by Gina LaManna
“Pleasure to meet ya.” Laurelei glanced at Meg. “I like your friend here, she knows how to eat like a real woman. Can I get you some more?”
“Boy, do I wish I could answer yes,” Meg said, patting her stomach. “But I am full to the brim, and if I have one more bite I will burst. And I don’t want to do that to your restroom, ma’am.”
Laurelei barked a laugh that morphed into a cough. She shook her head affectionately. “Oh Meg, you sweet thang.”
“Say, Ms. Laurelei,” I said, casually leaning over the counter.
The place was a real, old-school diner complete with leather swivel chairs behind the bar and pictures from the local Tonka newspaper up on every wall. “What’s new in town? We just got in last night, and the rumor on the street is that your diner here is the place to come for the latest news. Anything we should be doing while we’re here?”
Laurelei blew out cigarette smoke from behind the counter, standing off to the side as if I wouldn’t be able to smell the smoke from a few feet away. “Stay safe.”
“What on earth do you mean?” I glanced at Meg, hoping she understood that we were to play it cool. I wanted to hear the locals’ perspectives of the happenings around town.
“Didn’t you hear about the dead guy?” Laurelei said, her voice hushed. “I heard they found him late last night, bleeding out of twenty holes in his head.”
“Wow, that sounds terrible.” I gave Meg a pointed look. She’d stopped chewing, and I didn’t want her giving anything away, even on accident. “Any idea what’d drive someone to do that?”
“Oh, I dunno,” Laurelei said. “I don’t have the slightest idea. Do you?”
I shook my head. “Where’d they find him?”
Laurelei paused. Meg looked at me as if I were an idiot. Then, at the same time, both Meg and Laurelei spoke. “In your trunk.”
I looked between the two, wondering if they’d met before.
“Jinx, you owe me a Coke!” Meg laughed.
“Lacey, are you trying to play me for a fool?” Laurelei pulled a Coke from the fridge and slid it down the bar to Meg. “Don’t look so surprised, honey. I know everything that happens here in Tonka, including your arrival.”
I shot Meg an accusatory glare, as if she’d had something to do with Laurelei finding out about the crime scene.
But Laurelei waved a hand dismissively. “Before you go getting all upset at your friend, she didn’t say a thing to me. Billy – the fire chief’s oldest kid – told me about the body this morning, when he stopped by for his daily breakfast. Two eggs and a piece of toast. Skinny little thing.”
Still trying to shake off my surprise, it took me a minute to put the pieces of the puzzle together and find an appropriate response. “Do the police know anything about the murder yet?” As soon as I spoke, I glanced around the diner to make sure that we were, in fact, alone. To my relief, the place was empty.
Besides the newspaper clippings on the wall, the place had been simply furnished. Tables lined the edges of the restaurant while license plates, trophies, and sports patches lined the wall behind the bar. Nora would be proud. In the back corner sat a small microphone, the kind usually used for karaoke in a dive bar. I made a note to ask about where Gabe’s was located, so Meg and I could get double the gossip. Laurelei’s had been an unexpected gem to find, and we were lucky to have stumbled upon the place.
Laurelei looked pointedly at me. “Are you being nosy, Miss Luzzi? Would Carlos approve?”
“Hang on. You know I’m a Luzzi?” I looked at the table, embarrassed she’d let me carry on my ruse for so long before calling me out.
“Like I said, I know everything,” Laurelei repeated.
“Me too,” Meg chirped. “I’m a seer. Figured out my psychic powers a few days ago when I met a real witch named Anastasia.”
“Anastasia’s not a witch,” I clarified.
“I’m not either,” Laurelei said. “And I’m also not an idiot. I know you’re staying over at Carlos’s vacation house, and that man don’t let anyone stay there except family. That, and you’ve got your mother’s nose.”
I raised a hand to my larger-than-average schnoz. “You knew my mother?”
“They used to come here back when she was a child,” Laurelei said. “You don’t look much like her – must have been your father’s genes – but the nose and the eyes, something about the way you carry yourself is familiar.”
