In a major restaurant there would be a bunch more positions, but all we had in this mini-brigade was the chef (‘Yes, chef!’) Roger, who had been in the navy and swore like a sailor, too, and then Bridget, who was his second and did everything else other than swear.
Yes, I knew the system. This was, obviously, not my first dishwashing gig.
Amazing thing was, what little they cooked was pretty great. I’d gotten hired to fetch, carry and clean, and since I had a valid state-issued ID, they were overjoyed (and surprised). Technically I couldn’t drink in a place like this, but I got free meals to make up for it. And Bridget was a cute, motherly type. I’d already made friends with the bouncer, Pete, a short, muscular type who casually mentioned that he powerlifted with an eye to making the Olympic team someday. Damn.
What worried me, though, was the bartender. Her name was Jesse, and she was a stunning knockout redhead in tight leather. I’m usually all in favour of that, from a purely scenic standpoint, but there was something about her that set off alarms – Morganville-type alarms. I’d convinced myself that I was being paranoid, but I found myself still wondering about her over the course of the two days I’d been working at Florey’s. Pete was one of those laconic types who didn’t say much about other people, but he’d finally given up that Jesse had drifted into town a few years back and was one hell of a good bartender; she knew how to cut people off when they had too much, and get them out the door without trouble, which in his opinion was ninety per cent of a good bartender’s job.
In other words, he didn’t much like to exert himself. I approved of this. A bouncer’s worth isn’t how much he flexes his muscles, but how rarely he has to. It’s the security guys who are always looking for a fight that cause trouble.
This is why I did not get hired to be a bouncer. I knew better than to apply.
I filled up the dishwasher – a big, industrial thing – again, and started it, and took care of the overflow, then did some clean-up and trash-taking-out before it was time for my dinner break. The sky outside was sliding toward twilight, and I stood out in the alley for a little while enjoying the cool air, so unlike Morganville’s dry desert wind, before the smell of garbage drove me back inside. Roger was swearing about something I didn’t bother to register, since it wasn’t glasses, plates, utensils, pots, pans or cleaning; Bridget was chopping celery, knife flying in a blur, but she spared me a wink and a grin as I signed out for dinner, took off my kitchen apron, and hung it up.
I went looking for Pete.
The bar was already starting to fill, even this early, with after-work happy hour people; the day bartender was still on duty. Jesse didn’t come on until seven, and it was still a quarter to six. Pete usually started his day early, with dinner, so I figured I’d sit down with him … but I spotted him on the other side of the doorway, heading into the street. I followed, intending to tap him on the shoulder and ask if he was free, but then I saw he was heading for a car that pulled smoothly in at the kerb. The passenger door opened, and I saw Jesse leaning over, all stark contrasts of black and white except for the fiery red sheen of her hair …
… And her eyes.
I stopped dead in the doorway, staring, as Pete slid into the front seat, slammed the door, and they drove off.
Had I really seen that flash of red in her eyes? Or had I just seen a reflection from the dashboard, maybe? Was I hallucinating Morganville all over the place? Maybe. Yeah, probably. Not every hot girl in pale trendy make-up could be a genuine vampire.
But maybe, just maybe, one could hide in plain sight.
Fun facts: she worked nights, never showing up until after the sun went down. She drove a car with windows tinted as dark as non-Morganville laws would allow. She went for the powder-faced Goth look, always.
She never had a problem handling drunks.
Add all that together, and you came up with …
C’mon, I told myself. Really? You move out of the one town that has a heavy population of vampires, and you