Chapter 9
Ace Goldwyn

The chair creaked as Leif leaned back. A lot of things were weighing on his mind, but he was trying to concentrate on only one thing. The Johnson case. He could think about his situation with Toni when the trial was over…but no matter how hard he tried his mind kept returning to her. He had now seen her in a way that was completely foreign to the way she presented herself at work.

With a sigh, he shook his head to focus on the papers before him. He absently wondered if Toni was having any success with finding anything more about Ace Goldwyn. He hoped that whatever she was doing she wouldn't get herself in trouble.

Several offices down, Toni was hugging the plastic between two vents in the back of Ace Goldwyn's monitor. It was a precarious position, but she had not found a more suitable area where she could easily overhear any of his conversations and not be seen at her current height of approximately five and a half inches.

He was on the phone, nodding his head as he said, "Yes, yes. I know. I know I promised and I'll come through," he paused and wiped a hand across his forehead. "You don't have to remind me. I realize that…that's why…yes, of course," he suppressed a sigh as the other speaker continued. Toni balled her fist in frustration, hammering against the air. This was getting her nowhere.

A clump of dust nestled amongst the wires fell with a tiny 'plop!' causing a cloud of tiny particles to cascade out. She immediately felt her nose itch. She wrinkled it to keep the urge to sneeze out. With one arm wrapped around the plastic she took her other hand and held onto her nose. But the sneeze still welled up inside of her, burning at her nostrils. Her grip on the plastic began to slip, frantically she tried to grasp it tighter, but instead she slid off of her perch and was headed for the desk.

She blinked. Right into Leif's office. She landed on the floor at her normal height with her legs sprawled out with her right hand in between them and her left behind her back to catch her fall. Simultaneously she sneezed.

"Ahh!" Leif jumped, startled by her sudden entrance. He stared at her as if he'd never seen her before. In her transfer to his office she'd ended up changing her clothes to the blue outfit. "Don't do that!" he demanded.

"Yes Master," she spoke the title without thinking. She pushed herself off the floor and dusted herself off. "We should put in a suggestion that our computers get cleaned up a little more often. They're layered thick with dust inside!"

"I'll make a note…" he turned to a pad and began to write something down. "How do you know it's dusty?" he stopped with his pen still poised.

"I was trying to get something from Goldwyn," she rolled her eyes and plopped into the chair facing him. "But all I got was a one sided conversation that didn't reveal too much."

"How did you do that?"

"By holding on to the back of a monitor case," she replied nonchalantly, as if it were an everyday occurrence. Leif assumed that perhaps for a genie it was. Her nose wrinkled again and she sneezed, but at the same time the door of his office opened. Toni blinked herself to Leif's desk in miniature form.

"Bless you," Darlene said rummaging through several files in her hand.

"Huh?" Leif was confused, but realized and faked a smile. "Thank you."

"Here is that report you wanted about Goldwyn's cases last year," she handed the file to him while noticing a plant he kept in the corner of his office. "I think it needs watering," she nodded to it and stuck her finger into the soil.

"I'll get it later," he replied absently as she walked back to the door and he began rummaging through the files. Toni blinked back to her normal size, blinking towards the plant, but Leif did not notice.

"Maybe we should talk over lunch," Leif suggested.

"Fine," Toni nodded, folding her arms out in front of her.

"About thirty minutes?" she nodded in agreement and blinked out at the same time Darlene walked back through the door with a paper cup of water.

"Who were you talking to?" she glanced around the office.

"Was I talking out loud?" he pretended to be absorbed in the files.

"Sounded like you said something about thirty minutes," she sighed and shook her head, taking a look at the moistened soil of the plant.

"I was just reminding myself that I have an appointment in thirty minutes," Leif shrugged, making an excuse.

"How did your plant get watered?" Darlene demanded one hand on her hip.

"Hmm?" he glanced up with a puzzled expression.

"It was bone dry when I was in here a minute ago," she stared at it as if it were possessed.

"I haven't touched it," Leif tried to manage a poker face. Toni must have watered it before she left, but that would be a great explanation! He thought grimly. With a shrug Darlene disappeared.

Thirty minutes later, Toni opened the door to his office and announced that she was ready for their lunch. He didn't hesitate to shoot out of his chair. He was ready for a break and to get away from his office for a while.

"Let me grab my coat," he picked it up, but before he could swing it around Toni blinked and he was wearing it. He stopped. "Well," he felt frustrated. "Thanks I guess." She looked a little frustrated herself. He realized that perhaps she had not intentionally dressed him, but it had come as a natural reaction that she could not control.

"Where should we go from here now with the Goldwyn thing?" Leif said as they entered the main corridor of the office building.

"Did you find those files?" she asked, Leif waved them in answer. "Then we can look over them while we eat."

They chose a cafeteria style lunch room where a long line was waiting to be served. "I think we should have waited," Leif shook his head. "I wish the lines weren't always so long." Suddenly, the line was shorter. Only a few people were in front of them. The man behind the counter, serving customers blinked and seemed to breathe heavily as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"What did you do?" Leif demanded in a frantic whisper.

"You wished for the line to be shorter," she responded in a whisper, but her tone was not frantic, but rather it betrayed her disgruntled feelings.

