Читать книгу Bedspell - Jule Mcbride - Страница 8

“AREN’T PARTIES AT THE MET absolutely fab?” mused C.C.

“Divine,” returned Diane.

“Those chicks in Sex and the City have got nothing on us,” chimed Mara.

“Stick around for just a few more minutes….” As Signe Sargent continued serving cocktails to costumed people sidling up to a makeshift bar, she glanced at her girlfriends, all wearing cat costumes. Through floor-to-ceiling windows behind her, light from the nearly full moon and star-scattered sky poured into the room, illuminating the ancient stone Temple of Dendur, brought from the Nile and reassembled in the Met’s Sackler Wing, as part of the museum’s permanent collection.

“We’d love to stay—” C.C. reached to adjust the pointed cat ears nestled in her silken shoulder-length hair “—but while our kitty-cat costumes still look fresh, we’ve got to get downtown to Gus’s gig.” Gus was the owner of the bar nearest Signe’s walk-up in the Village.

Diane, who’d flipped open a compact, was checking her lipstick. “I wish you weren’t working, Sig. You could go with us.”

“Thanks for sneaking us onto the guest list,” put in Mara.

Diane closed the compact, then tilted back a champagne flute, drained it and placed it on the tray beside Signe. “Sneaking in here was risky, but definitely worth it,” she pronounced, flashing a business card she’d managed to get from one of the hot, circulating bachelors.

Afraid her boss might recognize her friends’ names, since the bash, given by a computer mogul, was strictly for New York’s crème de la crème, Signe had signed everyone in under false names.

“It’s definitely one of the better parties we’ve crashed this month,” agreed C.C. with a sigh.

“Amazing hors d’oeuvres,” added Mara.

After filching another pumpkin-shaped tart from under her workstation, Signe nodded, munching. “I still haven’t seen Gorgeous Garrity.”

“You will,” assured C.C.

Maybe. Signe’s eyes settled on the windows behind her opening onto Central Park. In full autumnal glory, the park was beautiful, the trees bursting with color. Gold and russet, they glimmered with night dew and framed a moon so romantic that even the most jaded New York cynic might swoon. It was the perfect backdrop for propositioning Gorgeous. So, where was he?

Signe’s gaze returned to the cavernous room—the ancient Egyptian tombs, the stone statues of guardian goddesses and the temple itself. As mystical as the moon, Dendur stood just as it had for thousands of years, its yellow stones covered in hieroglyphs.

“I met a Rockefeller,” Diane said.

Signe nodded, still scanning the crowd for Gorgeous. While it wasn’t generally known, the museum was available for private parties, at least if they were given by the city’s movers and shakers. Tonight, faces recognizable from magazines and the news were everywhere.

“I met Ghardi,” Mara was saying. “You know? That shoe designer who does the retro-platforms with the gaudy bows on the toes?”

“C’mon, you guys,” said C.C. “If we don’t get downtown nobody will be left at Gus’s, and I want to see the costumes.” Greenwich Village’s pre-Halloween parade was tonight, and there was bound to be stragglers.

“So many parties,” said Diane. “So little time.”

“And there will be even more on Halloween night,” agreed Mara.

“I’m glad they have the downtown parade early.”

Signe pressed a martini into the furry paw of a man in a bear costume, then a cosmopolitan into the black-gloved hand of a witch, and then she glanced between her friends again and grinned, since they all looked so vixenlike in matching black jumpsuits. Tails were pinned to their fannies; they’d found headbands with ears attached; and whiskers were drawn on with black eye pencil. Black masks covered their eyes.

Not that the women looked the least bit alike. C.C. was petite with russet hair she blew so straight that it always looked as if she’d ironed it, while Diane—the one men usually drooled over first—was tall, blond and statuesque. Mara, with her strong, angular bones and clear skin, was good-looking enough to get away with keeping her brown hair conveniently short, eschew makeup and dress in a wardrobe that Diane always termed “grunge-inspired.”

“I really wish I could go with you,” Signe said regretfully. “Are we still having breakfast tomorrow?”

