A Bad Penny, page 3
Penny opened the mid-sized book, pausing, thinking of what she saw in the first book on the page. She held it up again, pointing at the barely there number. “See, the number 37,” she said as Lana walked over to join them.
She flipped The Galen book open to page 37. She held it up to the light. Again, there was a watermark. Her eyes went to Fred, who watched her with slight amusement. “It is in fine print, but it says The American Distiller. You know, if that one is a first edition, it could easily be worth about eight grand,” Penny said.
“I’m aware,” he said, using the ladder and climbing to find the book by Michael Kraftt. “Got it, what page number?”
“Sixty-two,” Penny said, coming closer to him.
Fred opened the book to page sixty-two to not find words, but an image. A rough sketch of a vase with handles and a bird carving, or what looked like a bird. Lana leaned forward.
“That is a McCoy vase. I saw an aqua one in the other room,” she said, holding up a finger. She ran to the next room and called out, “Found it!”
Fred and Penny joined her in the parlor. She looked inside the vase and at the bottom was a key, a lone, antique key that belonged to something of which they had no idea. All three stared at the skeleton key.
“The game is afoot,” Penny said, shimmying her shoulders. “Now, to find what that opens!”
Chapter 3 - Distressing
Excitement filled the room with the finding of the skeleton key. Lana, completely distracted, began to run about the room looking for cabinets, lockets, and potential boxes where the key could possibly fit. In the library alone, from where he stood, Fred spotted at least seventeen places where the key could belong. He didn’t have time for it. What he had time for was the job at hand. When this job was finished, there were two others upcoming, and one larger one at the end of the year that also required a three-month commitment and would take him into the new year. He was not about to lose an entire week sorting through the junk of a man named Philoneus in search of a hole where a key could open more misery in his life.
“Here ya go,” he said, handing the key to Penny.
Lana, shocked at the rewarding of a gift to a woman who hadn’t done a damn thing other than flirt with her boss, took exception in the worst way. Penny didn’t even bother to wash her coffee cup let alone the dishes she ate breakfast out of, and lunch was on the horizon, and she probably wasn’t planning to do a damned thing to help out there either. Lana nearly found herself pouting. “You’re just gonna give her the key? Don’t we have a stake in whatever she finds?” she asked.
“We have a stake in finishing this job on time,” Fred said. “Neither I nor you have the time to run from room to room testing out that key. Let her do it. Whatever she’s looking for is going to bring her nothing but misery and misfortune. She can have at it.”
“And wow,” Penny replied, accepting the key. “Just like that, you’re giving me the key.”
“Yes, I am giving you the key to get you out of my hair. If you steal something, you steal something,” he said. “We have no idea what is here; therefore, I can’t miss what I don’t know exists. You’re disruptive. Find what you were sent here to retrieve and be gone.”
“Disruptive?”
“Yes, Dr. Dobbs, disruptive,” he said. “You interrupted my morning practice, ate the food, and didn’t wash a single dish. We have spent the last hour looking at pages in books, an hour I won’t get back. My assistant and I need to focus. You’re a distraction.”
“If you ask me, it appears you could use a distraction or three,” she told him, licking her lips.
“See, this is what I mean,” Fred sighed heavily. “Lana and I spend a great deal of time together on the road in confined spaces, and we share meals. There was even one time, based on the lack of safety where we were working, we shared a room.”
“Is that what this is...she’s your...”
“Stop it! No, she is not,” he said. “I value Lana and her insight. She is a very capable assistant and well respected by those in our field as well as respected by me. Never have I placed her in a position to feel uncomfortable or unsafe in my presence. You show up, and in less than 24 hours, you have constantly reminded her I have a dick.”
“Of course, you have one, or are you batting for the other team?”
“No, you insane person,” Fred said. “My sexuality, or lack of sexuality, has never come into play. She sees me as her boss, a protector if shit gets sticky, and over a meal, her friend. You come flouncing in here with all of your sexual energy, and she is going to look at me differently. Our professional relationship may take a hit because you found a new puppy to torture. Leave me be and go find what you want, and if I have to say it once more, I’m kicking you out.”
