Why would Noah go to meet with David after he leaked their salacious private chats? That was the conundrum. David had claimed in his drunken stupor that when he went to go meet Noah after his wife got the pictures, Noah mentioned that he never sent the chat logs and God knows what else, to his wife. He was pretty hammered, but I don't feel like he was lying or stretching the truth. But if it is true, then who sent them? Why would they send them? Who would even have access to the information?
There was only one possibility, but I would talk to her later. For now, I would feast.
The plan for this humid late evening was for Manny to pick me up and then for us to ride out to this little burger joint we liked in Orange Grove. I know what you're thinking. Evie, how can you eat out so much when it practically crushes your frugal little soul to spend even the smallest modicum of money on non-essentials?
Don't let this cheapness fool you, I loved dining out...when other people were paying. And Manny was typically a gentleman about these things...so, uh, yeah.
After work I'd gone straight home to get myself looking purrty for my man. I hadn't seen him in a couple of days, so I decided I'd wow him with my outstanding beauty and actually doll myself up a bit instead of being a lazy heifer like usual. After a shower I put on a cute little blue halter dress that hugged me just right in all the curves I didn't have to create the illusion of some womanly shapeliness. Looking at myself in the mirror, I smoothed a vagrant wrinkle from the fabric of my dress and smiled at my reflection. What's this now? A waistline? I put my hands on my hips and gave a little twirl. Has there ever been a finer woman in existence? I think not!
Once I finished laughing at myself, I got out the industrial strength curl pudding and set my hair so my curls would snap, crackle and pop. Lastly, I put on my makeup. It seemed like a lot for a hole-in-the-wall burger place, but it wasn't propriety that made me grab the...probably expired foundation...I should replace that later...
It was Manny. He had seemed distant for the last week or so and I wanted to cheer him up because it was hard to see someone who's usually so calm and lighthearted be weighed down by something outside of his control. I didn't know exactly what that something was, only that it had to do with work and that he wasn't willing to go into details. Hopefully my charming self could help take his mind off it for a couple of hours at least.
Just as I was spritzing on my favorite perfume, a fragrance he'd mentioned he liked, a text came through.
I'm downstairs.
I gave an embarrassing little squeal of joy than went to get my shoes. I was throwing my keys in my purse and heading out the door when the phone rang. I answered with a chipper, "Hello?"
"Hey, ready to go?" His voice sounded sharp. Must have been a bad day.
"Yeah. I'm locking up now."
"Could you hurry? I want to get through Orange Grove before traffic gets too bad."
I paused in the hall near my neighbor's door. "You feeling okay?"
He sighed. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"'Cause you seem...off."
His tone when he answered was worse than sharp. It was aggravated. "I'm fine. I was fine the last time you asked me that, and I'm fine now."
I started absently walking forward again but my stride had turned from joyful to cautious. "You don't have to yell."
"I'm not yelling!" he yelled.
"Yes, you are."
"Alright, fine! Sorry! Could you hurry it up?"
I stopped right at the top of the stairwell and rest my free hand on the upper railing. "I don't understand why you're so upset!"
I could tell he was trying and failing to control his volume. "It's been a long day. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I'm ready to eat."
I could hear my own voice starting to mimic his hectic anger. "But why are you taking that out on me? I didn't make your day long and tiring."
"I don't want to talk about it."
"That's fine, but clearly whatever it is it's bothering you."
Another long sigh; this time twice as exasperated. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm fine?"
"Until it's actually true."
"Why can't you just leave it alone?"
"Am I supposed to just ignore it when my boyfriend is so obviously upset?"
"Yeah. That'd be great." He said it kind of sassily but I'm not sure if that was sarcasm or not.
"That's ridiculous."
"No, what's ridiculous is me having to keep explaining this to you like you're goddamn five! Do me a favor and cut the mommy shit for tonight so I can eat my food in peace!"
Deep breaths, Evie. "Okay, I know you're going through something, but I'll be damned before I let anyone talk to me like that." I turned right around and started marching back to my door. "So, how about you don't call me until after you fix that stank ass attitude."
"Well, fine. I—"
I wished to God I was talking on an old timey phone so I could slam that shit down, but a hang-up would have to suffice for today. By the time I got back inside he hadn't called back. That made me even more mad for some reason. Like, I don't want to talk to him right now, but a little goddamn remorse wouldn't hurt.
Since my dinner plans were ruined, I stomped back to my room and unpretty-ed myself to a chorus of delightful curses, such as:
"Ol' fat-headed ass..." and "He needs to get some fucking therapy, that's what he needs..." and "He can go fuck himself. Literally..." and "Talking to me like he crazy! He ain't that cute!"
After I calmed down, which took half a glass of wine and several deep breaths, I realized I was still hungry, so I nuked some leftover chicken and rice in the microwave and watched Jeopardy to get my mind right. By the time the episode was over my plate was clean, washed, and put away and my thoughts were on other things besides insensitive boyfriends.
