Metro Girl (Alex Barnaby 1)

“So what’s the deal here?” Rosa asked. “Why are you looking for Maria?”

“My brother is missing, and we think Maria and Bill might be together.”

“On my boat,” Hooker said.

“What would they be doing on your boat?” Rosa wanted to know.

“They stole it,” he said.

I pressed my lips together. “Borrowed it.”

Rosa liked that. “No kidding?”

“The newspaper article didn’t give her address,” I said.

“I know her address!” Rosa said. “I could show you. I could go with you in the Porsche. I always wanted to ride in a Porsche.”

I looked over at the other women. They were older than Rosa and their roundness had turned blocky. They’d all stopped working and were openly staring, waiting to see what would happen next.

“What about your job?” I asked.

“It’s almost the end of the day,” Rosa said. “I could take off a half hour early.”

“You take off a half hour early and you’re fired,” the lone male foreman said.

“Kiss my ass,” Rosa said. “Kiss his ass. Kiss all their asses.”

The women burst out laughing and made kissing sounds at the foreman.

“Rosa Louisa Francesca Florez, you’re a bad influence,” the man said.

“It’s true,” Rosa said to Hooker and me. “I’m a big bitch.” She grabbed her purse off the table and shoved her cigar in her mouth. “Okay, let’s go.”

We all pushed through the door and stood on the sidewalk by the Porsche. Judey was already in the backseat, hugging Brian to his chest.

“News flash,” Hooker said. “We’re not going to fit.”

“Who’s the gay guy with the hairy rat?” Rosa asked.

“That’s Judey,” I told her. “How do you know he’s gay?”

“Look at his complexion,” Rosa said. “He exfoliates. I’d kill for skin like that. And he’s got two eyebrows.”

Hooker raised a hand to feel his eyebrows. “I have two eyebrows, don’t I?”

“I’m not getting out,” Judey said. “I was here first.”

Rosa shoved past Hooker and me and climbed over the car, into the backseat. “Just move your skinny little gay ass over and we can both fit,” she said to Judey.

“It’s too small,” Judey said. “You’re going to squish my Brian.”

“Your Brian?” Rosa asked.

“My dog!”

“Oh jeez,” she said. “I thought you were talking about your thingy. You know how guys are always naming their thingy.”

“I’ve never named my thingy,” Hooker said. “I feel left out.”