by Kym Roberts
“Stay sweet!” she yelled at him.
I looked back to see the kid videoing Scarlet from behind. “Cover your face,” I whispered to Scarlet, who obliged but couldn’t help but add her two cents’ worth.
“We’re not doing anything illegal.”
“You’re signing Scarlett Johansson’s name, surely there’s some kind of law about impersonating a celebrity.”
“I’m signing ‘Scarlet.’ It’s not my fault these people think I look like her.” The smile on her face, however, said she was flattered by the confusion. Who wouldn’t be?
Since we had no idea what we would say to Ab or John Luke, I skipped her apartment and knocked on the one across the hall while Scarlet kept an eye on Abbey’s door. A little girl about eight years old with braids and a Disney nightgown answered.
“Hi there, is your mommy home?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Can I talk to her?”
She nodded a second time.
“Could you get her for me?”
A third nod and the door closed in my face.
I looked at Scarlet, who shrugged. The door opened and a twenty-something woman who looked like an older version of her daughter opened the door, looked at Scarlet and squealed.
“Oh my God! It is you! Can I get a picture?” Her cell phone was already recording, but my hand blocked her view.
“I’m sorry, no photos.”
Her expression looked like she wanted to smack my hand away, but she didn’t. She had something else in mind. “Can I get you to sign my baby girl’s arm?”
“Ms. Johansson doesn’t sign children,” I interjected.
Scarlet shook her head in agreement and smiled to soften the blow.
“Would you sign my shoulder?” she asked as she turned and bared her shoulder to Scarlet.
“This is getting downright scary,” I muttered.
Scarlet smiled. “Of course.”
“Do you know Abbey Parson?” I asked as Scarlet signed away.
“Sure. She makes a mean whiskey sour. Blends it with ice. It is one fine drink.”
I could have used three whiskey sours. “Does she have a boyfriend?”
“What’s it to you?”
“We’re trying to set up a reality television show, and we need information on her so we can punk her.” Where I came up with that lie, I had no idea.
Scarlet was grinning from ear to ear. She was thoroughly enjoying herself.
“Can I be part of the show?” the woman asked.
“Of course,” I lied. Again. It was becoming too easy.
She squealed again and hugged Scarlet.
I pushed for more answers. “Does Abbey have a boyfriend?”
“She’s got a piece of crap that comes by when he’s in trouble.”
Finally, we were getting somewhere. “Do you know his name?”
“John Luke.”
She tried to take a video of Scarlet on the sly, but I moved in between them. About that time, I heard voices on the lower level. I glanced down the steps but couldn’t see anyone. “Is he here now?”
“I saw the two of them leave about thirty minutes ago.”
I let out a disgusted sigh for the woman’s benefit. “I had hoped to get this filmed tonight.” I turned to Scarlet. “I’m sorry, we’re going to have to postpone the filming.”
Scarlet was totally ready to play her role. “It’s okay. I got to meet—” She waited for the woman to fill in her name.
“Shonda, and this is my baby, Kendra.” The little girl peeked out from behind her mother, and Scarlet gave her the biggest smile possible.
“I got to meet Shonda and Kendra. Two beautiful and intelligent women.”
I looked at Shonda, who was experiencing a moment of pride in herself and her daughter. “Will they be back tonight?” I asked.
She was more than happy to oblige. “Ab was on her way to work. John Luke goes to mooch liquor. They’ll be home around three since Billy Bob’s closes at two a.m.”
I heard several people ascending the steps at once but wanted to get one more question in. “Do you know when John Luke got in town?”
“I’d say last night, but I don’t know for sure. That’s when he started parking in my spot and ticked off my baby’s daddy.”
Five people, three guys and two women, reached the second floor, took one look at Scarlet, and began heading our direction.
“Thank you!” I said as I pushed Scarlet toward the set of steps at the front of the building.
“Ms. Johansson, can we have your autograph?” asked one of the women as they began to run toward us.
“Run!” I told Scarlet.
She took off with me hot on her heels and her fans closing the distance. We made it to the car, got in, and slammed the door closed just before they reached the car. By then three more people joined and phones were recording us from every direction. Scarlet carefully backed up and we drove toward the exit of the complex at a walking pace with camera phones recording every step of the way.
I pulled the first thing I could from the back and tried to hand it to Scarlet to block the cameras from her side of the car.
“I’m not taking that! Besides, I might hit someone if I can’t see what they’re doing.”
I held up the package to block the passenger window and saw that I’d grabbed the four-pack of toilet paper that was now three and I was holding it up in front of my window.
Fuzz buckets. If that made it to the media, we’d never live it down.
“If we get out of this without going to jail, I swear I will never impersonate a celebrity again,” I said.
Scarlet laughed and blew a kiss to her fans.
Chapter Eighteen
We made it out of Holy Temple without killing, maiming, or otherwise hitting any of the residents and headed for downtown Fort Worth.
“We’ve got several people who’ve verified John Luke was here last night when my daddy was attacked, but not one of them cleared John Luke for Ava’s murder. Where do we go from here?” I asked.