Before Leif could fully recover he heard a syrupy sweet, feminine voice call his name. "Why Leify darling!" she called as she approached. His eyes grew round. He hadn't seen Gloria Knight in over a year.

"Hi. Gloria," he responded, but he was not happy to see her. She walked right up to him and threw both arms around him.

"Aren't you happy to see me, Leify?" her dark lashes batted. Toni's eyebrow had risen in question and her arms were folded tightly across her chest.

"Well, Gloria, it's just that, it's been a while since I've seen you."

Toni had not moved throughout the entire exchange. She did not like the woman. Although "Gloria" was no where near her she felt as if she were invading her space. Jealousy raged through her body. Her eyes were stormy seas flashing lightening. She resisted the urge to grab Gloria by her long, golden blonde hair and jerk her away from her Master…

She swallowed hard. That was the second time she'd thought of Leif as her Master without even thinking about it. He was her Master, but she didn't have to accept it without a fight. Angry with herself and the spectacle of a woman before her she whirled around and stomped off to the line and got her meal. She stomped off to a table letting Leif entertain his lady friend.

When he approached with Gloria on his arm she said in that same syrupy voice, "I sure hope you don't mind me inviting myself to your lunch party," she said. "Leif thought you might."

"Why would I mind?" the smile on her face was tight. Her mind screamed, no! But she made sure that Leif would have to sit next to Gloria.

"We were going to discuss some business," Leif said suddenly. He didn't have any desire to renew his acquaintance with Gloria, and he had the feeling that disaster would strike if she stayed around with Toni nearby.

"It can wait," Toni responded sweetly. "You just go right ahead and join us."

Gloria smirked as if she had won a battle, but Leif sensed that it was Toni who had really won a battle, he just hoped that whatever happened, or could happen it did not turn ugly. Gloria perched herself on the bench in the booth and flashed a challenging smile in Toni's direction. Toni's expression did not change; she merely began eating her meal.

Gloria spooned mashed potatoes in her mouth and exclaimed, "These are simply delicious," her eyes turned towards Leif. He noticed, briefly, a wicked smirk cross Toni's features and knew they were in for something. Gloria had another spoonful of mashed potatoes about to touch her lips. Leif saw Toni's discrete blink.

When she took her next bite the woman's eyes nearly popped out of her head as her cheeks began to grow red. Frantically she grabbed her glass of water and downed the whole glassful in one gulp. She gasped for breath, fanning her face.

"What's the matter?" Leif asked, concerned, but he had a good idea of what had happened.

"Potatoes…too…much…pepper," she gasped and wheezed, coughing. She sat up straighter and tried to wipe away the tears that were flowing down her cheeks, taking some of her mascara with them.

"Are you all right now?" Toni asked sweetly. Leif gave her a half amused, knowing look. He didn't want to encourage this behavior in her, but he really didn't want Gloria to stick around. They had work to do and go over.

Somehow the lunch hour slipped by and Leif and Toni returned to their office, after parting company with Gloria. He knew he should say something, but thought it would be best not to mention the incident at the cafeteria. "So, we really haven't gotten any further with the Johnson case or Goldwyn. Did you come up with anything at lunch?"

"I have an idea," Toni said, there was a reserve in her tone, but she seemed amicable enough. "My other idea didn't work, but perhaps this one will be more practical."

"What is it?"

"We'll come back tonight."

"How can we do that?" he demanded. "The security men will be here and there is no way to access the building unless you already have a security code for night work."

Toni rolled her eyes. "We won't be walking through the front door silly."

"How else can we…?" but before he had finished his question she had blinked out of his office into her own. "Oh."

"Oh?" Darlene's head popped into his office.

He spun around in surprise. "Oh, I, uh, just…found something. I'd been looking for…" he stumbled for an explanation.

"Oh," Darlene responded, but without enthusiasm. "Here are those letters you needed typed up," she handed him the stack and he began signing them.

In Toni's office she was lining up the pieces of the Johnson file defense for refresh her mind for when they went to court in a few more days. She wanted to be sure that everything they would need was there and nothing had gone amiss with what was originally in the file.

She found several pieces that were missing. She knew they were there before and blinked in her copy of the original so that she could compare. She would have to pass on this piece of information to Leif so that they could determine what it was about the information that was so important and if it would be incriminating to Goldwyn.

Toni assumed that Goldwyn would have had to take out the pieces of evidence before Placid had them copied and handed out. She would have to check and make sure that Leif's were missing the same pieces of evidence. It would also explain why Goldwyn had had the file the day Leif was looking for it.

While she was engrossed in cross referencing the papers Goldwyn walked in with a file in hand. "What are you doing?" he demanded. She jumped; she had been so involved she had not heard him enter.

"Just going over the Johnson case," she watched him carefully for any kind of reaction.

"You shouldn't waste so much time on that," he waved his hand, his tone belittling. "It's an open and shut case."

"I'm not so sure," she shrugged. He stared at her a moment, but caught himself.

"Of course, trust me. I've been doing this much longer than you have," he stomped out of her office and Toni bit her lip, reflecting.

(To Be Continued…)