God made man stronger but not necessarily more intelligent. He gave women intuition and femininity.
And, used properly, that combination easily jumbles the brain of any man I've ever met.
- Farrah Fawcett
Chapter 9.
Later that night, Julie took a cab to Manny's. She was wearing a tight, short black dress with deep cleavage and high heels. She felt confident as she walked in at the club, the security let her go right through. She took a look around at the club. It was large, with three dancefloors and three bars. Kris said she'd been by Mark Wright's bar, and Julie could understand why. He was looking good. Very good.
Julie walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the high seats.
"What can I get you beauty?" Mark Wright said, facing Julie.
"What about a job?"
"What?"
"I'm short on the bucks, and I need a job. Now. I've been a bartender. You guys aren't hiring right now?""Well, that's not up to me, but I could love some help behind the desk. Do you see the door over there?"
Julie looked at the door where Mark pointed, before looking back at Mark.
"Yeah?"
"That's Manny's office. Why don't you go and talk to him?"
"I will. Thanks."
"Not a problem. And if he says no, you get over here and I'll buy you a drink. Deal?"
"Deal."
Julie smiled and rose to her feet, and made her way through the big crowd to the door Mark had pointed to. It said "Manny's" on the door, and Julie knocked it. It only took a second before the knock was answered with a `come in´, and Julie walked in.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" Manny said, looking Julie from her feet and up.
"I'm a bartender, and I'm looking for a job. Mark Wright told me to knock this door."
"Oh. Well. I'm really not looking for anyone, but for you… Why don't you jump in together with Mark, and try out for a few nights and we'll see where it leads."
"Sounds great."
"Good. I pay 50 bucks a night, and you make keep all the tips you get."
Julie nodded.
"Love the sound of that."
"Sign here, and then get out there."
Julie smiled, read through the contract and signed it. She then shook hands with Manny, before walking out into the club again. She walked down to Marks bar, and walked in behind it.
"Hello there. Hope you won't mind some help back here."
"You got it?"
"On a try out basis."
"I'm not surprised." Mark said, looking her from her feet and up.
The entire night, Julie served drinks, talked to people, mostly Rick, and earned her tips. When the night were turning into morning, the crowd began to go through the front doors. The fewer the people got, the more talk it became.
"So, where you from?" Mark asked.
"Here and there. I can't stand staying at one place. I go from place to place, earn some money at the stops, then hurry off to the next place. I love earning fast money and then spend it all going from coast to coast."
"Look. Julie. I like you, I like you a lot. If you want to make fast money, I maybe have a way to make you do that."
Julie looked at him. Was he all ready trusting her enough to tell her about what he was doing? Had he robbed Kris?
"What's that?"
Mark looked at his watch.
"We're off now. I'll tell you tonight. Have a good day Jul."
Julie smiled, and picked up her tips for the night before she left the bar too, getting into a cab. She waved goodbye to Mark, and gave the driver her address.
After getting a few hours of sleep, Julie got up, took a shower and headed to a Chinese restaurant close to the office. When she walked in, she immediately spotted the gang in one of the booths. She ordered by the desk before sitting down together with the others.
"Hello there!"
"Hi." Julie smiled, sitting down next to Bosley.
"You look tired." Kelly smiled.
"Jeez, tell me about it. Being a bartender in one of LA's most popular clubs is really a hectic job. But I had a lot of fun, and I talked a lot to Mark Wright, and he was opening up to me. A lot. He was just about to tell me a way to earn some quick money when our shift ended. He'll tell me tonight."
"Did you have fun then?"
"Yeah! And well, lunch is one me." Julie smiled.
"Did you make that much money?"
"50 bucks plus tips."
"And how much did that turn into?" Jill asked with a grin.
Julie smiled widely.
"Let's just say that if I work there a few nights a week, Charlie has to give me hell of a raise to keep me."
Julie pulled up a bundle of bills from her pocket with an evil grin on her face.
"Oh my! How much cleavage did you have?" Jill blurt out, making some guys in the nearby booth look their way.
"Jill!"
"What?" Jill said, meeting Kelly's eyes, without the slightest idea of what she had said, or how improper it was at this place.
Kris was the first one to start laughing, and soon they were all doing it.
That night, Julie went to the club again, and dove in behind the bar. She held up the forces herself for a while before Mark came hurrying down.
"Sorry I'm late, thanks for the help!"
"Not a problem! Why late?"
"I had to talk something over with a friend."
"Oh."
"Tonight's the dance competition, so there will be a lot of people here."
"Sounds fun! Do you have those once a week?"
"No, twice a week. It draws a lot of people."
"Great!"
Julie wanted to ask Mark about the fast money, but she didn't want to put pressure on him, so she decided to let it be for a while.