Noah used the Circle K at Lennox and Murphey for his meet up spot to collect his 'fees' from his victims. I wonder if an employee would recognize either him or David?
I wouldn't figure that out sitting here watching tv, so I got up, put some pants on and pulled my hair—lusciously curled by the way—into a bun. Then I grabbed my keys and took off into the night without giving Manny another thought.
*********************
The Circle K on Lennox was bigger than I'd imagined. I usually got my gas at the Shell's near my apartment, which was on a small lot with only four pumps and a convenience store that was two short aisles of junk food and a Slurpee machine I never paid attention to. But to be fair, the Shell's had been built twenty years ago before gas station convenience stores turned into mini supermarkets or whatever.
This convenience store, therefore, was much grander than what I was used to. The floorplan was massive; the many aisles had ample room to maneuver around, though most of the product was still junk food, but the sheer amount of it was nuts. Like, who needs all this from a gas station? The back wall was lined with refrigerator shelves stocked with what must be every pre-prepared beverage known to God and man. Some sort of deli section was built into the back corner with what looked like fresh hotdogs and—is that a pastry counter? Is that a deluxe coffee nook? Am I in direct competition with a damn gas station? And here I thought I only had to worry about Starbucks and Krispy Kreme. I really need to keep track of my competition. Jesus.
The front counter was surprisingly not behind bullet proof glass. A small three-person line formed in front of the one employee still on duty at such a late time. I shuffled up to the side of the line—ignoring a couple of stank eyes—and stared pointedly at the clerk as he rung up some lady's six pack of Bud Light, Oreo Minis, and lottery tickets.
I leaned forward a bit and projected my voice. "Hi. I'm wondering if you can answer some questions for me."
"Questions?" The clerk was a tall, slender man with thin sandy hair pulled back into a greasy ponytail.
I held up Noah's obituary. "Do you recognize this man?"
He squinted down at the picture while shoving dollar bills into the register. "Oh, yeeaahh... The little dealer. Haven't seen him in while though. Guess I know why now."
"Little dealer?" I threw the obituary back into my purse.
"That's what he was doing in the car right?" He waved the next person up in line and started scanning their items. "Couple times a month this dude comes and parks and waits, then has some shady deal then leaves."
"If you thought he was dealing drugs, why didn't you call the cops?"
"Not my business. Besides, I might have been wrong. Maybe he just sold lots of shit on eBay or somethin'." One of his shoulders raised and dropped in a pantomime of a lazy shrug. "He never made no fuss no way. 'Cept for that one time when that big dude beat his ass. That was funny."
"When's the last time you saw him?"
He pressed his paper-thin lips together as he thought. "Uh...Friday before last."
"He meet anybody?"
"During my shift that night?" He gave a short man in a too small, collared shirt his change. "One person."
"Would you recognize him if I showed you a picture?"
"Him? No, this was a lady." After the last customer was gone, he turned to give me his full attention. "I was surprised 'cause she looked like a nice lady. You know, all prim and shit. Like...like..."
"Jackie O?"
"Yeah!"
I took a moment to pull up a photo of Kelli from her campaign website. "Is this her?"
He bent over and squinted down at the phone before nodding. "Yeah, that's her. Fancy but rude."
"Rude? You talked to her?"
He chuckled. "Yeah. She came in here."
"For what?"
"She showed up a few minutes before ol' dude did. She came in and bought a pack of smokes. Funky attitude. Kept telling me to hurry up while I was getting her Camels."
Ah. The anti-tobacco politician smokes. Why am I not surprised? "Do you remember what time it was?"
His face contorted in concentration. It made the fine wrinkles on his forehead deepen. "Mmm...it was nighttime. But still before midnight...probably around nine."
"Did you see each of them leave?"
"He pulled out after, like, ten minutes and she followed a little bit later."
"Which way did they go?"
He pointed back down Murphy. "He turned that way, then she went the same way."
'That way' was toward Noah's house and away from the banquet that was hosting the Leukemia Ball that night. Interesting. Did they reconvene at his house? No, he wouldn't do his dirty deals where he slept. Plus, Ash was still awake by then, she would have seen her. Maybe Kelli just got turned around. Or maybe she made a different, unrelated stop before she got back to the banquet hall.
The important thing was she saw him the night he died. But would she show up and pay him his ransom just to murder him later? She was back at the Ball before midnight according to Em and Noah was killed a bit after that...
It was a lot to consider...but not tonight. It was damn near eleven o'clock and all that prior rage was making me sleepy. Back in my car I saw that I still had no calls or texts from Manny. No carrier pigeons or smoke signals either...Well, I wasn't going to reach out first, I didn't do anything wrong.
But still...a part of me—below the totally righteous anger—was worried about him. I know, I know—fuck him!
...But still...