It All Began in Monte Carlo (27 page)

“Eddie, oh, Eddie, it's me,” she said quickly after the tone. “I mean, this is Sunny. I meant to call you before,
earlier
I mean, but I was, well I was sort of caught up in things and . . .” She took a deep breath. “Well, Eddie, I just want to say thank you for helping me when I needed help so badly. And thank you for being so kind, and so . . . thoughtful, and . . . well, everything that you are. I'll never forget that, Eddie, truly I won't. But, you see, now my life is back to
normal, back on track I suppose you could say. I'm back with Mac anyway. And you know he's the love of my life. I just needed to tell you that, Eddie, and to say thank you for being there, for being you . . .”

The message cut off and Sunny thanked God. She might have gone on too long anyway, said too much. As it was she heaved a sigh of relief. Now there were no more secrets.

“Was I okay?” she asked the two women, who were sitting, open-mouthed, staring at her.

“Okay?”
Allie said finally. “You sounded like a woman in love.”

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did so.” Pru ran a distracted hand through her short honey-colored hair.

“Pull the bangs more forward, Pru,” Allie instructed, running her own fingers helpfully through Pru's new crop. “It really looks great.”

Pru peered into the mirror on the wall opposite. “Do you
really
think it's okay?”

“Oh for God's sake!” Sunny yelled. “We're talking about Eddie Johanssen!”

“
You
were talking about him,” Allie said. “And it's a good thing you left a message and didn't go and see him because I just know you would have given him a big kiss goodbye.”

Sunny went to sit next to them on the bed. They slumped in a line, staring at the dark blue horizon that was the Mediterranean.

“I don't love him, of course,” she said after a long silence. “I love Mac. I can't live without Mac. I am not complete without Mac. With Eddie, I would have had to be another Sunny, a different woman.” She turned her velvet eyes mournfully on them. “I couldn't do it. I couldn't be Alone. And being without Mac was being Alone. I never knew the meaning of the word until I left him. We were always together, the two of us, never just one. Always.”

“And now you always will be again,” Pru said, wishing she
could feel like that about somebody. “Anyhow, when's Mac coming back from Paris?”

“Tomorrow morning.” Sunny smiled at Allie. “With Ron, I guess.”

“I guess.” Allie's smile linked with Sunny's.

Left out, Pru watched them enviously. She wanted to understand these feelings, to know why someone was so alone when the man she loved was not with her; why the two women were linked in their knowledge of their love. How, she wondered, did you get that, get there, get to love and be loved?

Sunny's phone rang and she grabbed it quickly, smiling. Of course it was Mac. “Hey,” she said, the smile still in her voice.

Shameless, the other two listened in.

“Prague?” they heard her say. A frown creased the space between Sunny's eyebrows. “A day?
Two?
You're not sure. But is it that important?” She nodded, swishing back her long dark hair, frowning down at the golden rug. “I know, I know I agreed and I do understand. And of course, Mac, darling, it's exactly what you should do. Believe me, I mean it.”

The two women glanced meaningfully at each other.

Sunny was saying to Mac, “So Ron is returning to the vineyard. Yes, I'll tell Allie he'll call her later. Okay, Mac. Yes, of course I love you.” She smiled and lowered her voice. “I'll always love you, you're my lover boy, who else would make love to me like that?”

Pru's brows rose. She looked at Allie. “Like
what
?” she whispered, but Allie just smiled.

Sunny closed the phone. “So,” she said flatly. “Mac's not coming back tomorrow. He's off to Prague instead.”

“Prague?”
Allie asked.

“He has a lead, something the Inspector told him. He didn't go into details.”

Pru heaved a giant sigh and said, “So, what do you do now? Just sit here and wait for him to come back?” Actually, what Pru was hoping was that Sunny wasn't going to change her mind and say
the hell with it, and go see Eddie again. There was a blank look on Sunny's face, as though she were thinking inner thoughts. They waited silently for whatever was going to happen.

