Queenie's Cafe (24 page)

“It won’t work, Queenie.”

“You have one week to make a choice. If it’s not the right one, Florence goes to jail and you lose your baby.”

Laura heard a click and Elvis came back on. She listened for several minutes, hoping there’d be more, something that would explain what Florence had done, but the only voice she heard was that of Elvis Presley. Queenie wanted a baby so much she blackmailed Laura’s parents, but in doing so, she’d punished herself. She’d led a miserable, lonely life.

Pushing thoughts of Queenie aside, one question nagged at Laura.

What had Florence done?

Chapter Thirteen

W
ednesday morning dawned cloudy and muggy. Storm clouds hovered in the distance, and the air smelled like rain. Laura wondered what a summer storm would do to her business.

Thunder rumbled as she hurried to the café to start the coffee before the power went out. She could cook on the propane stove without power, but the coffee pot was electric.

She made coffee and put candles on the tables just in case. She’d just started the second pot of coffee when Meg came in. “Laura, there’s a tornado watch out for King County. I just now heard it on the radio. Those clouds are as black as midnight.”

“Let’s make an extra pot of coffee. We can always keep it warm on the stove if the power goes out.”

Laura didn’t expect much business that morning, but the regulars came, one at a time. The rain came down hard, but the worst of the storm passed south of them, and the power stayed on. She had to talk with Luke about getting a generator. They could use candles in the dining room, but she didn’t like the idea of losing the contents of the freezer and refrigerator or not being able to make coffee during a storm.

She joked and laughed with her customers that morning, listened to one of Charley Fenderman’s raunchy jokes, and then Bobby Wharton walked in. Laura’s smile disappeared.

Bobby looked at Laura with a knowing smile. His eyes scanned down her body and back up to her face while angry heat built inside her. Annabelle was bad enough, but she’d always been a bitch. Bobby had a lot of nerve even showing his face in here after what he’d done. Looking at her like that was the final straw.

Marv asked, “Something wrong, Laura?”

“Yes, sir. Something wrong just walked in the door.”

As her customers all turned to stare at Bobby, she retreated to the kitchen and tried to get her temper under control.

Bobby called, “Laura, how ’bout some service out here.”

Laura took a deep breath and steeled herself. She didn’t want to lose it in front of her customers, but she couldn’t hold it in. “You’re not welcome here, Bobby.”

“What the hell?”

Charley asked, “Something wrong, Laura?”

“Yeah. The night I was attacked, Rusty called 911, but this jerk didn’t even bother to come and see if I was all right. He met my attacker out by the street and then drove away.”

“Aw, c’mon Laura,” said Bobby. “It’s all part of the business. You have to ’spect it to get a little rough now and then.”

“What business?” asked Marv.

Marv’s question was directed at Bobby, but Laura answered. “Before he ever came here, the man who attacked me told Bobby I was selling sex.”

Charley eased his big frame out of the chair and put his hands on his hips. Gentle, meek little Marv Walker stood beside him. Charley said, “Now, Bobby, you know Laura Whitfield ain’t like that. She’s a nice girl.”

“For your information, I don’t sell sex. I never have and I never will, but that’s not the point.” Laura pointed at Bobby. “This jerk didn’t even bother to ask me what happened. He didn’t even come back to the apartment to see if I was still alive. He took the word of that pervert who beat me and tried to rape me, and then he left.” He’d also passed the word that she was a prostitute. Where else had Annabelle gotten the idea?

Bobby laughed, a nervous little sound that fell flat in the silent café. Everyone stared at him. He glanced from face to face before saying, “How can you rape a prostitute?”

Laura glanced over to see Jay standing in the door. He reached up and pushed his cap back on his head. His face was so red, she was afraid he’d have a stroke.

Jay’s voice was cold and controlled, with fury beneath his words. “I was a cop once upon a time myself. As I recall, it don’t matter what a woman’s profession happens to be. You’re ’sposed to enforce the law evenly, without bias. Now, Laura ain’t no prostitute, but if she was, it shouldn’t make no difference. She coulda been killed that night, but you didn’t even bother to take a look, did you?”

Bobby’s eyes grew as his face paled. Bobby was the biggest coward around, but Laura didn’t feel sorry for him. He’d taken the job as a police officer, and he didn’t answer a call for help. He’d ignored her and left her to suffer alone.

“Somebody shoulda taken Laura to the hospital that night. She had that man’s hand print bruised in her face, a cracked and separated shoulder...”

As Jay spoke, he eased closer to Bobby. Laura was afraid he’d kill him right here in her café. “Jay, please don’t.”

“But you didn’t give a shit ’bout nobody but yourself that night, did you?” continued Jay. “Didn’t you care ’bout Laura, or did that bastard offer you a special deal on carpet if you’d look the other way? Or did you plan to come over here and collect yourself, like Earl tried to collect from Laura that night?”

Jay stood so close, Bobby couldn’t get up and leave if he wanted.

“I-I didn’t know she was hurt that bad. Earl said—”

“Earl?” said Marv.

“Earl Windsor,” said Laura. No sense in trying to hide it now. Everybody in town would know after this. She hoped she hadn’t messed up Luke’s plans, but it was too late to worry about that now.

“When somebody calls for help, you’re ’sposed to help,” said Charley. “What the hell good are you anyway?”

“None that I can see,” said Marv. Several others voiced their agreement.

