Be My Valencrime

by Amy M. Reade

  “Does she have other friends here?” Noley asked.

  “Everybody likes her. To tell you the truth, though, she doesn’t really belong here,” Suzanne said.

  Lilly had known that the minute she found out where Alice worked, but she didn’t say anything.

  “She’s just, you know, too sweet to work here. She hasn’t developed that hard shell that the rest of us have.”

  “What do you mean?” Lilly asked.

  “Look. No one wants to be a stripper. We all do it for the money. Alice is pretty, but she doesn’t have that go-to-hell attitude that the rest of us have. You saw me earlier: if a guy touches me, I let him have it. Alice is afraid to do that.”

  “So Alice just lets men touch her?” Lilly was incredulous.

  “If one of us sees it, we help her out. A couple weeks ago one of the other girls smacked a guy who was bothering Alice. Alice just gets this scared look and we know she needs help.”

  “Doesn’t Guy mind?” Noley asked. “He seems like the type who can smell weakness and wouldn’t tolerate it.”

  Suzanne shrugged. “He is. But the rest of the girls kind of keep an eye on Alice. Like I said, everyone likes her. We protect her.”

  Not well enough, apparently.

  “Hey, girl.” A young woman in jeans and a sweater walked by and was speaking to Suzanne.

  “Hi, Trace. Wait a sec,” Suzanne replied. Trace stopped walking and turned to face Suzanne.

  “What’s up?”

  Suzanne indicated Lilly and Noley with a sweep of her hand. “These two women are friends of Alice. They came in to see her and I told them she hasn’t been around since Valentine’s Day. Did Alice say anything to you about where she might be going?”

  Trace gave Lilly and Noley a suspicious look.

  “They’re okay,” Suzanne told her. “Lilly, Noley, this is Tracy. She’s a dancer, but on stage she goes by Fluff.” Lilly and Noley shook hands with Tracy.

  “She didn’t say anything to me about where she was going,” Tracy said. She thought for a minute, then pointed a long, manicured finger at Suzanne. “Did you work Sunday night before Valentine’s Day?” she asked.

  Suzanne nodded.

  “There was this guy who was bothering Alice while she was waiting tables. Kept calling her over and asking her out,” Tracy said. “She told him no every time.” She looked at Suzanne. “Did you happen to see him?”

  “You know, now that you mention it, I do remember that,” Suzanne said. She squinted. “But I didn’t know the guy. And since Alice seemed to be handling it herself, I didn’t interfere.”

  “Do you know who the guy was?” Lilly asked Tracy.

  “No, but she seemed to recognize him. He’d probably been in here before when she was working. She waved it off as not a big deal, but I know it bothered her.”

  “Have you ever seen him in here before? Or since then?” Lilly asked.

  Tracy thought again, her head tilted to the side. “Maybe,” she said. “I can’t really remember for sure. We get a lot of guys in here, as you can imagine.”

  “I don’t know, either,” Suzanne said.

  “Would you recognize him if you saw him again?” Noley asked.

  “I might,” Tracy said, nodding slowly. Suzanne nodded her agreement.

  “Would you call me if you see him in here again?” Lilly asked. She whipped out her cell phone. “Oh, and I assume you’ve all talked to the police about Alice. Did you tell them about this guy?”

  “I’ll definitely call you,” Tracy said. “I didn’t tell the police about the guy because I just remembered it now. I can call them after my shift.”

  “Same here,” Suzanne here.

  “Thanks,” Lilly said. She exchanged cell phone numbers with Tracy and Suzanne and Tracy went further back into the cold room to change out of her regular clothes and into something far less modest.

  While the four women were talking, Suzanne changed out of her waitress garb and into her dance clothes, if they could be called that. She wore a royal blue satin corset, fishnet thigh-high stockings, tiny shiny panties, a bra-like contraption with tassels, and black stilettos. Whereas she had worn her hair up in a ponytail while she served food and drinks, she let it hang down her back for her dance performance. The transformation was astounding.

