by B A Trimmer
“I’ll start with Alex,” I said. “I’ll follow him around for a day or two. Get a sense of where he goes and who he sees. It shouldn’t be too hard, it’s not like he’s in hiding. Muffy gave me a list of the places I’m likely to find him. I’m sure her information is out of date, but it’s a start.”
“Muffy?” Sophie laughed. “You’re serious? Mrs. Sternwood? Her name is Muffy?”
“Are you starting tonight?” Gina asked.
“Yeah, I imagine both Lenny and Muffy would appreciate word back sooner rather than later. Either of you interested in coming along?”
Gina lowered her voice. “Are you looking for company or backup?”
“Company, for now.”
“I’ll pass then, I’m beat,” Gina said, leaning back in her seat. “I’m going to stop by the gym for an hour or so, and then it’s off to bed. That congressman’s kid had me up until five o’clock this morning.”
“Well, I’m in,” Sophie said. “I was supposed to have a date tonight, but the jerk canceled, the chilito. Men are all such worthless dog shit. I’m sure Lenny won’t mind paying my way too. Besides, when we’re on stakeout, you and I always seem to end up in the most bizarre places.”
“Sophie,” I said. “That’s the best news I’ve had all day.”
Sophie took another drink of her Top Dropper. She seemed to think about something and looked up.
“Have you pissed anybody off yet?”
“Not yet,” I said.
“So, there isn’t going to be anyone shooting at us? You know how I hate it when they shoot at us.”
“Not that I know of,” I said.
She relaxed, then brightened up, her eyes narrowing.
“We get to shoot anybody? I could bring my gun. I just bought a fresh box of bullets.”
“I just started. It’ll probably be pretty slow.”
Sophie didn’t say anything, but she slumped back in her seat, disappointment was written on her face. Our waitress appeared with three more Margaritas.
“From the guys at the table.” She gestured to a table against the back wall. Three college-aged guys were smiling and holding their beers up in the typical guy greeting. We waved back.
“Why do they always wait until we’re ready to go?” Gina asked.
“Yeah, but it was sweet,” Sophie said. She got up and walked over to their table. She talked to the guys for about a minute then stood one of them up. She wrapped her arms around the guy and gave him a long, wet, sloppy kiss. She then turned and walked back to our table. The guy just stood there with a happy dazed look on his face.
“What was that about?” Gina asked.
“I asked them whose idea it was to send over the drinks. I told them we had to go, but I didn’t want them to think we were ungrateful.”
I looked down at the drinks. “What are we going to do with these?”
“Hey, no problem,” Sophie said. “I have a Thermos in the car. For dessert, we’ll have a pitcher of Margaritas, to go!”
~~~~
Sophie and I drove to Alex’s apartment complex. It was in one of the new high-end apartment communities that have popped up all over Scottsdale the last few years. Lots of palm trees, swimming pools, tropical plants, fountains, and waterfalls.
Alex lived in a large one-bedroom apartment on the second floor of a building that contained maybe eight apartments. We drove by his unit and saw lights were on in the living room. We parked in a space that had a view of Alex’s doorway and his kitchen window. His grandmother had said he drove a black Jaguar, but there wasn’t one in the lot. I checked my watch. It was 8:35.
We sat and talked while Sophie slowly polished off the Margaritas. She had stopped by the time she had drained less than half the Thermos, but by then she had gotten a case of the giggles. I still needed to focus, so I had switched to Diet Pepsi.
Sophie had just broken up with her latest boyfriend and she was keeping her options open for the next one. I had no options in regards to men. After Reno and I had broken up, I had only gotten close to one other man, who turned out to be a jerk. That was a little over six months ago. He had worked as a golf instructor at the very upscale Excalibur resort. I wasn’t sure if the relationship could go anywhere, but he was reasonably cute and he chewed with his mouth closed, both fine qualities in a man.
We had dated for about a month and a half and then he stopped calling. Against Sophie’s advice, I decided to look into it. It only took me an afternoon to find out he had been caught in the sauna with one of the resort’s aerobics instructors. Word had it when they were caught, he was giving her a lesson on the proper grip of his shaft. Both were immediately fired, and that was the reason he hadn’t called.
