In Solo Time by Richard J. Cass

Author:Richard J. Cass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Encircle Publications
Published: 2017-06-22T21:01:59+00:00

17

Late Tuesday afternoon, in the dead space before what I hoped would be a busier night, I ran my finger down the column of numbers on my laptop screen. The third pass through hadn’t changed the story.

The Esposito had suffered its slowest four-day stretch of business since I’d bought it, and I was worried. Marina was fitting into the place fine, but I couldn’t afford to pay her if I couldn’t make money on the lunch business during the week. It wasn’t her fault, but the income from food wasn’t balancing out the cost of her employment. The situation with Jacquie must have been even worse, with her stealing food—I really had been blind.

The phone rang. I left the depressing numbers gratefully.

“You hear from her?” Burton said.

No greeting, no uncertainty about who was answering the phone or whether I would know who it was. I was starting to wish I’d never met the cop.

“Jacquie?” I used the remote to turn down the volume on Night Ride Home.

Much as I loved Joni Mitchell, I didn’t play her when there were other people in the place. She polarized—either you loved her or hated her. A couple of weeks ago, I’d had a customer beg me to turn off that “National Geographic shit.”

Marina walked out of the kitchen and handed me a small paper bag of limes, hesitating when she heard Jacquie’s name.

“She never showed,” Burton said.

After I dropped Alison off, I’d spent the rest of the day expecting a call from Burton. I wasn’t really surprised Jacquie hadn’t shown. There was plenty of evidence she liked to change her mind.

“She didn’t call me,” I said. “No sign of her at all?”

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