Tea Leafing: A Novel (28 page)

“Right. Keep me
posted.” Joe disconnected and turned his attention back to his notes.

CHAPTER 63

Birdie was the last to
rise. Walking into the kitchen and rubbing her eyes, she noticed the remnants
of duct tape on her wrists.

“Bloody . . . Wha’ sort
of kinky shit did I get into last night?” she squinted, head throbbing.

“You were out of
control, Bird.” Mary Jane gave her a stern look.

“We had them tape your
wrists and ankles just to get you home,” Grace said.

“Fack. Why am I so sore
and how many people do I have to apologize to?”

“Well for starters, you
went fisticuffs with Sam.”

Birdie moaned and
looked at Sam, who was pouring hot water from a kettle into a mug for her. Sam
turned, revealing a fat lip and scratches running the length of her face and
down her neck. Offering the steeping tea to Birdie, Sam managed a crooked
smile. Birdie wrapped her hands around the body of the cup.

Smack!

Sam slapped Birdie so
hard she lost her footing and tumbled backwards. Tea splashed the floor and
cabinets of the loft’s kitchen as the mug clattered to the floor.

“That’s for the sucker
punch. Now we’re even.” Sam offered Birdie a hand and helped her back to her
feet. “I’m sorry Bird. That hurt you more than it hurt me.” She smiled.

“Guess I most likely
deserved that, eh?” Birdie rubbed a red mark on her arm where the drink had
scalded her. A perfect outline of Sam’s handprint glowed pink on her cheek.

Sam pulled Birdie into
a hug and talked into her hair. “Can you do this Bird? I know you’re taxed, but
we all are. If you want out you’ve got to do it now. Fuck around and blow this
… we’re all dead.”

Birdie nodded, pressing
her eyes shut again as tears flowed.

“Sorry, Sam. I’m so
sorry. I’ll keep my cool. I promise I won’t blow it.” She hugged Sam back.
Hard.

Mary Jane and Grace
made their way around the bar counter and wrapped their arms around the two.
They stood like that for a bit.
Each one thinking about their
dance with the devil in less than 48 hours.

“I remember being off
‘bout that bollocks sign Gio posted. I know I got stroppy with Sam but I don’t
know wha’ the ‘ell else happened.” She backed up and looked at her wrists, “How
the bloody ‘ell am I supposed to get this off?”

“Rip it. Who knows, you
may discover you can save a lot of money on waxing.” Sam turned to make Birdie
a fresh cup of tea.

“Right boss. Save that
task for later.”

“I guess I’m in deep
shit with Gio then? ‘Ave to kiss ‘is arse tonight?”

“Not tonight darling,
you’re suspended until next Friday.” Grace peered over her mug as she sipped
steaming coffee.

“Wha’? I just got off
suspension! One little indiscretion and ‘ees all over me.”

Sam pulled up her
camisole to reveal a darkening bruise over the left side of her ribs,
“Indiscretion? Shit, Bird, I’d hate to see what you can do when it’s a major
slip.”

“Sorry, Sam. I really
am. But a week?”

“Oh yeah, and a
five-hundred-dollar fine.”

Birdie started
breathing through her nose like an angry bull.

“Right.” She waited a
few moments until her breathing slowed, “Least it won’t muck up our plan, what
with me bein’ outta’ work . . . Bugger Gio!”

“It could be worse,”
Sam
said looking her in the eye, “You could have chipped one
of my teeth.”

CHAPTER 64

 
Friday came and went. Since Birdie was
suspended and Mary Jane had the night off, Sam and Grace decided to take a
break too. Anxiety was high. Knowing the club would be exactly the same on
Saturday as it had been on Thursday was rational, however, paranoia was setting
in. The idea that something vital might transpire in their absence lurked in
the recesses of their collective unconscious.

Tanya, who was trying
to make every dime she could before her trip to the Far East, was working her
last shift at Denny’s before she took off early Saturday morning. It was an
unusual hour for the girls to be there, and the place was relatively quiet.
Drunks and night owls wouldn’t start filing in for another hour or so.

“Ready?” Sam smiled at
Tanya.

“Oh yes, child. Ready
as I’ll ever be.” Tanya fingered the manila envelope Sam slid across the table
to her.

