“Got it,” Emma said.
“Okay!” Rita yelled from down the hall just as the doorbell rang.
“You’re on,” Stone said to Emma, and she started down the hall.
MITZI SAT DOWN at the desk in the study and began writing a letter to her father on Rita’s creamy stationery. She heard Emma go to the front door, and a moment later there was a knock on the study door. “Come in,” Mitzi said.
Emma opened the door and stepped inside. “Miss Reynolds, Mr. Sharpe is here.” She let him in, backed out, and closed the door.
Sharpe stood by the door holding a large briefcase and looking nervous. “You didn’t tell me the maid would be here.”
“She’s here every day,” Mitzi said.
“Who else is in the apartment?”
“Just the maid and Stone. He’s down the hall in the kitchen having breakfast.”
“I don’t think you understand how sensitive this transaction is,” Sharpe said.
“I don’t think you understand that nobody in the kitchen cares what you and I are doing in here,” Mitzi said. She stood, slid back a shelf of fake book spines, and started opening the safe. “I’m glad you’re early,” she said. “I’ve got things to do this morning. Did you bring the drugs?”
“Do you have the money?”
Mitzi opened the safe, removed a brown envelope, and took out several bundles of bills. “There you are,” she said. “Count it, and let’s get this done.” She left the safe open and kept the desk between them.
Sharpe set his briefcase on the desk, picked up some bills, and began counting them. “It’s not that I don’t trust you,” he said, “but my supplier would take offense if I didn’t show up with the correct amount.”
“I understand,” Mitzi said, sitting down again.
Sharpe continued to count. “So you and Stone are an item, huh?”
“You’ve seen us together before. I like him a lot.”
“Didn’t he used to be a cop?”
“He retired years ago, I believe; now he’s a lawyer.”
“So he’s not going to come in here and bust me?”
Mitzi laughed. “No, he is not.”
Sharpe finished counting the money. He opened his briefcase and put the bills inside, then closed it.
“And where are the goods?” Mitzi asked.
“You’ll get them as soon as I deliver the money,” Sharpe said.
“Our deal was cash on delivery,” Mitzi said. “You’ve got the cash, now deliver.”
“I’ll be back in an hour.”
“I won’t be here in an hour,” Mitzi said. “The deal’s off; leave the money on the desk and go.”
“Now you listen to me…” Sharpe began.
The phone rang, and Mitzi picked it up. “Hello?”
“Everything all right?” Stone asked.