Tea Leafing: A Novel (32 page)

She
turned,
knowing the only way to deal with this was head on. The last thing she needed
was to have them follow her to the storage space. Putting both hands on the
handle of the cart she began fruitlessly tugging, trying to get the buggy back
on the sidewalk.

The two cops sauntered
slowly across the street, turning their heads to watch traffic. The heels of
their hands rested atop the butts of their service revolvers, as they slowly
approached.

“Did you not hear me? I
said you need to move this out of the street.”

“Mmmmuh. Mmuh.” Birdie
suddenly decided to have a severe speech impediment.

She saw the second
officer wince as they got closer and he noticed the two large facial moles.
She’d glued small clippings of eyelashes to them for fun, knowing it would
cause people to avert their eyes, hoping not to be caught staring at the
disgusting, hairy lumps. She’d considered adding a ‘stache but decided that might
be overkill.

Pulling on the handle
again as if to show the officers that the weight of the cart was too much for
her she grunted,
 
“Oah. OAH!”
Hoping they’d understand her nonsensical blathering.

They moved closer,
studying the cart. One of the officers pointed to it and asked, “Do you need
help?” He enunciated his speech more clearly and louder than before as if her
mute act was also a sign that she was deaf. She rolled with it.

Nodding furiously, her
face spreading into a large grin revealing more of the costume makeup she’d
gone wild with. Her front teeth were blacked out and the remaining
were
yellowed to the color of chicken broth.

The two officers
positioned themselves at either end of the cart. They were able to get it a few
inches off the ground before the one at the far end
yelled
“FUCK!” and dropped it.

“What the hell do you
have in here? Dead bodies?” The red-faced cop spoke to the pavement, still not
able to bring himself to look at her face.

Just a couple hundred grand in stolen money
, she thought.

“Mah. EE Mah.” she
said, stretching her arms across her bags as if they were going to try and
steal her possessions.

The radio inside the
cruiser screeched to life, “10-67, ARMED ROBBERY IN PROGRESS, CORNER OF
PIEDMONT AND PEACHTREE. REPEAT 10-67, ARMED ROBBERY IN PROGRESS, CORNER OF
PIEDMONT AND PEACHTREE.” The two men looked at each other then back at Birdie.
The second officer ran back across the street toward the waiting squad car.

“Next crossing, get
this thing back on the sidewalk,” the first cop said, raising a finger as a
warning. He walked backwards toward the car, still watching for traffic. “We’re
comin’ back by here and if I see you again, I’m not gonna be so nice.” He
turned and sprinted for the car as Birdie clung to her metal raft.

The lights and sirens
blared and the car made a u-turn across the four lanes of intermittent traffic.
Speeding off down Piedmont, the squad car blazed past the Pussycat where a much
larger, unarmed robbery was in progress.

“Fackin’ wankers.”
Birdie smiled and continued her trek.

CHAPTER 79

Mary Jane was
astonished that she was able to coax Pietra back through the darkness and into
the glaring bright lights of the club’s overhang entrance. She wasn’t supposed
to be outside during business hours, but no one was going to stop her. She was
effectively distracting Gio’s mother from launching assaults on other
employees.

Pietra pulled her
bolero style rabbit fur coat around her and winced at the cold wind. She
sputtered and moaned, turning herself as if to find a direction that would best
block her from the breeze while protecting her helmet of heavily sprayed hair.

“No, I need to go back
in. This is awful!” Pietra began to shuffle back toward the glass doors.

Mary Jane took Pietra
by the shoulders and steered her into a recessed nook in the wall of the
building.

“Just a few minutes,
Ms. Pietra. You don’t want to trip and fall in that darkness. You’re from New
York. You can handle the cold for a minute or two, can’t you?”

Pietra made a face as
if now presented with a challenge.

“Yeah, okay. But just
for a minute.”

