Undercover in Six Inch Stilettos

by Carolyn LaRoche

  “You are one crazy guy, Johnny. Never met anyone like you in my life.”

  The music switched to some calm Hawaiian ballad, and Cyndi knew Lola had taken the stage. The lights dimmed, and all eyes turned to Lola’s grass skirt and coconut bra.

  “They love that girl,” Johnny murmured. Cyndi studied the young bartender as he watched Lola do a beautiful hula punctuated with back bends and bare skin.

  “She is pretty amazing,” Cyndi replied. “I’m going to head out back and get ready for my next set, Johnny. Keep being you. You are a pretty cool guy, and one day the right woman is going to see that.”

  Johnny turned his gaze from Lola to smile at Cyndi. “Thanks, Miss Liberty, you are pretty cool yourself.”

  Chapter Nine

  ““Like a Virgin,” Roxy? Seriously?” Cyndi teased the other woman as she prepped for her set.

  “How do you know I’m not?” Roxy twirled around in a circle, orange feathers scattering everywhere. She had changed into a slinky teddy with a bright orange boa for her next round on the dance floor.

  “Just where do you find all these feather boas, Roxy? I swear you have every color of the crayon box. And not the little eight pack, the big sixty-four box!”

  “Oh, you know, here and there. I like variety, sugah.” She eyed Cyndi up and down, her gravelly voice cracking as she spoke. “It might serve you well to invest in another outfit. The guys, they get bored, then they stop spending their dollars.”

  “I was thinking I might need to mix things up a bit. I wasn’t sure I was going to stick with this, and I am on a limited budget,” Cyndi said.

  “Bet your budget ain’t so limited anymore. You gotta be clearing three hundred bucks a night at least.”

  “How did you know that?”

  “I been doin’ this job for a long time, little lady.” Roxy broke into a coughing fit—the chest-wracking kind that almost made Cyndi call for help—but then she calmed herself down and studied Cyndi gravely. “This job—this life—is gonna be the death of me. Maybe you ought to get out while you still can, girlfriend. It’s going to ruin your life and your marriage, you stick around here too long.”

  “My marriage is just fine. Thank you, Roxy, for your concern, but Jason and I are very happy.”

  “Hmpf…for now, anyway. Things change in a blink. Look at Jade.”

  “Jade?”

  “One minute she is here, dancing and doin’ her thing, the next…poof! No one knows what the hell happened to her.”

  Cyndi thought about the bloody purse but kept it to herself.

  “Maybe she will resurface back home in Maryland.”

  “Mary-land? That gal was from Mary-land?”

  Oops. She had to be more careful. That information was not common knowledge. “I thought she told me that once. I could be wrong. The girl could have come all the way here from the west coast. Either way, for all we know, she could have left on her own.”

  “I’m highly doubtin’ that.”

  So was Cyndi, but she kept her theories to herself. A blood-stained purse and a rusty old tire iron spoke volumes. She intended to grab the long piece of metal on her way out of the club after her last set.

  Lola entered the room then. “Hello, ladies. Roxy, I think Johnny said he needed to see you before you do your next set.”

  “I guess I better go see what my boy wants, then.” Roxy exited the room, her orange boa trailing behind her.

  “You looked like you could use a little rescuing, Cyndi.”

  “Thanks, Lola. Roxy definitely has her own opinions about things.”

  “That is the truth, for sure. She trying to get you to quit the job?”

  Cyndi turned from the mirror to face Lola. “How did you know?”

  “She tried to do the same to me last night.”

  “That’s odd. I wonder why she is trying to get rid of all of us.”

  “She made it sound like she had my best interests at heart, but she doesn’t understand I have nowhere else to go and nothing else I can do. I never finished high school. Who else is going to hire me but this place?” Lola gestured around the room. “This is it for me. I am good at it, and the money is good.”

  “You know you could go back, Lola, get a GED. You are still so young.”

