls and margarine on the table beside the main dish; along with a bowl of tiny green peas she’d cooked earlier, then reheated in the microwave. By the time Max joined her, his hair was wet and he had changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, she was pouring tea over ice in two large plastic cups. “Dinner’s ready,” she said, nodding toward the table. “Have a seat and dig in.”
He looked surprised, then pleased. “Hey, this looks good.”
“I didn’t think you’d want another heavy meal tonight, as hot as it’s been today.”
Max was already filling his plate. “I’m impressed, Parker,” he said after taking an appreciative bite of salad. “It’s amazing what you’ve been able to prepare with a hundred dollars worth of groceries.”
Liz shrugged, tying to hide her pleasure at the compliment. “I’m used to coking on a budget. Until I got my promotion last year, I was working on a patrol cop’s salary. Before that, I worked two minimum waged jobs while I put myself through the academy.”
He grimaced. “No one every promised us we’d get rich being honest cops.”
“No. But I’m getting by okay now.”
“Yeah. Me too, I guess. Of course, it’s easier for us-being single.” He clarified. “The married guys with families to support complain that they’re barely getting by.”
Liz shrugged again. “It’s just a matter of how you budget.”
He nodded and made a major dent in his dinner before speaking again. “Learn anything new today?”
“Nothing of any importance. You?”
Max shook his head. “Nothing. I sure hope Valenti is acting on a reliable tip. I’d hate to think I was going through this for nothing.”
“Does ‘all this’ include living with me?” Liz asked politely.
He grinned across the table. “The dinners got me in such a good mood that living with you seems like a job perk at the moment.”
Liz blinked, the shook her head at him. “Don’t get used to it Evan’s. The novelty will wear off fast.”
“Nothing says I can’t enjoy it while it lasts.”
“True. But you’re cooking all weekend. My generosity only stretches so far.”
“So does your shirt,” Max murmured, eyeing the faded blue knit top that was pulled tightly across her bulging middle. “I can’t get over how realistic that thing looks, even in a tight shirt.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Liz agreed, glancing down at her stomach. “Maria told me today I look about ready to ‘pop’.”
“She’s pretty big herself. When’s her kid due?”
“Four or five weeks. She said she saw the doctor this morning and he told her she looks like she’ll be on time if not early.”
“Did she seem excited?”
Liz shook her head, remembering the oddly stark look in Maria’s eyes when she’s talked about her baby. “No she looked….sad.”
“She’s selling it,” Max sounded convinced.
Liz didn’t know why she was having such a hard time reaching the same conclusion. Maybe it was because she rather liked Maria, despite her distaste for the life-style Maria had chosen.
Max pushed his well-cleaned plate away and leaned back in his chair with an exhale of satisfaction. “That was great, Liz. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Did you get a chance to meet any of the other neighbors today?”
Liz shook her head. “It’s been real quite. Of course, with the other two apartments being empty on this floor, I don’t see anyone unless I go downstairs. I thought I might run into someone when I went to get the paper, but I only saw a couple of little kids playing on the second-floor landing. I saw Ms. McCauley and said hello, but she only grunted and kept walking.”
“Real ray of sunshine, isn’t she?”
Liz giggled. “Yeah. Right.”
“What did Maria tell you about the other tenants? Anything interesting?”
Liz shrugged. “No not really just mostly old people on fixed incomes too scared to leave their apartments. Or single mothers on government, struggling to raise too many children without the help of the fathers. Maria’s very bitter about men right now. It’s obvious that she thinks you’re going to dump me to raise the baby alone.”
Max nodded. “That’s what we want her to think, isn’t it?”
“Yes” Liz finished her meal, then reached for her tea. “Max-you wouldn’t do something like that would you? Walk out on your kid, I mean.”
He frowned. “Hell no, I wouldn’t walk out on my kid, if I had one. Even if I couldn’t live with the mother for some reason, I’d make sure my kid was taken care of. Financially, physically, emotionally. I’ve got no use for those guys who make babies, then disappear.
Pleased with his reply, Liz nodded. “I thought you’d say something like that.”
“What about you?” he challenged, turning the questioning to her. “Can you imagine any circumstance where you’d sell your own child for cash?”
“No,” Liz said without even stopping to think about it. “I might not ever get around to having kids, but you can bet if I ever do, nothing would make me sell my child.”
Max searched her face for a moment then glanced down at her stomach and smiled. “Junior must be really relieved to hear that,” he said lightening the mood with his teasing.
Liz went along willingly with the change of mood. She patted her bulging tummy. “I’m getting, rather fond of junior, actually. He’s very well behaved. A lot less trouble than most people’s kids.”
“That’s what all the proud mammas say,” Max assured her gravely. “Of course, you realize the kid is half mine.”
“Let’s just hope he gets my personality instead of yours,” she murmured, one hand still resting on the padded harness.
“And my looks,” Max retorted, striking a male-model pose.
Liz rolled her eyes. “And your modesty, I suppose?”
“Naturally.”
She shook her head. “Just as well you and I won’t be having kids together, Evans. Poor little brats would probably get the worst of both of us. Of course, you have a lot more flaws to contribute than I do, but…”
“Hey! I resent that.”
“Facts is facts, Evans,” she said sweetly.
“Someday, Parker….”
“Yes?”
“Someday,” he said firmly, “someone’s going to have the last word with you. And I fully intend for it to be me.”
“Not in this lifetime Evans.”
He shook his head and shoved himself away from the table. “I’ll help you clean the kitchen. Then I might just barely be up to a couple of hours of TV before I crash for the night.”
“Real exciting plans,” she muttered tongue in cheek, reaching for her plate. “I was hoping you’d take me dancing tonight.”
He groaned. “If you knew how many tons of building materials I hauled today you wouldn’t even joke about that.”
“You never take me out anymore,” she wailed throwing herself suddenly back into character just to find out what he’d say in return. “I think you’re ashamed of me because I’m so fat and ugly.”
Max tossed a wadded-up paper towel at her, but went along with the charade. “Shut up and get out of my way, would you?” he hollered. “How’s a guy supposed to relax from a hard day’s work with a women always yapping in his face? Yap, yap, yap-you never give it a rest.”
“You don’t Lo-o-o-ve me!” Liz complained, her hands busy washing dishes and stacking them in the drainer beside the sink.
“Oh, for Christ sake!” Max cried in utter disgust. He pulled a canned soda out of the fridge and winked at her over his shoulder. “I’m gonna watch TV. You sit in here a sulk all night if you want. I don’t care.”
“Want some cookies to go with that?” Liz whispered. “Jerk!” she added more loudly.
“Sounds good,” he murmured back, then yelled. “Just shut the hell up, all right?”
He stormed towards the living room; popping the top on his soda can as he went. Liz threw an aluminum pan after him-noisy, but unbreakable. It landed with a clatter on the floor, missing Max by a couple of inches. He gave her a startled look, then shot her a grin before he disappeared.
Smiling, Liz finished wiping the countertop, then retrieved a handful of Oreo cookies from the cupboard before joining Max for another quiet evening of fuzzy TV.
Fighting with Max was actually turning out to be rather fun, she’d discovered to her surprise. Lieutenant Valenti had been right about their being well suited to their roles.
TBC…………….
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Max was still engrossed in a news program when Liz decided to retire “Junior” for the evening. She stepped into the bedroom and closed the door, then tugged the maternity shirt over her head and tossed it onto the floor, already reaching for the Velcro fastenings that held the harness on. She sighed in relief when the heavy weight fell away. Setting the thing on the floor, she quickly shed her maternity slacks, leaving herself clad only in a white knit tank top and panties. She stretched, shifted her shoulders, then bent double and touched her toes, feeling deliciously slender and unfettered.
The sound of a male throat being cleared behind her brought her upright in a hurry.
Max was standing in the doorway, an appreciative gleam in his brown eyes as he eyed her long, behr legs. Aware of the butt-up position she’d been in when he’d entered without her hearing, she blushed and reached hastily for her nightshirt she’d laid out earlier. “I thought you were still watching TV,” she said, holding the garment in front of her.
“I’m ready to turn in. Sorry, I thought you’d be dressed. You usually change in the bathroom.”
“Yes, well-er-I was just stretching.”
“So I saw.”
