Queenie's Cafe

by SUE FINEMAN

  Earl was right. She couldn’t expect any help from the police in this town.

  She closed and locked the door, then pulled a chair from the kitchen over and shoved it under the doorknob. It wouldn’t keep Earl out, but it might slow him down and make enough noise to give her some warning.

  Laura threw her ruined uniform on top of the blood-spattered sheets, pushed it all up together, and left it in the middle of the bed. She should put the sheets in the washer and clean up the blood, but she hurt too much to bother. She couldn’t sleep in the bed tonight anyway. Maybe Daddy’s old recliner would be better. She could watch the door that way.

  There was nothing stronger than aspirin in the bathroom cabinet, but she couldn’t take anything strong anyway. She fought to stay alert in case Earl came back. If she had a weapon, she’d feel safer. For the first time ever, Laura wished she had a gun.

  Her father used to keep a little pipe behind the counter in the motel office, but when she went to look, she couldn’t find it. She found a sharp knife in the kitchen and sat in her father’s recliner, the knife hidden in the folds of her robe.

  If Earl Windsor came back, he’d do his share of bleeding.

  <>

  The next morning, Laura could barely move. She put on make-up to hide the bruises on her face and walked to the café, where the regulars stood talking by the front door. She forced a smile. “Sorry, folks. I got a late start this morning.”

  “You okay, Laura?” asked Marv. His brows knit with concern.

  “Bad night. I’ll start the coffee.”

  The simplest movements were agonizing, but she couldn’t close. She’d lose it all if she didn’t keep this place open. When she brought the coffee out, Jay walked in the door and his eyes widened with shock.

  “Jay, come in and help yourself to coffee.” She walked back to the kitchen with Jay right behind her.

  “Laura, what happened?” He put his hand on her shoulder and she cried out. He pulled her shirt back and took in the big bruise, then tipped her chin up and looked at her face. “Honey, a whole slew of make-up ain’t gonna hide that. Who did this to you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. He won’t do it again.”

  Someone out front called, “Laura?”

  “Be right there,” she called back.

  “Did you call the police?”

  “Rusty called, but they didn’t come.”

  Someone out front yelled again.

  Jay said, “I’ll take care of it. You stay here.”

  She heard Charley Fenderman say, “You ain’t purty ’nough. We want Laura.”

  “She’s ain’t feelin’ so good today, so you’ll have to make do with me.”

  “You cookin’, too?”

  “Just servin’. You wouldn’t like my cookin’.”

  Jay came back with breakfast orders. “Tell me what to do.”

  “I’ll cook if you can take care of the customers.”

  “It’s just the regulars.”

  They worked together until the last customer left, then Jay took her hand and led her to the dining area. He pointed to a chair. “Sit down. Now, Miss Laura, everybody’s gone but us and I want to know what in the hell happened to you. You ain’t so sassy today and I want to know why.”

  “Because I wasn’t smart last night. I let someone in and I shouldn’t have.”

  “Who?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Honey, I ain’t leavin’ ’til you tell me.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She couldn’t keep this to herself. “You can’t tell anyone, Jay, not even Luke. Promise me.”

  “Okay, okay, I promise. Why didn’t the police come last night?”

  “Because he told them I was going into business like Florence and Cindy.”

  “Who?”

  She took a deep breath and said his name. “Earl Windsor.”

  Jay almost came out of his chair. “Luke’s daddy beat you like this?”

  “He knew Luke was gone. He said he came to collect this week’s payment.” She looked down at the table. “He tried to rape me.”

  Jay’s face darkened with rage. “I’ll kill that bastard.”

  “No, Jay, I don’t want to get you in trouble. He said no one would believe me if I called the police and he was right. Bobby Thornton didn’t even bother to see if I was all right.”

  “You see a doctor?”

  She lifted her right hand and dropped it in her lap. “No.”

  “Lock up. We’ll go right now.”

