He started shaking his head again with an even bigger grin. He mumbled, “Naw, naw, naw, that’s just…that’s just…” She had to have some kind of trick up her sleeve. Had one of her girls taken a picture of him that night without him noticing? Her story was outright freakish, and Ivan had run out of words to express it.

Lucina told him, “I have a way of looking at people without them knowing that I am looking. And I take a mental picture. I have been doing it for years. And I can remember them down to their fingernails. It is a gift from God, so I learned to use it. But when I first saw you, I had no reason to know you yet. You were not even in the party crowd. But I could see in your eyes that you were searching for something more in your life. So I told myself right then and there, That man has a look and determination about him that can take him many places if he decides to go there. I said, But right now he is still undecided.”

She continued, “So, once I sat down with you at the wine house and I realized who you were and what you were doing, I told myself that I would save this conversation for when I need it. And I knew that you would be impressed. So hopefully, Ivan, now that you know all of this about me, you will take my advice and go as far as you can go.”

All Ivan could do was stare across the table at her in a child’s wonder.

He cracked another smile and thought, Yo…they have no idea. This girl is just…fuckin’ dangerous! Or maybe she’s just fucking with me. Either way, I guess I’ll find everything out soon. Because she can’t keep saying all the right things forever.

Eight

Deeper & Deeper

WHEN IVAN DROVE HOME from his long fact-finding dinner with Lucina, he was still on a natural high from their conversation.

“That girl’s something else,” he told himself.

The whole time, she had managed to dodge answering any specific questions about the operations of her “girls.” And although Lucina may have been well experienced in handling the advances of popular and wealthy men, Ivan could easily see that a number of her girls would not be as well prepared.

Nevertheless, her inspired speech on the subject of a woman’s disadvantage to men made him think of apologizing to Catherine. So he called her cell phone on his way home, only to get her voice mail.

At first he hesitated. He could call her back at a much earlier hour the next day. But he decided to leave her a message instead.