by S. J. Lewis
There were a lot of young men coming out of or going into the shops, singly or in small groups. Some of them paused to look at the long-legged redhead lounging against her car. She smiled and nodded at them. One of the rules, make sure that you’re seen. Pipes stayed in his patrol car, probably wondering what to do next. She chuckled to herself. Now he was probably doing the sweating, but she was wondering what he’d do next as well. He was well out of his jurisdiction. If he tried to arrest her on any pretext at all, she was going to have the mother of all screaming fits. That would attract even more attention, and she was sure that attention was the last thing Pipes wanted.
The waiting went on. She could imagine Pipes dithering over plans of action. In spite of her own curiosity, she would not look towards him.
One of the young men detached himself from the crowd and ambled over towards her. She recognized him as the one who’d helped her with her car rental. As he drew nearer, she smiled at him. “Hello, there,” she greeted. She tried to remember his name from the tag he’d worn at the rental agency. It was Brian, she thought.
“Hello, Ms. Cole,” he smiled back. “ I thought it was you. What’s the problem?”
“The officer back there says I went through a red light.” Claudia jerked a thumb back over her shoulder. “It was yellow.”
“Bummer.” He looked past her briefly at the flashing roof lights. “They always pick on the rental drivers. They can spot you because of the company logo on the back bumper.” He returned his gaze to her and smiled a little wider. She knew the look in his eyes. Any minute now he would invite her for a drink…or dinner. She was half-tempted to accept his invitation before he’d even made it, simply because he’d come to her rescue. She hadn’t needed rescuing, but he couldn’t know that.
“Oh, hey. Did he call for backup?”
Claudia turned. Another police car was just pulling in behind Pipes’. Its roof lights were flashing too, but they looked different. It had to be the city police. This ought to be interesting. “I don’t think that’s backup,” she said. She saw two officers get out of the car. They approached the one with Pipes in it from either side. Pipes must have had his window open, because the officer on that side reached in and snatched something away from him. She could hear Pipes protesting angrily. The officer ignored him and started walking towards Claudia.
“Are you in trouble?” Brian asked from behind her.
“I don’t think so.”
“Ma’am?” the officer came nearer. He separated the wad of papers he’d taken from Pipes and handed her back her license and rental agreement. “Sorry about that.”
“Why, thank you, officer,” she smiled as she accepted them. “Is there a problem?”
“Not any more,” he grunted. “You can go. My partner and I will handle this.” He touched the brim of his cap and nodded before turning away. Pipes was out of his car now, arguing loudly with the other officer.
“Thank you again,” Claudia called after him. He waved a hand absently and kept going.
“What was that all about?” Brian asked.
Claudia shrugged. “I don’t know,” she lied. She turned around to face him.
“Well…” he cleared his throat. “I was wondering…do you have to be any place now?”
He was tall, young, and good-looking. He was also visibly nervous about hitting on her. “Actually, I do,” she replied. He looked disappointed. “But thank you very much for the offer, Brian.” She smiled, then leaned forward to plant a quick little kiss on his cheek. If his friends were watching, it ought to impress them a little. She got back into her car and drove off, favoring Brian with a wave and a smile. He seemed like a sweet young man, and his obvious interest in her was flattering, but she already knew that her tastes did not run to sweet young men.
Chapter Thirteen
It had been three days of utter frustration. Claudia was ready to give up. She still had no leads of any kind. She doubted she was going to turn any up in the few days remaining on her contract with Simonds Assurance. She could probably coast her way to the end of it. Certainly no one from Simonds was pressuring her to solve the case. In fact, she had the distinct impression that they’d be happy if she wound up the case unable to prove anything one way or the other. On the other hand, Simonds might be applying some pressure from an unexpected direction.
