Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

Bishop, not Welles.”
    “Now that’s a family I’ve heard of.”
    “Why the fuck would he send Searls to work for them?”
    “No one seems to know for sure.”
    “Any luck finding Scully?”
    “No.”
    “There’ll be other nights. You’re with me, right, Mac? You’ll help me find him. It’ll be easier on me knowing he isn’t out there.”
    I was tired but did what I could to keep it from Augie.
    “Of course,” I said. How’s Tina?”
    “Shook up. Asleep now, finally.”
    “You should get some, too.”
    “Not yet. Not till I know Searls is in custody again.”
    “I could come over.”
    “I’m fine. You have work in a few hours. Get some rest.” He paused. “I owe you again, Mac. Big time.”
    “I’m not keeping track.”
    “That’s a relief,” he joked.
    “Talk to you soon, Augie.”
    “Good night, Mac.”
    He hung up. I stood there with the phone in my hand for a while before I returned it to its cradle.

Chapter Ten

    I overslept and got to work late. I spent the day loading up the truck and delivering two pieces of restored furniture, first to a house in Hampton Bays and then later to a renovated potato barn out in the flat fields of Bridgehampton. My boss, the owner of the restoration business, wasn’t around, just my supervisor, who was, I could tell, angry with me for the work I’d missed. We avoided talking to each other all day. I knew that something was up. When I got back a little before five from Bridgehampton, my boss’s car was in the parking lot. I parked the truck out back and went inside to hand in the keys for the night. The owner took them and handed me a pay envelope. It wasn’t pay day. Before I could say anything he told me inside the envelope was what he owed me to date and that I was fired. I didn’t put up a fight, just took the envelope and left.
    When I got back to my apartment I stretched out on my bed. I was beat. I fell asleep fast, and when I awoke night was around me. A cool air was coming in through my windows. I was disoriented, confused. I had no idea what time it was or even what day it was. For a moment I wasn’t even sure where I was—I was that unaccustomed to sleeping in my own bed.
    After a moment, I heard a noise in my kitchen and got up and went out into the living room. I saw Tina by my kitchen table, pouring cold tea from the container I kept in my refrigerator into a pint glass.
    Sleep still had a hold on me. I tried to clear my head but there was no rushing it. I had no idea how long I’d been out. I checked my watch but couldn’t make any sense of the tiny dial before me.
    “Tina,” I said. My voice sounded gravelly. My throat was painfully dry. My back had stiffened and gotten sore as I slept. “What are you doing?”
    She returned the container to the refrigerator and closed the door, then stood in the kitchen doorway and looked at me. I could smell from across the small room some kind of perfume.
    “You okay?” she said.
    “What time is it?”
    “It’s a little after nine. You were out like a light. I didn’t wake you, did I?”
    “Why aren’t you home with Augie, Tina?”
    “He sent me to Lizzie’s.”
    “Why?”
    “He thought I’d be safer there.”
    “Safer than at home with him?”
    “That’s what he told me.”
    “And of course you didn’t argue,” I said. “You’re supposed to take care of him, Tina. Sometimes we have to protect those we love from themselves.”
    “And what if you have two people you love?”
    I ignored that. “How did you get here? You shouldn’t be walking around.”
    “I had Eddie bring me.”
    “You shouldn’t have come, Tina. It’s not safe.”
    “I needed to see you.”
    “Don’t.”
    She left the doorway and took a few steps, stopping just feet from me. I could smell a sharp sweetness on her breath.
    “You’ve been drinking.”
    “Just a little.”
    “You shouldn’t drink, Tina.”
    “You two do.”
    “Your father would ring your neck if he found out.”
    “It was the only way I could get the courage to come up here.”
    My eyes had adjusted to the blue wash from the street lights outside my windows. I could see her clearly now. She was wearing hip-hugger jeans and a thin cotton half-shirt. The cool night air in my apartment told me that she was braless.
    She wavered slightly. I didn’t make a move toward her. She stared at me, her mouth opened slightly, her eyes drooping drowsily.
    “You shouldn’t be here.”
    “Augie shouldn’t know that I’ve been