Chapter 5

Laura Jamison had already been alerted by a phone call from Jack Brady when she heard the light hesitant knocking at her front door. She stood up lithely, and stretched a moment, like a panther. Then she composed her face into its calmest expression and walked to the door, her intuition telling her who was knocking.

"Why, Janet," she said in mock surprise, as she swung back the heavy door. "What a surprise to see you." With a choked groan, Janet flung herself forward and began sobbing uncontrollably in Laura's arms.

"What's the matter, honey," Laura asked with a note of deep concern in her voice and manner. She hated herself a little just at that moment, for what she and the others had been putting this innocent young girl through; but she caught herself and began repeating way back in her own mind that she was doing it for the good of everyone concerned, Janet concluded!

"Oh, Laura," the young blonde sobbed. "I've ruined everything with Paul. I'm going to lose him, I just know it." Her voice choked up then, and she couldn't speak anymore.

"Oh, come on, baby, nothing could be that bad," Laura said with a reassuring hug. "What'd you do? Buy out a department store?"

"No, no, it's not funny, Laura. I'm not good enough for him. I've betrayed him. Oh, hell hate me." Then she went on to tell Laura of her involvement with Jack Brady, leaving out only the intimate details of her supposed depravity.

It was a long time before Laura could get her to calm down and stop crying. She led the younger girl to a chair and made her sit down. .

"OK, OK, honey," she said reassuringly. "You did the right thing in coming here, you just can't see Paul while you're in this state. You spend the night here with me, and I'll call Paul and handle all the problems. OK?"

"Th-thank you, Laura," Janet said through her drying tears. "Oh, I'm so sorry to bring all this trouble to you."

"Oh, don't be such a baby, you know I don't mind." To herself, Laura was thinking that this was just the opportunity that she and Pete had been waiting for. The big party had been planned for tonight, and she knew what she had to do.

"Hey," she said as if the idea had just occured to her. "I've got a great idea. Pete and I have been invited to a party tonight at a friend of ours. They have the most fabulous house, and I know you'd love it. Come along with us and see the sights, and maybe you'll come out to that shell of yours."

"But Laura," she gasped. "I couldn't go to a party now, not like this. I mean, it just wouldn't be right."

Laura let a stern expression come over her face. "All right, Miss Smartie. You come over here asking for help, and when I come up with an idea that I'm sure will put you back in some frame of mind a little closer to sanity, you come up with your holy act."

"Oh, no, Laura, it's not that I don't appreciate what you want to do for me," the troubled blonde wife said hurriedly. "But I just don't know how I could face people after what I've been through today. Look at me, I'm a mess," she said, indicating her tear-stained face and grief-haunted eyes.

"That's nothing a little rest won't take care of," Laura answered. "Come on." She led the weakly protesting girl into the bedroom, helped her undress, then made her he down on the bed and covered her with a blanket.

"You get some sleep now," she said mother-like. "Pete and I will be with you at the party, and if you think you have to leave, we'll bring you back. Just shut up now," she said sternly. "I know what you're going to say. I'll call Paul myself and tell him you're spending the night with me. I know just how to handle it." Before Janet could answer, she turned and walked out of the room.

Janet lay quietly for a minute, trying to decide what she should do, but before she had arrived at any conclusions, she had fallen asleep, worn out emotionally and physically by the events of the last two days.

Laura walked quickly towards the rear of the house after closing the bedroom door. She entered the den and headed straight for the phone. A moment later she was talking to her husband.

"Pete? You wouldn't believe what I have in the spare bedroom. ... No ... no, something better. Janet! ... Calm down, you lecherous old bastard, you can't have her now. If you came bursting into the room the way she feels right now, she'd probably dive right out the window. You just stay in the office until your normal time. ... Well, it's just too bad about your hard-on. ... Look, the party's going to be the best time. ... Right, she's going to the party, that is, if you don't scare her off. Now you act like a gentleman when you come home tonight or you'll foul it all up. Right ... you just remember, Tiger, if you miss her, you've got all you can handle right here at home. Right ... see you tonight."

"Dirty old man", she pouted to herself as she put the phone down. She dialed again and was soon on the phone with Jack Brady.

"Jack, it worked. Janet's here at the house and I think she's going to the party tonight. ... Did you get the movies? ... Fine. Bring them tonight." She said goodbye, then, letting her voice subside into a deep, sexy murmer. She knew how much the big detective wanted her, and she had to admit to herself that she liked making love to him also.

Her last phone call was to Paul. Janet would have been surprised at their conversation. Laura didn't tell him that Janet was with her, as she had promised to do. But she did tell him to be sure to come to the party that night.

"And, honey," she said provocatively, just before hanging up, "remember to wear your mask.

At the other end of the line, Paul felt a thrill run through him as he put the phone down. If there were to be masks worn tonight, it meant the initiation of a new member. Damn, he thought to himself, he hoped he'd have first crack at her. He had promised himself that tonight would be his last night. How lucky that it would be, initiation night. He wondered idly who the new girl would be.