  “I can’t go without an appointment.”

  “The hell you can’t.” He walked to the counter and grabbed the phone. She heard him say, “It’s an emergency. Yeah, okay, we’re on our way.”

  On the way to Dr. Walters’ office, he asked, “You still rentin’ rooms at that motel?”

  “Just to the regulars.”

  “I want the room next to your place.”

  “No, Jay, I don’t want you involved.” She didn’t want Earl to hurt anyone else, especially Jay and Rusty.

  He pulled into the parking lot at the doctor’s office. “What if he comes back?”

  She pulled a small, sharp knife out of her apron pocket. “Next time, he’ll be the one bleeding.”

  “You think that little thing’s gonna stop Earl Windsor? Shoot, honey, he’d take it away and use it on you.”

  “I don’t have a gun.” If she’d had her hands on a gun last night, she’d be in jail right now, because she would have blown that pervert away.

  “Yeah, well, that’s why you gotta have some record of what happened.”

  “Besides the police record?”

  “What police record?” he muttered.

  He was right. Earl talked his way around the police, so there wouldn’t be a record. She knew how things worked around here. A person with business or political influence could get away with nearly anything. Frank Fosdick was bad enough, but he wasn’t physically threatening.

  Earl Windsor terrified her.

  Jay helped her out of the truck and walked into the doctor’s office with her. The nurse took her right into the exam room.

  Dr. Walters examined her. “Well, young lady, you’re bruised and battered, but I don’t think anything’s broken. We should get some X-rays of that shoulder, though, just to be sure.”

  She couldn’t afford X-rays. She couldn’t even afford the doctor bill. “If it doesn’t get better, I’ll come back.”

  “Then get some rest and give yourself time to heal.”

  Rest? And lose her business?

  The doctor gave her a prescription for pain pills and she shoved it in the pocket with the knife. She couldn’t take pills and work, and she couldn’t afford to fill it anyway.

  When she came out, Jay asked, “What did he say?”

  “He said I’ll be fine. I need to get back for lunch.”

  “You workin’ all day?”

  “Yes.” Of course she was. She’d just bought dairy products and fresh produce, and they had to be used. And she had bills to pay. If she couldn’t find enough money to pay Earl’s bill, he’d come back and rape her, and the police in this town would look the other way. Again.

  Jay drove her back to the café. “I’ll be back this evenin’. I want Florence’s room.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Jay.”

  “Will you listen to that? I finally find a woman who ’preciates me and she don’t want me ’round.”

  Laura’s eyes filled with tears. Jay cared about her. “Yes, I do.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I miss the sass.”

  “He knocked it out of me.”

  “Sure did.”

  Laura went through the motions, but her heart wasn’t in her work. She hurt so much she was numb. She couldn’t stay here like this, waiting for Earl to come back to collect his payment, and she didn’t want to get her friends involved. Jay was a nice man, and she didn’t want the police picking on him or anyone else because of her.

/>   How could she face Luke? How could she tell him? He probably wouldn’t believe her anyway.

  By closing time she was in so much pain it hurt to breathe. She couldn’t reach up, could barely move her left arm at all. Pain colored everything she did. Lifting a pan or dishes or a tray was nearly impossible, so she asked Rusty to help her.

  “Did Mr. Windsor hurt your arm?”

  “My shoulder hurts, but it’ll get better. I could use some extra help for a couple of days, if you wouldn’t mind. I can’t carry anything heavy right now.”

  He gave her a shy smile. “I’ll help you.”

  “I know you will, Rusty. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Laura went home that night and took a long, hot shower. With the makeup washed off, she looked downright awful. The bruises were darkening and her cheek was swollen and red in the shape of Earl’s hand. Her left eye was swollen, too. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this, but when Jay knocked on the door, she let him in. She needed a friend.

  Jay pulled the robe back and examined her shoulder. “Miss Laura, you’re a mess. What’s Earl look like?”

