Last Call

by Paula Matter

  She hoisted the garbage bag out in front of her. “We should get going. This bag is getting really stinky.” Brenda moved by Bobby Lee, opened the front door, and stepped out onto the porch. She made a show of returning the key to where she’d found it.

  I quickly followed her, saying over my shoulder, “Bobby Lee, you coming? Please make sure the door’s locked.” I rushed to join Brenda out in the yard.

  “Now, you two little ladies hold on one dang minute here.”

  Damn. Busted. So close to getting away. Brenda and I stopped and turned. “Yes, Bobby Lee?”

  He shuffled toward us, pointing to the bag in Brenda’s hand. “I reckon it’s the gentlemanly thing to do to take care of that for you.”

  Brenda handed him the bag. “Why, thank you ever so much, sir. It’s right kind of you.”

  Later, when we sat in my kitchen, Brenda and I were still giggling. My knees had shaken as I drove, but I was able to get us back to my house in one piece. Well, two pieces since there were two of us.

  “I thought I’d die laughing when you said that! ‘Right kind of you.’ I’m surprised you didn’t bat your eyelashes at him.”

  She chuckled. “Oh, I would’ve, I definitely would’ve if it became necessary. The little southern belle in me comes out when I want something. Or when I want to get out of something.”

  “I guess so. Oh, and I loved the drawl.”

  “Yeah, that comes in handy too sometimes.”

  “Bobby Lee was putty in your hands. He never stood a chance.” I shook my head in awe. “Amazing. Beautiful.”

  “I had to turn the situation around. We both know what kind of trouble we could’ve gotten ourselves into. I’m just glad you caught on so quickly.”

  “Really! I was clueless for a few seconds there, though. I’m glad you’re so quick on your feet. You knew exactly what to do. Had I been alone, I’d probably be in jail right now for breaking and entering. Or at the very least for trespassing.”

  “It was the only possible way to get out of there. All about choices. Straight up, hon.”

  Her tone had grown serious and I didn’t want that to happen. I smiled at her, and said, “So now what?”

  “What have you got to eat around here?” She rummaged through the fridge, then my cabinets. “Stale coffee cake, one serving of lasagna, and strawberry ice cream. Typical,” she said. “How in the world do you manage? How can you not cook? Unbelievable.”

  “What can I say? You know I hate to cook.” I pointed at my phone. “Anything I want is right there. Delivery just minutes away.” And a large pizza would feed me for three nights.

  “And I suppose they’re all on speed dial?”

  “But of course.” I grinned. “Hey, my mom hated cooking. I got it from her, I guess.”

  “I had no choice growing up. If I didn’t cook, we didn’t eat. Being the only girl in a family of six sucked in more ways than one.”

  “Straight up.” I said it to let her know I understood. Even though I could never truly relate to all she had gone through, I could let her know I understood.

  “Stealing my lines now, huh?” She tilted her head. “Thanks, hon, I appreciate that. Now, back to eating. Any suggestions?”

  Only one place I could think of and soon we sat in my favorite booth at Sally’s Diner, the one overlooking the town square. I remembered the first night Rob and I spent in North DeSoto. A whole new world compared to Miami. We had walked the streets of downtown, and we’d laughed because it turned out to be a whole fifteen-minute journey.

  “Thinking of Rob, hon?” Brenda must’ve caught the smile on my face as I reminisced.

  “Yeah. Our first night in this town.” I told her about the walk. “We ended up coming in here to eat dinner, even sat at this table. We always tried to get this booth when we came in. The square is really pretty at night.”

  “And the food’s not bad either,” she said, shoveling in another mouthful of mashed potatoes. She wagged her fork at me across the table. “These are real! Imagine—made from potatoes, not flakes.”

  “Wait’ll you see their desserts. Made from scratch. They have a little bakery display case up front.”

