The Case of the Missing Blahnik by Christine DeMaio-Rice

Author:Christine DeMaio-Rice
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: fashion avenue, shoes, single women, clubbing, hangover, stiletto, new york, carnegie sisters, sisters, dead is the new black
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

When they got back to the alley behind Bandino’s, which had been baking in the ninety-three-degree humidity all afternoon, Loura wondered if you could actually die from a smell. She could only imagine how bad it would be if the dumpster were actually open.

“It’s locked,” Ruby said, not suggesting that they leave or stay.

“Do you think she’s even going to want it?” Laura asked. “The shoe. I mean, if it smells bad, too? What if it’s in the middle of a bowl of soup?”

“Did you see her feet? Some of those tissues had blood on them, I swear.”

Laura knew what it was like to walk around in shoes that hurt. And that girl had hours and hours left.

Ruby knocked on the metal door. Hard. Then harder. “How could he not be here?”

“He gave you his number,” Laura said.

Ruby dug out the paper and dialed, looking up at the apartments above the restaurant. “How do they handle it?”

“I guess you get used to it?”

IRA must have answered his phone, because Ruby’s expression changed. “Hi. This is Ruby. I came by your back door this morning? Yeah, so, remember when you tossed that red shoe in the dumpster?”

Laura looked at the dumpster, imagining the trajectory of the shoe and where it might have landed in the big, metal box. It had probably smacked the open lid, and then rebounded a little. So, perhaps the shoe was toward the back-ish or maybe more toward the middle, which was dangerous. She touched the handle—warm and sticky. Figuring she was just going to have to take a shower immediately afterward anyway, she put her foot on the little ledge above the wheels and hoisted herself up until she could see the plastic top.

It was indeed locked, and with one of those unpickable Medecos that you could shoot at point-blank range and still not open. Whatever smelly shit was in there was really private, with the exception of the gaping three-foot hole in the lid. The melted plastic curled at the edges of the hole and had turned stringy and fringed, as if it had been hit by a fiery meteor.

Ruby was saying, “Next Sunday afternoon is fine. Um, could you come right now?” She tapped off the phone.

“I thought you were only dating guys with good jobs,” Laura said. “So far, you got a busboy and some guy who sleeps on the floor of a tapas bar.”

“What the hell are you doing up there?”

“Freeing up your Sunday.” Laura pointed at the hole, which Ruby couldn’t see. “Come on up,” Laura said, tapping the railing where she thought Ruby should grab it. “Weather’s fine.”

Ruby cringed, put her fingertips on the railing, and pulled herself up. She turned her head away from the smell.

“You have to look,” Laura said.

Ruby did, and didn’t seem any happier about it. “We have to go in, then.”

“You were hoping IRA would do it for you.” Laura stated it as fact, even though it was simply a stellar guess.

Ruby peered over the edge of the hole.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.