His smirk made her itch to smack him. She lifted her chin and headed for the bathroom, well aware that his attention was still focused firmly on her butt. She closed the bathroom door behind her with a sharp click, then splashing her burning cheeks with cool water. She was already dreading having to cross the bedroom floor and crawl into bed with Max Evans-especially after the way he’s just looked at her!
Max lay on his back in the bed, arms crossed behind is head, wondering when Liz was going to come out of the bathroom. Had she been so embarrassed at being caught in an awkward position that she’d locked herself in for the night? He wouldn’t have believed she could be so prudish.
He still remembered exactly how she’s looked when he’d entered the room. Her tanned arms stretched in front of her, her back a graceful curve, her long, behr legs braced to support her. Not to mention that firm round bottom. He’d always known Liz Parker had a great figure. He just hadn’t expected to find it displayed quite so appealingly this evening. And now he was going to have to spend another night in bed with her.
He hoped she’d never guess how difficult it had been for him to sleep the past couple of nights. Especially last night, that back rub he gave her was just plain torture. Hearing her moan like that was turning him on more then even he expected. How aware he’d been of her lying so close to him, her breasts rising and falling with her even breathing, her hair tousled against the pillow. If she ever found out that he sometimes lay on his side, just watching her and marveling at how young and unguarded she looked in her sleep, she’d probably go for his throat.
He had no idea why he was reacting so strongly to her, maybe it was just her body that was turning him on, but he knew deep down inside it was more than that.
The bathroom door finally opened and Liz stepped out, clad now in another voluminous, unrevealing nightshirt, her eyes carefully avoiding his. She switched off the overhead light as she passed it sending the room into darkness.
He was rather amused by how careful she was not to touch him as she slid into the bed. She was only an inch or so away from rolling completely off her side of the bed and landing on the floor right next to ‘junior’.
“I don’t bite,” he couldn’t help telling her, unable to keep the smile out of his voice.
She muttered something incoherent and shifted a quarter of an inch closer.
Directly above them, someone walked heavily across the floor, almost shaking the plastered ceiling about Max’s head. A noisy thud followed, as though that same heavy walker has dropped all his weight onto a bed. A moment later, the bed started to creak, accompanied by a rhythmic thumping sound that might have been a headboard knocking against the wall above them.
Max had just realized what he was hearing when a women began to moan. Loudly. A man groaned, then groaned again with more enthusiasm. The X-rated sounds drifted through the thin walls, clearly audible to the unwilling eavesdroppers lying very still in their own bed below.
Liz murmured a protest and buried her head in her pillow. Max grinned, then chuckled when the women above them began to squeal, her words clearly heard for the first time. “Yes, yes! Oh, God, yes!”
“Sounds like she’s having fun,” Max commented dryly, and shifted to a slightly more comfortable position on the lumpy mattress.
Liz growled. “Go to bed, Evans.”
“Who could sleep with that going on right above our heads?”
“Try.”
The bed above then pounded even more vigorously against the wall. The woman’s cries accelerated.
Max grinned. “Let’s just hope they don’t drop through the ceiling. I don’t want to get quite that actively involved in their personal life.”
“Harder! Faster!” the women shrieked.
Liz pulled her pillow over her head. “I’m going to sleep,” she grumbled, her voice muffled. “Only a pervert would enjoy listening to this.”
The women above them screamed and her lusty lover bellowed. The ensuing silence was startlingly abrupt.
Some ten minutes passed, and Liz cautiously emerged from beneath the pillow. She sighed in relief. “Thank goodness that’s over,” she mumbled, turning her back to Max and squirming a bit to settle back into her usual sleeping position.
Max tried to ignore her movements. He was uncomfortable enough without thinking about Liz’s temptingly curved bottom wriggling around so close beside him.
He was amused by her reaction to their involuntary voyeurism. He hadn’t realized until this assignment that Liz Parker was such a conservative type at heart. He never would have guessed by watching her at work in her skimpy hooker clothes and sexy, touch-me-if-you-dare attitude.
“Hey Parker?” he said after a moment, giving in to an irresistible temptation.
“Yeah?”
“You’ve got one hell of a great body.”
She went very still, then shrugged against the pillows. “Yours isn’t so bad either. It’s what’s inside it that I find so annoying.”
He chuckled. “Still determined to have that last word, aren’t you?”
“Go to sleep Evans. You’ve got a long, hard, hot day tomorrow.” She sounded suspiciously cheerful about the reminder.
“What?” he retorted. “No good night kiss? Or maybe we could try to teach the upstairs neighbors a thing or two about noisy lovemaking.”
He waited expectantly for an obscene response. What he got was a very chilly reply. “I think not,” she said and turned her back more firmly to him. “Good night, Max.”
He smiled up at the now silent ceiling, deciding that her awkward attitude must indicate that she, too, was a bit bothered by their sleeping arrangements. At least she wasn’t completely indifferent to him as a man. Now that would have been tough on his already battered ego!
Liz woke when Max did, on Thursday morning. On impulse she had his breakfast ready and lunch packed by the time he’d showered and dressed. He didn’t question his luck-nor did either of them mention the night before. He returned home dead tired that evening to find dinner on the table again. He thanked her, but was to exhausted to say much of anything else, except to complain that he still hadn’t gotten even a hint of a rumor about baby brokers working the neighborhood.
Liz had to admit that her own investigation wasn’t proceeding any more quickly. She’d managed to talk to another neighbor, a homely woman who lived on the fifth floor with her boyfriend-more likely her pimp, Liz added matter-of-factly, but no interesting new tidbits had surfaced during that conversation. Like everyone else they’d met so far, the women hated the building and the neighborhood, and had plans to move out as soon as her finances allowed.
Liz noted the ugly scars of old needle marks on the women’s skinny arms, and a fading bruise beneath her heavy makeup. She told Max that she doubted their neighbor would live long enough to move up in the world. He looked glum when he’d agreed. He’d turned in soon after dinner though Liz stayed up awhile to watch TV.
Max was sleeping heavily when she joined him in the bed. He didn’t even stir. Liz thought in sympathy that the construction job must really be a killer for someone not used to such physical labor, particularly in the heat they’d been experiencing. She hoped for Max’s sake-and her own, of course-that the assignment didn’t last much longer. Not that they’d made any progress so far.
Liz had breakfast ready again by the time Max was dressed on Friday morning. She was just packing his lunch box when he joined her in the kitchen.
“How come you’re being so domestic on this assignment?” he asked quizzically, as though he could no longer resist. “You’re duties don’t include cooking for me.”
Liz avoided his eyes by scrubbing the pan in the sink. “I like to cook,” she said simply. “I don’t get to do it much. Besides, there’s been so little for me to do around here the past few days that it’s at least something to keep me busy.”
“I never would have dreamed you liked to cook.”
“I’ve warned you before about trying to stereotype me, Evans.”
“Yeah sorry.”
“There are a couple of washing machines and dryers in the basement. Thought I’d do some laundry today. For one thing, it might give me a chance to talk to some of the other tenants.”
“Wait until I get home this evening and I’ll help you,” Max suggested.
Liz looked at him with a lifted eyebrow. It wasn’t like Max to fall out of character on an assignment. What was he thinking? “Max Powers wouldn’t do laundry.” She told him. “That’s ‘women’s work’.”
He graced. “Good point. I guess I forgot for a minute.” He nodded toward the harness she’d begun to wear with her clothing each morning as a means of keeping her own cover firmly established. “There’s just something about a pregnant women that brings out my chivalrous instincts, I suppose.”
She made a face. “Gee, and I didn’t even know you had any chivalrous instincts.”
“Max Powers doesn’t,” he advised her. “Max Evans is a real prince of a guy.”
“Save it for someone who hasn’t worked with you before,” she advised him. “I haven’t forgotten the last job.”
“Well wasn’t I trying to save your butt then? Wouldn’t you call that chivalrous?”
“I call it stupid. I’m perfectly capable of watching my own butt.”
He grinned and let his gaze stroll admiringly from her face to her backside. “Trust me Parker. The view’s a lot better from this side. Especially in that position you were in when I walked into the bedroom two night ago.”
She gasped and threw a potholder at him.
He dodged it with a grin and snatched up his lunch box. “Gotta go. I’ll be late. Walk me to the door?”
