Tansy Taylor (19 page)

Chapter Fifteen

After a long night of tossing and turning and dreams about Russians in g-strings chasing me with guns I was glad to be awake. Well, at least until I went downstairs and flipped on the television.

There I was, in full stripper mode, jumping over men in the strip club in my escape last night. Some idiot had capitalized on his video featured phone and turned the footage into the local station. I groaned and sunk into the couch.

Jeni came into the room, eating a container of blueberry yogurt. She took a bite and leaned up against the wall. “Don’t worry. I recorded the whole story. They’ve played it during each of the morning news casts. I squinted at the clock on the wall. It was eleven thirty. By now, I was sure everyone I knew in Portland had probably seen it. Great. Maybe they wouldn’t recognize me with the pink hair and Arabian night costume.

“Nice costume by the way.” Jeni slurped yogurt off of the spoon.

“How did you know?” I whined. “This week totally sucks!”

Jeni sat down cross-legged across from me in one of our overstuffed chairs. “Don’t worry. Your detective friend called to warn you. You were still dead to the world, so I took it upon myself to record it and watch it, so I could fend off any unwanted callers.”

I groaned again. “Did they identify me?” Please say no, please say no, I silently begged.

Jeni shook her head. “Only as the unidentified pink haired harem girl.” She got up and headed toward the kitchen, giving my shoulder a squeeze as she passed by. “You certainly have had an exciting week. Not the typical nonsense for you.”

She brought me a huge steaming mug of coffee and a pumpkin scone and I sat and watched the news cast. They didn’t mention my name, but they did mention another woman, identified as Callie Winters, had gone missing from the club. They went on to say there were some possible leads and that my frightful escapade and Callie’s disappearance may be connected. Overall, not bad, I supposed. I was just praying we’d be able to find her before it was too late. We had to or I would never be able to live with myself.

I finished my last sip of coffee and heard my cell start singing. I grabbed my satchel sized purse from beside the couch and dug through the mess of receipts searching for my phone. My hand wrapped around it just as it went to voice mail. Obviously it was time to clean my purse. I flipped open the phone and glanced down at the number; it was Sam. Somehow I’d forgotten all about Sam in all of this. Was I supposed to meet up with him or something last night? I couldn’t remember. I listened to the message, no sign of a missed meeting, just calling to check on me. Did that mean he’d seen my little performance on the morning news? Hopefully he’s one of those types who watches the nightly news; rather wrap up the day with all of the bad goings-on in the world instead of starting out the day on that note.

He answered on the first ring. “Hi there!” I said, trying to keep it simple.

“Good morning sunshine! How are you doing this morning? Feeling okay?” Was he referencing something specific? Had I not been feeling well yesterday? Ugh, I hated when I used the ‘not feeling well’ excuse too often, I tended to forget who I had used it on.

“Um, ya, okay I suppose; just finishing up breakfast.” I decided to play it safe and go for uncommitted.

“Not feeling sore from your escapades last night, or upset at the fact that your new friend is now missing?” Crap. Of course he’d seen it.

“All of the above. Oh Sam! It’s totally my fault she’s missing! I never should have let her talk me into going down there.” I let all of my anxiety and worry out. Sam just listened. “But, I promised the detective I wouldn’t get too involved and he assured me that he is convinced they will find her before anything happens to her.” Reality of the situation came flooding back. I had to figure out where these files were and get them fast, or something bad would happen to Callie-and me.

“Humph. And what detective is this? It isn’t that same one from your exploding car, is it? I didn’t get a good vibe off him.” Was this jealously I detected in his voice?

“Actually, it is Detective Smith. He seems like a pretty solid detective, actually. I called him yesterday and he was there within minutes. He has a level head and I appreciate his honestly.” Whoa. Where did that little spiel come from? Was I defending the pallid detective to the exciting uber attractive P.I.? I shook my head; must just be the adrenaline of this whole situation, I wasn’t feeling quite myself lately.

