by Lucy Quinn
“Everyone needs an ear every now and then. Even you, Porsche,” Evie said softly.
The bartender nodded. “Yeah, I guess.” She wiped down the counter and let out a breath. “Thanks.”
Evie watched as Porsche brought a fresh beer to the man across the bar and then disappeared into the back.
“We need to ask her what else she knows about Matt,” Dora whispered, glancing at the small group of men gathered at a table.
“It doesn’t sound like she knows anything about the day he died,” Evie whispered back. “It seems she was completely blindsided.”
“Right, but she might know more about where he came from and why he was here,” Dora insisted. “That could help us if someone from his past found him here.”
She had a point. Evie nodded and sipped her Bloody Mary. “You’re right. But we have to do it in a way that doesn’t make her suspicious. You know, get her to talk about him as if it was her idea.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Dora cut her gaze to the door that led to the back room and narrowed her eyes. “You know I’m not good at small talk.”
Evie grinned. “But I am. Just leave it to me.”
“You wanna know more about that bastard Matt?”
When Evie spun around, she was assaulted by the pungent scent of beer mixed with a sour stench of something foul she thought might be fish bait. Her stomach rolled and her eyes watered. “Whoa,” she muttered and tried not to breathe through her nose as she stared at the guy who’d demanded a fresh beer from Porsche. If she did, she just might vomit right on the guy’s shoes. Stan, she thought. That’s what Porsche had called him, right?
Dora leaned away and wrinkled her nose as she grimaced at him, but he was facing Evie and didn’t notice.
Evie would’ve given anything to trade places with her friend in that moment. But since the guy seemed to have dirt about Matt, she blinked her watering eyes and asked, “You knew Matt?”
Stan made a growly noise in the back of his throat. “Knew him? Not really. But I did witness a few things that made me question his character.”
“What things?” Evie asked.
“He just wasn’t a good dude, okay? I know Porsche had a major crush on him, but she falls in love really fast. Wears her heart on her sleeve and all that. Her judgement can’t be trusted. Not about this guy.”
“What did Matt do?” Dora asked, leaning in closer. A second later, she pulled back and turned a sickly shade of green.
Evie deftly grabbed a glass from behind the counter and filled it with water from the soda gun. “Here.” She shoved the glass at her friend. “Drink up. You probably just had too much vodka and not enough protein.”
Dora looked like she wanted to argue, but when her face turned another shade of green, she picked up the water glass and downed it.
Stan let out a superior laugh. “Lightweight. Seriously, there should be a test before they allow anyone to day drink around here.”
Evie rolled her eyes and wanted to suggest they require their patrons to shower before entering the bar. But she needed to hear whatever else he knew about Matt. She turned to Stan, ignoring his foul stench, and asked, “What was that you were trying to say about Matt?”
“Right.” He narrowed his eyes. “Dude was a troublemaker. Had a hard time keeping his hands to himself.” He scoffed, wafting breath that could stop a train Evie’s way. “Last week, when it was Porsche’s night off, he was in here pawing at a small group of women. When they told him to back off, he just laughed. Still kept trying to cop a feel,” Stan said with an air of authority. “I finally had to step in and throw him out. He didn’t like that much.”
“What did he say?” Evie asked.
“Whataya think he said? He told me to mind my own damn business. But that wasn’t going to happen. No one harasses the women around here.” He flashed a smile that lacked a few teeth and chuckled. “’Cept for me.”
“Great,” Evie muttered under her breath. The last thing she wanted to do was investigate some creep’s murder. But she didn’t have much choice if they were going to clear Dora’s name. It also gave their case another possible angle. Perhaps Matt was slicker than Windy knew. Maybe the guy had completely snowed Windy for his own purposes, along with Porsche. His death might have been about something the guy had brought on himself.
If that were the case, Dora and she might find out things Windy never wanted to know. Her stomach ached, and it was from more than the odor that was oozing out of Stan’s pores. It was also from the fear Windy might not be satisfied with the truths her investigators uncovered and might not be willing to hand over the flash drive.