  Lilly didn’t know what to say. Should she compliment her new friend? Should she tell her to break a leg? She knew that’s what to say to an actor going onto a stage, but a stripper?

  She decided to say nothing except to thank Suzanne for her time.

  “I appreciate you talking to us, Suzanne. And thanks for the Cosmos,” she said. Noley, who was standing behind Lilly, nodded.

  “No problem, girls. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” She seemed sincere. “I gotta go.” She spit out the gum she had been chewing and headed for the stage door, striding confidently in her teetering heels.

  “Should we stick around to talk to anyone else? Any of the other dancers?” Noley asked.

  “Let’s just go home for now. I’ve had about enough of Guy’s Place for one night.”

  “I thought we’d never leave.” Noley grinned.

  When they left the so-called dressing room, the bar seemed even louder than before. At least the noise had dulled a bit while they were talking to Suzanne and Tracy. They made their way through the crowd, which was thick around the bar as the dancers’ shifts changed, and toward the front door. Lilly caught Guy’s eye as she approached the door.

  He scowled, but didn’t say anything. He watched them leave.

  Chapter 24

  When they got in the car Noley leaned back against the headrest and Lilly put both hands on the wheel without starting the car.

  “I feel like I need a shower,” Noley said.

  “Me, too.”

  “We learned a couple of interesting things.” Noley began counting on her fingers. “First, Alice is not a natural-born stripper, according to Suzanne/Minx. Second, she needs help from the other women when someone hits on her. And third, there’s one person who hit on her whom she didn’t seem to need help with.”

  “That’s the one that’s most interesting to me,” Lilly said. “I could have told you that Alice isn’t a stripper by nature. But if she didn’t need help fending off someone’s advances, it suggests that, possibly, she knew the person.”

  “We also know that she went into work on Monday afternoon before she was supposed to meet Harry for their Valentine’s Day dinner,” Noley pointed out.

  “Also interesting,” Lilly said. “I don’t know if the police have a timeline of when she disappeared, but it must have been within a few hours of meeting Harry.”

  “I almost hate to ask this, but you trust Harry, don’t you?” Noley asked. Her voice held a note of hesitation.

  “Absolutely,” Lilly said firmly. “I trust him absolutely.”

  “Just checking,” Noley said. “Have the police cleared him yet?”

  “I don’t know. They might have cleared him by now. All they had to do was gather some security camera footage to know he was where he said he was on Monday night.”

  “Okay, so let’s assume Harry’s in the clear. Where does that leave us?” Noley asked.

  “Maybe I should talk to Bill to see if the police have looked at any security camera footage from Guy’s Place.”

  “Remember not to let on that you’ve been there,” Noley warned.

  “I won’t. But I may have to say something. Unless I go back to talk to some of the other dancers. Maybe they know that guy.”

  Noley groaned. “We have to go back?”

  “You don’t. Now that I know Suzanne and Tracy, I can handle it on my own,” Lilly said.

  “You’re not going back there by yourself. Hey, that reminds me. Why did things go so badly when you and Hassan were here?”

  “First of all, you saw how everyone was dressed in there. Like they got dressed in the dark. So when Hassan and I showed up dressed to the nines,
people looked at us as if we had three heads. Each.”

  “So people stared at you. It’s only because you were both so devastating.”

  “That wasn’t the really awful part. The worst part was when they started insinuating that Hassan was a terrorist.”

  Noley’s mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding.”

  Lilly shook her head ruefully. “I was really afraid. I don’t know that I’ve ever been in such a threatening situation before.”

  “What did Hassan do?”

  “He steered me out of there fast. We haven’t really talked about it too much, so I don’t know if he’s ever been in a situation like that before. He certainly hasn’t since he bought the house in Juniper Junction, at least that I know of. But I mean before that, maybe in Minneapolis or somewhere else.”

  “Was he upset?” Noley asked.

