5 Highball Exit (10 page)

CHAPTER 22

At the Sunset I stood at the window and watched the bright green birds that never seemed to settle. They moved from branch to branch, flying up with harsh complaint and then settling down again.

I turned away. I still had to deal with losing Isaak. A restaurant can run without birds for entertainment but not without a chef.

I went into my office and called Miguel in from the kitchen. Miguel was almost as devoted to the Sunset as I was. We’d bothworked at the Sunset when Miss Emma had owned it and now we worked side by side, through long grueling hours, to do whatever it took to keep the Sunset alive.

Miguel had started working in a kitchen at fourteen, so although he had no formal training he had lots of experience. When he came into the office he was dressed in a white chef’s coat and the blackand-white houndstooth-checked pants of a chef. Looking like a professional upped my confidence in him.

With skin like polished leather, an eagle beak of a nose and straight black hair, Miguel had the profile of a face carved on an Aztec ruin, but behind his severe exterior was an exuberant and joyous being.

I told him about Isaak leaving. He just nodded and waited for what came next. Miguel wasn’t surprised at the news.

“You knew?” I was hurt that he hadn’t warned me. He shrugged. “He is a restless kind of guy.”

That was all I was going to get out of him, so I let it drop. “So, will you take over?”

His face lit up and his white teeth flashed. “I’ve been watching. I know everything Isaak makes, can do everything he does.” He rubbed his palms together. “I even know the new recipes he’s been trying out. Those fancy dishes he’ll be serving up north?” He jabbed a finger at the floor. “We’ll be having them right here.”

“You memorized all his recipes by watching him?”

He waggled his hand back and forth and then pulled something out of his breast pocket. “Every recipe he ever prepared is right here on this cute little memory stick.”

“That’s probably illegal.”

“Then you likely don’t want to know about it.” He grinned and put his forefinger to his lips. “You wouldn’t look good in orange and I’m too pretty to go to jail so let’s say no more about it.”

He slipped the memory stick back into the pocket of his jacket, grinning like a fool. “Nobody needs to know.”

I raised my hand as if I were swearing an oath. “One more guilty secret I’ll take to my grave.”

But Miguel wasn’t interested in our shared culpability. “I know I’m not trained like Isaak but I’ve watched every step. I can create every single one of his recipes. He’s been practicing all kinds of new ones for the new restaurant.”

“Serves him right then.” Seems my morals are just like my workout clothes, nice and elastic. “If he’s been creating menus for someone else while he was working for me, he deserves to have his recipes stolen. I probably have some right to them if they were created on my time.” I was beginning to like this more and more. Truth was, if I was breaking some law by using Isaak’s recipes, it would be the smallest law I’d ever violated.

“I know you can do it, Miguel.”

I stood up and went towards Miguel with my hand outstretched. “You and I have put in too much hard work to lose the Sunset now. You’ll do great.”

He took my hand. “Especially with that lovely big raise you’re going to give me.”

“What?” I tried to pull my hand back but Miguel held on. “I can’t afford to give you a raise.”

He smiled. “Can you afford not to give me a raise?” He was right to be so sure of himself. I needed him.

“That’s blackmail.”

“Yes, oh, yes, exactly.” He gave my hand a vigorous shake. “I learned from a master.” He gave a slight bow.

I thought things were looking up, but I was disabused of that idea when Cal Vachess walked into the bar. But why not? My life was a circus so he fit right in.

I gave my bad imitation of Humphrey Bogart. “Of all the gin joints in all the world, why’d you have to walk into this one?”

Cal grinned and answered, “I decided I’d been a little too hasty. Maybe some guys wouldn’t find you a total skank.”

“If you’re waiting to be thanked for that compliment you can forget it. Where’s the brother?”

“Why do all the girls want Ryan?”

“God, I have no idea.”

The sincerity of my reply made him laugh. Then he grew serious and said, “Nature makes mistakes.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, polishing the bar in front of him. “Sometimes she gets it right. You’re dangerous enough just as you are and Ryan is just plain scary.”