The exterior lights
were harsh, washing out Pietra’s skin. Mary Jane could see every wrinkle. She
looked much older than expected. Mary Jane had a fleeting pang of guilt,
wondering if this battle-axe wasn’t maybe a real human being under the layers
of make-up and gold. Did she really just want to be loved? Did she just want
attention? Could she just be clueless about how to relate to people?

Mary Jane pulled a
cigarette from her apron and popped it into her mouth. She could feel tobacco
leaves on her tongue and quickly reversed the Marlboro’s direction, spitting
the flakes onto the ground. Depressing the igniter several times she lost the
battle with the wind. Pietra groaned and cupped her hands around Mary Jane’s
cigarette.

“For Gawd sake, yuh
gonna kill yourselves with those things.” She looked away while Mary Jane lit
the smoke.

“Thanks. And yeah, I
know.”

Glancing around at the
street Mary Jane saw a long green Lincoln Town car pull underneath the overhang
and stop in front of the valet stand.

Past the glowing green
monstrosity, beyond the parking lot and the gates of the club, she saw a
hunched figure pushing a cart slowly along Piedmont Avenue.

CHAPTER 80

Sam stepped into the
office as Ursula’s first song ended. The main room lightened to a reddish glow
as Max brought the lights up. Still nowhere near full strength, but light
enough for waitresses to begin making their rounds.

The crowd was silent.
Seconds passed until applause, whistles, and cheering erupted from the packed
house. It shook the main room. Sam could feel the floor beneath her feet
tremble slightly. Glancing out the windows, she could see Ursula holding a
position midway up the pole with her arm outstretched, the torch perpendicular
to her glistening body.

The noise didn’t stop.
It intensified.

Sam realized Max was
holding the music for the second song until the riotous energy on the floor
subsided. Ursula slid down the pole and made her way to the back corner of the
stage where she extinguished one end of her torch and picked up a set of Poi.
She lit the Poi and extinguished the other end of the torch in a jar.

The Poi, which were
essentially wicks attached to a stainless steel cable about two feet long were
made for swinging like num-chucks. The handles were leather straps with a
swivel snap to prevent the cables from twisting and coiling out of control.

“Shit,” Sam muttered.

Ursula’s old show had
only involved torches. Sam had seen Poi shows at concerts and raves, but never
flaming
Poi, and never at a strip club.
Glancing down at Ursula’s collection of props in the corner of the stage, she
saw a five-torch fire fan and another torch designed for fire breathing.
Apparently Ursula had been practicing quite a bit since her accident. Dumbfounded,
Sam stepped back from the glass wishing she could be part of the crowd instead
of sneaking around in the darkened corners.

Ursula started swinging
the Poi, giving the appearance of large circles of fire, four feet in diameter.
Prodigy’s Firestarter vibrated through the speaker system and spurred on the
spinning balls of fire held by the dark, nimble dancer.

“Sam?”

Gio’s voice startled
Sam and pulled her back to the task at hand.

“Gio?”

CHAPTER 81

Putting the car in
gear, Joe slowly rolled the sedan from its parking space in a public lot
adjacent to the back of the club.

“Where ya’ goin’?” the
other agent asked.

“I gotta take a shit.
We’ve been on stake-out for nine hours and I can’t hold it.”

The agent nodded,
picking up his radio to signal the team in front of the club that they’d be
gone for a few minutes.

“Nothin’ seems to be
happening anyway, and I want to take care of this before the club shuts down.”

Steering the car along
a side street past the club, Joe turned right onto Piedmont Avenue in the
direction of the girls favorite haunt – Denny’s. He searched the
sidewalks for the homeless woman he’d seen
turn
this
way.

A police car raced
past, heading in the opposite direction with lights and siren going full blast.

Up ahead, Joe spotted a
dark figure moving along the opposite side of the street, with her back turned
to their approaching car. Joe pulled up next to the cart-pushing street person
and tapped his dash light on, bringing the sedan to a stop.

The assisting agent
started to clear his garbage from his lap and remove his seat belt.

“She’s just off the
curb, man. I’ll help her and we’ll be on our way. You hang tight and listen to
the radio. Sounds like there’s something goin’ on up the street.”

