by Nick James
“I’d like some flowers in a vase,” Bobby said.
“Over there,” the man said and pointed toward a glass cooler the size of a mid-range refrigerator. There were maybe a half dozen bouquets scattered across the three shelves along with what looked like the guy’s dinner in a brown paper lunch bag.
Bobby chose the cheapest-looking vase with a nearly wilted bunch of daises, then picked out the least expensive card and set them next to the cash register.
“Twenty-two dollars and seventy-nine cents,” the man said after ringing the purchases up.
Bobby hesitated then threw the cash on the counter. A moment later the man threw his change back across the counter and Bobby stared at him. The man just stared back until Bobby gathered up his change and purchases.
“Thanks,” the man called just as Bobby exited.
Denton was sitting in the hospital bed asleep, sedated was probably a more accurate term although he wasn’t hooked up to any IV’s. There was a full day’s growth on his face, maybe even two days and Bobby figured it was probably the first time in his life he’d ever missed a shave. The room remained starkly empty except for the vase of nearly wilted daises that Bobby placed on the windowsill. He placed the card on the bed table in front of Denton, stepped back and took a photo of him with one of the pay-as-you-go phones then left before Denton woke up.
He called the office from the parking ramp.
“Good afternoon, Denton, Allan, Sawyer and…”
“Angie please.”
“Who may I say is calling?”
“Her obstetrician, Dr. Smith,” Bobby said and smiled at his own sense of humor. Marci would have rumors floating all around the office by nine tomorrow morning.
“Hello?” Angie said, the question in her voice suggesting Marci had passed on who was calling.
“Hi Angie, Bobby.”
“Are you crazy?” she said. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“What did you find out about any of Morris Montcreff’s files being copied by the acquisition folks?”
“I haven’t had time to check, in fact I’m rather busy and probably won’t be able to find time this week. Anything else?”
“Yeah, I think it’s time we had a little come-to-Jesus chat. Do you know Tiffany’s?”
“The bar? Yes of course, but if you think I’m going to spend any social time together with you, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“Hey Angie, you got your cellphone near by?”
“My cell?”
“I’m going to send you a little message, look at it, but it would be a very good idea to keep it between the two of us. I’ll plan on you joining me at Tiffany’s in about an hour.”
“Don’t waste…” Bobby ended the call then scanned through the gallery of thirty-plus images of a drugged Angie in various sexual positions until he found one of the worst. He typed a message, “C U in 55 min.” Then added the image and pressed “send.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The booth was in the rear of the bar, although not the furthest one back, that booth was occupied by four young women, Bobby guessed college girls. They were all talking at once and no one seemed to be listening to anyone else. As they talked they sent text messages to whoever wasn’t there.
Bobby sat facing the door with the pay-as-you-go phone on the table in front of him. He took a sip from his pint glass and waited.
Angie stepped in the door a few minutes before six and took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkened barroom. Bobby raised his pint of beer to catch her attention and she headed across the room, seeming to pick up a little speed with every step. By the time she was in front of the booth her face was flushed and she looked ready to kill.
“How’s it going, Angie?”
“You absolute asshole,” she half screamed.
The college girls kept talking and texting, oblivious.
“I think you better sit down, Angie.”
“I want that image deleted, now or I’m calling the police, do you hear me?”
“You finished? I think you better sit down if you know what’s good for you and if you still want to be employed by this time tomorrow.”
She glared at him.
“Last chance, put that nice ass of yours in the booth, now, or I’ll have these images posted all over the internet before the sun goes down. Hey Angie, remember, knock before entering,” he said quoting the tattoo on her tailbone and laughed.
Amazingly, her face grew even redder, but once he said the phrase she sat down across from him and just glared.
“Stop with the act, Angie, I don’t like it.”
“How dare you even…”
“Hey, you drinking red or white?”
“If you think I’m having anything to drink with…”
“Let’s get something straight, right now. From here on in you’ll do exactly as I say. You don’t, you take just one step out of line and I will make your life so goddamn miserable you won’t believe it. You won’t have a job, you won’t have a husband and you will find that gorgeous ass of yours out walking the street. You understand?”
“Just who in the hell do you think you are?. I’m calling the police, we’ll see just who ends up on the street, well except you won’t, I know that,” her voice seemed to soften. “You know why I know that dear Bobby? I know that because they will send you on a one-way ticket back to prison where you belong, you, you…”
Bobby picked up the cellphone in front of him. “Maybe before you decide what you’re going to say next, it might be wise to just take a minute to look at what a fun little party animal you are.” He clicked his phone on, brought up the gallery of pictures and handed it across the table to her.
She grabbed it and took one look as her eyes grew wide before she visibly slumped. She began slowly moving her finger across the screen, looking at image after image as her eyes welled up with tears.
“But this wasn’t me, I mean you did something, you got me drunk, no, no you drugged me. That was it, you drugged me, didn’t you? I would not have done this,” she said now sounding like she was pleading.