“I’ve never heard stories about my mother from when she was little,” I said quietly. “Carlos and Nora don’t talk about her much.”
“Is she...” Laurelei trailed off. “She ran away, didn’t she?”
I nodded. “She passed away just over three years ago. As far as I know, she never had contact with her family again.”
“I’m real sorry, dear.” Laurelei’s voice turned somber, and I knew she meant it to her core. “Your mother made this earth a better place.”
I forced a small smile, but I couldn’t speak. A lump clogged my throat, and my eyes had begun the familiar tingle that always accompanied painful memories of my mom.
“It was that man, wasn’t it?” Laurelei shook her head. “I knew it. That’s the reason she ran away, wasn’t it? Your grandmother, ah, yes. I remember it now. The summer after your mother ran away, Nora was a wreck. I couldn’t get her to eat an egg to save my life. Just about killed that woman to lose her daughter. It hurts my heart to hear they never reconciled.”
I’d never considered how my mother’s disappearance might have affected Nora back in the day. Now, my grandmother was a cheery, sprightly thing full of life and energy, and it was hard to imagine her falling apart, or feeling any pain at all.
But over twenty years – nearly thirty, to be exact – had passed since the day my mother ran away, pregnant with me. Nora had since had time to heal, to figure out how to cope with the extreme emotions of becoming separated from her child.
A wave of guilt crashed into me as I realized how selfish I’d been these last few years. Nora, Carlos, and I rarely spoke of my mother. When I’d shown up on their doorstep, I hadn’t considered that I was delivering the news of their daughter’s death...how that might affect them, hurt them deeply. They’d managed their shock well, probably because they didn’t want to lose me in the same way they’d lost their daughter. Early on in my relationship with my grandparents, I’d asked often about my mother. Why she’d left, why she’d kept me secret from them – but I’d never gotten a straight answer.
Eventually I stopped asking. It became a point of tension between my grandparents and me. Carlos and Nora didn’t know why she’d left, didn’t know why she’d kept me a secret. I had no answers for them, either. The sad truth of the matter was that none of us knew what had been going on in my mother’s head.
And we would never know.
My mother was gone now, in a different place. I liked to think she was looking down on me, a guardian angel of sorts. Even though I wasn’t a regular churchgoer, I believed in God, and it was comforting to think that my mother’s presence was still around me. I’d needed to believe it during the lonely months after she’d passed away. I’d always had Meg – and for that I was grateful – but she couldn’t replace my mom.
“I’ve never known someone who knew my mother as a child – besides Nora and Carlos and family members.” My voice cracked. “Do you think you could tell me some stories sometime?”
“Of course, child. I have plenty of stories. And now, maybe I’m judging prematurely, but I think you’re more like her than you know.” Laurelei winked.
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Well, you’re barely here twenty-four hours and you’re already the talk of the town. Causing waves, all that sort of jazz you young people get up to.”
“I’m not trying to cause waves!” My voice came out more indignant than I’d hoped for, but I couldn’t help it. I knew nothing about the guy in my car. “It just happened. It’s not my fault.”
Laurelei’s eye
s twinkled. “I’ve heard that exact same line from your mother.”
“Oh wow, I want to hear this story.” Meg cracked her Coke open, listening as intently as I’d ever seen her listen before. “Lacey’s mom was a second mother to me. Actually, sometimes a first mother. I loved that woman, God rest her soul.”
Laurelei’s face cracked into a grin. “Your mother became the talk of the town just by walking into it. She was a stunner, that woman. Long blond hair rolling halfway down her back by the time she was ten years old. Every man in this place had a crush on her at one point or another, old and young alike. She looked like – hmm, I don’t know the words. But she was beautiful.”
“I’m not hearing how this is similar to me,” I said wryly. “Nobody in Tonka is bending over backwards to tell me I’m beautiful.”
“Give it some time.” The waitress smiled. “But you have to admit you’ve caused a splash in town. We haven’t had this much excitement since your mother tried to lead a cow to the top of the Tonka water tower on the ol’ historic staircase.”
“What?” Meg snorted. “Why on earth’d she do that?”
