“Great.” Hands on her hips, Abby Ruth stood there watching them scatter like roaches. “Just great.”
“What’s going on here, Abby Ruth?” Sera asked in her most Zen-like tone. “Your chakras are a murky green-brown, and I swear I can feel your blood pressure rising from here. Were you going to let that guy buy your favorite Astros jersey?”
“Why shouldn’t I? I was on target to make a cool thousand dollars before y’all crashed my sale.”
“This is all a big misunderstanding.” Lil urged, “Come on back to Summer Haven.”
“Why would I do that?”
Lil’s eyes softened. “Because we love you. You’re family.”
Abby Ruth was glad she didn’t have other family because they were clearly a big ol’ pain in the butt. “And you’re humoring me. I don’t need your help. I don’t need your pity. And I sure as hell don’t need you deciding what I can and cannot do!”
“You said yourself that the doctor said you should be taking it easy,” Jenny said.
“Don’t twist my words, young lady.” Abby Ruth leaned in and met her daughter nose to nose. “He said to get enough rest so that I can return to my normal routine in a few days. It’s a few days, and I ain’t dead yet.”
“But you’ve been so stressed out.” Jenny’s confrontational attitude melted like a campfire marshmallow. “Your blood pressure is probably through the roof.”
“That’s on all of y’all and this gun fiasco. It’s got nothing to do with my little situation.”
“Little situation?” Jenny’s hands clenched at her sides. “Cancer isn’t a little situation, so quit making light of it.”
“Well, you quit anchoring me with cement boots then. I’m going to be fine. Unless the doctor’s humoring me just like y’all are. Telling me what I want to hear.”
“Mom, that pity-party hat does not look good on you.”
“I don’t need any of this.” Abby Ruth sucked in a breath and stalked toward her truck. To heck with all this junk in the parking lot. Jenny could fight people for it if she wanted, but Abby Ruth was done.
“Stop, you no-good liar!” Lil hollered.
Abby Ruth whirled around. “What did you call me?”
Lil’s fist waved in the air, and her eyes were as big as hubcaps. Maggie grabbed her by the arm. “Lil! What has gotten into you? I know you and Abby Ruth have had your differences, but this is uncalled for.”
“No. Not her.” Lil pointed across the lot. “Isn’t that Bad Charlie getting into that SUV?” She spun toward Abby Ruth and demanded, “Can’t you do something? Maybe shoot out his tires?”
“Sugar, I would if I had any guns left.”
Chapter 17
Sera ran toward her van, sweeping wide to slam her hand on the front of Teague’s sheriff’s car. Wham. Wham. Wham.
Teague looked up from whatever it was he was doing in his car and bailed out. “Sera? What the heck—”
“The guns! We have a lead! Follow us,” she yelled over her shoulder, never missing a step as she jumped into her van. She started the engine and jammed her foot onto the accelerator, sending a puff of smoke out of the tailpipe, then braked hard next to Abby Ruth’s trailer to pick up the girls. “Come on. Hop in!”
Abby Ruth ordered Jenny to watch her things then piled into Sera’s van to ride shotgun. Lil and Maggie got into the back.
Teague pulled his car, window down, alongside the van. “What are y’all doing?”
“Dark SUV. It’s Bad Charlie, the guy who might’ve taken Abby Ruth’s guns.” She pointed west. “He went that way.”
“Stay put,” he said, then flipped on his lights and hauled butt in the direction Charlie had taken off.
Stay put? Sera turned to Abby Ruth, sitting in the passenger seat. “Are we? We’re not—”
“Oh, hell no, we’re not staying put. Step on it, girl.” Abby Ruth pulled the seatbelt across her lap and leaned forward to brace herself for the hot pursuit. Lil and Maggie slammed the side door of the van, and then Sera floored it.
Teague was already pretty far ahead of them, but that wouldn’t keep Sera from trying to catch up. The van’s engine whined as she pushed it to new limits. “C’mon, you can do it,” she coaxed with a pat on the steering wheel.
“I don’t see Charlie’s SUV up ahead,” Lil said.