“Well, so you say, but unfortunately, there’s the evidence right in front of you. I have to say you certainly seem to be enjoying yourself. Who knew such a nice girl like you could have so many perversions. Now, I think it would be best if you had some wine, red or white?”
She slowly looked up at him then quickly dropped the cellphone into his pint of beer. “There, so much for your porn, now what are you going to do?” she said and her eyes bore into him like lasers.
“Probably just take out another phone,” he said and reached into his pocket and pulled out another pay-as-you-go phone. He clicked it on, brought up an image of her in another perverse pose. “You want this phone, too? Go ahead, I’ve got dozens of them. Hey, I’ve got an idea. How about we start a dating service, call it something like ‘Pair up with a paralegal.’ Think that would work?”
She visibly slumped and large tears began to run down her cheeks. Bobby signaled a waitress over. “You can take this,” he said handing her the pint of beer with the cellphone in it.
“You didn’t like the call,” she half joked then glanced over at Angie silently sobbing and looked back at Bobby.
“She’ll have two glasses of red wine, just a cabernet, make it your cheapest. I’ll have another beer.” The waitress beat a hasty retreat and Bobby cleared his throat. “So here’s the thing, Angie. No one has to ever see those images. We can just keep them between the two of us, as long as we have a little, oh call it a working understanding. What do you say?”
Angie looked at him with a trembling lip as another wave of tears ran down her cheeks.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Their drinks arrived, Bobby’s beer and two glasses of red wine. It was a different waitress this time, and she took her time checking Angie out.
“Thanks,” Bobby said then stared at the waitress until she left.
“H
ere’s to a fresh start,” Bobby smiled and raised his glass in a toast.
Angie just sat there silently shaking her head with her arms crossed as if she was trying to hold herself together.
“Angie, I said here’s to a fresh start, pick up your glass and drink with me.”
Angie bit her lower lip, then reached for her wineglass, clinked it with Bobby’s pint mug and barely took a sip. In fact, about the time the wine touched her lips she set the glass down.
“Oh, come on now, Angie. You can do better than that, come on take a big sip.”
Angie stared at him.
“Do it, now.”
She slowly grabbed her glass, looked for just half a second like she might throw it at him before she put the glass to her lips.
“That’s right good girl, in fact drink it all down. I want you to empty the glass, Angie. Drain it.”
She glared at him over the rim, gulping audibly as she drained her wineglass, then slammed the empty glass onto the table and shuddered.
“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Look Angie, I just want us to be friends, okay, nothing more than that. It’s not like I’m asking you to commit some sort of crime.” At least not yet.
She wiped her cheeks with the palm of her hand, smearing mascara as she did so. “I must look a mess,” she sniffled, “I’ll be right back,” she said as she began to slide out of the booth.
“I’ll order you another wine.”
“There’s one on the table.”
“Good, you can drink that one, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bobby was home by nine, having helped Angie into a taxi after making her pay the bar tab. She’d been too intoxicated to drive and he’d had to rummage through her purse to find her driver’s license so he could give the taxi driver her address.
“She ain’t gonna get sick in my cab, is she?”
“No, just been a long day and she’s tired,” Bobby said. Angie was almost passed out in the back seat.
“If she looks like she’s gonna get sick I’m leaving her on the curb. I ain’t cleaning up after no drunk bitch.”
“I told you, she’s just tired.” Then he watched as the taxi man flew out of the parking lot and up the street.
Bobby was in his living room reviewing the evening’s events and sipping a bourbon with his feet up on the coffee table when his cellphone rang. It was his dedicated cell and not one of the pay-as-you-go things. He debated answering then recognized the number.
“This is Bobby.”
Some sort of undistinguishable music was blasting in the background, almost but not quite loud enough to cover up the sound of glasses clinking. “Bobby, Brad Carey, man. Wondering if you wanted to come down and join me for a beverage.”
“Thanks, Brad I’d love to, but I’m still working.” Bobby said then took a sip, careful not to let the ice cubes clink.
“Come on, man, just come down for one what do you say?”
“I’d love to, but it will be hours before I’m finished here, Brad. What can I do for you?”
“Suit yourself, man. Hey, I’m thinking about our little conversation the other day, you know your friend.”
“Yeah.”
“You said you’d pay me.”
“Yeah, I just won’t be able to get away or I’d take care of it myself, plus well I just figured since I owe you it would be a chance for you to make a couple of bucks and have some fun at the same time.”
“But you’d pay me?”
“Yeah sure.”
“Well, umm, how much we talking here?”
“How’s a hundred bucks sound, plus expenses?”
“Expenses?”
“You’ll have to get the party treats.”
“Oh, yeah I got you.”
“So you’re in, Brad?”
“Yeah, yeah sure I can do that.”
“Okay, look I’m not sure when she’s in there, at Awakenings. You said it’s about a week before they get to take that walk on their own.”