As C.C. nodded, a hank of reddish hair spilled over her shoulder. “Want to meet at Sarah’s on the West Side? They’ve got those wicked apple tarts.”

Everybody agreed.

“And what about the wiccan thing?” asked Signe. Through the business Diane had opened the year before, Wacky Weekends, she offered novelty getaways for bored Manhattanites. She’d just heard of a solstice event in the Catskill Mountains hosted by a group of women from New Jersey. Since the group’s monthly gatherings might appeal to her clientele, she’d asked her friends to help her check it out.

“It’s this upcoming weekend,” said Diane. “So, we’d better firm up our plans.”

“I’ll rent a car,” said C.C., who was the only one of the four women who enjoyed driving.

“Get a convertible,” said Signe. “It should still be warm enough.”

“Indian summer’s going to hold through the weekend,” offered Mara. “It said so on the news.”

“We’ll all chip in for the car,” continued Diane.

Signe nodded. “What should we bring?”

“Aspirin,” C.C. quipped. “It’s rumored that the New Jersey wiccans serve a herbal root beverage that kicks butt.”

Diane scoffed. “Forget aspirin. I’ll bring Bloody Mary mix.”

“And forget your bathing suit, Sig,” said Mara. “If it’s warm, everybody’s skinny-dipping in the lake.”

C.C., who hated nature almost as much as Signe, arched an eyebrow. “Lake?” she groused. “What lake?”

“The cabins are on a lake,” explained Mara.

Crinkling their noses, C.C. and Signe exchanged glances. Signe said, “That means insect repellent. I think I’ve got some left over from the last time we were dragged into the wilderness.”

“Good. Oh!” C.C. added. “Don’t forget to bring something belonging to the man you’re casting a spell on. On Saturday night, the wiccans place a boiling cauldron in the center of their magic circle—”

“And we’re all supposed to throw in an object while we read a spell that we’ve written ourselves,” said Mara.

“You mean, to make a man fall for you?” asked Signe, thinking of Gorgeous.

C.C., who wasn’t the committal type said, “Or have sex.”

At that precise moment, Signe’s eyes landed on Gorgeous Garrity, who was standing on the other side of the room, and she sucked in a breath. Since leaving Wall Street to take over his father’s position, running Garrity Enterprises, a conglomerate that owned businesses around the world, Gorgeous had been on the cover of New York magazine, New York Business World and People. He’d also taken a liking to Signe.

“Speak of the devil,” said Mara.

“He’s eyeing the bar,” observed C.C., her voice hitching. “He’s about to come over here, so we’ll make ourselves scarce.”

Signe glanced downward at her gold blouse and silk pantaloons, then ran a hand nervously over the shoulder-length black wig that framed her heart-shaped face, hoping Gorgeous would like the Cleopatra costume. Just contemplating a conversation with him made the pulse in her throat tick wildly, and the thought of sleeping with him…

She sighed. “He’s so rich.”

“Try not to think about it,” coached C.C. “Just think of him as an average American male.”

But Gorgeous Garrity didn’t have an average bone in his body. Each bone, in fact, was long and tailored, just like the sport jackets he wore when he visited the Met during his lunch hour.

“He’s definitely heading this way, as soon as the woman in the milkmaid outfit lets go of him….” Diane murmured.

Signe’s voice hitched. “Only because he wants a drink.”

“Au contraire!” scoffed C.C. “As busy as he is with Garrity Enterprises, he doesn’t have to come to the museum every day to get a cup of coffee at noon. He does it to flirt with you, Sig.”

Signe’s thoughts exactly. “He told me to call him George.”

All three women said, “George?”

“That’s his name.”

C.C.’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that.”

“Nobody does. Everybody’s called him Gorgeous for years.”

“Well, he’s definitely that,” said Mara. “Here he comes!”

“I don’t want to read too much into this,” Signe said nervously. She was only a waitress in the museum’s café. It wasn’t exactly an esteem-building job, either. She tried not to compare herself to her girlfriends, but over the past year, she’d watched each of them achieve career ambitions. Diane had opened Wacky Weekends, C.C. had begun taking on her own accountancy clients and Mara had become a Realtor.

