Down in the Zero

'Well…you don't drink. I thought maybe…'

'What?'

'Well, I don't know. Maybe you don't like the taste of liquor…on me. You know, how some people who don't smoke can smell it on you?'

'Is that a hint?'

'Oh no! Honest. I don't care. I just didn't want to do anything you— '

'You don't, Fancy. Have a beer.'

She ordered a Bud Light. Knocked it back like she was used to it. Halfway through the meal, she held up her hand and the waiter came over. 'One more?' she asked me.

'Go for it. I can always drive back if I have to.'

'Oh, I'm not that bad,' she giggled. 'I've been drinking since I was little. Wine, mostly. We used to have it at dinner.'

'Does Charm drink?' I asked her.

She gave me a shielded look. 'She plays with a drink. Like at parties and stuff. But she doesn't really like it.'

Sure.

The captain ushered a portly man in his fifties past our table. He was dressed to the teeth, a dark suit just this side of a tux. The woman with him was taller, bone–thin, with straight auburn hair that looked too stiff to touch. The captain seated them somewhere to my left, just out of my line of vision.

Fancy started fussing with her food, not talking. 'Something wrong?' I asked her.

'Burke, could you…oh, never mind.'

'What?'

'It's too complicated. I…'

'Fancy!' My tone was sharper than I intended. Her face came up, gray eyes widening. She pushed her seat back, got up. She walked around the little table to her right, bent over where I was sitting, her lips right against my ear. 'I'm going to the Ladies' Room. When I come back, I'm going to give you something. Will you take it? Put it in your pocket without looking at it? Please?'

I nodded, looking straight ahead. She stayed where she was, bent over, her lips still against my ear, but not saying anything, just getting her breath under control. Then she straightened up and walked off in the direction I was facing, an exaggerated twitch in her stride.

The waiter cleared the plates. I lit a cigarette, feeling the eyes, not turning around. Fancy came back, a high flush on her face, walking more stiffly, eyes downcast. She took her seat.

'Here,' she said, leaning forward, extending her right hand around the edge of the table. I reached out with my left, holding her eyes. Felt silk. Bunched it up, put it in the side pocket of my jacket.

I paid the check. Fancy got up to leave before I could move. She walked around behind me, slid the chair back for me like a maitre d'. As we walked out together, I saw the portly man watching. His face was blotched with patches of white.

I opened the door to the NSX and Fancy climbed into the passenger seat. I turned the key and drove out of the parking lot, feeling the turbine–smooth power of the engine just waiting for a tap on the gas pedal to kick in.

'What was all that about?' I finally asked her.

'Could you light a cigarette?'

'What?'

'Light a cigarette…so I could have a drag?'

I did it. Handed it to her. She put it in her mouth, played with it, not inhaling. Handed it back to me.

'Tell me,' I said.

'Look in your pocket.'

I put my hand in, pulled out a pair of red silk panties trimmed with black lace.

'They're mine,' Fancy said. 'I took them off in the Ladies' Room.'

'I don't get it.'

'Did you see that fat man? The one who came in with that skinny lady?'

'Yeah. I mean, I didn't get a real good look, but I saw him.'

'He's one of my…clients.'

'So? I mean, that has to happen a lot, right? It can't be the first time.'

'It's the first time it happened when I was with someone. I don't…date. Not in public. I go out and everything, but not just a man and me.'

'I still don't get it.'

'It's like it was with Charm, Burke. I saw him looking. Like he knew something.'