When I got to Roxy’s apartment later that night, I was surprised to see her dressed in normal clothes. Well, normal for her. True, the crotch of her black slacks hung to her knees and the hood of her furry coat had bear ears, but the t-shirt and ballet flats were perfectly normal.
The rain had finally stopped, but the air was still damp and cold. I parked in front of Ma’s blue and white Victorian house. I still thought Ma coming had bad idea written all over it, but I didn’t want to disappoint her.
I hopped out of the car, ran up the front stairs, and knocked. Ma stepped onto the porch, handing me a thermos and a plastic grocery sack. “I’m so excited. Do we need a camera, because I’ve got one in my purse, just in case.”
“I don’t think so.” I followed her down the steps. “In fact, I think it’s going to be pretty boring.”
She brushed me off as she walked to the car. “Don’t be such a downer, Rose.”
Roxy climbed into the back seat so Ma could sit shotgun. “I brought snacks,” Ma said. “And hot chocolate.”
We drove to Packard’s subdivision and I parked at the end of the cul-de-sac. I cut the headlights, but left the car running.
Ma skillfully poured hot chocolate into cups she’d pilfered from the diner, the ones with a lid and sleeve around it so we wouldn’t burn our hands. She reached back into the plastic bag and pulled out a container. “Who wants Chex mix?”
We waited about forty-five minutes before Packard came out of the house and got into his SUV. I followed him from a discreet distance keeping my headlights off until we turned onto a main thoroughfare. He led us through town before taking the highway.
“Where do you think he’s going?” Ma yelled. She had to if she wanted to be heard over the thwapping noise of the plastic bag window.
“It’s not City Hall, that’s for sure,” I said.
“Crap,” Roxy said from the backseat.
“What’s wrong?”
“I only have two pieces of gum left.”
Ma twisted in her seat to look at Roxy. “What about that patch? How’s that working?”
“I hate that stupid patch. And I hate this sucky gum. I want a cigarette. Argh!” She sounded like a pirate.
“Feel better?” My gaze met hers in the rearview mirror.
She shrugged. “A little.”
Packard pulled onto the Crabtree Avenue exit. We were officially out of Huntingford and into country territory. He drove another fifteen minutes to a deserted highway. When he turned right, I turned left, then doubled back and cut my headlights once again, letting him get far ahead of me. We pulled into a long gravel drive that led to a two-story brick building.
“This used to be a school, I think,” said Ma. “The country kids went here.”
“I’m assuming this is a bar, right? What else would be out here?” I asked.
“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” Ma put the snacks back in the plastic sack at her feet.
Packard parked in front of the building with about seventy-five other cars. Every light in the place was on.
When he walked in, I drove the rest of the way down the long drive and parked in the last row, as far from Pack’s car as I could get. I switched off the ignition and turned in my seat. “What are we going to do? We can’t just march in there.”
“Pull around back,” Roxy said.
I restarted the engine and did as she asked. There were cars parked behind the building as well, but I found a space near the back entrance. “Now what?”
“Now we do reconnaissance.” She shrugged out of her jacket. “Will you be all right here, Ma?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll leave the car running,” I said. “It’s extra chilly because of the busted window.”
“Go on, girls. Call if you get into trouble.” She waved her phone at us.
I shrugged out of my coat and left it with Ma, just in case she needed it. Roxy and I walked toward the building. “Okay, Rox, what’s your big plan?”
“This is it. Reconnaissance.”
I stopped and stared at her. “You don’t have a plan?”
“I can’t do everything, Rose.” She huffed and stomped toward the building.
Good God.
When she got to the door, she waited for me to do the honors. With a deep breath I twisted the knob and opened it. Clinking plates and noisy chatter filled a professional stainless steel kitchen. Steam smacked me in the face and the briny smell of shrimp made my stomach growl. I glanced back at her. “At least we’re in familiar territory.”
I walked in with Roxy behind me. Men and women dressed in black slacks, white dress shirts, and black bow ties hustled around the kitchen. Now this I could do.
A woman with oversized black eyeglasses and a clipboard strode toward us. “Who are you? What are you doing in my kitchen?”
I smiled. “We’re new. NorthStar sent us.” I held my smile as she looked from me to Roxy, taking in her blue hair and baggy pants.
“I wasn’t told about this. Where are your uniforms?”
Roxy smacked her gum. “They said you had ’em.”
The woman put her palm up to Roxy’s mouth. “Spit.”
“Huh?”
“Gum is not allowed. Now spit.”
Roxy looked slightly panicked, but spit the gum into the woman’s hand.
Alice, as marked on a very large nametag pinned to her shirt, looked disgusted as she marched to the other side of the room and threw the gum in the trash. She briskly walked back to us. “That blue hair has got to go. It’s not regulation. You can work in the kitchen tonight.” She turned toward me. “You, come with me.”
I glanced over as Roxy flipped off Alice behind her back.
“I have a few extra uniforms. What’s your name?”
“Uh, Sue.” Damn, why didn’t I ever have a good answer for that question?
In a little cloak room off the kitchen, several uniforms hung on a rolling rack. She grabbed one and thrust it at me. “I have very strict standards. Follow them and we’ll get along just fine. Get dressed. Then grab a tray of shrimp puffs and take it out.” She left the room and I locked the door behind her.
As I changed clothes, I wondered what we had stumbled into. And I wondered if I could snag some of those shrimp puffs. I was hungry.
I adjusted the bow tie, then grabbed the phone out of my jeans, and shoved it into the pocket of my new uniform. I walked back to the kitchen and glanced over at Roxy. She slapped doilies on a tray, and by the look she gave me, she wasn’t happy about it.