“Me either,” Sera said. “I hope Teague still has him in sight.”
“Well, at least we know he’s around. That’s something,” Maggie said.
“Or not.” Abby Ruth pressed her hands on the dashboard. “I hope we haven’t spooked him off.”
“Maybe Teague pulled him over.” Sera didn’t slow down. “Keep an eye out at the cross streets.”
Lil and Maggie had their noses pressed against the side window.
Abby Ruth’s phone made the sound of a siren. She grabbed it, read the text. “Teague lost him at exit 129.”
Sera lifted her foot from the accelerator.
“So close,” Lil said. “I thought we had him.”
“Teague’s asking if we got a plate number.”
Lil’s mouth dropped open. “Um. No. I didn’t think of that.”
Of course she didn’t, Sera thought. She hasn’t been on as many of these as we have. Too darned bad though.
Abby Ruth texted Teague back. “Thanks for trying.”
“Another dead end,” Lil said.
“Maybe not completely.” Sera sat taller in her seat. “Did you hear what that woman said earlier about why she was buying Abby Ruth’s shirt?”
“It’s not unusual for other women to want to be like me.” Abby Ruth chuckled.
Sera slid her friend a look but decided not to comment on the truth of her statement. “No, she said her daughter planned to use it for a cowgirl costume! What if someone sold Jessie’s gauntlets to a costume shop?”
“That seems like a bit of a long shot,” Lil said with a smile. “But it wouldn’t hurt to check.”
“Maggie, can you Google to see if there are any costume shops close by?”
“There’s actually one in Myrtle Knolls.”
Sera cruised through the small town then parallel parked in front of an old building. The front window was decorated with a massive lineup of mannequins dressed in everything from wedding gowns to Halloween costumes.
“I bet this is where Angelina got that stupid Wicked Witch of the West costume,” Abby Ruth grumbled.
Sera and Maggie held back giggles. That Halloween party had been a fun night, and boy, had Abby Ruth made a great witch.
The four of them walked inside the costume shop. An old wrinkled man sat in front of a sewing machine putting a band of shimmery sequins on what looked like a bikini.
“Excuse me, sir?”
He pushed his horn-rimmed glasses up on top of his head and stood. “Didn’t hear you come in over the sewing machine. What can I do for you?”
Sera stepped to the front. “We’re looking for a Western item.”
“I’ve got all kinds of stuff. What’d you have in mind?”
“Gauntlets. Fringy white gauntlets made of deerskin.”
“I have long evening gloves. No Western gauntlets though.”
Lil said, “Probably not a lot of call for something like that.”
“You’d be surprised the requests that I get,” the old man said. “Couples like to role play. And the strippers from down by the interstate are always coming in here with crazy ideas. They pay cash, even if it is usually all in ones, so I try to accommodate them.”
“Where can we find this creative bunch of dancers?” Abby Ruth’s eyebrow performed the question mark trick she did so well.
“If you came off the interstate, the bar was on the opposite corner. If you’d turned right instead of left you couldn’t have missed it.”
“You’ve been really helpful,” Sera said. “Come on, girls. I think we have a bar to visit.”
They all climbed back into the van, and Sera headed for the strip club. “I guess you neve
r know where the clues will lead you.”
Lil’s lips were pulled so tight that they practically disappeared. “I’m not going into a strip club. What if someone sees me?”
“If they see you, it means they’re at a strip club too. Who’s gonna tell?”
“True,” she said, her eyebrows knitting together.
Sera whipped into the parking lot, and Maggie pointed out the window. “Look over there.”
“What? Is it Charlie’s SUV?”
“I don’t know. There are three of them, and they all kind of look like the one Bad Charlie was driving.”
“I bet that skeevy jerk is in there.” Abby Ruth sat tall in her seat. “Let’s go.”
“Can’t hurt to take a look,” Sera said.
“Shouldn’t we call Teague?” Lil asked.
They all turned to look at her, and she shrank a little in her seat, hard for a woman as small as her to do.
“We let him in on the first part of this chase,” Abby Ruth said. “We’re more than in the clear to do some snooping of our own.”
