The kid’s eyes widened. “She wouldn’t go out with me.”
“Sure she would!” Tony said. “All you gotta do is ask her. She keeps looking at you.”
“She does?” he asked, looking at the girl.
Tony and I both nodded.
“I tried to ask her out once, but I got too nervous.”
“Lucky for you I got something for that.” Tony glanced around, then produced a small plastic sack of weed. “This here is called a confidence booster.”
I thought about ripping the drugs out of Tony’s hand and telling the kid to run. But I didn’t.
“Take this, give it a smoke, and you and all your friends will be so chill that you won’t even think twice about asking her out.”
The kid reached out and took the sack. “How much is it?”
“It’s free,” Tony said. “Complimentary. Anything to help a bro out.”
“Thanks,” the kid said with a smile, slipping the drugs into the front pocket of his jeans.
“Anytime. I’ll be here next weekend. Same time. You want more, bring some cash and I’ll hook you up.”
The kid agreed and then he jogged away, rejoining his friends.
Tony looked at me. “And that is how you reel in new clients.”
“Let’s get out of here,” I said, feeling disgusted.
We made it out of the parking lot of the theater and were driving across the large, almost empty mall lot when a pair of familiar flashing lights appeared in my rearview mirror.
“We got company!” Tony yelled, panic in his voice.
“Maybe they just need by,” I said, hopeful. The last thing I needed was some cop blowing my cover tonight.
I pulled out of their way and waited for them to drive by.
They didn’t.
The officer pulled up behind me and put it in park.
As if this night hadn’t been bad enough.
21
Julie
“Julie?” Susan said, bringing me out of my own head.
I blinked and glanced at her sharply. “Yes?”
“Would you mind closing up the salon when you’re finished? I have an awful headache. I’d like to go home.”
I offered her a smile. “Of course. It’s been a long week.”
Susan smiled wearily. “Yes, it has. But business is great so I can’t complain.”
I never thought of Susan as a fake person. Until now. It’s like she acted and looked one way, but the words coming out of her mouth just didn’t match. She always seemed a little uptight (or anal, as I liked to call her), and I just thought it was because of the responsibility of running a successful salon… Now I wondered if perhaps there was more to it.
“I’m just going to finish up in the back. Then I’ll lock up for the night.”
“Sounds wonderful. Feel free to use the phone on my desk to call the distributor.”
“Great! Thanks so much. Have a great night!” I gave her a little wave and then went into the back room, sagging against the wall.
My thoughts went to Blue. I felt like I needed to tell him about what I heard. What I saw. I didn’t have a way to contact him, though. Even if I did, what would I say? I could tell him all my suspicions. I could just relay what I knew and let him look into it.
My mind rejected that right away. He was already tired. He was already dealing with so much. It felt wrong to just dump all my uncertainties in his lap and expect him to figure it out.
What I needed was a plan.
I was good at plans.
Look how well my plan of a can of hairspray and a razor worked out. If that had been an actual burglar, I would have totally gotten away.
Evidence would be good too.
Something that he could use against Dom.
I picked up my cup of abandoned coffee and took a sip while I thought. My nose wrinkled and I looked down at the liquid. It was cold.
Ew.
Carrying the mug over to the microwave, I stuck it in and hit a few buttons, then stood waiting for it to heat up.
Dom said he wanted to see the product. Something told me he wasn’t talking about hair product. He also said something about his business and Susan turning on him.
I knew from Blue that Dom’s business was drugs.
It seemed almost asinine that Susan was involved in the drug business. It was the mention of another person that made me not completely reject the idea. She accused Dom of killing someone, someone who clearly meant a lot to her.
Maybe I wasn’t the only person who got tipsy on a man. Maybe Susan was in love with someone who worked for Dom. Maybe that guy dragged her into his mess.
Wait.
Rewind that.
Did I just say love?
Yeah, I had been talking about Susan, but the implication was that she was like me. That I was like her.
I was confusing myself.
Point is I kind of implied that I was in love with Blue.