“C’mon, Dora,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”
6
“Sushi?” Evie called out. “Sushi!”
Dora glanced around, looking for the little white dog so they could get out of the bar and away from Stan, the disgusting man they’d been talking to. He’d just told them Matt wasn’t as great a guy as Windy and Porsche had let on, but she wasn’t so sure Stan was telling them the truth. She noticed Sunshine in a dark corner of the bar cuddled up with a larger dog Dora thought might be a spaniel.
She nudged Evie. “Over there. Seems Sun—Sushi’s getting lonely. This is the second dog we’ve found her cozying up to since we got in here.”
“Hmpf,” Evie said as she walked over and scooped up the pup. “She’s making me look bad. Nobody’s sniffing around me today.”
“Hey,” Dora said to Evie as they both paused to blink in the sunshine and let their eyes adjust to the brightness after being in a dark bar. “You don’t think Stan was entirely truthful, do you?”
Evie shrugged and then frowned. “Probably not,” she said distractedly before adding, “What the heck is going on?”
A large group of people were walking down the street holding signs, and a variety of chants were ringing in the air. Dora noticed a lot of purple lettering on white poster board and wooden picket-like signs in the arms of men in jeans and T-shirts. Some women too. “Looks like a protest of some kind.” She read a sign out loud. “Purple lips are for fishing, not butt kissing.” Dora looked at Evie. “What the heck are they talking about?”
“The man’s trying to stick it to the little guy,” said Windy from their right. “Again.”
Dora noticed Windy had signs of her own in her hands. The woman handed one to Evie. Dora took the sign thrust into her hands as well. She noted that it was heavier than she’d expected. “Purple lips don’t sink ships?” Dora asked as she read the purple block letters on her sign out loud. “I don’t get it.”
“Town officials decided to regulate the amount of purple-lipped sea bass a fisherman can catch,” Windy said. “The idea was to keep the population safe so hobby fishermen would keep coming here, but many of our local fishermen’s livelihoods were affected. The new law cuts their income by almost two-thirds in some cases.”
“Wow.” Evie said as she traced the lettering on her sign with her finger. “That’s a lot.”
“Stupid men—and women—in suits,” Windy scoffed. “They’re just lining the pockets of the rich business owners in town who already make bank off the tourists, and even our town coffers are getting fatter with the crazy fees for licenses.”
Dora frowned as Sunshine let out a sigh of compassion. Improving the town’s bottom line by increasing tourism and getting more income from licenses seemed reasonable, but she could also empathize with the plight of the fishermen. And she suspected the town government was made up of retail businesspeople instead of those who made their living catching the bass. “Selfishness in action.”
“Exactly.” Windy began walking to catch up with the group of protestors. “Come on!” She lifted up her wooden sign to pump it in the air. “Purple lips don’t sink ships!”
Dora inspected her sign, which was a rectangular wooden plank on a stick that appeared to have layers of paint on it. She suspected Windy had used it for a few protests in the past. She was pretty sure
this was the errand Windy had planned for today too. She glanced at Evie who had a big smile on her face.
“We’re protesting!” Evie squealed before jogging to catch up to Windy with Sunshine by her side. She pumped her own sign in the air as she chanted along with the older woman.
Dora shook her head. Protesting was so not her thing, but when in Rome… Or Clamshell Cove, as it were. She scurried to join in. She had to admit the phrase Windy had come up with was catchy as she yelled it in unison.
Windy was definitely a leader, Dora noticed as they marched in the middle of the street, stopping traffic. Not only was her saying catchy, but by the time they reached the end of the block, most of the protesters were chanting the words on Windy’s homemade signs. Dora had to admit that the energy in the air had made adrenaline pump through her veins.
A loud siren made Dora jump as her excitement was replaced with fear. And her heart began to pump faster when a voice rang out over a bullhorn. “Protestors, clear the street!”