  “I bit his tongue when he stuck it in my mouth, but I don’t think that’ll show.”

  “Oh, yeah? What else did you do?”

  “Made him walk funny and broke the lamp on his head. That’s how I got away.”

  “That sass is good for somethin’. How’s your shoulder?”

  “Sore. Rusty’s going to help me for a few days.”

  “All day?”

  “Lunch and dinner.”

  “Then I’ll help in the mornin’ for another day or two. What time you start?”

  “Five-thirty.”

  “Five-thirty! That’s not mornin’. That’s the middle of the damn night.”

  “I’m not helpless. I can do it myself.”

  “Like hell you can. Where’s the key to my room?”

  If he’d fussed over her she would have cried. Instead, Jay anticipated what she needed and stepped in to help. And she loved him for it.

  <>

  The next morning, Jay helped with the breakfast shift, then returned to his room. He came to the café an hour later. “I rigged up a little somethin’ so you can call if you need me. I’ll show you how it works tonight.”

  “Don’t you have to go to work or something? You don’t have to hang around here all day, baby-sitting me.”

  “Yeah, well, I like the scenery ’round here, even if it is a little black and blue.”

  A smile fought its way through the pain. “Get out of here, Jay.”

  He grinned and she kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you.”

  “Damn shame,” he said, shaking his head.

  “What?”

  “That you’re too young for me.”

  When the last of the lunch crowd left, Laura called Carmen Messina, at Kingston Real Estate. “Carmen, I changed my mind about selling, but I don’t want a sign. I have to stay in business until it’s sold. Can you sell it that way?”

  “The café? Motel? What?”

  “Everything. Café, motel, and land.”

  “Do you have a price in mind?”

  “I want it sold fast, so whatever you think.”

  Carmen brought the paperwork to the café an hour later. Laura signed the listing agreement without even discussing the list price. She just wanted to settle up and move somewhere people didn’t know her, where Earl Windsor couldn’t find her. She’d been foolish to try to run this place by herself. She should have known it wouldn’t work. Luke was right about one thing. She had more pride than sense.

  She thought about calling her parents, but she couldn’t tell them what happened. Dad would be furious, and Florence would blame herself. It was so unfair. Queenie had never been forced out of business like this.

  Laura worked in a haze of pain, but with help from Jay and Rusty, she made it through Sunday. The regulars helped themselves to coffee and carried their own plates. They could see she’d been injured, but she didn’t tell them what happened. She couldn’t.

  Jay and Rusty lifted and carried things for her, but instead of getting better, her shoulder seemed to be getting worse. She used her left hand and arm as little as possible, but it hurt more every day.

  How many more days would she have to muddle through in this kind of pain?

  Chapter Nine

  On Monday, Luke finished his business in Jacksonville and left for Kingston long before dawn. He missed Laura too much to stay away any longer. This was her day off and he wanted to spend it with her. He could have called and told her he was coming back early, but he wanted to surprise her.

  The more time he spent with her the more he wanted to be with her. With other women, things got hot and heavy rather quickly and then the passion waned. Would he lose interest in Laura after they made love? Right now he couldn’t picture it.

  He’d just passed Daytona Beach when he ran into the storm. The wind whipped around and the semi beside him kept blowing into his lane. The rain came down so hard the wipers couldn’t keep up. Even though he was in a hurry to get to Laura, he slowed down and pulled over behind the truck. He followed the truck’s tail lights all the way to Melbourne, where the storm finally settled into a gentle rain, and a soft glow in the sky signaled the coming of dawn.

  Almost there.

  <>

  Around four in the morning, Laura woke to thunder and heavy rain. One loud crack nearby knocked the power out. She hoped it wouldn’t be out too long. The freezer and refrigerator at the café wouldn’t keep things forever, and she couldn’t afford to lose food.

