I roll my eyes and check my station to see if I need to grab anything from the back. Not that I expect a crowd tonight. People will be too hungover from last night. Mostly the local alcoholics hang around on slow days. Guys like Frank who has a running tab.
He shuffles to his favorite stool at my end of the bar. I don’t mind him much. He always tips me well.
“Hey, Frank. The usual?”
“Yeah,” he says, with a grunt. His brows furrow exposing the wrinkles in his forehead. “Damn shame what happened.” He shakes his head as I pop the cap off his longneck and slide it to him on a coaster. Not that it will last long enough to need one.
“What?”
“Don’t you watch the news?”
I lift my shoulder and make a not really face.
“Terrible thing,” he carries on with another wobble of his head. “Poor thing didn’t deserve that.”
“Who? What?”
“They found that April Salyers dead. Said her throat was slit.”
My hand automatically slips to my neck. A tear I don’t expect splashes on my check. I’ve not saw her since I ran into her once at Bookers a year ago at least. She’s the bitch that Fisher fucked behind my back. The one who set him up with those undercovers according to him.
I never gave either of them a chance to explain their side. I knew enough. I never wished her dead though I hated her. Hated that Fisher fucked her. That he chose her over me. At least that is how it felt at the time. Always second fucking best. Story of my life.
“Do they know who did it?”
“Not that I heard over the radio earlier.” Frank used to be a truck driver until they revoked his license. Now he has to get a cab or call for an Uber or whatever. They won’t let him on the bus anymore. Not since he tried to fight one of the drivers and pissed on him. He’s not gotten that drunk in a long time though. He knows better than to pull that shit at the bar. He also knows my father would fuck him up if he ever got out of line with me. No matter what I do or where I go, I will always be property of the birds.
It’s a blessing and a curse.
I try to work through my shift, but business is dead. My thoughts keep going to poor April. She’s all anyone can think or talk about. They say she was found by her roommate after lunch time today. Whoever done her did her sometime early this morning. She was a terrible friend and a slut, but she didn’t deserve to die. No one deserves that.
“Didn’t hear it from me, but they said someone carved the word rat across her forehead,” Tiffany says looking put out.
My stomach drops. I’m sure Fisher wasn’t the only person she turned on. It’s not like he’s out to do the job. He’s still rotting in a cell as far as I know.
Since I left early last night Mikai jumps up when Smith offers to send one of us home. Even though he got a good five hundred bucks out the deal too. “You got laid last night, Miss Thang. I did not,” he hisses in my ear.
He’s got me there. “Whatever. It was worth it.” I smirk as he counts his register out.
“Brunch at my place this week. I want all the details.”
“You got it.”
“Bring that nutty ass sister of yours too. She’s always a hoot and a holler.”
“I’ll see if she’s free.”
“Bye, bitch.” He blows me a kiss.
“You’re such a dork.”
“No, honey. I am fierce.” He does a snap of his fingers. “Frank, walk me to my car. There’s a murderer out there and I’m not taking any chances.”
Frank rolls his eyes but moves from his perch. He always walks me out when Jimbo isn’t working. Since it’s a slow night and he worked the mall today I doubt he’ll be around which means I’ll probably have to wait till Smith is ready to lock up for the night before I can leave.
I check my phone again even though I’m not supposed to be on it. I’m pathetic.
I wonder if Yara knows anything about April. I take a fiver while no one needs a drink and duck into the bathroom to call her but there isn’t any answer.