But Signe wasn’t giving up hope. In college, she’d studied art and library science. While working for the New York public library, she’d kept applying for jobs at the Met with no luck, so she was trying this new tactic. She’d do anything she could to meet the curators and get them to consider her for one of the coveted jobs in the archives department.

She loved everything about this museum. Its dark, gloomy corridors, marble staircases and smell of oil paint all made her heart sing. Just breathing the air inside the cavernous rooms quickened her blood almost as much as Gorgeous Garrity. Spending the past six months slugging coffee and helping at these private parties had finally paid off, too.

Tonight, her boss, Edmond Styles, had told her that one of the archives assistants was quitting. Come Monday morning, when the woman’s two-week notice was official, Signe would be offered the job of her dreams. She was so excited. Edmond knew everything about art, and was reputed to have connections with the Garritys, through the museum, since they frequently donated artwork.

Signe took another deep breath. It would be so wonderful if something—even just one sizzling night of sex—would happen with Gorgeous….

It was a fantasy, of course. Just a dream, but who knew? She could feel her own star peaking, bright on the horizon. Sighing with satisfaction, she drifted her gaze over the pagan statues the computer mogul had borrowed for tonight’s bash. Most had come from private collectors around the city, and all were displayed on lit pedestals. Yes, she’d done a great job, if she had to say so herself. Tonight, presumably anticipating her promotion, Edmond had entrusted her with the responsibility of logging the borrowed artworks into the archives department, arranging them on the pedestals and even flipping the alarm switch that protected the pieces from theft. From start to finish, this display was her baby.

“Those statues are something to behold,” commented Diane, catching her gaze.

“Well hung,” added Mara dryly.

Signe grinned. Most of the figurines were fertility gods with noticeably disproportionate male hardware.

Diane pointed, laughing. “I think I dated him once.”

“You wish,” joked Mara.

C.C’s voice sharpened. “Here comes Mister Wonderful!”

Signe braced herself. “He’s so…out of my league.” While her parents were professionals in Minneapolis—her father was a lawyer, her mother a history teacher—their lives were modest compared to Gorgeous’s jet-setting lifestyle.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” said Mara. “You’ve got that Winona Ryder thing going for you.”

“True.” Everybody thought she looked exactly like the movie actress. “But that might not be a plus. “She was arrested for shoplifting, remember?” Signe said nervously.

“That was years ago,” Diane assured.

Signe barely heard. Her knees weakened as Gorgeous came nearer. He was definitely…well, gorgeous, dressed as a seventeenth-century courtier. A richly embroidered purple cape swirled over a white doublet with a standing ruffled collar. A sword was strapped to his narrow hips, and it thrust from beneath the cape, its sheathed length brushing tight breeches. Signe’s eyes riveted to the pants fly, which was tightly laced over a bulge that the man was hardly bothering to hide.

All three women blew out a shaky breath in unison.

C.C. softly whispered, “You go, girl.”

Realizing that every muscle in her body had tightened, Signe forced herself to inhale as she lifted her gaze, taking in the rakish white-blond wig that hung to his powerful shoulders. He was wearing a conical velvet hat in lush purple.

“Well, we’re off, Sig,” whispered C.C.

“Don’t forget to get something from him,” coached Mara. “His pen. Or a lighter.”

“Something you can throw into the wiccan’s cauldron,” said Diane.

At the thought of casting a spell on Gorgeous Garrity, Signe felt pin prickles actually rise at her nape. Should she cast a spell to marry him, she wondered, or just have sex? “Casting a spell won’t work.”

“Probably not, but it’s worth a try,” said Mara.

C.C. was scissoring her fingers in a goodbye wave. “See you in the morning at Sarah’s. Let’s make it ten o’clock.”

Eyes on Gorgeous, Signe nodded. “See you.”

Her heart was still hammering when Gorgeous leaned casually over the bar a moment later. Somehow she managed to find her voice. “What can I get for you?” She paused. “George.”

He flashed a dazzling, hundred-watt smile that was like something straight out of the movies. “You can get me out of here,” he said confidentially. “If I’m accosted by one more milkmaid who wants a date, I’m going to scream.”

