Day Three
July 23, 1952
Wednesday Night
The bathroom window dumped Waverly and the spankee into a dark alley behind the Flamingo, which they took east towards traffic. Halfway there, Waverly grabbed the blond by the arm, yanked her to a stop and said, “Follow me.” She headed up a dark fire escape at the backside of a building. At the first landing she looked back.
The blond wasn’t following.
She was standing there, looking up.
“Come on,” Waverly said.
She continued up.
The next time she looked back, the blond was in tow, a floor behind.
They got to the roof and walked across to the front of the building. Larimer Street sprawled out four stories down.
“Why are we up here?”
“There was a guy who came into the bar,” she said. “I want to get a better look at him. I think he broke into my apartment. I’m pretty sure Bristol hired him.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m on to him about being the murderer and he knows it.” A beat then, “What’s your name?”
“Jaden.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Waverly.”
Hiding behind the parapet as much as possible while still keeping an eye on the street outside the Flamingo, Waverly gave Jaden the gruesome facts, the most important being the murder of Kava Every, the young associate Bristol had a secret relationship with, the second most important being the murder of Charley-Anna Blackridge in Denver this past weekend.
Jaden hadn’t known anything about either one.
She wasn’t impressed.
“Bristol wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“He did and he will again,” Waverly said. “You’re next or if not next at least on the list.”
“He’d never hurt me.”
“Take a good look down because this is the exact kind of place he’s going to bring you sooner or later. You’ll even be wearing the same dress you are now.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Let me ask you something. Why are you two in Denver?”
“He has business here.”
“What kind of business?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t particularly care, either.”
“Well, let me tell you what it is,” Waverly said. “Either he came here to put a stop to me, that’s one possibility. The other possibility is that after he killed the woman here this past weekend, something unraveled. Maybe he found out there was a witness or something like that. He’s here to fix whatever it is that’s coming unraveled.” A beat then, “If I can prove it, will you do me a favor and get yourself somewhere safe? Or, better yet, help me bring him down?”
Jaden exhaled.
“How could you possibly prove it?”
“He met with a lawyer this afternoon,” Waverly said. “Someone named Gina Sophia.”
“I know that.”
“She took notes,” Waverly said.
“And?”
“Those notes are the proof.”
“You have no idea what she wrote.”
“Not yet, but I’m going to find out.”
“How?”
“Break in to her office.”
“Break in?”
Waverly nodded.
Jaden shook her head in disbelief.
“You’re nuts. You can go to jail for that.”
“I’m breaking in and you’re coming with me,” Waverly said. “You’re going to see them with your own two eyes. You’re going to know that I didn’t fabricate them. Then you’re going to save your life.”