“I think that’s
everything you’ll need.” Sam said, nodding at the sealed paper.

“I’ll send a smoke
signal when it’s done.”

“How’s Shug?”

“Fine as frog hair.
He’s a little worried, but that old boy is so butch. Holds his cards close to
his chest and doesn’t show much emotion, ya know?”

The girls smiled.

“I think he feels
better that he’s checked those poor doctors out so thoroughly he knows what
they’re kids are named. If they had any secrets he’d a found ‘em.” She gave a
girlish smile as she looked down at the steel clasp holding the envelope shut.
“Does feel kinda nice that he’s gone to all this trouble for lil’ ol’ me.”

“Sounds
like he really loves you, Ms. Tanya,” Grace, a believer in true love, beamed.

“So you’re off to pick
up the money, then on to Bangkok?”

Shug had been slowly
funneling money into a numbered Swiss account for Tanya’s surgery so he
wouldn’t have to explain the discrepancy in his books to his accountant or the
IRS.

“Yes, ma'am. Lotta’
flyin’ in the next few days, but luckily I’ll have a bit to get settled in
Thailand before the surgery on Wednesday.”

“Do you get to keep
it?” Birdie couldn’t get over her fascination with the procedure.

“Birdie!” Mary Jane
almost blushed.

“Well?”

“Haven’t asked. I’m
working so hard to get rid of it, can’t say as I’d know what to do with it. Encase
it in Lucite?”

“Give it to me!” Birdie
chortled, “I can start a collection!”

“God bless you, little
Bird,” Tanya laughed, “You may be one of the most uncouth people I’ve ever met
and I love that about you. I’ll try, but I don’t know how in the world I’d
explain it at customs.”

“Do you fancy they’d
consider it perishable?” Birdie worked the equation in her mind.

“I think it’d be
perishable if it was still attached. It’s perished once they take it off.”
Tanya shot back.

They giggled.

“We need to stop this
before Grace throws up.” Sam said eyeing her friend who was beginning to turn
an odd shade of green.

“Have you talked to
Tyrone and Tyrese? How’re they doin’?”

“Havin’ some trouble
with one of the girlfriends. Other than that, they’re same as always.”

Tanya propped her
elbows on the table and rested her chin on the back of her hands to avoid
smudging her makeup. Her eyes danced around the interior of the restaurant,
then back to the girls.

“Last time I’ll be here
as Tommy. Maybe I can get a job with ya’ll when I get back.”

Birdie squealed with
excitement, “What a brilliant idea Tanya!”

“Order UP!”

Tanya reached across
the table and placed her delicate hand in the center, palm down.

Sam placed her own hand
on top of Tanya’s and gave it a squeeze.

Grace, Mary Jane, and
Birdie joined the pile.

The five sat for a
moment, looking at their joined hands, thinking about the silent oath they were
taking.

Tanya slid from her
seat and shuffled off to pick up their plates, which were waiting under the
warming lamps.

CHAPTER 65

Sam and Grace quietly
donned their skimpy uniforms and strapped garters to their legs like
pornographic militia readying themselves for battle. Mary Jane sat next to them
slowly dragging on her cigarette while watching the preparations. Casual
conversation would have been the natural flow of things, but none of the three
could think of idle chatter.

Grace made a few
attempts to apply her liquid eyeliner before giving up and holding the tube out
for Sam to help. Smiling, Sam took the hint, unscrewed the cap and rested her
pinkie on Grace’s cheek while she carefully traced the outline of Grace’s
lashes.

“So, what do you think
Birdie’s up to?” Sam asked.

Mary Jane looked at her
momentarily horrified, then fell into step. “Probably getting drunk and then
gettin’ some strange.”

“Don’t make me laugh,
I’m trying to hold still.” Grace breathed through parted lips. She could feel
Sam’s hot breath warming her cheek and the ritual, so familiar, comforted her.

Sam paused, smiling.
“And that’s saying something since it doesn’t get much stranger than Birdie.”

Mary Jane exhaled smoke
through her nostrils and grinned.

“Stop, you two! I’ll
never get my face on. Sam, focus please.” Grace stared at the two under half-mast
lids while the liner dried. She pushed a small case with false lashes toward
Sam.

