Beautiful Girls (18 page)

 

^{We were starving. We ate a quick lunch at a Thai restaurant near the campus. It was a favorite of Harmony's and the food was fantastic.}

^{Somehow my writing came up during lunch. Of all our conversations, my books surprised and interested Harmony the most. She had no idea I had written about my most interesting adventures. I had to promise to let her read them once they were finished. She thought their titles were provocative;
Modern Girls
and
Sexy Girls
. I told her the titles were not made up; they were important parts of the stories.}

^{We also talked about our futures.}

^{“Where will you and Edie call home?”}

^{“I'm not sure, Harmony. That's one of our biggest challenges.”}

^{“How so?”}

^{“Our plan to adopt Tawny changes things. Still, the east coast is my home. I own a house in northern Delaware. Edie and I own a vacation cottage at the Delaware beaches and I'm the managing partner of an investigative firm in Philadelphia. Plus, Edie owns her vacation home in the mountains outside Tucson. She also has the legal right to live in the pool house at the Gabriel estate in Beverly Hills for another nine years. And, she's an actress so her jobs can take her all over.”}

^{“I can see there is a lot to think about.”}

^{“There sure is. Also, Edie's four months pregnant.”}

^{“She is?” That surprised her.}

^“Yes.”

^{“Congratulations! I think you will be a great father.”}

^{“Thank you. But, I didn't mean to say that…I mean we haven't made it public yet...so much has happened. I'm sorry.”}

^{“Don't be. I am glad you shared that, even if you did not want to.”}

^{I stopped talking. I folded my hands and closed my eyes for a moment. Harmony reached across the table and put her hands on top of mine.}

^{She whispered, “You are not alone in this. I will help Edie, Tawny and you. It is the least I can do. Especially, once you rescue Mel.”}

^{I shuddered at her confidence in me. Confidence I didn't feel.}

^{“I know you will.”}

^{I quietly said, “Thanks.”}

^{“You are welcome. I want to be your friend.”}

^{“Now, that's easy. We're already friends, Harmony.”}

^{“I am glad we are.”}

^{I looked at my watch. It was 4:45.}

^{I said, “So, six days ago I would never have believed I'd be sitting here on the UNLV campus talking to a beautiful twin named Harmony Pima, my newest friend. Instead, I thought I'd be a married man today after a big wedding at a Beverly Hills mansion.”}

^{“You will marry Edie McCall very soon.”}

^{She continued to hold my hands.}

^{“That's true.”}

^{I was enchanted with Harmony. But, I was in love with someone else. My heart was taken. I said, “We should go soon.”}

^{“Promise you will keep in touch with us after this is over.”}

^{I looked at her and smiled. My fiancée had said nearly the same thing to me nine years earlier.}

^{I said, “I know I will.”}

^{After lunch, we walked across the UNLV campus to the library. On the way, Harmony pointed out her favorite places to study and read.}

^{Lied Library is a rounded, five-story, modern building with a curved roof and a glass wall of windows on the east facing wall. It typified Las Vegas; it was new, hip, brightly lit and garishly attractive. We found the historical books section on the third floor. We found three books on Philadelphia and the clue envelope was in the second one we paged through.}

^{I said, “This search was the easiest yet.”}

^{“I agree. I wonder why, Stevie?”}

^{“Well, Rob wants us to find them. Maybe he thought some of the early ones were too hard to find. He could also be getting impatient.”}

^{“Perhaps, or perhaps he just likes playing with us.”}

^{“I'm sure that's part of it. Whether it takes a long time or not to find the clues, he sure has us traveling all around Las Vegas.”}

^{Harmony asked, “When will it end?”}

^{“I hope soon, but who knows? There' still a fair amount of that Bible chapter left.”}

^{“That is true. I read it this morning. It is an interesting story of vengeance and intervention, is it not?”}

^{“Yes, it is.”}

^{“Stevie, let's go outside and read the clue.”}

^***

^{We sat on a bench outside Lied Library. It was a warm afternoon, but the heat felt good as the air conditioning inside the library had chilled us, especially Harmony. She opened the letter. The next verses of scripture were Abigail's appeal to David.}

^{When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed low before him. She fell at his feet and said, “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord. Please listen to what I have to say. I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don't pay any attention to him. He is a fool, just as his name suggests. But I never even saw the young men you sent.}

^{“Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, since the Lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, let all your enemies and those who try to harm you be as cursed as Nabal is. And here is a present that I, your servant, have brought to you and your young men. Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way. The Lord will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty, for you are fighting the Lord's battles. And you have not done wrong throughout your entire life.}

^{“Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the Lord your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling! When the Lord has done all he promised and has made you leader of Israel, don't let this be a blemish on your record. Then your conscience won't have to bear the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and vengeance. And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember me, your servant!”}

 

^{Harmony said, “That is a powerful part of the story!”}

^{“It is.” I said, and read the clue:}

^{Dear David,}

^{I hope you liked the glimpses of your home inside the book. Will you see them again?}

^{Now, you two are off to Paris to see the view from the top of the landmark that made it famous.}