“Fine!”
Lana listened to what he was saying and agreed with her boss. Until now, yes, she was aware of him being all man, but she’d never viewed him in a sexual sense. He was her boss, a Gumby-like creature who cooked and was neat. If she were truthful, in her heart, she thought he was batting for the other team since he’d never made a move, stared at her boobs, or grazed against her accidentally or on purpose. He purchased thoughtful gifts for her birthday and holidays and even appropriate bouquets on Administrative Professionals Day. Never once had she been uncomfortable with her boss, and they had shared a tent on the side of the mountain in the pitch black of night. They had even shared a cabin in the mountains without enough firewood and had to share body heat, but he was never inappropriate. Now, because of this woman, she realized her boss had a working dick. She also realized something else.
“Fred, do you think I’m ugly?” she asked him, making Penny and Fred turn to face her.
Fred, shocked at the question, asked, “What?”
“You’ve never tried to fuck me; do you think I’m unattractive? Am I ugly and undesirable to you?”
His eyes grew wide. It was a trap. He wouldn’t answer the question, but in not answering the question, he could hurt her feelings. Therefore, he gave her an honest answer.
“I value your thoughtfulness in the mornings when we share a meal of giving me time to collect my thoughts,” he said. “I am humbled in the trust you place in me to look out for you if we are in a big city, a small town, or in a cabin with one log of firewood to last all night. More than anything, I would be devastated if a man I trusted with my sister ever did something to make her scared of him or placed in a position of feeling employment retribution for not doing as a man wanted.”
“Jeez, you do think I’m unfuckable,” Lana said, with her bottom lip quivering. “Well, now I know. My boss thinks I’m ugly!”
He looked at Penny, exhaling loudly. “Please leave. Just leave.”
Fred had nothing more to say to either woman. He took his lunch in the sunroom, refusing to ponder the distressing conversation. On the shelf, he did find a pristine copy with a dust jacket intact of Lanark, by Alasdair Gray, a book written in four parts over a thirty year period and heralded as one of the best novels of the twentieth century. His father, for one, would easily pay a thousand dollars to own the book.
The enjoyment of finding such a treasure was stolen from him. His heart felt heavy. Lana had worked with and for him going on five years. She was an exceptionally bright and competent young woman, and she didn’t try to hit on him. The assistant before her had myriads of personal problems, boyfriend issues, and never could get to work on time. Each out-of-town trip caused a row with the boyfriend, which led to him firing Daisy and hiring Dan.
Dan also had a possessive boyfriend who questioned the need for so many out-of-town trips. An overnight trip from New Haven, Connecticut, where Dan lived, to do an assessment of a collection in Vermont, flipped a switch in Dan. Since his boyfriend thought he was cheating with Fred, his mind rationed that maybe he should. He made a sloppy move on Fred, jumping into his lap over dinner and shoving his tongue in Fred’s mouth at the same second Dan’s overly jealous boyfriend made his presence known and accused Fred of being a home wrecker. Dan was fired on the spot and sent home with his man.
For a year, Fred worked solo. It lengthened the assessment times which the Society didn’t approve of, and he was awarded Lana, a sweet young lady with a promising future in the world of archivist. The last thing he’d ever want to do is tarnish her name.
He’d seen it happen to his sister who now only worked in and on special collections. His mother, also a world-renown researcher, spoke of the male librarians who would say and do terrible things or try to get her into the stacks with them late at night. She ended up quitting her job as a public librarian and working for an elementary school. His grandmother often talked about the men she came in contact with as a young librarian, and as soon as she married well, she gave up her work to travel with her husband on his adventures.
Fred never entertained the possibility of violating Lana’s trust. And then along came Penny. He gritted his teeth in anger, pushing it aside and going back to work. When passing Lana in the kitchen, he asked her to wait.
