C H A P T E R • 52
When I got to the Kit Kat, Sam asked, “How’s Virginia?”
“I never got there. A car just aimed at me. Viola said they, whoever they is, was trying to kill her. But, why would they? She’s the one with the connection to the cash.”
Al said, “And nobody’s going to kill the owner of a bar who owes them money.”
“Exactly. She must have decided she needed to get everything my father left, and with me out of the way, she would.”
“That was a short détente,” Sam said. “And, by the way, she needs to find a new weapon. This car shit is getting old.”
“Why don’t you tell Captain Bailey?” Adrianne asked and motioned to Obsidian who was walking over to us.
“He thinks I’m making up a case against Viola because I’m jealous. The jealousy thing has been true. But at this point I would not want to be in her stilettos.”
“Shhh.”
“I heard there was a bon voyage celebration going on.” He paused. “I don’t see celebration in your faces.”
“We were talking about Viola.”
“Daddy didn’t leave her anything in the will, because she had some boyfriend,” I said.
“That’s a shame,” Obsidian said.
“Pearl, don’t you have anything else to tell Obsidian?”
“Not yet.”
He said, “Pearl? I’m not going to buy you a drink. You’ve had enough. I just wanted to say goodbye.” He raised his glass of sparkling water and juice. “Until we meet again.”
Then he steered me away across the room.
“Pearl, can you avoid getting drunk tonight? I want to come over to talk about it, whatever it is you don’t want to tell me.”
“I’ll tell you this. I didn’t invite you here. How dare you show up trying to shame me in front of my staff.”
“I’m not trying to shame you. I’m telling you something you need to hear to be safe and well.”
I paused and let the thought form and how to say it.
“If you want to keep me safe, you should know Viola came after me just now. I’m not making this up.”
“Is that what you were going to tell me? And I’m supposed to arrest her on your hearsay?”
“I know better. I’ll get you the evidence you need.”
“You can’t say things like that to me.”
“Why? Because what? You’ll do your job?”
“No. Because I can’t let you get in the way of me doing my job.”
“Can’t let? What does that mean? Are you going to arrest me?”
“As far as I can tell you haven’t done anything to warrant arresting you.”
“Not yet,” I said.
∗ ∗ ∗
I waited for Obsidian to walk away, and, since Mister Bell had not come to the bar, I went to the pay phone. I retrieved the matchbook I guess I had stashed for just this moment and called Ruthie’s.
Mister Bell wasn’t there. When Riley came to the phone, I said, “I’m going to get Ginny out of Viola’s because I think she’s in danger. But I need a distraction. Can you set off some small explosive or something?”
“What makes you think we could do such a thing?”
“I don’t have time to play games. Your ordnance expertise is all over your van and I’ve heard your combat stories.”
“We won’t do anything until we hear from Marc. But if we did, what are you suggesting?”
“I was thinking, there’s an alley behind those houses. Can you make some noise like when the building partially collapsed? I’m remembering the shit-load of firemen who showed up at the property two doors from Vy’s the other night. And can you do it without putting that building or the garage at risk? I need less destruction. But I need confusion.”
“We could do that. We’ll wait for Marcus, but I know he wanted to get Viola out of trouble for Cecelia’s sake.”
“Viola is the trouble, actually,” I said. “I’ll need 60 minutes from now. I’m counting on you.”