by J R Pearson
I abruptly stand, knocking the chair to the floor. I want to bolt out of here but I can’t. My heels feel as if they’re literally superglued to the carpet. What’s happening? Why can’t I—
“You slut!”
I twist around, and there is Mrs. Genova standing a few feet away.
Holding a gun.
And it’s pointed right at me.
“You ruined everything!” she screamed. “You tore my marriage apart!”
“No!” I flinched. It wasn’t me. She must be confused. Maria is the mistress. Not me. I want to say all this to convince her to put the gun down, but it’s too late.
She pulls the trigger.
Bang.
“Nooo!” I shot straight up, fully awake. My ears were ringing, head pounding. It took me a minute to grasp my surroundings. Somehow I’d ended up on the floor. If only the fall jarred me awake and ended the nightmare sooner. I pinky-swore to myself to never think about it again. Thankfully, images of it were fading. I heaved myself up, using the edge of the coffee table, my hand landing on my ‘murder book’ notepad. Without hesitation, I snatched it and began annotating.
SUSPECTS
-Mrs. Genova
MOTIVES
-Husband was having an affair
-Cut out of will.
ALIBI
-???
Besides the not-so-sexy stripping and zombie Anthony serving me wine, the hellish dream was a clear sign indicating that Mrs. Genova was a sure bet on being the killer.
Tonight, I’d see if Maria could either be dismissed or added right alongside the gun-wielding widow on my suspects list.
My money was on the widow.
“Nope. No way, we’re leaving,” Mandy said.
“We just got here—”
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Mandy swiveled around in her seat, knees bobbing. “This is not a safe place.”
If not for the neon sign blinking the words Cha Cha’s, I would have turned my fluffy butt around. Already located in a sketchy area, the outside of Cha Cha’s was questioning. Dark andsludge-stained, the building’s old cracked bricks, iron bars latched onto blackened windows, and weeds broke the surface in the parking lot. An abandoned car sat at the end of the lot, its tires missing and windshield shattered.
I gulped audibly, my palms dampening. Mandy’s right. We shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t be allowed here. In the distance, I heard pissed-off people yelling and feral cats having a screeching competition.
This place is where good girls end up dead.
I closed my eyes and breathed. Talk to Maria and get out.
“Are you coming in, or do you want to stay in the car?” I asked Mandy.
“Stay in the car? And get mugged? You’re crazy!” She threw the door open. “If something happens to me, I’m holding you accountable.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The loud thumping bass of the music vibrated the ground as we walked in. The interior was smoky, a few patrons occupying small tables. A woman wearing a tight skirt and crop top carried drinks on a tray. Along a wall was a bar, its stools empty. I was surprised my sandals didn’t stick to the floor.
Mandy tapped my arm.
“Do you think the food is good here?” she asked. I gave her the classic “are you kidding me?” look.
“What? Can’t blame a girl for asking.” She shrugged.
I rolled my eyes.
“Let’s find Mar—”
“Thank heavens! You’re here!” an older woman said, rushing to us. “And you brought a friend too. Wonderful.” The woman was my height, with bleached-blonde hair and tan skin that resembled a brown leather bag. “I’m getting tired of these unreliable skanks,” she complained. “Let’s get you into something more appropriate.” The woman roughly grabbed mine and Mandy’s arms and pulled us into a dark hallway.
“Hey! I’m not afraid to take down an old lady!” Mandy warned.
“Excuse me, Ms.—”
“Just call me Patty, hun. You’ll be working alongside Maria. She’ll answer any questions you have,” Patty informed us.
My ears perked up. I whispered to Mandy to relax.
“She thinks we’re new hires.”
“New hires for what? I refuse to be recruited in some devil-worshipping cult.” Mandy suddenly looked panicked.
“I doubt it’ll go that far,” I assured. Maria would probably be more inclined to open up about her relationship to a fellow employee, and I planned on playing the sympathetic new friend when she revealed her boyfriend’s unfortunate demise.
Chapter Eleven
Patty pushed us into a large flashy dressing room.