What Sunny was thinking about was Maha. Everything that Maha had ever said to her flew into her mind, from that first time on Christmas Day evening, in the bar when she had warned her against Kitty Ratte; to her oblique counseling about “men.” Maha
knew
her. She understood that right now something else was needed emotionally, besides simply a desire to assert her independence. Sunny had always been independent, except in the ways of love. And what she needed, now, for her
own
good, not to prove something to Mac, was to take that “chance” in life that Maha had offered her.

“That's it.” She got up and began pacing the room, over to the window then back again.

“You're getting me dizzy,” Pru complained.

“But, I
know
you, Sunny,” Allie said. “What's going on? What are you up to?”

Sunny stood in front of the bank of windows, silhouetted in the lamplight. “I'll tell you what I'm up to, my darling friends. I, Sunny Alvarez, am finally taking the advice another woman offered me. You know what she said? ‘Take whatever chances life offers you.' And that is exactly what I'm going to do. No more waiting around for Mac. I am going to become my own woman.”

“And how are you going to go about that?” practical Allie asked.

“I, my beautiful, lovely, movie goddess, am going to Mumbai.”

“India?”
Pru gasped.

“Oh no you're not.” Allie got up and took Sunny by the shoulders. “You can't do what that woman asked you.”

“What?”
wailed Pru, still in the dark.

“She's going to act as a courier for Maha Mondragon smuggling jewels into India.”

“It is not
smuggling,
it's all perfectly legal. Maha has everything documented. You know I would never jeopardize Mac's career by
doing something that wasn't legal. You can only imagine what that would do to his credibility!”

“I don't trust Maha,” Allie said, giving Sunny a shake to try and force some sense into her. “There's something wrong about the whole setup. Anyhow, why can't she just take the jewelry to India herself?”

“She's too busy, she has to go to New York, to Hong Kong.”

“Then what about those satellites she has around her?” Pru asked. “You know, the two guys who look like extras in an Italian movie, and the tall woman who's so full of herself she acts like no one else exists. Why don't
they
take the jewelry back to Mumbai.”

“I guess they're doing other work. Anyhow, it's all documented,” Sunny explained patiently, though privately she thought she had better check again with Maha and make sure. “Everything is aboveboard.”

“And shipshape,” Allie said, defeated.

“It's only because I need to prove myself, just for once,” Sunny said, though it seemed to Allie she had proven herself many times in the past, including when she'd found the woman's body in a refrigerator in a Tuscan villa. Sunny had a knack for trouble and Allie was worried.

But there was nothing she could do; Sunny was already on the phone to Maha.

“Maha, I'll do it,” she was saying, listening as Maha said how wonderful, and please come to her suite right away. They would organize everything. It would only take half an hour, an hour at most. She would leave tomorrow, first thing.

 

 

“You will never regret this,” Maha said, taking Sunny's hand. “You are a clever woman. There will be no problems, I promise you.”

“Mac isn't coming back tomorrow,” Sunny explained. “So I thought I would take the opportunity.”

Maha's shrewd eyes assessed her. “It's the correct move. You will feel better doing something completely on your own. Something more daring. An adventure.”

“Instead of Mac having all the adventures.”

“And where is Mac?” Maha was already taking out the travel bag with the zippered compartment containing the jewelry.

“Prague. He'll be gone a few days.”

Maha's back stiffened. “Will he, now? Well then, that will give you just enough time to complete your mission. You will leave early tomorrow morning on a private plane, destination Brussels. From there you will fly Air India first-class to Mumbai.”

Sunny thought India suddenly seemed so far away, and Mumbai so exotic; an enormous city, teeming with millions of people; the smell of spices; the heat; the animals; sacred cows that you should not touch; the smell of dung, of sweat, of mimosa, of the sea; and visions of white marble palaces . . .

“It's a long journey,” Maha was saying. “But you will be comfortable. My assistant will meet you at the airport. His name is Rahm Singh. He will be wearing a traditional white Indian caftan, and a red-and-yellow turban. He will be holding up a card with your name so you cannot miss him. Rahm Singh will drive you to my house, there will be no chance of you getting lost.”

“And the jewels?” So far they had hardly been mentioned and Sunny was getting anxious. “How do I get through customs and all that?”

