(Disclaimer: If you know it it's Janet Evanovich. Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter but I thought it was a good break point for a chapter! :X)
Lula and I were back at the hotel regrouping. We were in the restaurant grabbing a bite to eat. We could only afford to stay one more night in New York before having to head back home.
If we couldn't turn up anything on Barbara or figure who Ruth is, we'd have to go home and tell Connie we tried and leave it at that. The problem was, I was now involved and I had an unsolved mystery before me.
I had a hard time walking away from unsolved mysteries. I wanted to see this through.
"It's not like I was scared or anything." Lula was saying. "Sure he was big, but I know you don't like guns so I wanted to get you out of there." I cut my eyes over to Lula. She was eating a large portion of chili fries and had a big glass of wine in front of her.
"You were in the car before I was." I said.
"Well, you just slow is all." I rolled my eyes but I wasn't in the mood to argue.
"I want to go back."
"Yeah, this time we'll go prepared. We'll show that motherfucker what's what."
"No, no shooting! I just want to sneak in and look around."
"I don't know. Might have to do some shooting to get around him. He didn't look happy." I nodded my head. He was going to be a problem.
"Any ideas how we can get in? I mean, you used to work in an area like that."
"Hunh." Lula said. "Guess I know a few things. We could pick up a girl, have her take us to her room." I slid her a bewildered look.
"First of all, I don't want to step near any occupied rooms, secondly, I don't have money to pay for a hooker."
"Well, what do you suggest we do Miss know-it-all?" I rolled my eyes.
"I say we wait for it to be more crowded and try to blend in."
"Hunh." Lula said again. "I guess I could of thought of that."
We finished our food, paid, and left. Ahmed was waiting for us outside when we came out of the building. We climbed into his cab and told him to take us to a mall.
"Do you just wait around all day for us?" Lula asked.
"No, I stop by after each run. Now I feel responsible for you. I want to see you safe."
"I guess we're big girls and can take care of ourselves." Lula said.
"Thanks." I said at the same time.
"Ahmed is not stupid. I think you will try to go back to that building. I think you should stay away."
"We just want to check it out, then we'll stay away." Ahmed clicked his tongue and drove us to the mall. Lula and I paid Ahmed and scrambled out, pushing through the doors of the mall.
We went from store to store trying on different things until we both found outfits we thought would suffice. My first thought was that Lula didn't need a change of clothes, but I wasn't about to tell her that.
I'd found a short black miniskirt that barely covered my ass and a pair of four inch heeled fuck-me pumps with a shirt that was made of sheer green material that didn't cover much up. It had a scrap of material over my breasts that was held together in back by a thin string.
Lula was wearing white spandex pants that were four sizes too small. A pair of white via spigas and a leopard print top, also four sizes to small and accentuated her breasts. Not that Lula's breasts needed accentuating; you'd have to be blind not to see them.
Ahmed stared open mouthed at us as we slid back into the cab. I could see sweat on his brow as he kept giving surreptitious glances at my crotch. I closed my knees, hoping that any view beneath the skirt was blocked.
"You said you were bounty hunters." He eyed us suspiciously.
"We're going under cover." I said. "We thought it would be easier to get a look around if we blended." Ahmed shook his head.
"I do not like it." I rolled my eyes. Great, another man in my life telling me what to do. I grit my teeth before responding.
"We're paying you to drive, not be our bodyguard." Ahmed frowned and pursed his lips.
"Alright, but don't say I never warned you." He drove us, in silence, to the Barbara's old place. He parked down the street and around the corner. Lula and I sat in the back seat, both waiting for the other to get out first.
Truth was, I was scared out of my mind and I didn't want to go into what I suspected was a whorehouse, especially when I was dressed as a whore.
"Well" I said, blowing out a sigh. "Let's go." My cell phone rang just then. I looked at the read out and blew out another sigh. It was Joe.
"Hello?" I said.
"Stephanie, we need to talk."
"We can't talk right now. I'm in New York." There was a beat of silence.
"Why are you in New York."
"I'm looking for Barbara Blossom."
"Is she FTA?"
"No."
"Then you don't need to be looking for her." I gritted my teeth then pulled a wrapper from my purse and crinkled it into the phone.
"What? Joe? I can't hear you. You're breaking up….Joe?"I disconnected. I'm a very mature person.
"Who was that?" Lula asked.
"Joe"
"You two fighting again?" She looked at me skeptically.
"Yeah."
"Hunh, seems you two is always fightin." We got out of the car and strutted our stuff around the corner to the building. We pushed through the doors like we owned the place and went upstairs.
According to Ahmed, Barbara had once said she lived on the second floor in room 2B. We went to room 2B and knocked.
The door opened and a wispy woman with pitch black, ratty hair and vacant eyes opened the door. She looked us up and down and stiffened.
"What you want?"
"Are you Ruth?" I asked. She nodded then looked quickly back into the room, before slipping into the hallway and shutting the door behind her.
"Look, I can't have visitors, y'all gotta go." I could see fear, stark and plain in her eyes. I wanted to help her. I got images of Lula on my fire escape again and my heart constricted. I had to help her. I lowered my voice so it was barely a whisper when I spoke.
"We heard the voicemail." I waited for a reaction. She didn't disappoint me.
"Y'all need to just forget about it!" She turned, opened the door and it slammed shut. Lula and I were staring at each other, debating on whether we should knock again when the door opened. The Tank clone stood staring at us. I felt my mouth go dry and my knees go weak.
"You!" He reached out and grabbed me around the throat. I let out a squeak and he hauled me inside. He also reached for Lula but she'd swung her purse and it had knocked him upside the head. She'd lurched off down the stairs and I was hauled into the apartment, the door slamming behind me.
OOO
"Why are you here bitch." He asked. He only looked like Tank in appearance. He was mean and vicious, evil reeking from him where Tank was like a solid wall of protection. I felt safe with Tank. This man was made from the same stuff as nightmares.
"I needed a job." I'd said the first thing that had popped into my head and I hoped he didn't notice the panic that I was feeling. My heart was slamming against my ribs and I thought I was going to hyperventilate.
He hauled me off my toes by my throat. My legs kicked out as I grasped his hands, choking. Somehow my foot connected with his gonads and he dropped me, cursing. Then he kicked me in the stomach and I threw leaned down and grabbed my hair wrenching my head back to look at him.
"You're lucky you're alive bitch. Don't ever kick me again." He let me go, thrusting me down to the floor. I laid curled in a ball, trying not to whimper. "You want a job." He looked me up and down. "Dressed like that there's only one thing I can think of you want."
"You got a job for me?" I managed to croak out.
"Why'd you run last night?"
"You were scary." He laughed an evil, maniacal laugh that made me shiver. I thought perhaps I was way in over my head. I had to get out now.
"I don't think you need a job baby girl. I think you was snoopin." My breath caught. He was evil, mean, and smart. Not a good combination and it didn't bode well for me.
He grabbed my hair, pulled my head back so I was forced to look at him. He then punched me, his knuckles connecting with my jaw. Pain wracked through my skull. I had a scream on my lips but I don't know if I released it as darkness settled over me. My last concious thought was that I was in trouble and Ranger and Joe were over an hour away.