I grabbed a tray on my way out of the kitchen and walked down an empty hall. The worn hardwood floors were dull in the dim light. There hadn’t been much updating in the place. It looked exactly like what it was — an old school.
Quiet voices came from a room on the left. I poked my head inside but didn’t see Packard. Pretty young women in dressy gowns with glasses of champagne in their hands stood close to three round baize tables. Men sat at the tables, cards in their hands, drinks at their elbows. Poker. Just like at the cigar bar. The air was thick with smoke in here as well.
I smiled and tried to be unobtrusive as I moved around with my tray. Only one woman took a shrimp puff. She sniffed it and placed it back. I gave Miss Manners a disapproving look and moved on. The men were involved with their cards, and the dealers didn’t even notice me.
I stepped out of the room and peeked into the one across the hall. Jackpot. Poker, pretty women, and Packard Graystone.
Packard sat at the table, his body contorted to look up at a dapper man in a tuxedo. I walked into the room and slipped behind a tall brunette in a stunning evening gown. I peeked around her and listened as Pack yelled at the older man.
“Don’t fuck with me, Robert. Don’t you know who I am?”
Robert spoke in a low, calm tone. I had no idea what he said, but it nearly gave Packard an aneurism.
“Like hell I will. You don’t fucking tell me that. You know I’m good for it.” Packard’s face was almost purple and a big vein throbbed in the middle of his forehead.
Robert glanced over Packard’s head and beckoned to a large bald man on the other side of the room. The bald man looked as if he used to bench press European cars for a living. His massive arms strained the material of his tux. If I’d been Packard, I’d have crapped myself if I saw that guy coming for me.
But Packard wasn’t scared, he was pissed. “I need more credit!”
The big guy simply lifted Pack’s arm and dragged his ass out of the room.
“What are you doing?”
The tall woman I’d been hiding behind glared down at me. She was very pretty, but had on way too much eyeliner. Sometimes less is more, ladies.
“That’s a great dress,” I said. “Where’d you get it?”
“Pour Femme, of course.”
A piece just clicked into place. I smiled and held up my tray. “Shrimp?”
“No,” she sniffed and walked away.
I meandered around offering my puffs to people who didn’t want them. These women were eye candy for the men who gambled. That’s what the saleswoman at Pour Femme thought I was. I wondered if the Pour Femmes did more than stand around drinking champagne. Might make things interesting.
I waited until I was sure Packard had left the building, then I booked it down the hall toward the kitchen. I got halfway there when Alice came out of nowhere and grabbed my arm.
“You’re very slow, Sue. Get in and out of the rooms at a much quicker pace.”
“Sorry. Where’s the restroom?”
“You don’t have a break for another two hours. Go upstairs. And remember, in and out.” With her clipboard pressed to her chest, she glared at me while I climbed the stairs.
Roxy was going to kill me or perhaps everyone in the building, if I didn’t get her out of here and shove a piece of gum in her mouth.
They layout was similar to downstairs with four rooms on either side of the hall, only these rooms hosted blackjack and roulette. I carted my tray from room to room and actually had a few takers. As I made my way down the stairs, my eyes locked on Manny, who was on his way up.
“You.” He pointed at me and ran on sandaled feet up the steps.
I panicked as he came toward me and nearly fell face first into the banister. He kept coming. I lifted the tray, tossed the shrimp over my shoulder, and slammed it into Manny’s face as hard as I could.
He staggered then tumbled backward, landing on his ass. I threw the tray at him and ran down the stairs. I almost made it past him, but he grabbed my ankle and brought me down.
My knee slammed into the corner of the hard wooden step and I grabbed the railing. I tried to shake my foot free from his grasp, but couldn’t. I reached back and slapped the top of his bald pate. “Let go, asshole.”
Alice looked up from the bottom step and gasped so hard I thought she was choking. “What is going on here?”
“Ben Franklin…tried to…cop a feel,” I said between slaps to his head.
“She’s lying. She’s not who she says she is.”
I kicked out with my other foot and made contact with his nose. He finally let me go to grab his face with both hands. Blood poured through his fingers.
“You bitch,” he said, sounding like he had a cold.
I ran down the stairs, flying past Alice. Her wide eyes and gaping mouth said she couldn’t quite believe what was happening.
I ran to the kitchen and saw Roxy out of the corner of my eye. “Run,” I yelled, not slowing down as I fled the kitchen and sped out into the cold night.
Footsteps pounded on the gravel behind me. I looked back to make sure it was Roxy. To my relief it was.
I ripped open the driver’s side door and flung myself into the car. Roxy hopped in the back.
Ma, who had been dozing, sat up. “Bingo.” She looked around as I put the car in gear and stomped on the gas. Rocks flung from my tires as I sped out of the lot.
“What the hell is going on?” Ma asked.
I told them about Manny between ragged breaths. My knee throbbed as I drove back to the deserted old highway, glancing in the rearview mirror every few seconds.
Once we made it back into Huntingford, I pulled into a McDonald’s parking lot so I could calm down and catch my breath. “Just give me a minute, guys.” I laid my forehead on the steering wheel. Pulled off the bow tie and unbuttoned the top button on the white blouse. It occurred to me I left behind my gray hoodie and my second best pair of jeans. Damn.
“So Manny’s the guy who called Packard and they were both in the old school tonight. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?” Ma asked.
I raised my head and looked at her. “No. And we told the woman in charge that NorthStar hired us.” Just then my phone buzzed. I dug it out of my pocket with trembling hands and glanced at the text.
“Eric wants me to come over. He has something on Sullivan.”