“Well, whatever.” He lightly brushed my little tirade off. “Why didn’t you call me? I could’ve come down and helped out, or at least given you a ride home and tucked you in.” He sounded a tad put out.

“Oh, well, I know you totally would’ve come, but it was really late when it was all over, and I couldn’t do that to you, not when you have to work early in the morning. Besides, it’s much more important you’re there at Big’s to see anything going on that might be relevant to Buster’s murder or Callie’s disappearance. Right?” I heard him pause, and I sensed I’d won him over on logic.

“I suppose you have a point. But I was really worried this morning after I heard what you’d been through last night. It had to be a little nerve wracking, having big Russian dudes chasing after you while a ton of guys tried to grope you as you made your escape.” I could hear him smile through the phone.

I rolled my eyes. “So you saw the news then.”

“Oh, yes, I did. I have to say, your ass did look exceptionally hot in those gauzy pants. What were you dressed up like exactly? I’m guessing that the t-shirt and sneakers were not part of the original outfit?” His voice got a bit on the husky side and I like to think he was imagining the rest of the outfit.

“Well, it involved a lot of sequins and some four inch stilettos. I’m still not quite sure how I managed to run in those, actually, without breaking both of my ankles”. I rubbed my ankle tenderly. “One of them is a little tender though this morning.”

“Something I would have loved to see, under different circumstances though, of course. Maybe you can model it for me another time. For now though, I think we ought to meet up for lunch or an early dinner so you can tell me everything that happened and we can come up with a plan. You may have full faith in your detective buddy, but I sure don’t.” Just like that he was back to being all business.

“Okay, okay. You’re right.” I glanced up at the clock on the wall again, was it really almost noon? “Tell you what; I’ve got some stuff to take care of around here. I’ll meet you down at Big’s around three.” I had a few things to do, like laundry and dishes, or I wouldn’t have any clean clothes and my best friend would most likely stop talking to me. Maybe by the time I met Sam I’d have some sort of idea about how I was going to find these files.

“Sounds great. I told Jimbo I was going to head out early today anyway. They’ve been having me work so much under the table overtime that I am sick of cars. Will you wear the pants for me?” He kept his voice even so that for a minute I didn’t think I’d heard him right. I heard a chuckle in response to my confused silence. “Only kidding. See you later Tansy.”

I hung up and went about tidying up the living room. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done any housework, which when living with a compulsive neat freak, could be hazardous to my health. Before I could worry about the Russians and Callie, I had to worry about Jeni.

An hour and a half later I had the living room tidy and vacuumed, the dishes done and put away and the kitchen counters and floor gleaming. The scent of lemon cleaner hung in the air. There was a sense of accomplishment in having a clean house. I put the fact that my own room and bathroom needed a thorough scrubbing completely out of my mind. What Jeni didn’t know, couldn’t hurt her. There’d been one time she’d gone nuts and cleaned my room. She said I’d left the door ajar and she’d seen the mess. Being who she was, she just couldn’t leave it be. From then on, I made sure that the door to my room stayed firmly shut, especially when it wasn’t the quintessence of clean on the other side.

I still had over an hour before I needed to be down at Big’s. I did have one issue however, no ride. I was about five blocks away from the MAX line. I hadn’t had to rely on public transportation as my main mode of transit for a long time. I’d need to look up timetables. Just as I pulled the internet up on my laptop Jeni came in from her workroom.

“Hey there, is that lemon cleaner I smell?” She sniffed the air like a bloodhound picking up a scent.

“Yup. I figured you might like me better if I cleaned the place up once in a while.” I typed in the site for Portland’s transit system.

Jeni put her arms around me and squeezed me tight. “You know my weakness is a clean house. Thank you! I’ve been swamped with some new design work and it’s been absolutely driving me crazy that the house was getting dusty and there were dishes in the sink. I’m feeling so much better now.” She squeezed me again.

“Ya, well, truth be told, it was a bit therapeutic. I took my frustrations out on dirty floors.” I gave her a big hug back.