That did it for me. Men are all lying, cheating, worthless, scum! It’s just a shame they smell so good.
~~~~
After about an hour, the conversation dwindled. Sophie went out to find some bushes to pee behind. We then sat in silence, looking up at the apartment, each of us lost in private thoughts.
At about 10:00, the light in the kitchen went out. I thought Alex might be turning in for the night and was a little relieved. Unfortunately, the porch light came on and the front door opened. Sophie had started to nod off, so I gave her a nudge with my elbow. She perked up immediately.
Alex came out, dressed in a casual suit. He turned to lock the door and then skipped down the stairs and into the parking lot. He pulled something out from the pocket of his jacket. He then pointed it to the row of cars under a long carport. Underneath a white car cover, one of the cars blinked its lights and gave a happy chirp-chirp, kind of like a cricket. Alex went over to the car, removed the cover, folded it, and put it in the trunk.
“Damn,” Sophie said, “Looks like Alex isn’t doing too badly for himself.”
“It was a present for his twenty-first birthday, right before he got busted,” I said.
Sophie just shook her head.
Alex got into the car and backed out. He took off down the length of the parking lot and we followed. At the entrance to the parking lot, he paused and lowered the convertible’s soft-top. He then entered the street and headed up to north Scottsdale.
We kept several car lengths back, always keeping at least two cars between Alex and us. Unless he was looking for a tail it was unlikely he would spot us.
He drove north on Scottsdale Road, then took a right on Doubletree Ranch Road. He drove east to an upscale subdivision just south of the Gainey Ranch Golf Resort. All of the houses here seemed to have been built around a similar Arizona style Southwest theme with white stucco walls and red tile roofs. Most of the lush tropical themed yards had the look of professional landscaping.
Alex parked in front of one of the nicer ranch houses. Sophie and I parked on the side of the road, about fifty yards away. Trotting to the front door, Alex pushed the doorbell and then stood there. After a moment, the door opened and he went in.
“Well,” Sophie said. “What now?”
“Guess we wait.”
As it turned out, we didn’t have long to wait. The door opened in less than five minutes. Alex came out with a woman. The lighting near the house was too dim to make out any of her features. All I could tell was she was tall with long blonde hair.
Alex walked her to his car, opened her door, then went around and let himself in. The car started and backed out of the driveway. Sophie and I ducked out of sight as the Jaguar went back up the street, past our parked car.
We eased out of our space and did a tight U-turn. We followed, again staying well behind the Jaguar. They drove to Scottsdale Road then south toward downtown. They eventually turned east on 5th Avenue, into the nightclub district.
We were a block behind Alex, on Sidesaddle Road, when we saw him pull in front of Nexxus. As his car slowed to a stop in front of the main entrance, valets jumped to either side and opened the car doors. Alex and the woman went inside while a valet parked the car.
~~~~
Although best known for golf, Scottsda
le is also a city of unique clubs tailored to every taste. At the top end of the glamour club scene is Nexxus. On any given night, the rich and beautiful of Scottsdale gather to spend vast sums of money and parade in front of each other. I had been here a few times over the years, usually if a new boyfriend wanted to impress me on a third or fourth date. Over the years, I had come to realize my boyfriends regarded this as the have sex with me tonight or there won’t be another date.
~~~~
We parked at a public lot, two blocks from the club. We walked to the entrance where an enormous bouncer looked us like we were a couple of kids out past our bedtime. He pointed to a line of at least seventy-five people behind a red velvet rope. We trudged back to the end of the line.
“Jeez,” Sophie said. “This’ll take forever. It looks like most of Snottsdale showed up tonight.”
We didn’t talk lot as we inched toward the front of the line. I was keeping an eye out for Alex, hoping we would get in the club before he left. In addition, I really had to go to the bathroom. Unlike Sophie, I’ve never been comfortable about peeing behind a bush in the dark. I was nearing the bursting point and was starting to get beads of sweat on my forehead.