  “I am perfectly happy with my life, Cyndi. I do appreciate your concern, but I love dancing, and this is the only place I will ever get to do it.”

  Cyndi walked over and gave the girl a quick hug. “If you ever change your mind, Lola, about school or reaching out to your parents, I am here for you.”

  “Thank you, Cyndi. Your husband and little girl are very lucky to have you. Now, you’d better head on out and do your set before Roxy sends out the guards to find you.”

  “Right. If I don’t see you after, take care of yourself this week.”

  “I will. You be sure to do the same.”

  Lola disappeared into the restroom, leaving the echo of her melodious voice behind as Cyndi headed to the stage. Roxy’s dance number was almost over. Her skin tingled with excitement as the energy of the crowd washed over her. It infused her. She danced her heart out, tassels shaking the entire time.

  By the time she finished her set, Cyndi was ready to go home. The crowd’s energy had simultaneously energized and exhausted her. She had nearly forgotten about disappearing girls, blood-stained purses, and middle-aged exotic dancers trying to get her to quit her job. As she changed back into her regular clothes, Cyndi hummed a tune she couldn’t quite place. Lola was on stage, and Roxy had all but disappeared after her last round. It was just as well. Cyndi didn’t want to be late and raise Jason’s suspicions again. She liked the job and the people she worked with more and more every week.

  Cyndi left the same way she had entered the club. If she could grab that tire iron and pass it off to Jason, he could send it in for lab testing. Something deep in her gut told her it was connected to the blood on Jade’s purse. Her heart ached for the girl, but finding out what happened to Jade was her priority, even if she really didn’t want to know the answer.

  Slipping out the back door into the cool night, Cyndi breathed the sea air in deeply. The best part about living near the ocean was the saltiness of the breeze. She could even hear the waves crashing against the shore from where she stood; that’s how close Sugar Shakers was to the beach. Hard to imagine anything bad ever happening in such a beautiful place.

  “Get the tire iron and go home, girl. Jason will be sending out the troops soon if you don’t get out of here.” Muttering to herself, Cyndi had to smile at her husband’s overprotective nature. Sometimes his behaviors were a hindrance, but most often she found it endearing. When she reached the place where the old tool had sat propped by the wall, Cyndi was shocked to find it was gone.

  Glancing around the small alley, the dumpster caught her eye. It too had been moved. When she had gone into the building three hours ago, the dumpster had definitely been out of place. Now it stood exactly where Cyndi and Angela left it the day before.

  “Someone’s been out here in the last three hours. But why?” Cyndi realized she was talking out loud to herself, and she laughed nervously. Something didn’t feel right. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her heart picked up its tempo. She needed to get out of there.

  Her heart was racing, and her pulse banged in her ears by the time she got to her car. Her heartbeat quickened even more when she saw a piece of paper stuck under her windshield wiper.

  Careful not to touch the sheet more than she had to, Cyndi pulled the paper out from under the wiper and opened it. Letters cut from magazines were pasted to the wrinkled sheet. She read it by the light of the street lamp.

  Stop asking questions.

  “What the hell?” Cyndi spun around in a wide arc, carefully surveying her surroundings. The street was completely quiet except for the echo of the music coming from Sugar Shakers. Was he nearby? Watching her from some dark shadow? Who was “he” anyway? Cyndi wasn’t about to
wait around and find out. She unlocked her car, tossed the note on her dashboard, and slid in behind the wheel. It took only seconds for her to start the vehicle and get out of there. At the next red light, she broke her ‘no texting while driving’ policy and took a moment to shoot a message to Jason letting him know she was on her way. When he responded with his typical 4—meaning 10-4, or okay—she set her cell phone in the cup holder next to her and focused on the unexpectedly heavy midnight traffic.

  She considered the mystery that was quickly unraveling around her. Who had taken the tire iron? Was it a coincidence that it had disappeared? It was hard to imagine anyone accidentally happening across it. The alley behind the club didn’t normally get much foot traffic.