As Signe strained to hear him over the beating of her own heart, she vaguely wondered at the power this man seemed to wield over her. “Get you out of here?” she echoed. “Where would you like me to take you?”

“Where a woman like you could,” Gorgeous said with an easy grin. “We could start with heaven and just take it from there.”

When it came to flirtation, the man had a thousand smooth moves. Every time he got this close to her, Signe felt like Cinderella. Right now, she’d almost chuck her life dream of working at the Met, just to drag him into the cloakroom and divest him of his costume. Who cared what her boss would think? Despite her nervousness, she shot Gorgeous what she hoped was a game smile. “Well, you’ve got to admit that the art’s interesting.”

“Very. I think my uncle Harold lent Jack some pieces.” Jack was the computer mogul.

As Signe tried to imagine a life in which one lent others personally owned priceless artifacts for parties, she glanced around, noting the number of cute, costumed kids who’d been brought to the party by their parents. “Really?” she managed to say.

He nodded. “Among them, the statue of Eros.”

Her cheeks warmed. Given the elongated penis of the fetish, she didn’t exactly want to stare at it, but then, she didn’t want to glance away too quickly, either. If she did, Gorgeous Garrity might think she was what her friends accused her of being—a prude. “I read about Eros in an art history class,” she said, returning her eyes to Gorgeous Garrity’s, which were blue and sparkling. “They say it brings sexual potency to whomever possesses it.” Just saying the word potency while staring into such astonishing eyes made her feel giddy.

His lips curled in a half smile as if to say he was well aware of the fact. “Really? Well, maybe so. Uncle Harold’s been married more than once.”

“Reproductions of the statue are sold in the gift shop. They do a booming business.”

“Even a reproduction may ensure great sex?”

“Apparently.”

His smile broadened. “Do you have one?”

“A statue of Eros?” Her heart missing a beat, she vaguely wondered how she should respond. Imagining Gorgeous in her Village apartment, naked and between the sheets, had occupied most of her dreams lately. Still, despite her girlfriends’ endless admonishments that she should loosen up, she didn’t want to give the impression that she was easy. She had no doubt that women flung themselves at Gorgeous Garrity all day. “No,” she finally admitted. “No Eros reproductions. I can, however, offer other types of potency.”

Gorgeous looked very intrigued.

Lifting a wine bottle, she raised an eyebrow in question.

He considered. “What about a Stoli and tonic instead?”

“Coming right up.” As she fixed the cocktail, her eyes slid over his costume. Most removable items—the sword, hat and belt—were too large or too hard to get for the purposes of the spell she meant to cast on him. She could borrow a pen, or ask for a business card….

Her eyes settled on the edge of a red silk handkerchief tucked in his waistband. Just looking at him, she shuddered. He was big all over. The kind of guy who, naked, would be covered with silken curling hair—all dark blond in his case. His legs were bunched with muscle, probably from playing polo, which Signe knew he enjoyed. He flashed her a smile.

She smiled back. She simply couldn’t believe it. Before she’d started this harmless flirting with Gorgeous, she’d never had sex on the brain—at least not like this. She considered herself sexually healthy, of course, but usually, when it came to men, she was much more practical. Gorgeous, despite his bank account and prospects, had looks that made her nerves quiver.

Schooling her hand not to shake, she gave him the drink, then she stepped back and feigned a sneeze. Without hesitation, he lifted the red handkerchief from his waistband and pressed it to her palm. Making a show of blowing her nose, she smiled. The ploy had worked like a charm. “Why don’t I launder this?” she suggested. “I’ll keep it here for you, since you come in so often.”

“And you’re always here,” he returned with another of those smiles that made her feel as if she was the only woman in the room. “Don’t they give you time off?”

This was his entrée! Was New York City’s most eligible bachelor really going to ask her out? “Actually, yes, they do. I’m going to the Catskills this weekend.”

“Whereabouts?”

“The state park. An area called the Clover Fields.”

“Sounds lucky.”

Was he asking if he could get lucky? “Maybe.” She giggled. “I’m in cabin seven, too. Isn’t that a lucky number?”

