Jason and Elizabeth had arrived at the Perelli’s
house in character this time. Jason
slipped his arm around Elizabeth’s waste and knocked on the door. The armed guards were gone this afternoon. ‘Apparently a precaution for the party
that he was throwing,’ Jason thought.
The door opened and Jason’s body tensed. He didn’t quite know what to expect at their
return.
“Yes,” an older gentleman in tails and white
gloves inquired, as he stood at the door.
“Hi!” Elizabeth chirped. “This is Jason and I’m Elizabeth. We were here a couple of nights ago?”
The butler didn’t quite seem to know who they
were. “I’m sorry, what can I do for
you?”
Elizabeth looked over at Jason. His turn.
“Well, Elizabeth haphazardly left her bracelet in the study room that we
were waiting in when we talked with Mr. Perelli,” he explained. “And she,” he pointed to Elizaeth, “ was
wondering if we could look around the study for it?”
The man seemed very hesitant. “Wait a moment
sir,” he commanded and closed the door on them.
Elizabeth clung to his leather jacket. “What if he won’t let us in?” Elizabeth
squealed.
Jason shook his head. “He’ll let us in.” Jason
was about to say something else when the door opened once more, revealing the
same older gentleman.
“Come in.
Mr. Perelli will see you in his study,” he motioned them to come
in. “Right this way.” The man lead Jason and Elizabeth through the
familiar foyer and down the corridor to the study. “Just wait in here.”
Elizabeth grip on Jason’s hand loosened as the
servant closed the door. “Jason, what
are we going to say?”
Jason looked around the study, he pulled out of
his jacket pocket a thin silver bracelet and returned it to it’s former place..
“Just stay calm, like you did the night
before,” Jason explained. “We’re to
have to find a way to get a tour of the house.
He seemed to like you, so you might have to play up on that. Do you think you can do that?”
Jason studied Elizabeth’s face. It was a like looking at a china doll’s
face, flawless and creamy white, accented by big beautiful grey eyes. Her eyes, though seemed to be clouded by
doubt. “I don’t know Jason. I have no
clue. You know I’m not good in these
kinds of situations.”
Jason smiled.
She didn’t know how strong she could be, how determined. “You’ll do fine Elizabeth. Just follow my lead.”
He turned from Elizabeth to the soft creak of the
study doors. “Ah, Mr. Morgan wasn’t
it?” Mr. Perelli greeted them with a smile.
Jason watched the man’s attention turn from him,
to Elizabeth. “And Miss Webber,
correct?” Mr. Perelli smiled, lifting up her delicate alabaster hand to his
lips.
“Ah, yes,” Elizabeth giggled nervously, her eyes
darting over to Jason.
Gently releasing Elizabeth’s hand, Mr. Perelli
walked over to his desk, which sat to the right of the couch. “Well, what can I do for you?”
“Um, well, the other night I accidentally lost my
silver bracelet,” Elizabeth explained slowly, watching Jason for any trips in
her story. “And I think the last place I remember having it was here. I think maybe one of the guards broke the
clasp and it fell off while I was being brought to you.”
Mr. Perelli seemed quite uninterested in the
fabricated story. “Oh, I am sorry,” he
said rather distractedly. His eyes were
focused on a few sheets of paper, which he was shuffling around on his
desk. “I don’t thinka you’ll find it,
even if you were to looka for it.
We had a cleaning service come in just yesterday.”
Jason felt the tension in Mr. Perelli’s
voice. ”Maybe we could just take a
look?” he suggested. “It was a gift
from her late mother.”
Jason put his arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder to comfort
her as she feigned pain at the mention of her deceased mother. His gaze stayed upon the hesitant man,
though. He seemed to be hiding
something, but Jason had no clue to what it might be.
Mr. Perelli took a deep breath after a moment of
pondering the situation. “All right,”
he huffed. “You may have a look. But I
do not have the time to escort you around the house in search of your
bracelet.”
“Well, I’m sure we can find our way around,”
Elizabeth pipped in.
Mr. Perelli looked suspiciously at the
suggestion.
Elizabeth quickly seemed to realize her mistake
and covered. “I…I just thought that a
busy man like you shouldn’t have to waste his time showing American tourists
around his house, when they were at fault in the first place,” she smiled slyly
at the older gentleman.
Mr. Perelli seemed to study her for a moment and
then reward her explanation with a smile.
“It is all right,” he dismissed.
“And do not blame youra self,” his accent came through for a moment,
“for getting lost. It is sometimesa
easy to getta lost!”
Jason nodded in agreement.
~~~
Elizabeth inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. She did not want to be the reason
they screwed up this info search.
“Andre!” a woman’s cried. “Andre!
Where are you?”
