“It’s twelve after.”
“What?” Her hand left my jeans. “Shit, I gotta change.” Gerdy darted off to the bedroom.
“I’ll call Krendal and let him know you’re running late.”
“Thanks!” Her dress flew out the bedroom door and landed on the floor beside me. “I owe you something special later!”
I forced a grin and picked up the phone. Krendal answered on the third ring. I told him Gerdy would be there in ten minutes, maybe less.
“You should come, too,” Krendal replied. He usually shouted on the phone on account of his hearing, but his voice was low this time.
“Why? Busy?”
Krendal said nothing for a second, his breathing heavy. “Your friend Dunk is here. He’s got a friend with him.”
“Dunkalwayshas a friend with him these days,” I replied.
“Not a lady friend. Somebody else. I don’t like it. I don’t want those people in my restaurant.”
Shit.
“Okay, I’ll be right there. I’ll take care of it.”
Gerdy came out of the bedroom, wearing her uniform, both hands working at her hair, attempting to tie it up in a bun. She crossed the room to me and planted a kiss on my lips. “I want you to know, I’m not wearing panties. I don’t plan to put on another pair of panties until after you find it appropriate to take advantage of my oversight. We’ve had too much sadness over the past few months. Your aunt did something wonderful for you, something life-changing, and I fully expect you to celebrate with me in all kinds of demeaning and adventurous ways. Drink lots of fluids while I’m gone. I’m off at ten. Maybe you should consider some stretching exercises an hour or so before that. I’d hate to see you pull something.”
“And if I don’t comply, Ms. McCowen?”
She grinned up at me. “Like I said, I will continue to go pantie free until you do. Perhaps I will attract another suitor at work, someone with waitress fantasies.”
“Could get drafty, cold even. Winter will be here before you know it. That skirt isn’t very long.”
“If I catch my death of cold, Mr. Thatch, it would surely be your fault.”
“Krendal said Dunk is there. I’ll walk you.”
“I’d never turn down an escort from a handsome gentleman such as yourself.”
I crammed the letter and envelope in my pocket. I needed to show Dunk.
A stack of posters with Stella’s face watched us leave from the seat of a chair near the kitchen.
Have you seen me?
Passing Ms. Leech’s door, I felt like we were being watched. Like she had her eye pressed to the tiny viewfinder, monitoring our every move.
As we left my building, Iknewwe were being watched. I never noticed the various vans parked on our street, until the other night when Dunk pointed them out, and then they stuck out in such a blatantly obvious way I found it hard to believe I missed them. I told myself they weren’t white SUVs, and my mind had been preoccupied for some time.
Today, we had Cloister Plumbing and Supplies.
This was the second time I saw that particular van, deep red with the company logo painted brightly on the sides and back. A man in a rumpled white shirt and tie stood behind the van, smoking a cigarette. Plumbers typically didn’t wear ties, nor did they carry concealed weapons tucked in leather holsters at the small of their back, yet there was the telltale bulge of a handgun.
As Gerdy and I passed the van, the man stubbed out his cigarette, his gaze fixed on me for a second before shifting to some unknown object off in the distance.
I almost nodded a hello to him as I would any other familiar face on the sidewalk, but I caught myself and continued to face forward, wondering if anyone else noticed this same man worked for not only Cloister Plumbing and Supplies, but also an electrician and a carpet company. Busy times, I supposed.
Up the block, about three hundred feet in front of us, a blue BMW sedan pulled into the handicap parallel parking space in front of Krendal’s. Four men dressed in dark suits got out with large automatic weapons in hand and immediately began firing toward the diner.
The sound was deafening.