“Actually it’s five days, they make you think it could be months or even never, but the folks I know that been through there, well and me too, it’s always on the fifth day.”
“I’ll keep you posted, Brad and let you know when she’s there.”
“Yeah, yeah, just sort of wondering if I could get paid in advance, you know, help me get everything lined up and what not.”
You idiot. “I don’t have a problem with that Brad. Tell you what, why don’t you give me a call at the end of the week.”
“End of the week?”
“Yeah, that’s what I just said.”
“Well, I could sort of use it now, if you catch my drift. You know the disability and all.”
Yeah and drinking up a storm every night. “Call me tomorrow afternoon, how’s that sound?”
“You can count on me, Bobby and thanks.”
“Talk to you tomorrow, Brad.” Bobby disconnected, sipped his bourbon and thought about Brad Carey, Christine Woodley, Noah Denton, Bennett Hinz, then his mind wandered back to Prez and Arundel. For just a second he wondered if Angie ever made it home. Then thought maybe he’d have just one more bourbon before he went to bed. Life was good.
Chapter Thirty
Bobby phoned Angie’s extension a little after nine.
“Angie,” she rasped then cleared her throat a couple of times.
“Hi Angie, I’d like the next batch of Montcreff files and I’ll expect you to bring them to me.”
She exhaled audibly. “Anything else?”
“We’ll see about that when you get here.”
She knocked on his door a few minutes later, pushed the door open using her hip and set a large stack of files on the corner of his desk. “Would you like anything else?” she asked as she straightened up. Her eyes appeared slightly bloodshot and she crossed her arms as if protecting herself from a presumed attack.
“How’s the head?” Bobby asked.
“Throbbing.”
“You apparently made it home.”
“I don’t remember how, did you give me a lift?”
“No, I put you in a taxi.”
“A taxi? I just woke up this morning on the living room couch, still dressed and horribly hung over.”
“Maybe I should have given you a lift, who knows what…”
“Please, don’t go there. You forced me to drink last night, I was sick, I can barely function today and it’s anything but funny.” She took a deep breath then seemed to glance around the tiny office to see if anyone else was listening. “I want you to delete those images on your phone, please Bobby, please.”
“Not gonna happen, Angie. Besides you just might find yourself enjoying the activity. What did you tell me once, you have needs, too?”
“Not like that, I mean it, Bobby I want those images deleted, I’m begging now.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Will there be anything else?”
“Maybe save some time for me after work tonight.”
Her eyes seemed to flare, but she didn’t respond for a long moment, apparently thinking. “Okay, yeah I’ll do that, call me at the end of the day. But I’m not drinking like last night, I can’t, let’s make it fun, nice, okay? Maybe your place would be better, so we could, you know sort of relax,” she said and raised her eyebrows.
I knew you wanted it. “Yeah, a little fun sounds good and I promise you’ll enjoy yourself.”
“We’ll make it memorable, unforgettable,” Angie smiled then turned and walked out the door.
Bobby left the office over the noon hour and went to check on Noah Denton. He was still assigned to the same room, but he was out for a series of tests. Bobby left another cheap card on the tray table then hurried out just in case they returned Denton to the room.
He worked through the afternoon going through more Montcreff files then phoned Morris Montcreff toward the end of the day.
“Yes.”
“Hello Mr. Montcreff, this is Bobby Custe
r just touching base. I’ve been reviewing your Park Square files. Everything looks fine thus far.”
“Excellent, anything else?”
“No sir. I was at the hospital checking on Noah Denton over the noon hour, he seemed fine.”
“You spoke to him?”
“Ahhh, no sir. Actually he was sleeping, the nurses told me they’ve had to give him some medication, sedate him actually just to calm him down. Apparently he’s been rather difficult. I couldn’t see any point in waking him so I just sat with him for maybe an hour before I left. He never woke during that time.”
“Strange, very strange, certainly not the Noah Denton I know.”
“I agree, but hopefully they’ll find whatever the problem is and be able to correct it so we can get him back here leading the team.”
“Yes,” Montcreff replied, but he drew the word out, making it sound like he was thinking of a dozen different things. “Anything else?”
“No sir, that’s it, just checking in.”
“Thank you,” Montcreff said and hung up.
Bobby dialed Angie’s extension.
“Angie.”
“Ready for some fun?”
“More than ready, Bobby. In fact it’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about all day.”
“I like your earlier idea, why don’t you just follow me home, that way we can be nice and private.”
“Nice and private sounds perfect.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Bobby checked his rearview mirror a number of times on the drive home, Angie was always right behind him in her cream colored Kia. He guessed the car was two or three years old. A couple of times she caught him looking and waved back. He watched her smiling, once in a while her lips were moving and he figured she must be singing along with the radio.
She followed him cautiously into the underground parking ramp, slowing down just as Bobby sped toward his parking place close to the elevators. Then he waited until she cautiously made the turn and stopped behind his car. “Can I just park anywhere? I don’t want to get in trouble if I take someone’s spot.”