“Crap!” Windy shoved her sign into Dora’s hands. “Pigs. Gotta run,” the woman said as she took off in a sprint. Dora watched in amazement, wondering if the older woman had been a track star in her youth.
“Jeez. Look at those wheels,” Evie said before her eyes widened in panic.
It was exactly the same moment that Dora realized they were in the same danger as Windy. “Crap!” She cried out before dropping the two signs she was holding with a clatter and running away from the police herself with Evie hot on her tail.
“Freeze!” yelled a man, and Dora glanced over her shoulder to see that a uniformed officer was after them.
“Double crap!” Dora cried out, and she ran straight for the crowd with the hope they could lose the cop. She wound her way through people as if she was moving a football down a field full of linebackers until Evie grabbed her arm.
“This way,” Evie said as she yanked Dora into the back door of a nearby shop. The two took a moment to bend over and pant to catch their breath. It was then that Dora noticed Sunshine flattened on the floor, under one of the chairs with her paws over her eyes. Good. The pup hadn’t gotten lost in the crowd.
But Dora didn’t trust they were safe yet. With a warrant out for their arrest, they couldn’t take the chance of any policeman recognizing them. She said, “We have to hide.” She glanced around and saw a couch, a coffee pot on the counter, a mini fridge, and numerous bottles of hand sanitizer. “What is this place?”
“A massage parlor,” Evie said as she handed Dora what appeared to be a white lab coat. “Put this on.”
She’d barely gotten her arms in the jacket when she saw a cop stomping his way over toward the door they’d entered. “Move!” she said as she shoved Evie through the door she assumed was to the main lobby.
They entered a space that did indeed appear to be a waiting area, and a big grin covered the face of a large man who stood up to greet them. “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” he said to them. “You two new here?”
“Ah—yes. Yes, we are,” Dora answered, quickly taking on her new persona.
“You look like you have magic fingers,” the bald guy said as he scanned Dora with his gaze.
“She does,” Evie said. “Some of the best in the business.”
Evie nudged her forward, and Dora wondered how it happened that she always seemed to be stuck getting up close and personal with people when she was the one who was the introvert. She whispered to Evie, “What do I do?”
Evie smiled at the man as she took Dora’s shoulders in her hands. “She’s new to this, but you won’t be sorry.” She then whispered in Dora’s ear. “Rub, Jessica. Just keep rubbing.”
“That’ll work,” the man said as he pumped his eyebrows at Dora, making her wonder just what she was getting into.
She glanced over her shoulder at Evie with wide eyes silently pleading for help. Evie gulped, confirming that Dora had every right to be afraid. Evie nodded at her as if she had a plan, but Dora was tempted to make a dash for the back anyway. That idea was quickly squashed when she heard the break room door open. She panicked, sure it was the cop, and Dora prayed her friend had a plan to save her as she pushed her client toward an open door that she assumed went to a massage room.
Once they were shut inside the room, the man said, “Quick on your feet. I like it.”
Dora let out a nervous laugh, because apparently, she hadn’t been quick enough.
7
Dora was in trouble. Evie had figured out too late that the massage parlor offered more than back rubs, and she knew it was her fault that her best friend was in a compromising position. But before she could do anything about it, she had another crisis to avoid. She smiled at the cop standing before her, praying that her ridiculous mop of pink curls was enough of a disguise to keep him from recognizing her. “Here for a massage, officer?”
The man eyed her suspiciously.
“We’ve got a wide variety of offerings. May I suggest a little something for your shoulders? A man with a job like yours probably holds a lot of stress there. I bet the tension in your deltoids—”
“No,” he growled out. “I’m not here for a massage. I’m—”
Evie resisted the urge to run and rushed her words to keep up her act as best she could. “Paraffin bath, perhaps? It does wonders for achy joints.”
He scoffed. “No. I—”
She interrupted him again. “We have a European facial that—”
His radio crackled, and Evie crossed her fingers it would be the perfect distraction. “Officer Reed requesting backup on the corner of Sea and Main. Got a 314.”