“It sure is.”

The cabins only slept three, so she’d decided to let her girlfriends stay together while she was to share with a roommate—one of the New Jersey wiccans—whom she hadn’t yet met.

It might have been her imagination, but Gorgeous’s eyes looked veiled. “Going alone?”

“With girlfriends.” When he looked disappointed, she took a deep breath and plunged on. “Unless you decided to show up.”

“Me? Show up?”

She wasn’t sure if she’d made a mistake. “You know, if you were in the area.”

As if he just so happened to pass the Catskill Mountains every day of the week, he smiled and said, “You know, I just might run into you.”

His eyes locked into hers then. They were the same blue as the ocean under a burning sun hung in a cerulean sky. Breath left her lungs, and full years could have passed before she managed to blink. When she did, it was only because someone in the room had screamed.

“What was that?” she managed, tearing her eyes away.

“The statue of Eros!” shouted the voice as if in response to her question.

Her heart pounding with worry, she shifted her eyes to the pedestal on which the artifact had been displayed moments before, and then she blinked, feeling as if she was watching her life flash before her eyes. She saw Edmond Styles snatching away her promised promotion into the archives department. For a moment, wishful thinking almost made her believe the statue was still there. She could almost see it—about a foot tall, carved of dark wood.

And then she whispered, “It’s gone!”

THE NEXT MORNING, with only a day left until Halloween, Signe found herself shifting uncomfortably in a roller chair in the Met’s boardroom when Detective Alfredo Perez from the Eighty-fourth precinct stopped pacing to cast a suspicious glance toward the overnight bag at her feet. He was tall, pencil-thin, with short, spiky dark hair, ink-black eyes and a handlebar mustache that Signe thought made him look like a Mexican thief from an old spaghetti western.

Not taking his eyes from her bag, he said, “I was going to tell you not to leave town.”

Not a good sign. “Am I under arrest?”

He didn’t bother to answer. “Where are you going?”

She wasn’t sure she should admit it. “A wiccan retreat.”

“Wiccan?”

“Uh…you know. Witches.”

“Ah,” he said. “You’re a witch, then?”

Great. She could see the wheels turning. Detective Perez was connecting this information with the stolen statue, which was pagan. “No, actually, I’m not.” She lunged into a quick explanation of the trip and finished by flashing a smile and intoning, “I do not know, nor have I ever known, any real witches.”

He wasn’t amused. “What about cats?” He slid a grainy photograph toward her, probably reproduced from a security video. It was of her at the bar, talking to C.C., Diane and Mara. Signe hedged. It was bad enough that they thought she hadn’t turned on the alarm, even though she knew she’d done so, but she’d definitely be fired if she admitted to signing friends into the party under fake names.

“I know I turned on the alarm.”

He eyed her a long moment. “Who are these women?”

The man’s distrustful attitude was beginning to unnerve her. “I don’t know.” Surely, it would be proved that she’d flipped the switch on the alarm. If so, she’d be in the clear. Besides, her friends weren’t involved in the theft, and a priceless statue was bound to be found quickly, right? “Whoever took the statue will try to sell it,” she ventured. “Won’t they? I mean, don’t you think it will show up on the black market…?” Noting the pleading tone in her own voice, she let the remark trail off.

“Maybe.”

She took that for a yes, and sighed in relief. No, she wasn’t about to jeopardize her future at the museum by admitting she’d added her friends to a private party’s guest roster, just so they could grab some free drinks, catered hors d’ oeuvres and meet some good-looking rich men.

Detective Perez was staring at her coldly. “What were these cats talking about?”

She thought fast. “Mostly volunteer work.” That sounded positive and upbeat.

His voice sharpened. “And they were volunteering…?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” she managed to say. “But it was clear they were very nice women. Not the sort to steal artifacts. You know,” she continued, the lies not coming easily, “they sounded as if they loved…uh…small children. And pets. I think they even mentioned giving gifts to people less fortunate than themselves.”

“Cat burglars,” he muttered. “Cute.”

Was Detective Perez really considering her friends as suspects? “They seemed like very nice women,” Signe repeated.