^Nabal

 

^{“I do not like that statement about seeing your home again.”}

^{I said, “Me either.”}

^{“He must mean the Paris hotel and the replica of the Eiffel Tower out front.”}

^{“Agreed. OK, on with our journey, Harmony.”}

 

 

^{I started the Mustang at 5:20 PM. We drove back to The Strip and parked in the garage of the Paris Las Vegas Casino. This hotel casino is directly across the street from The Bellagio where Harmony works.}

^{Harmony led the way through the Paris hotel lobby, out the front doors, to the Eiffel Tower. The hotel is amazing, with its cobblestoned sidewalks and the facades of French neighborhoods. She explained that the Tower, as well as the nearby Arc de Triomphe, is a half-scale replica of the Paris original.}

^{Even though it is miniaturized, the Tower stands nearly fifty stories high, with a restaurant at the eleventh floor and an observation deck near the top. Standing at the base and looking up the Tower seemed to climb to the sky. I could only imagine the view at night when the city was lit up.}

^{“Wow, this is pretty amazing, isn't it?”}

^{Harmony replied, “Yes.”}

^{“I think we should go to the top, Harmony. My guess is Rob hid the next clue up there somewhere.”}

^{She looked concerned. She quietly said, “I have never been up there before.”}

^{“Really?”}

^{“Yes, it is true.”}

^{“Why not?”}

^{“I must admit. I am scared of heights. Especially, open-aired venues like this.”}

^{“Do you want to stay down here?”}

^{“No. I want to be with you. Although, I may need to hold onto you as I will have my eyes closed most of the time.”}

^{“OK, that's fine.”}

^{We paid our fees and entered the large glass-walled elevator. I found a place near the back wall. Harmony stood close to me. There were about fifteen other people taking the ride with us.}

^{“Hold me, Stevie.”}

^{I put my arms around her. She moved her hair in front of her face and buried her head in my chest. She never looked at the incredible view as we rode up. I noticed she was shivering and praying.}

^{The elevator stopped at the restaurant and a few couples got off. This first stop took about a minute before we lifted off again into the sky. The view became spectacular. The entire Strip was at our feet. The desert and mountains were totally in view. I could see out west to Red Rock and north to UNLV.}

^{It was just before six o'clock and we were only a minute or two before sunset. What a view! We couldn't have planned this better.}

^{I whispered to Harmony to open her eyes. She shook her head from side to side. I told her the view was amazing. She held me tighter.}

^{Another minute later we arrived at the observation deck. The doors opened. We had to get out. I whispered to Harmony that we had to start walking.}

^{She nodded her head and said to me, “Stay back from the edge.”}

^{“OK, I will.”}

^{The view was even better than I expected. The western sky was turning purple. The hotel lights were coming on. The sun was about to set.}

^{I moved us to the western side of the deck, and near the center, so that we could lean our backs against the elevator shaft. Harmony still had her eyes closed and her face was covered by her long black hair. We were getting attention from the others visitors; some were smiling at me and some understood Harmony's dilemma.}

^{A gust of wind blew through the deck and she began to cry. I moved us around the deck to get out of the breeze. She seemed to calm down.}

^{I then whispered where we were and asked Harmony to open her eyes for a minute so she could see the sunset. I kissed the top of her head and slowly, gently lifted her chin away from my chest and towards the fantastic view.}

^{She held me tight again. She slowly opened her eyes. She looked around for a moment, and then said, “It is beautiful, but I cannot look down.”}

^{“I understand. You can close your eyes again. But, I need to look for the clue. We will need to slowly walk around the deck so I can find it.”}

^{“I understand. Thank you for being kind to me, Stevie.”}

^{She kissed me on the lips and then closed her eyes again.}

^{Oh, boy! I needed to be careful here with Harmony. This was more than a simple fear of heights. She was even more scared than I thought.}

^{I said, “OK, let's walk slowly to my right.”}

^{We did and in the middle of our second loop of the deck I found the clear plastic disk. It was above my head, stuck to a beam that held the fencing around the edge of the deck.}

^{“Harmony, I see the disk. I'm going to need to step on a telescope stand to reach it. I need to let go of you for just a few seconds. Here, feel this. Hold on to this. It is a beam by the elevator. You'll be fine. I'll be right back.”}

^{She whimpered and put her hair back in front of her face, but she did as I said.}

^{I went over to the telescope and put one foot on its stand. I reached up but couldn't get the disk. My hand was about a foot away. So, I had to put my other foot up on the railing around the inside of the fenced cage.}

^{Just as I grabbed the disk some woman shouted, “Hey, what are you doing?”}

^{A different woman screamed. That caused Harmony to open her eyes. She saw me up on the cage and cried out too, “Oh, Stevie, no!”}

^{I quickly got down and showed the women and the other visitors what I had in my hand. The Tower's attendant came up to me, grabbed my arm and asked me what I was doing.}

^{I said, “It's a game, I had to find this disk. I wasn't about to do anything dangerous.”}

^{That settled the crowd down. Then, Harmony rushed towards me and held me tight.}