“And why should I?” she demanded.
“Because Liz Powers would,” he reminded her logically.
She couldn’t argue with that, especially since she’d just lecture him about staying in character. She sighed waddled reluctantly behind him through the living room.
Max opened the door, glanced out, then turned and tugged Liz against him-or as close as possible with “Junior” between them. Surprised she stiffened, but he covered her mouth with his before she could ask what the hell he was doing.
He kissed her very thoroughly. Very slowly. And after that first startled moment, she found herself so completely lost in the kiss that she couldn’t remember why, at first, she’d tried to resist.
There’d been a few times during the past year when Liz had wondered what it would be like to be kissed by Max-just idle curiosity, of course, she’d assured herself on the few occasions when the question had crossed her mind. She’d always rather suspected that his kisses would be interesting. But if anyone had suggested that it would only take one kiss for him to turn her into oatmeal, she would have laughed in disbelief.
She wasn’t laughing now.
Max was running his tongue along her lower lip asking for entrance, Liz was only too happy to open up to him. Having his tongue in her mouth was amazing he tasted so good.
Max was thinking the same thing. Who would have thought-one taste of Liz and he was addicted. He wondered how the rest of her tasted.
By now Liz had thrown her arms around Max’s neck trying to get closer, but the stupid harness was in the way, if only she hadn’t put the thing on this morning.
Max’s hands were all over the place, running through her hair (which he had to admit was as soft as it looked) down her back then ending up cupping her butt. Man he had a thing for her ass.
Liz let out an involuntary moan when she felt Max’s hands on her bottom. She loved how his hands felt on her body.
All too suddenly Max pulled away. Liz’s was breathing rapidly. She stared at him in shock, trying to regain her usual equilibrium. It was marginally gratifying to note that Max’s breathing wasn’t quite steady, either, and that his eyes were glazed-just as hers probably were.
All in all, she decided, it was much safer fighting with him then kissing him.
“See you this evening.” He told her gruffly. “And you have my dinner ready this time, you hear?”
“Uh-yeah, sure,” she murmured, then forced herself to remember the assignment. “I will honey,” she said a bit more clearly. “I’m sorry about last night. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it don’t,” he ordered arrogantly, the closed the door in her face.
It was some time later before Liz got around to wondering who’d been in the hallway when Max had first opened the door. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to curse or thank the person for precipitating that kiss. And wow what a kiss it was.
TBC………
Max was still engrossed in a news program when Liz decided to retire “Junior” for the evening. She stepped into the bedroom and closed the door, then tugged the maternity shirt over her head and tossed it onto the floor, already reaching for the Velcro fastenings that held the harness on. She sighed in relief when the heavy weight fell away. Setting the thing on the floor, she quickly shed her maternity slacks, leaving herself clad only in a white knit tank top and panties. She stretched, shifted her shoulders, then bent double and touched her toes, feeling deliciously slender and unfettered.
The sound of a male throat being cleared behind her brought her upright in a hurry.
Max was standing in the doorway, an appreciative gleam in his brown eyes as he eyed her long, behr legs. Aware of the butt-up position she’d been in when he’d entered without her hearing, she blushed and reached hastily for her nightshirt she’d laid out earlier. “I thought you were still watching TV,” she said, holding the garment in front of her.
“I’m ready to turn in. Sorry, I thought you’d be dressed. You usually change in the bathroom.”
“Yes, well-er-I was just stretching.”
“So I saw.”
His smirk made her itch to smack him. She lifted her chin and headed for the bathroom, well aware that his attention was still focused firmly on her butt. She closed the bathroom door behind her with a sharp click, then splashing her burning cheeks with cool water. She was already dreading having to cross the bedroom floor and crawl into bed with Max Evans-especially after the way he’s just looked at her!
Max lay on his back in the bed, arms crossed behind is head, wondering when Liz was going to come out of the bathroom. Had she been so embarrassed at being caught in an awkward position that she’d locked herself in for the night? He wouldn’t have believed she could be so prudish.
He still remembered exactly how she’s looked when he’d entered the room. Her tanned arms stretched in front of her, her back a graceful curve, her long, behr legs braced to support her. Not to mention that firm round bottom. He’d always known Liz Parker had a great figure. He just hadn’t expected to find it displayed quite so appealingly this evening. And now he was going to have to spend another night in bed with her.
He hoped she’d never guess how difficult it had been for him to sleep the past couple of nights. Especially last night, that back rub he gave her was just plain torture. Hearing her moan like that was turning him on more then even he expected. How aware he’d been of her lying so close to him, her breasts rising and falling with her even breathing, her hair tousled against the pillow. If she ever found out that he sometimes lay on his side, just watching her and marveling at how young and unguarded she looked in her sleep, she’d probably go for his throat.
He had no idea why he was reacting so strongly to her, maybe it was just her body that was turning him on, but he knew deep down inside it was more than that.
The bathroom door finally opened and Liz stepped out, clad now in another voluminous, unrevealing nightshirt, her eyes carefully avoiding his. She switched off the overhead light as she passed it sending the room into darkness.
He was rather amused by how careful she was not to touch him as she slid into the bed. She was only an inch or so away from rolling completely off her side of the bed and landing on the floor right next to ‘junior’.
“I don’t bite,” he couldn’t help telling her, unable to keep the smile out of his voice.
She muttered something incoherent and shifted a quarter of an inch closer.
Directly above them, someone walked heavily across the floor, almost shaking the plastered ceiling about Max’s head. A noisy thud followed, as though that same heavy walker has dropped all his weight onto a bed. A moment later, the bed started to creak, accompanied by a rhythmic thumping sound that might have been a headboard knocking against the wall above them.
Max had just realized what he was hearing when a women began to moan. Loudly. A man groaned, then groaned again with more enthusiasm. The X-rated sounds drifted through the thin walls, clearly audible to the unwilling eavesdroppers lying very still in their own bed below.
Liz murmured a protest and buried her head in her pillow. Max grinned, then chuckled when the women above them began to squeal, her words clearly heard for the first time. “Yes, yes! Oh, God, yes!”
“Sounds like she’s having fun,” Max commented dryly, and shifted to a slightly more comfortable position on the lumpy mattress.
Liz growled. “Go to bed, Evans.”
“Who could sleep with that going on right above our heads?”
“Try.”
The bed above then pounded even more vigorously against the wall. The woman’s cries accelerated.
Max grinned. “Let’s just hope they don’t drop through the ceiling. I don’t want to get quite that actively involved in their personal life.”
“Harder! Faster!” the women shrieked.
Liz pulled her pillow over her head. “I’m going to sleep,” she grumbled, her voice muffled. “Only a pervert would enjoy listening to this.”
The women above them screamed and her lusty lover bellowed. The ensuing silence was startlingly abrupt.
Some ten minutes passed, and Liz cautiously emerged from beneath the pillow. She sighed in relief. “Thank goodness that’s over,” she mumbled, turning her back to Max and squirming a bit to settle back into her usual sleeping position.
Max tried to ignore her movements. He was uncomfortable enough without thinking about Liz’s temptingly curved bottom wriggling around so close beside him.
He was amused by her reaction to their involuntary voyeurism. He hadn’t realized until this assignment that Liz Parker was such a conservative type at heart. He never would have guessed by watching her at work in her skimpy hooker clothes and sexy, touch-me-if-you-dare attitude.
“Hey Parker?” he said after a moment, giving in to an irresistible temptation.
“Yeah?”
“You’ve got one hell of a great body.”
She went very still, then shrugged against the pillows. “Yours isn’t so bad either. It’s what’s inside it that I find so annoying.”
He chuckled. “Still determined to have that last word, aren’t you?”
“Go to sleep Evans. You’ve got a long, hard, hot day tomorrow.” She sounded suspiciously cheerful about the reminder.
“What?” he retorted. “No good night kiss? Or maybe we could try to teach the upstairs neighbors a thing or two about noisy lovemaking.”
He waited expectantly for an obscene response. What he got was a very chilly reply. “I think not,” she said and turned her back more firmly to him. “Good night, Max.”
He smiled up at the now silent ceiling, deciding that her awkward attitude must indicate that she, too, was a bit bothered by their sleeping arrangements. At least she wasn’t completely indifferent to him as a man. Now that would have been tough on his already battered ego!