His eyes pinned her. “You said they didn’t talk to you.”

“Well—” Her throat constricted, and she swallowed hard. “It was in the way they ordered.”

“The way they ordered?”

“They didn’t sound like thieves.”

“How do thieves sound?”

She searched her brain. “Not like…nice women.”

“Our conversation is getting a little circular.”

At least he’d noticed. Reaching down, she clutched the handle of her overnight bag. As she did, she thought of Gorgeous for the first time since the interview had begun. He’d been truly kind after the theft was discovered, and while he’d never again referred to her invitation, she was sure she’d seen something promising in his eyes. Ten to one, he was going to turn up in the Catskills tonight. “Look, Detective Perez, I’d like to help—I really would—and if you need to speak to me again—”

It was the wrong time for her cell to ring. Wincing apologetically, she slid a hand into her purse and drew out the phone. Quickly opening it, she whispered, “Hello?”

“I’m on my way in a fabulous yellow convertible,” chortled C.C. “I’ve already picked up everybody else. Be in front of the Met in ten.”

As she powered off, Signe wrenched her gaze from the grainy photo of her friends in their cute cat costumes. Detective Perez’s dark eyes were still scrutinizing her, and even without a mirror, she knew she looked guilty. Lying had never been her strong suit. When she was little, she’d actually spent hours practicing telling untruths in the mirror. It had never helped. At the age of seven, her own father had made her swear on a Bible he used for his legal work that she’d never attempt to play poker.

“If we’re done,” she ventured, “I’ve really got to go.”

“One more question.”

“What?”

“How’s your sex life, Ms. Sargent?”

Her eyes widened. “My sex life?”

“Yes,” he said. “Your sex life, Ms. Sargent. It’s where—”

Quickly, she raised a hand, murmuring, “Uh…no need to explain.” After a stunned moment, she added, “Oh.” Was Detective Perez wondering if a lack of potency was her motive? Did he really think she’d stolen the statue of Eros to enhance her life in the bedroom?

Heat flooded her cheeks. “It’s…” Virtually nonexistent right now, except for my dreams about Gorgeous Garrity. “Fine,” she said decisively. “No problems there.” Unless you considered that her mother called every Thursday night like clockwork to see if she’d met “a nice young man,” which meant someone professional and well employed, with a bright future.

Before Detective Perez could asked any more embarrassing questions, Signe lifted the overnight bag, butterflies taking flight in her belly as she thought of Gorgeous Garrity’s handkerchief, which was tucked next to her panties.

Just as she reached the door, the detective said, “Has anyone ever mentioned that you look like Winona Ryder?”

“Yes.” Plastering an innocent smile on her face, she felt sure the wheels in his brain were spinning once more, and that he, too, was making the shoplifting connection. “They have.” For good measure, she added the word “sir.”

Sighing in relief, she exited the archives department and followed the few remaining tourists who were being shunted toward the revolving front doors. She was going to be late to meet her friends now. Rounding the grand staircase, she glanced upward, her eyes suddenly stinging as they settled on the Tiepolo painting in the upstairs gallery. What if her dream to work here didn’t materialize?

It had to. She loved everything about this place. The press of the crowds. All the tourists. How the scary, long, dark corridors went on forever, fading into shadowy marble staircases. She’d wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life in this building, cataloging artifacts, but now she—not to mention C.C., Diane and Mara—was a suspect in a heist. Things couldn’t get much worse. Or at least she thought so before she heard Edmond Styles behind her.

“Signe?” he called. “May I have a word?”

Definitely ominous. Taking a deep breath, she kept her eyes on the security guards stationed before the brass revolving doors opening onto the autumn sunlight, then she forced herself to turn around. “Of course, Mr. Styles.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said solemnly. “But I just spoke with Detective Perez, and until this matter is cleared up, we’re going to have to let you go.”

“LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE,” Diane whispered philosophically.

“What bright side?” Signe considered herself a cup-half-full person, but she hadn’t yet found one. It was hours later and the women were standing in a clearing in the woods, surveying a magic circle fashioned from broomsticks laid end to end.

