No More Birthdays (Carol Ann Baker Crime)

by Pelzer,Lissa

  And he should know about that.

  ‘I can handle myself. I would use whatever comes to hand if it was really necessary,’ she said. And she blinked. She saw him, The Judge, lying over the back of the yellow, silk couch, his bathrobe hanging open and one slipper dangling from his foot. She had handled herself and she had got herself out of the room.

  Leif snatched up a beer. ‘Girl, you’re crazy. And now what, this one guy hasn’t paid and you’ve come halfway across the country to find him, to blackmail him? I see how well your ‘system’ works.’

  ‘He’s not a…’ she held the word in her mouth. ‘He’s the guy who arranges the dates.’

  ‘He’s your pimp.’

  ‘There’s no sex.’

  ‘Hilarious! Look, whatever. I’m going back to the tracks.’ He stood up. He said, ‘You girls do what you like,’ but the meaning was clear. Her invite had been revoked. He got up on the table and shook his friend awake. ‘Home time.’ The guy stood up in a daze and Lilly cowered out of the way as they passed.

  ‘Fucked – up,’ Leif said again to no one in particular and a square of light showed at the door before if flapped closed.

  Now the whole room was darker than before. Lilly leaned forward and put her head in her hands. Maybe the girl would just leave without saying anything. It would make things easier, but she didn’t. She stood up and came over.

  ‘Do you want another bump?’ She was holding the baggie. ‘Its pretty good stuff and we should just use it up.’

  Lilly waved it away. If she told her to get lost, it wouldn’t matter much now anyway, but the girl wasn’t fazed. She shrugged and went into her baggie, did her bump and started up again about graffiti artists and trains, talking about where trains tracks went and where they stopped and how one day she was going to South America on the roof of a damn train and Lilly was running out of steam just listening to her. It had to be five by now.

  ‘I don’t mean to be rude,’ she said. ‘But I’m kind of tired of talking about trains.’

  Moon Face blinked. Her mouth stopped moving, but her brain was still whirling. ‘You want to go to sleep?’ she said. ‘That’s fine. That’s fine. I’m tired too.’

  Lilly straightened up. She got her arm through her purse and waited for the girl to stand up, but she didn’t move.

  This was it.

  This was where they were going to sleep.

  They weren’t going anywhere.

  Lilly lay back with her head against the hard arm of the couch and dug her palms into her eye sockets. The crap she had taken was still burning the inside of her veins and she knew she was more likely to puke than fall asleep. But there was nowhere else to go and she needed to rest, and even if she didn’t go to sleep, she had to lie there and rest her body.

  She remembered the twin beds in the back room in the house in Opa-Locka. She remembered Cassandra coming home late with the sun showing from behind the sheet nailed up to the window, her stripping off and curling up on the one opposite hers.

  ‘I won’t go to see The Judge,’ Lilly said. ‘Not if you don’t want me to go.’

  Cassandra breathed out. ‘Why would I not want you to go? He’s not my lover. You should go. Bobby’s just jealous. I said sweet things about The Judge.’

  Lilly had blinked in the darkness. ‘I brought your gun with me.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Don’t you want it?’

  ‘What the hell would I want with that thing? I wouldn’t have put it on the table if I’d wanted it.’

  ‘But you can sell it!’

  ‘It’s fine you know.’ Her voice was as slow and smooth as ever. ‘I never intended to do this forever. No, you go and see The Judge, if that’s what you want to do.’

  ‘I don’t intend to do this forever either…’

  Cassandra didn’t say anything.

  ‘Maybe we could both leave him.’

  There was a creak as Cassandra rolled over. ‘And go where? And do what?’

  ‘I don’t know. Where are you going?’

  ‘I’m going north to Canada. I know people in Canada. I’ve got a club up there that will take me on in a heartbeat. Do you know people in Canada?’

  ‘I know you.’

  ‘Lilly!’

  She heard her name called out in the dark and a moment later she sat up, sucking in air as if she’d been drowning. Her purse had dropped to the floor and she grabbed at it. For a moment she thought Cassandra’s pug gun had gone off, but it hadn’t. She was just tired and fucked up and imagining things and she didn’t even have any Ambiens left, crushed or uncrushed, to help her out.