  “Yes. Very upset. He didn’t want to talk about it on the way home and to tell you the truth, I didn’t know if he was mad at me or mad at the situation or what.”

  “He had no reason to be mad at you.”

  Lilly shrugged. “I know, but I think he was embarrassed. You know how when you’re embarrassed sometimes you get mad at the people who are there to witness it? I think maybe he felt some anger over that.”

  “I’m sure he’s over it by now,” Noley said.

  “We went out to lunch together yesterday and talked about the situation a little bit. I think it’s just taking him some time to deal with it in his own way.”

  “I can understand why he wouldn’t want you going back there. Are you going to tell him you and I went?”

  “Not if I don’t have to. You know what really makes me mad? Guy, the owner of the place, instigated the whole thing. You’d think he would want all the business he could get in that dump, but he’s too busy turning away people who don’t look like everyone else in there.” Lilly could feel her cheeks getting hot and she gripped the steering wheel tighter.

  “Listen. You’re getting all worked up over this. Just be glad you were able to get out of there before anything really bad happened.” Noley made a scoffing noise. “I knew Guy was a bad apple the minute I laid eyes on him.”

  “He’s no good, that’s for sure.”

  “Let’s talk about something different. Let’s talk about what I’m going to order for lunch when you take me to the bistro as a thank you for coming along on this awful adventure. I think I’ll have one of everything,” Noley said. Lilly laughed out loud, grateful that her friend had changed the subject.

  “You are entitled to everything you want for going with me tonight,” Lilly said with a grin.

  Noley changed the subject again. “So you’re not going to mention this, um, outing to Bill?”

  Lilly thought for a moment. “I think I’ll wait and see if Tracy and Suzanne remember to tell the police about that man who was pestering Alice. If they don’t say something, I will.”

  “How will you know if they’ve told the police anything?”

  “I’ll go back and talk to them in person. I would rather see them face-to-face than talk on the phone.”

  “Then you’re really thinking of going back?” Noley groaned. “I hoped you were kidding earlier.”

  “I wasn’t kidding. I do think I need to go back. But like I said, you don’t have to go with me.”

  “I don’t think you should go by yourself.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t be in there for long and I think I can count on Suzanne and Tracy to help me.”

  “If you insist. Just make sure someone knows where you’re going and when. Preferably me or, better yet, Bill.”

  Despite Lilly’s insistence that she return to the bar alone, she was a little surprised that Noley was so willing to let her go back to Guy’s Place by herself. Noley knew better than to suggest that Lilly alert Bill to her activities.

  When she dropped Noley off at her house, Lilly thanked her again for going and providing moral support.

  “You’d do it for me.” Noley gave her friend a hug. “I just want you to be careful.”

  Lilly smiled and drove off, already planning her next trip to Guy’s Place.

  When she got home, an anxious Laurel was waiting for her. “Mom, I was worried about you at that strip club.”

  “Why? I was perfectly safe.”

  To her shock, Laurel started to cry.

  “Laurel, what’s wrong?” Lilly asked.

  “It’s just that between worrying about you doing God-knows-what, and Gran, the whole thing with Karley and Bella, and Nick dumping me, I feel like I’m losing my mind.” Laurel sat down at the kitchen table and put her head on her arms.

  Lilly pulled out the chair next to her and put her arm around Laurel’s shoulders and stroked her hair.

  “Listen to me, Laurel. You don’t have to worry about me, ever. I would not do anything to jeopardize my own safety. As for Gran, we just have to wait and see what happens. But in the meantime, I think we should enjoy the time we spend with her and cherish the lucid moments she has. Nikki is a competent and caring woman and she is there to help her. I trust her completely to take good care of Gran.”

  She was at a loss for words when it came to Nick.

  “Do you think I’ll ever get over feeling this sad about Nick?” Laurel asked with a loud sniffle.

  “Of course you will. It will take some time, but eventually you’ll be able to look back on this time without hurting. Maybe you and Nick can even be friends someday.”