“First, and most important. You will never let the jewel case out of your hands, or your sight. It must stay with you at all times. You go to the bathroom on the plane, it goes with you. It rests under your seat, not in the overhead compartment. Under no circumstances must you hand it to a steward or any other person. As for security, you will be met and walked through.” Maha handed over a dark blue zippered leather folder. “All the necessary documents are in here for customs leaving Brussels, and then for customs in Mumbai. You will be expected. Everything is arranged. Your import documents will be stamped, and of course in reality you are not importing anything. We are merely returning the jewels to India. So there can be no problem now, can there?”

She smiled her beautiful smile; her teeth were so white and even, her fuchsia-lipsticked mouth so lush and pretty Sunny wondered why she didn't just give up the jewelry business where she seemed to have to work so hard, and simply become a Bollywood movie star.

“You must go get your passport, bring it here,” Maha said. “We need to stamp it.”

“Stamp it?”

“A visa,” she explained. “You need it for India. I will have someone from the consulate come round and take care of it.”

She took Sunny by the shoulders again, looking deep into her eyes. “You are doing the correct thing,” she said gently. “This will make things better between you and Mac, make him see you as a
different woman. A new woman, perhaps. Anyway, one who can stand on her own two feet and who doesn't need a man to prop her up.”

“A woman like you,” Sunny said and Maha laughed.

Then, “There's one thing you have not asked me, Sunny. One important thing. Which is exactly how much am I going to pay you for this work.”

Oh my God, Sunny hadn't even thought about the money.

“You'll never be a businesswoman if you don't ask about the remuneration up front and come to some agreement,” Maha chided.

“So much for the Wharton business degree,” Sunny said, cast down. “I was just too excited, too anxious.”

“No need to be anxious. I will pay you ten thousand dollars for your three days' work. I trust that is acceptable to you?”

Acceptable! Sunny was stunned.

“Very well. Now you must go, bring me the passport. I will have the money and the jewels ready for you tomorrow. You will leave at five
A.M.
The weather is pleasant in Mumbai, hot but no monsoon yet. Take a shawl for the evening.”

Maha was suddenly all business, back behind the table.

“I will call Mumbai, make sure you have arrived safely,” she said. “And give you the rest of your instructions, about where to deliver the jewels, and to whom. Rahm Singh will keep me informed. And of course, India is a place where even the tiniest villages have cell phone contact. In that sense it is one of the most developed countries in the world.”

“You mean I can call Mac?”

Maha hesitated. “I would rather you did not. Not only for me, for my business privacy, but because you are temporarily my employee. I need you to respect that and not discuss where you are and what you are doing.”

“Of course,” Sunny promised.

“Besides,” Maha added, turning away with a smile as Sunny
hurried out to fetch her passport. “It'll be fun, keeping the detective guessing. Keep him on his toes.”

Sunny laughed with her as she closed the door.

 

Back in the Sun King suite, the two friends were waiting for her.

“Well?” Allie said.

“You'll have to take care of Tesoro,” Sunny said. “I'll be gone three days. She's paying me ten thousand, and if you are both very good and stop bitching, and promise never to tell anyone—and that includes Mac and Ron—where I am and what I'm doing, I'll bring you back a souvenir of Mumbai.”

Allie gave her that deadpan look known to millions of moviegoers. “All I can say is it better be good. A ruby for my silence.”

“You're right. A ruby,” Pru added, grinning as they followed Sunny to her room to help her pack.

Getting there was so easy Sunny figured it had to be legal. The small private plane flew her from Nice to Brussels, then Air India took her first-class to Mumbai. Sari-clad women with glossy black hair pulled back into a bun handed out jasmine-scented hot towels and served almonds dusted with spices on filigree silver dishes, with crystal glasses of French champagne. The soothing Indian whine of sitar music played in Sunny's headphones, and later, the vegetarian
thali
she had ordered came on an indented silver dish, each section containing a different curried vegetable, including her favorite yellow lentil
dal,
and cauliflower cooked in hot spices, and the heavenly Bombay curried potatoes, along with a cucumber, mint and yoghurt sauce called a
raita,
which hit her with a cooling glow after the subtle heat of all the spices. Dessert was the wonderful Indian rice pudding, so different from the ones she had eaten as a child; this was cold with the lemony hint of cardamom hidden in its creaminess.