The Ying on Triad Read Free

time"
    "Tony!"
    "I'm serious, Janice. I'm working on a new case, and
I'm pressed for time"
    "Well," she sniffed, "certainly not so pressed you can't
take off an hour or so for me"
    An hour or so? More like three or four hours. "We'll see"
    As usual, I drove over to her apartment where I left my
Silverado so we could go in her two-month-old silver
Miata. She didn't truly dislike my pickup, but she did
have an aversion to being seen in it by any of her friends
from the Daylily Club or any of the several other social
organizations to which she belonged.
    "You look wonderful," I said, climbing from the truck
and sliding behind the wheel of the silver Miata. "Have
you been waiting long?"

    She smiled briefly from the passenger seat. "I had just
closed the door."
    I leaned over and touched my lips to hers. "Ready?"
    She nodded.
    Before I shifted gears, I caught a puzzling glimpse of
her. She seemed distracted. "Are you all right?"
    I know that's not the question a smart man should ask
a woman who seems to have something on her mind, but
I didn't know what else to say.
    Her answer told me something was bothering her.
"Fine. I'm just fine"
    I played the dummy. "Good. Let's go" I gunned the
engine, and the little Miata leaped forward.
    Janice and I had met a few years earlier when I was
helping her out of an insurance jam. Neither she nor I were
interested in getting serious, but we had fun together even
though I quickly realized I was simply a dependable
escort, an infrequent lover, an occasional confidant.
    In other words, I was a tool to satisfy her needs. And
she was the same for me. We had reconciled our positions
in the relationship and we were both fairly content.
    Inexplicably, despite our skewed relationship, we were
very good friends who enjoyed each other's company.
From time to time, Janice did speak of our relationship.
After a few of those little discussions, which I really
didn't understand, I learned when to agree and when not
to agree.
    That night, Janice was a knockout with diamonds
draped around her slender neck and dangling from her
ears. There's an ethereal quality about the very rich that
the rest of us never quite manage to successfully emulate.
    As always, we enjoyed each other during an evening
of elegant dining and dancing despite her occasional inattentiveness. I kept up an innocuous chitchat throughout the evening, but for some reason, she seemed to
maintain an inexplicable distance. Which prompted me
to begin wondering what I had done wrong.

    Just before midnight, she cleared her throat. "Tony, we
need to talk"
    Talk! I cringed. Beware when a woman says you need
to talk. Warily, I replied with a response I knew couldn't
get me in trouble, "Oh?" My brain raced, wondering what
was coming next.
    With a tender and gentle smile, she laid her hand on
mine. "I can't tell you how wonderful the last few months
have been, since you came back from Vicksburg"
    I relaxed-not much, but some. "Good," I choked out,
still wary, still wondering.
    "I feel we're closer now than we've ever been, don't
you?" she squeezed my hand.
    Relaxing a little more, I squeezed hers back. "I was
beginning to wonder. You've seemed, well, distracted tonight"
    A becoming blush tinged her cheeks, and she ducked
her head. "That's because ... well, I wanted to talk to you
about something, and I didn't know how you would
react"
    I squeezed her hand again and replied with the safest
response I could muster. "You know you can talk to me
about anything, Janice. Anything at all"
    She looked up hopefully, "Anything?"
    With smug grin, I nodded to her, "Anything"
    Her eyes lit with glee. "I've been thinking about it, but
this afternoon when you mentioned you might have to
work Sunday, I made up my mind. I want to work with
you, Tony. I want to help you investigate whatever it is
you investigate. We'll make a wonderful team"
    I laughed. Suddenly the laughter stuck in my throat when I realized exactly what