Esther Green was gone. Officially, she’d been called away on a family emergency. Claudia had her doubts about that, especially since she’d departed right after their last brief conversation. Esther’s replacement was a younger blonde woman in her late twenties named Christina Sykes, who insisted that she be called “Chrissy”. She was undeniably efficient. She was also so bubbly and friendly that she set Claudia’s nerves on edge after two days.
At first, it had been pretty nice. Chrissy was no dumb blonde, however much she might look and act like one. When Claudia sat down with her to bring her up to speed on the case, she’d listened attentively, taking notes. She even made a few pretty sharp observations of her own. Claudia found her very open and likeable. Given the tension she’d been operating under, it felt good to be around someone she could relax with. At the end of the workday, Chrissy had timidly invited her to dinner.
Claudia had demurred, “I’m not sure I can stand much of the local cuisine again. It’s a bit too spicy for me.”
“There are other places,” Chrissy smiled. “Not every restaurant here goes in for lots of chili peppers topped off with napalm.”
“Really?”
“Really. What are you in the mood for? I’ll bet I can find a place.”
“Well…” Claudia thought about passing on the opportunity, but why do that? The hotel restaurant’s food was pretty bland, she hadn’t heard from Sam, and she hadn’t gotten over her feeling of being completely out of place here. The desert was beautiful, in its very stark way, but she badly missed green hills and trees. Chrissy at least was a friendly face. “This may sound silly…but is there any place around here that serves seafood?”
“There sure is!” Chrissy grinned. “You’d never guess there’d be such a place out here, but I know one that gets fresh fish in every day.”
“How do you know that?”
“Oh,” Chrissy shrugged, still grinning. “I grew up around here. I haven’t been back for years, but after I got the call from the main office, I used my time on the flight in to check up on some of the old places I used to know.” Her grin became rueful. “A couple of them are still around. So…you wanna come along?”
Claudia thought for a moment. “Sure,” she replied. “Why not?”
***
They dropped Claudia’s car off at her hotel. It made sense, Chrissy knew the area, and it was unlikely that Officer Pipes would recognize her dark red minivan.
“You know,” Chrissy said as Claudia slid into the passenger seat and buckled up. “We really ought to go to another little place I know first.”
“Oh? What for?”
“You’ll see,” Chrissy grinned. She tromped on the gas pedal.
Claudia spent the rest of the ride hanging on to whatever she could. There wasn’t any opportunity for conversation. Chrissy never went much over the speed limit, but she took turns faster than Claudia thought prudent and seemed to regard a yellow light as a signal to speed up. She didn’t allow much space between herself and the traffic in front of her, tried to peel rubber at every opportunity, and seemed to have an aversion to using her brakes if she thought her horn would do the job. When they pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall near the outskirts of the city, she cut off another car that had been aiming for the same parking space as she wanted.
“Here we are,” Chrissy announced brightly as she switched off the engine. Behind them, the cut-off car honked once before moving on to find another spot.
“Where’s that?” Claudia looked around. She’d thought maybe they were going somewhere for drinks, but the strip mall seemed to be composed only of retail stores.
“C’m
on,” Chrissy urged. “I’ll show you.”
Claudia followed her companion across the parking lot. Her legs felt a little rubbery. Chrissy strode up to one of the little clothing stores and held the door open. “Come on,” she urged.
“Why are we stopping here?” Claudia asked. Once inside, she could see it was some sort of upscale boutique. All of the mannequins were dressed in Western-style clothes. She wondered if Anna Turco did her shopping here.
“We need to dress you up a little,” Chrissy replied, taking her by the arm. “You can’t keep going around looking like you just got off a plane from the East.”
“Why not?” Claudia looked at her. “I’m going back there soon anyway.” She looked past Chrissy at some of the price tags. “And anyway, this stuff is a little out of my price range.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Chrissy chuckled. “When I moved back here the company gave me a pretty generous moving allowance.” She fished a plastic bank card out of her shoulder bag. “Only problem is, it’s on this, and the damned thing expires in two weeks. If I don’t spend it, I lose it.”
