Lily walked in and took a seat at the bar. The same bartender, Jay, was working as before and she noticed right away that he gave her a second look before coming over and taking her order. She kept it simple – a tall draft and she took the time for him to return to glance around the bar. From their stakeout she recognized a few of the regulars.
Jay returned with her drink and she paid him, telling him she didn't want to start a tab because she wasn't sure yet how long she would be staying.
Again she was struck by how none of this seemed to fit. This was a dive bar by any stretch of the imagination and not someplace Regina was likely to go. She had spoken to her mother the night before to give her an update. She had described the bar and Maleficent agreed it wasn't the type of place Regina would frequent.
She was still building on her relationship with her mother but when she asked her to come here with Emma, she had balked at first.
Her mother had been upset about Regina leaving – and Lily was beginning to wonder how close her mother had been with Regina.
It wasn't that she didn't want to help, she just didn't want to let her mother down if they came back empty-handed.
Plus she wasn't sure what it would be like to spend so much time with Emma. They had hung out some since they had come back into each other's lives but it always seemed like something was happening – Emma taking on the Dark One's curse, Emma's trip to hell and back, and then Regina leaving had caused a host of other issues.
None bigger perhaps than the chip on Emma's shoulder.
Lily was certain that if she hadn't had stopped Emma the sheriff would have pulled out her gun and stuck it in the bartender's face until he told her what she wanted to know. It was like Emma was one big, raw nerve that was exposed to the world right now, and that made her dangerous.
She took her time drinking her beer and then ordered another.
"So what happened with your friend?" Jay asked her when she was halfway through her second beer. He was cleaning the counter just a little way down from her acting as if he was only partially interested in her answer.
Took you long enough, Lily thought. She was beginning to think she would be on her third beer before he got the balls up to ask her.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Your friend was looking for that other woman, the one about the inheritance, did she find her?"
"Yep," Lily said, taking a sip. "Although it didn't have anything to do with an inheritance. That is just a cover that she uses when she is looking for someone."
Jay leaned against the counter. "What do you mean a cover?"
"Oh, my friend. Her name is Emma. She's like a bounty hunter of sorts," Lily said. "That woman she was looking for – criminal – wanted back up north. You never know if people you are asking information from are friends with the person or not so Emma uses that inheritance story as a cover."
"But you say she found this woman?"
"Yeah," Lily replied. "Emma likes to do the whole apprehending thing on her own so I get to sit back and enjoy myself until she brings her in. Don't imagine it will take too long. That woman isn't exactly being careful. We found her easy enough. So I get to sit here or at the motel and wait until Emma calls and then we'll be back on our way. Job kind of sucks at times but I do love to travel."
"That's good to hear, that you found her," Jay said. He finished wiping the counter in front of her and then disappeared into the back.
Well, that was predictable, Lily thought as she finished her beer and put the money on the counter before walking out. She went out to the car where Emma waited. She watched her phone as she did so. She had been close enough to clone the bartender's cell and now they only needed to see who he contacted. She wasn't halfway to the car when her phone beeped. It wasn't the kind of cell cloning you saw on TV. This only allowed her to see the number of who was being called or texted. But it would be a starting point for them.
She got in the car and showed Emma the phone number which had been called.
"That's a Miami exchange," Emma said.
"How did you know that off the top of your head?"
"You would be surprised the things I learned in my former employment," Emma said. "Now it's time to find out who belongs to that number."
She made a call to the same contact who had given her this tip to begin with and passed the number on to him. They were back at the motel hours later when she got a callback. In the meantime, there were more calls and texts from the bartender's phone – another to that same number.
Emma used the small notepad on the desk to write down what her friend told her about the number, thanked him, and then hung up. She had been on the phone for quite a while which caused Lily to start pacing.
"Aren't you going to give him the other numbers we got today?" she asked.
"Will later if we need to, but I think that first number is our best bet. Although I admit this is getting stranger and I'm not sure we are on the right track," Emma said. "My friend says the number is to a club in Miami – one way more upscale than that bar. It's owned by a guy named Ramon Suarez, although his real name is get this James Monroe. He changed his name and style practically overnight about seven months ago when he bought the club. The DEA and the FBI have been trying to infiltrate it for months but can't get anyone on the inside because they are pretty sure it is some sort of safe zone for the gangs in and around the city. It's like a meet-up place on neutral ground."
"Ok, so what does this have to do with Regina?"
"No idea, but we're going to Miami to check the place out," Emma said. "It is after all called The Monarch."
….
"Now this is more like it," Lily said after she and Emma were allowed inside The Monarch. They had gotten into the city the day before and scoped the place from the outside and decided some shopping was in order so they would not only be admitted inside but also blend in. Or as Lily put it, "we're going to wear short, tight dresses."
Besides eyeing both women from top to bottom the bouncer didn't give them any trouble getting in.
They went slowly to the bar, both women taking in things like the closest exits and the general clientele. This was definitely more upper class than the bar on the coast. Still, Emma had a hard time picturing Regina here as well. The music playing was loud, a Latin beat of some sort, and people were already on the dance floor even though it was early in the evening yet.
Emma let Lily order their drinks while she continued to scan the place. She noticed there was a door behind the bar for the staff that probably led to a break room/stock room of some sort. The club had three levels – one up and one down from where they stood. The staircases too were crowded with people.
This must be a highly profitable place, Emma thought.
While she admitted she didn't see Regina being in a place like this, there was one thing about Miami that made Emma think it was plausible that she was here. When they had arrived in the city yesterday they had taken rooms at a hotel a couple of blocks down from here. As they had neared the hotel Emma realized she could feel her magic again.