Liz woke when Max did, on Thursday morning. On impulse she had his breakfast ready and lunch packed by the time he’d showered and dressed. He didn’t question his luck-nor did either of them mention the night before. He returned home dead tired that evening to find dinner on the table again. He thanked her, but was to exhausted to say much of anything else, except to complain that he still hadn’t gotten even a hint of a rumor about baby brokers working the neighborhood.
Liz had to admit that her own investigation wasn’t proceeding any more quickly. She’d managed to talk to another neighbor, a homely woman who lived on the fifth floor with her boyfriend-more likely her pimp, Liz added matter-of-factly, but no interesting new tidbits had surfaced during that conversation. Like everyone else they’d met so far, the women hated the building and the neighborhood, and had plans to move out as soon as her finances allowed.
Liz noted the ugly scars of old needle marks on the women’s skinny arms, and a fading bruise beneath her heavy makeup. She told Max that she doubted their neighbor would live long enough to move up in the world. He looked glum when he’d agreed. He’d turned in soon after dinner though Liz stayed up awhile to watch TV.
Max was sleeping heavily when she joined him in the bed. He didn’t even stir. Liz thought in sympathy that the construction job must really be a killer for someone not used to such physical labor, particularly in the heat they’d been experiencing. She hoped for Max’s sake-and her own, of course-that the assignment didn’t last much longer. Not that they’d made any progress so far.
Liz had breakfast ready again by the time Max was dressed on Friday morning. She was just packing his lunch box when he joined her in the kitchen.
“How come you’re being so domestic on this assignment?” he asked quizzically, as though he could no longer resist. “You’re duties don’t include cooking for me.”
Liz avoided his eyes by scrubbing the pan in the sink. “I like to cook,” she said simply. “I don’t get to do it much. Besides, there’s been so little for me to do around here the past few days that it’s at least something to keep me busy.”
“I never would have dreamed you liked to cook.”
“I’ve warned you before about trying to stereotype me, Evans.”
“Yeah sorry.”
“There are a couple of washing machines and dryers in the basement. Thought I’d do some laundry today. For one thing, it might give me a chance to talk to some of the other tenants.”
“Wait until I get home this evening and I’ll help you,” Max suggested.
Liz looked at him with a lifted eyebrow. It wasn’t like Max to fall out of character on an assignment. What was he thinking? “Max Powers wouldn’t do laundry.” She told him. “That’s ‘women’s work’.”
He graced. “Good point. I guess I forgot for a minute.” He nodded toward the harness she’d begun to wear with her clothing each morning as a means of keeping her own cover firmly established. “There’s just something about a pregnant women that brings out my chivalrous instincts, I suppose.”
She made a face. “Gee, and I didn’t even know you had any chivalrous instincts.”
“Max Powers doesn’t,” he advised her. “Max Evans is a real prince of a guy.”
“Save it for someone who hasn’t worked with you before,” she advised him. “I haven’t forgotten the last job.”
“Well wasn’t I trying to save your butt then? Wouldn’t you call that chivalrous?”
“I call it stupid. I’m perfectly capable of watching my own butt.”
He grinned and let his gaze stroll admiringly from her face to her backside. “Trust me Parker. The view’s a lot better from this side. Especially in that position you were in when I walked into the bedroom two night ago.”
She gasped and threw a potholder at him.
He dodged it with a grin and snatched up his lunch box. “Gotta go. I’ll be late. Walk me to the door?”
“And why should I?” she demanded.
“Because Liz Powers would,” he reminded her logically.
She couldn’t argue with that, especially since she’d just lecture him about staying in character. She sighed waddled reluctantly behind him through the living room.
Max opened the door, glanced out, then turned and tugged Liz against him-or as close as possible with “Junior” between them. Surprised she stiffened, but he covered her mouth with his before she could ask what the hell he was doing.
He kissed her very thoroughly. Very slowly. And after that first startled moment, she found herself so completely lost in the kiss that she couldn’t remember why, at first, she’d tried to resist.
There’d been a few times during the past year when Liz had wondered what it would be like to be kissed by Max-just idle curiosity, of course, she’d assured herself on the few occasions when the question had crossed her mind. She’d always rather suspected that his kisses would be interesting. But if anyone had suggested that it would only take one kiss for him to turn her into oatmeal, she would have laughed in disbelief.
She wasn’t laughing now.
Max was running his tongue along her lower lip asking for entrance, Liz was only too happy to open up to him. Having his tongue in her mouth was amazing he tasted so good.
Max was thinking the same thing. Who would have thought-one taste of Liz and he was addicted. He wondered how the rest of her tasted.
By now Liz had thrown her arms around Max’s neck trying to get closer, but the stupid harness was in the way, if only she hadn’t put the thing on this morning.
Max’s hands were all over the place, running through her hair (which he had to admit was as soft as it looked) down her back then ending up cupping her butt. Man he had a thing for her ass.
Liz let out an involuntary moan when she felt Max’s hands on her bottom. She loved how his hands felt on her body.
All too suddenly Max pulled away. Liz’s was breathing rapidly. She stared at him in shock, trying to regain her usual equilibrium. It was marginally gratifying to note that Max’s breathing wasn’t quite steady, either, and that his eyes were glazed-just as hers probably were.
All in all, she decided, it was much safer fighting with him then kissing him.
“See you this evening.” He told her gruffly. “And you have my dinner ready this time, you hear?”
“Uh-yeah, sure,” she murmured, then forced herself to remember the assignment. “I will honey,” she said a bit more clearly. “I’m sorry about last night. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it don’t,” he ordered arrogantly, the closed the door in her face.
It was some time later before Liz got around to wondering who’d been in the hallway when Max had first opened the door. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to curse or thank the person for precipitating that kiss. And wow what a kiss it was.
TBC………
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
A tattered laundry basket filled with clothing and supplies tucked under one arm, Liz peered over the bulge beneath her maternity top, trying to watch her feet as she navigated the three flights of stairs down to the basement laundry room. Just guiding herself around was very tricky these days. She was feeling extremely clumsy at the moment. Thank goodness she didn’t really have the safety of an infant to worry about on these bloody stairs! At least if she fell now, she would be the only one injured.
Unless, of course, she landed on top of someone. The thought of Max Evans sprawled on his smug rear end was quite a satisfying image.
She tried to put Max out of her mind as she pushed through the cracked peeling door to the laundry room-at least, she tried to forget Max, the enigmatic undercover cop. It was Max Powers, crappy boyfriend and reluctant expectant father, whom she had to concern herself with now.
Ms. McCauley, the surly landlady, was the only one in the room when Liz entered. The heavy blonde was pushing a mop across the dirty floor without visible enthusiasm-or results. “Don’t go messing this room up,’ she warned when she saw Liz. “Got an inspection later this afternoon.”
“I won’t mess anything up,” Liz promised in her meek, eager-to-please tone. “I just have to wash a few clothes. We’re out of clean things.”
McCauley nodded, as though granting permission. Liz set the heavy basket on a battered table with a smothered sigh of relief.
“I hear your man got a job working on that new building goin’ up on Twenty-first Street.”
Surprised by the landlady’s first attempt at social conversation, Liz glanced up from the machine in which she was stuffing Max’s filthy jeans, “Yes. He did.”
“I also hear you and him don’t always get along so good.”
Liz widened her eyes. “Has someone complained?” she asked anxiously. “We didn’t mean to disturb anyone. We’ve had a few fights, but they don’t mean anything. It’s just that Max gets so tired on his job, he can’t help being a little grouchy sometimes.”
“Don’t apologise for the guy,” Ms. McCauley said in disgust. “He’s the one who should be apologising-yelling at you in your condition. He thinks it’s easy being pregnant?”
“Well, he-“
“It ain’t. I should know, I had five kids. All gone now. I’m lucky if I get a card at Christmas,” the women added bitterly.
Liz didn’t know what to say, so she kept quiet, hoping the women would say something of relevance to the investigation. She dropped quarters into the washing machine and held her breath until she heard water gushing into it. From the appearance of the aging machine, she wouldn’t have been surprised had it failed to start.
“You been seeing a doctor? You healthy?”