Sera checked out the SUVs and a few other high-priced cars. “Lil, do you recognize any of these as Charlie’s?”
“I’m not sure. They all look the same to me now.”
“This is the way we need to play it,” Abby Ruth said. “Three of us will go inside and scope out the joint. The fourth person—” she swung around and looked directly at Lil, “—will stay out here and keep an eye on those SUVs.”
“Why me?” Lil’s lip poked out. Uh-oh.
“It’s a very important job,” Sera rushed to reassure her. “And you did such a good job being the lookout on our last case.”
She slumped back in the seat, obviously not convinced.
“How about I stay out here with Lil while you two go inside?” Maggie said.
Sera and Abby Ruth hurried out of the van. At the front door a short, broad man who looked like a mini Mr. Clean gave them the once-over. “IDs?”
“You can’t be serious—” Abby Ruth started.
“Just do it, please.” Sera rooted around in her bag and pulled out her license.
Abby Ruth huffed but dug in her jeans pocket for hers.
Mr. Clean looked them over carefully then finally handed them back. “What’re two old broads like y’all doing at a gentleman’s club in the middle of the day?”
Cocking a hip, Abby Ruth shot back, “Looking for jobs, what else?”
“As bartenders?”
“Hell no, sugar, we’re professional dancers.”
His mouth dropped open, but no words came out.
“We’ve got moves.” Abby Ruth executed a semi-lewd hip roll that had Sera biting her lips to keep from bursting out in laughter. And they’d thought chasing a crook would be bad for her? To a woman like Abby Ruth, these investigations were pure catnip.
“Um…uh…the person you’re looking for is Rock, then. He’s the owner.”
With a quick pat to Mr. Clean’s cheek, Abby Ruth strode past him, and Sera followed her through a purple velvet curtain. The club was dim inside, which suited them perfectly. Sera grabbed Abby Ruth’s elbow and pointed toward the wall that would allow them to scope out the men in the audience without being seen. They moseyed along the perimeter, trying to be inconspicuous.
“You see that no-good gun thief?” Abby Ruth stage-whispered.
“Not yet.” Because, shoot, it was hard to identify people by their backs. “Let’s circle around toward the stage.”
On their way, they had to pass the bar. The bartender glanced up and caught sight of them. His eyes widened, but he covered it quickly, pulling nonchalance over him like he saw middle-aged women in this place all the time. Sera gave him a little wave and smile.
While they were making their way around, a table of four men got up and headed for the door.
“Any of those Charlie?”
“I’m not sure.”
Abby Ruth pulled out her phone. “Texting Maggie now to tell her to get a bead on them.” Less than a minute later, her phone beeped with a return text. “She and Lil have confirmed the men left in that fleet of SUVs, but no Charlie in the bunch.”
“That’s too bad,” Sera said, her shoulders slumping. “I had a feeling about this place.”
“Won’t hurt to quickly eye the guys at the other tables, and we need to check out the costumes.”
They scanned the small crowd, but none of the remaining men looked a thing like Bad Charlie. “Okay.” But before they could search further, a new song came blaring through the speakers.
“I love me some Big and Rich,” Abby Ruth said, doing another hip move along with some heel-toe action.
Sera turned her ear toward the speakers and tried to listen to the lyrics. “Are they saying what I think they are?”
“Save a horse, ride a cowboy,” Abby Ruth said cheerfully. “Now that’s a philosophy I can get behind.”
Something metallic glittered from the stage, and Sera turned to get a better look. The half-moon-shape expanse held three poles, each one occupied by a cowgirl. The one on the right wore red, and blue was represented on the left.
But right there in the middle, a girl in a white outfit was shaking her moneymaker for all she was worth.
The men in the room were entranced by her tight behind, but that wasn’t what caught Sera’s attention. “Look!”
“Not many women can wear white and not look three hundred pounds,” Abby Ruth commented. “That little bit of a girl probably weighs eighty pounds on a bloated day.”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m almost positive she’s wearing Jessie Wyatt’s missing gauntlets!”
