She quickly slid out of the crammed truck, turning to watch Randy help his larger mother and small aunt. Once on her feet, Mama smoothed out her house dress and pointed to Jade.
“Randall, you escort your lady friend inside like a gentleman. There’s people watching.”
Randy held out a hand to Jade, who looked at it incredulously. Nodding in embarrassment, he pulled it back and opened the restaurant door for Mama, Pauline and finally Jade.
The smell of greasy food and hot coffee engulfed them immediately. The restaurant was as packed as Jade had feared. She scanned the dining area. A dozen red tables were all occupied. So were five of the six booths that lined the wall. Jade nudged Randy and pointed to the one lone booth at the back of the restaurant by the bathroom doors.
Mama had already spotted the empty booth and couldn’t have been happier. Its location would ensure she would have to parade through the entire restaurant so everyone would see her. Pauline trotted behind Mama, then Randy. Jade followed them all, her head down to avoid eye contact with anyone.
There was a wide range of people in the restaurant. Large families ignoring their crying babies and whining toddlers. Elderly couples sitting in silence. A group of teenagers laughing at images on their phones.
Several people stopped to offer their sympathies to Mama. Jade noticed she had assumed a grieving mother’s posture, nodding to her well-wishers with a sense of sorrow that completely contradicted the bright and sunny outfit she was wearing.
Mama stopped to accept the sympathies of a group of older women sitting at one table. The way they all spoke, Jade gathered this was her beehive and she prepared herself to be introduced. But much to her surprise, Mama continued past them toward the booth. Jade noticed how the women immediately turned to each other in conspiratorial whispers.
Looks like everyone’s got a false face, she thought to herself.
They finally reached the booth and sat down. Pauline slid in first and Mama pulled in next to her. Jade insisted on sliding into her side of the booth first, putting her as far out of view as possible. She grabbed a large red plastic Perty’s menu sitting on the table and buried her face inside of it.
Mama was reveling in her moment.
“Did you see the look on those old taters’ faces?” she said. “June looked as confused as a fart in a fan factory.”
She reached across the table and pulled Jade’s menu down.
“Don’t hide that pretty face of yours, sweetheart” she chided. “If I looked like you, I’d be holding my head so high they’d have to tie it down.”
Mama smiled at Jade proudly then looked at the people sitting in the restaurant. Jade followed Mama’s gaze to see that practically everyone was pretending not to look at them. She quickly snapped back around, raising the menu up again.
“So much for slipping in and out,” she mumbled to herself.
“What’s that?” Mama asked.
“I said it’s probably been so long since you’ve been out.”
Mama nodded as Randy passed menus out to everyone else. Pauline stared at hers and made a weird smacking sound with her lips. Recognizing the curious sound, Mama looked over at her big sister.
“Pauline, where are your teeth?”
“They fell out in the truck,” Pauline answered with a shrug.
“Honey, you can’t eat when you don’t have no teeth in your mouth,” Mama said.
“I can’t eat when she don’t have her teeth in her mouth,” Randy interjected. “I’ll go get ‘em.”
He scooted out of the booth. Jade watched him go and thought this may be a good time to make her exit, too.
“I’ll go help him,” she offered, sliding out of the booth.
Mama grabbed her arm.
“Don’t you be silly,” Mama said. “You stay here so we can have a little girl talkin’ time.”
Jade looked into Mama’s intimidating eyes.
Was she suspicious?
She reluctantly slid back into the booth. She had left her gun in the shop. There was no way to grab it discreetly. But she had already instinctively surveyed her surroundings and spotted nearly a dozen items that could double as a weapon if she needed them.
20
“So how long have you known my Randall?” Mama asked in a tone that made the friendly girl talk immediately feel more like an inquisition.
Jade could tell Mama had a pretty good bullshit detector. No doubt a product of growing up a strong woman in the man’s world of East Texas, especially in the fifties and sixties. She had probably spent a lifetime navigating lies and other obstacles meant to keep her in her place. She clearly knew how to hold her own and was not easily fooled. Or intimidated. It made for a strong woman, but a potential problem for Jade.
“We’ve only been together a few weeks,” Jade answered, pouring on as much Southern charm as she could. “But I feel like I’ve known him my whole life.”
Mama nodded knowingly.
“That’s what happens when it’s the right one,” she said before leaning forward to drive her next question home. “Unless you’re just desperate for a husband.”
Jade laughed sheepishly. “Oh my, no,” she said. “I’d only gone on that dating site on a lark. Randy just took me by surprise. I assure you, I’m not a husband hunter. By the way, I’m so sorry to hear about your son.”
Jade winced at the awkward, sudden change of topic, but Mama didn’t seem to notice.
“Thank you so much, Hun,” Mama said. “A mama should never have to bury her own child. It’s a burden I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
“Except Dixie,” Pauline interrupted.
Mama looked at her sister, confused, so Pauline offered an explanation.
“You said you wish Dixie’s son were dead just so she could feel what you’re going through.”
“You must have misheard me,” Mama replied.
“You know I didn’t,” Pauline answered defiantly.