The blunt questions recalled Liz’s attention from the laundry again. She looked over her shoulder. “Yes, I’ve been seeing the doctor at the free clinic. She said I’m fine, and so is the baby. Thank you for asking,” she added, though she wasn’t at all sure the questions had been motivated by simple concern for her welfare.
McCauley grunted, then pushed her mop toward the door. “Maybe you and me will be talking again,” she said rather obscurely. “I might be able to help you out a bit if you get in any financial trouble.”
Liz kept her expression blandly anxious. “Thank you, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. Especially now that Max’s working again. He’ll take care of the baby and me. Once we get a little money saved, he’ll feel better about everything.”
The condescendingly pitying look the landlady gave her reminded her of the way Maria had responded to Liz’s naïve optimism. These were women who had long since stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings; women for whom distrust and pessimism had become second nature. Either one of them would probably be willing to bet much needed money that Liz would be raising her baby without the assistance of the father.
Well acquainted herself with men who fathered babies without hanging around to help see them raised-like the man who’d sired her, for that matter-Liz wasn’t surprised by their lack of confidence in Max. What did surprise her was her own certainty that he wouldn’t be the kind who “screwed and split,” as Maria had put it. Max had meant every word when he’d said he would personally make sure any child he fathered was provided for.
Funny. She believed him. And like Maria and the embittered Ms. McCauley, Liz had all too many reasons not to trust any man’s words.
“Hey, Powers.”
In response to the deep bellow, Max looked over his shoulder as he was walking away from work that afternoon. A group of four men stood together behind him, one of them Doug Patterson. The one who’d called him, a short, beer-bellied heavy-equipment operator who’d introduced himself as Pete Walker, was mopping at his florid face with a grimy handkerchief. “We’re going for a cold beer over at Kelley’s,” he said, when he saw that he had Max’s attention. “You with us?”
Max hesitated. “I don’t know. My-um-woman’s probably got dinner ready.” They had worked almost half an hour late as it was.
Walker snorted. “C’mon, man. It’s Friday. Every guy deserves a little break after a tough week. You can call from the bar if you have to report in.”
Max stuck out his chin. “I don’t have to report in,” he insisted. “I’m just kind of hungry.”
Walker shrugged, “They serve sandwiches at the bar. But you do what you want. We’re thirsty.”
“C’mon, Max,” Doug urged. “Have a couple of drinks with us. Your woman will understand. Mine does. She doesn’t like it, but she doesn’t gripe about it anymore-much.”
“I don’t have to answer to my woman,” Max insisted again, allowing himself to sound increasingly defensive.
“Then, come on.”
Thinking this might be his best shot at finding out if these guys knew anything about baby brokers in the neighbourhood, Max gave Liz a mental apology and moved toward the waiting group.
Liz shifted into a somewhat less uncomfortable position on the couch, turned a page of the newspaper she’d been trying to read, then glanced at her watch. Only ten minutes had passed since the last time she’d checked. It was almost eight o’clock. And the dinner she’d been ready to serve by six was still in the kitchen, cold and increasingly unappetizing.
She reminded herself for perhaps the tenth time that Max was working. He’d probably found a lead and was chasing it down. She envied him. Anything would beat sitting in this grimy apartment, with twenty bulky pounds of stuffing in her lap and nothing to do but read the newspaper through for the second time or try to watch the fuzzy picture on the TV.
If only she had a book to read. She’d brought a couple of paperbacks, but she’d finished the last one earlier that morning. She’d found plenty of time to read during the past couple of days. Her own part in the investigation was turning out to be increasingly boring and non-productive.
She’d hoped to talk more to Maria today, or maybe to some of the other tenants. But she hadn’t caught even a glimpse of Maria, and the other tenants were still making themselves scarce. Other than that strange conversation with McCauley in the laundry room earlier, Liz had exchanged less than a dozen words with anyone all day. No one had done any laundry while she was washing-didn’t anyone in this building wear clean clothing? And the two people she’d passed in the hallway had responded to her cheery greeting with wary looks of suspicion.
What ever happened to old Southern friendliness? She asked herself, thoroughly pissed off. Used to be that everyone greeted everyone. Smiles, waves, nods-even to strangers.
But things had changed, she thought sadly, even in the South. Especially in the poverty-stricken neighbourhoods of large Southern cities, decimated by crime and drugs and government neglect. No wonder the other hapless tenants of this gloomy residence had learned to distrust everyone who approached them with a snake-oil salesman’s smile.
She ran a hand through her brown hair, noting absently that it needed to be trimmed and styled. She hadn’t been styling it much during the past week-simply washing it and letting it dry straight and limp, rather than curling it into the sleek curve she favoured when she wasn’t undercover. And she’d switched from her usual tastefully understated makeup to brighter colours normally associated with less expensive brands-rosy blusher, blue eye shadow, bright pink lipstick. Not to mention the cheap, frilly, tent-size garments she’d been forced to wear.
Her appearance usually didn’t bother her when she as working on an assignment. There’d been times when she’d been so filthy and bedraggled she hardly recognised herself in the mirror. So why was she fretting about it this time?
She looked at her watch again and cursed under her breath at the realisation that only five minutes had crawled by since the last time. Where the hell was Max?
He really should have told her he would be late, she though bitterly.
“C’mon Max, have another beer. It’s still early.”
Sprawled in a too-small bar chair, Max tried to focus on his watch. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’d probably better get on home.”
“That woman really does lead you around by the dick, don’t she Powers?” Pete Walker asked mockingly, his small eyes glassy from the number of drinks he’d tossed down in the past couple of hours.
Max thrust out his chin. “Hell, no. I wasn’t going home because of what she might say.”
“So how come you’re leaving?” Walker prodded. “Ain’t you having a good time?”
“Maybe you had better go on home, Max,” young Doug Patterson interceded. He looked at Walker as he explained, “Max’s misses is pregnant. It’s probably not good for her to get mad at him.”
Max snorted. “Then she’s already in trouble. She stays mad at me,” he said with feeling.
“Pregnant women,” a thin, balding man by the name of A.J. Sanders groaned. “They’re crazy, I tell you. Both times my wife was pregnant I thought I was going to have to lock her up somewhere. Cried all the time, whined about every little thing, ate like Godzilla.” He shook his head in bewilderment. “Never seen anything like it.”
“Tell me about it,’ Max muttered, carefully hiding his amusement.
“When’s the kid due, Max?” Doug asked. Unlike the others, Doug seemed to get more cheerful and optimistic with each beer.
Max shrugged and scowled. “Another month or so, I think. She said, but I forgot.”
“You forgot?” Doug echoed, looking startled.
“Not real happy about it, huh?” Walker inquired.
Max shook his head. “It wasn’t my idea.”
“Wouldn’t have been mine either,” Walker agreed. “Ain’t no women tying me down to a household of whining brats to support. My brother’s working three jobs now to keep his daughter in beauty-pageant dresses. Beauty pageants,” he replied n disgust. “The kid’s ten years old, looks like she’s been splattered with freckle paint and is twenty pounds overweight, thanks to her pampering mama. Put her in one of those ruffled satin pageant dresses and she looks like an overstuffed sofa pillow with Shirley Temple curls.”
“She ever win any of the pageants?” Doug asked.
“Hell no. My sister-in-law keeps saying it’s all politics. Claims little Ashley can’t win because they ain’t rich. She just can’t accept that the kid’s ugly.”
Max choked on a swig of beer. He’d have to relate that story to Liz, he thought with a hidden smile. She’d get a kick out of it.
Then he brought himself sharply back into character. “I ain’t working three jobs,” he grumbled. “This one’s bad enough.”
Dou nodded, his cheerful mood affected by the others pessimism. “I just hope I can make my wife wait to have kids until I finish computer-repair school. I really want to work at an inside job. I want air-conditioning,’ he added wistfully, wiping his brow as though still affected by the vicious heat of his workday.
A.J. looked thoughtful. “Oh, it ain’t so bad,” he offered. “I didn’t like it when my wife was pregnant, but we got us a couple of good kids. Two boys,” he added for Max’s benefit. “Nine and seven. The oldest one’s already one hell of a baseball player. Little one likes soccer. They play on city leagues.”
Doug perked up visible. “Yeah, Max,” he said. “You’ll like that, won’t you? Throwing a ball around with your kid?”