“Billy Bob’s,” Scarlet said as she swayed to the music on the radio. She was happy and in her element, thriving on the attention of her adoring fans—who weren’t hers.
“What’s the plan when we get to Billy Bob’s?” I asked.
“The ladies at the beauty shop say John Luke is a talker when he’s drunk. We’ll blend in with the crowd and listen to what John Luke has to say.”
I couldn’t hide my skepticism. “He’s not just going to just blurt out that he murdered his girlfriend.”
“No, but he may say he was with her when she died. The only person who was with Ava was her killer. That, along with him beating her earlier that morning, is a start to a conviction.”
I looked at my shirt. It was fine while sitting in the car, but John Luke would recognize the Book Barn Princess reference immediately if he saw me in the bar, and Scarlet couldn’t blend in at a convention of gingers, let alone in a bar.
“I need to change before we go into Billy Bob’s.”
Scarlet slipped a glance in my direction. “I tried to tell you it wasn’t appropriate.”
“Are we near the hotel?”
“The hotel is in Dallas. We’re in Fort Worth. It’s too far to go there and come back.”
I began looking at the stores on each side of the highway. Anything would do, but it was too late for any of the malls. “My dress won’t go with my boots, and the heels I packed for the concert won’t work at Billy Bob’s. There!” I pointed to the next exit, which had a Target bull’s-eye glowing in the night sky.
Scarlet took the ramp and we were entering the store a few minutes later.
“We need hats.”
“Hats?” I asked.
“The last thing we need is for John Luke to
recognize us.”
“True, but I’m not sure a hat will go with your dress.” If anyone could pull it off, it’d be Scarlet, but I still had my doubts.
“A pair of boots and a hat will look perfect. You go find yourself something to wear and I’ll pick out a pair of boots and two hats.”
We separated to find our purchases. I immediately spied a jean skirt with a cute pink cold-shoulder tee with oversized white and pink peacock feathers printed across the front of the material. It was adorable, not something I’d usually wear, and inexpensive. I tried them on and was shocked how good the outfit looked. I approached the fitting room attendant.
“Is it possible for you to cut the tags off these and let me wear them out of the store?”
She looked at me like I was nuts.
“I didn’t know my boyfriend was taking me to Billy Bob’s tonight. I don’t have anything appropriate to wear, and since we’re from out of town, I don’t really have anywhere to change.” Geez Louise, I was going to burn.
The clerk smiled. “You’ll love Billy Bob’s. Come here, I’ll cut them off and notify the cashiers that you’re coming their way.”
A few minutes later I met Scarlet at the front of the store wearing my new outfit. Scarlet had a pair of adorable cowgirl boots that would look incredible with her dress despite their inexpensive price tag, and she was carrying two cowgirl hats—one black to match her outfit, and a pink one that matched the feathers on my shirt amazingly well.
“How did you know I’d pick pink?”
“What other color would you choose?”
She had a good point. We headed toward the register and I insisted on paying for her boots and the hats. Fifteen minutes later we were in line to pay at Billy Bob’s. I’d never heard of the headliner performing that night, but that wasn’t unusual when it came to the country music scene. The crowd seemed excited and the beat of the opening act was getting everyone in the mood for a little bit of boot scootin’ across the floor. Scarlet was still attracting attention from every male in the area, but she handled it with class, and we were soon inside the bar scoping out the bartenders. With nine bars to check and a crowd of about 3,000 people, we decided to split up and meet in the middle. But just as Scarlet started to walk the other way, I spied Abbey and grabbed Scarlet’s arm.
“Isn’t that Abbey at the bar near the pool tables?”
Scarlet squinted, then grinned. “And that’s John Luke playing a game of pool.” She nodded toward the far side of the building where John Luke was playing a game with a big guy who was an inch taller than he was round. He looked more like a biker than a cowboy. The two of them did not fit in the Billy Bob’s crowd, and both appeared to be well into the sauce. I spied a bouncer off to the side keeping an eye on two of them. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who thought they looked like trouble. If we were lucky, we’d get what we needed and wouldn’t get caught in the middle of it.
Scarlet and I approached the bar station Abbey was working and waited our turn to order drinks. She was in her late thirties with brown hair and a cute face. She had a confidence behind the bar that I suspected she lacked in relationships. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be with John Luke. Beyond the ring to his name, John Luke had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
When Abbey finally looked up to take our order, she saw Scarlet first and her eyes widened. Scarlet winked and held her finger up to her lips to silence Abbey’s question.
Good grief.
Scarlet ordered an amaretto sour for me and a soda with a twist of lemon for herself. When I tried to pay, Abbey declined.
“It’s on the house,” she said and winked at Scarlet.
I put a twenty-dollar bill in her tip jar and whispered to Scarlet, “That must be fraud, identity theft or something. Quit!”
Scarlet shrugged. “This town is fun.”
“I would imagine every town is fun for Scarlett Johansson.”
“Gimme another round, Abs.” The voice behind us was familiar. Not a friend’s voice, but one I’d heard in Hazel Rock’s Tool Shed Tavern a time or two. Garbled by alcohol, it had the ability to send goose bumps up my arms. Scarlet and I froze.
