whew! I was afraid for a time there, I was going to lose my cherry.”
He smiled broadly.
“Know any of the people on the boat?” Kelly Cruz said.
“Not really, you know, ‘hi, howya doin’. But Courtney does.”
“Courtney,” Kelly Cruz said.
“The waitress,” Brick said. “Right over there. I know she hangs with one of Mr. Ralston’s girls. You wanna talk with her?”
“I do,” Kelly Cruz said.
“Hey, Court,” Brick said. “Come talk to the nice lady for a minute.”
The waitress came to the bar.
“I got half a dozen tables, you idiot,” she said to Brick.
“Nobody’s at the bar,” Brick said. “They need something I’ll cover it.”
Courtney frowned. Her face was so blank that the frown looked as if it had hurt to perform.
“No offense, ma’am. How can I help you?”
Kelly Cruz showed her badge.
“Kelly Cruz,” she said.
Courtney said, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Call me Kelly. Just a couple of girls gossiping.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
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S E A C H A N G E
“You know Thomas Ralston?” Kelly Cruz said.
“Mr. Ralston?”
“Un-huh.”
“Everybody knows him,” Courtney said. “He comes here a lot.”
“Do you know any of his, ah, girls.”
“His girls?”
“I heard,” Kelly Cruz said, “you hung with one of Mr.
Ralston’s girls.”
Courtney made her frown face again, and looked at Brick.
He grinned at her.
“You know, Court, the one with all the hair,” he said.
“Mandy.”
Kelly Cruz looked at Courtney and waited.
“Mandy,” Courtney said. “Yo, I know Mandy.”
“And she’s, ah, friendly with Thomas Ralston?” Kelly Cruz said.
Courtney looked back at the tables she was waitressing.
No one was looking for her. She looked at Brick. He smiled and shrugged.
“She dates him sometimes,” Courtney said after a time.
“Un-huh,” Kelly Cruz said. “You ever date him?”
“Me? Oh, God no. I’m in college.”
“Mr. Ralston doesn’t date college girls?”
Courtney struggled with her face. Kelly Cruz waited.
“No . . . I don’t know,” Courtney said. “I’m not the kind of girl he dates is what I mean.”
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R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“What kind of girl does he date?”
“Not like me,” Courtney said. “He’s been around too much, you know? I like guys my own age. He’s too . . . he’s too sexy.”
Kelly Cruz nodded.
“I’d like to get in touch with Mandy. Could you give me her address, please.”
“I don’t want to get her in trouble,” Courtney said.
Kelly Cruz nodded.
