by Joan Rylen
“What a surprise to see you,” Ralph said. “What are you doing these days?” They caught up and reminisced about the late nights in the bar playing cards.
John served the wine and the appetizers, which were gone in minutes. He inquired about the scratch on Lucy’s face, so they told him all about their crazy ass day in the swamp. From the hicks to the shooting, he was captivated. “Y’all should write a book about this.”
The girls laughed and cheersed to that.
The steaks and shrimp were all cooked to perfection. The girls dipped their bread into Wendy’s Shrimp Alexander sauce.
“That is the best damn sauce,” Lucy said, taking a second swipe and double-dipping.
Wendy shielded her plate. “Back off, sista.”
They finished dinner and resisted dessert, but John surprised them and brought out the Godiva cake, topped with Haagen Dazs vanilla. Heaven on a plate.
Vivian’s phone buzzed with a text from Adrienne.
This jailbird is free. Hope u made it back ok. Get car 2moro.
Vivian filled in the girls, then threw down her napkin. “I need to walk, y’all about ready?”
Kate set down her fork and wiped her mouth. “I just want to go to bed. I don’t want to have to tell Jason anything. It’s going to be heartbreaking.”
Wendy polished off her glass of wine. “It’s not the worst news that could be delivered. It still leaves hope that Daisy will be found.”
Vivian tucked her phone back into her purse. “I just texted him and he’s good with us coming by. Let’s go.”
The girls said goodbye to Ralph and John and left the restaurant. Two cop cars were parked facing opposite directions on the streetcar tracks on Canal. The officers talked to each other through the driver’s open windows. A street light illuminated the three-sided shelter of the streetcar stop, where two passengers were waiting.
Vivian did a double take as she recognized the blond-haired, buzz cut guy sitting long ways across the bench. She tilted her head slightly in his direction. “Don’t look over there, but there’s that damn undercover cop again.” She started walking toward the Marriott a few blocks down.
“This is officially getting creepy,” Lucy said.
Wendy stopped and bent over, pretending to fix her flip-flop. “He left the shelter and is walking down the median.”
“You’ve got to call Antonio,” Kate said.
***
Daisy remained hiding in the bathtub until her muscles ached with stiffness. The blows to her legs and back didn’t help. Wanting more comfort, she peeked into the bedroom, and finding no one there, crawled into bed. She had left the television on a local station, and the late news was about to come on. She felt around the bed for the remote but didn’t find it and didn’t have the energy to look for it.
The screen cut to a female reporter, who was having a bad hair day, standing in front of a hospital sign. “We have an update on the murder and kidnappings that are plaguing the adult entertainment industry in New Orleans. Simone Hitchens, the second victim who was taken two weeks ago, is being treated in the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans after being rescued today in St. Bernard Parish by neighbors. According to her family, the kidnapper was shot twice during the rescue. Sources tell us he’s in stable condition here. The police have just released the identity of the body that was found yesterday in St. Louis Cemetery #1. We’re told it is the first kidnapping victim, Lisa Miller, who had been missing almost a month. The third victim, Daisy Easley, is still missing. We will continue to provide updates as they become available.”
Simone being found alive gave Daisy a little hope, though she had no idea if Sonu had anything to do with her or Lisa’s kidnappings. She didn’t think he did, but what did she really know about him other than he was a delusional jerkwad who thought she was going to marry him in his country? Probably some very hot, sandy country with weird customs and archaic ideas about women. No fucking way.
***
The girls walked into the lobby of the Marriott and Vivian called Antonio. She got his voicemail and left a message about the undercover cop being outside of Morton’s.
They took the elevator to the 14th floor and Lucy hesitantly knocked on Jason’s door.
He answered looking more upbeat than Vivian expected, but that quickly changed once he realized the girls were not too chipper.
“What? What’s happened?” he asked as they entered the room. He looked up and down the hallway before closing the door.
Vivian took a deep breath. “It’s not horrible news, it’s just been a crazy, crazy day. Crazier than we ever could have imagined.”
Jason sat on the bed and pointed to a chair across from him. “Tell me about it.”
She recounted the airboat chase with the swamp brothers and how that led to Mustang guy. She told him about the gunfight that led them to Simone.
Jason stood up. “You’re sure he didn’t know anything about Daisy?”
“I’m almost positive. Adrienne crammed her foot into his gunshot wound and was adamant as he answered. He admitted to killing the other dancer but said he knew nothing about Daisy.”
Jason sank further into the bed and put his head in his hands. “What does this mean?”
Wendy put her hand on his shoulder. “We feel like Daisy is alive and waiting to be found.”
Kate moved to him, placing her hand on his other shoulder. “We won’t give up, Jason. We know this isn’t over.”
Lucy stood next to Kate. “Absolutely. This isn’t finished.”
Vivian got up from her chair and Jason stood, staring down at her with tears in his eyes. “I can’t give up hope.”
Vivian squeezed his hands. “We haven’t.”
Chapter 41
Day 6
The girls awoke earlier than usual since they had gone to bed before midnight and no one was hung over.
Kate sat on the edge of her bed, TV turned down low, watching the “Today Show.” Bobby Flay was grilling post-St. Patty’s Day brunch on the plaza.