Max sighed heavily. “Doctor says it’s probably a girl,” he complained. “Just what I need. Another griping woman in the house.”
The other three men nodded in sympathy. Max tried very hard not to picture Liz’s reaction to the painfully chauvinistic turn the conversation had just taken.
This next part was going to be tricky. He needed to try to elicit information without arousing suspicions-or alienating his sources. He sighed heavily and stared into his beer, trying to project the image of utter dejection. “I just wish this hadn’t happened,” he said. “I can’t afford this right now. I really didn’t want it.”
There was an awkward pause as his three co-workers digested his misery,
Doug was the first to speak. “Have you considered giving it up for adoption?”
Max shrugged. “Liz didn’t want to talk about it. Anyway, I hear all the red tape and everything gets pretty complicated. I don’t want to mess with no damned bureaucrats.”
“There’s private adoption,” A.J. suggested. “That’s easier, I hear. All you need is an attorney.”
“I hate lawyers worse than I hate bureaucrats,” Max pronounced scornfully.
“If it was me, I’d just take off,” Walker boasted. “Hell, your women’s the one who got herself knocked up. Probably did it on purpose. Let her deal with it. If you’re gone, she can get on government assistance, probably rake in more than you’re getting busting your butt on a construction crew. Get yourself free, man.”
A.J. frowned, and Doug looked taken aback by Walker’s callous suggestion. Max only nodded. “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind,” he said.
“Have another beer,” Walker urged, seeming pleased by Max’s concurrence with his attitude. “Nothing for you hurry home to, is there?”
“Not a thing,” Max agreed. He waved an arm to motion for the bored, sour-faced waitress who’d been unenthusiastically serving them during the past couple of hours. “Hey, Sandra. Bring us another round!”
He’d struck out, he decided, as Sandra frowned even more heavily and nodded in answer to his bellow. These guys either knew nothing about the baby-selling ring allegedly working in their neighbourhood or they weren’t the type to send anyone to them. A.J. and Doug were both hardworking stiffs who tried to live right-at least most of the time. Walker was a jerk, but still rather naïve in some ways; viewed his surroundings through blinders he’d deliberately donned to block out anything he didn’t want to see.
Apparently Walker was right about one thing, though; Max was busting his butt on a construction crew for no good reason.
Looked like it was about time to begin part two of the investigation-which started with getting fired. But that would have to wait until Monday. Tonight he could sit back, relax, and allow Max Powers to have another couple of beers with his co-workers. And then he’d better be heading back to the apartment to check in with Liz.
He was sure she’d understand that he’d spent the evening working on the investigation, even if the results had come up negative this time.
After one of the longest, most boring and uncomfortable evenings she’d ever spent, Liz finally heard a noise outside her apartment. Since she was wearing the harness-she hadn’t wanted to risk going without it until Max returned-she snatched open the door before he had a chance to insert the key. “Well it’s about time! Where the…..oh Maria, it’s you. I thought you were Max.”
Maria looked up from the floor of the hallway, where she was crouched over a clutter of what looked like items from the oversize purse she always carried. “Spilled my damned purse looking for my keys,” she explained, then cocked her head and asked, “Max ain’t home yet?”
“No,” Liz said. “And I’m getting worried,” she added, the words only halfway for Maria’s benefit. Actually Liz was getting a bit concerned about Max. Had he pursued a lead that had landed him in trouble? Had he stumbled onto something dangerous while playing the Lone Ranger without her?
“Probably out at a bar somewhere,” Maria said. “That’s where most of the guys around here end up o Friday night. Get their pay checks and can’t wait to spend them.”
“Oh Max wouldn’t do that,” Liz said, wringing her hands affectingly in front of her. “He knows how badly we need his pay check just for food and baby supplies.”
“Yeah right.” Maria stretched awkwardly for the items scattered around her, trying to stuff them back into the black-and-purple vinyl handbag.
“Here, let me help you.” Liz bent quickly to help, then gasped and stuck out a hand to steady herself on the grimy floor when she nearly fell right on her face from the weight of the harness.
Maria’s hand shot out to catch Liz’s shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yes I’m fine.” Still kneeling, Liz shook her head. “Can’t believe I did that.”
“You shouldn’t bend so fast,” Maria scolded. “You know your balance if off.”
“I keep forgetting,” Liz explained, reaching for a tube of lipstick.
Maria looked surprise. “How the hell could you forget? It ain’t like you haven’t been in this shape for awhile.”
Mentally slapping herself for the slip, Liz made a face. “It must be Freudian,” she said lightly.
Maria smiled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. There are times I wish I could just pretend I wasn’t in this shape and I’d suddenly have my own body back.”
Liz handed Maria the items she’d gathered, then struggled awkwardly to her feet. She patted her solid “tummy”. “I guess I shouldn’t complain so much,” she said. “Max says I’m always griping about something.”
“Max’s a…” Maria bit back whatever she’d started to say, though it obviously wasn’t easy for her. She took a deep breath and rose to her own feet with Liz’s assistance. “Look, if you need anything tonight, come on down to my place okay?” she said, instead. “I mean, in case Max stays out all night and you get scared. Or in case he comes home drunk and mean. Whatever, you can come to me okay?”
The hooker with heart of gold, Liz thought flippantly, then regretted the thought when she saw the sincerity in Maria’s over-emphasised eyes. How long had it been since Maria had offered a hand of friendship to anyone? And how long since that offer had been accepted with a smile rather than a slap of rejection?
Liz smiled. “Thank you Maria,” she said gently. “But I’m sure I’ll be fine. Max yells a lot, but he would never hurt me. He probably just had to work late.”
Maria looked torn between pity and impatience with Liz’s naïve remark. “Okay. Just remember what I said.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Maria nodded and moved on, one hand pressed to the small of her back, her swollen feet wobbled in the too-high heels. Liz watched for a moment, then went back inside, shaking her head at Maria’s stubborn insistence on wearing shoes that had to be causing her agony in her condition. She felt rather guilty for sulking all evening over wearing the harness. At least she didn’t have swollen breasts and ankles and cramps and haemorrhoids and all that other terrible stuff Maria had described.
Liz spent the next half hour pacing, and remembering how Max had looked with a gun pressed to his ear the last time she’d worked with him and things had gone horribly wrong. It had been a drug bust, the result of a week’s work on their parts. Liz had never quite understood how everything had gone wrong at the last moment, but Max had narrowly avoided being shot-and she’d come much too close for comfort, herself. She’d saved his butt that time-and, okay he’d saved hers too-but he was on his own now. What had he gotten himself into?
And why on earth was she so terribly worried about it? He was just her partner, and a temporary one at that. She was acting as though he really was her lover and the father of her “child”!
Finally his key sounded in the lock. Nerves stretched to the limit, Liz whirled to face him. He entered with a slightly unsteady walk, rather glazed eyes, a dopey grin and the heavy aroma of cheap beer. “Hi, honey,” he said, the words a bit slurred. “I’m home.”
Liz’s temper exploded.
TBC……….
A tattered laundry basket filled with clothing and supplies tucked under one arm, Liz peered over the bulge beneath her maternity top, trying to watch her feet as she navigated the three flights of stairs down to the basement laundry room. Just guiding herself around was very tricky these days. She was feeling extremely clumsy at the moment. Thank goodness she didn’t really have the safety of an infant to worry about on these bloody stairs! At least if she fell now, she would be the only one injured.
Unless, of course, she landed on top of someone. The thought of Max Evans sprawled on his smug rear end was quite a satisfying image.
She tried to put Max out of her mind as she pushed through the cracked peeling door to the laundry room-at least, she tried to forget Max, the enigmatic undercover cop. It was Max Powers, crappy boyfriend and reluctant expectant father, whom she had to concern herself with now.
Ms. McCauley, the surly landlady, was the only one in the room when Liz entered. The heavy blonde was pushing a mop across the dirty floor without visible enthusiasm-or results. “Don’t go messing this room up,’ she warned when she saw Liz. “Got an inspection later this afternoon.”
“I won’t mess anything up,” Liz promised in her meek, eager-to-please tone. “I just have to wash a few clothes. We’re out of clean things.”
McCauley nodded, as though granting permission. Liz set the heavy basket on a battered table with a smothered sigh of relief.
