Chapter 8: Excelsior Encounter

"I felt that the least I could do would be to buy you a drink," Victoria Leon had called Gregg Gillstrom to apologise for what had happened to him and Maxine in her hotel room. "I mean after you two and poor Jungle Jane ended up as the victims of whoever was trying to rob me."

"That's OK," Gregg dissembled, "I'm not even sure why we were there. But," he said, recognising the opportunity to find out a little more about the heiress, "I'd be happy to take you up on that offer of a drink. Maxine's not free tonight but I'd be happy to."

"Well, as long as you're sure she won't mind. Why don't we meet in the bar of the Excelsior? How about 7 o'clock?"

"Yes, that'll be fine," said Gregg.

Maxine's reaction was that it was anything but fine. "I'm getting pretty pissed at the way you keep finding excuses to go off and meet with women."

"It's the job, lover," Gregg protested. "You keep the 'Astounding Gillstrom' gigs coming in and I'll look after the rest of it. I'd still like to get my hands on some of Ms Leon's money."

"That's not all you want to get your hands on," Maxine responded sulkily. Gregg didn't bother to answer but he allowed himself an inner smirk, Maxine wasn't wrong.

As Gregg arrived at the Excelsior, he saw Victoria in conversation with Dorothea Reynolds. The mayor got up as he arrived. "Mr Gillstrom," she acknowledged. "I can't stop I'm afraid. Enjoy your evening."

Gregg watched her go and then sat down to join Victoria.

"She's a bit of a stuffed shirt, isn't she?" Victoria said with a smile.

"Oh, I don't know," said Gregg, thinking that her shirt was certainly well stuffed, although not in the way Victoria meant.

"You don't think there's a passionate soul beating beneath that grey suit do you?" Victoria giggled. "It doesn't bear thinking about!"

Gregg was enjoying himself already. Victoria summoned a uniformed waiter with a practiced wave. "What would you like?" she asked. "I'm on mojito's."

"Sounds fine to me," Gregg responded as Victoria nodded at the waiter. He could, he thought, get used to this lifestyle without any difficulty and it was obvious that Victoria already had. As she sipped her own drink he allowed himself the opportunity to work out just how much of daddy's fortune Victoria was wearing. Her gold necklace alone looked as though it would pay for a pretty good car, and her earrings were big enough to provide the wheels. Victoria had the sort of careful grooming that most girls would only aim to achieve for a special occasion. Flawless make up, neatly coiffed hair, nail's precisely painted and buffed to a gleaming shine. It was her outfit that impressed Gregg most though. The jacket and skirt seemed to be made in some sort of tapestry material, with a classical pattern woven into it. The skirt was short and the jacket fitted snugly so there wasn't that much cloth but even so it looked to Gregg as though the fabric had been stolen from some European chateau.

"Do you like the suit?" Victoria's question broke into Gregg's train of thought.

"Sorry," he said, as the waiter arrived with their drinks. "Was I staring?" Victoria swapped her now empty glass for afresh mojito.

"It's all right. It's one of my favourite outfits. It's French. They copied the design from one of the Gobelins tapestries in the palace of Versailles."

"I'll try not to lose my head over it. Cheers!" Gregg lifted his glass. "And thanks for the invitation." Gregg was enjoying himself. Quite apart from the agreeable view of Victoria's legs as she sat back on the couch opposite him, the drink was good and the company was pleasant.

"How did you get into the whole magic business then?" Victoria took a sip of her drink as she looked directly at him over the rim of her glass. Something about her directness made Gregg feel that her interest was more than the usual social chit-chat that you might expect from a wealthy debutante.

"It kept me out of mischief while I was at college," Gregg replied. That was true – at least up until the point he had discovered the basket in the antique shop. "Then I discovered I had a bit of a talent. Maxine took over the business management and keeps me on the straight and narrow."

"Is that from a personal or a professional perspective?"

You're flirting with me, thought Gregg. What's all this about? "Professional," he lied, telling himself that he had better be careful.

"Well," she said, "I've heard a lot about your skills. And like I said, I've never really been that impressed by conjuring tricks. Why don't you see if you can change my mind?"

He very nearly suggested that he should try to charm her knickers off her but resisted the thought. "All right," Gregg said. "Give me one of your earrings for a moment."