Page 78 of Master of Lies

Aw. Sweet. I sat on the bed, reaching for the shoebox, but Jed sank to his knees in front of me and took my foot in his big, warm hand, transforming it instantly into an erogenous zone. I fought to breathe as he slid my foot into the shoe and buckled the delicate straps. “We should, um, go over the plan,” I said, unsteadily.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We get there late. We park in the service parking lot and slip into the back entrance where the catering staff parked their vans. We find our way to our seats without attracting attention. And when the lights are low, while they are speechifying, or dancing, or whatever the fuck else they do at these things, we cruise the place for Grifo.”

“Separately,” I added. “To cover more ground. And attract less attention.”

He frowned. “But not far from each other. Ever. Got that? Always in eyeshot.”

“Of course not. We locate Grifo, and then we look for an opportunity to get close enough to slip a trace into one of his pockets. We both have one ready. Of course, it should preferably be me, since I’ll attract less attention. If a discreet opportunity presents itself, we try to talk to him.”

“Bullshit you’ll attract less attention,” Jed scoffed. “You think Grifo would even notice I existed if he had you to look at?”

“Oh, come on—”

“If you’re trying to be unobtrusive, I hate to break it to you, babe, but the Lady of the Lake outfit was not the right choice. That dress says, ‘behold, mere mortal, as I lift the magic sword and draw down the lightning to open the door between worlds.’”

I laughed at him. “Don’t be silly. It’s dark gray, Jed. And I covered myself all the way down to my ankles and knuckles. This was the most drab, understated thing I could find in the entire store!”

“Drab, my ass. You look sexy and dangerous and memorable. Like you have garrote wire in your hair and a gun strapped to your thigh. And no underwear.”

“Oh stop,” I said impatiently.

“Perilously beautiful,” he said, staring at my body. “I should’ve gone into the fitting room with you. Just to keep things real.”

Aww. Sweet talk about how hot I looked was very gratifying. “Just as well you didn’t,” I murmured. “Picture it. Small room, locked door, wall of mirrors…”

His eyes lit up. The change of energy was so swift and intense, it made me laugh nervously. He reached for me, and I moved back “No way. It took me an hour to get my hair into this condition, and it’s a house of cards at best, so don’t even think about touching me. We do the job, and then we celebrate. Let’s get on the road.”

We weren’t terribly far from the Pineview Resort. We’d spent the afternoon studying the floor plan of the place, so Jed drove without hesitation toward the service entrance parking lot. We parked in the shadows, and walked toward the building through the rustling trees. My heels clicked on the smooth granite slabs of the walkway.

I glanced at my brand new phone, and slid it back into my evening bag. “They should be about to serve dinner by now,” I said. “I’ll go in first.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” Jed said.

I walked past the caterer’s kitchen, letting Jed fall a few yards behind. They were in frantic busy-mode, so one noticed me as I made my way toward the ballroom and found our out-of-the-way seats, at a peripheral table. Much better for our purposes.

We’d timed it well. The lights were low, and the orchestra played mellow, jazzy music as a halfway decent candlelit dinner was served. The food was not spectacular, but not bad, either. After the fruit plate, the room dimmed further, and a spotlight was trained on the speaker on the dais.

A tall, square-jawed guy with glasses marched up and gave a speech about the spectacular awesomeness and huge generosity of the talented surgeons who were offering their expertise to transform the lives of the less fortunate, yada yada. It was long-winded, fawning, predictable. Then they zeroed in with the spotlights on the various surgeons being honored for their contribution. One of them was Grifo.

I recognized him right away from the online images we’d pored over all day. I was closer to him, so I decided to approach him before Jed got close enough. I would be far less likely to frighten him, and I could always use my tits as a calling card, at least for the first couple of minutes. I would be Sandee for Grifo. Sandee was perfect for this situation. So unthreatening, so easy on the male ego. Besides, much as Jed tried to be inconspicuous, he had failed utterly. He looked stunning in a tux. Even the glasses set off his amazing bone structure that much more.

We caught each other’s eyes across the room as I lurked near a column, not far from the band, waiting for my moment to pounce. Grifo was whispering to the brunette next to him. Black sequins, fake smile, lots of tension. Rachelle Grifo. I recognized her from online photos. She had a lot to be tense about, if she had any brains.

Grifo didn’t look like the picture in his online profile. He looked thinner, grayer, older, with a strained grimace instead of a smile. He squinted in the spotlight as if it hurt him. Rachelle Grifo was younger than him by a good fifteen years. She was a good-looking, well-turned-out woman, but she still had that tight, pinched look, just like her husband. Her two young adult daughters were conspicuously absent.

They were announcing another speaker, a doctor named Coleman. The spotlight settled on a white-haired guy with a little trimmed goatee and round rosy cheeks. Coleman made his way with a bouncing gait up to the podium to give his speech.

Grifo’s table was once again in the shadow. He leaned toward his wife, said something into her ear, and got up. He probably needed to take a break from being observed, maybe to cower in a bathroom stall. He was moving in my direction. Getting close to my entrance. I glanced at Jed, and moved smoothly to intercept him.

I stepped right in front of the doctor, breaking his stride so he had to stop short.

“Dr. Grifo!” I said, in a breathy whisper. “I’m so glad to see you again! Congratulations on being part of such a wonderful organization! You must be so proud.”

“Thank you so much,” Grifo said, his gaze dropping to my cleavage. “I’m so sorry, miss, but have we met?”

I batted my eyes at him. “Don’t you remember? You did my breast lift, and my chin, and my eyes! My lids were so heavy before, but you fixed them so well!”

Grifo’s eyes immediately cataloged all of the parts I had mentioned, trying to place me. “I see. I do have a very large number of patients, so I’m afraid I don’t—”

---