“I hear your man got a job working on that new building goin’ up on Twenty-first Street.”
Surprised by the landlady’s first attempt at social conversation, Liz glanced up from the machine in which she was stuffing Max’s filthy jeans, “Yes. He did.”
“I also hear you and him don’t always get along so good.”
Liz widened her eyes. “Has someone complained?” she asked anxiously. “We didn’t mean to disturb anyone. We’ve had a few fights, but they don’t mean anything. It’s just that Max gets so tired on his job, he can’t help being a little grouchy sometimes.”
“Don’t apologise for the guy,” Ms. McCauley said in disgust. “He’s the one who should be apologising-yelling at you in your condition. He thinks it’s easy being pregnant?”
“Well, he-“
“It ain’t. I should know, I had five kids. All gone now. I’m lucky if I get a card at Christmas,” the women added bitterly.
Liz didn’t know what to say, so she kept quiet, hoping the women would say something of relevance to the investigation. She dropped quarters into the washing machine and held her breath until she heard water gushing into it. From the appearance of the aging machine, she wouldn’t have been surprised had it failed to start.
“You been seeing a doctor? You healthy?”
The blunt questions recalled Liz’s attention from the laundry again. She looked over her shoulder. “Yes, I’ve been seeing the doctor at the free clinic. She said I’m fine, and so is the baby. Thank you for asking,” she added, though she wasn’t at all sure the questions had been motivated by simple concern for her welfare.
McCauley grunted, then pushed her mop toward the door. “Maybe you and me will be talking again,” she said rather obscurely. “I might be able to help you out a bit if you get in any financial trouble.”
Liz kept her expression blandly anxious. “Thank you, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. Especially now that Max’s working again. He’ll take care of the baby and me. Once we get a little money saved, he’ll feel better about everything.”
The condescendingly pitying look the landlady gave her reminded her of the way Maria had responded to Liz’s naïve optimism. These were women who had long since stopped believing in fairy tales and happy endings; women for whom distrust and pessimism had become second nature. Either one of them would probably be willing to bet much needed money that Liz would be raising her baby without the assistance of the father.
Well acquainted herself with men who fathered babies without hanging around to help see them raised-like the man who’d sired her, for that matter-Liz wasn’t surprised by their lack of confidence in Max. What did surprise her was her own certainty that he wouldn’t be the kind who “screwed and split,” as Maria had put it. Max had meant every word when he’d said he would personally make sure any child he fathered was provided for.
Funny. She believed him. And like Maria and the embittered Ms. McCauley, Liz had all too many reasons not to trust any man’s words.
“Hey, Powers.”
In response to the deep bellow, Max looked over his shoulder as he was walking away from work that afternoon. A group of four men stood together behind him, one of them Doug Patterson. The one who’d called him, a short, beer-bellied heavy-equipment operator who’d introduced himself as Pete Walker, was mopping at his florid face with a grimy handkerchief. “We’re going for a cold beer over at Kelley’s,” he said, when he saw that he had Max’s attention. “You with us?”
Max hesitated. “I don’t know. My-um-woman’s probably got dinner ready.” They had worked almost half an hour late as it was.
Walker snorted. “C’mon, man. It’s Friday. Every guy deserves a little break after a tough week. You can call from the bar if you have to report in.”
Max stuck out his chin. “I don’t have to report in,” he insisted. “I’m just kind of hungry.”
Walker shrugged, “They serve sandwiches at the bar. But you do what you want. We’re thirsty.”
“C’mon, Max,” Doug urged. “Have a couple of drinks with us. Your woman will understand. Mine does. She doesn’t like it, but she doesn’t gripe about it anymore-much.”
“I don’t have to answer to my woman,” Max insisted again, allowing himself to sound increasingly defensive.
“Then, come on.”
Thinking this might be his best shot at finding out if these guys knew anything about baby brokers in the neighbourhood, Max gave Liz a mental apology and moved toward the waiting group.
Liz shifted into a somewhat less uncomfortable position on the couch, turned a page of the newspaper she’d been trying to read, then glanced at her watch. Only ten minutes had passed since the last time she’d checked. It was almost eight o’clock. And the dinner she’d been ready to serve by six was still in the kitchen, cold and increasingly unappetizing.
She reminded herself for perhaps the tenth time that Max was working. He’d probably found a lead and was chasing it down. She envied him. Anything would beat sitting in this grimy apartment, with twenty bulky pounds of stuffing in her lap and nothing to do but read the newspaper through for the second time or try to watch the fuzzy picture on the TV.
If only she had a book to read. She’d brought a couple of paperbacks, but she’d finished the last one earlier that morning. She’d found plenty of time to read during the past couple of days. Her own part in the investigation was turning out to be increasingly boring and non-productive.
She’d hoped to talk more to Maria today, or maybe to some of the other tenants. But she hadn’t caught even a glimpse of Maria, and the other tenants were still making themselves scarce. Other than that strange conversation with McCauley in the laundry room earlier, Liz had exchanged less than a dozen words with anyone all day. No one had done any laundry while she was washing-didn’t anyone in this building wear clean clothing? And the two people she’d passed in the hallway had responded to her cheery greeting with wary looks of suspicion.
What ever happened to old Southern friendliness? She asked herself, thoroughly pissed off. Used to be that everyone greeted everyone. Smiles, waves, nods-even to strangers.
But things had changed, she thought sadly, even in the South. Especially in the poverty-stricken neighbourhoods of large Southern cities, decimated by crime and drugs and government neglect. No wonder the other hapless tenants of this gloomy residence had learned to distrust everyone who approached them with a snake-oil salesman’s smile.
She ran a hand through her brown hair, noting absently that it needed to be trimmed and styled. She hadn’t been styling it much during the past week-simply washing it and letting it dry straight and limp, rather than curling it into the sleek curve she favoured when she wasn’t undercover. And she’d switched from her usual tastefully understated makeup to brighter colours normally associated with less expensive brands-rosy blusher, blue eye shadow, bright pink lipstick. Not to mention the cheap, frilly, tent-size garments she’d been forced to wear.
Her appearance usually didn’t bother her when she as working on an assignment. There’d been times when she’d been so filthy and bedraggled she hardly recognised herself in the mirror. So why was she fretting about it this time?
She looked at her watch again and cursed under her breath at the realisation that only five minutes had crawled by since the last time. Where the hell was Max?
He really should have told her he would be late, she though bitterly.
“C’mon Max, have another beer. It’s still early.”
Sprawled in a too-small bar chair, Max tried to focus on his watch. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’d probably better get on home.”
“That woman really does lead you around by the dick, don’t she Powers?” Pete Walker asked mockingly, his small eyes glassy from the number of drinks he’d tossed down in the past couple of hours.
Max thrust out his chin. “Hell, no. I wasn’t going home because of what she might say.”
“So how come you’re leaving?” Walker prodded. “Ain’t you having a good time?”
“Maybe you had better go on home, Max,” young Doug Patterson interceded. He looked at Walker as he explained, “Max’s misses is pregnant. It’s probably not good for her to get mad at him.”
Max snorted. “Then she’s already in trouble. She stays mad at me,” he said with feeling.
“Pregnant women,” a thin, balding man by the name of A.J. Sanders groaned. “They’re crazy, I tell you. Both times my wife was pregnant I thought I was going to have to lock her up somewhere. Cried all the time, whined about every little thing, ate like Godzilla.” He shook his head in bewilderment. “Never seen anything like it.”
“Tell me about it,’ Max muttered, carefully hiding his amusement.
“When’s the kid due, Max?” Doug asked. Unlike the others, Doug seemed to get more cheerful and optimistic with each beer.
Max shrugged and scowled. “Another month or so, I think. She said, but I forgot.”
“You forgot?” Doug echoed, looking startled.
“Not real happy about it, huh?” Walker inquired.
Max shook his head. “It wasn’t my idea.”
“Wouldn’t have been mine either,” Walker agreed. “Ain’t no women tying me down to a household of whining brats to support. My brother’s working three jobs now to keep his daughter in beauty-pageant dresses. Beauty pageants,” he replied n disgust. “The kid’s ten years old, looks like she’s been splattered with freckle paint and is twenty pounds overweight, thanks to her pampering mama. Put her in one of those ruffled satin pageant dresses and she looks like an overstuffed sofa pillow with Shirley Temple curls.”