Between sips of spiked herbal-root beverage, Diane kept her voice to a hushed whisper, so as not to upset the more earnest witches in attendance. “If you’re fired, Sig, you can spend next week helping me with the Manhattan Men program.”

“You’ve got a point,” admitted Signe.

“You’ll be on the payroll, and it will cheer you up.”

Manhattan Men, the program Diane was offering through her business, Wacky Weekends, was an intensive week-long experience designed for businessmen who had more money than culture, and who wanted to learn how to present themselves with more class. Next week was the program’s test run, and so far, six men from around the country had signed up. Their dates—C.C., Mara and Signe, as well as some other friends—would show the rich bachelors how to impress business associates. Between learning how to dress, order in restaurants and select fine wines, they were in for a week long extravaganza that would include trips to art openings, operas and high teas.

“Mara and I are taking vacation time, so we can participate,” reminded C.C.

“Sounds good,” Signe managed to say, still upset over the work suspension, and took another sip. The herbal-root beverage definitely had a bite. She frowned. “What do you think is in this?”

Diane didn’t hesitate. “Pure grain alcohol.”

Doubtful, Signe thought. She rarely drank. “It doesn’t taste like it.”

“You wait,” said C.C. darkly.

For once in her life, Signe decided she might not really mind tying one on. Besides, Gorgeous hadn’t stopped in on his lunch hour, as he usually did, but then maybe that meant he planned to surprise her tonight. She sighed. In the car, on the drive to the mountains, a heated debate had taken place, and all the women decided not to speak to Detective Perez and see how things played out over the next week. If the thief still wasn’t caught and Signe wasn’t reinstated in her job, then they’d reconsider their strategy. Despite stories and movies to the contrary, they’d reasoned, priceless artifacts rarely really vanished. Surely, they were too hard to sell. All they had to do was wait for the police to find Eros.

C.C. knocked back her herbal root beverage, then fanned herself. “It’s hot out here.”

“Remember last Christmas?” said Diane. “It was seventy degrees.”

“Global warming,” explained Mara. “At least we can skinny-dip in the lake after the ceremony.”

The ceremony. Signe’s eyes settled on the huge black kettle in the center of the magic circle. Beneath it, a fire roared. Reaching into the back pocket of her cutoffs, she withdrew Gorgeous Garrity’s handkerchief and the spell she’d written. “It’s not very good,” she whispered. Since it concerned Gorgeous, she’d meant to spend quality time on it, but her concern over the missing Eros statue and Detective Perez’s sudden entrance into her life had distracted her.

“You really can’t expect yourself to write a good spell,” Diane commiserated, “not when so much is going on in your life, Sig.”

So true. Wishing she’d done a better job, she moved up in line, watching Mara. Following the protocol of the New Jersey wiccans, Mara removed one of the brooms, which was functioning as a gate. After opening the symbolic door, she closed it behind her and walked toward the boiling cauldron. When she reached the pot, she tossed in a jock strap that had belonged to her ex-boyfriend, Dean. Even though the breakup had been definite, he still wouldn’t quit calling. Unfolding the spell she’d penned, Mara began to read:

“Dean, I hate to be unkind

But it seems I haunt your mind.

Oh, SoHo man I’ve left behind,

May this spell break our binds…”

“Get ready,” C.C. whispered. “You’re next, Sig.”

Signe nodded, taking one more anxious glance around. While Minneapolis had its share of sprawling state parks in the middle of the city, she’d never frequented them. She was a city girl, born and bred. The woods made her nervous. She found herself thinking of insects. Wildcats. Bears. You name it. Her imagination always ran wild.

Fortunately, tonight, the herbal beverage was mitigating her anxiety. In fact, the more she drank, the more she got a warm, fuzzy feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. Right now, the rustic log cabins that were barely visible through the tall trees looked inviting, even though Signe’s roommate had canceled at the last moment, since one of her kids was sick. That meant Signe was going to wind up sleeping in a cabin all by herself. Not that she couldn’t join her friends, but the beds were single and it would be uncomfortable.

