Big Easy Escapade (16 page)

The other girls woo-hoo’ed and Lucy blushed.
She and Jonathon exchanged numbers, and the girls went up to their
room.

Lucy flopped onto the bed, not bothering to
get ready for bed. “He’s awesome. I bet he’s good in the sack. I
could feel what he’s got goin’ on in the package department, and
it’s definitely something I want to unwrap.”

Vivian grabbed her jammies out of the drawer.
“Lucy, he’s at least a dozen years younger than you.”

She
started laughing. “He doesn’t think so! I told him I was 25.” She
almost rolled off the bed cracking up. “He’s
nineteen
!”

Day 4

D
aisy
slept poorly, her dreams filled with people chasing her, of trying
to break out of rooms and of searching for a key, seeing one
appear, then fade. She awoke and felt worse than when she had
drifted off. She couldn’t live with the smell of herself much
longer, so she brushed her teeth using a plastic wrapped toothbrush
and a sealed tube of Colgate and showered, but she put her clothes
back on. She searched for her other shoe but couldn’t find it, so
she went barefoot. She wanted to be ready to run.

I’m not wearing those fucking dresses
.

She sat in the blue-and-tan-striped chair and
watched the local morning news. It had an update but not much,
basically saying there had been no new developments.

How can three of us disappear in a month and
the police don’t have anything to go on? Maybe they’re not telling
the media everything?

The man who had given her the drink in her
dressing room pushed a cart with covered dishes into the room. She
smelled eggs and her stomach growled. Sonu walked in just in time
to hear it.

He looked her up and down. “I see you
showered but still have not dressed in appropriate clothing.” He
walked over to the window, then stopped in front of her. “You must
learn to do what I ask. I will not tolerate insubordination.”

“You can’t keep me prisoner. This is
wrong.”

“I can do what I please. You do not know the
power I have. No authorities will touch me.”

“You’re crazy if you think you’re getting
away with this.”

He started walking toward the door. “Enjoy
your breakfast. You will not eat again until tonight.”

Daisy followed after him, trying to get a
look at the rest of the hotel suite. “How long are you going to
keep me here?”

“Until my plans come together.” He closed and
locked the door.

***

The curtains never block all the
light
, Vivian thought as
soon as her eyes opened.
So annoying
. She lay there for a minute going over
the last three days. Good food, good music, good times.
Daisy!
She sat up with a
start, head pounding and a little dizzy. “Ouch.” She sank back into
the pillows.

Wendy, wrapped in a towel with wet hair,
brought over a cup of water and three ibuprofen. “Life-savers.”

“I need more than this one cup of coffee.”
Kate sat on her bed, cup in hand. “Like caffeine from 20 cups of
coffee. The late night and lots of walking yesterday got me.”

“Sure it wasn’t the peach daiquiri or all the
beer?” Wendy asked and held out the ibuprofen bottle to her.

Lucy rolled out of bed and shuffled to the
bathroom. “I need a 5-Hour Energy, some Spark and a Monster. All at
the same time.”

The girls laughed, and Vivian said, “Sure you
don’t just need your 19-year-old?”

Lucy paused in the doorway and smiled. “Was
he for real? I kind of thought that was a dream.”

Wendy showed her their picture. “He was real,
all right.”

“Mmmm, mmmm.”

Wendy pulled a shirt and capris out of her
drawer. “What we need to do is call Adrienne and figure out our
game plan for today.”

Vivian sat up, slowly this time, and reached
for her phone. “True. And we would have heard by now if Clint and
Vikki had Daisy, so I guess that wasn’t the case.”

“Ask her for Kevin’s address or last name,”
Kate said.

“Hey, Adrienne,” Vivian said when she picked
up. “What happened last night at Clint and Vikki’s motel?
Anything?”

Adrienne laughed. “Sounded like you girls
were a hot mess, but other than that, the police were able to
determine they weren’t holding Daisy there.”

“How’d they do that?”

“One of the undercover guys pretended to be
drunk and tried to open their door. When Vikki cracked it, he
stumbled inside. He was able to look around enough before Clint
threw him out.”

