Extra Dirty

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Extra Dirty Page 10

by Mia Gold


  The guy fell into the arms of his three buddies, who had all stood up and started coming for her.

  One broke off and came ahead of the others.

  Ruby got both arms up to defend her head. Her doctor had told her that after her head injury, any strong blow might kill her, even an inexpert punch from a drunk loser in a strip bar.

  Well, he hadn’t used those exact words, but they applied.

  So Ruby used her legs for fighting, and her arms to defend her weak spot.

  A swift front kick to the stomach had her opponent doubled over and puking better than Reece on a Saturday night.

  The other two, seeing what happened to their friend, dropped the bloody-faced man in their arms and moved in, fists up.

  They showed a bit more brains than the others, coming at her from different angles.

  Ruby dropped, swinging out her leg to trip the guy on the left, who fell with a thud onto the floor. People started screaming. She could hear chairs being overturned and a bottle smash.

  She rose to give the guy an uppercut, and found she was in the middle of a riot.

  The guy went down quick enough, but that wasn’t nearly the end to Ruby’s trouble. The crowd, drunk on hormones, alcohol, and whatever Star Man was selling, exploded into violence. Punches got thrown every which way. Chairs flew in the air. Men flew in the air. Two guys started clambering on stage, grabbing at the stripper’s legs. She nailed one a knockout blow right in the forehead with her stiletto heels, then wobbled and fell as the other grabbed her by the ankle.

  The man got on stage and started undoing his belt.

  Punching and elbowing her way through the crowd, Ruby reached the stage. She grabbed him, intending on yanking him off the girl and off the stage before beating the living daylights out of him. But with his belt unbuckled all she managed to do was pull his pants down.

  His bare ass had to be the worst thing she had seen since she had visited the Maze.

  The guy turned around long enough for the stripper to belt him a powerful right hook. Ruby finished him off by dragging him off her, giving a swift kick that put his flag at half mast, and dropped him to the floor.

  A bouncer leapt onstage, clutching the tattered and bloodstained remains of a shirt that wasn’t his. He scooped up the stripper, booted another guy offstage, and headed for the back with her.

  Time to leave. Ruby rushed for the men’s room, calling for Zoomer at the top of her voice. A struggling pair of older guys got in her way, beer bellies squishing into a unified mass as they flailed weakly at one another. She clonked their heads together and leapt over them without breaking stride. She ducked a thrown bottle, then a chair. Both came close to her head and equally close to ending her life. She needed to get out of here. Some guy grabbed her breast and Ruby paused in the pursuit long enough to break three of his fingers. A few more punches and kicks and she made it to the men’s room. Just as she did, Zoomer scampered through the swirling crowd and hopped onto her shoulder.

  She burst through the door. A cluster of terrified old men behind the door let out a chorus of yelps.

  “Where is he?” Ruby demanded.

  “Where is who?” one of them asked.

  “The guy with the star glasses.”

  “He went out the window. I would have too but my joints aren’t up to it.”

  “Star Man has the best joints in town,” Ruby quipped, pushing through them and going to a small window at the back that hung open. The window was six feet up. Ruby pulled herself onto the sash.

  “Anyone grabs my ass, and my monkey will tear out your eyes,” she growled over her shoulder. She quickly turned away from the frightened old men to hide the fact that she was grinning. She really enjoyed this stuff way too much.

  She squirmed through the little window and saw it opened on an alley. No one was in sight. Once she got two-thirds of the way through, she flipped and dropped on her feet. Zoomer plopped onto her shoulder a moment later.

  Glancing both ways, she saw the alley led off into murky darkness in one direction and to a busy street on the other. Figuring Star Man would have fled into the crowd to either blend with it or hop into his car, she went that way.

  And spotted him almost immediately. His trademark glasses and top hat appeared two blocks along as the pedestrian traffic parted for a moment. He stood next to a closed shop, talking with someone. Ruby started moving in his direction, trying to keep people in between them so she remained out of sight. It helped that a lot of people stopped to stare at Zoomer.