  By the time Cyndi pulled into the driveway, every security beacon on the property was shining and Jason stood on the front porch, arms folded across his chest. His expression was grim as he glanced at the tactical watch he always wore on his left wrist.

  “Do you know what time it is?” Jason demanded as she exited the car, completely forgetting about missing tire irons and threatening notes.

  “I texted you. You knew I was on the way.”

  “That doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s so late.”

  “What are you, my father?” Cyndi snapped as she slammed her car door shut for emphasis.

  “It’s after midnight.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t realize I had a curfew tonight.”

  “I was about to start calling hospitals and police departments.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud, Jason. You gotta ease up a little. I’m a grown woman, and I know how to take care of myself. Besides, if something had happened to me, I’m sure someone would have called you.”

  Jason dropped his arms to his sides, but he remained tense and postured, like he was about to engage in hand-to-hand combat. “This city is not as safe as you assume, you know.”

  “Don’t you make sure I know it every minute of every day…” she muttered as she stepped to the trunk to retrieve the purse she had stowed in there before her shift.

  “How many times do I have to tell you to ride with your ID easily accessible in the cab of the car!”

  “It’s all right, Officer. I wore my big girl panties today.” If only he knew.

  “Cyndi—” Jason growled in warning. As a newlywed she might have gotten upset with his behavior, but after so many years of being married Cyndi laughed at her husband’s dramatic behavior as she nudged past him to get in the house.

  “Look, J.J., I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. You wouldn’t have married me if I didn’t. I am not some wilting wallflower, or a helpless princess that constantly needs a knight on a white horse, or in a Chevy Impala, to ride in and rescue me. Take a break once in a while. It must be exhausting being on high alert all the time.”

  Closing and locking the door behind them, Jason set the house alarm before turning to face her. “You’re no dummy, Cyndi, but you have absolutely no situational awareness skills. You rarely have any idea what is going on around you. A panel van could pull up next to you, looking for a lost puppy, and you would climb right in and offer to give directions. I am not going to be called into the medical examiner’s office to ID your body because you lost track of the time and wandered down the wrong road.”

  Cyndi stomped away from him and flung her purse onto the kitchen counter before turning to square off with her husband. “That was the old me, Jason. The young and newly married me. People grow and change. I am a mother and the wife of a police officer. I would like to think that both of those things have forced me to mature at least a little since we met all those years ago. Give me a little credit, Tactical Bob. It’s not like I hang a sign around my neck begging rapists to attack me!”

  “Cyndi, I didn’t mean…”

  It didn’t matter what he said next because she couldn’t hear him over the water she ran in the bathroom. Fed up with the same discussion night after night, Cyndi couldn’t stand one more conversation about the evils of the world. She would take a long, hot shower instead. Maybe by the time she was done emptying the hot water heater, Jason would be asleep.

  No such luck. She had just lathered her hair with coconut-scented shampoo when the bathroom door swung open.

  “I locked that door,” Cyndi snapped.

  “And I unlocked it,” Jason replied.

  “I am not going to argue with you anymore.” Cyndi turned under the shower head and let the hot spray rinse the suds from her hair.

  “Who said anything about arguing?” The shower curtain slid open and Jason stepped into the tub with her.

  Cyndi turned from the stream of hot water and glared at her husband. He was obviously more than ready to do something other than argue, but she maintained her façade of annoyance. “You’re worse than a teenage boy.”

  Jason grinned as he pulled her close. The continuous spray of hot water fell on them. “What’s wrong with wanting the woman I married, especially when she is as fine as you are, baby?”

  “Ugh! Come on, J.J., I am not going to have sex with you. I’m mad at you.”

  Her husband picked up a shower pouf and poured a dose of liquid soap on it. He began to work his hands over her back with the soapy object, trailing his fingers slowly across her heated skin until he reached her backside.

  “Yeah, but you won’t stay mad.” Jason grinned slyly as his hands wandered a little lower.

