The Washington Lawyer by Allan Topol Page A

to Vanessa’s door at the end of the hall, Xiang heard a television playing through a closed door. In front of 10K, he glanced around, saw no one, slipped on a pair of latex gloves to avoid leaving prints, and went to work on the lock. The door clicked open in thirty seconds. His instructors had trained him well. Still no one in the corridor. He went inside and softly closed the door behind him.
    The apartment was large. He entered the living room which was furnished expensively with ultra-modern pieces. White and glass predominated. The carpet and sofa were white. The coffee table was glass. The furnishings looked relatively new. He searched the living room first, then the dining room and kitchen on the left. No sign of the CD or a bank vault key.
    Xiang was preparing to go to the other rooms when a copy of Vogue Magazine from fourteen years ago on the coffee table caught his eye. On the cover was a picture of a strikingly beautiful blonde. The caption read: V ANESSA B OYD . A MERICA ’ S NEW S UPER M ODEL .
    Xiang sat down and read the profile. It contained a family photo of Vanessa, her twin sister Allison, and her mother, Claire, taken at a Paris show. Allison was an attractive brunette but nothing like the beautiful blonde bombshell Vanessa.
    Xiang went to the other side of the apartment. He saw a study and two bedrooms. The larger was Vanessa’s; the other one must have been a guest room.
    He began in the study, sitting down at Vanessa’s desk and opening the center drawer. Inside, he saw a bulky diary. Not wanting to waste time reading it, he placed it in his briefcase. He found a date book calendar. It had several entries including one for last Friday. “Anguilla with W.J.” He tucked that in his briefcase as well. No sign of a CD or bank vault key.
    Based upon what Jasper said, he ignored Vanessa’s laptop.
    He checked the side drawers. No CD. In one of them, he saw a stack of Verizon phone bills bound by a rubber band. Those might show calls with Jasper, he decided. So he took those as well. He leafed through Vanessa’s bank statements. No point taking those.
    He checked all the other drawers in the room. No CD. No key. He looked under the oriental carpet on the wooden floor. Nothing.
    Next, he searched the small bedroom and didn’t find a thing of interest.
    He went into Vanessa’s bedroom and looked in the large walk-in closet. He was amazed. He had never seen so many clothes, shoes, and handbags in his life. He looked everywhere in the closet, opening each bag and reaching inside, even opening zipper compartments. No CD. No bank vault key.
    In the large bedroom, he saw on the bureau several pictures of Vanessa with a woman he now recognized from the Vogue article as Allison. One was taken on a boardwalk along a beach, possibly Rehoboth. He was struck by the fact that Vanessa, not all dressed up for a shoot but casual in shorts and tank top, looked pretty, but not drop-dead gorgeous as she did in Vogue .
    He was also struck by how similar the twins looked when both were in shorts and tank tops.
    Xiang began opening drawers in Vanessa’s bedroom. He couldn’t believe what he saw in the underwear drawer. Must have been two dozen silk bra and matching panty sets in different colors. All neatly arranged. He looked underneath for a CD or key and came up empty. He tried to restore them to the original arrangement.
    As he did, his hand stopped on a pale yellow set. Yellow was his favorite color. He carefully removed the silk panties and held them up to his face, trying to draw in her scent.
    It infuriated him that Jasper, that disgusting old fool, had been having sex with Vanessa. She should have had a younger man, someone like Xiang. He closed his eyes and imagined what it would be like to make love with Vanessa. He felt his cock stiffening. Later, he told himself as he slipped the panties into his briefcase.
    He checked the two bathrooms. Nothing. Satisfied it wasn’t