  Chapter 7

  ‘So do you want to come or not?’

  Lilly glanced back at Moon Face. The girl had followed her out of the shack a few minutes before and hadn’t stopped talking since.

  ‘Come where?’ She shook her head.

  ‘To the party in Pinewood. I’ve got a ride up there with this guy I met at Denny’s last night. And you know, there’ll be guys there, older guys, who are into different things. I mean. If you’re into that.’

  ‘I’m not into that.’

  ‘Because you said…’

  ‘Please try to forget what I said.’

  ‘Why?’ Her deep-set eyes came together.

  ‘Because I’m asking you to.’

  ‘Oh right, but if you change your mind… Here, let me give you my number.’

  ‘There’s no point.’ Lilly dug in her bag for a smoke but changed her mind. ‘I lost my phone yesterday, so it’s not like I can call you.’

  ‘You had it last night.’

  ‘Yeah. That was last night. ’

  ‘But if you need to find me…’

  ‘I won’t.’

  Moon Face narrowed her eyes. It sunk in. ‘Oh. Okay,’ she said. ‘I guess I’ll see you around then.’

  ‘Thanks again. Seriously. For letting me crash. But I’m going to the Volcano movie tonight.’ And she turned away and was already walking when Moon Faced called out.

  ‘Hey, wait.’ She was on her heels, craning her face around her shoulder. ‘You know what you said last night about getting paid to go on dates – you know – just dates, with older guys…I don’t mean to be rude, but did you make that up, just to fuck with Leif? Because if you did, that’s fine. He needs to be fucked with every now and again.’

  ‘Didn’t I just tell you to forget about that?’

  ‘I know, I know. You see I’m a writer. You tell me something like that and the story is already buzzing in my head…’

  ‘So, go write about it, but don’t put my name in there.’

  Moon Face laughed. ‘Yeah, but I need to know if it’s true because you know, it sounds kind of made up.’

  Lilly stopped. ‘Okay. Sure I made it up…’

  Moon Face’s face fell. It actually hung. ‘So there was no fake hypnosis, no guys telling you that you’re beautiful?’

  That was the message she wanted her to take away. And she should have just nodded and carried on walking but that look stung her. Suddenly, she had this feeling that Moon Face was just a little rich kid and Leif too, that they were playing at this, hanging out rough and sniffing crank and at the end of the summer they’d go back home or off to college and discuss it in their drama classes or whatever it was they took.

  ‘No. You misunderstood me.’ She held out her hand like Cassandra used to do, using it to cut through the air like a meat cleaver. ‘There was fake hypnosis and guys telling you you’re beautiful, but they’d get to fuck you too. You can lie there and pretend to yourself you’re hypnotized if it helps. But I prefer to just do it and take an Ambien afterward and just try to forget about it. That’s the real trick. If you find yourself thinking about it again – just don’t.’

  Now there was a different look on Moon Face’s face. She looked like a baby with her big blue eyes floating aimlessly in her head. She looked like she’d just realized her Tickle-Me-Elmo wasn’t real.

  ‘Yeah. You’d have t
o be pretty naïve to think a guy would pay you just to sit around and look pretty…’ Lilly brushed her hair over her shoulder. ‘And you can write about that if you want, but I don’t know… you’ll have to use your own imagination because I’m not telling you anything more.’

  And she walked off towards the Historic District.

  When she got into town, it was like the festival was on hiatus. On the street outside The Colorado Palace, the stalls were still shut up and the stages were empty but there were enough people milling around that when a group of girls showed up in front of the hotel, she could walk in right behind them.

  Lilly had never timed herself, but when her mother took an Ambien, she’d sleep for twelve hours straight, sometimes longer. This guy had taken two pills at two o’clock so as long as she was quiet about it, she could get in and get her stuff. There was no point leaving good clothes there just because she was too chicken to look. And besides, she needed to use the phone.

  When she got to the door, there was a woman coming out.

  ‘All finished,’ she said cheerily and it took Lilly a moment to get what she meant.