He laughed again but his amusement disappeared when he looked at the barstools, which were nearly as tall as him. Frustration and then raw anger infused his face.

Five-foot-tall women have trouble climbing up on those damn things and they can do it much more gracefully than any man. The stools were the one thing I’d done wrong when I’d rebuilt the Sunset after Hurricane Myrna and the first thing I was going to change when someone dropped a load of cash in my lap.

“Are you in a hurry for a drink or can I go check on things out front first?”

“No, go ahead,” he said graciously. “For you, I’ll wait.”

No worries about him raiding the cash register, he’d need a pogo stick to get near it. So while he saved his dignity and got settled, I went out to talk to Gwen.

The Sunset was as busy as if it were a holiday weekend in high season. It seemed like all Jacaranda needed a little cheering up, even if it was only a palm tree full of parrots, and they’d decided to blow the budget and come out for dinner. Everyone knew this was only a temporary perch for our exotic birds and by tomorrow they’d be gone, but right now they were squawking up a storm and everyone was going to enjoy them and I was going to enjoy having enough customers, at least for one night.

CHAPTER 23

When I came back Cal Vachess had himself perched on top of a stool with one foot resting on another, spreading out his territory. He ordered a Jim Beam.

“So what brings you to Jacaranda?” I’d never told him my full name, hadn’t mentioned the Sunset, so how had he found me? I came up with nothing except that Ryan thought he knew me. Maybe Ryan figured out why I was familiar or maybe Holly had told him about the Sunset, just as she’d told Sunny.

Cal winked at me and grinned. “It’s a nice day for a drive. I thought I’d find out if you really wanted to come work for us.”

“I’m not quite that desperate yet.”

He tasted his drink and then set it back on the napkin. “How are you making out with finding that baby?”

“No luck with that either.”

Cal was concentrating on his drink, turning it around with his fingers. “How old is this baby?”

Now I figured we were getting to why he had tracked me down. It was about Angel. “The baby’s about nine months old.”

The cash register pinged, telling me there was an order from out front. I was glad to escape from both the conversation and the man. Just how big a problem was Cal Vachess going to turn out to be? And how nasty?

While I worked on the order, Brian Spears came in and sat down on Cal’s right and a conversation started up.

Cal turned out to have a wicked sense of humor and over the next hour he entertained everyone at the bar with circus stories. His patter was so well rehearsed it had to be something that he did often, but then he did stand out in a crowd and with the spotlight always on him, having stories to tell would be a good thing. How much of his stories were true was anyone’s guess

“I grew up in Gibsonton, Florida, the circus-freak wintering town,” Cal said. “The post office had a special counter for people of my size.”

He gestured with his glass. “All the carnies spent the winter there. Like Melvin Burkhart, the human blockhead. He could hammer nails up his nose.”

Brian drew back in shock. “Get out. If you drove a nail up your nose it would pierce your brain and kill you.”

Cal spread his arms wide. “True story, I saw him do it; ’course, you have to remember he was a magician as well, so there might have been some sleight of hand involved, but it sure looked like that was what he was doing.”

Brian held up his glass, signaling me for a refill. “What’s Gibsonton like now? Maybe I’ll go up and have a look.”

“Oh, it’s not near the fun it used to be. All the old guys are dying off and it’s going upscale, getting cleaned up. They even closed the Giant’s Camp Restaurant. But you should have seen Gibsonton when I was a kid. Everyone in town collected circus junk and stored it in the front yard. It was a point of pride to have the largest and most garish pile of rubbish.”

I set down Brian’s drink. “Sounds a little like the trailer park I grew up in. Unfortunately, there was no theme to our junk, nor rhyme or reason. The people in the Shoreline just liked junk.”

An idea had been noodling around in my brain. Why would Cal ask how old Angel was unless he was trying to figure out when she was conceived? Cal might have known Holly better than he had let on and might have more interest in Holly than he pretended. Maybe, just maybe, the daddy of Holly’s baby wasn’t Dan. We only had Sunny’s word that Holly wasn’t seeing more than one man.