^{She sobbed and said, “Don't take him. He's only trying to save me and my sister. I need him.”}

^{Harmony's statement drew more attention to us.}

^{The attendant said we should leave.}

^{I told him, “I didn't mean any harm. We'll leave now.”}

^{He let go of my arm.}

^{I moved Harmony around the corner, stood in front of the elevator and waited there. I patted her back and smoothed her long hair.}

^{I blurted out, “Don't cry, baby. It will be OK.”}

^{Before I knew it she kissed me again. Then, she said, “I love you. Don't ever leave me.”}

^{“Let's get out of here, Harmony.”}

^{At that moment, the elevator returned to the top of the Tower and the doors opened. Harmony pulled me inside, hugged me tight and buried her head in my chest. Within seconds we were gliding back down to Earth.}

^{Wow, what just happened? While Harmony pressed against me, I tried to regroup emotionally and think of what to do for her now. This was getting intense.}

^***

^{We were inside Paris, seated in a replica of a Parisian café drinking a coffee.}

^{“Are you okay, Harmony?”}

^{“Yes, I guess. I am sorry for how I acted, Stevie. Please forgive me.”}

^{“I forgive you. It is a stressful time. If I had known how difficult heights are for you, I would have insisted that you stay down here.”}

^{“I should have. I am very scared right now.”}

^{“I do understand, Harmony.”}

^{“I also apologize for kissing you. I was too bold and too out of control. I do not want to endanger our new friendship.”}

^{“We are friends. I understand all this is very hard. You are acting like a normal person under stress. I just, umm…”}

^{“Yes, what is it, Stevie.”}

^{“This is hard to say.”}

^{“Go ahead, please.”}

^{I spoke quietly. “We need to be careful. I am engaged and will be married in a matter of days. I love Edie with all my heart. I just can't let myself act on my lust… I mean, I feel like I am attracted to you and we can't let that happen.”}

^{“I know. It will not. I want to help you and Edie in the future, too, and I do not want there to be any weird things between us.”}

^{“I agree.”}

^{Harmony then said softly, “It is hard, though, because I feel that way too. Why do you think we have these feelings?”}

^{“I'm not sure. I do know you remind me of Edie, very much. You two look a lot alike.”}

^{“I heard you tell her that this morning. Is that really true?”}

^{“Yes, it is. I honestly think you look more like Edie than you do Melody. And, that's amazing because I think everyone can tell you and Mel are sisters.”}

^{“Oh, my God.”}

^{“You also have similar traits or personalities. I don't understand how, but I know you three have some family connection. Plus, you're vulnerable and I am too, and that always makes me weak with beautiful women. Yes, you are beautiful.”}

^{“Thank you for thinking I am.”}

^{“Of course you are. But, getting caught up in my emotions distracts me from my work. It's dangerous for all of us.”}

^{“Yes, it can be.”}

^{“I think we must work to stay friends.”}

^{“We can do it. We can be very good friends.”}

^{“Let's try. We can hold hands, but I think we should try not to hug or kiss each other. That's too hard for me, OK?”}

^{“Yes, I agree. Stevie, can I share one more secret with you?”}

^{“Sure.” I wondered what this would be.}

^{“You are the first man I have touched since my incident.”}

^{“What incident was that?”}

^{“I was a victim of a date rape.”}

^{“Oh, no.”}

^{“Yes. It happened one night last year when I partied with friends from work. We went to The Bank. It is a nightclub in my hotel. Someone slipped a drug into my drink. The next thing I knew I woke up naked, alone, in a bed in a room in the Bellagio. I do not remember anything about that night, which probably helps my recovery. I am not even sure who took me there. My money was taken. My clothes were taken. I had sex, but do not remember. My body hurt, especially down below, and my hair had been pulled hard and I had a bruise on my left cheek. I had a hard time seeing clearly for a while. Thank God whoever did it left my purse with my keys inside. Once I could see well enough I took the bathrobe in the closet and made my way to my car. I walked down the fire escape and knew how to get to our parking garage. I think only a few people saw me and they were far from me. I made it home safely and Melody did not see me walk in as she was at work. I have only told her some of this, and no one else has heard one word of it.”}

^{“I'm so sorry. I had no idea, Harmony.”}

^{“That is not your fault. I am getting counseling. I am doing better, although you might not know it from how I acted today. It was traumatic.”}

^{“I'm sure it was.”}

^{“I just do not act wildly and that incident made me even more careful.”}

^{“I can see why.”}

^{“Being with you is helping me. You are the right man for me. I mean, you are showing me the kind of man I should be attracted too. I did not know for sure in the past.”}

^{“Is there anything else I can do?”}

^{“Just continue to be yourself. That is enough.”}

^{“Are you sure?”}

^{Harmony answered, “I will be OK if you protect me. I know that is a very scary statement. But, I am being honest.”}

^{“I am here until this is all over.”}

^{“Thank you.”}

^{“So, let's get back to business.”}

^{“Yes, let us read the new clue.”}

^{The disk held these verses from Chapter 25:}