“Which one?” Vivian asked. “Because we’ve
seen one guy a couple times.”

“I don’t know,” Adrienne said. “What’s he
look like?”

Vivian described the blond guy they had seen
at the Roosevelt and The Dungeon.

“He sounds cute. I’ll see what I can find
out.”

“Any other updates? They find Harry or figure
out what he did with the $20,000?”

“I’m meeting Antonio for brunch at The
Camellia Grill on Chartres in an hour. Why don’t y’all meet us
there? We can quiz him.”

“Sounds great, thanks!”

Vivian
relayed the info to the girls, and they got ready quickly, as they
had the bathroom sharing routine down. They decided that it was
definitely a sundress kind of a place. Vivian, despite Lucy’s
warning about her well-endowed chest falling out, wore a strapless
floral print knee-length number, while Kate, Wendy and Lucy went
with more modest sleeveless, not strapless, versions.

“At least put some sunscreen on your
shoulders,” Wendy said and handed Vivian some SPF 15.

Vivian loved a good tan, but didn’t want to
fry, so she slathered up, being careful not to get it on her cute
dress.

They
walked up Chartres, past the courthouse a block to Camellia’s.
Adrienne and Antonio sat at the end of one of two long countertops.
She read the local paper, the
Times-Picayune
, and he
typed on his phone. The girls hopped onto the stools on either side
of them, Vivian beside Antonio.

He brushed her hand with his and smiled. His
touch was warm and he smelled like he’d just stepped out of the
shower. His freshly shaved face was irresistibly kissable, but
Vivian didn’t want to explain anything to Adrienne, so she held
off.

Damn, he’s hot. I wouldn’t mind waking up to
that in the morning!

The six made chit-chat while they ordered
breakfast. The waiter had everything for their drinks right behind
the counter and served them quickly. Kate looked happy about the
coffee.

Adrienne got right to it, tucking the paper
into her purse. “So, Tone, catch us up. Any news on Harry and his
20k?”

He gave her a disapproving look.

She waved him off. “They know everything.
They’re trying to help.”

Antonio shook his head and looked at the four
girls. “What were y’all doing following Clint and Vikki last night?
I don’t want y’all getting into something you can’t get out
of.”

“We had to see if they had Daisy,” Vivian
said. “We had to follow them around, see where they were staying or
who they talked to.”

“You knew we were on it, and we’re following
up on every possible scenario. We are aware of the bad blood
between the dancers.”

“Seemed like more than just bad blood to me,”
Kate said. “Vikki hated her.”

Antonio dismissed that. “That was friendly
compared to Laura’s hatred of her.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, shocked.

“Who the hell is Laura?” Vivian asked.

“The other dancer. I think she danced with
lollipops?”

“Ohhhh, Lala Lollipop,” Lucy said.

“We didn’t know she hated Daisy,” Wendy
said.

“We interviewed all the dancers and
employees. Other than the bar fight, which was quickly broken up,
nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary. But by far the one who
disliked Daisy the most was Laura.”

Vivian raised her eyebrows and looked around
him at the other girls.

Antonio put his hand on her arm. “That
doesn’t mean she kidnapped her. Don’t go off chasing after another
stripper and getting into trouble.”

Vivian changed the subject. “So what did
Harry spend that money on?”

“We’re still looking into it, and again, you
stay out of it.”

Wendy put down her coffee cup. “Something was
going on in that room last night. What’s the deal with Vikki and
her brother, Kevin?”

“Daisy was not in that room.”

“Could they have her somewhere else?” Kate
asked.

“Kevin’s a drunk and a few notes short of a
song.”

Vivian set down her chocolate milk. “Did
y’all follow him last night to the pizza place?”

Antonio smirked but didn’t respond.

The waiter refilled drinks and then delivered
their food, which had been prepared just beyond the counter, in the
open kitchen. Antonio’s breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage,
pancakes, grits and hash browns took three plates. Vivian’s ham and
cheese omelet only required one plate and was delicious.

Kate used her whole-wheat toast to sop her
eggs over easy and asked Antonio, “What is Kevin’s last name?”