“Please?” Grace begged
through a tight-lipped smile.

“Last night of Chicken
Plucker’s.” Mary Jane studied the burning paper at the end of her cigarette.
“Let’s hope the money is good tonight. You know what’s next don’t you?”

Grace glanced at Mary
Jane while Sam fiddled with the task of squeezing a thin line of adhesive on
the base of the false eyelash strip. “What?”

“Pathologists the first
part of the week and Obsessive Compulsives, Wednesday through Saturday.”

“Shit.” Grace looked
like the wind had gone out of her sails.
She’d been cornered
by a particularly morbid pathologist
the previous year. His only wish
was to talk at length about his work. His wife wouldn’t let him talk about it
at home, so he saved up all that death for his yearly trip to Atlanta. Grace
made a mint, but she ended up spending half her take on a therapist, just to
get her head right.

“Hold still.” Sam held
Grace’s face between her pinkies while trying to align the spider-like mass of
faux lashes.

“Done.” Sam stepped
back to admire her work.

CHAPTER 66

“What aah you doin’
here?” Gio looked up from his paperwork as Grace slipped into the office.

“Nothing.” She dropped
her chin slightly, a coquettish grin on her face. “Just brought you a little
something to help the time pass.

Grace wore a new set of
particularly expensive lingerie. Dressed in black, she looked dangerous. She
wore a corset with laces cinched tight and a matching thong. Her legs, wrapped
in black silk stockings with a back seam and Cuban heel that traced the path of
her curves.
Her pedestal, a pair of black, six-inch patent
leather mules.
A quick spray of golf grip on the
bottom of each foot to keep them from sliding in the shoes.
A silk
ribbon tied at her neck completed her look. She remembered reading that French
Courtesans did this to symbolize the separation between mind and body. That
worked for her.

Gio straightened
himself in his chair and turned his full attention to her. “Well, this is
unexpected.” He returned her smile with a sexy charm she’d been careful to
avoid until now.

“I know you don’t drink
on the job, but I thought you might make an exception just this once?” Grace
was always shocked at how effective the batting of eyelashes could be. It
seemed so ordinarily predictable but never failed to get the desired result, so
she batted.

Holding a shot glass of
clear liquid in each hand, she raised the two
slightly,
careful to make sure her chest was dead center.

Screwing up his mouth
as if in thought, Gio leaned back in his chair. “Oh, I s’pose I could make an
exception just this once.”

With the same slow gait
she used onstage, she circled his desk and came to a stop less than six inches
from his arm. Handing him one of the glasses she looked down her long, tan body
at him, “It’s Sambuca. Your favorite.”

Mary Jane had prepared
the shots. Grace’s glass was water, the other, a shot of Sambuca spiked with a
carefully measured dose of Versed. The drug had been purchased by Birdie
through her Bettie Page look-alike friend at Fifi Mahoney’s.

Used as an amnesia
inducer for surgical procedures, Versed resulted in a conscious, helpful,
subject with absolutely no ability to retain memories while under the
influence. It was colorless, odorless, and tasteless, making it just the thing
for the occasion. They had agonized over the dosage, since administering too
much would result in death. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, Birdie hadn’t ever
asked about specific amounts from her nurse anesthetist customer, who had been
the source of so much of their information on the drug. Scouring the Internet
for an accurate equation, Birdie had casually checked their findings with
another of her customers who was a pharmacist. Grace double-checked it with an
anesthesiologist customer. It was frightening how accessible the powerful drug
was on the street.

Accepting the glass, he
raised it to her. “To new friendships.”

“And what’s to
come
.” She emphasized the last word and
slowly took her shot of water.

Gio tipped his head
back and poured the shot down his throat, never losing eye contact with Grace.

She took his glass and
stacked the pair on an end table between two armchairs that backed up to the
two-way mirrors. Sliding into the chair, Grace spent a moment casually
straightening the seam in one of her stockings, pushing her bosom into her
knees, nearly spilling out of the corset.

“Thanks for helping us
with Birdie two nights ago, Gio.” She looked up at him with heavy lids. “You
are so level headed about things. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for
you to deal with crazy women every night.” She flipped a mass of blonde locks
across her
shoulder,
“I think I’d be gay if I were in
your shoes.”