  There were enough people out on this busy stretch of bars and clubs that she got within one block before she lost cover. She began to pick up the pace, knowing the dealer would spot her at any moment.

  Just as he shook hands with the Bahamian man he was with in a way that made Ruby suspect he had handed off some drugs, Star Man turned her direction.

  His jaw dropped, and he turned and bolted. His customer bolted too, right into traffic.

  Ruby didn’t bother looking to see if those squealing tires meant the guy got run over or not. She ran after her quarry.

  For a man who looked to be in his early thirties, he sure didn’t run fast. Must have been all those illegal chemicals. Stupid too, or greedy, stopping just a couple of blocks away to make a sale. Javon, the local pot dealer around Ruby’s bar who was also a regular, acted much smarter than this guy.

  Good God, I’m comparing drug dealers. Is this what my life has come to?

  People began to turn and stare at the chase. Ruby didn’t care. Those sleaze balls running Caribbean Dreams were bound to call the police to quell the riot, so she needed to get this done quickly.

  She tackled Star Man before he made it another block, Zoomer diving free just before they hit the pavement. Star Man’s top hat tumbled away. His trademark glasses shattered on the sidewalk.

  Ruby flipped him over, gut punched him, and pulled him up by his silk shirt.

  She turned to a nearby couple who had just pulled out their phones.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  Their phones went back in their pockets and they slunk away.

  Ruby turned back to Star Man, who wasn’t even trying to resist.

  “Why did you run?”

  “I recognized you from the fights,” Star Man said. His eyes didn’t seem to focus. Maybe he was high.

  “Crap, you remember me from TV too?”

  “TV? No, from the Maze. I lost some money betting against you. Don’t look it, but you mighty tough.”

  Great. Just how many people know me in this town? I thought I was hiding out!

  Ruby pulled out her phone to show the cringing drug dealer a photo of Helen and Bridget. Zoomer scrambled onto her shoulder to look too, probably hoping it was a YouTube video. He liked YouTube.

  “You know these two?” Ruby asked.

  Star Man squinted at the picture.

  “What’s the matter, can’t you see?” Ruby asked.

  “Those glasses were prescription,” he whined.

  “Too bad. Squint harder.” Ruby glanced around. They had attracted a lot of attention. Luckily no one else had pulled their phones out.

  Star Man nodded. “Yeah, I met those bitches. They came in night before last. Bought some coke.”

  “Who were they with?”

  “No one.”

  “Not a low-class stripper?”

  “No.”

  “Any of the girls from Caribbean Dreams join their table?”

  “Not that I saw. They wanted to get on stage, but management didn’t let them. They left shortly after that.”

  “That’s it?” Ruby had a hard time believing that.

  “Yeah. Oh, that blonde bitch made a call. Don’t know to who.”

  To Dirty Dancer? Maybe they decided to leave when they didn’t get to do another show and Bridget’s date called from outside.

  Which meant they went to a third place. Damn.

  Ruby shook Star Man.

  “What else you got for me?


  “Nothing. I swear!”

  “They just sat there twiddling their thumbs for a while and left? I don’t believe it.”

  “They couldn’t have been around more than twenty minutes. I went over and made a sale, then sat back and watched them because it’s so strange to see people like them in Caribbean Dreams. They each ordered a cocktail and then went to the bathroom. Must have had some of my product, because when they came out they were flying. I only sell the best.”

  Star Man said this last bit with noticeable pride.

  Ruby shook him. “Anything else?”

  “No. Those bitches just had a drink, had a line, and left.”

  Ruby slapped him upside the head. Zoomer clapped. “Stop calling them bitches.”

  Star Man looked at her incredulously, blinking at her with his myopic eyes. “Two women with wedding rings sloppy drunk and snorting coke asking to do a floor show in a strip club? What would you call them?”

  Ruby didn’t have an answer for that. She pushed him away, booting him in the rear to send him down the road. “Tell no one about this conversation. And get some better fashion sense.”