Sera yanked out her phone and snapped a quick picture as the song was ending. Unfortunately, by that time, the dancer had struck her ending pose, and instead of catching her gauntlets, Sera’s lens was filled up by a shot of the woman’s tiny fringed panties.
The dancer sashayed off of the stage.
Sera quickly texted a picture to Maggie along with the message: Go around back and see if you can find this dancer in the dressing rooms. I think she’s wearing Jessie’s gauntlets.
Only Sera didn’t have a good feeling about just standing around waiting. “You stay here, Abby Ruth. If that girl shows back up, you stall her and text me. I’ll go help Lil and Maggie.”
Abby Ruth tucked herself onto a bar stool and struck up a conversation with a young man who looked a lot like Brad Pitt.
Sera didn’t have time to check for sure, so she skedaddled before he saw her. That’s all she needed—for Brad to tell Marcus she was in a strip joint. She whisked past the bouncer and ran around to the back of the building.
Maggie and Lil stood next to the door crouched in a ready position.
“You didn’t go inside?” Sera asked.
Lil and Maggie stood staring at the door. “We were waiting for her to come out.”
Closing time wasn’t for hours, and there was no telling how long that girl’s shift was. Sera put her hand on the doorknob and twisted. It turned. “Wait here. If I don’t come out in ten minutes, come looking for me.”
Not waiting for an answer, she headed inside. The back room wasn’t very big, and six girls were huddled in front of a wide mirror, dabbing at makeup and shimmying into costumes. “Hey, girls, can I ask you a few questions?”
A tall black woman looked down her nose at her.
“My first night,” Sera said.
The women turned and went about their business. Not the friendliest group. The bathroom door opened, and out walked the woman wearing a flimsy robe and the Jessie gauntlets.
“Can I chat with you for a second?”
“Sure, hon.”
Sera reached out to shake her hand. The woman responded to the motion, and Sera knew immediately the gauntlets were the real deal. I found Jessie’s gauntlets! The gemstones sparkled, and one strand of thick fringe was missing. Not a detail many people would’ve noticed, but Sera had been on set the day it happened.
“
How long have you worked here?” Sera asked, pulling out her phone and texting Abby Ruth to call Teague.
“Three years.” The girl cocked a hip, the fringe on her panties swaying. “I’m the headliner. Been here longer than any of the other girls.”
The tall dancer walked by and said, “Don’t think you’ll get any space for costumes. Starr here takes up half the lockers with her own stuff, and the rest of us are already having to fight for space.”
“Sounds like they’re jealous of you,” Sera whispered after the other girl walked on.
Maggie opened the back door, and all heads turned.
“Somebody in trouble with momma tonight?” the black woman asked.
Maggie’s eyes narrowed. “I’m looking for someone.”
Sera gave her a just-wait-right-there look, and thankfully Maggie leaned against the wall as if she were waiting on someone. Sera looked at Starr and shrugged.
“Don’t mind the girls. Some of them are just cranky. You’ll get used to it.” Starr looked her up and down. “You’re about my size.”
“Where do you get your costumes?”
“I make some of them. But my boyfriend hooks me up with stuff too. I have a whole trunk of things. It’s like playing dress-up all night.”
Sera reached out and trailed her fingertips across the fringe of the gauntlets. These were the real deal. An unexpected swell of sorrow dragged at her. Jessie had been the only one to wear them. Not even her stunt double had been allowed to put them on. “These are really great.”
“I know, right?” The dancer raised both hands in the air and struck a pose. “Weigh a dang ton though.”
“Are they new?” Sera gave Maggie a nod, and Maggie held her hand to her ear like she was making a phone call and then darted out the back door.
“Yep, just tried them out dancing to ‘Ride a Horse.’ Did you catch it?” She gestured toward the stage area. “Saw you come in. That your mom with you, or your girlfriend?”
Sera coughed, pretty sure neither was a role that would appeal to Abby Ruth.
* * *
Lil was standing with Maggie in the strip club’s parking lot when Teague rolled up in his cruiser and stepped out. By the scowl etched on his face, he was not happy.
Under the Gun Page 16