“Makeup is on that table. The hair junk is in those drawers.” Gesturing to a large dresser, she scanned me up and down. “You’re a lot shorter than my other girls. Hmmm.” She picked up two pairs of cherry red pumps on steroids with a five-inch, needle-point heel. If feet could scream in terror….
I had a feeling there were going to be blisters and aches in my near future. I watched my best friend start to drool.
“What you need to change into is hanging on those racks over there.” I followed Patty’s bony finger. Wasn’t much clothing hanging to begin with.
“You girls have nice hourglass figures. Be sure to make room in your purses for tips.” She winked, then left the room. I suppressed a shudder.
“Check. Out. This. Room! It’s awesome!” Mandy squealed.
“Mandy—”
“I’m telling you, we need an exact replica built in our apartment. But you know, on a much smaller scale.”
“Mandy, focus! We’re here on a mission,” I reminded my much shorter attention-spanned friend.
She picked up a hot pink mini skirt.
“What better way to accomplish our mission incognito? All good detectives have to blend in, riiiiight?” She raised her eyebrows, waiting for a response.
Being that we weren’t detectives, let alone good ones, I had no clue what the rules were. But then again, it wouldn’t hurt to be in disguise in case Maria and I ran into each other later.
“Okay, fine.” I gave in.
“Yes! The meatballs strike again! And you thought coming here was a bad idea.” She smirked.
Mental face palm.
From the rack, I snatched a black leather skirt and a red sequined top. The skirt fit fine. The top was another story. I checked the racks again for another option, but the sizes only got smaller. I guess it’d do. Let’s just say the scrap of clothing turned my boobs into a chin rest, and trying to shove the girls down was like trying to push a flotation device under water.
Not possible. I guess my dream earlier was also part vision, showing I’d soon have more boob issues.
I moved on to makeup, going heavy on the eyeliner and mascara. Mandy did the same. Her outfit mirrored mine except her top was in bubblegum pink. My eyes bugged out of their sockets when I saw her adjusting a foot-high, ultra-long blonde wig on her head.
“You look like a bimbo,” I told her.
“Thanks!”
“Hurry up in there!” Patty yelled. “Your shift begins in five.”
“Coming!” I started for the door.
“Jennie, your hair.” Mandy stopped me. “Grab a wig.” She pointed to a table holding different colored wigs featured on mannequin heads. I chose a bright red bob. Checking myself in the mirror, I was surprised at what I saw. Definitely not my style. I kind of liked it.
“We look hot,” Mandy commented. Hard to disagree.
Patty met us in the hallway. She nodded in approval.
“You clean up nice, girls. Red is your color. Now what you’ll—”
WHAM! The front end of my steroid heels caught a discarded blouse, causing me to fall facedown, legs tangled.
I knew these shoes were going to cause me trouble!
“Walk it off, hun, walk it off. It takes some gettin’ used to.” Patty plucked me off the floor like a feather—she’s scary strong for a s
mall woman—and finished explaining how I’d be shadowing Maria for the night. Maria was a waitress, as all the girls were. I was relieved to hear I wouldn’t be reenacting any moves Caleb did in my—shit, stop thinking about it!
Patty turned to Mandy and explained the shortage of hands, saying her job was to help Big Larry behind the bar. We poked our heads around the corner to see Mandy’s new partner. Mammoth Larry was more appropriate. Standing close to seven feet, Larry’s body was as wide as a bus, with tattoos covering his bald head and thick arms. He caught us staring and slowly smiled, revealing several gold teeth.
And several missing teeth.
“That’s it! I’m leaving!” Mandy yelled.
I grabbed her before she got away.
“Come on, it won’t be so bad.”
“So bad? You’re not the one working alongside freak-a-saurus! Jennie, that man looks like he eats girls like me for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! And then uses the bones as toothpicks!”
“Uh, could you wrap this up?” Patty said, tapping her watch. “Time is money, and you’re wasting it.”
“She’s fine. Everything’s fine,” I assured. “Let’s get started.”
