No cell phone vibrator had been found among Florence Norton's possessions, but Pearl was bored, so she figured why not?
It might not be a bad idea to return to Nuts and Bolts this evening. The lounge was, after all, the one thing other than last initials that seemed to connect at least two of the killer's victims.
As Pearl had suspected, the place looked better when open for business, illuminated and full of customers. The soft lighting from the rows of dim crystal chandeliers helped obscure imperfections in the ambience and the patrons. And there was music. The background kind. A woman was diddling melodically and faintly on a piano that Pearl hadn't noticed on her previous visit, seemingly letting her imagination prompt her fingers over the keys without any planning whatsoever, somehow making it work to create a pleasant, restful mood.
Most of the tables were occupied, and all but a few of the stools at the bar. Behind the bar stood Victoria, looking much more beautiful in the flattering light, wearing a paisley blouse that allowed for some cleavage. Her highly piled hair didn't look so structured now, and her dark bangs were parted in the middle and pushed to the side, making her overly made-up eyes seem larger.
Pearl walked over and stood alongside an empty stool, near where a white towel was spread out on the bar. It was where the servers bustled over to pick up the drinks Victoria concocted.
'Busy place,' Pearl said, when Victoria noticed her and moved to stand by her.
Victoria smiled. 'We do a lively business, despite Sinclair's bitching.'
'Bitching is what bosses do,' Pearl said, one working girl to another.
'Mostly. Get you something? Or are you on duty?'
'Yes and no. I'll have a Bud Light.'
'Beer drinker, huh?'
'You know it,' Pearl said. 'Beer and doughnuts. All part of being a cop.'
Victoria drew the beer from a tap and placed the glass in front of Pearl on a coaster on the bar. 'I don't believe in stereotypes.'
'Me, either,' Pearl said. She glanced around. 'Most of your customers are women, well dressed, respectable looking. Same way the men. Thirties and forties, mostly. Old enough to have good sense while having a good time. At least you'd think it by looking at them. But it's surprising what they can be up to.'
'You would know, being a cop.' Victoria forgetting all about her stereotype ban.
She excused herself and moved down the bar away from Pearl to wait on a man and woman who'd just come in. They both ordered what looked like martinis. The woman sampled hers and smiled. Pearl took the time to listen to the music. The woman at the piano was still playing nothing Pearl could identify, and she was reasonably sure the music was impromptu. Still, it was mesmerizing. It always amazed her how in New York there was so much talent to be found in unexpected places.
When Victoria returned, she said, 'Most of our customers are single, or pretending to be. If they come in alone, connections are sometimes made. That's one reason we're in business.'
'God bless connections,' Pearl said, lifting her frosted glass in a toast before sipping draft beer that felt icy and good going down.
'Amen,' Victoria said. 'The ones who stay late, they're the ones most likely to be troublesome.'
'Late and alone?'
Victoria seemed to think about that. 'Yeah, maybe pissed off because they're not gonna get laid.'
Pearl lifted her glass again. 'God bless getting laid.'
'I like to think He does,' Victoria said.
A man on the good side of forty edged up to the bar, almost pressing against Pearl. She could feel the vibrancy of his presence, smell his cologne or aftershave. She looked at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar- regular features, average size and build, well groomed, tailored blue suit with white shirt and nondescript tie. Not much for a woman to complain about. Not on the surface, anyway.
Their eyes met in the mirror and he smiled at her-nice smile-then turned his attention to Victoria and held out something gold. Pearl diverted her gaze from the mirror and looked at the object. A cigarette lighter, knife-thin and expensive looking.
'I found this wedged down behind a seat cushion,' the man said. 'Somebody must have lost it.'
'There's no smoking in here,' Victoria said.
'I know, but I figured somebody might want this back anyway.'
Victoria accepted the lighter. 'I'll put it on a shelf where it can be seen. Maybe somebody'll claim it. Nobody does, you can have it.'
'I don't smoke,' the man said. He pushed back away from the bar. As an afterthought, he turned and said, 'Thanks.'
'You're the good Samaritan,' Victoria said. When the man was gone, she grinned at Pearl. 'You shoulda spoke up. You could've had a nice lighter.'
'At least,' Pearl said.
Victoria laughed. It was a loud laugh that held nothing back.
'But I don't smoke, either,' Pearl said. 'Do you?'
'Secretly. Like a lotta people.' She winked at Pearl. 'Cops are secretive about some things, right?'
'Meaning why am I here?'
'I guess so.'
'I wanted to see what kind of place two of the victims spent time in,' Pearl said, 'so it might give me more of an idea of the kind of women they were.'
'Can I ask if you're married,' Victoria said, 'or if you've got a special someone?'
'Yes, you can ask. I won't be secretive. Answers are no and no.'
'Then you should understand. We just get your average career woman in here. They're from the office buildings in the neighborhood. Average working guys, too. White-collar drones. Tired from a long day at the office, needing a drink, maybe some understanding the wife doesn't give them. I guess what I'm saying is, there's probably not much you can learn about those two victims here, other than that they led more or less average lives.'
Pearl knew about average lives. 'Sure, and they happened to stop in at Nuts and Bolts.'
'And probably some other places around here.'
'And bought Dial In cell phones from you.'
'Yes, they did. How many grown-up women do you know who don't have a vibrator?'
'We're back to that secretive thing again,' Pearl said.
Victoria emitted another loud laugh. The place seemed to be getting more crowded, more alive with conversation. The piano was louder and playing something identifiable. 'Night and Day.' One of Pearl's favorites. She wouldn't have minded sitting for a while and listening, but she knew she shouldn't. And Victoria was right, there was probably nothing to be learned here. It was simply another Manhattan nightspot, someplace she and Quinn might have frequented when they were together.
Quinn.
Why am I thinking of Quinn? He's still interested, and he knows I'm not. Over. It's over.
The music was insistent and hypnotic.
'Want another?' Victoria asked.
Pearl looked down and noticed with some surprise that her glass was empty.
'No, thanks,' she said. 'Early day tomorrow.'
She placed some bills on the bar and stepped away to leave.
'I thought maybe you'd learned something,' Victoria said. 'You looked so thoughtful, like maybe you were detecting.'
'I wish it worked that way. Drink a beer, then detect. What you took for detecting was just my mind wandering.'
Cops are secretive about some things, right?
'See you.'
'Maybe,' Pearl said.
Victoria watched her leave. She kind of liked Pearl the cop, and felt sorry for her. There was something sad about her. Maybe because, with her job, she saw mostly the worst in people.
A man three stools down ordered a scotch rocks, and Victoria went to the back bar to pour it, noticing the
