Gina looked at her new workmate again. “Oh, you’re…”
“Like, duh, Princess.”
“Hey!”
“Best you keep your mouth shut if you want to look like a workin’ girl,” Candy said, with a sniff at the end. “Not a playground for little girls in there.”
Gina turned around in her seat to glare. “Yeah, and you know what?”
“Relax, Santoro,” Kona said.
“Where’s my money?” Candy said to no one in particular. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere or doin’ nothin’ till I get paid.”
Gina watched as Kona handed over a Philly roll. Candy quickly counted by flipping through the corners of each bill. Unzipping her hot pants, she opened a hidden pocket on the inside of them. When she looked up, she returned Gina’s earlier glare. “Whatchu lookin’ at?”
“Nothing.”
“Bitch, you callin’ me nothin’?”
“No. Look, I’m sorry, okay?”
“Yo’ sorry ass better not get me in trouble.” Candy slid down in her seat and crossed her arms, looking at the rain patter on the window. “Punk, I’ll cut you from one end to the other.”
Gina couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and looked at Detective Kona for reassurance. He was grinning back at her.
“Having a good time, Santoro?” he asked.
“Yeah, swell.”
“Candy will go in first,” he said. “Both of you need to make sure you stay inside the same room together. Candy, try to face the bar. Santoro, try to keep your ear pointed in the direction of Chuck and Candy at the same time, if at all possible. Try to position yourselves so there are as few people as possible between the two of you.”
With that, Candy left the car, walking toward Bunzo’s, her umbrella over her head, taking her attitude with her.
“What debutante training center did you find her at?” Gina asked, watching a cloud of cigarette smoke swirl into the rain.
“She found me.”
“She’s an informant?”
“Candy works jobs like this for me from time to time. How old do you think she is?”
“I didn’t get a good look at her face. Maybe close to thirty?” Gina said.
“Just turned nineteen, and she already knows more about what happens on Honolulu streets after dark than I ever could.”
“I’m sure her parents are proud.”
“Not sure she has any. You might want to tread carefully around her, though. She doesn’t take much crap off anyone.”
“I got that impression when she said she’d cut me right after I apologized.” Candy went into Bunzo’s, leaving her umbrella outside under the awning. “Do I get a clever name?”
“Yeah. Misty.”
“Misty? Whose idea was that?”
“Candy’s.”
“Isn’t she going to have trouble if she’s at a table working renegade?” Gina asked. She meant working without being in a pimp’s stable.
“She’s in Chuck’s stable.”
“If she’s turning tricks for him, why is she helping the police with a sting against him?”
“See the bruises on her chest when I wired her? And the scar on her arm? Chuck gave those to her.”
“There’s no way she can buy her way out of his stable?”
“She’s already tried convincing him she didn’t want to work for him.”
“How’d she do that?”
“Remember the scar on Chuck’s cheek? She gave it to him.”
“That’s some pretty messed up family dynamics. Do all his girls think the same about him?”
“As far as they’re concerned, the wrong pimp got stuck last week.”
Gina scratched her head. “If they don’t like Chuck, why’d they leave Danny and join his family?”
“Whoever your informant is didn’t get it quite right. The only reason they left Danny for Chuck is that they knew Danny wasn’t long for the world. Believe me, every girl in Bunzo’s tonight would love the chance to stick him with a rusty ice pick.”
“What do you mean, Danny wasn’t long for the world?” Gina asked.
“The medical examiner found cancer in his liver and a few other parts during the autopsy.”
“Oh. Do you suppose Danny knew?”
“Maybe, maybe not. The medical examiner tried searching hospital records for cancer treatment for anyone named Danny in the last few months, but found nothing.”
“Maybe without a real job or health insurance, he had no way of paying for cancer treatment?”
“That’s probably what he thought, but hospitals always have funding for people like him. Otherwise, it was another dead end in finding out his last name.”
“What about Chuck? It sounds like busting him for murder and getting him off the streets would be doing his girls and Harry a favor,” Gina said.
“Hell hath no fury like a hooker cheated,” Kona said. “By the way, who’s your informant?”
“Nice try, but I’m keeping that to myself.” Gina shoved the tiny electronic device into her ear until it was snug. It was no different from the latest model of ‘invisible’ hearing aid one of her uncles used, and really was invisible once she fluffed hair over that ear. “Showtime?”
“Break a leg, Misty.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gina used an umbrella borrowed from Detective Kona to walk to Bunzo’s. While she did that, she watched from the corner of her eye how he positioned his SUV closer to the bar for a better view of the front entrance, and maybe to shorten the distance the transmitter Candy was wearing had to broadcast. She left her umbrella next to Candy’s and several others outside the door when she went in.
It wasn’t nearly as busy as it had been on New Year’s Eve. Candy had found a table for herself not far from the bar. She was already set up with something brightly colored to drink, and was playing with the tiny umbrella that had come with it.
Gina took a stool at the bar and positioned her body so her working ear was aimed a little at the bar and a little in Candy’s direction, geometrically not an easy task. Like a few nights before, one bartender worked the far end of the bar, while Chuck worked her end. It looked a little like Chuck was responsible to the bar patrons, while the other tender made drinks for table patrons. Maybe they were in luck, because the loud music that had been played
