Chuck came down to her after ignoring her for a few minutes. Unlike the first time she was there, he didn’t toss down a cocktail napkin.
“You might want to go,” he said quietly.
Gina was careful not to make eye contact. “Why?”
“Could be trouble if you’re seen in here.”
“Nothing for you to worry about. It’s my night off and I just want a real drink for a change.”
He tossed down a paper coaster. “Who’re you working for? Because I don’t want any trouble.”
As far as Gina could tell, it seemed like he didn’t recognize her from several nights before. “There won’t be trouble. Double whisky, on the rocks.”
He put the poured drink on her coaster. “Ten, cash.”
She gave him a twenty. “Keep it.”
He left it sit on the bar next to her glass. “How’d you find your way in here? Plenty of other bars for you to go to.”
“Looking for a new family,” she said, taking a sip of her whisky.
“Who says you’ll find one here?”
“I heard something about a guy named Danny boy who runs his operation out of this place. Is that you?”
“Not me.”
“Is he here tonight or are you wasting my time?” she asked.
“Pretty sure he’s not running a stable these days.”
Gina took another sip. “Strange. I didn’t know they retired.”
“From what I’ve heard, he got himself retired.”
Gina played with her drink glass, swirling the cubes in circles to hear them clink. “Bad timing for me, I guess.”
“Even worse for him.”
“What happened to him?”
“Rumor has it that one of his girls stuck him.”
“Probably pushed her around one time too many. When did that happen?”
He finally took Gina’s twenty-dollar bill. “Week or so ago. He was a chump, anyway. All his girls had left him months ago. I heard he got one of them knocked up. My money is on her for sticking him.”
“Probably so. Too bad. I’m looking for a daddy and this place seems okay.”
“It’s a little slow tonight. Why don’t you come back tomorrow night?”
She finally looked at him, hoping he took it as a cue that she was interested. “Maybe I will. Get much rough stuff in here?”
“Not with the girls. I make sure of it.”
“How?”
He pulled a billy club from a hiding spot behind the bar and slapped his hand with it a few times. “I call it my persuader.”
“Good name for it.”
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Misty.” When she saw Candy leave the bar with a customer, Gina finished her drink in one last gulp. She didn’t like being in there alone, and since no more of the conversation could be transmitted to Detective Kona in his car, or anyone else that might’ve been listening right then, she had no reason to be there. “Thanks.”
To play it cool, she figured she had better not rush away. Instead, she watched a few of the bar patrons flirt with each other. That only reaffirmed her belief that it was a lot more fun to do the flirting than it was to watch someone else do it.
She’d gulped her drink a little too fast, and when she slid down off the stool, she was a little dizzy. It took a moment to get her sea legs right, but Chuck never noticed. When one of the women in the bar, someone Gina guessed was working in his stable, went to the restroom, he took off after her down the narrow hall. By then, Gina’s head was back from swirling. When she heard loud voices come from the back of the bar, she peeked down the hallway to see what was going on.
Chuck had the girl pinned up against the wall outside the ladies’ room, one hand on her neck, her arm locked behind her back. Tears were coming down her face, even while she was spitting profanities at him.
“Start hustlin’ before you get busted up, understand?” Chuck told the girl.
“I hustle as best I can! Not my fault this dump is full of losers.”
Someone came up to Gina’s side. It was Candy, and she had an angry look on her face that Gina knew better than to cross.
“What’s happening with them?” Candy asked.
“Motivational pep talk.”
Just then, Chuck let the girl have it in the chops with the back of his hand.
“Hey! You can’t do that!” Candy shouted as she stormed down the hall. Gina didn’t know what to do. Her moment of pretending to be a hooker was done, and whatever was happening in the hall right then was someone else’s fight. She also wasn’t going to let a girl get beat up by her pimp. She went down the hall right after Candy, but let the pro do the talking.
That only led to Chuck being manhandled by two hookers, with Gina standing back slightly. When the first girl was knocked to the floor, Candy pulled a knife and waved it back and forth in front of his face. Gina took a step back. Knocking each other around was one thing; knifeplay took things to a whole new level of hospital care.
While Candy and Chuck swapped curses and insults, the hooker on the floor cried. Gina couldn’t see any blood on her, and her way was blocked by the feud even if she tried to help.
“Hey, why don’t you guys calm down?” Gina said. “No reason to bleed over a slow night of work.”
“Get outta here, Misty. This isn’t your fight,” shouted Candy.
“How do you know Misty?” Chuck asked with derision. “Are you working for someone else behind my back?”
“You don’t know what’s going on right in front of you,” Candy said.
“Put the knife away, Candy,” Gina said. By then, the girl that had been knocked to the floor had fled to the bathroom. “He’s not worth it.”
“I’ll decide that.”
“Misty, or whatever your name is, you better get lost,” Chuck said. “And don’t bother coming back tomorrow. You’ll be as welcome here as…”
“As what? Clap in a whorehouse?” Gina said. When she saw Candy start to back off from Chuck,