  ‘He’s not in?’

  ‘Is this your room?’

  Lilly held up the key and stuck it in. She opened the door to a clean room and no one home, and it wasn’t even eleven o’clock. That was impressive, really impressive. She picked up the phone to reception.

  ‘Can you put me through to Mr. Alvin’s room, please.’

  ‘I’m sorry ma’am. Which room? We don’t have a Mr. Alvin.’

  ‘How about a Miss Stephenson?’

  ‘One moment.’ The phone clicked and rang.

  ‘Bobby. It’s me.’

  ‘How did you get this number?’

  ‘What? I called reception from my room.’ She was smiling at the thought of his frown on the other end. ‘Didn’t I tell you, me and my gentlemen were staying here?’

  ‘Well, I don’t know why you took the effort. You stood me up. You know what we agreed.’

  ‘I know. I’m so sorry. I guess I was so tired last night I just came upstairs and well, I fell asleep.’

  ‘You fell asleep did you, in your room, here at The Colorado?’

  A thought churned inside her. He had seen her with Davis. There was only one way to find out.

  ‘Can you meet me this morning instead? The bar opens in an hour and a half.’

  ‘You’ve had your chance. You left me drinking on my own.’

  ‘I am really sorry. Let me make it up to you.’

  He didn’t reply.

  ‘Okay. I’ll just come to your room.’

  She heard his breath rattle down the mouthpiece. It was early for him. He wouldn’t think quickly enough to realize she didn’t know what room he was in, only which name he was booked under.

  ‘Twelve o’clock,’ he said. ‘Dress appropriately. I don’t care if it’s the middle of the day or you just woke up or…’ And he sighed again and hung up.

  Her clothes had been hung up on a coat hanger. No way did the guy do that. His shoes were lined up too, so maybe it was the cleaners. It didn’t matter. She grabbed them down and went to look for a bag to stash them in and that’s when she saw the flyer on the desk. There was a picture of that guy on it, all teeth and eyes, and his name underneath.

  Gary Madison.

  Grill the Professionals. A seminar on talent management

  10 am – 12 pm The Erma Bombeck Suite

  Her bag hit the ground. She let the door close and went back to the bathroom.

  The window in there opened all the way and outside it led onto a fire escape, the kind that looked like it wouldn’t survive a blaze, but she didn’t need it to. She saw the weighted ladders at either end, the enclosed wall with the delivery gate and a door propped open to a kitchen or maybe the bar.

  Screw it. If he tried to get in, she’d go out the back.

  Lilly put the latch on the room door. She plugged in her hair tongs, did her hair like Cassandra had taught her. Her big round brush made big round curls. She did her make-up with dark, smoky eyes, no blush and not too much lipstick. She took out her red china girl dress and shook it. Red shoes with four-inch heels and an inch of platform finished the look off. She turned on the TV as she put a fresh coat of gloss on her nails.

  On the local channel, they were covering the festival and Lilly recognized the stage as the one she had seen last night. That same guy, Terence McCoy was being interviewed, but the local channel didn’t have the audio. A woman with feathered hair talked over the top. Terence McCoy was going to host a movie showing of the film ‘Volcano’ tonight. Lilly looked up.

  ‘McCoy’s team has rented the historical Wright House in Pinewood for the duration of the festival… McCoy’s last film had courted controversy by including a young Italian actress he had been allegedly romantically linked to despite her being only sixteen years of age at the time’.

  And Lilly blew her lips out. So what? She hoped Davis was seeing this. It might get the idea through her head of how normal it was.

  ‘McCoy’s last public relationship was with a woman of eighteen, who he dated for one year before allegedly agreeing on a six-figure settlement… McCoy would be jetting off to Tokyo immediately after the festival for another event in what must be a hectic festival season’.

  One year. Lilly cringed. He wasn’t a repulsive guy, still, if she could stand him doing whatever he wanted to do to her for one whole year, she deserved every cent. Then she went to the closet and lifted the plastic bags off some of this guy’s clothes. She used her nail clippers to pop off a couple of the buttons on his shirts and drew a line with her red nail polish up the crack of one of his pairs of pants. It was nothing really, but it made her feel a fraction better. Then she looked at her bag. Where the hell was she going to put her big bag while she saw Bobby?