  She found a flashlight and peered out the window. The low spot in the parking lot had turned into what Dad had always called Lake Whitfield. The wind whipped the rain against the windows. Would that new patch on the roof of the café hold? She was in no shape to mop up water, and she didn’t want the new paint ruined.

  Settling back in the recliner, she let the sound of the rain lull her back to sleep.

  A minute later, it seemed, someone pounded on the door. She woke in a panic, sure it was Earl.

  Luke yelled, “Laura? Are you here?”

  She let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. It wasn’t Earl. “Just a minute.”

  The rain had stopped and the power was back on, but what was Luke doing here? He was supposed to be in Jacksonville for a few more days. Laura brushed her hair over the side of her face to hide her bruises and pulled the chair away from the door. She wasn’t ready to see him. Not yet. She hadn’t figured out what to tell him about Earl’s attack.

  Opening the door, she said, “Luke, what are you doing here so early?”

  “Time to wake up, sleepyhead. It’s a beautiful day and we have lots to do.” He touched her shoulder and she cringed with pain. “Laura, what’s wrong?”

  “I bruised my shoulder.”

  He pulled the robe off her shoulder. It was black and blue, like her face. “My God, Laura. What happened?”

  Laura tried to hold her robe closed, but Luke pulled it all the way open. Embarrassed to be standing before him naked, she tried to cover herself, but her left shoulder had stiffened again and her arm wouldn’t move.

  Luke’s eyes filled with sympathy, then fury, as he looked at the angry bruises on her stomach and ribs and the deep scratches on her breasts. He pulled her robe closed and brushed the hair off her face. “Honey, when did this happen?”

  “Thursday night.”

  “Who did this to you? That creep with Ivy?”

  “No.” She couldn’t tell him who’d beat her like this.

  “Did you call the police?”

  “Rusty called, but they didn’t come.” She held her head high, but she couldn’t look him in the eye. She didn’t want his pity, even if she did look pitiful.

  His voice softened. “Tell me who did this to you, honey.”

  She shook her head slightly and sat on the edge of the recliner. How could she tell him his father was
responsible for her pain? Would he believe her?

  He spotted the pile of sheets on the bed and held up her torn, bloody clothes. “Damn it, Laura. Who did this to you?”

  She didn’t want to tell him, but he wouldn’t stop badgering until she did. “He said you sent him to collect his payment.”

  “For what?”

  “The new carpet.”

  Luke dropped the bloody clothes. “What are you saying?”

  “He said it’s all a girl like me could expect, that I owed him and if I didn’t give him what he wanted, he’d put a lien against my business. He said he’d take it out in trade, since that was the way I was paying you.”

  “What trade? Sex?”

  She nodded.

  Astonishment and rage dueled in Luke’s dark blue eyes. “Earl raped you?”

  “No, I fought him off.” She tried not to cry, but a few tears slipped out. “Jay and Rusty have been helping me. Jay is staying in Florence’s room.”

  Luke’s jaw clenched so tightly it hurt to look at him.

  “Earl knows Florence is my mother and he’s telling everyone I’m in the same business.”

  “I’ll kill him,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “Don’t do something stupid.”

  His hands were fisted, clenched as tightly as his jaw. “I’m going to show him what it feels like. That’s not stupid. That’s justice.”

  Laura sat back in the recliner. “You don’t have to be violent just because he is. Isn’t there another way?”

  Pacing like a caged tiger, Luke clenched and unclenched his fists. “Besides a slow, painful death?”

  “What would hurt him the most? What does he prize above all else?”

  “Reputation. Political influence.”

  “And money?” she asked.

  Luke stopped pacing. “You mean don’t give him any money?”

  The past few days, Laura had given a lot of thought to Earl’s punishment. The police wouldn’t take care of him, if she shot him she’d go to prison, and she wasn’t savvy enough about business to know how to hurt him that way. But Luke was. “Isn’t there some way to take what he has away from him?” A man like Earl didn’t deserve to be free, and he didn’t deserve to stay in business.