Mandy whimpered.
Patty led a pouting Mandy away and said Maria would be right with me. I leaned against the wall and wiped my sweating palms on my skirt.
“Lookin’ for me, baby?” A thin man, reeking of booze, leered at me.
“Scram, sicko. She doesn’t want you,” snapped a tall woman. Lips now a dark purple, Maria waved him away. Sicko slithered back to the bar. Maria had ditched the tight cheetah dress for a silver fringe top and matching skirt.
“Thanks.”
“You’ll have to get used to men creeping around. I’m Maria. I’ll be showing you the ropes.” She and I shook hands.
“Sounds great.” I followed her into Cha Cha’s tiny kitchen.
“I didn’t catch your name,” she said over her shoulder.
Uh-oh. I was ready with an arsenal of questions, and to take on any she may have for me, but it never crossed my mind to make up a fake name.
“Um… Kendra! It’s Kendra.” Surely my mom won’t mind me using her name.
Maria shrugged and briefly showed me where to pick up orders. She bent to grab a tray, and I immediately knew how to begin the questioning. Channeling my best friend, I gasped and pointed to Maria’s neon purple pumps.
“Oh. My. Gosh. I love your shoes! They’re so cute,” I squealed.
Maria smiled.
“Thanks. I just got them.” She flipped her hair.
“My boyfriend loves it when I strut around the house wearing heels. Does yours?” I asked in a hopefully casual way. Maria looked away, not saying anything. Come on, take the bait.
“I don’t have a boyfriend… anymore.”
“That’s crazy. I can’t imagine anyone dumping you.”
“My boyfriend didn’t dump me. He died, just recently.” Maria carefully wiped a tear away without disturbing her makeup. She made it look so easy. If I cried, mascara acted like birds during migration, heading south with no turning back.
“I’m so sorry to hear that. I’m sure you miss him an awful lot. What was his name?”
“I do, and his name was Anthony.” Another tear escaped. During the service, Maria seemed shut down, completely turned off from her surroundings and not showing any emotion unlike everybody else. Understandably being the “other woman” sitting just a few feet from the wife was hard enough. Now, her eyes wet and face visibly upset, Maria was releasing what she couldn’t hours before.
Time to walk on thin ice.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how’d Anthony die?”
I watched Maria find a napkin and wipe her nose.
“He was killed.”
Bingo.
“That’s awful,” I said. “Were you with him when he died?”
“No. I went into the city the morning of, visiting my parents.” She sniffed. I couldn’t tell if she was lying or not. She could have visited family and then returned to kill Anthony. If that was the case, what was Maria’s motive of doing so?
“I’ve been judged a lot, you know? Because, well, because Anthony was an older man and was married.” She grabbed another napkin. “But I didn’t care. Not a damn bit. Anthony was the sweetest man I’ve ever met, and he treated me with respect too.” She laughed without humor. “We planned on going on a cruise together.”
“Wow.” That confirmed the tickets.
“Yep. He was always surprising me with gifts. Especially diamonds. My Anthony showered me in diamonds all the time.” She lifted her right hand, showing off a diamond ring the size of my thumb.
“That’s beautiful. He sounds like a wealthy man,” I commented.
Maria frowned at me.
“That’s not the reason why I dated him. I loved him, truly loved him for who he was as a person. Not for his wallet,” she snapped.
Great. Now you’ve done it, Jennie.
“I-I believe you. Really I do. Not a lot of women are as honest as you. Here.” I gave her another napkin.
“Thanks. I’m sorry. I’m just used to people always jumping to conclusions about me.” She tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
“What’d he do for a living?” Maybe she wouldn’t pay attention to my sudden nosiness.
“He was a manager of a restaurant but had gotten a new side job in JewelCove. He seemed a lot happier with it.”
Side job? If I asked further into Anthony’s occupations, no doubt Maria would smell something fishy, and I wasn’t talking about whatever the hell was floating in the mop bucket.