  ‘Fuck!’ she said. Nothing was ever easy. And she was looking around the room, thinking she would see somewhere to stash it that guy would never look, but it was his room. The only place even vaguely hidden was in the bathroom, but that was all glass. That’s when she noticed the fitting around the bathroom sink. It looked like a plastic cover and when she pulled, it came away showing the grimy internals under the sink. Lilly bundled and reshaped the bag until it fit around the pipes and jammed the cover back on. It would have to do.

  Chapter 8

  The Dust Bowl was just off reception, a small bar with too much dark wood that made it feel like the dead of the night, any time of the day. Lilly had only just sat down and ordered a water when the elevator opened and Bobby came out, a pale shadow crossing the bright lobby.

  He stepped inside and looked down to where she was sitting. ‘You made it.’

  ‘I am sorry about last night.’

  ‘An Old Fashioned,’ he called out in the direction of the bar. ‘And whatever the lady’s having.’

  ‘I already ordered.’

  ‘Well, you’ll let me pay for it then.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you.’

  Bobby turned to the big-teethed guy in a waistcoat. ‘And a Martini for the lady.’

  The bartender looked at him like he might say something, but he decided not to. Bobby’s big chin was already jutting out like he wanted to punch someone. Lilly would have told him to hold the martini too, but she didn’t need to make trouble.

  He lowered himself slowly into the seat. ‘So. Out with it. Say what you came to say.’

  This wasn’t the way it was meant to go. ‘Oh Bobby, I just want to talk. It’s been such a long time.’

  ‘Yes, you said that already.’

  ‘You see I can still clean up pretty good. Do you like my dress?’

  Bobby glanced back at her perfunctorily. ‘It’s very nice.’

  ‘Is that all you have to say?’

  ‘Miss Lilly. It was you who wanted to talk to me. I wish you’d say what you’ve come to say so I can get back to my weekend…’

  ‘But don’t you think I look nice?’

>   ‘You look fine.’ Bobby grimaced. His eyes shot towards the bar. ‘Now, what’s all this about? Say what you need to say. Say whatever it is that brought you all the way up from Miami.’

  Lilly let her mouth fall open. ‘I came up here for the film festival.’

  ‘Sure you did.’

  ‘Of course I did, what else?’

  ‘Miss Lilly.’ He lowered his chin. ‘You must think I’m a fool if I don’t remember telling you last year that I was going to be here, that we were going to be here, over your birthday.’

  ‘What. I don’t remember that and besides, I’m here with – ’

  ‘Your gentleman. Yes, I know. You said.’

  The silence was only two beats, yet it felt like a spotlight had been turned on and shone right in her face. Here she was, all dolled up. She was probably the best-looking girl in the hotel right now and he was being plain nasty.

  ‘Then what’s wrong?’ she asked. ‘Why are you avoiding even looking at me? Haven’t I made myself nice? Isn’t this what you like – girls to look like ladies, behave like ladies?’ The words slipped out of her mouth. ‘Don’t you want me to work for you again?’ She didn’t want to work for him again, that was the last thing she wanted. But it was a prerequisite for getting the money.

  Now Bobby started. ‘Is that what this is all in aid of – you showing up here – you want me to send you out again?’

  ‘I know it was wrong to come to your condo looking the way I did. I get it. I remember what you said about being ladylike, about flip flops.’

  Bobby frowned, but he wasn’t angry. ‘Flip-flops?’ he asked, ‘What the hell have flip flops got to do with anything?’

  ‘You didn’t want to see me this year. You avoided me.’

  ‘I’ll admit to that, but Darling, don’t tell me you’re surprised.’

  ‘But look at me now.’ Lilly opened her arms. She was wearing red. Bobby loved red. ‘I just wanted to show you, I’m still a lady.’

  ‘Damn it.’ Bobby half rose but sat back down when he saw the waiter coming over with their drinks. He took them off the tray and laid a twenty and a ten down and almost pushed the man away.