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AUGUST 8TH
Six in the morning was too fucking early for this shit. Ajay sat in a booth at Copper Creek, nursing a cup of coffee. He tilted his head back and remembered holding Emms all night long. The smell of her hair, a shampoo he could never remember the name of, the feel of her in his arms, the sound of her mumblings as she talked in her sleep about phantom greyhound dogs.
Jags slid in the booth across from him.
"Don't you have work?" Ajay asked.
"It's Saturday."
"Oh."
"You honestly didn't know today was Saturday?"
"You look like hell."
Jags sighed. "Been up all night. Star's father had a stroke. She and Tilly are still at the hospital."
Ajay's response was a disinterested grunt.
Jags slapped his palms on the table. "You're going to have to tell me what's up because I can't read you and it's driving me absolutely bonkers."
"What's up with what?"
Jags groaned. "Emily. You guys make up?"
Ajay loved his brother but the idea that Jags couldn't see through him anymore was more than a little delicious. He just had to fuck with him. "I'm thinking about becoming a dentist."
"What?"
"Oh, and I went to a magic show last night. They pulled me on stage, put me in a box and sawed me in half. It was incredible."
Jags eyes narrowed.
"Let me think." Ajay snapped his fingers. "Oh. Emms and I are moving to Hawaii. We're going to open a bar on the beach and become drunk beach buddies. We leave tonight."
Jags banged his forehead onto the table. "My life has been reduced to existing for my horny asshole of a brother's entertainment. What the hell."
"What does Dad say?"
"He says I'll eventually get my gifts back."
"Then shake it off. What's the big deal?"
Jags glared at him. "It's shaped me, made me who I am. I'm nothing without it."
"Okay, drama king."
"Didn't being a soldier change you?"
"What's your point?" Ajay asked.
"What if all the ways the war changed you were suddenly gone?"
"I wouldn't be as much of a prick, for one."
"Your entire personality would change. You wouldn't be Ajay anymore. You would be . . . Fred."
Ajay frowned. "Who's Fred?"
"I don't know. I just picked a name."
Ajay scoffed. "Trust me when I say that you are still Jags."
"You might at least try to hide your disappointment at that proclamation."
"That wouldn't me," Ajay said. "Remember, I'm a prick."
"Are you ever not a prick?"
Ajay thought for a moment. "Sometimes."
Cam stood in the doorway of the walk-in refrigerator, clipboard in hand, taking inventory of the perishables. Three cases of sour cream. Eleven gallons of milk. The radio playing in the prep room said a familiar name.
"Lola Townsend found dead in her car, on a remote stretch of Highway 105, between Copper Creek restaurant and Critters Bar and Grill. Police have confirmed what many in this small town have suspected, that a serial killer is preying on women in the Houston area. A press conference is scheduled for two this afternoon."
Cam turned the radio off. He walked into the dining room. Some of the wait staff sat in booths, drinking coffee. Two had taken the initiative to stock ice and glasses and two were sucking face in the corner.
"Fuckheads!"
Everybody turned including Ajay and Jags.
"Meeting. Now."
Cam waited until they gathered in the booths and tables near the front of the restaurant. "All women are to be walked to their vehicles after their shift, whether they work days or nights. All men will walk women to their vehicles. No exceptions. If I hear a woman has walked to her car without asking for an escort, she will be fired. Immediately. No second chances. Understood?"
Everybody nodded.
Cam heaved a sigh. "Lola was found dead . . . murdered . . . not far from here."
Most of the wait staff remained silent. Some cried.
Cam looked at Jags.
Jags slid out of the booth. He dropped to his knees and gestured for everyone to come closer.
The crowd formed a circle.
He motioned them to bended knee. "Dear Heavenly Maker, we ask you take our sister into your arms. Give her peace. Show her love. Be with her family in this time of unimaginable mourning."
Cam went to the office. He dialed Reliant Energy and scheduled better lighting to be installed in the parking lot.
After he hung up, he called Maggie at home.
She picked up on the second ring. "Hey."
"Lola's dead."
"Oh my God. What happened?"
"You ever dream that somebody you love was dead?"
She hesitated. "Yes."
"And it's so real that when you wake up you just have to see and touch them to know they aren't really dead?"
"Yes."
"We need to fuck."
"I'm on my way."