“Your mother was a prankster! A smart one, too. Did you know that’s the first time our local cops figured out that cows can only go up a staircase? Something about the way their knees are built, the poor animals can’t get back down the stairs.” Laurelei’s smile grew brighter. “But the best part about it is that your mother couldn’t go through with it. She was such an animal lover, she led the cow up one stair and then gave up.”
I sat in silence, digesting the story and reconciling it with my own memories. She’d always been fun, an unconventional mother, but I’d never seen her that carefree. She’d throw me great birthday parties and cuddle me close, but there had always been a tinge of worry in her eye or a crease of doubt on her forehead.
It’d never dawned on me how lonely my own mother must have been, running away pregnant and without a job. Why had she run? The question had always niggled in the back of my brain, but I’d been thinking about it less and less since discovering Carlos and Nora. They didn’t want to talk about it, and I wanted to keep a healthy relationship with the only family I had left.
But with Laurelei bringing back old memories, I wondered if maybe there hadn’t been another reason she’d disappeared. A man? I needed to think more on the subject, but for now I wanted to soak up as much of Laurelei’s tales as possible. When I zoned back into the conversation, I discovered Meg must’ve had the same thought, and had begun pestering Laurelei for more stories about my mom.
“There was this one time on her summer break – I tell you, honey, we looked forward to the Luzzis coming up for their week of vacation every summer, never a dull moment with your mother around. Throw her siblings into the mix and...” Laurelei fanned her face. “I could just grab myself a bag of popcorn and watch the chaos unfold. Better than the cinema.”
“Like what?” Meg asked, her eyes gleaming.
“Now don’t you go repeating this to anyone, I don’t wanna tarnish your mother’s reputation,” Laurelei said. “But you deserve to know some of this since it appears you ain’t ever heard it before.”
I shook my head. “You’re not tarnishing anything. I love hearing these stories. Ever since I was born, my mom was too busy working and trying to put food on the table to pull a prank. I wish things could’ve been easier for her.”
Laurelei paused, her eyes darkening with what seemed like sadness for a moment. “Child, your mother had a heart of gold, and I can tell you she didn’t lose it ’til the day she died, and then some.”
“Nobody doubted that for a second.” Meg gave a nod, her voice cracking. “Now before you go making us cry, how about you make us laugh?”
Laurelei’s eyes crinkled. She swiped at her cheek and then swallowed before continuing. “One year for the summer festival, she and a friend took three pigs from a friend’s family farm. They greased them pigs up real good and put badges on them: #1, #2 and #4.”
I wiped a hand across my own eyes, my laughter bringing me to tears. It was probably a mixture of sad and happy, but mostly happy. I loved remembering my mother, and I could listen to Laurelei’s stories all day long.
“How long’d they look for number three?” Meg asked.
“Weeks!” Laurelei slapped a hand on her knee. “They didn’t figure it out until your mother was back in the Cities, bless her heart. Those Green Bay cops really didn’t like us that summer.” Laurelei poured us more coffee, still chuckling to herself as she leaned against the counter.
I thanked her and took a sip of the warm, potent beverage, letting it slide down my throat before I spoke. When I did, I tried to sound casual. “Did you say something about a man in my mom’s life?”
Laurelei turned abruptly, busying herself by setting the coffee pot back behind the counter, her lips pressed into a firm line. “I said no such thing.”
“But you did.” Meg raised her hands innocently. “I’m just being honest, not taking sides.”
“I don’t remember.” Laurelei tilted her chin out in a stubborn pout.
“Please?” I asked. “I don’t know anything about my dad.”
“How do you know I’m talking about your father?” Laurelei put a hand on her hip. “What if I was just referencing some boy she went with for a summer in high school? Summer flings happen, darlin’.”
“Is that what happened with my mom?” My heart sped up. After initially asking Nora and Carlos if they knew who my father was, I learned quickly to leave that subject alone. “Did she get pregnant on a summer fling out here and then run away?”
“You stop poking around, Miss Luzzi. I don’t think Carlos would appreciate you sticking your nose into all these rumors I’ve gathered over the years. It’s about time you ladies finished up, I think,” Laurelei eyed our half-eaten plates. “I’m not trying to be rude, but I’ve got to get ready to turn this place into the bar.”