“You could take away the money, and I’d still love him the same. Last week, he told me I was the only one who truly understood him.” Her tone implied more. She stood up straighter; gone were the tears.
“Just between you and me, since the police say it’s still an ongoing investigation….” She glanced around before continuing in a low voice, “I know who killed my Anthony.”
My heart began to beat faster.
“Who?”
“His wife.”
Chapter Twelve
Maria’s tutorial soon wrapped up. After sharing her thoughts of Mrs. Genova being the killer, I asked why. Maria merely shrugged, saying Mrs. Genova was simply jealous of her and was fed up with the affair. Maria made it sound really convincing, but there was more I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Possibly having to do with Anthony’s side job.
Across the room, I waved to Mandy, who was giggling and pouring drinks with Big Larry. More patrons had come in during my conversation with Maria. Loud laughter emitted from a group of men decked out in leather and chains. A man with a long beard and a leather vest—with, sadly, nothing underneath, hairy belly on display—stood at the helm of the group, chugging two mugs of beer at the same time. His friends cheered him on. When finished, he celebrated his victory with a loud belch and smashed the mugs against his head.
“Lovely customers,” I commented.
Maria snorted.
“You haven’t seen nothin’ yet.”
I was about to ask what she meant by that when a large commotion broke out at the front door. More scary men wearing leather walked in. The difference between the two were the group who just walked in had muscles on top of muscles, while the men sitting down had beer gut on top of beer gut. Beer gut group glared at the newcomers.
“Lookie here! Sammy boy has arrived!” Long Beard bellowed. The one I assumed was Sammy stepped forward. My hips were the same width as his neck. He glared at Long Beard.
It was safe to say the two were not friends.
“You owe me money, Sam,” Long Beard growled. Sammy smirked and glanced at his clique.
“Can’t right now. I left my wallet in your sister’s bedroom.” The whole room suddenly froze, everyone silent, watching the tension-filled storm growing between the two enemies.
“Time to take cover,” Maria said, bemused.
; “Why?”
Long Beard took a swing at Sammy, connecting hard with his jaw.
“That’s why.”
Men from opposite gangs lunged at each other, throwing one another onto tables. Drinks went flying.
“I refuse to get alcohol in my hair again. It was nice meeting you, Kendra,” Maria said, then disappeared into the chaotic crowd.
“Jennie! Over here!” Mandy hollered. I dodged flying bodies, wobbling on my heels. Big Larry and Mandy were huddled in a corner.
“Don’t move,” Larry ordered, patting mine and Mandy’s wig-clad heads. “Big Larry takes care of tiny ladies,” he said. We watched him let out a battle cry and charge into three men like a bowling ball taking down pins. The four of them hit the ground with a thud, causing the building to shake.
“Wait a minute. Did he just pat our heads like dogs?” Mandy wrinkled her nose. I was caught on him talking about himself in third person.
Patty skidded in front of us.
“Move your tails, hun. You don’t wanna be caught in the middle of these fellas.” She pulled us behind the bar, crouching low. “Berry! Turn up the music!” she called out.
Huh? I was so confused.
“She’s been in the tanning bed one too many times,” Mandy whispered. “Clearly it’s fried her brain.”
Patty was acting as if these scary biker freaks guys were just having a harmless party and not beating the tar out of each other.
“Does this happen often?” I yelled over the music and grunts of pain.
“Every week!”
A body came crashing across the counter, landing in a heap beside us. Mandy screamed.
“Is he all right?” Oh man, he was out cold.
Patty waved it away.
“He’s fine-Watch out!”
I fell back on my butt, nearly being showered with broken glass and beer.
“Woohooooooo!” Patty laughed, clapping her hands. “Almost got ya there!”
Time to go.
“Stay close,” I told Mandy. We crawled all the way to the dressing room, fortunately without getting hurt—besides scrapes on our knees. We grabbed our clothes and purses, then hoofed it to the exit. Outside, the cool air hit my face. For once I was glad to see my little rusty car. Red and blue lights lit the sky, sirens blaring. Damn.