Sharky still wasn’t back when I opened the door. I slipped out and back into the club proper and resumed my seat at the table in the corner. Less than two minutes later, Sharky and Monster came out of the back. Sharky was gripping Monster’s arm, and Monster was allowing it to be gripped. They headed toward the exit.

Stormy came out of the back shrugging on her negligee. She made a beeline for my table but kept her eyes on Sharky’s back. She looked over at me, made eye contact, and gestured me over. I got up and joined her.

"This way," she said. I followed her through the club and down a narrow hallway to a locker room. Another stripper was there, sitting on an ancient couch and reading a magazine. She looked up as we came in.

"He’s with me," Stormy said.

"Fine," the other stripper said. She went back to her magazine. Better Homes and Gardens.

Stormy showed me her back as she turned to a wall of lockers and opened one. She shrugged the negligee off and let it fall to the floor.

"I’m in danger of a stroke here if you don’t stop showing me your body," I said. Stormy glanced over her shoulder and grinned and wiggled her ass at me.

"Cute?" she said.

"Cute is too small a word. I may cry."

"Well, we wouldn’t want that," Stormy said. She pulled a pair of short-shorts from her locker and put them on without underwear. She also shrugged into a t-shirt sans bra, but she was petite and could get away with it. She took her purse out of the locker and then picked the negligee up and stuffed it in the locker and closed it. She tossed her head at me and headed toward a back door.

I followed her outside to a rear parking lot. "So, as much as I’m enjoying your company, why am I following you again?" I said.

"You’re taking me to dinner," she said. "I’ll drive." She led the way to a late-model Camry. She unlocked it with the remote and we got in.

"Fair enough," I said. "But before I buy dinner for someone, I have to know her real name."

She grinned. "God help me, it really is Stormy," she said. "Stormy Marie Crippen. Ain’t that a bitch? I had two choices in life: weather girl or stripper."

I nodded. "So, why am I taking you to dinner, Stormy Crippen?" I asked. "Not that I’m not happy to do it, but you know I can’t tell you about my case. Client confidentiality and all that."

"Oh, I don’t care about the case," Stormy said. "I was hoping, um..."

"Yeah?"

She actually looked embarrassed. She gave me a careful smile. "I was hoping you could tell me more about Monster," she said.

###

I bought Stormy dinner at Denny’s and then she dropped me back at my car and I drove home. Monster and Steve were sitting on the patio when I pulled into the drive at midnight. "Where you been?" Monster said.

"Took Stormy to dinner," I said. "She asked me to give you this."

I handed Monster a card with Stormy’s phone number on it. He grinned like a kid.

"She like me?" he asked.

"I think that’s safe to assume," I said. "You gonna call her?"

"Hell yeah, man, she’s cool as shit."

I looked at Steve. "Young love," I said, and climbed the stairs to my apartment.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and then went to my bedroom and shucked my clothes, leaving them where they fell. I put my phone on the nightstand and got carefully into bed. It felt wonderful. I lay there for a minute just basking in the feeling, then reached over and turned out my lamp. And that’s when the phone rang.

I grabbed the phone and hit the green button and said, "Who the fuck is calling me right now?"

"Matt?"

I sat up. "Ria?"

"Matt, I need help. Please." Her voice was choked with tears and an unpleasant thread of panic ran under it.

"Where are you?"

"Please help me. Please." She wasn’t hearing me.

"Ria. Listen to me. Where are you?"

"What? A hotel. Please hurry."

"Give me an address, Ria, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’ll leave right now."

She gave me an address in Jacksonville. I did some mental math.

"Okay, Ria. Listen to me. How bad is the trouble you’re in?"

"Bad. Bad."

"Cops bad?" I asked.

"No! No cops," she said.

"Okay," I said. "I’m in Dayton County. On the island. It’ll take me about forty-five minutes to get to you. Are you in immediate physical danger? Like someone trying to break down the door or something?"

"No," she said. "Not yet, but--"

"Okay. I’m leaving now. Wait for me right there. Don’t answer the phone unless it’s this number. Don’t answer the door unless it’s me. I’ll call you when I’m outside the hotel to let you know it’s safe."

"Okay. All right. Please hurry."

"I’m on my way," I said. I got out of bed and started dressing.

Next Chapter: THIRTEEN