  Cyndi pushed against his chest with both hands but was unsuccessful in getting any distance between them. Instead, each time she shoved him, Jason pulled her in closer.

  “The rules are: we fight, we have makeup sex.”

  “Rules?”

  “Yeah, it’s in the state code book. I can look it up for you, if you want me to.”

  “Aren’t you a funny man tonight? I don’t like these rules.”

  “You don’t?” Jason murmured next to her ear as one of his hands trailed its way around to her breasts. Despite her best intentions, a tiny moan escaped her lips. Jason kissed his way across her neck to her other ear, where he proceeded to tease the lobe a little bit. There was no way she could suppress the second moan…or the third…especially when that little slippery pouf found its way down her abdomen to the apex of her thighs.

  “Seems to me that you like the rules just fine.”

  “You’re a real jerk, you know that, right?” she murmured against his lips.

  “So you tell me on a regular basis. Yet, you keep hanging around.”

  “What can I say, I’m a glutton for punishment, big bad cop man. You going to punish me?”

  “Over and over again,” Jason whispered, his breath hot on her ear, even in the warm flow of the shower.

  Cyndi slipped her arms around her husband’s neck as he backed her against the shower wall. Hot spray fell all around them as her lips found his. Steam swirled, obscuring the area around them, much like the fog in her brain as Jason did delicious things to her body. When the water ran icy cold against their hot bodies, her husband wrapped her in a towel and scooped her from the shower.

  “I heard somewhere that all cops are pompous asses.” Cyndi smiled as she rubbed her hands across Jason’s tight crew cut. She loved the feel of the baby-soft fuzz when it was wet from the shower.

  “People say that because they are jealous.”

  “Why? Because you get to wear a badge and write tickets?”

  “No.” Jason chuckled as he pulled the towel away from her body. “Because we have big guns!”

  Later, as they lay in bed, Jason’s arms were wrapped around her as Cyndi listened to the soft sounds of her husband sleeping beside her.

  How did he always manage to weaken her defenses with a single touch? Cyndi had girlfriends who claimed they hadn’t had sex in months, whereas she couldn’t imagine a few days going by without some sort of intimacy with Jason. He might have been a bit on the overprotective side—okay, he was safety crazy—but he was a good father, a great husband, and a fantastic love
r. Cyndi was so satiated she fell asleep and slept until Harper woke her at half past seven. She had to wait a whole day to tell her friends about what had happened at the club.

  Fortunately the day passed by in a flurry of errands, a play date for Harper, and Jason getting called in for overtime. By the time Harper was tucked in and Jason was off to work, Cyndi was worn out. She fell asleep on the sofa watching reruns of crime shows, but woke up a few minutes before three, like she usually did. She logged in to the group’s page, waiting for some signs of life from the other ladies.

  Angela: Hey, Cyndi, are you there?

  Cyndi: I am. Sorry I missed you all last night. Jason sort of wore me out.

  Angela: I really wish I had your problems!

  Diana: Hi, ladies!

  Cyndi: Hey, Di! I feel like it has been weeks since we have talked.

  Diana: LOL It’s only been a few days, Cyn!

  Jessy: I’m here! Did I miss anything?

  Angela: No, ma’am. We were just getting started. Cyndi was bragging about how she and the hubby were getting it on again last night.

  Diana: Cyndi gets it more than all of us put together! Why do you think I work for a phone sex line? At least I can pretend I am getting some once in a while. Donnie is going through one of those middle-age phases.

  Jessy: It’s so unfair that men reach their sexual peak twenty years before we do!

  Angela: Except for Cyndi’s man…he is some kinda genetic anomaly!

  Cyndi: LOL Y’all are just jealous!

  Jessy: Damn straight I am!

  Cyndi: Well, don’t be too jealous. I pay a price. Try living with a man who believes there is a tactically sound way to use the bathroom…

  Angela: He’s not that bad…is he?

  Cyndi: You would be surprised. LOL! I am used to it though. I know he worries about us.