“Lana, do you like your job and working with me?” he asked, feeling awkward about posing the question.
“I do. I’ve learned a great deal from you, Boss,” she replied.
“I enjoy our work relationship as well and have endeavored to have your respect and trust,” he said softly. “My grandmother, mother, and even my sister has told me of horrific experiences working with men in libraries or other organizations. I want you to be comfortable around me and free to share thoughts, ideas, and best practices.”
Lana squinted at him. “Yeah, so go ahead and admit it, you think I’m ugly. Or worse, too weird.”
“I think you are quite possibly the loveliest young woman I have ever had the pleasure to know,” he said softly. “Your smile is a light in a dark room. The sound of your laughter is infectious and even when I am in a low spot in my soul, the sound of you laughing immediately cheers me and brightens my day. I look forward to ending the day and sharing a meal with you, simply to hear what you’ve discovered during the workday and your take on objects, artifacts, and papers. You, Lana, bring joy to my life. I will not ruin the beauty that is you by being crass.”
Her hand went to her chest. She began to tear up and ran into him, throwing her arms around his midsection. A large hand patted her on the back as he would a sobbing child. He gave her a gentle squeeze before pulling her from his body.
“Can we get back to work?”
“Sure thing, Boss,” she said, wiping snot on the back of her hand.
He looked up to see Penny standing in the doorway. She nodded her head and walked away. Inside of him, butterflies flapped all over the damned place. Blood began rushing to his lower extremities, and damn it, he wanted her. More than anything, he wanted to let down that hair of hers, sprawl it all over his pillow, and do things to Penelope Dobbs that would make her repent her sins and join a church.
Standing and facing the window, he actually began to count backward since the last time he was with a woman for more than a bump and a tug.
Six months.
No, six months ago he was in Texas at a ranch with a guy who did African safaris but returned with more than stuffed animal heads. That fucker he hated for the thievery of African artifacts and art. He had spent more time reporting the items that tied him up in court, killing any chance of connecting with a woman, so not then.
Eight months.
No, he and Monica, his work friend, only had dinner. Plus, she laughed like a donkey high on meth, and each time he leaned in for a kiss, she yee-hawed at him, killing his boner. Monica did provide a bit of over-the-clothes action, but it wasn’t an actual release.
“A year?” he said, scratching his head. “My God, a year.”
A year ago, he was with Beverly, a buxom blonde who liked Indiana Jones movies. She thought what he did for a living made him a Dr. Jones type of guy. It had been longer than he realized and maybe Penny saw that in him. He needed to connect. He needed time in her arms to feel as if he mattered to someone other than his parents and sister. That night, he would have been anyone she wanted him to be. It wasn’t a lustful connection, but one of bodily function and stress relief.
An evening with Penelope Dobbs would be lustful. An evening with that woman would change his life. His life needed some changing, but the changes she would bring would be drastic, all-consuming, and heart-wrenching. His father often talked of loving with everything a man had; however, thus far, Fred hadn’t found the woman to give her his everything. The woman in the other room could have what he was willing to share, but his everything wasn’t for someone who would take flight the moment something shiny caught her eye. Currently, he felt like he was her something shiny.
“I’m made of more than that, even though I need it,” he said softly, returning to the library to try to clear the right side of the room.
FOR DINNER, LANA PREPARED smoked sausages with crusty rolls, broccoli, and hearty bacon mac and cheese. Penny, dressed down in jeans and a loose-fitting tee in a soft pink that almost caressed the pecan tone of her skin, wore her hair down for supper. She offered to help Lana plate the meal, even bringing Fred’s plate to the table. Skeptical of her intentions, he remained quiet as they ate.
Penny struck up a conversation with Lana. She was smiling as she spoke, discussing the book section she was working on and items she’d discovered as well as a few titles she’d never heard of before from well-known authors.
“Like whom?” Lana asked.
“I found a first edition copy of Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin wedged behind a stack of Reader’s Digest leather bound books,” Penny said. “What did you find today?”
