Hooked

the promise that no finer courtesan existed in the city of New York .
    No pressure there . Raves like that could only lead to client disappointment. No one was that good, for any amount of money, and no matter what people thought, making a client happy wasn’t always about sex. And how does Benny know how good I am anyway?
    Charles called up to announce her appointment had arrived and that Benny was delivering the man personally. Walsh claimed Cooper stayed in the background, unwilling to put himself in a compromising position. So much for that. Must be someone special. Benny knocked and Tawny opened the door.
    “Mark Seymour,” Benny said. “May I present Tawny.”
    Seymour entered the room. A smile played on his lips when he saw Tawny. She barely heard Benny mention something about caviar and champagne before leaving with wishes for a pleasant evening. As soon as the door closed, Tawny’s composure slipped. She grappled for words. A symphony of drumbeats throbbed where her heart was supposed to be, and she spoke in an almost inaudible voice. “What are you doing here?”
    “I might ask you the same question,” the old man said with an air that defied surprise.
    He hadn’t lost the Italian charisma that oozed from his pores like his favorite Amaretto.
    Tawny knew the man had another side, but she’d seen only one. Always trim, he wore a light-colored jacket over a black silk T-shirt, but he’d lost weight and appeared more gaunt than the last time they met. His dark, leathery skin stretched tight over facial bones that could have been chiseled from marble by a master carver.
    Calm and cool as always, he took her hand and moved her away from the door to the sofa and spoke quietly. “I thought you retired.”
    She scanned the room once more and checked the ceiling fan, surreptitiously, she thought. But he knew what she was doing because he said, “No cameras or microphones. Cooper assured me. He might lie to others, but we have…an agreement, and I believe him. He has filmed and recorded. And he’s used it. So be very careful.”
    “How do you know?”
    “That little faggot in the office tried to sting one of my people. I don’t know what he could have been thinking, but he picked the wrong guy, made a bad calculation. Cooper said he didn’t know anything about it.”
    Tawny wondered whether the sting could be tied to the dead girl or to one of the others who’d disappeared. But she wouldn’t find out anything from the man in the room with her. She moved closer to him, kissing him lightly on the lips. “Nice to see you, Mario.”
    “The pleasure’s always mine where you’re concerned, Tawny. He spun her around. “ Molto elegante . Now, cara , tell me, what are you doing here? You retired.”
    She wasn’t prepared and had to think fast. This time she told the truth, minus one important fact. “Yes, I did, until an acquaintance bartered me to the police in exchange for keeping her out of jail on a drug charge. I don’t know how, but they found one of the offshore accounts you helped set up. But only one,” she said with a sly grin. Truth so far. She had to decide how to handle this. She couldn’t tell him she was working for the cops or the feds. He’d forgive anything but that.
    “I have to pay the back taxes, interest, and penalties, and I can’t do that without tapping into the other accounts.”
    “Lots of ways they could have found it. Could have been through a search of yours truly. So, they know how you made the money.”
    “They know, thanks to my friend, but they’re after bigger fish than call girls. Prostitution is way down on their list. Ah, but tax evasion. Another story. They could arrest me and put me in jail, but they’d never get their money. They’ve given me a few months to get the funds.”
    “Doesn’t sound like the feds. Usually, they do both: get the money and put you in jail.” He brushed her hair back in an almost fatherly gesture. “Even the most hardnosed cop would soften when dealing with a woman like you. I understand completely.”
    Tawny thought of Walsh. Nothing soft about threats and blackmail. “I guess they could still do both if I come up short.”
    “Still, you should have come to me.”
    “I planned to when I had enough money to pay the bill. Then Mr. Martell could arrange a consulting fee from the dummy company he set up. You know, my legitimate income. He’s a genius.”
    “Hmm,” Mario said with a hint of disapproval.
    Then she