  She hurried back to her car, glancing all around to make sure no one followed. The crowd, now that the drama had finished, went back to their babbling and searching for fun. They didn’t need to worry. At this time of night there was always more drama to see.

  Ruby drove off, heading nowhere, just like this case was once again. Every time she thought she was making headway, she slammed into a brick wall. She had always read that time was of the essence in a missing person case and here Bridget had been gone for more than two days, and Ruby was wandering around town gathering up the story of that night but still having no idea how, or where, it had ended.

  At least she was out of Caribbean Dreams. She had never intended on doing that strip routine, but she had dreaded facing those managers and thinking up some excuse to get out of it. Amazing how intimidating those two were, even those they were physically no threat at all.

  She’d be perfectly happy if she never entered another strip club again.

  Once Ruby had gotten a few blocks away and hopefully out of any police dragnet around the club, she got on her phone and called Helen. The woman picked up almost immediately.

  “I’ve been waiting for your call. You find out anything?”

  “Not much.”

  “But Aaron and Bob come back tomorrow. What will I tell them?”

  How about the truth?

  Suppressing her irritation, Ruby said, “I checked Caribbean Dreams, the other club you went to. You didn’t stay there long. Your dealer—”

  “The guy with the funny glasses?”

  “Yeah, him.” Ruby rolled her eyes.

  Nice of you to mention him.

  “I do remember him, although I don’t remember much. Just one face out of many. He must have spiked the coke so they could rob me and abduct Bridget.”

  “He’s not the type,” Ruby told her.

  “He’s a drug dealer.”

  “There are drug dealers and there are drug dealers.”

  “Well, someone must have spiked the coke.”

  Ruby recalled one of the strippers saying Star Man sold good stuff, and Ruby doubted he’d be allowed to operate in a high-end place if he was spiking his product.

  “Actually, your memory loss might be because you were trashed.” Ruby had some experience with that. Actually, a lot of experience.

  “We only had a couple of drinks. We felt fine until that coke.”

  Yeah “only a couple of drinks.” Everyone and her sister said you were trashed.

  It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it?

  Ruby was still driving without direction, much like this case.

  “Can you remember anything else about that night? Lollipop and Dirty Dancer left with you, but the bouncer at Caribbean Dreams wouldn’t let them in. Lollipop went back to her own club, but she says Dirty Dancer called Bridget.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Helen sounded vague.

  “Did she meet you outside once you left?”

  “Uh, I really don’t remember. Sorry.”

  Ruby gnashed her teeth in frustration. “Do you remember anything else?”

  She could hear Helen sigh. “No. Nothing. The next thing I knew I woke up in that alley.”

  “Right, the alley. Where was it?”

  “In that same neighborhood, I think. I don’t know. I was all wobbly when I woke up. I stumbled out and it was the wee hours of the morning. Thank God a cab came by just then, or I don’t know what could have happened.”

  “Do you remember any landmarks?”

  “Landmarks?”

  Ruby almost smashed her phone on the dashboard. It would help if her client wasn’t a total moron.

  “You know, statues or shops or anything like that.”

  “Uh, no … yes. When I came out of the alley, I came to a street with a bunch of shops, not clubs or bars but regular shops. Right across from the opening of the alley I saw a surf shop. It had this big plastic surfer on the roof that lit up inside.”

  “Thanks, that’s just what I need. I’ll call you when I have more.”

  While Ruby didn’t know the shop Helen had mentioned, she knew who would.

  She called the bar. The phone picked up on the fourth ring.

  “Aargh! This be The Pirate’s Cove! How may I help ye, landlubber?”

  “Hi, Neville.”

  “Oh, hey Ruby. You all right?”

  “Started a riot in Caribbean Dreams. Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Your average male boss would have made some comment about her changing her career from bartender to stripper. Neville only laughed.

  “So this is what you do with your nights off? Deseray will be disappointed she didn’t get to film it.”