“Smith.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“I guess that means you won’t tell us where
he lives?”

“Correct.”

Adrienne popped a piece of cantaloupe into
her mouth. “What about Vikki’s financials, and her brothers?”

Antonio stacked his pancake plate on top of
an empty one. “We got the warrant, but this stuff takes time.” He
liberally poured on the syrup.

“But it’s past the first 48,” Lucy said, then
took a sip of orange juice. “I watch that show, and they say if you
don’t find them within the first two days, chances are you
won’t.”

“Chances do diminish, but this city has a lot
of eyes and ears. Someone knows something, and we’ll find that
person. Then we’ll find her.”

Vivian found Antonio’s confidence comforting,
but she still wasn’t dissuaded from trying to help. Kate had a
dream, after all.

“Did y’all find the two younger guys who
tried to break in?” Kate asked.

“Not yet, still working on it.”

Adrienne pulled the newspaper out of her
purse. “There’s a mention of the abduction, but I’m a little
surprised at the lack of detail. Why didn’t they put the guys’
pictures in here?”

He pushed the paper away. “I’m not in the PR
department, A.”

“Are y’all going to show the video on the
news?” Vivian asked. “That’d probably help. There’s hardly anything
in the news about the other abductions. Three girls in less than a
month.”

Antonio threw his fork down, clanging loudly.
He wiped his mouth, pulled out his wallet and put some money on the
table. “We don’t have anything conclusive that proves they’re all
linked.” He turned to Adrienne. “I’ve gotta go. See you later.”

He turned, but Adrienne grabbed his arm.
“What the hell? You can’t be pissed about that.”

He threw his head back, angry. “Some of the
fucking evidence has disappeared. Something’s not right.”

“Before you go, who is the blond undercover
guy that was at the Roosevelt Hotel and at The Dungeon yesterday?”
Adrienne asked.

“I don’t know, some guy I’ve never worked
with. He asked to be on the task force. I’m done answering
questions. Next time you ask me to breakfast don’t have an
agenda.”

The girls sat stunned for a minute as he
walked to the door. He shoved it open, then turned around and
pointed at the girls accusingly. “I can’t believe y’all let her eat
that pizza last night.” He nodded to Lucy.

Lucy gasped. “What was wrong with my
pizza?”

T
he shit
hit the fan after Lucy learned her pizza hit the floor.

“
It had
some extra Bourbon Street flavoring,” Adrienne said. “There’re
worse things. Remind me to tell you about the time I went to
Detroit when I was a Luvabull for the Chicago Bulls. Now
that
was a nasty
experience.”

It took
some time, a paper sack and a trip to the bathroom to rinse out her
mouth, but Lucy calmed down. Finally able to concentrate, the girls
worked out a strategy for helping Daisy, even though they weren’t
supposed to be helping.

Adrienne gave the girls the newspaper. “I’m
going to sic Al on this lack of press bullshit. I’ve seen it before
in New Orleans, the media ignoring crimes involving strippers. I’m
not going to let them ignore this.”

“It’s a shame they’ve not done more,” Vivian
said. “Maybe Gino would have had more security on staff if he’d
known this was going on.”

“Perhaps. And one other thing, before y’all
got here, Antonio said he and Eddie’s team have gone over video
from the club and eliminated a bunch of people who don’t match the
description. They’re still looking at videos from the surrounding
businesses, trying to find the car she was loaded up in.” Adrienne
grabbed her purse. “You girls keep at it and we’ll work on this
media thing. See ya later.”

Adrienne walked out the door, and Vivian
decided they needed to call Jason.

He answered on the second ring. “Hey Jason,
just calling to check on you. How you hanging in there?”

“Every minute sucks worse than the one
before, but at least I have some help now. I have people handing
out fliers in the Quarter and going door to door in other parts of
the city.”

“That is fantastic. The more people who see
her face, the better.” Vivian then told him about their adventures
the previous day, from Trikki Vikki’s show to following Kevin to
the pizza place. “Do you happen to know his last name or where he
lives?”

“The cops aren’t telling me shit. I think the
news people know more than I do, and that ain’t much.”