  After dinner, Brenda wanted to test the fifteen-minute walk. Most of the offices and some of the shops were closed at eight o’clock, so we passed a lot of dark buildings. The county courthouse, post office, and library were also closed.

  “Not much activity, even for a Thursday night.”

  I agreed. “It’s a shame, business started dying when the mall was built a few years ago. My favorite bookstore moved there right before Christmas. And with Wal-Mart and Lowe’s nearby, a lot of people have stopped coming downtown.”

  We approached JC’s hardware store. Lights were on and a few customers could be seen. “This is owned by one of the guys I told you about.”

  “Was he at the funeral today? One of the ones I met?”

  “No, one of the assholes. I steered as far away as possible from him and Dick today. You met Sam, Pete, and Kevin.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. Nice guys. Handsome in their uniforms. All those ribbons. The one guy had an impressive assortment.”

  “Really? I’ve never noticed.”

  “It’s probably because of my oldest brother—the only one I keep in touch with—he once told me what the different medals and ribbons represented. He’s still in the Army and I always get teary when I see him in his dress uniform. So handsome, just like those guys today.”

  “And that ends our tour of downtown.” We arrived back at Sally’s and my car.

  She pushed up her jacket sleeve to look at her watch. “Seventeen minutes. You were close.”

  “If we hadn’t stood in front of the hardware store for an extra minute, I’d be even closer.” Nelson’s Hardware was directly across the square from Sally’s Diner.

  “I didn’t realize how big it was up close. His store looks twice the size as the shops around him,” Brenda said.

  “He built on a couple of years ago. They bought the building next door and doubled his space.”

  “Must be doing pretty well for himself.”

  I shrugged. “Not according to what he says. JC always bitches about Lowe’s taking away a lot of his business. Only his most loyal customers still buy from him.”

  Brenda wrapped her arm around my shoulder and squeezed. “Loyalty is a good thing.”

  “Don’t I know it?” I squeezed back and kept my mouth shut. No way in hell would I tell her that Pam Nelson still owed me money. There’s such a thing as misguided loyalty, and knowing Brenda, she’d have no problem demanding that Pam pay me. It wouldn’t be pretty.

  Brenda hadn’t stopped talking about how good her dinner was until we were back at my place. Since we were going car shopping the next day, we decided to do some searching on the Internet ahead of time.

  While I booted up the computer, she dragged a chair from the table to sit next to me. She asked, “Are there many car dealers to check out?”

  “I know of a few. Let’s see if they have websites.”

  An hour later, Brenda had a list of dealers she wanted to visit. I was surprised when she showed interest in an Escalade instead of another sports car.

  “I don’t want something that can be smooshed. I want something that can run over other cars.”

  “I’m sure we’ll find you the perfect vehicle.” I shut off the computer and slid my chair back. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

  “First thing will be breakfast. I took a look at Sally’s breakfast menu and my mouth is watering for a mushroom and Swiss cheese omelet. Lord knows I won’t find anything to eat in your kitchen.”

  “Hey! I do have coffee, y’know.” I stretched my arms and stood. “I’m beat. Are you ready to call it a night? I figured we’d share the bed tonight, if that’s okay with you.”<
br />
  “Sure. Just keep your hands to yourself.” She followed me into the bedroom.

  “I promise to only use them to punch you when you start snoring.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “I don’t snore.”

  “Yeah. You keep telling yourself that.” I pulled back the covers of my bed and slid under them. I picked up the novel on my night stand. “You want a book to read?”

  “No, thanks, I’m exhausted. Do me a favor, though?”

  “Of course.”

  She rolled over onto her side and said, “Don’t read one of those sexy romances. It’ll only make you horny and I’ll just have to fight you off of me.”

  I smacked her. “Keep talking like that and people will get the wrong idea.”

  “Uh-uh. Not everyone has gaydar as strong as mine.”

  “Gaydar? What’s that?”

  “The signal that tells me when I meet someone gay.” She yawned and mumbled something else.