  Laurel scowled. “Don’t count on it.”

  Chapter 25

  “Tell you what,” Lilly said. “Let’s plan to do something fun tomorrow night, just us. How does that sound?” It came out of her mouth before she even had a chance to think about it, and suddenly she found herself a little nervous that Laurel might say no, that she might not want to do something with just her mom.

  Laurel’s face brightened a bit. “That sounds good. Maybe we can go see a movie.”

  Lilly beamed. “You pick the movie and tell me when to be ready. We can grab some dinner beforehand.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Mom.”

  Laurel went upstairs and Lilly sat at the kitchen table for a while longer, stroking Barney’s ears. He had come to join the group when Laurel was crying. Poor dog. He probably didn’t know who needed his furry love more—Laurel or Lilly.

  Lilly sighed and let him out one last time, then headed upstairs to get ready for bed. Before snuggling in for the night, she called Hassan.

  “Sorry I couldn’t come into the store today,” he said. “I was trying to talk to one of my suppliers in Afghanistan and it took half the day just to find him and get connected.”

  “That’s okay. Are you feeling any better about everything?” Lilly asked quietly. She figured he knew what she was talking about.

  She could practically see him shrugging. “I guess. I need to get a little distance from it, I think.”

  “You mean physical distance? Are you going back to Minnesota?”

  “No. I mean time. I can’t stay upset forever, so as time goes on I won’t be as down about it.”

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  “Just be yourself,” he said. She could hear the smile in his voice. “Are you busy tomorrow night?”

  “Actually, yes,” she said. She lowered her voice, though she knew Laurel couldn’t hear her from her own bedroom.

  “Laurel had kind of a meltdown tonight and I promised her I would take her to dinner and a movie tomorrow night, just us girls.”

  “What caused the meltdown?” Hassan asked.

  “She was upset because I—” Lilly stopped. She had almost spilled the beans about where she went earlier in the evening.

  “Because you what?” Hassan asked.

  Lilly had to think quickly for something that was technically true, even if it was a tiny bit misleading. “Because I’ve been wrapped up in trying to help Harry.” Then she hurried on to list the other reasons for Laurel’s funk, hoping Hassan would acc
ept her explanation without comment. “Plus she’s worried about my mother and, of course, the whole thing with Nick.”

  “She’s got a lot on her mind, poor kid,” Hassan said. “You’re doing the right thing to spend some quality time with her. I’m just sorry I won’t see you tomorrow night.”

  “We can do something together one of these days.”

  “Call me when you get home tomorrow night,” Hassan said. “I will probably spend most of tomorrow trying to get a hold of my guy in Afghanistan again. He’s got some lapis lazuli he wants me to see. I may actually need to plan another trip over there one of these days.”

  Great. Alice is missing, my mother is failing, my daughter is distraught, and my boyfriend wants to wander off to a war zone. What else could possibly go wrong?

  “You still there?” Hassan asked.

  “Yes. Just thinking. Is it safe for you to go over there?”

  “I have a team of people I trust to get me in and out of tight spaces if need be,” he assured her. “And it’s not a definite that I’m going. If I can get a good look at the lapis without leaving American soil, I won’t go.”

  “Okay.” Lilly yawned.

  “I can hear how tired you are. Get some sleep and I’ll talk to you tomorrow night. I love you, Lilly.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Lilly hung up and tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.

  All this worrying is wearing me out.

  Lilly was on her way to work early the next morning when her cell phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Lilly, it’s Nikki.”

  Lilly felt her chest tighten. “What’s wrong?” She pulled the car over to the side of the street so she could talk to Nikki and focus.

  “Your mom’s gone.”

  The cold chill that gripped Lilly’s throat caused her to gasp for breath.

  “Lilly, you all right?” Nikki asked.

  Lilly nodded tightly as if Nikki could see her. “I’m okay. Where are you?”

  “At your mom’s house. I just got here. She likes to make coffee herself first thing in the morning. It gives her a sense of independence.”