Nodding, the agent
asked, “Isn’t that the homeless lady who was rooting around behind the club?”

“I think so. I’ll see
if she knows anything when I help her. Tit for tat, you know?” Joe smiled and
exited the unmarked car.

CHAPTER 82

Sam raced around the office, pulling open the doors to the unlocked
closet at the back of the room. She ejected the DVDs from their slots,
collecting the discs as quickly as she could. Reaching back into the pink Victoria’s
Secret bag Birdie had left on the steps for her she pulled out a stack of jewel
cases.

Popping them open she began loading the new DVDs back into the trays.
Why the hell hadn’t they thought to empty the trays ahead of time? Tapping
buttons on the DVD recorders, she got the trays closed again. She pushed the
play buttons. Porn appeared on each screen, one by one. Dumping the Security
DVDs back into the bag, she pulled out a small white cotton cloth.

Racing around the office she began wiping things down.
Gio, who was now completely absorbed in the writhing flesh on the
monitors seemed quite content.

Sam grabbed the two shot glasses on her way out. She’d drop them at the
bar for Mary Jane to wash and throw the bag into her locker. Customers often
brought the girls gifts, so it wouldn’t seem that strange to see a dancer
walking to the dressing room with a small shopping bag filled with goodies.

She glanced around the office one last time. Pushing the door latch
lever with her cloth, she slipped into the darkness.

CHAPTER 83

“Maaax,” Grace purred.

“S’up G?” Max’s attention was flipping between the stage and the
soundboard in front of him. Grace relaxed slightly, believing this was a good
sign. Max was the type who would let you know immediately if he had the upper
hand.

“Nothin,’ just wanted to come see if you were lonely.”

Max glanced at her with a curious look on his face. Grace wasn’t the
type to flirt with co-workers, especially since there wasn’t a man in there who
would have rebuffed her advances.

“Are you drunk?” Max was perplexed.

“Maybe a little.” Grace wobbled toward him and slung her arms around his
neck from behind, pressing her body against his back.

“Um, okay . . . Gimme a minute, Grace. This high-maintenance bitch has
managed to work up a stage set with more fuckin’ detail than any ten features
I’ve ever seen. Are you watching this show? I’d complain, but her performance
is worth the trouble. Ya know?”

“I haven’t been watching, Max. I’d rather watch you.” More eyelash
batting and she was in. Instant alibi if anyone ever questioned him.

CHAPTER 84

Pietra scrunched her nose up as she watched the two tall black men exit
their car, handing the keys to one of the valets who
was
jogging in place to keep warm.

“Oh Lord,” she whispered to Mary Jane, nodding her head toward the pair,
“What is ‘dis world comin’ to?” She crossed herself for show.

Mary Jane glanced back over her shoulder as if to check out what Pietra
was referring to. “Them? Do you know about those guys, Pietra?”

“Them?” Pietra made another sourpuss face.

“They’re two of the richest and might I add most gentlemanly guys you’ll
ever meet.”

Pietra grunted, “Right. Don’t try to sucka me dawl.”

“I’m serious, Pietra! I know they look a little eccentric, but they made
a killing during the dot
com
boom. They don’t want
anyone to know how much money they have, so yeah, there they are.”

Pietra studied Mary Jane’s face to figure out whether or not she was
being played. “Those two?”

“MmmHmm.” Mary Jane dragged on her cigarette and waved Tyrone and Tyrese
over.

Walking onto the sidewalk in a perfectly synched strut, the two kissed
Mary Jane on opposite cheeks.

“Tyrone, Tyrese,
may
I introduce you to Ms.
Pietra Maria Speranza DiFrancesco.”

The two giants smiled and took turns kissing Pietra’s hand.

Not sure what to make of the two, but clearly intrigued by the
possibility of extraordinary wealth, Pietra blushed. “It’s a pleashuh.”

“The pleasure is ours,” The twins said in unison without missing a beat.