Wendy had the one-cup coffee maker hard at work. She was on cup number three as she waited for everyone else to get dressed. “I’m ready to take on the Big Easy today. Y’all put it into overdrive.”
At 9:25 the channel switched to a brief section of local news. A picture of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans flashed on the screen beside a blonde with a big smile.
Kate jacked the volume. “Listen up!”
“Authorities continue to investigate the shooting yesterday in St. Bernard Parish that freed kidnap victim Simone Hitchens from her captor, Donny Dickens.” A mug shot replaced the hospital picture. “Dickens was shot twice by a neighbor during the rescue. He has previous convictions, including aggravated assault and armed robbery. His injuries are not considered life threatening but he remains hospitalized. New Orleans police are looking for connections between this case and the kidnapping of dancer Daisy Easley.” A picture of Daisy was shown. “Easley was kidnapped from the French House three nights ago. Police have established a tip line and are looking for any information in the case.” The phone number flashed on the screen. “And now, here’s Hank with your weather.”
Kate lowered the volume. “Adrienne’s the neighbor!”
“Best neighbor ever!” Lucy said, and they high-fived.
“So, Donny Dickens, that was the guy,” Wendy said.
“How on earth is a guy who’s been found guilty of aggravated assault and armed robbery walking around free?” Lucy asked. “Something is wrong with the system.”
“Yeah, and he’s probably got more of a record than that,” Vivian said, pulling out her mascara wand and examining the brush. “They probably just hit the highlights because of time.”
Kate turned off the TV. “Hopefully this time he’ll be kept in the slammer, where he belongs.”
Vivian ran a last swipe of mascara over her lashes and put the brush away. “I’m ready. Where’re we going?”
“We’ve made a b
ig dent in my list of places to go on this trip,” Wendy said and pressed her finger in Vivian’s forehead dent, “but we haven’t hit the Acme Oyster House yet. Y’all mind?”
Vivian shooed her hand away.
“Sounds good,” Lucy said and picked up her purse. She looked over at Vivian, who had made no move to leave. “They serve more than oysters there, ya picky freak.”
With that, they left the room, stopped by the valet and gave Adrienne’s name so she could pick up the car. They walked past Jason’s hotel and two local news vans out front, one with the antenna raised and a woman in her early 30s dabbing powder on her face. A camera man sat in a folding chair facing the hotel’s entrance.
“Looks like they’re camped out for the day,” Vivian commented and they kept going.
***
Daisy woke, tangled in the sheets and sweating although it was not hot in the room. She had been running through the desert in her dreams. She instinctively reached across the bed for Jason but he wasn’t there. Reality hit hard and sucked her willpower to get up. The only thing that motivated her to leave the bed was the need to pee.
Her body ached everywhere. She looked at herself in the mirror and cringed. Black was not the best hair color against her skin. She took off the wrinkled dress. The bruises on her back and legs were a lovely purple and green. Since the dress was off, she went ahead and showered, to wash off his touch if nothing else. Thinking about his kiss from the day before made her want to vomit. Even though she was starving, she wasn’t sure she could swallow anything if they brought her food.
After her shower, she picked up the three remaining dresses on the floor in the closet. The only one that didn’t have yesterday’s breakfast on it was the navy. The room had started to stink from the rotting food, and she threw towels over the biggest splatters.
Surely they’ll give me new towels. Maybe even have housekeeping clean it up. I may be able to tell them what’s going on.
She sat in the chair, as far away from the stink as she could get, and watched TV, her only pastime in the small hotel room. Hoda and Kathie Lee had just come on when the roofie asshole pushed the breakfast cart into the room. One whiff of syrup and she knew she could eat.
“Could you have housekeeping come clean this up?” she asked him.
He looked at the crusty eggs, other white matter and towels, then left. A few minutes later, the leery guy came in the room with a stack of towels. He watched her scarf down breakfast.
This fucking guy digs ugly dresses. The uglier the better. Creep.
She stood up and glared at him. “Why don’t you take a picture, weirdo?”
He left the room.
***
The girls made their way to the Acme Oyster House and were pleased they didn’t have to wait in line this early in the day. They were seated right in front of the windows so they could watch the goings-on in the Quarter.
“It’s mimosa time,” Vivian said, looking over the non-oyster section of the menu.
The girls agreed and they ordered a round for the table along with some Boo Fries and fried crawfish tails. They took their time, not ordering more food until the appetizers were polished off but ordering another round of mimosas.
Their cups of seafood gumbo and oysters Rockefeller soup had just been delivered when there was a tap at the window. The Romanian gypsy peered in and continued knocking.
Vivian waved her in but the woman shook her head so Vivian hopped up and said to Kate, “Buddy system. Come on.”
They ran outside and the gypsy grabbed their arms and held them tightly. She stared through Vivian and muttered, almost trance-like, “Your friend is in grave danger. Find the mirrors. Find them.”
“We found the mirrors when we found Harry at Harrah’s, and then we found them again at the cemetery,” Vivian told her. “That’s where we found the dead girl.”
