Eva sat burgers in front of Malcolm and Garrison, who had rejoined them. The men ate immediately. No doubt they’d not had time for much food today, and this meal would have to hold them for some time.
Her salmon cakes arrived, and for several minutes the three ate in silence as Eva served other clients at the bar, tallied bills from other waitresses, and restocked glasses. When Garrison had finished he excused himself and found Eva.
Angie’s thoughts turned to Sierra and the dozens of fruitless calls she’d made today on the woman’s behalf. “Did you ever get an identification on your murder victim? Was it Sierra?”
“Funny you should bring that up.” Kier carefully set down his burger. “Dental records confirm our Jane Doe was Sierra Day.”
She reached for the coffee Eva had just set in front of her. She didn’t want the brew so much as she needed to do something with her hands. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Well, you are the first, Counselor,” Kier said. “The woman did not have a huge fan club.”
Sadness chewed at her. “She could be a challenge.”
“That’s not the word I’ve heard bandied about,” Kier said.
“She was ambitious. And driven. I’ve been accused of both and called a few bad names for it.”
Challenge sparked in Kier’s eyes. “Have you ever been called a liar or manipulator?”
Directness was her blessing and curse. “Yes. And as I remember you’ve used a few extra choice descriptions: Countess of Evil, Wicked Witch of the East and what was the other one? Oh, Bride of Satan.”
No trace of apology altered his features.
Angie’s loyalty to her clients hadn’t been severed by death. “Sierra had her faults, but she didn’t deserve to be murdered or to have her flesh stripped from her bones.”
“No argument here, Counselor.”
Kier and Garrison were good at what they did. They would put aside personal feelings and move heaven and earth to find Sierra’s killer.
“Got any suspects?”
“You know I do. But I’m dealing with airtight alibis around the time the victim vanished.”
“Dixon visited me today.”
He tensed. “Really?”
“I refused to represent him.”
Kier’s lips tightened. “Why?”
“You don’t need the specifics. You just need to know I’m not his lawyer.”
He crumbled his napkin into a tight ball and tossed it on the bar. “Did he tell you anything of interest?”
“Only that he feels like you tried to railroad him with Lulu Sweet.”
“He mentioned her by name?”
“Yes.”
Malcolm traced the edge of his plate with his thumb. “Too bad.”
“I assumed you’ve checked his alibi.”
He nodded. “Dixon was at a convention in New York until Saturday morning. Turns out he’s got hundreds of alibis of people at the convention. Plus surveillance cameras at Dulles Airport show him passing through security.”
She cradled her cup. “Sierra never once mentioned Dixon or plastic surgery during our visits.”
“Maybe he suggested she keep it to herself.”
“Why?”
“You tell me. You have got insights into the man few have. Maybe he didn’t want her to know too much about him.”
She no longer had secrets or privacy to protect when it came to Dixon. She’d been very clear she wanted nothing to do with him. “He didn’t look rattled. Miffed that I wouldn’t take his case but cool and controlled. In fact, he reminded me of a child playing a game. I was just a piece he wanted, and when he couldn’t get what he wanted, he left.”
Kier tossed his uneaten fry down. “So he left without a problem?”
“For the most part. It was nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“Be careful, Counselor—he is not a nice man.” No missing the worry in his voice.
“I can take care of myself.”
For a brief moment, an odd sense of kinship drew her toward him. As if for the first time they were on the same side. It felt good. “So with his airtight alibi, he is off your suspect list?”
Kier shook his head, his expression dark and brooding. “That son of a bitch is into something. I know it. Can feel it in my bones. His request for representation makes me more certain than ever.”
“That’s not proof, Detective.”
“No, it is not. But I will get it.”
Chapter 10
Wednesday, October 5, 10 P.M.
Lulu Sweet felt like shit. She’d been late for her shift at the nightclub because she’d had to go by that stupid fancy shop and get herself a dress for court tomorrow.
The lady running the shop had given her The Evil Eye when she’d walked into the shop. She’d felt so small and dirty and the May I help you? had sounded like a Get the hell out of my shop!
But Lulu had held her shit together, reminding herself that David was more important than a dress shop clerk. So she’d jutted out her chin and told her that Angie had sent her.
The woman’s hard eyes had warmed immediately, and she’d said she’d been expecting her. That had helped thaw some of the ice coiling around her spine, but she’d never really warmed up to the whole idea of a makeover. She wasn’t interested in looking like one of the bitch-snob mothers who lived in the Old Town. She was who she was, faults and all, and she knew she could be a good mother to David regardless of the color of her hair or the patches on her jeans.
But she’d played the game, thanked the lady for the nice, ugly dress, and headed to the hair salon. However, when she’d gone to the salon, she’d balked when the hairdresser wanted to dye her hair back to her natural black. Not a super-dark, bitching black but an old-lady, mousy black. She thanked the lady as nicely as she could and left the salon.
Now, dressed in a mini and halter, the uniform of the club, her hair still blond, she felt like herself. Hot. Bitching. Smart. In this bar, this area of town, she was in her element. She understood the rules and how to swim with the sharks.
But that familiarity, instead of calming her nerves, stoked her worry. This dark world was no place for a kid. What if she couldn’t make it in the real world?
It had been a smart move to get Angie Carlson’s help. The woman would sell her case to the judge. Shit, Carlson could sell sand in the desert.
So what if Carlson got the judge to give her David? What if she won and got everything she’d ever wanted? And what if Lulu fucked up the kid?
Sure, she wanted him, just like she’d wanted to go to that dress shop and hair salon. But in the end she’d not seen it all the way through. What if full-time motherhood felt as awkward as that damn dress and hair color? David wasn’t a hunk of fabric that could be tossed aside or a style to be changed. He was forever. And what if she couldn’t do forever. She sure as hell had never managed long-term anything before.
Jitters knotted her stomach. Her hands trembled as she tied her apron around her narrow waist. In the old days she’d run to the booze or meth. Both dulled the sting of nerves and the you’re-not-good-enough thoughts.
But that was before. And this was now. And now was different. Right?
Six months ago when she’d sat in a jail cell holding David’s picture, she’d sworn she’d never, ever use again. And she’d been good to her word.
So why now when she was so close to winning did she want to drink so badly that her hands shook? “Fuck.”
Lulu started taking orders, trying to just focus on work. But time did not ease the fear or the tremble in her fingers when she keyed in orders.
“So what did that machine ever do to you?” The husky voice came from a blond waitress by the bar.
Lulu glanced up at Marcia—or was it Maureen? She was in no mood to make nice. “The damn thing is just slow.”
Marcia or Maureen shrugged. “Works fine for me.”
“Great.” The dull ache behind her right eye really pounded, and the fragile hold on her temper slipped.
&
nbsp; “Maybe if you didn’t punch it so hard?” the girl offered.
“Right.”
“You need to relax.”
“I don’t need to relax. I just need to get this damn order rung up!”
The girl raised a knowing brow. “Tony is out back if you need something to help you relax.”
Tony. He dealt drugs. Pot. Coke. Pills. Not the meth she’d learned to love so much but other stuff that could take the edge off.
Lulu took her first real good look at Marcia/Maureen. The girl was skinny, had spiked hair and a nose ring. Tattoos covered her chest and arms, and she had a spark in her eyes that hinted to the drugs in her system. Flash back a couple of years, and Lulu could have been her.
That time hadn’t been all darkness. The tricks weren’t always bad, and the drugs took so much of the pain and worry away. And Lulu wanted so badly just to take a break from the anxiety and the fear. Just a break. She loved David, and she’d fight to the death to get him back, but right now she just needed a break.