“Why are you looking at the transit schedule? Going somewhere?” She let go of me and glanced down at the computer screen. “I don’t know how people make sense of all those lines and dots; it totally makes no sense to me. I’d be totally dead if I ever had to rely on it to get somewhere on time.” I looked down and wrinkled my brow. I definitely shared her confusion.

“I can’t tell if weekdays are the blue or the red? And what do the asterisks mean? Also, which lines are the buses and which are the MAX? I don’t get it.” She added.

We sat there, tilting our heads and squinting at the screen; as if looking at it with a different perspective would make it better.

“Humph.” She grunted and then shrugged in defeat at the computer screen. “I’m not going anywhere until I get these designs finished. Why don’t you just borrow Zippy?” She suggested.

Zippy was Jeni’s electric pink Vega.

“That would be so awesome. I promise I’ll be back before six.” I grabbed her in a quick hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She waved her hand at me. “No hurry. You won’t turn into a pumpkin. Even if I do manage to get these designs done tonight, I think I’m going to settle in on the couch with a bowl of soup and some crusty bread. I’ve been out way too much lately and a night in sounds fabulous. You take your time and have fun. But, if you are going to be doing any sleuthing, promise me that you will take Sam or that new detective fellow you were talking about. I don’t want anything to happen to Zippy-or to you for that matter.” She gave me one more big squeeze for the road and then bounded off to the kitchen to get a Crockpot stewing up some of her favorite potato soup.

I ran upstairs and tried to tame my tangle of pink curls. I gave up after a minute grabbed a Portland Beaver’s ball-cap. If I was going to be wearing Jeni’s helmet, I may as well just keep a hat on. My hair did not survive helmets without coming out even worse than it started. I brushed on some mascara and a hint of blush and then swiped some gloss across my lips.

I grabbed my leather bomber, a pair of sunglasses and a mini-backpack that would substitute well for a purse. After swapping the essentials over from my satchel, I headed out.

It’d been a while since I had ridden Zippy, and while it was fun, I wasn’t the best at it. I suppose it had something to do with my clumsy disposition, or that fact that I had a somewhat short attention span for watching where I was going. I found I had to concentrate extra hard when I was riding the scooter. I had almost run into or been hit by several cars on previous outings. I was surprised Jeni actually trusted me to take her out again. I shrugged; I suppose it could have something to do with the fact that I’d only told her about a fraction of the near miss incidents.

I strapped the pink helmet on, put on the pack and my glasses, took a deep breath and headed out.

“You be careful with my baby!” I turned and saw Jeni standing on the front porch waggling her finger at me. Maybe she’d some second thoughts about her generosity. I chuckled, good thing I’d cleaned the house, in the afterglow of lemon cleaner, Jeni was just about as giving as men were when free beer was involved.

I made it to Big’s mostly without incident. There were a couple of close calls. I could feel little beads of sweat popping out along my hairline.

I pulled around the back of the lot and parked the scooter next to Sam’s Jeep. I could see him inside working on a car. It was still a few minutes to three, so I decided to head into the ladies to freshen up a bit. I peeled Jeni’s helmet off of my head and touched my hair. Ugh. I may need more than a few minutes to deal with this mess.

I got things under control and even thought I looked a little on the cute side. Maybe pink hair wasn’t as bad as I thought, it seemed to complement my complexion and give me a glow. I checked to make sure the coast was clear before I left the ladies’. I saw Big and Ronnie in what appeared to be a heated discussion near the far end of the show room. They appeared to be oblivious to anything else going on around them. I wished I could get closer to see if it was anything I should know, but it would be impossible.

.

“Hey Tansy.” I was turning to sneak to the shop when suddenly Buster was right there. Crap, not who I wanted to see. I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to tell him I’d lost Callie. Oh, boy. He already looked like he was more down in the dumps than usual. His hands were tucked into his pockets and he was keeping a downward cast with his eyes.