Sweet Revenge

interesting package all in all.” Satisfied, he scooped the diamonds back into the briefke and slipped it into his pocket as casually as an Avon lady might pack up her samples. “What can I do for you today, Rose?”
    For an answer, she reached in her bag and drew out a large chamois sack. Turning it over, she emptied the glistening contents onto his desk. Cohen’s little blue eyes lit up like sapphires.
    “Rose, Rose, Rose, the day is always brighter when you’re in it.”
    She grinned, pulled off her sunglasses, and inched a hip onto the corner of the desk. “Real pretty, huh?” The flavor of the Bronx was in her voice now. “I nearly died when I saw them. I said, ‘Honey, those are the prettiest things I ever saw.’” Her full mouth moved into a pout. “I wish he’d let me keep them.”
    “I imagine they’re hot enough to burn your skin, Rose.” Making use of the loupe again, he began examining the necklace stone by stone. “How long has he had them?”
    “You know he don’t tell me stuff like that. But not long. They’re real, ain’t they, Mr. Cohen? I swear, those rocks are so big they don’t look real.”
    “They’re real, Rose.” He might have tried to play games with her, but not with the man who fed him a steady amount of merchandise. “V.V.S.I., fancy stones with just a touch of pink. Excellent workmanship in this.” Gently, he set the necklace down and picked up the bracelet. “Of course, that’s neither here nor there. It’s only the diamonds that interest us.”
    She poked at the necklace with the tip of a hot pink press-on nail. “I like pretty things.”
    “Don’t we all? That’s what keeps us both in business.” Breathing through his teeth, Cohen studied the earrings. “Amagnificent set.” He turned aside to push at a file and unearth his adding machine. Mumbling figures to himself, he clicked buttons. “A hundred and twenty-five, Rose.”
    She pushed her chin forward. “He said I should get two fifty.”
    “Rose.” Cohen folded his hands on his chest. With his calm blue eyes and thinning hair, he looked like a patient uncle. There was a .38 automatic under his rumpled jacket. “We both know I have to sit on these, warehouse them, so to speak, before I pass them along.”
    “He said two fifty.” There was a whine in her voice now. “If I go home with half that, he’s going to be real unhappy.”
    Cohen shifted back to the adding machine. He could pay two hundred and still make the standard commission, but he liked playing with Rose. If it hadn’t been for the reputation of the man she represented, he would have liked making the play more personal. “Every time you come in here, I lose money. I don’t know what it is about you, Rose, but I like you.”
    She brightened instantly. It was an old game. “I like you too, Mr. Cohen.”
    “How about a hundred and seventy-five, and a couple of those pretty little stones I was looking at when you came in? It’d be our secret.”
    She allowed herself to look tempted, then regretful. “He’d find out. He always finds out, and he don’t like it when I take presents from other guys.”
    “All right, Rose, I’m cutting my own throat, but we’ll make it two hundred. You tell him a set like that brings extra heat, and extra heat costs. I’ll have the cash in a couple of hours.”
    “Okay.” She stood and tugged at her coat. “I can calm him down if he gets mad. He won’t stay mad for long. Can I leave the stuff here with you, Mr. Cohen? I don’t like carrying it around on the street.”
    “Naturally.” They both knew he wouldn’t have the bad sense to steal from his best supplier. In his careful handwriting he wrote out a memo and passed it to her. This would serve as a receipt in any deal, legal or otherwise. “Go do a little shopping, Rose. I’ll take care of everything.”
    *  *  *
    Three hours later Adrianne dumped her bag, her coat, and her wig on the huge brass bed in her room. The contacts came out first, were cleaned and stored before she pried off the fake nails. Dragging her hand through her freed hair, she picked up the phone.
    “Kendal and Kendal.”
    “George, Jr., please. Princess Adrianne calling.”
    “Yes, Your Highness, right away.”
    With a sigh of relief, Adrianne kicked off Rose’s shoes before she sat on the bed.
    “Addy, nice to hear from you.”
    “Hello, George, I won’t keep you, I know how busy you lawyers are.”
    “Never too busy for you.”
    “That’s