I sighed and repeated my original question: “Where are you?”
“About that...” There was another pause as the sound of shattering glass echoed into the phone, seemingly very close to his head. “Abby, I, uh... I seem to be in, um...in a spot of trouble.”
A spot of trouble? Just how big of a spot? I thought grimly. I’d been Nick’s publicist for two years, and I knew exactly what “a spot of trouble” could imply.
“Let me get dressed,” I said.
“No time! I’m in a bar fight here. Just, uh...throw on some shoes and get down here. Hurry. Some guy just pointed a knife at me. At least I think it was a knife.”
“What!? Shit, Nick! Call the police.”
“Why? Wait, I know. You just want to see me in handcuffs,” he said, with a naughty smile in his voice, even though it was no time for jokes.
“Nick, you promised me you’d be safe, and jail is far safer than being shanked with a broken bottle or knife...or worse,” I admonished.
“Maybe not. What about Big Bubba?”
“You keep this shit up, and he can have you!” I said, making sure to yell it loud enough for him to hear. “On my way though.”
I was out of bed the next second, wincing painfully against the overhead light as I threw a long overcoat over my silk pajamas and raced down the stairs. Louise, Nick’s longsuffering housekeeper, was watching television on the couch.
“Miss Abigail?” She sat up in surprise as I rushed into the room. “What are you doing awake at this hour?”
At that point, I didn’t even slow my momentum as I breezed toward the door. The old publicist had kicked in, and the new girlfriend had fallen along the wayside. “Nick’s in trouble, Nick trouble,” I clarified.
Halfway up from her chair, she quickly plopped back down. “Oh,” she said.
“The most I got out of him was the name of a bar. It sounds like the place erupted into civil war a little after three.”
She nodded briskly and returned her attention to her show as I snatched up my purse. “Just be careful,” she said as I hurried out toward the elevator.
As I pressed the button, a frown crossed my face, and I turned back to look at her. “Wait. What are you still doing here, Louise? It’s four in the morning.”
“Cable,” she said flatly. “If I’m gonna watch TV, I may as well let Mr. Hunter pay for it, no?”
“Fair enough,” I said with a smile as her episode of some horrible old sitcom returned to the air. I waved farewell and disappeared through the doors.
She bid me a cursory “Good luck!” before picking up a bowl of popcorn and staring at the television again.
My body wilted, and I shook my head. “Good luck? I ‘m gonna need more than that...and so is he once I get hold of him,” I muttered to myself with a weary sigh.
Gosh, how many times has she said the exact same thing to me as I raced off in the middle of the night to rescue Nick from some fresh batch of trouble? How many times have I made this ridiculous journey, only to end up facing some unknown lunacy on the other side?
My hand slipped again to my belly as I punched the button for the lobby, and the elevator began to descend. A far more pertinent question floated into my head, and I was almost afraid to discover the answer: How many more times is this gonna happen?
***
The bar Nick told me about wasn’t in the Upper East Side, as I expected. In fact, a quick address check with my cab driver told me it wasn’t even on the island.
Queens? What the hell is he doing in Queens? I thought he was meeting friends, I reasoned. Besides James, I was sure none of Nick’s friends would dare venture so far away from Manhattan. How the hell did he end up all the way out there?
Like it or not, I was about to find out.
I leapt out of the cab as soon as it pulled up to the curb, quickly tossed the fare and tip to the driver with my thanks, then turned to see that the door to the bar was hanging open—not pushed but actually hanging on nothing but cracked hinges and a prayer. I stared at it for a moment, tilting my head curiously in the dark.
“Miss, you sure ‘bout goin’ in there?” the cabbie called out of the passenger window. “Looks kinda seedy to me, not really a place for...”
As he trailed off, I finished his thought with a little sigh. “Yeah, it’s kind of like the seventh circle of hell, huh?” We shared a quick grin before I shook my head and pulled my trench coat tighter around me. “I’ve got no choice, I’m afraid. I’m the Cavalry he called in. It’s not the first time, but it had better be the last!”