When midnight stroke, the dance competition was on. After a few couples were out, Julie recognized one of the dancers. Richard Hooth. She had only seen him on pictures, but she knew immediately that it was him. He danced with a blonde woman, and they managed to get in third place. He brought her over to the bar where Julie and Mark were working, he kissed her good night, and then he disappeared. While Julie served a gang some beers, she watched Mark. He was talking to the blonde as she sat down on one of the chairs, and he offered her a drink. Clean. No drugs. Julie continued to glance at him and her, realizing she was wearing quite a necklace, probably real diamonds.
About a few hours later, the woman had all ready had several drinks, and Mark kept giving her more. Julie served another woman a grasshopper and she saw in her peripheral vision how Mark dropped something into the woman's drink. He gave it to the woman, and it didn't take long before she changed radically. She was swaying on the chair, her words came out as a blur.
A few minutes later, a big, dark colored man walked over to them. "I'll put her in a cab, I think she's had enough."
Mark just nodded as the man walked away with the woman, pretty much carrying her. "I'll just use the ladies room for a second, now when everything has slowed down." Julie said, and Mark smiled to her.
Julie went to the ladies room, and outside them she found payphones. She had gotten the number to Bill's car, and now she dialed it.
"Duncan."
"Hi, this is Julie. The bouncer is leaving with a blonde as we speak, I saw Mark slip the drugs in her glass."
"Okay, good job. Just act along, we need to catch them all in act if we're supposed to get this clear. I'm in my car outside, together with my partner. Other cops are in hidden civil cars all around the block. Kris and Bosley are in Bosley's car, they'll wait for you."
"Good."
Julie hang up the phone, and walked back to the bar. They finished the shift, and then accompanied Mark outside. He got into his car and drove off in a hurry, and Julie slipped into Bosley's car.
"Let's go get them."
Only a couple of minutes later, Kris sighed.
"Crap. I know where they're going."
Bosley and Julie turned to Kris.
"Where?"
"Nicole's beach house."
Kris was right. Only a few minutes later, the bouncer dragged the semi-conscious woman into Nicole's beach house. Bill parked up the road, Bosley pulled up behind him, and another cop car pulled up behind Bosley. A minute later, a car drove by them and stopped outside the house. Out of the car walked two men.
"That's Hooth and Wright." Kris said in the walkie-talkie to Bill and the other car.
"Everybody stay still until I tell you. We don't want the woman to be hurt, but we need to wait until they do anything before we can arrest them."
They all sat still for about 20 minutes, watching what was going on through binoculars. They all had a clear view into the bedroom where they had put the woman on the bed.
Suddenly, Bill and Mike rushed out of the car, yelling in the walkie-talkie to everyone to move in.
"Kris, you stay here."
"No way Bosley, I'm going in too."
"You don't have a gun. What you do have is a concussion. You're staying here and that's end of discussion." Bosley stated as he and Julie jumped out of the car, followed by the cops from the car behind them.
Bill and Mike was first in the house. They ran in with their guns in front of them.
"Freeze! LAPD! Drop her!"
Kris had no plan to wait in the car. She watched the others move in, and then she followed to. She felt mixed emotions of fear and anger when she walked up the stairs and entered the house. She stopped dead in the door, staring at the scene. Richard Hooth, Mark Wright, the bouncer and Nicole Hanson were all up against the wall, being handcuffed by the cops. The woman had passed out on the bed, Julie was sitting next to her checking her pulse.
"She's got a strong pulse." Julie said, staying by her side, trying to get her to respond without luck.
"Kris?"
Kris looked over at Bill. He was standing by the wall, holding a big box filled with jewelry. He grabbed a necklace and held it up so Kris could see it.
"Does this belong to you?"
Kris nodded slowly.
"Yeah. It's mine."
Kris stood by the wall when the cops took the others out of the house. They all looked at Kris as they walked by, Nicole stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Kris.
"Krissy."
Kris met her eyes, but did not answer.
"I'm sorry." Nicole said, before Mike took her out.
Kris leaned against the wall, and Bosley walked up to her, put his arm around her shoulders.
"Are you okay kid?"
"I… I can't believe she was in on it."
"Come on Kris, let's sit down."
Bosley led Kris over to a chair and she sat down.
"How… how could she do that?"
"I don't know sweetie. I don't know."
"We've been friends for years, since I first moved into the beach house."
The angels waited together with one of the cops until paramedics arrived and took the woman with them. The cop followed the ambulance, and Bosley, Julie and Kris went to the police station.
As they got there, they walked up to the interrogation room. Bill was in the room together with Nicole. She was leaning back in the chair, arms crossed over her chest.
"I'm not saying anything before my lawyer is here, and she's not coming until the morning."
Bill sighed. He knew he had to wait. He nodded and walked out of the room, and walked into the observation room.
"We have to wait a few hours until their lawyers comes here. Why don't you go home and get some rest, and I'll call you when they've arrived."
Things are getting clearer, right? ^_^
Tell me what you think! ^__^ Did you guess right?
But remember - we've still got some chapters to go ;D