After almost thirty minutes, we were admitted. I paid the outrageous cover for both of us and then bolted for the bathroom.
~~~~
The two-story club was beautiful, done up in purple, silver, and black. Up in a DJ booth, a guy wearing about five pounds of gold chains was spinning disks. He was dancing in place along with the crowd on the huge dance floor. Sound pounded out from giant speakers as several dozen lights and lasers above the dance floor moved and flashed to the beat of the music.
Even though the club was packed, Alex wasn’t hard to spot. We had just walked upstairs when we saw him seated with the blonde in a semi-private alcove, just off the main seating area. The alcove had thick purple carpet, a comfortable black leather couch, end tables, lamps, and an oversized coffee table. To tell the truth, the furniture looked better than the stuff in my living room.
On the coffee table sat the blonde’s large black shoulder bag and two flute glasses, each half full. A bottle of champagne in a silver wine cooler had been placed next to the end of the couch.
Sophie and I grabbed a table close enough to keep an eye on Alex, but far enough away not to be too obvious. Up close, Alexander looked pretty much like he did in his pictures. He was medium height, athletic, had short brown hair, and was clean-shaven. Overall, he had a handsome boyish face, brown eyes, full lips, and a strong chin. It looked like he was wearing the Rolex he had just bought.
We’d been sitting for about a half an hour when a waitress, who could have been the poster girl for a plastic surgery clinic, brought Alex and his date another bottle of champagne. Her costume consisted of a loose-fitting white leather vest with big black buttons and a black bow tie. A black mini skirt, black stockings, and black high-heeled pumps finished her scant outfit. She stuck her ass out as she bent to present the bottle for Alexander’s inspection.
Looking at her, I’ll admit she was impressive. Every inch of her body was perfect. Her nose, her mouth, her boobs, and her ass. All perfect. Her make-up looked professionally applied. Her long red hair had a skillful just fucked tousle. She was so perfect I began to think of her as Plastic Surgery Barbie.
Even over the music, I could hear Alexander loved to talk. He seemed to be a born salesman. He spent almost five minutes trying to get a better price for his second bottle of champagne. It seems $600 a bottle was more than he wanted to pay. From the look of quiet frustration on Barbie’s otherwise perfect face, I assumed they had this same conversation when she had delivered the first bottle. From the uninterested look on the blonde’s face, I assumed she was used to his negotiation attempts.
While Alex was trying to convince the waitress to take $100 off the price of the bottle, I took time to study his date. She seemed nice enough. She had on a mid-length sleeveless black dress, tight at the waist, with a plunging neckline revealing boobs two cup sizes larger than mine. She was tall, thin, and muscular, like an aerobics instructor or somebody that was into weight lifting. She had a beautiful face with dark blue eyes, a thin nose, and wide full lips. Her hair was natural looking-blonde and hung halfway down her back. She parted it down the middle with big loose bangs that poofed out and hung down into her eyes. She wore a lot of make-up, especially around her eyes, but had applied it with skill. She seemed to radiate sexuality. I noted several men had also noticed it and were casting glances her way.
Our waitress, similar in perfection to Barbie, approached our table. Instead of taking another drink order, she sat two glasses of champagne on our table.
“From the gentlemen at the bar,” she said, then turned, and left.
We picked up the glasses and looked around. There were two guys at the bar, early thirties, well dressed, and cute. They were grinning at us and holding their glasses up in the universal guy salute. I looked at Sophie.
“Damn,” I said. “They’re cuter than the ones at the restaurant. It’s too bad we can’t fool around with them tonight. We’ve still got work to do.”
Sophie narrowed her eyebrows and gave me a little pout with her lower lip. For a second I thought she was going to argue.
“Oh, all right,” she said at last, “I’ll get rid of them, but you owe me. Did you see their shoes? Those guys have money.”
Sophie then stood up and walked over to the two men. As with the guys at Dos Gringos, she found out who had sent the drinks, then wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a log, wet, sloppy kiss. They talked for a minute, then she gave the other guy a kiss too. Both guys pulled out business cards and handed them to Sophie. She then turned and walked back to our table.