When she first left Storybrooke in search of Regina, once she had crossed the border, it was like a curtain was drawn between her and her magic. She knew it was still there but she couldn't touch it to do anything with it. She had since discovered that while the curse had brought them to a world without magic, it wasn't entirely a true statement. Magic did exist in this world – it was why those like Tamara and Greg knew of it and were working with the mysterious Home Office to rid the world of it.
Magic wasn't widespread in this world, but there were pockets where magic was possible. She now knew at least part of Miami was one such pocket. It meant that Regina could be here and in full use of her magic. What she was doing with the magic is what concerned Emma. She had to remind herself that when they found Regina, there was no way of knowing what Regina would be like with only half a heart – and not the good half.
It did make sense that she would choose a place that allowed her to use magic.
After getting their drinks she and Lily began to walk around the place. They started on the main floor, making mental notes as they went along. There was a stage on this floor and right now there was only a deejay up there with his equipment. There was access to the stage from behind it. They went downstairs next where the layout was different. There was no stage here. The music was just pumped in from the upper level and instead of one long bar taking up one of the walls, there was a square-shaped bar in the middle of the room and more tables and chairs down here. Again Emma made note of all the doors.
"She could be anywhere in a crowd like this and we would never know," Lily said into her ear.
She wasn't incorrect but Emma didn't acknowledge it. They went back upstairs, this time going to the top level. Here there were more couches for people to lounge around in and more private nooks where Emma supposed people of importance camped out. It wasn't until she was up there and leaning against the rail looking down that she realized that there was space opposite of her – a tinted glass area that sat above the bar from the middle level. She pointed it out to Lily.
"Probably the owner's suite. Not unusual for a place like this," Lily said. "It would have the business offices and private area for entertaining guests. From there he could look down at the entire club."
"How do you get up there?" Emma said.
Lily looked around again. "Maybe from behind the bar or the stage I don't see any other door that would make sense for granting access up there. Either way, we don't get up there without an invite."
Emma stared at the glass wondering if the owner was up there right now looking down at his club. And if he was, was Regina with him.
They spent the rest of the evening trying to be regular club-goers. Lily was doing a much better job of it than she was. All she could think about was trying to figure out a way to get up to that private area.
If Regina were there had she seen Emma and Lily already?
She had thought a lot about what she would say to Regina when she found her. Her mind kept going back to the letter that Regina had left for her. It was back in the hotel room as she had kept it with her since she had gotten it. Despite Zelena's and Maleficent's insistence she had not shared its contents with anyone, not even Henry when he asked. No, the contents were strictly between her and Regina.
They stayed until closing time and took a cab back to the hotel. "Change clothes and meet me in my room in an hour," Emma said.
"What for?"
"Just do it," Emma said. She entered her room and quickly changed clothes into a pair of jeans and a dark shirt. While she waited for Lily to join her and she pulled out the letter from her jacket and sat on the bed and read it over once more. She didn't need to read it anymore as she was sure she could recite it word for word.
Finally Lily entered the room. "Ok, so what are we doing now?"
"We're going back to the club?"
"You mean the club that is now closed."
"Yes, we're going inside to check it out."
Lily leaned against the closed door. "Again, I'm not feeling like getting arrested."
"We won't be arrested. No one will even know we are there."
"Ooh, are we going to use our invisibility cloak, Harry Potter?"
"No, but we are going to use magic."
Lily didn't say anything, but she did open the door for Emma to go out first. Emma grabbed her jacket and put it on, tucking the letter back into the inside pocket. It wasn't her red jacket, it was a new one she had just picked up when they got into the city. They walked down to the club, both women alert for any dangers of being two women walking alone in an unfamiliar city. They stayed on the sidewalk opposite of the club.
They watched the club for a bit from a nearby alleyway.
"What about the cameras?" Lily asked.
Emma pulled two ski masks and handed one to Lily.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Lily said, as she put one on. Once they were both masked, Emma took Lily's hand in hers and let the magic wrap around them. They appeared in the bathroom that she had checked out earlier to make sure it would be a good landing spot.
"And now that we are in here, what about alarms?" Lily said, keeping her voice low. "What about guards?"
"We'll deal with them if they become an issue. We stay next to each other, we can always poof back out," Emma said.
"Why don't we just poof into that upper office space?"
"Because I have never been there before and I'm not exactly confident in my ability to get us up there without reappearing in the middle of a desk."
They left the bathroom slowly, looking around for any sign of guards or anything that would pose a danger to them. Lily led the way as they decided to take the route behind the stage first to see if it led upstairs. They figured it would be a better chance that the entrance was that way rather than from behind the bar.
They guessed right as there was a set of stairs leading up. Once they got there the door was locked. Lily pulled something out of her jacket and Emma was unsurprised when she began picking the lock.
Entering the darkened space they didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Lily clicked on a small flashlight and flashed it around.
"Check the desk," Emma said. "I'll check the file cabinets."
Both stepped forward and a small light on the desk clicked on. Emma grabbed Lily's hand to get them both out of there.
"Don't tell me you came all this way to disappear now."
"Regina?" Emma said recognizing the voice. More lights came on and Regina was sitting on a couch in the room.
"Hi Lily," Regina said. "It was nice of you to come but I think Miss Swan and I would rather speak in private."
Regina waved her hand and Lily disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
"Don't worry," Regina said. "She's safely back in her hotel room. I don't feel much like picking a fight with Mal by harming her daughter – at least not right now. So Miss Swan, why don't you take a seat."