opened it. Clinking plates and noisy chatter filled a professional stainless steel kitchen. Steam smacked me in the face and the briny smell of shrimp made my stomach growl. I glanced back at her. “At least we’re in familiar territory.”
I walked in with Roxy behind me. Men and women dressed in black slacks, white dress shirts, and black bow ties hustled around the kitchen. Now this I could do.
A woman with oversized black eyeglasses and a clipboard strode toward us. “Who are you? What are you doing in my kitchen?”
I smiled. “We’re new. NorthStar sent us.” I held my smile as she looked from me to Roxy, taking in her blue hair and baggy pants.
“I wasn’t told about this. Where are your uniforms?”
Roxy smacked her gum. “They said you had ’em.”
The woman put her palm up to Roxy’s mouth. “Spit.”
“Huh?”
“Gum is not allowed. Now spit.”
Roxy looked slightly panicked, but spit the gum into the woman’s hand.
Alice, as marked on a very large nametag pinned to her shirt, looked disgusted as she marched to the other side of the room and threw the gum in the trash. She briskly walked back to us. “That blue hair has got to go. It’s not regulation. You can work in the kitchen tonight.” She turned toward me. “You, come with me.”
I glanced over as Roxy flipped off Alice behind her back.
“I have a few extra uniforms. What’s your name?”
“Uh, Sue.” Damn, why didn’t I ever have a good answer for that question?
In a little cloak room off the kitchen, several uniforms hung on a rolling rack. She grabbed one and thrust it at me. “I have very strict standards. Follow them and we’ll get along just fine. Get dressed. Then grab a tray of shrimp puffs and take it out.” She left the room and I locked the door behind her.
As I changed clothes, I wondered what we had stumbled into. And I wondered if I could snag some of those shrimp puffs. I was hungry.
I adjusted the bow tie, then grabbed the phone out of my jeans, and shoved it into the pocket of my new uniform. I walked back to the kitchen and glanced over at Roxy. She slapped doilies on a tray, and by the look she gave me, she wasn’t happy about it.
I grabbed a tray on my way out of the kitchen and walked down an empty hall. The worn hardwood floors were dull in the dim light. There hadn’t been much updating in the place. It looked exactly like what it was — an old school.
Quiet voices came from a room on the left. I poked my head inside but didn’t see Packard. Pretty young women in dressy gowns with glasses of champagne in their hands stood close to three round baize tables. Men sat at the tables, cards in their hands, drinks at their elbows. Poker. Just like at the cigar bar. The air was thick with smoke in here as well.
I smiled and tried to be unobtrusive as I moved around with my tray. Only one woman took a shrimp puff. She sniffed it and placed it back. I gave Miss Manners a disapproving look and moved on. The men were involved with their cards, and the dealers didn’t even notice me.
I stepped out of the room and peeked into the one across the hall. Jackpot. Poker, pretty women, and Packard Graystone.
Packard sat at the table, his body contorted to look up at a dapper man in a tuxedo. I walked into the room and slipped behind a tall brunette in a stunning evening gown. I peeked around her and listened as Pack yelled at the older man.
“Don’t fuck with me, Robert. Don’t you know who I am?”
Robert spoke in a low, calm tone. I had no idea what he said, but it nearly gave Packard an aneurism.
“Like hell I will. You don’t fucking tell me that. You know I’m good for it.” Packard’s face was almost purple and a big vein throbbed in the middle of his forehead.
Robert glanced over Packard’s head and beckoned to a large bald man on the other side of the room. The bald man looked as if he used to bench press European cars for a living. His massive arms strained the material of his tux. If I’d been Packard, I’d have crapped myself if I saw that guy coming for me.
But Packard wasn’t scared, he was pissed. “I need more credit!”
The big guy simply lifted Pack’s arm and dragged his ass out of the room.
“What are you doing?”
The tall woman I’d been hiding behind glared down at me. She was very pretty, but had on way too much eyeliner. Sometimes less is more, ladies.
“That’s a great dress,” I said. “Where’d you get it?”
“Pour Femme, of course.”
A piece just clicked into place. I smiled and held up my tray. “Shrimp?”
“No,” she sniffed and walked away.
I meandered around offering my puffs to people who didn’t want them. These women were eye candy for the men who gambled. That’s what the saleswoman at Pour Femme thought I was. I wondered if the Pour Femmes did more than stand around drinking champagne. Might make things interesting.
I waited until I was sure Packard had left the building, then I booked it down the hall toward the kitchen. I got halfway there when Alice came out of nowhere and grabbed my arm.
“You’re very slow, Sue. Get in and out of the rooms at a much quicker pace.”
“Sorry. Where’s the restroom?”
“You don’t have a break for another two hours. Go upstairs. And remember, in and out.” With her clipboard pressed to her chest, she glared at me while I climbed the stairs.
Roxy was going to kill me or perhaps everyone in the building, if I didn’t get her out of here and shove a piece of gum in her mouth.
They layout was similar to downstairs with four rooms on either side of the hall, only these rooms hosted blackjack and roulette. I carted my tray from room to room and actually had a few takers. As I made my way down the stairs, my eyes locked on Manny, who was on his way up.
“You.” He pointed at me and ran on sandaled feet up the steps.
I panicked as he came toward me and nearly fell face first into the banister. He kept coming. I lifted the tray, tossed the shrimp over my shoulder, and slammed it into Manny’s face as hard as I could.
He staggered then tumbled backward, landing on his ass. I threw the tray at him and ran down the stairs. I almost made it past him, but he grabbed my ankle and brought me down.
My knee slammed into the corner of the hard wooden step and I grabbed the railing. I tried to shake my foot free from his grasp, but couldn’t. I reached back and slapped the top of his bald pate. “Let go, asshole.”
Alice looked up from the bottom step and gasped so hard I thought she was choking. “What is going on here?”
“Ben Franklin…tried to…cop a feel,” I said between slaps to his head.
“She’s lying. She’s not who she says she is.”
I kicked out with my other foot and made contact with his nose. He finally let me go to grab his face with both hands. Blood poured through his fingers.
“You bitch,” he said, sounding like he had a cold.
I ran down the stairs, flying past Alice. Her wide eyes and gaping mouth said she couldn’t quite believe what was happening.
I ran to the kitchen and saw Roxy out of the corner of my eye. “Run,” I yelled, not slowing down as I fled the kitchen and sped out into the cold night.
Footsteps pounded on the gravel behind me. I looked back to make sure it was Roxy. To my relief it was.
I ripped open the driver’s side door and flung myself into the car. Roxy hopped in the back.
Ma, who had been dozing, sat up. “Bingo.” She looked around as I put the car in gear and stomped on the gas. Rocks flung from my tires as I sped out of the lot.
“What the hell is going on?” Ma asked.
I told them about Manny between ragged breaths. My knee throbbed as I drove back to the deserted old
