Killin' Time in San Diego by Holly West

Author:Holly West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down & Out Books

“Drowning” was first printed as Waterstones exclusive content in the UK in 2022, and first published in the US in this collection for Bouchercon in 2023.

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29 Palms

Wesley Browne

If there was one thing I hated about being on probation, it was not being able to leave Nevada. If there was a second thing I hated about being on probation, it was falling for a girl in 29 Palms, California and not being able to leave Nevada. Let’s be real though. There were way more than two things I hated about probation. Pissing in a cup, pissing in a cup with somebody watching me piss in a cup, supervision fees, home visits, not being able to possess a gun, and on and on, but I digress.

I had three years to kill and I couldn’t leave the jurisdiction, so working as a bar back at Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino in Primm, Nevada seemed like as good a way to do it as any. I couldn’t stay in Vegas because, well, let’s just say that the people I got mixed up with that led to me being on probation weren’t real excited about the deal I cut to get probated. Not when it led to them doing real time. And the people who weren’t real excited about my plea deal had a lot of friends in Vegas who knew what I did, and I was none too excited about running into any of them on the regular.

If you lived in Vegas and were into what I used to be into, there wasn’t a lot of reason to go to Primm. So Primm it was. Right on the state line and literally just off I-15. There are only so many jobs you can get in a casino when you’re on probation, but bar back is one of them. That’s how I met Sienna.

She was working as an apprentice to a dog groomer in 29 Palms and the place was busy. She wasn’t making much money and didn’t get many days off, so when her friend’s bachelorette party came to Primm, she cut loose. So much so that I didn’t find out any of this until the next day.

We had a regular named Logan who worked at the women’s prison ten miles away in Jean and I’m telling you, he was a fucking creep, but he was a good tipper. When Sienna got to our bar that night, she was slurring so hard she had to point at the cocktail menu to place an order. She kept saying something that was a little hard to make out, but eventually, it became clear: “I lost my friend.” She had on a tiny T-shirt that read, That Bitch’s Friend, which led me to believe a That Bitch T-shirt was also somewhere in Primm. Once Logan noticed the state Sienna was in, he was on her like ants on a dropped lollipop. Should Randy—our bartender—have served her? Hell no. But once he knew Logan was buying her drinks, he also knew he’d catch a Benjamin, so he went on with it.

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