Hooked

you’re going?” Eileen said.
    “I don’t work with an audience. I’m leaving.”
    “I’m afraid we can’t let you.”
    Tawny squared her shoulders and stretched to her full height to look down on Eileen. “I’d like to see you stop me.”
    “Reggie?” Eileen said, summoning the massive hulk to stand sentry at the door like a giant redwood.
    Tawny wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she didn’t like it. “So that’s your name. Well, Reggie, would you move aside, please?”
    “Sorry, ma’am. I’m afraid not. You see, you saw me at Mr. Martell’s.”
    “And you saw me. What’s the big deal?”
    “Mr. Martell had a little accident. After you left, he fell and crushed his rib cage. It was a very bad fall. Broke every bone in his chest. That was for poor Cindi. Then he shot himself. I imagine someone found him by now. He left a note and everything. You’d probably have heard it on the news when you got home.”
    Tawny’s stomach did a major cartwheel, and her brain made a crucial calculation. The reason they wouldn’t let her leave was because she could identify Rick Martell’s murderer, a big problem from Reggie’s point of view. Her supposition was confirmed when Colin spoke up.
    “So you see now, Ms. Dell, why we can’t let you go.”
    “Colin, I thought you didn’t tell anyone about Martell,” Benny said. “How come Eileen knows?”
    “Sorry, Benny, but she pays me more than you do.”
    “Huh?” Confused, Benny asked, “What the fuck does that mean? Eileen? I don’t understand.”
    Eileen walked over to the side of the bed and flicked the flaming red head of Benny’s penis. Tawny hoped Benny’s howl would summon the police, but New Yorkers were famous for ignoring screams and anything else they didn’t want to get involved in, and she doubted Benny’s voice carried far enough anyway. She tried to slip around Reggie, but it was no use.
    “What’d you do that for?” Benny said.
    Eileen made another move for Benny’s dick, but he caught her hand. “I’m pissed, Benny. You betrayed me. And with her.” She snapped her head in Tawny’s direction. “Let me explain something. You see, I like what we have. I like my two houses, my tennis club on the island, the Lexus SUV, and I like all the money I spend on restaurants and clothes and shoes and jewelry and all the things that keep me beautiful. And I only have to fuck you to get them. So if you think I’d let some little whore like Serena Marshall screw up all that because she heard Colin blackmailing a client over the phone, you’re nuttier than I think you are.”
    “You…you killed Serena?”
    “She came to me, like she would her own mother. You remember, don’t you, honey? I trained her. She trusted me. She wanted to turn Colin in to the cops. She didn’t realize if she turned Colin in, she was turning us in too. I couldn’t let that happen now, could I?”
    “Jesus.”
    “Please, sweetheart,” Eileen said. “I told you. The Lord’s name? It offends me.”
    “You killed that poor girl, and you’re not offended?”
    Now it dawned on Tawny what she couldn’t remember Monday night. Tessa started to ask Tawny if she’d read the newspaper, but she didn’t finish because Darlene stopped her. Was it about Sarah Marshall’s investigation? She’d been so nervous, she couldn’t think straight. It could have been the proof she needed with a little more coaxing, only now it was too late. Benny was prattling on, acting like he’d been a harmless bystander when, in fact, he enabled everything that happened by being purposely ignorant.
    “Why didn’t you tell me, Eileen? I could have talked to her― right after I fired Colin .”
    “You didn’t fire me after you found out about Martell,” Colin said. “And you know why? Because this pl ace would go under without me.”
    “I should have fired you, and it looks like this place is going under anyway, doesn’t it?”
    “Stop it, you two,” Eileen said. “Don’t you see, Benny, we didn’t want you to know what Colin was doing.”
    “You knew?”
    “Of course. It’s a very lucrative deal, especially when we target men who go to all the clubs. I’ve kept up with some of the girls who tell me things. Kind of a Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Business was off, Benny. The bad economy hurt, and Versace is expensive.” Eileen got up, wriggled in her tight dress, and flipped her mane of bleached hair at Tawny. “Besides, those guys never knew who was turning the