  Ruby smiled. Deseray made good money with a YouTube channel as a sideline. Her most popular videos featured Ruby kicking people out of The Pirate’s Cove, with her face cropped out, of course. Ruby was happy to help a friend, but not at the risk of her anonymity.

  “Is Perry there?”

  “Perry? Yeah. Hold on.”

  Background noise rose over the line as Neville moved from the office to the front. Ruby smiled. That happy, drunken buzz of conversation felt like home.

  Perry’s voice came on the line.

  “Hey Ruby! What’s up?”

  “Do you know a surf shop with a big plastic surfer on the roof that’s lit from the inside?”

  “Yeah. Cutback Discount Surf Shop on Robinson Road.”

  “Cool. Any others?”

  “No. Glowing surfers aren’t a fashion or anything.” A retching sound interrupted him, followed by a cheer. “Got to go. Reece just puked again. Need anything else?”

  Ruby laughed. “No. Thanks a lot, Perry.”

  Robinson Road wasn’t far, a main thoroughfare lined with shops. She headed there, hoping this thin thread of a lead took her somewhere. Otherwise, she was fresh out of ideas. She got onto the road, which ran right through much of central Nassau, and drove down it, looking for the sign. While most of the shops were closed at this hour and there were few pedestrians, the street was still well lit and had plenty of vehicle traffic. It didn’t seem like the best place to dump an unconscious woman.

  One store up on the right was open, though, a convenience store with a sign reading “Snacks Magazines Liquor.”

  Ruby slowed the car and stared. Maybe she could …

  The blare of a horn behind her got her moving again. She cursed herself. She had thought that her slipup at Caribbean Dreams had been due to nerves, but now here she was completely safe and still salivating at the mere mention of alcohol.

  And she had already had a few. Shouldn’t that have taken the edge off?

  No, she thought with a grimace. A few has always meant more. Usually you drink until you go to sleep, then get a couple of shots with breakfast. Damn, I’m a mess.

  After a minute she got s
ome relief from her thoughts when the surfer came into view, a big garish plastic thing all lit up in the night as it rode a glowing blue wave and did a hang loose sign to the passing traffic.

  Ruby pulled into the narrow parking lot just beneath it and shut off the engine. She had parked directly facing an alley across the street. For a moment she just sat there, studying the terrain. All the shops within sight were closed, and would have been when Helen got dumped across the street. Since there was nothing else along this stretch, foot traffic was almost nonexistent, and the cars sped by without slowing. The nearest traffic light was a block away, so any cars stopped at it wouldn’t see what went on in the alley.

  A good stretch of the road to dump someone.

  But why here and not on some more isolated street?

  And why dump Helen and not Bridget?

  Ruby got out, leaving Zoomer in the car. He screeched in protest, but Ruby had to be firm. This might not be safe. Hell, nothing in her life was safe. She headed across the street as Zoomer stared at her through the windshield.

  The alley looked dark, a narrow space between a beautician’s and a vape shop. It ran all the way to the next street over. Its streetlights and traffic were clearly visible. Nothing in the alley but a few windblown wrappers and shreds of newspaper.

  Ruby turned on the flashlight on her phone and shone it around. If Helen had headed for the Robinson Road end of the alley, it might indicate that she woke up closer to that end than the other one. Both streets were lit, so both would have seemed like good places to go. Ruby began to search.

  She saw nothing of note. No bloodstains, no discarded items of clothing, Nothing.

  Wait. About a third of the way in she spotted a matchbook. Picking it up, she saw it was for a place called the Moonlight Lounge, with an address not far away.

  She pocketed it and searched the rest of the alley, taking a close look at everything with each step. Apart from a half-eaten and moldy hamburger and a relatively fresh piss stain, she found nothing.

  This lounge better mean something or I’m all out of ideas.

  She returned to her car, where Zoomer gave her a hoot by way of greeting, and pulled out of the parking lot.

  A truck was in the middle lane but the righthand lane was clear. She turned into it.

 

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