“Well,” I said, “that’s one way to get rid of them.”
“Hey,” he said, “don’t complain. They’re single and I got both of their cards. Can you say double date?”
~~~~
We sat there for another hour, taking in the club, and watching Alex and his date. The Champagne had given way to Diet Pepsi for me and ginger ale for Sophie. All of the energy had drained out of us and I was considering calling it a night. From the look on Sophie’s face, I didn’t think she would object.
About five minutes later, Alex placed the second, and now empty, champagne bottle upside down in the cooler and they got up to leave. We waited until they started down the stairs and then hurried after them. They were in the valet line behind four other couples. Sophie and I left through the patio entrance and hot-footed it to my Honda.
We drove around the corner in front of the bar just in time to see the black Jaguar turn the far corner of the block. I followed closely for a few minutes until it was obvious Alex was taking the blonde back to her house.
I should have followed them to her house and made sure they were settled in before I called it a night. I should have, but I was dead tired and just wanted to go home. Sophie was already asleep, her head bouncing like a dead woman’s every time I hit a bump. Besides, I reasoned, Alex’s hand had been slid halfway up the blonde’s dress for the last twenty minutes at the club. I doubted they were going anywhere other than the nearest available bed.
~~~~
I drove back to the office and woke Sophie up. She shook her head to clear it, gave me a sleepy “See you tomorrow,” got up, and walked back to her car. She started it up and I let her go first.
I followed Sophie for a mile, or so. When we came to Miller, I turned and drove to my apartment building.
I was so tired I leaned against the side of the elevator as it slowly went up to the third floor. I went in my apartment, pulled off my clothes, put on an old ASU Sun Devils t-shirt, brushed my teeth, cleared off a pile of clothes from the bed, and then collapsed. The last thing I remember was picking up the clock from the floor and setting the alarm for 7:30.
Yuck.
~~~~
I came to consciousness as the alarm cheerfully chirped away. I hit the sno
oze bar and reasoned to myself the alarm must be some sort of mistake. Maybe I set it for the wrong time? Perhaps it was some malfunction of the clock? It just couldn’t be 7:30 yet. I was too tired to have to get up.
Nine minutes later, when the alarm did its chirpy thing again, I had enough energy to get up and crawl into the shower. I stood there for almost twenty minutes, regaining use of my limbs and mental functions. I toweled myself off and picked out a short pink cotton dress with blue trim that is both cute and comfortable. Finally, with blue ankle socks and white tennis shoes, I was ready for a day of watching every move Alex made.
I went into the kitchen started a pot of coffee. I opened a can of Seafood Delight for Marlowe and plopped it into his dish. As always, Marlowe attacked it as if he was nearing death from starvation.
Back in the bathroom, I applied minimal makeup and brushed my hair just enough to put it into a ponytail. From the kitchen I heard an all too familiar sound: Aaack! Aaaaack! Aaaaaaaaaak!
I didn’t need to look. I knew the sound. Marlowe was in the corner of the kitchen, throwing up his breakfast. Every time I heard the sound, it reminded of the movie The Godfather. Luca Brasi, the hit man, had made the same sound when they tightened the garrote around his throat.
I knew from experience Marlowe would wait until I left the apartment. He would then privately dine on his previously warmed and chewed breakfast. The thought of this always brought on a faint wave of nausea. Thank God he only did it in the corner of the kitchen on the tile. Sometimes, I seriously think about trading him in on a dog.
I went into the kitchen, avoided looking in the corner, and poured the pot of coffee into The Big Pig. I was out of granola bars, so I grabbed a couple of chocolate covered energy bars. I said good-bye to Marlowe and headed out the door.
~~~~
I decided to jog down the stairs. While staring at myself in front of the bathroom mirror, I had decided I would start to sneak in a little exercise whenever I could. Who needs a health club, I thought? I can get the same toned body and rock hard abs with the equipment I already had at my disposal, like my stairs.