“But…”
“It’s all right. Really.” Chrissy sighed. “When I moved back here I found out my old friends had moved away. I don’t really know anybody here, except for you…kinda.”
“I couldn’t…”
“Sure you could! Please? I used to go clothes shopping all the time with my girlfriends. My closet’s already full to bursting, and this is all on the company dime anyway.” Chrissy smiled. “We can at least get you a better hat to wear than the one you’ve been using.” She regarded Claudia’s creamy redhead complexion. “I guess you have to be careful about the sun, hey?”
When Chrissy put it that way, Claudia found it easy to let herself be talked into getting a hat. The one she’d brought with her did the job, but it really felt too girly to suit her tastes. The light brown Stetson she finally settled on, though, did the same job but really looked good on her.
Buying the hat opened the floodgates. Chrissy insisted that she had to have an ensemble to go with it. Claudia let herself be persuaded. It was a lot like the shopping expeditions she and Dianne had gone on years ago. Only now did she realize how much she’d missed them. When they walked out of the store some time later, Claudia wore her new outfit…snug jeans, a loose-fitting white shirt with buttoned pockets, fake-snakeskin boots and her new hat. She carried her old clothes in a shopping bag. Chrissy was dressed similarly. In spite of her previous claim that her closets were already full, she carried two shopping bags, one with her old clothes, the other with more new ones. They tossed the bags into the back of the minivan and Claudia steeled herself for another wild ride.
The restaurant was mercifully near to the strip mall. It occupied an old brick building that looked as if it might have been a small factory once. There was a neon sign over the entrance, ‘Fuller’s’.
“You’re gonna love this,” Chrissy said as they walked across the parking lot to the entryway. “It’s mostly older people who come here now, but they have the best seafood you’ve ever tasted.”
“It doesn’t seem very crowded,” Claudia observed. There weren’t that many cars, and most of them did indeed look like the big sedans favored by older drivers.
“It is on the weekends.”
The interior décor was neutral. It didn’t shout out the southwestern location, nor did it have fake fishing nets and other nautical accessories hanging from the walls. They had no trouble getting a table right away. Chrissy insisted that they order drinks from the bar. Claudia shrugged and went along. She didn’t drink much, but tonight she would make an exception.
“Thanks for coming along,” Chrissy smiled. She raised her cocktail. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” Claudia smiled back. She clinked her own glass lightly against Chrissy’s. “Actually, I think I needed something like this…so thank you.”
“Working really hard?”
Chrissy’s tone was sympathetic. Claudia started telling her just how hard it was to find out anything new or useful about the case. Before she quite realized it, she had gone on to her long struggle to start her own investigation agency. She caught herself and took a big sip of her drink. “Sorry,” she shrugged. “I didn’t mean to go on and on.”
“It’s okay,” Chrissy grinned. “I’m a good listener. That sounds pretty tough, though. Over two years with no vacation? Not even a little one?”
Even after all this time, the word “vacation’ had a powerful effect. For just a moment, Claudia could picture herself and Dianne, naked in the old barn, tied, helpless, fucked…she could almost feel the straw under her back again. She took a gulp of her drink.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No, no…” Claudia waved a hand. “It’s okay. Yeah, it’s tough not getting any time off, but I really love my work.”
“What’s it like?”
“Challenging…some times. A lot of the time, though, it’s just routine.”
“I can’t see how investigating could ever be routine,” Chrissy sounded dubious.
“Oh, a lot of times it’s just helping some business improve their security arrangements. That part can be dull, especially when you hear about how the plans are going to cost too much.”
“Really?” Chrissy took a gulp of her cocktail. “I guess it’s not like the movies then, hey?”
“What ever is like the movies?” Claudia shrugged. “Still, it helps to pay the bills. And every so often, you get to do something really interesting.”
“Oh?” Chrissy leaned closer. “Like what?”