Evie had a little inside knowledge of that code. It meant indecent exposure, and she wanted to say she understood the urgency. The policeman let out a sigh and glanced toward the ceiling. “Probably another aging hippy who thinks lifting her top can save the world.”
Evie suppressed a giggle as she pictured it and squashed the urge to say it just might before he headed toward the front door to leave.
Relieved, she called out, “Have a nice day, officer!” Hopefully her words were loud enough to let Dora know one crisis had been avoided.
Unfortunately, Evie realized, it alerted Dora’s client too. She needed to act fast to save her friend. Glancing around the place as she racked her brain for an idea, she spotted a fire alarm and lunged for it.
One quick yank of the bar and an eardrum-shattering alarm blared. Water began to rain down from the ceiling, too, soaking her as the door to the massage room burst open.
Evie quickly scooped up Sunshine, who had been hiding from the policeman behind a counter, and she tilted her head toward the back door as she began to move. The gesture wasn’t necessary. Dora was already ahead of her, pushing her way outside in a full run.
Dora moved faster than Evie had ever seen her as she pumped her legs to sprint down the sidewalk and catch up. Evie struggled, though. While Dora had never been an athlete, she was moving with the determination of an Olympic runner. She only broke her stride when tires screeched beside them as a vehicle braked hard to stop.
“Hop in the back, Flo Jo and Jackie!” Evie heard Windy yell from the driver’s side of her rickety pickup. “And lie low!”
Evie reacted in a flash, and she launched herself into the bed of the truck with a tuck and roll to keep Sunshine safe. Numerous body parts of hers smashed on the hard metal just seconds after Dora had landed in a tangled heap as well. Once she was sure Sunshine was safe, Evie splayed out flat on her stomach and gasped to catch her breath. When she could talk again, she said, “Holy cow, Dor. I had no idea you could run so fast.”
Dora chuckled as she arranged herself into a prone position gingerly. “The fear of back hair did it.”
Evie laughed before she groaned with the pain radiating throughout her limbs. She was going to have some serious bruises. The sickly-sweet smell of rotting food filled her nose, and she glanced over at the familiar pig slop bins. She watched as some sloshed over the side, an
d a stream of the fermenting mixture rolled toward them. She guessed one of Windy’s errands in town had been gathering the leftover scraps from some restaurants to make more slop to feed the swine. “Ugh. We sure know how to land in it, don’t we?”
Dora let out a noise of disgust as she rolled to avoid the liquid’s approach, and Evie thought about how close they’d come to being captured by the police. Not to mention how close Dora had been to— Well, Evie was horrified to think of what Dora might have had to do.
“Hey,” Dora said as she reached out to touch Evie’s arm. “Thanks.”
Guilt burned in Evie’s stomach as she said, “No need to thank me. I’m sorry I pushed you toward the slimy dude before I figured out what that place was all about.”
“Stop. You didn’t know, and you reacted quickly. Pulling the fire alarm was brilliant.”
Evie shrugged. “I do work well under pressure.”
“I think I’m beginning to as well. I may have been toying with the idea of employing the Krav Maga move I learned from you before you pulled that alarm.”
“Yeah?” Evie grinned with pride. She’d taught Dora how to knock someone out with a kick the way she had done to a criminal in New Orleans. Theoretically, at least. But she was glad Dora hadn’t had to test her new skill, even if she was impressed her uptight friend was branching out in ways Evie had never predicted. She reached over and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m glad you’re my sidekick, Dor.”
Dora smiled back. “Same.”
After what felt like ages, the truck took a sharp right turn, and the road became bumpier, as if they were finally back at Windy’s compound. Once the truck stopped, Evie believed it was safe to sit up and discovered she was right.
She let out a sigh of relief. “Home sweet temporary home.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Windy said as she approached the back of the truck. “Because those pigs won’t feed themselves. Hop to it,” she said as if they hadn’t just narrowly escaped police capture.