I was beginning to think there was a whole lot we didn’t know about Holly. The happy young woman, chatty and friendly, had become someone I didn’t recognize. Even Aunt Kay thought she was capable of selling her baby.

I was pouring a glass of wine when I had a glimpse of a new hell. Perhaps Cal already knew where Holly’s baby was and he wanted to make sure I didn’t find Angel. If Holly had given away or sold her baby, Cal Vachess might be the one who had Holly’s baby. I tried not to think about what a purveyor of flesh would want with a little girl, pushed away all thoughts of what would happen to a child in his control. It was too ugly.

One thing was for certain. Whatever the reason Cal Vachess was in the Sunset, it didn’t bode well for my earning easy money and leading a quiet life.

My cell started to whir. Normally I hate cell phones in my bar and glare hard at anyone holding one, but I’d left mine on. I looked at the display and said, “Hi.”

Aunt Kay didn’t waste time on hello, she just said, “Sunny called me. She was pretty upset.”

“Why?”

“Cal Vachess came by to see her. Seems Sunny has the same reaction to him as you. She’s terrified of him. She was really angry when she called me. She thought we’d told Cal her name and it took a while to make her believe me when I said we hadn’t.”

I moved out of earshot. “Holly again.”

“That’s what Sunny and I decided. Holly talked about everyone she knew.”

“It was a problem at the Sunset. She’d be chatting when she should have been working.” I glanced back at Cal, but he had his back to me, talking to Brian.

“Cal asked Sunny if she knew where to find Holly’s baby.” Aunt Kay asked the scary big question, “Why is he looking for Angel?”

“No idea.”

“Do you suppose he thinks he’s the father?”

“Or he thinks his brother is.” I watched Cal, arms waving, as he recounted a tale. “Then again, maybe Cal sees this as a chance to pick up a little change.”

A roar of laughter went up from Cal’s listeners.

“Knowing where the baby is could be profitable,” I said. “That’s all he’d need to know to get interested.”

Cal swiveled around to stare at me. I tried to smile before I turned my back to him. “What did Sunny tell Cal?”

“She said she told him nothing. She explained that she hadn’t seen Holly and the baby after they moved out. I think Sunny can be close-mouthed when she wants to.”

“No kidding.” It brought a real smile to my lips. “Well, let’s hope that’s the end of it.”

Through all the camaraderie and laughter, there was a tension about Cal, a taut wariness as if he were watching and waiting for something. I began to do the same, but the problem was I didn’t know what I was waiting for.

I saw the change in Cal, saw him sit up a little straighter and grip the bar until his knuckles turned white. What he’d been waiting for had finally arrived. I followed his gaze to the door.

As if one Vachess wasn’t bad enough, Ryan Vachess stood at the entrance. He was looking around as if he’d arrived at the zoo and he was trying to decide just which animal to study first.

I looked back to Cal to judge how worried I should be. Cal was on his feet, edgy and ready for action. His grim face told me all I needed to know. I swore under my breath. If his brother’s arrival worried Cal, it sure as hell got my attention.

Ryan either didn’t see Cal or was choosing to ignore him. But Ryan found me, standing behind the bar. A big grin spread across his face and he started for me. I debated moving away and letting Chris take care of Ryan, but experience has taught me that avoiding assholes seldom works.

When Ryan was in front of me, his dilated pupils showed he was either still high from this morning or was already tripping on something else. The second option would be better because coming down is when meth-heads are most dangerous, a time when they are to be avoided at all costs. Oh, yes, up was best.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself not to be confrontational, to just jolly him along. Too bad I never listen to my own advice.

Ryan said, “Bring me a scotch, sugar.”

I placed the drink in front of him, picked up his twenty and went to turn away. He grabbed my hand and said, “I want to talk to you.”

“I’m a little busy.”

“Fine. I’ll wait until you’re done working.” He gave me a confident smile. “It’ll be better then. We can take our time.”

I didn’t even try and hide my disgust. “So, what brings you to the Sunset?”