Lana cut a chunk of the sausage, biting and chewing slowly. “Something is not right about this man, Philoneus Mason. I found French Faience vases in the same room along with Victorian vases and Hobnail Milk Glass. It’s like two different people were building these collections.”
Penny replied, “Actually it was. This home was shared by Roger Sellers and Philoneus. I think, and don’t quote me, Sellers got bit by a viper in South America in his tent and died. Much of the work on the home was done by Sellers, who built around the original cabin inherited by Jason Barr, the great, great-grandson of Jesse James. Frank James owned the original house. Barr built around the original with help from Sellers, who was the primary investor in the renovations. The amount of money owed to Sellers when Barr died made the house come to him.”
Lana leaned forward, “Okay, does that mean when Sellers died, he owed Philoneus money?”
“Everybody owed Philoneus money,” Penelope said, looking at Fred. “Much of what you see in this house are debts being paid via antiquities.”
“How do you know that?” Fred asked.
“I’m the person Philoneus called to get back his shit,” she told them. “I used whatever skills required to coax greedy men out of possessions to pay off a debt owed to Philoneus.”
“Therefore, you know what you’re looking for in the house; you just don’t know where,” Fred said.
“Correct,” she said in a moment of honesty. “I was sent to collect an item Philoneus obtained that didn’t belong to him, and the rightful owner wants it back.”
“So, you were going to use whatever feminine wiles on me to get what you were after,” he said. “I get it.”
“No, there is something about you that speaks to me,” she said. “I live a lonely life. I’m going to be here, one way or another, to find what I need, and I took three steps forward to cut through the muck, hoping you’d be willing to share some of that yummy.”
Fred found himself laughing. “I’ve never heard myself being referred to as yummy.”
“Well, you are; forgive me Lana for being so forward in front of you, I mean no disrespect, but I had to know if I was stepping on your toes or messing with your evenings,” Penny said. “I see there is nothing between you two. My apologies to you both.”
Penny yawned wide. “Lana, you cooked dinner. I’ll get the dishes.”
In that instant, Fred Quartermaine saw Penelope Dobbs differently. She was a straight shooter for the most part, clearly stating why she was there and what she came to find in a roundabout way. She also told him what she needed from him. He was many things, but easy wasn’t one. Well, not too easy.
Maybe kind of easy.
Okay, sort of easy.
“I can hear you thinking aloud, Fred,” she said.
“Lord, I hope not,” he replied, leaving the room with a quick goodnight. He showered and was readying himself for bed when the tap came at the door. Tonight, he wouldn’t open it. Tonight, he wasn’t as strong as he had been a few hours ago. If she stepped through that door this evening, he couldn’t make any promises to be a gentleman. If Dr. Penny with her laced wine came through that entryway, she was going to get got.
“Yes?” he said.
“I brought a nightcap,” Penny said.
“Nope, don’t want one,” he replied through the closed and locked door.
“You said I couldn’t flirt with you in front of your assistant. She’s in bed. I’m at your door. Open it up so I can flirt with you and maybe get a goodnight kiss,” she said.
“Nope, go away,” he replied, chuckling.
“Then I shall puff, and huff, and blow this bitch down,” she replied, laughing.
The door flung open to Fred standing in the entry way with no shirt on. Penelope’s eyes grew wide at seeing all the muscles. She used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth.
“Oh yummy, yummy, yummy,” she said, laughing at herself.
“You get on my damned nerves,” he said, not wanting to laugh and looking at the wine glasses in her hand. “I don’t trust you to not lace that with something, so what if I simply kiss you and send you on your way.”
“Simply kiss...sir, I don’t...ooh,” she said as his arms slipped around her waist. In one motion, he lifted her from the floor, his lips going to hers, kissing gently, not prying, probing, or seeking to stick his tongue in her mouth. As quickly as it began, he placed her on her feet a foot outside of his door. Fred took one step back and closed the door in her face. Penny heard the locks engage.
