The Snack J had been open for an hour, but you wouldn't know that without looking at the posted hours. There were no vehicles parked in front, and no customers inside. The joint's only occupant was concealed from view by the counter as she searched on her hands and knees for an uninvited guest in the lower cabinets.
Why me? Jun thought to herself.
Her back was complaining about spending the past thirty minutes stooped over. The knees of her pants were grimy from kneeling on the floor to look under the grill. She sat up and wiped her hands on her thighs, then leaned back against the wall.
The motion caught the corner of a slip of paper that had been sitting at the edge of the counter. It drifted down into her lap. She read the handwritten scrawl again:
Hey, Jun, we found some mice in that last batch of flour we got. Looks like our last delivery to you came out of that same shipment - you might want to check your place for signs.
-Harry
Harry's Restaurant Supply
Sure enough, something had chewed holes in three twenty-pound bags of flour, not to mention just about every other dry good she stored in the Snack. Now, here she was, on her hands and knees, searching every nook and cranny that she could aim a flashlight in. It was just as well. The only customers she ever saw this early on a Friday were her teammates, and the only one of them likely to put in an appearance today was Ryu.
Joe was going to be unsociable for a while. Apparently, his meeting with the team's one-woman accounting department had not gone well. Ken was not likely to forgive Jun for trying to strip-search him any time soon, but at least she would be able to keep her place open. Maybe the next time he got his expense reimbursement, he'd be more willing to cough it up and keep his tab going. Jinpei was still angry with her for letting Nambu have a copy of that photo, but he'd behave himself as long as she had the original. Jun still thought he looked too adorable, lying on that bearskin rug in his birthday best. Maybe she'd put it on display for the heck of it. Nah, she'd loose too many blackmail points.
Jinpei was due back any minute now. Their accountant had been sort-of right about Jun's need for that expense reimbursement. She'd already paid the rent for the month, but it would be hard to make rent the next month if she couldn't stay open, and she couldn't stay open with the water turned off. The moment she left Crescent Coral, she sent Jinpei to the city to pay the water bill and get it turned back on. She hoped they would hurry - customers were funny about having clean dishes.
Five minutes later, Jinpei rushed through the front door. As he made a mad dash up the stairs, he called down to Jun, "City says the water'll be back on in an hour!" When she heard his bedroom door slam, she decided he was still sulking and she was just going to wait until he felt like being a civilized human being before telling him to get his butt back downstairs.
Which means he'll be down when he's 25, she thought, and what was that whimpering! She shook her head and turned her attention to the backside of the refrigerator.
When her flashlight failed to reveal any beady-eyed fuzzies behind the fridge, she started searching the racks of canned goods. That's when she heard the front door open, and the soft scuffing sound of a woman's footsteps just inside the door. "Go ahead and seat yourself, I'll be out to take your order in a moment!" she called. She heard no more footsteps to indicate that her customer had taken her up on her suggestion, so she turned to face the door. The woman, dressed in a khaki skirt and matching blazer, was looking carefully around the dining room.
She stepped out from behind the bar to seat the woman herself. At that moment, a small, grey rodent appeared from behind one of the stools and stopped in front of the woman's feet. Fortunately, she was too concerned with checking out the dining tables to notice, and Jun hoped furtively that it would move on quickly. As she stood there waiting, she heard the door to Jinpei's room creak open.
A cream-colored, yapping mass of fur and teeth tore down the stairs, past Jun, and made a beeline for the mouse. The mouse, in its terror, attempted to find sanctuary by running between the woman's feet. Unfortunately, the puppy chose to take the same path, bowling the woman over face-first.
"JINPEI! You have thirty seconds to get this mutt out of here or I'm putting that picture on display right above the bar!" Jun managed through clenched teeth.
She regained some of her composure and bent to help her guest to her feet, "I'm terribly sorry, are you OK?"
"Yes, I uh, I'm fine," the shocked lady stammered.
"Now, what would you like to drink?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself," the woman began. "I'm with the Health Department."