  “What did you say?” I asked.

  “Hmmm? Oh, like that guy at the funeral today.”

  “What guy?”

  “The good-looking one.” She yawned again.

  The only guys she met were Sam, Pete, and Kevin. And I highly doubted she’d consider Sam good-looking. He was about fifty pounds overweight and balding. Pete was our handsome Casanova, but I thought Kevin was adorable in a cuddly kind of way too. I didn’t think either of them were gay. Never really thought about it. Maybe she met someone else while I was getting our drinks.

  “Brenda? Who all did you meet today?”

  Her answer was a soft snore.

  Terrific.

  Nineteen

  “That was an excellent breakfast,” Brenda said pushing her plate away. “I’m glad this place is open twenty-four hours, so we could be here early. We’ll have time to go look for my phone before you drive me around looking for a new car.”

  “Have you decided on looking only at the Escalades?”

  “Yeah, I think so. A black one.” She reached for the check. “Um, hon, how are you set for money? Need a loan, or will you be okay until you find another job?”

  “I’m fine. Plus, I’m planning on going back to work at the club once we find Jack’s killer. Don’t worry about me. Thanks, though.”

  She squinted at me. “Do you think that’s a good idea—going back to work there?”

  “Sure. I’m already familiar with the place, the people. Pretty good money too.” I frowned, then said, “It was, anyway. Now that they’ve raised the prices, business may die. I don’t know. I’m not worried.” It practically killed me to lie to her, but there was no need to tell her how pathetic my bank balance was. She called it a loan, but I had a hunch she’d refuse any attempts at paying her back. I’d get by without becoming more indebted to anyone.

  “Can you at least let me pay for gas since you’re playing chauffer today?”

  “Deal,” I said.

  I filled up the gas tank before we headed out of town. We had a pretty good idea where the accident happened, and sure enough, saw the skid marks. I pulled over onto the side of the road as far as I could and parked.

  We crunched our way through the broken glass sparkling from the morning sun. Brenda and I split up, her taking one side of the road and me the other.

  “Here!” I heard her shout. Bent over, Brenda was combing the high grass.

  I rushed over. I looked at what she held in her hand.

  “I can’t believe I found it! The poor thing looks worse than my car probably did.”

  I had seen her car and knew better, but I didn’t say anything. “Well, that was a lost cause. But at least you found it. Maybe you can use it as a shoe horn.”

  She snorted, then slugged me. “It might be salvageable. I’ll have somebody look at it.”

  We spent the rest of the day driving to car lots. At the last one Brenda found what she was looking for. We hugged good-bye, she promised to check in when she reached West Palm Beach, and off she drove in her shiny black Escalade.

  My stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at Sally’s. I sat in my car pondering my choices. Brenda had already established my cupboards were bare, so eating at the house wasn’t an option. Not that it usually was an option.

  The club. Tonight was the Spaghetti Supper and I knew I could get a decent meal for a really cheap price. The hell with my pride. I was hungry and could afford a cheap meal. I checked my wallet and found two tens. I’d spend one of them on the meal, one beer, and a decent tip. Depending on who waited on me.

  The bar was quiet and after signing the book I grabbed my usual stool in front of the mirror. The same guy was working, and he came over to me. “Hey, I remember you from yesterday. You were with that funeral group. What can I get you?”

  I bet he did remember me considering I’d left him a fifty-cent tip. “A glass of Coors Light, and I’ll take one dinner. Okay to eat here at the bar?”

  “Sure,” he said and went off to place my order and get my one allotted beer. I nodded and smiled at the few people around me. When he served my beer, I thanked him and asked, “What’s your name? Do you like working here?”

  “I’m Cody, and this is just a temporary thing.”

  Damn straight it is, I wanted to tell him. Give me and Michael a little more time, and my butt would be back there where it belonged. Hopefully before the big meeting that would decide my fate.