“You’ve had enough. You’ve been drinking all day,” Abbey replied and took a drink order from the guy next to John Luke.
“Ab, I said, give me another round.” His anger was palpable. If the bar hadn’t been between them, I wasn’t sure what John Luke would have done.
Abbey slammed a beer on the bar, and John Luke reached between Scarlet and me as we turned our backs to him.
“Scarlett, Princess, what brings you to Fort Worth?” he asked.
Fuzz buckets. John Luke had recognized us even with our hats on.
We turned around slowly and I decided to play nice, especially since Scarlet was ready to snap his head off like an alligator going for a piece of rotten chicken. “John Luke? What are you doing here? You’re not spying on our girls’ weekend out, are you?”
John Luke grinned, and I joined the ranks with Scarlet. I wanted to smack that grin right off his face. Ava was sitting in the morgue while the man who supposedly loved her was playing pool, drinking free beer another woman was undoubtedly paying for, and he didn’t feel a bit of remorse. Luckily, John Luke was too deep in his cups to notice my anger.
He took a swig of his beer and put his arms around our shoulders. His beer spilled on my new shirt.
“Oops, my bad, Princess. Want to go someplace and take it off?”
I was inches from taking something off—like his head. Somehow in the few minutes we’d been in his company, John Luke had decided he liked hanging out with Scarlet and me. Which worked for us, even if we wanted to put him down like a mad dog.
“Who are you playing pool with?” I asked.
“That’s Boone. He’s from Cut and Shoot.”
Scarlet and I immediately looked for weapons on his buddy. The town of Cut and Shoot, Texas, had been one we’d feared as teenagers in Hazel Rock. We didn’t dare go there after learning the town history of a brawl breaking out over a church service and the whole town being involved in cutting and shooting each other. That lesson was enough to keep us close to home.
As an adult, I learned Cut and Shoot may have embraced the name, but the violence never occurred. The stories of the dead and dying, however, still messed with my psyche, and from the look on Scarlet’s face, she was feeling the same apprehension.
I looked at John Luke’s eyes to gauge his level of intoxication. His pupils were dilated and his eyes were glassy. He stumbled as we walked toward the pool table, and Scarlet and I exchanged a look. It was time to get him to talk before we got in too deep.
“Did you find us some competition?” Boone asked as he rubbed his scraggly beard and eyed first me then Scarlet up and down.
“Princess and I are going to play you and Scarlet,” John Luke informed us all.
Any other night I would have laid him out flat. Tonight I welcomed John Luke’s arrogance. Boone racked the balls and handed his stick to Scarlet. I couldn’t hear what he said to her, but I got the impression he wasn’t as safe as John Luke was at the moment.
Scarlet positioned the cue ball and leaned over the table to take her shot. Boone decided to lean over her back and place his hand on her rear end. I closed my eyes and prayed Scarlet didn’t get us killed. When I opened them, she was standing up and her face was up-turned toward Boone’s. This time, I couldn’t hear what Scarlet was saying, but Boone turned white and backed up with his hand covering his manhood.
I grinned. That woman, barely pushing five feet, was my hero.
Scarlet turned and took her shot, sinking the green six ball. Her next shot sank the three ball in the left corner pocket, and I knew it was time for me to question John Luke while she cleared the table.
“What brought you to Fort Worth, John Luke?”
“Ava and I had a fa
lling-out.”
“Really? I hope it wasn’t too serious?”
He smirked. “Nothing a little cooling off time won’t cure her of.”
My breath hitched. How could he talk so casually about her lying in a refrigerator?
“What happened?” I asked as Scarlet sank her third ball.
“She’s got a thing for the Judge. Been working overtime.”
“The Judge?”
“Yeah, that old geezer, Sperry.” His words were slurring, and I wondered how far gone he really was.
“Do you really think she was cheating on you with the Judge?”
John Luke shrugged like he didn’t care, but I could tell his anger was building as his words slurred. He was ticked.
“Judge’s wife seemed to think so. She called the house and wanted to know if the Judge was there. That man isn’t welcome in my home. He may be her boss and tell her what to do with every speck of her life, but I’m the boss at home. I tell her what to do, not him.”
“I’ll bet,” I muttered. Too bad he didn’t have a home. That trailer belonged to Ava.
“What?” John Luke was having trouble focusing on me.
“I said, I’d be upset too.”
That seemed to pacify him and inspire him to tell me more. “She mouthed off at breakfast and I popped her in the nose.” He bumped my nose with his fist. It wasn’t hard, but I could imagine how it felt when he put his anger behind it instead of showing me how he’d delivered the blow. I took a step backward.
“What’d she do?”
“Ran from the house and got in her car.”
“Did you follow her?”
“Nah. She was bleeding pretty good, so I figured she learned her lesson.”
“Did she run to the Judge?”
“Nah, man. I told her she needed to choose between me and him.”
“What about her job?”
“She can get another job.”
“Hadn’t she worked for the Judge for over twenty years?”
John Luke shrugged. “She chose me.” He took a swig of his beer as he swayed and Scarlet dropped another ball in the side pocket. Boone was grinning from ear to ear. He’d picked a ringer for a partner.