Terri Austin - Diners, Dives & Dead Ends

Yeah, he scared the hell out of me, but he also made me angry and a feeling of helplessness got tossed into the emotional mix, too. All of it was boiling inside me. This was exactly how I felt when I tried to pummel him. I found myself wanting to do it again. “Listen, you bastard, this is my house. You can’t just keep barging in here and bossing me around.”

He took a step closer and leaned down until we were nose to nose. “Want to bet?” He smirked and his nose bumped mine. “Tell me, Rose, if you went missing, would anyone care?”

I flinched. “People would miss me. My family…” I clammed up when I realized what I’d almost revealed to him.

“You’re a waitress. You live in this shithole. Except for your sister, Jacqueline, and her son,” he paused, tapping his mouth with one finger, “what’s his name?” His eyes hardened. “Oh, yes, Scotty. Except for Jacqueline and Scotty, you don’t have much of a relationship with your family, do you? Would they even bother to look for you?”

I was suddenly freezing. I rubbed my arms, comforted that Roxy was only a phone line away.

He walked around me to the door and opened it, but turned back. “Why don’t you like my tie?”

“Get out.”

I snatched the phone from my pocket and assured Roxy I was all right. Apparently, my sweatshirt muffled the noise so much, she hadn’t heard any particulars of the conversation, so I gave her the Cliffs notes version and hung up.

I turned on all the lights and huddled beneath my blanket. BJ knew everything about me. My dysfunctional family dynamic, my job, my house, probably even my favorite breakfast cereal. Who was this guy? Finding that out was at the top of my short list. If I could find out who he was, maybe I could get the upper hand. Divert him until I found Ax. Knowledge was power and I’d had precious little in this whole thing, that was for freaking sure. And the fact that every time BJ came near me my heart beat a little faster — well, I’d deal with that later.

The next morning I decided against drinking a tankard of coffee, even though I was exhausted. Last time I’d done that, it hadn’t worked out so well.

When I got into work I greeted Jorge and Ray, who waved me at me with a spatula and mumbled a hello. Ma stood in the dining room filling salt shakers. “Good morning, Ma.”

She stopped pouring and looked me up and down. “You look like ten miles of bad road, toots.”

“Thanks.”

“Didn’t get much sleep again, huh?”

Roxy came out of the bathroom. She wore a short shepherdess dress and a schoolgirl tie. “Jeez, you look terrible.”

“That’s the general consensus.”

She glanced at Ma. “She got another visit from BJ last night.”

“He broke in again?” Ma asked. “Oh my God, honey, did he hurt you?”

“No, he just wanted to talk.”

“Talk about what, for God’s sake?” Ma asked, hands on her hips. “And why did he have to break in to do that? Hasn’t he ever heard of a goddamn telephone?”

“Wait until you hear this,” Roxy said between chomps.

My cheeks felt hot. “He didn’t break in.” My voice got quieter as I went on. “I…let him in.”

Ma’s eyes widened. “You let him in? Did you offer him a beer, too?”

“No, I didn’t offer him a beer. I just thought maybe I could get some information out of him.”

“And did you?” she asked.

I took a deep breath. “No.” I walked around the counter and began rolling silverware into paper napkins.

“Oh no you don’t.” Ma wrangled the fork out of my hand. “Finish the story, Rose. Why did he come to your apartment in the first place?”

“He still thinks I have his property.” They waited for me to continue. “And he told me to mind my own business. That’s all, I swear.”

Roxy looked skeptical. “Did he say what would happen if you don’t mind your business? Did he threaten you?”

Totally. “Not really,” I lied. I hated keeping things from them, but the last thing I wanted to do was freak them out any more than they already were.

“Oh, if I could get my hands on that man — I’d have socked him in the mouth, too,” Ma said.

By then we had a few early customers, so we quit talking and got down to business. Ma manned the counter while Roxy and I did our thing. I tried to concentrate on my job, rather than my problems.

When we hit our midmorning slow down, I checked my phone. Still no Axton. But I had texts from Eric, Sheila Graystone, Dane, and two from Kevin.

I used the diner phone and called Eric. He answered on the first ring. “I’ve got something. When can you get here?”

“What? Did you decrypt the hard drive?” I twisted the old, curly tan phone cord around my finger.

“Yeah, I decrypted it, but I still don’t know what it is.”

I wanted to leave work immediately, but I needed the money. Badly. “I’ll be there a little after one.” Ma and Roxy wouldn’t mind if I skipped clean up for a good cause.

I read Sheila’s text next. She wanted to meet at Starbucks. Maybe she heard from Axton or thought of something that might help me. I texted her back and then called Dane. I figured he’d be in court and was surprised when he answered.

“Have you heard from Axton?”

“No,” I said. “He’s still missing. But I checked out some bars from your list and filed a missing person report.”

“I heard through the country club grapevine the police interviewed Packard.”

Maybe that’s why Sheila wanted to talk. Was she upset the police questioned Pack?

“…get together?”

My eyes watered as I stifled a yawn. “What was that?”

He laughed. “I said do you want to get together this weekend?”

“How about tonight? I was going to check out a few more places on that list after I babysit my nephew.”

We discussed the details and I got back to work.

When one o’clock rolled around, I told Ma about Eric’s phone call.

“Of course, toots. Roxy and I can handle clean up.”

I thanked her and gathered my stuff together. Roxy followed me outside. When we reached my car, she stared out at the traffic squinting her blue eyes against sun. “Rose, I’m worried about you. This guy who keeps showing up at your apartment, he could be dangerous.”

“I know.”

“I think you should stay with me. At least until you find Axton.” Roxy valued her space and her privacy almost more than anything else. Growing up in foster care, she never had a real home of her own. Her apartment wasn’t much, but it was hers, and the fact she offered to share it with me touched me deeply.

“Thanks,” I said as I opened the car door, “but I’ll be all right. Honest.” I held up three fingers.

She snorted. “Like you were ever a Girl Scout. I’ll meet you at Jacks’ house at six?”

“Yeah, and Dane’s going with us to the cigar bar.”

She shook her head, her shiny blue hair gliding over her shoulders. “No cigar bar for me. I have plans later.”

“What kind of plans?”

She shrugged and walked back into the diner.

Because I was so excited to see what Eric had found on that hard drive, I blew through two red lights and sped across Apple Tree Boulevard. I snagged a spot in the campus parking lot and practically ran to Blake Hall.

When I burst through the door of the IT office, Eric was alone. He glanced up from the laptop and blinked like an owl.

“What have you got?”

He waved me over. “Pull up a chair.”

I sat next to him and he shifted the laptop toward me so I could see it better. “What am I looking at?”

“A spreadsheet. Although the information was encrypted, first I had—”

I completely tuned him out as I stared at a spreadsheet of one hundred twenty-seven names in alphabetical order. There were numbers and dates next to each. “Oh my God, Eric, do you know what this is?”