  “I’m an officer over at the Third Street Vets, and fill in when other clubs are shorthanded. The steward here was needed in the kitchen tonight, so they asked me to help.” Someone called out to him at the other end of the bar. “I’d better get to work. I’ll bring your dinner out when it’s ready, should be a few minutes.”

  Good. Cody hadn’t been hired to replace me. That was a relief, I had to admit to myself. My job would be waiting as soon as all of this was over. He came back over with silverware wrapped in a napkin and a paper placemat to put in front of me.

  Even with my back to the dining room, I could watch from the mirror. Pam and Diane were running from table to table taking orders, serving food, and bussing tables. I was surprised to see Pam playing waitress. She usually sat at a card table near the door collecting the money and schmoozing. Then when the time came to clean up, she busied herself by counting the money. This wasn’t the time to ask her for my money. Way too busy.

  Our monthly spaghetti dinners were open to the public and they came in droves. Alcohol wasn’t available to non-members, but the crowd we got didn’t usually care. Mostly senior citizens, they were there to get a good meal at a great price. As expected, the dining room was jammed with customers at five o’clock. With the exception of the one small table. My eyes teared up thinking of the story behind the POW/MIA table.

  The table cloth was white, symbolizing the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms. A red rose was placed in a vase to remind people of the families and loved ones who awaited their soldier’s return. The red ribbon tied to the vase represented all those who demand a proper accounting for our missing. A lit white candle is reminiscent of the light of hope that lives in our hearts to illuminate the missing soldier’s way home. The table was set with a piece of lemon on the bread plate to remind those of their bitter fate, and salt for the tears of their family members as they waited. The glass was inverted because they couldn’t toast with us tonight, and the chair was empty because they are not here.

  “Here you go,” Cody said. He placed the plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of me. “Ready for another Coors Light?”

  My glass was nearly empty. Damn. I’d let my mind wander. “Um, no. How about a glass of water instead?”

  “I’ll buy Maggie a beer.”

  I looked over at the person who’d spoken. Phil, one of the woodies, waved at me. The daily book must be getting high again fo
r him to be here.

  “How are you doing, Maggie? Good to see you. I’m glad you didn’t let the bastards get you down.”

  I swallowed the last of my beer and slid the glass toward Cody. “Thanks, Phil. I’m doing just fine. Appreciate the drink and the kind words.”

  “Sure thing.” He lifted his empty glass. “I’ll take another wine, Cody.”

  That’s when it hit me. Brenda must’ve met Phil yesterday when I was out of the room.

  We’d been so busy today that I’d forgotten to ask her who she thought was gay, and now it made sense. There had been gossip about Phil over the years since he’d joined the club as a social member. The way he talked, some of his mannerisms, the way he didn’t talk about himself so we knew very little about him. A lot of speculation from the older members—the same ones who bitched about women being allowed in the military.

  I dug into my meal, savoring every bite. Someone in the kitchen had been kind and given me an extra meatball. Unless it was a mistake. That seemed more likely. Didn’t matter to me as long as I ate and someone else had done the cooking. And the cleanup.

  Phil moved from his stool and sat on the one next to me. He leaned closer and whispered, “Have you heard the latest?”

  Terrific. Just because he’d bought me a beer he felt he could drag me into gossipy conversation. I was tired and hungry and all I wanted was to eat my dinner. Then I remembered I should be on the lookout for any information. I answered, “No. What?”

  “There’s talk that the gambling board knife is the one used to kill Jack.” He jerked his head toward the kitchen. “A couple of people were really anxious to win that knife. A couple of people who usually never gamble.”

  “JC and Dick? Yeah, I saw them with that knife board the other night. So?”

  “It’s weird that Bobby Lee hasn’t found the murder weapon yet, and everyone’s saying how that knife was used, then cleaned and put back on the board.” He leaned back in his stool, crossed his arms, and watched me.

  “No, I don’t think so. Besides, Bobby Lee said it was a knife with a short blade.”