Hour Game

"Right, good memory," said Lulu, eyeing the woman keenly. "Anyway, she came to work here under contract. She stayed in one of the club's rooms, but shortly before her stint was up, she told us she had another place to crash. She did her contract time, and that was the last I saw of her. We'd used her before, and she'd always acted like a real professional, never any problem."

"Did she mention whether she had friends or family in the area?"

"Not to me. But with her line of work, family tends to shy away from you."

"How about a man she might have met?" prompted Michelle.

Lulu tapped ash off her cigarette into an empty paper coffee cup on her desk. "Not that I know of."

"Anyone else she might have confided in?" asked King.

"She might have talked to some of the girls."

"Can we speak with them?"

"If you can wake them up. The ones who work nights don't get out of bed until late in the afternoon. The lunch-shift girls are out onstage now."

"We'll give it our best shot," said King.

"You do that," said Lulu again, watching Michelle closely.

As they headed to the door, Michelle glanced back and saw Lulu's hand disappear inside her desk drawer. When Lulu pulled it out, there was nothing in it. Michelle looked away before the other woman could see her staring.

Lulu said, "By the way, here's a piece of information you might find interesting: the high-and-mighty Remmy Battle threatened Junior."

Both of them stared at her as she summarized the meeting between the two, including Remmy's offer to pay off Junior if he returned the stolen items.

"So she wanted something that was in the drawer, but didn't care about her wedding ring?" asked a confused King.

"Apparently, the lady has something to hide."

"Where will Junior be today?"

"Working a job in Lynchburg; you won't be able to see him. But this evening he'll be at the house he's building for us."

"Let me have the directions. And give me Junior's cell phone number." As she did so, King asked one more question. "Did Bobby Battle ever come here?"

Lulu seemed to be trying hard not to look surprised at the question. "I think I saw him around here a few times."

"Recently?"

"What do you consider recently?"

"In the last couple of years."

"I couldn't say for sure."

I'm sure you couldn't, thought King. "Well, thanks again for all your help."

"I'll show you where the rooms are," offered Lulu.

She led them upstairs and pointed to the hallway fronted by the red curtain.

"Good luck," she said in a tone that didn't sound like she actually meant it.

As King and Michelle started off, Lulu touched Michelle on the arm. "Uh, can I ask you a question?" she said.

"We've asked you enough, so go ahead."

"You ever consider pole dancing?"

"Excuse me!" said Michelle, clearly stunned.

"It's just that you've got the perfect all-American, girl-next-door, come-hither thing going on. That's pretty rare in this business. You're leaner than the other gals and a little light in the chest, but I don't think the guys will mind once they see what youdo have."

Michelle's face reddened. "You must be kidding!"

"The pay's better than you think, and you keep all the tips you get. And you can pull the night shift and still work your regular job during the day. State law doesn't allow total nudity in any strip club, so you can keep your G-string on. But the top has to come off, that's club policy. No boobs, no bucks."

Michelle smiled tightly. "Let me put it this way: the day you see me pole dancing with only a G-string on in front of a crowd of drunken morons is the day the sky falls and kills all of us."

"I don't know," said King, who'd listened intently to this exchange. "I'd tip at least twenty bucks to see that."

CHAPTER 40

KING AND MICHELLE WALKED down the hallway, slipped behind the heavy red curtain and started knocking on doors. Several rooms were unlocked and unoccupied. From the others issued either a string of profanities or sleepy groans. Whenever a door was unlocked and opened-always by a scantily clad young woman with an extremely weary look-Michelle asked the same question while King averted his eyes.

"Didn't really know her," was the constant refrain. However, at the next-to-last room on the hall the voice said, "Come on in." Michelle did so. When she exited a couple of minutes later, she appeared truly shaken.

"You okay?" asked King.

"I was just propositioned by a six-foot-tall naked woman named Heidi."

"I can wait out in the car if you want."

"Shut up!"

"Must've been the come-hither look."

At the last room the door was opened by a young woman wearing a long robe that didn't entirely hide her heavy curves and inflated bosom. Her dyed-blond hair was in a ponytail, and her feet were bare. She was sipping a cup of black coffee. She introduced herself only as Pam, and after they had told her what they wanted, she actually invited them in.