“Were you and Clyde close?” Jade asked, trying to steer the conversation back to something useful.
“My Clyde was a real mama’s boy,” Mama said. “He’d watch Wheel of Fortune most every night with me. He took good care of his mama.”
“Did he live in town?” Jade asked.
“Just outside of town,” Mama replied. “He and Randy both.”
“He lived with Randy?”
“They both live with me,” Mama replied. “Didn’t Randy tell you?”
Before Jade could think of an answer, a young woman walked up to their table.
21
Amy Jo Billings was a pretty woman in her mid-twenties with a lot of blonde hair and not a lot of clothes.
“Hey there, Mama. Hi, Miss Pauline,” she said between smacks of gum.
“Amy Jo,” Mama answered flatly, not even trying to hide her disdain.
“You had to get out, too, huh?” Amy Jo asked, oblivious to Mama’s attitude. “I hear ya. I just couldn’t stay cooped up in the house any longer. Everything there reminds me of my Clyde.”
Her lip quivered in what Jade recognized as a well-rehearsed act of sorrow.
“That’s cuz it’s all his stuff,” Mama replied sarcastically.
“The life of a widow can be so lonely,” Amy Jo went on. “I know you understand.”
So, Clyde was married, Jade thought to herself.
It was information that hadn’t shown up in her research of the redneck trafficker.
“I don’t care how lonely you are,” Mama replied. “Just try to keep your legs together until we bury him.”
Once again ignoring Mama’s comment, Amy Jo turned to Jade.
“Hi. I’m Amy Jo. Clyde’s wife.”
“EX-wife,” Mama corrected.
“No, ma’am,” Amy Jo said. “He never filed the papers.”
“I’m Jen,” Jade said. “So sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” Amy Jo answered. “That’s so sweet of you.”
“Jen is Randall’s new girlfriend,” Ma
ma interjected.
“No shit?” Amy Jo said, making no effort to hide her shock. “Good for him.”
Before Mama could respond with an insult, a woman in a short denim skirt and skin-tight camisole walked over to the table.
“Come on,” the woman said to Amy Jo, confirming their connection. “It’s 2-for-1 at Willy’s.”
“Don’t go gettin’ prissy, Missy,” Amy Jo chastised. “I’ll meet you outside.”
The friend groaned loudly and pouted off while Amy Jo turned her attention back to Mama.
“I really should be going, though,” she said. “I have wounds that need healing.”
“Is that what you’re calling it these days?” Mama retorted.
Amy Jo turned to Jade.
“Will you be at the funeral?” she asked.
Mama answered before Jade had a chance to say anything.
“You bet your barely covered ass she will.”
Amy Jo nodded, letting Mama’s surly attitude roll off her bare shoulders.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you there then,” she said with a shrug.
She strutted away, catching the gaze of every man in the restaurant.
“That little tramp’s got some nerve showing her dumplings around here,” Mama grumbled.
“Her dress was so short I could see her religion,” Pauline added with a toothless grin.
“So, she’s Clyde’s wife?” Jade asked, curious about another potential lead on the missing goat figurine.
“Ex-wife. I don’t care what papers he didn’t file. She left my Clyde high and dry nearly two years ago,” Mama answered.
“She’s a dancer,” Pauline offered.
“I guarantee you there ain’t much dancing in what she does,” Mama corrected.
“I thought she was pretty good,” Pauline argued.
Mama slapped Pauline’s hand. “You ain’t never been to one of those places where she works.”
“You don’t know where I’ve been,” Pauline snapped back.
She looked at Jade and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “I’ve seen things.”
“So, Clyde hadn’t seen her for two years?” Jade asked, steering the conversation back to her question.
“And now she shows up here acting like a poor lonely widow just to get some attention.”
So much for the ex-wife, Jade thought.
But knowing that Clyde lived with his mother, and with Randy, was very useful information. Thinking of Randy, she turned around to see what was taking him so long. She could see him through the front windows of the restaurant, on his hands and knees, reaching under the truck for what was probably Pauline’s teeth.
Jade felt the vibration of her phone. Someone was texting her and she was pretty sure who it was.
22
“Excuse me,” Jade said, sliding out of the booth. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”
Before Mama or Pauline could respond, Jade had stepped into the hallway that led to the restrooms. As she had hoped, there was a third door that led into the kitchen. Jade pushed it open and walked quickly between the racks of food and sizzling stovetops until she found a back exit.
Jade stepped outside and read the text that simply said STATUS?
Jade dialed the number for the sender of the text.
“Do you have it?” Donovan Fontaine asked immediately, skipping any perfunctory salutation.
“Not yet,” Jade answered. “But I’m close.”
“Good. Get in. Get out. Viktor Petrov is headed your way.”
Jade’s pulse quickened. She figured he would be hot on her trail but was hoping it would take a few days. She should have hidden Anton’s body to buy her time, but it’s not easy to sneak a 230-lb. corpse out of a luxury hotel with a bodyguard right outside the door.
“You still have time,” Donovan said, as if reading her mind. “He and a couple of his enforcers just left and they have a layover in New York City. They won’t even arrive in Texas until sometime tomorrow.”