Ryan took a deep drink of his scotch before he pointed the glass at me and said, “Holly told me all about you, told me about the Sunset. I had to see for myself.”

“So now you’ve seen it.” I went and got his change and dumped it on the bar in front of him.

“She had a real sweet picture of you. It took a minute, but as soon as you were out the door, I remembered you. I never forget a face, or a body. I remember yours.”

“Lucky me.”

“See, that’s what I like about you. You got attitude.”

“Enjoy your drink.” I started to turn away but he called me back. “You came to find me, remember? Holly and you both. Why?”

“You’re wrong about that. I knew nothing about you until today.

My Aunt Kay just wanted to understand what happened to Holly. That’s why I came to see your brother Cal.”

He wagged his finger at me and shook his head. “Holly and you were friends. It was me you wanted today.”

“Holly worked for me as a waitress, we weren’t particularly friends, and we didn’t come looking for you, at least I didn’t.”

He leaned towards me. “I don’t believe you.”

“It was just a coincidence I met you today. They happen.” I should have left it at that but instead I asked, “How did you meet Holly?”

“She said she called because of the name, Angel Photography, thought it was kismet, whatever the hell that is. She believed in fate and all kinds of shit like that.” He put the glass of scotch over his heart in mock sincerity. “She just knew finding me was the right thing, knew this was the break she’d been looking for.” The glass thumped on the bar. “She thought I was going to be her muse, make all her dreams come true. Where the hell did that come from? But she was sweet, all clingy and agreeable and incredible naive. That’s why I dressed her in white, because that’s how she was . . . pure, like life had never touched her.”

“Guess that changed pretty quick after she met you. Not so sweet the way you treated her.”

He scowled at me. “She liked it.”

Any good sense I’d been born with disappeared with my rage. “And you liked using her and turning her into a prostitute.”

He made a motion like cracking a whip. “I’m the circus master, controlling the action.” His harsh laugh was too loud and brought a hush to the drinkers closest to him. They edged away.

I nodded to where Cal stood. “If you’re ringmaster, what does that make Cal?”

Ryan’s eyes sparkled. He was enjoying himself. “Oh, he’s my dancing bear, dangerous and wild but on a leash.”

“Well, why don’t you take your pet bear and go home? The show is over.”

And the fun was over for Ryan. The look he gave me was terrifying. Fear ate through my belly and crawled up my spine. I stepped back. But then he smiled and the horror seemed to disappear. He appeared truly delighted.

“We’re going to be good together, you and I. A girl with attitude is a whole lot of fun.”

It had been a long day and I don’t react well to intimidation. My mouth slipped into drive before my brain was in gear. I leaned on the bar with both hands, wanting to spit in his face. “In the first place, I’m no girl. In the second place, my attitude precludes a guy like you.”

Cal came up beside Ryan as I pointed to the door. “Have a good one.”

Ryan’s face twisted with outrage. His fist shot up, and for a second I thought he was going to punch me, but Cal was there, dragging down on his brother’s arm with all of his weight, while I shot back away from him.

Around us the bar went silent. And then Ryan laughed. “Oh, you’re fun.”

He reached out with his left arm and picked up his drink and threw back the remainder of his scotch. “We’re going to have fun, lots of dirty fun.” He winked at me. “In the end, you’ll call me sir.”

“In your dreams, asshole.”

“I’ll remember that one,” Ryan promised. He jerked his arm away from Cal and shrugged his jacket up around his shoulders and smoothed back his hair. “Oh, yes, I’ll remember.” He strolled to the door like he owned the world.

Cal said, “That wasn’t a good idea.”

“No kidding!”

“Stay away from Ryan. He’s not coping with things too well right now.”

“Ice and booze won’t help his coping skills, and I wouldn’t go near your brother with a ten-foot pole. Keep him out of my place.”

Cal’s bitter little laugh didn’t lighten the mood. “I wish I could keep him out of a lot of places. Just stay away from him.”

“Thing about a bar is people know where to find you.”