Chapter 12

After they'd escorted Lena Troy to her unit, Emmy and Anita went back to the office. Emmy lighted a cigarette, reached out and put it between Anita's sweet, rosy lips. She said: "Pretty little thing, wasn't she?"

Anita blushed, averted her gaze from the other woman and nodded affirmatively.

Then Emmy said: "What do you think, honey?"

"I don't know." Anita shrugged. "You're a better judge than I am."

Emmy lit a cigarette for herself, puffed on it, reflectively. "Well, she wasn't wearing a wedding ring and there was no sign that she had been wearing one and had taken it off. She's a beautiful woman educated, poised seems to have plenty of money, a nice car and even-thing. So why is she traveling alone? She's got everything a man could want. There's got to be some reason."

"I suppose so."

"You know what I think?"

"No," said Anita.

"Maybe latent or maybe Bi, you know? I think it's worth a try, don't you? Gee, Anita we haven't had a good threesome in a long time, have we?"

"Uh-uh."

"So, I think I'll take a chance with our test. Well see what happens. Okay."

"If you say so, Emmy."

Emmy went outside, then, to keep an eye on Unit 4, so she could see when Lena Troy left, to go somewhere.

While she waited, Emmy thought about what a great setup this hotel was for both her and Anita. Not only did they make a hell of a good living from it but also provided a perfect means of meeting "partners" as she liked to call them, for her and Anita. It was a strange thing about this part of Florida, she had learned. You didn't get the glamour girls like you did in Miami, nor the glamour boys, either; What you got here, mostly, were school teachers and bank tellers and stenogs and clerks, attracted by the unusually low summer rates. And often, they were the introverted, lonesome types that fell easy prey to any kind of affection offered them. Emmy and Anita made frequent scores. But this summer, so far, had been a disappointment. There had been only one girl who had interested them and been willing and she had stayed only a few days.

Emmy smoked and thought about this Lena Troy. She thought about the way her large, shapely breasts bulged out the top of her play suit the long firm, womanly fleshiness of her lovely thighs, with the tight edges of her shorts biting into the creamy flesh, up so high, so delightfully high. This one would be something of they could get her-if she passed the test The test, Emmy had found, was almost infallible. If the woman just looked at the pictures, curiously and then threw them away, Emmy and Anita were out; they knew they couldn't score. But if the woman had any of the other reactions after looking at the pictures, Emmy would move in fast and then Anita would join her. It almost always worked out. She had only been rebuffed a couple of times.

The beauty of it was, that if any cold turkey kicked up a fuss, what could they prove? All they could do was move.

Then Emmy saw Lena Troy come out and get into her car and drive off. Emmy turned back into the office and went to a locked file cabinet, unlocked it and took out a large manila envelope, rather thick. She patted it and smiled at Anita who was busy talking on the phone and went out.

She opened the door to Lena's unit with a master key, stepped inside. She placed the big manila envelope into one of the dresser drawers, an empty one, leaving, the drawer open the fraction of an inch, leaving the tab of the envelope protruding just a little. She left, then, satisfied that the bait had been well set. She knew that out of basic curiosity and boredom, most people in hotel and motel rooms look through drawers to see if anything of value or interest might have been left by a previous occupant. She knew that Lena would find the envelope, examine its contents.

Then, outside, Emmy turned to the unit next door, used the master key and entered. It had a musty, unused smell and she opened the windows, turned on the air conditioning. Then she went into the shower room and looked through several cleverly designed holes bored through the wall into the shower room of the next unit. The holes were quite large at this side but tapered so they wouldn't be noticeable. But with this room dark and with the light on in there, from this side, you could see in through the holes, quite clearly. Satisfied that the holes hadn't gotten plugged up with dirt, Emmy then went out into the main room of the motel unit, where the bed and dresser were. Here again, in the wall that was against Lena's unit, were several more similar holes at eye level. Emmy inspected these, too, saw that they offered a clear view and then she left the unit.

The rest of the afternoon, Emmy and Anita took turns, watching for Lena Troy to return. It was about five o'clock when she returned. Emmy waited until Lena had entered her unit and then she said to Anita: "Come on!"

Both women were flushed with anticipation as they left and locked the office, with a sign on the door that said, CLOSED BE BACK AT SEVEN O'CLOCK.

Then they raced to the unit next door to Lena's.