“I’ll be long gone by then,” Jade replied, feeling reassured.
“Remember, Jade. No messes.”
“I’ll do what I need to do.”
“You’ll do what I pay you to do. I don’t want to draw any more attention to this than you already have. It’s bad enough you’ve got Petrov involved. Dead bodies are bad for business.”
He hung up before Jade could argue his point. Which was just as well, because she really didn’t have much of an argument. She cleared the record of the call and the text from her phone and stuck it in her back pocket.
She could tell she wasn’t going to get anywhere with Mama. It was time she got back to work at The Lazy Goat. She walked around to the front of the restaurant just in time to see Randy retrieving a pair of teeth from under the truck. He stood and wiped them on his shirt. Not satisfied, he leaned into his truck and grabbed a rag to clean them.
“Randy,” she yelled out.
Randy looked up and she waved him over.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked as he got closer.
“Let’s go,” she said, motioning toward The Lazy Goat.
“We can’t go yet,” he protested. “We haven’t even ordered.”
“As much as I enjoy this redneck dinner from hell, I’ve got a job to do. And I’m running out of patience. You do not want me to run out of patience.”
Randy nodded, but looked back inside the restaurant.
“If we abandon Mama and Aunt Pauline in there, they’ll just come back to the shop and make things worse.”
Jade sighed. She should have just tied them up in the store when she had the chance.
“Give me the store keys,” she demanded.
Randy started to argue, but Jade interrupted him.
“I’m not negotiating with you,” she snapped.
Randy nodded and dug for the keys in his pocket. Needing both hands, he held out Pauline’s teeth for Jade to hold. Reluctantly, she accepted.
Randy found the keys and traded them for the teeth.
“That’s got my truck keys on there,” he said.
“Good. You’re not going anywhere until I find what I’m looking for,” she answered. “Now give me your phone.”
Randy handed over his cell phone.
“If you try anything, if you say anything to anyone, if the cops show up or anything so much as even looks suspicious, I will track you down and kill you all. Got it?”
Randy nervously nodded in acknowledgement.
“I need you to go inside and order with everyone. Keep them occupied and out of my hair. If all goes well, I’ll find what I need and be out of your hair before you’re finished eating.”
“You sure you don’t need my help?” he asked.
She patted him on the cheek.
“Only if I don’t find it.”
Jade meant it as a threat, but Randy smiled and nodded as if it were an offer.
“Check behind the counter,” Randy said with a smile. “Sometimes Clyde would store some stuff there.”
Jade nodded and ran across the street. She heard Randy calling out to her.
“Good luck!”
23
Dean drove his dark blue Chevy Sonic down Interstate 395 toward Ronald Reagan Airport. He still wasn’t even sure where he would be going, but wanted to be ready as soon as he had the information he needed.
The muffled sound of his cell phone began to ring, and Dean fumbled through the coat pockets of his suit jacket until he finally found it.
“Yeah?” he answered without even looking at the Caller ID.
“He’s headed to Dallas,” Agent Chin answered.
“You’re sure?” Dean asked.
“Caught a flight to DFW a few hours ago.”
“A few hours ago?” Dean asked, pushing his foot on the gas pedal.
“Relax,” Chin said. “It’s a sixteen-hour flight. You’ve still got a big jump on him.”
Dean spotted the sign for the airport exit.
&nbs
p; “Were you able to get the export manifest?” Dean asked.
“It’s not that easy, Dean. I’m still working on it.”
“Sorry. I appreciate the help,” Dean said. “I’ve got to go. I need to call the Dallas office to see if we can get any more intel on where he’s heading in Texas.”
Dean heard the groan on the other end of the line and smiled.
“No way,” Chin said. “I’m invested now. I’ll look into it. But Dean, this guy’s dangerous. You’re gonna need backup.”
“I’m not after Petrov,” Dean replied. “I’m after who he’s leading me to.”
24
“What do you mean she left?” Mama snapped.
Randy shrugged, trying not to watch as Pauline fumbled to get her dentures in her mouth.
“She got a call and had to go,” Randy answered. “Some emergency.”
“And she didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye?” Mama asked.
A thought dawned on her and she leaned forward, glaring at her son.
“What did you do?” she demanded. “Did you make her mad?”
“I didn’t do anything!” Randy argued.
“Did you get fresh with her?” Pauline asked with a devilish grin.
“I didn’t touch her,” Randy said. “She just had to get her things from the store and head out. I’m sorry.”
“Maybe you should’ve got fresh with her,” Pauline argued.
“Well, she’s coming back for the funeral, ain’t she?” Mama asked.
Randy shook his head and avoided eye contact. It was hard to lie to his mother and he had never been able to get away with it. But now, their lives depended on it.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
Mama sized up her son, weighing his words.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Mama,” Randy said with a tired sigh.
“Don’t you take an attitude with me, boy,” Mama snapped. “I’ll jerk a knot in your tail so fast-”
Her threat was interrupted by the arrival of a teenage girl in a maroon polo shirt with the Perty’s logo silkscreened over the left chest.
Red Dirt Blues Page 5