An older woman appeared through the study
doors. She was a petite woman. Her silver hair pulled up in a soft French
twist. Her face was regal, yet
kind. She had dark brown eyes, which
was brought out by her dark skin, tanned from the sun. She wore an elegant and what seemed to
Elizabeth, expensive black dress suit.
Her neck and fingers were adorned with large gold jewelry.
Elizabeth looked over at Andre. He seemed startled and almost like a child,
with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
“Bella!” he exclaimed, recovering quickly. “I am here!”
He walked over to whom Elizabeth could only guess
was his wife. He planted a big wet kiss
on both her cheeks. She seemed to
whisper something in his ear, which seemed to settle his embellished greeting. “Bella,” he paused, pointing to Elizabeth
and Jason. “This is Signor Morgan and
Signorina Webber.”
Elizabeth plastered a huge smile on her face and
shook the curious woman’s hand.
“Please, call me Elizabeth.”
The woman quickly looked over Jason and
smiled. She put out her hand, “And your
name, signor?” she smiled coyly.
Jason moved forward and shook her hand. “Jason,” he replied.
“Ah! Americans!” she exclaimed in apparent
delight. “What brings you here?” She clasped her hands together and looked to
Andre. “Andre, why have you not offered
our guests a drink.”
She walked over to the mini-bar that sat behind
the desk. “Can I get you
anything?” She motioned to the array of
crystal decanters filled with a variety of alcohol.”
Elizabeth and Jason shook their heads. “Actually, Miss…” Elizabeth didn’t recall
hearing her name.
“Oh, silly me,” she laughed. It was a lighthearted laugh, which made
Elizabeth smile. “My name is Isabella.”
“Well, Isabella, if I may call you that, we,”
she motioned to herself and Jason, “were here the other night during the
party. We got lost on the roads and
were brought into your beautiful house.”
Isabella pulled out the desk chair and sat
down. Elizabeth couldn’t quite help
notice how comfortable Isabella seemed to be behind that desk. “Go on,” she urged.
“Well, during that time, I seemed to have lost my
bracelet. And it was given to me by my
late mother and I feel wretched for asking, but your husband agreed to let us
look for it.”
Isabella seemed to subtly glare at her husband,
who seemed to become unusually quiet.
“Well, first of all,” she laughed, “I have to apologize for my husband
for not inviting you to the party and introducing our unexpected guest. He didn’t even mention it to me.” Her words seemed to carry a sharpness to
them.
“I’m sorry my love,” Mr. Perelli apologized
quickly.
She shook her head in dismissal. “Well, was my husband going to escort you
around our house? To look for your bracelet of course?” Isabella asked.
“We were just in the midst of deciding that, I
think,” Jason explained.
“Well,” she replied, pondering for a moment.
Suddenly Elizabeth saw a light in her eye, almost
like a glint. “We don’t have the time,
right now, to show you around the house,” she said slowly. “But, what I can do is invite you
back in two nights?”
Elizabeth held her breath at the thought of
leaving here empty handed. “Yes?” Elizabeth replied.
“And you can join us for our dinner party?”
Isabella asked. Her eyes seemed to
sparkle as she asked the question.
Elizabeth looked at Jason, who seemed to be
taking the entire conversation in. “Jason,
what do you think?” she asked, somewhat baffled at what to do.
“Of course we’ll come,” Jason replied, nodding
towards Elizabeth.
“Of course.
Um, may I ask if it’s formal?” Elizabeth inquired.
“Yes. And
if you don’t have a dress to wear, let me know. I’ll send one of my people to
fit you with something.”
Elizabeth happened to take a quick glance at
Andre, and he seemed to be quite perturbed.
“Is that all right with you? Mr. Perelli?”
Elizabeth inquired.
He seemed embarrassed that she was watching him.
“No. No! I am sorry,” he laughed.
“Sisi! You shall come to the party.”
There was an unexplained tension in that room at
that moment. Elizabeth continued to
think about it as the servant who had escorted them into the study, lead them
to the main door. Jason had given
Isabella their address at her insistance.
She would send her dressmaker to their apartment tomorrow morning.
Elizabeth had tried to refuse, but in the end
gave in to the joyful older woman. Part
of Elizabeth didn’t quite think it was a very good idea that they give them
their address, but Jason knew what he was doing, and if he thought it was okay.
“Elizabeth, we’ll be fine,” Jason reassured her.
He seemed to be able to always read her
mind. “You don’t think that it’s a mistake
to give them our address. I mean, if
you think that they had something to do with Jaime’s kidnapping…” Her voice trailed off. Elizabeth didn’t like to think about Jaime
and what she was enduring at this moment.
“It’ll be fine.
I don’t think they are involved directly in the kidnapping. I just think they know a little more about
Rosco and his whereabouts than we first thought.”
Elizabeth stared out into the landscape, which
seemed to becoming more familiar with every trip.
Please God, let us find Jaime.