Chapter 11

Lorelei woke the next morning, taking a few minutes before remembering where she was before it had all come back to her. The burglary in her building, the police and then Brian arriving, and him bringing her here.

She recognized the aroma of coffee and started to get up when she spotted a figure in the doorway. Startled, she reached for her glasses, finally seeing it was only Joey.

"Hey," Joey said in a low voice, "sorry I scared you. I shouldn't have done that, being you're probably kind of skittish from last night."

"No, no, I'm fine," Lorelei replied, pulling back her hair. "I was awake anyway. It just took me a bit to figure out where I was."

"Somewhere much safer, trust me. Between the alarm, Dad's pet tarantuala, and him keeping his service revolver nearby, there's little chance anyone is going to mess with us here. Kind of a perk of having a cop in the house."

"Yes, I saw the uh…spider."

"Don't worry, Medusa's not bad. I was kind of afraid of her at first too, but now she likes sitting on my shoulder when I watch TV and she likes crawling all over Dad. By the way, he must have gone out, because he wasn't on the couch when I got up."

Lorelei looked at the bedside clock. Nine thirty. "So early?"

"Yeah, go figure. Want some coffee? I made some."

"That may not be a bad idea," Lorelei smiled at the younger girl.

"Help yourself, I already got everything out," Joey said. "I have to feed Medusa."

Lorelei got a mug and filled it, shuddering a little as she watched Joey reach into the tank, petting the tarantula with one finger.

"No, girl," she heard Joey say. "You have to stay in your tank. I'm not searching all over the place again and have Dad yell at me because the last time you were out, you got out in the hallway and scared poor Mrs. Jefferson half to death."

"Good lord," Lorelei said, "maybe I should get one of those."

"Yeah, not many people would expect a pet tarantula when they'd break in somewhere. Besides, Dad says Medusa's a good pet because she doesn't require that much care. Anyway, the paper's on the table too if you want to look at that. I figured I better grab it since Dad wasn't here and need to get it before that crazy Mr. Lutz down the hall steals it."

"Maybe you should get Medusa on him," Lorelei teased.

"Hey, don't think Dad hasn't considered it," Joey laughed. "He thought about putting her tank out there at night, but doesn't want to end up scaring the paperboy instead."

The front door then slammed. "Joey!"

She grinned at Lorelei. "Speak of the devil."

Brian came into the kitchen. "Oh good, you two are up. I hope you haven't made breakfast yet, Joey, because I got stuff." He set down some bags.

"Just coffee," Joey replied. "I was waiting for you to get back before I made something."

"Good, because I got your almighty breakfast burritos at seventy nine cents apiece. And a dozen donuts."

"That's nutritious," Lorelei chuckled.

"Hey, don't knock it, little lady; around this house, we eat."

"Boy, you aren't kidding," Joey replied, setting coffee in front of him before taking a burrito. "You don't hang around Dad unless you do serious eating."

"Damn right," Brian nodded in agreement. "For example, never eat a salad unless it's the first fucking course, and that bitch better have some croutons and dressing on it. I'm not taking some lady out and blowing twelve dollars on rabbit food."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lorelei said, taking a donut, then gave him a look. "Are you reading the society page?"

"Just seeing how the other half lives," Brian replied, blushing a little.

"He always does," Joey laughed. "That's basically how he and Marie found out Paul was doing the town with that model a few nights ago."

"I read the sports and editorials too," Brian added. "Are you going to narc me out about those too?"

"And the comics," Joey continued, clearly enjoying herself.

"Well, you can't say your dad isn't a well-rounded person," Lorelei said.

"Well, yeah," Joey replied. "I mean, compared to Paul, Dad can be considered a genius."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Brian demanded, looking over the top of his paper.

"It means I love you, Dad," Joey smiled, putting her arms around him from behind.

"That's better." He handed over his mug. "Get me some more coffee, will you?"

"I should call my landlady," Lorelei said, heading toward her bag to pull out her phone. "At least to let her know where I am and that I'm okay."

"More like give her thirty days' notice," Brian suggested. "Lor, I talked to one of the detectives last night. That's the third time your building's been broken into in the last six months, and no offense, but it isn't one of the better neighborhoods, either."

"Where else can I go?" she asked. "It's all I can afford on my salary and it's not like I have anything worth stealing anyway."

"No, but who's to say some nut job will come in there next and try to kill someone? You're getting out of there."

"Well, big shot, you have any ideas where I should go?"

"Right where you are," Brian answered.

"Wait, you want me to move in here in a two bedroom place while you park on the couch? Brian, that's ridiculous."

"No it isn't," he said. "There's a bigger unit opening downstairs when they're done painting and I got first dibs on it already. Paid the first month's rent and everything. At least down there, I don't have to worry about Old Man Lutz jacking my newspaper or Old Lady Jefferson bitching about my spider getting loose or me coming in at all hours. There's also a security door to the building, as you know, and no one gets in until they're buzzed upstairs."

"Well….." Lorelei began.

"No 'well'; it's a done deal. We're going back there this afternoon so you can give your notice and start packing shit. I can camp on the couch for another week till the painting's done and the movers take shit downstairs. Plus you'll be closer to the precinct and we can go into work together."

"And it will be nice having another woman in the house," Joey added.

"At least let me pay half of the expenses," Lorelei offered.

"Half the rent," Brian replied. "That's it. I'm covering everything else, considering the kid here and I will take up more space."

"One thing about it," Lorelei smiled, finally accepting, "judging what I've seen just this morning, it certainly will be far from dull being with you two. All right, you win."