Being alone would be fine, she told herself. It was safe. No men were around. Regarding the retreat, most of the women looked less like witches and more like soccer moms from New Jersey who wanted a girls’ night out, away from their husbands and kids.

Diane’s elbow caught her in the ribs. “Mara’s done, Sig. You’re next.”

Miming Mara’s movements, she, too, headed for the circle. Using a broom as a gateway, she entered the magic area, then replaced the broom and approached the cauldron. A wave of heat hit her, warming her cheeks as she peered over the edge. Floating under the bubbling surface, she could make out a pager, a cell phone and a Brooks Brothers tie. The jilted fiancée of a dentist had dropped in his Water Pic, after reading a spell that included the words: “You thought I was the hostess with the mostess. Now I’m wishing you halitosis.”

One overzealous redhead had tossed in the keys to her husband’s Lexus, realizing too late that she’d borrowed his car to come to the retreat. Another had offered the last lock of her boyfriend’s hair before he’d gone prematurely bald, in the hopes that his hair would grow back.

Signe took a deep breath. Shutting her eyes, she conjured an image of Gorgeous Garrity, and for a blissful moment, she forgot all about the missing potency statue, Detective Perez and the fact that she was—hopefully temporarily—unemployed. What if Gorgeous did come to the mountains tonight? She breathed out shakily, imagining how his hands might feel on her body.

Their conversation had been preempted by the theft of the statue, but before that, Gorgeous had sounded as if he was seriously considering a trip up here. Turning toward the wiccans, she cleared her throat, straightened her shoulders and read:

“O, ye spirits, do hear me

In a crystal ball do see

An eve of sexy revelry

With a man I call Garrity

And if we should be good in bed

I beseech ye, we should wed

And now that this has all been said

I give this handkerchief of red.”

Turning, she dropped the handkerchief into the boiling water, then had the strangest falling sensation, as if a rug had been jerked from beneath her feet. Her breath caught as it went under the bubbling surface of the water, the pointed tail of it swirling once before it was lost.

Surely it was nothing—just fanciful thinking, as if the spell might work—nevertheless, the hairs at her nape were prickling her warm skin when she exited the circle. The feeling lingered as Diane cast a spell to make her business, Wacky Weekends, thrive, and as C.C. angled for another promotion. Only when the women began stripping and running into the lake did the feeling start to dissipate.

As C.C. pulled a sundress over her head and weighted it down with a rock, Signe said, “wouldn’t it be kind of creepy if these spells really worked?”

Mara was wiggling out of her shorts. “Creepy?”

Signe shook her head. “I don’t know,” she murmured. “Back there, I got this…weird feeling. Like it was real. Like it’s going to work.”

“And you’re going to marry Gorgeous Garrity?” asked Diane.

“Or just sleep with him?” asked C.C.

“You wish,” chimed Mara. “C’mon, get undressed.”

That changed the subject. “I’m not swimming in that lake.”

Mara shot her a long look. “Why, may I ask?”

Signe laughed. “Because when I free-associate, lakes make me think of words such as rocks, fish and slime.”

“No excuse,” declared C.C. “If I can do this, you can.”

“What the heck,” Signe said on a sigh, stripping off her shorts and panties, and glancing around as she downed the last gulp from her pewter mug. “What if someone sees us?”

“There’s nobody out here,” assured Diane.

C.C., wearing her bra and panties, grabbed her friends’ empty mugs and said, “I’m getting us all refills before I get in.”

The stuff was definitely tasty. Usually, Signe didn’t indulge much, but her friends were right. This was a girls’ night. No men were in the woods. And the lake really was beautiful, the crests of its softly lapping dark waters glinting with light from the glowing full moon. If Gorgeous Garrity really did show, he probably wouldn’t mind if Signe was just a little tipsy….

The alcohol seemed to be making her quite bold.

“Make mine a double, C.C.,” she suddenly called.

And then she pulled off her panties and, tired of the other women teasing her for being relatively body conscious, she made a point of throwing the scrap of silk to the night breeze. As a gust of wind caught her underwear, Signe ran for the water.

Which meant her back was turned when C.C. returned with the drinks and pulled the age-old camp joke of hiding the rest of Signe’s clothes.