The gypsy shook her head. “You are incorrect. You must find the soaring predator surrounding the ship before she’s gone.” And with that she took off, running down Iberville.
Vivian took a few steps after her. “Wait, what predator? We don’t understand!”
Kate stared after her, flabbergasted.
Lucy rapped on the window and gave them a “what’s up?” shrug. Vivian and Kate went back inside.
“What’d she say?” Wendy asked.
Vivian sat down. “It was weird, a bunch of mumbo jumbo. She said something about a soaring predator.”
“I need a pen,” Kate said. Wendy dug in her purse and handed her one.
They waited for Kate to write several things on a napkin.
“She said Daisy is in danger. Find the mirrors and find the soaring predator surrounding the ship.”
“Those damn mirrors are back!” Wendy said, slapping the table. “I thought we had that figured out.”
“What the hell is the soaring predator?” Vivian asked.
“Okay, one thing at a time,” Kate said, tapping the pen on the table. “Where all have we seen mirrors? I realize they were at Harrah’s and the cemetery. Where else?”
“There were a lot of mirrors at both of the strip clubs,” Lucy said. “In fact, it’s all smoke and mirrors at those places.”
Kate wrote that down. “We already checked out all of that. We’ve got to be missing something.”
They sat for a minute. No one had any new ideas.
“So what does this soaring predator shit have to do with any of this?” Vivian asked.
“Let’s think about this logically,” Kate said. “Eagles, falcons, hawks. What else?”
“I don’t know, I’m not National Geographic,” Vivian said. “Let’s Google it.”
Lucy pulled out her phone and searched. “There are vultures and dragons.”
“Dragons aren’t real,” Wendy said.
“Well nobody said the crap that lady was talking about had to be real!” Lucy said.
Kate wrote it all down.
“Should we tell Antonio about the gypsy lady?” Vivian asked.
“He’d probably think we’re crazy for even listening to what she had to say,” Wendy said. “I mean, even I’m kinda thinking that.”
Kate pointed back to the napkin. “What flying predators surround a ship?”
“Eagles are in Alaska,” Vivian said. “And don’t they nest by the ocean?”
“I think dragons are officially out,” Lucy said.
“I get attacked by those annoying seagulls when I’m at the beach,” Vivian said.
“Don’t feed them and you won’t get attacked,” Wendy noted.
“This is going nowhere,” Kate said.
“Let’s check all of our pictures during the trip,” Vivian said, pulling out her phone. “Scan through and look for any with mirrors. Or birds.”
Everyone pulled out phones and cameras and started searching. They couldn’t help but giggle now and then and show the picture.
“I love this one,” Wendy said of the fake vomit picture of Vivian. “Classic.”
“Ohhh, look.” Lucy turned her phone to show a picture she had taken of Jason and Daisy that first night on Bourbon. “You can tell they’re in love.”
That sobered them up as they continued to flip through pictures.
Kate quit flipping. “I forgot about this one.”
“Which one?” Vivian asked.
“It’s you talking to Angels, or Angel.” Kate showed the picture of the winged dancer diving into Vivian’s boob for money.
Vivian grabbed the phone and enlarged the picture. “Holy shit, I have a double chin! Look at that!”
Lucy took the phone and examined it. “You’re all hunched over and have your face buried into your chest as she’s diving in. Of course you have a double chin.”
Wendy looked. “Kate Moss would have a double chin in that pose. Chillax.”
Vivian looked at it again and felt under her chin. Satisfied, she moved the picture around and noticed GQ in the background. “There’s that dickwad, stuck-up guy who ig
nored me.”
Kate took her phone back and zoomed in. “Oh my god, this is it.”
Chapter 42
Kate showed the girls the picture on her phone as they lingered over an early lunch at Acme Oyster House. “I knew this guy was trouble. Look at his tie tack.”
Vivian squinted. “Is that a ship?”
“Yes, that’s a ship,” Kate said, pointing to the middle of the pin. “And the bird completely surrounds it. See, its head is at the bottom and its wings go up and around the sides.”
“Holy shit, you’re right, I see it,” Vivian said. They showed Lucy and Wendy, who agreed.
“What could he have to do with this?” Wendy asked. “I don’t see how he could have taken her. He was still at the table when we went backstage.”
Vivian leaned her head back and thought for a minute. “He had those other guys with him, though. We thought they were bodyguards. Maybe they’re something else.”
“We saw him at Hotél Versailles,” Lucy said. “We’re close by, let’s go see if he’s still there.”
Wendy asked for the check, then turned to Vivian. “You should text Antonio.”
“Uh, I don’t think so. If looks could kill we’d be sprawled out on the Delacroix Highway.”
Kate put her phone away. “Let’s go ask the doorman, maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll be the same guy from the other day. He’ll remember us.”
They paid and walked the few blocks to Hotél Versailles. The same doorman was on duty. They waited for him to help a woman into a cab before approaching him.
Vivian put on her best smile and lifted her head up so there was, for sure, no double chin. “Hey there. We’re looking for a little information about one of the guests who’s staying here. At least we think he is.”
The doorman, Gary, held his hands up and started to walk past them. “I can’t give you any info on our guests.”