Meg glanced around. “This place converts to a bar? Isn’t it a little early? The lunch crowd isn’t even around.”
“Gabe’s diner by day, Gabe’s dive bar by night. The one and only,” Laurelei said. “I get started early.”
“This is the Gabe’s bar?” I asked, temporarily distracted from my previous questions about my mom and her mystery suitor. “Carlos did send us here, as a matter of fact.”
“Is that right?” Laurelei’s tone lightened.
I nodded, setting aside the family history questions for now. I’d have time to pry into my mom’s past later. For now, I’d focus on getting any information about diamonds that I could – and then passing it along. That should be enough to keep Carlos happy.
“What does Carlos think about that body ending up in your vehicle, missy?” Laurelei rested her hands against the ceramic counter, as if debating whether or not she wanted to kick us out. Apparently she decided she’d rather hear the gossip, and scooped Meg up another spoonful of scrambled eggs.
“Carlos doesn’t know about it yet.” I bit my lip. “I forgot to call him.”
Laurelei crossed her arms. “I heard you was workin’ for him, and I don’t like it. That business ain’t no place for a woman.”
“What do you mean?” I opened my arms wide, turning and surveying the bar. “You’re a woman and you have your own restaurant. I’d call that independent.”
Meg reached for a piece of bacon. “Plus, Lacey’s got the head of security sleeping in her bed, so I think she’s safe.”
Laurelei’s eyes flicked to the plate that was now missing a slice of bacon. “Only reason I own this place is because my husband went and died on me twenty years ago. I was forced into independence. His name was Gabe, of Gabe’s bar.”
“Well, Carlos sent me here for a reason.” I gave her an imploring stare. “Mainly to stop by and send his regards. And make sure everything is okay.”
“You’re sure he said that?” she asked, her eyes wary.
“Positive.” I was lying a little bit, but it was a wh
ite lie. Carlos had given me some information about diamonds, but it really wasn’t up to my discretion to share.
Laurelei’s eyes shifted up and down the empty dining hall. The place was between breakfast and lunch. I assumed the lunchtime crew had yet to flood the place and claim their seats.
“I see you know something that you’re not telling us, Miss Laurelei.” Meg shook her finger. “Naughty naughty, you trying to lie in front of Lacey’s psychic. Lying by omission is still a lie, and I can see right through you, clear as day. I don’t appreciate that, from one bacon lover to another.”
“She’s not really psychic,” Laurelei said to me, as if only halfway convinced. “That’s impossible.”
“That’s what they want you to think,” I whispered. “Meg and her seer friends don’t tell anyone about their gifts. You’re lucky she’s sharing it with you.”
“Tell me one thing,” Laurelei said, leaning in to Meg. “Is it gonna be a good year for customers?”
Meg closed her eyes and hummed. At first, she hummed a load of nonsense, but it eventually turned into Mary Had a Little Lamb. Thankfully, Laurelei didn’t seem to catch on to the nursery rhyme.
“It’s gonna be the best year yet if you order that one thing you’ve been wanting to order.” Meg opened her eyes and gave a firm nod. “Tell me, what were you planning to order?”
Laurelei inhaled a sharp breath. “I was gonna get a new espresso machine. I was debating because the folk out here aren’t fancy, and they like their regular coffee.” Laurelei’s eyes widened. “But I been eyeing one of them espresso thingers with steamed milk. I think it’d bring some real classiness out here to Tonka. And you can bet your bottom dollar Carlos would like it.”
“Well, there ya have it,” Meg said. “Now you know I’m telling the truth.”
Our host gave a wide-eyed nod. “No doubt about it. All right, well I guess if Carlos asked – he’s been real kind to me, keep in mind, great tipper that man – I’ll do what I can to help him out, but I’m not jeopardizing my bar or getting in the middle of nothing.”
“We’d never ask you to.” I reached out, placing a hand palm up on the bar. “Carlos just wants to know how things are going. He’s not even here, and I’m not big or intimidating enough to do much about anything.”