“She ever win any of the pageants?” Doug asked.
“Hell no. My sister-in-law keeps saying it’s all politics. Claims little Ashley can’t win because they ain’t rich. She just can’t accept that the kid’s ugly.”
Max choked on a swig of beer. He’d have to relate that story to Liz, he thought with a hidden smile. She’d get a kick out of it.
Then he brought himself sharply back into character. “I ain’t working three jobs,” he grumbled. “This one’s bad enough.”
Dou nodded, his cheerful mood affected by the others pessimism. “I just hope I can make my wife wait to have kids until I finish computer-repair school. I really want to work at an inside job. I want air-conditioning,’ he added wistfully, wiping his brow as though still affected by the vicious heat of his workday.
A.J. looked thoughtful. “Oh, it ain’t so bad,” he offered. “I didn’t like it when my wife was pregnant, but we got us a couple of good kids. Two boys,” he added for Max’s benefit. “Nine and seven. The oldest one’s already one hell of a baseball player. Little one likes soccer. They play on city leagues.”
Doug perked up visible. “Yeah, Max,” he said. “You’ll like that, won’t you? Throwing a ball around with your kid?”
Max sighed heavily. “Doctor says it’s probably a girl,” he complained. “Just what I need. Another griping woman in the house.”
The other three men nodded in sympathy. Max tried very hard not to picture Liz’s reaction to the painfully chauvinistic turn the conversation had just taken.
This next part was going to be tricky. He needed to try to elicit information without arousing suspicions-or alienating his sources. He sighed heavily and stared into his beer, trying to project the image of utter dejection. “I just wish this hadn’t happened,” he said. “I can’t afford this right now. I really didn’t want it.”
There was an awkward pause as his three co-workers digested his misery,
Doug was the first to speak. “Have you considered giving it up for adoption?”
Max shrugged. “Liz didn’t want to talk about it. Anyway, I hear all the red tape and everything gets pretty complicated. I don’t want to mess with no damned bureaucrats.”
“There’s private adoption,” A.J. suggested. “That’s easier, I hear. All you need is an attorney.”
“I hate lawyers worse than I hate bureaucrats,” Max pronounced scornfully.
“If it was me, I’d just take off,” Walker boasted. “Hell, your women’s the one who got herself knocked up. Probably did it on purpose. Let her deal with it. If you’re gone, she can get on government assistance, probably rake in more than you’re getting busting your butt on a construction crew. Get yourself free, man.”
A.J. frowned, and Doug looked taken aback by Walker’s callous suggestion. Max only nodded. “Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind,” he said.
“Have another beer,” Walker urged, seeming pleased by Max’s concurrence with his attitude. “Nothing for you hurry home to, is there?”
“Not a thing,” Max agreed. He waved an arm to motion for the bored, sour-faced waitress who’d been unenthusiastically serving them during the past couple of hours. “Hey, Sandra. Bring us another round!”
He’d struck out, he decided, as Sandra frowned even more heavily and nodded in answer to his bellow. These guys either knew nothing about the baby-selling ring allegedly working in their neighbourhood or they weren’t the type to send anyone to them. A.J. and Doug were both hardworking stiffs who tried to live right-at least most of the time. Walker was a jerk, but still rather naïve in some ways; viewed his surroundings through blinders he’d deliberately donned to block out anything he didn’t want to see.
Apparently Walker was right about one thing, though; Max was busting his butt on a construction crew for no good reason.
Looked like it was about time to begin part two of the investigation-which started with getting fired. But that would have to wait until Monday. Tonight he could sit back, relax, and allow Max Powers to have another couple of beers with his co-workers. And then he’d better be heading back to the apartment to check in with Liz.
He was sure she’d understand that he’d spent the evening working on the investigation, even if the results had come up negative this time.
After one of the longest, most boring and uncomfortable evenings she’d ever spent, Liz finally heard a noise outside her apartment. Since she was wearing the harness-she hadn’t wanted to risk going without it until Max returned-she snatched open the door before he had a chance to insert the key. “Well it’s about time! Where the…..oh Maria, it’s you. I thought you were Max.”
Maria looked up from the floor of the hallway, where she was crouched over a clutter of what looked like items from the oversize purse she always carried. “Spilled my damned purse looking for my keys,” she explained, then cocked her head and asked, “Max ain’t home yet?”
“No,” Liz said. “And I’m getting worried,” she added, the words only halfway for Maria’s benefit. Actually Liz was getting a bit concerned about Max. Had he pursued a lead that had landed him in trouble? Had he stumbled onto something dangerous while playing the Lone Ranger without her?
“Probably out at a bar somewhere,” Maria said. “That’s where most of the guys around here end up o Friday night. Get their pay checks and can’t wait to spend them.”
“Oh Max wouldn’t do that,” Liz said, wringing her hands affectingly in front of her. “He knows how badly we need his pay check just for food and baby supplies.”
“Yeah right.” Maria stretched awkwardly for the items scattered around her, trying to stuff them back into the black-and-purple vinyl handbag.
“Here, let me help you.” Liz bent quickly to help, then gasped and stuck out a hand to steady herself on the grimy floor when she nearly fell right on her face from the weight of the harness.
Maria’s hand shot out to catch Liz’s shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yes I’m fine.” Still kneeling, Liz shook her head. “Can’t believe I did that.”
“You shouldn’t bend so fast,” Maria scolded. “You know your balance if off.”
“I keep forgetting,” Liz explained, reaching for a tube of lipstick.
Maria looked surprise. “How the hell could you forget? It ain’t like you haven’t been in this shape for awhile.”
Mentally slapping herself for the slip, Liz made a face. “It must be Freudian,” she said lightly.
Maria smiled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. There are times I wish I could just pretend I wasn’t in this shape and I’d suddenly have my own body back.”
Liz handed Maria the items she’d gathered, then struggled awkwardly to her feet. She patted her solid “tummy”. “I guess I shouldn’t complain so much,” she said. “Max says I’m always griping about something.”
“Max’s a…” Maria bit back whatever she’d started to say, though it obviously wasn’t easy for her. She took a deep breath and rose to her own feet with Liz’s assistance. “Look, if you need anything tonight, come on down to my place okay?” she said, instead. “I mean, in case Max stays out all night and you get scared. Or in case he comes home drunk and mean. Whatever, you can come to me okay?”
The hooker with heart of gold, Liz thought flippantly, then regretted the thought when she saw the sincerity in Maria’s over-emphasised eyes. How long had it been since Maria had offered a hand of friendship to anyone? And how long since that offer had been accepted with a smile rather than a slap of rejection?
Liz smiled. “Thank you Maria,” she said gently. “But I’m sure I’ll be fine. Max yells a lot, but he would never hurt me. He probably just had to work late.”
Maria looked torn between pity and impatience with Liz’s naïve remark. “Okay. Just remember what I said.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Maria nodded and moved on, one hand pressed to the small of her back, her swollen feet wobbled in the too-high heels. Liz watched for a moment, then went back inside, shaking her head at Maria’s stubborn insistence on wearing shoes that had to be causing her agony in her condition. She felt rather guilty for sulking all evening over wearing the harness. At least she didn’t have swollen breasts and ankles and cramps and haemorrhoids and all that other terrible stuff Maria had described.
Liz spent the next half hour pacing, and remembering how Max had looked with a gun pressed to his ear the last time she’d worked with him and things had gone horribly wrong. It had been a drug bust, the result of a week’s work on their parts. Liz had never quite understood how everything had gone wrong at the last moment, but Max had narrowly avoided being shot-and she’d come much too close for comfort, herself. She’d saved his butt that time-and, okay he’d saved hers too-but he was on his own now. What had he gotten himself into?
And why on earth was she so terribly worried about it? He was just her partner, and a temporary one at that. She was acting as though he really was her lover and the father of her “child”!
Finally his key sounded in the lock. Nerves stretched to the limit, Liz whirled to face him. He entered with a slightly unsteady walk, rather glazed eyes, a dopey grin and the heavy aroma of cheap beer. “Hi, honey,” he said, the words a bit slurred. “I’m home.”
Liz’s temper exploded.
TBC……….