An alarm blares from above adding more noise. Both doors open simultaneously. From my left — with guns drawn — race in a stream of brown-uniformed officers. They’re met head-on from the right with a steady flow of concertgoers dressed in Maine’s version of nightclub wear. Stuck between the two I flatten my body to the brick wall. A few officers stop to guide people down the steps while the others continue forward into the room.
The lights come up, bathing the small hallway in light. The last of the officers reaches the top of the stairs and the people on the other side dwindle to a trickle.
A tall officer not wearing a brown uniform but distinguishable as law enforcement by the large, thick, gold badge hanging from his neck stops. With a hand on my shoulder he asks, “Are you okay?”
I nod, unable to answer fully.
“You’re Anessa, right?”
I nod again. My eyes questioning how the hell he knows who I am.
“It’s a small town,” he answers, his hazel-colored eyes bright even as he prepares to enter a crime scene. “Do you think tomorrow you’ll have more blueberry muffins?”
I nod, thinking of the two trays I stuck in our cooler before closing up the shop tonight. The sound that comes out of my mouth is horrible. A cross between a laugh over the ridiculousness of him asking me about blueberry muffins and the scariness of a guy threatening me with a gun less than two minutes before. It’s one of those noises that in the future if anyone asks me about I’ll deny.
A blond cop leans his head into the hallway. “All clear!”
“I’m Law Anderson, a detective with the county. Why don’t you come in with me?” He pushes on my shoulder not giving me much room to disagree as we walk into the main area of the club. Katy and Tabitha run up, both of them reaching out and touching me before Katy practically launches herself, squeezing me into a tight hug.
“We were so worried,” Katy says squeezing again.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Tabitha says taking a step back.
Yes, because I totally almost got kidnapped on purpose. I’m still speechless.
Law cocks his head. “Katy, why are you always around when something bad happens?”
Katy sighs. “I don’t know. Bad luck?”
“I need to get statements from everyone, so why don’t you ladies take a seat at a table. The area is safe now. No one leaves.” The four of us, with Katy leading the way, resume our original positions. Law takes the place of Winnie, who I haven’t seen. I search the room but she’s nowhere near.
“Winnie was in the back with Noah. She’s safe.”
I release a breath and flick a straw wrapper lying on the table. It bounces twice and then skidders off the side.
“Well, let’s not all fight to tell me what happened.” Law pulls out a notebook from his breast pocket. “Katy, since you have so much experience with this, why don’t you go first?”
Katy flashes him an annoyed expression all while sitting up taller in her chair. “First, JJ’s Band was on stage and I have to say they were pretty great. Much better than that time they tried to play in the school talent contest. Remember that?”
“I need you to focus, Katy.” Law jabs the tip of his pen into the table.
“Fine,” she draws out the word reminding me of when Liam was forced to eat more vegetables at dinner the other night.
“The bands were switching. We were sitting here having a drink and talking.” Law raises an eyebrow at her. “Damn it, Law, it’s not like I brought masked gunmen in here.”
“So they were wearing masks?” He scribbles in his notepad.
“No,” Katy says completely exacerbated.
He scratches out whatever he wrote. “Just tell me what happened, Katy. We don’t need all the theatrics.”
“Bands. Drinks. Talking. Anessa phone call. Guns. Is that succinct enough for you?” With all the swagger in her possession Katy reaches down and snatches up a drink from the table. She sips up the remaining liquid from the straw, never taking her eyes off Law, before slamming it back down.
It’s a mighty display so I don’t have the heart to tell her it was someone else’s drink.
“Like Katy said,” Tabitha picks up with the real story, “we were having a drink between bands when Anessa took a phone call and went to the hallway. Next thing we know three guys storm in here pointing guns every which way. They said they were looking for the bakery girls.”
“What did you do?” Law scribbles this in his notepad again, nodding his head at her story.