“Well, a little while ago I had a case…” Claudia caught herself. “No, I can’t really talk about it.” She shook her head. “Some people still have to go to trial.”
“Do you carry a gun?”
Claudia chuckled. “I own one. I even practice with it at the police range once a month, but I hardly ever carry it.”
“Really not like the movies,” Chrissy sighed.
Their orders arrived just as the conversation ran down. It looked and smelled delicious. Claudia tucked into her broiled salmon while Chrissy began cracking open the claws on her lobster. For a while, both women were too busy eating to talk.
“So…” Chrissy finally spoke up, “All work and no play? You don’t even have a boyfriend?”
“Ah…” Claudia swallowed. “Nope. Not really.” She supposed this was basically true. Sam was no boy.
“Ouch.” Chrissy winced. “No action at all? Ever?”
Claudia felt her face redden. Hadn’t she had a similar conversation with Anna Turco? “I didn’t say that.”
“Oh…okay.” Chrissy seemed suddenly embarrassed. “Sorry.”
What was she thinking? Oh, for crying out loud, did she think her temporary boss preferred women? Claudia groaned inwardly. She’d gone through this with Anna…and, for all she knew, Amanda as well.
“Look,” she said. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I like men. Really. I just…find it difficult to talk about…it.”
“Oh!” Chrissy’s relief was palpable. She stifled a giggle. “Should I say I’m sorry again? We were having such a good time together that I guess I just pushed a little too far.” She took the last gulp of her drink. “I guess I’m a little lonesome too, coming back to my hometown to find my old friends gone.”
“How is it you got transferred back here?”
“Oh. There was an opening posted on the company website. The job I’d been working on was wrapping up, and I was going to have to relocate anyway. I had a choice of Chicago, Philly, or here.” She shrugged. “Maybe it sounds funny, but I was feeling pretty tired of big cities. I couldn’t believe how this place had grown since I’d seen it last.”
“I’m a small-town girl myself,” Claudia nodded. “Country, actually. But I’m used to more trees than this place has.”
The conversation turned to simple things. They compared childhoods, growing up, schools, favorite teachers. Claudia was surprised to learn that
Chrissy had an MBA. Chrissy seemed astonished when she heard that Claudia enjoyed hunting.
“You really do that?” she asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to in years,” Claudia replied. “But yes, I did that, and I still kinda miss it.”
“Oh, well,” Chrissy shrugged and ate another forkful of lobster tail. “I don’t think I could do it myself.”
“Hardly anyone has to these days,” Claudia pointed out. “Someone else does the hunting…or the herding…and we just buy the results.”
Chrissy chuckled. “You’re right about that. But hey, what about high school? Did you have a boyfriend then? Go to your prom?”
“I had sort of a boyfriend, but I was pretty much a tomboy until college. We hung out a lot together, but that was it.”
“He never tried to kiss you? Not even once?”
Claudia laughed. “No. He was a sweet boy, but I think he was too shy. And I never had a prom. The school I went to was too small. We had a Seniors’ Spring Dance, but we had to pair up with another school in the next county for it. Not enough people showed up otherwise.”
“Geez. And I thought I was small-town,” Chrissy grimaced. Then she brightened. “But how about college? You meet anybody special there?”
“Did you?” Claudia countered. She smiled warmly so Chrissy wouldn’t think it was another rebuff. She was feeling relaxed, happy, and relieved to be able to put business aside for a while. She missed Dianne badly. Maybe when she got back home she could invite her old friend to visit for a while. No, scratch that. She still had her business to run.
“Well,” Chrissy’s answering smile was coy. “Actually, I met a number of special guys there. One for each year.”
“Anything serious?”
“You mean, am I still seeing any of them?” Chrissy sighed. “No, not at all. My job takes me all over the country…out of it too, sometimes. It pays well, but it can get lonely.” She took a quick look at the rest of the diners. They were all older people, many of them couples. “Your turn,” she grinned.