“I aughta beat the shit outta you,” said Charley. “Laura’s a nice girl. Here she is workin’ her butt off to keep this place open and you let a bastard like Earl Windsor treat her that way.”

“Resign,” said Marv.

“And apologize to the lady,” added Jay.

“Or you won’t walk outta here in one piece,” said Charley, his meaty hands clenched in tight fists.

If she didn’t do something, this could get out of hand very quickly. “Bobby, get out of my café and don’t ever come back. Quit your job or I’ll file charges against you. And if I ever hear you’re working as a cop again, anywhere, I’ll make your life a living hell. As far as I’m concerned, we’d be better off without a police department than having someone like you working there. The King County Sheriff would take longer to get here, but at least somebody would have come.” Laura’s words rang out loud and clear in the quiet café. She was angry and at that moment she didn’t care who knew it.

Bobby held his head up high, trying to look brave, but Laura saw the fear in his eyes. He should be scared. Charley Fenderman was at least six-four. He must weigh close to three hundred pounds, most of it muscle. And he was pissed. Jay was no slouch himself. As angry as he was, he could do some serious damage to Bobby’s pretty face.

“You can’t threaten a police officer.”

“The hell we can’t,” said Jay. “If I ever see you ’round here again, police officer or not, you’re dead meat. And you can quote me on that.”

“That goes double for me,” said Charley.

“Jay, let him leave,” said Laura. “Please. I don’t want blood on my new carpet.”

As soon as Jay stepped back, Bobby jumped out of the chair and raced out the door. Laura took a deep, shaky breath and Jay slipped his arm around her. “C’mon, sit down, Miss Laura. That was a gutsy thing to do, throwin’ a cop outta here like that.”

“It sure was,” said Meg.

“And stupid.” Laura dropped into a chair. “He and Frank Fosdick run this town and now they both hate me.”

Marv asked, “What did Frank do?”

“Tried to force me to sell, and Annabelle came in here acting like I was selling my body. I assume she either heard it from Frank or Bobby.”

“Frank won’t bother you again,” said Jay.

“Bobby won’t either,” said Charley. “Biggest coward I ever saw. If he don’t go willingly, we’ll force him out. Ain’t no excuse for what he done.”

“What about Earl Windsor?” asked Marv.

“Luke has something in the works.”

Charley said, “Well, hey! If you need some help...”

Laura smiled. “Charley, you’ll be the first one I call. Thanks for helping today.”

“I won’t ever shop at Windsor Floors again,” muttered Margaret Shaeffer.

A few people started to laugh and the tension eased. “Since I managed to ruin your breakfast, there’s no charge today.”

“Ruined?” said Charley. “Hell, I can’t remember havin’ so much fun. Haven’t threatened a peace officer since I was a kid.”

The remaining tension evaporated in their laughter, and they all paid for breakfast.

Until Queenie died, Laura didn’t realize how many friends she had in Kingston. She didn’t have much money, but today she felt like the richest person in town.

<>

Later that evening, Barbara sat in the living room at the ranch listening to Laura tell her and Luke what happened in the café that morning.

“I didn’t mean to spoil your plans, but I couldn’t stand to have Bobby Wharton in the café looking at me as if I wasn’t wearing any clothes.”

“Of course you couldn’t,” said Barbara. She knew how hard that must have been for Laura. “Good thing Jay was there.”

“If he and Charley and Marv and the others hadn’t stood up for me, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Barbara had given a lot of thought about what to do to Earl besides ruin his business. She wanted him to be humiliated beyond anything he could imagine and she knew just how to do it.

She told Luke and Laura about her plan to embarrass Earl, and Laura laughed so hard, tears streamed down her face. Luke didn’t look so happy, but this little scam was for the women Earl had brutalized. Barbara had held her hate for Earl inside her for far too long. Seeing Laura’s sweet bruised face made her realize that they had to do something to keep Earl from hurting another woman like he’d hurt them. She didn’t have the courage to do something like this before, but she did now. She wanted to get him where he lived, to humiliate him in public.

“Are you sure this will work, Mom?” asked Luke.

“I don’t know why not. What do you think, Laura?”

“I love it. His high-powered friends won’t have anything to do with him when we get finished with him.”

Luke asked, “Is that what Jay was doing with those video cameras at the motel?”

“You didn’t think we were going to do this and not get it on film, did you?” said Barbara.

Laura and Luke gazed at each other and smiled. Barbara wondered what was going on. “What are you two up to?”

“Nothing,” said Luke. “You and Jay can do it all by yourselves.”

She jumped to her feet and gathered the empty glasses from the coffee table. “Are you trying to set us up together?”

Laura smiled. “Don’t you like Jay?”

“Of course I do, but...”

“But what? He needs a good woman to make him behave himself. He needs a wife.”

“A wife?” Surely they were kidding.

Luke followed her to the kitchen. “Don’t fight it, Mom. Laura is determined to find Jay a wife.”

“For God’s sake, Luke. I barely know the man.”

Laura stood in the doorway behind them. “I’d think about marrying him myself if I was twenty years older.”

This was ridiculous. Jay had a certain charm, but he wasn’t the kind of man she’d ever pictured herself with. Besides, she’d been married and hated it. She stabbed her finger at them. “You two keep your noses out of my love life.”

“C’mon, Mom. All we did was introduce you.”

“The rest is up to you and Jay,” said Laura. “If you don’t want him, I’ll find someone who does.”