Butch put his hand up. “Can I ask one question?”
Jeff sighed. “What?”
Butch took a step forward. “Can we speak in private? Please?”
Jeff sighed again. “Ok, but make it snappy!”
Butch motioned for him to step into the bathroom. Jeff handed his gun to Mutt and told him to keep an eye on the others and followed Butch in and the door went shut.
In the bathroom, Butch said, “I think I can get Elle to talk. But if we make her mad or scare her she won’t want to help us. I know she secretly still loves me and I can sweet talk her and get information from her. But you have to back off. If you don’t, she will get mad and do something stupid. And if you kill them, we’ll never know where it is, ever. Get it?”
Jeff glared at Butch. “Fine. But if you’re wrong, YOUR life is over. Get it?”
Butch swallowed, nodded, and opened the door.
Nothing had changed. Relieved, Butch announced that they had come to an understanding.
Jeff patted Butch on the back, a bit harder than necessary and Butch coughed.
“Yah, a BIG understanding! Come on, Tony, we’re leaving.”
George perked up. The door slammed and he and Elle were finally alone. “Did you hear that?”
Elle slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. She was sweating. “Whew! I didn’t think we were going to make it that time! Hear what?”
George slid down the wall and landed beside her. “The big guy called the little guy Tony! That’s a little clue! I’ll call Jack in the morning and see if he knows anything. Also, I gotta call Gus and just make sure he’s ok.”
“In fact…” He pulled out his cell and dialed. “Linda? Oh good. You’re home. Just checking in. Everything ok? Any messages?” He listened and said ‘ok’ several times and ‘take care of yourself’ and ‘see you tomorrow’ and hung up.
“They found my idiot, and Jack called, and an FBI agent called for an appointment.”
“FBI agent? Really? I wonder what that’s about.”
“We’ll know soon enough. I’m supposed to see him as soon as I am out of court tomorrow morning.”
George stood up and went over to the table to inspect the pizza. “I wonder if this is edible.”
“Well, it was really never out of the box, was it? Just smashed to the lid? And.. uh… handled by Butch… ick…” Elle stood beside him, observing with distaste.
“I’m starving. It’s been ages since my last meal. Can we just get room service?”
Elle laughed. You poor thing. Yes! Of course! Order away!”
George got on the phone and ordered enough to feed a third world country. He hung up and grinned. “The feast is on its way!”
Elle yawned. “Are you spending the night?”
“Yes. I think I should. I’ll leave early in the morning and go home and shower before court. I hate to leave you alone. Don’t worry. I promise to behave.”
“Of course, you do. You know I can still take you.”
“Maybe not. I’ve been working out. Check out these guns!”
Elle yawned again. “Maybe another time.”
“Any time you’re ready, you’re on.”
A knock on the door kept the conversation from further banter and George went to the door. He prepared himself once again just in case. “Who is it?”
“Room service!”
“Yah” he thought, “I’ve heard that before..” He opened the door a crack and spied two waiters with large trays of food. He dug in his pocket for some cash and enlarged the crack. In déjà vu fashion, he handed out the cash and told them to put it all on the floor in front of the door. He watched them walk down the hall and into the elevator. Another minute passed and he opened the door and brought the food in. He shut the door and locked it.
Elle’s eyebrows disappeared under bangs. “How long were you planning on staying in this room??” She surveyed the landscape. Two double cheeseburgers, two large plates of fries, two milkshakes, two sodas, two large pieces of cheesecake, and a hot fudge sundae. “..and a partridge in a pear tree,” she sang.
“Very funny,” George managed to say around a mouthful of cheeseburger.
Friday.
Elle opened her eyes and closed them again. Bright morning sunshine was streaming in from every window. Obviously, they had neglected to pull the drapes. She opened one eye and then the other one and tried to adjust. The other bed was empty, except for a note. “Call you later, love G,” she read out loud.
Wondering what she was going to do today, she decided to start with breakfast. She ordered a caramel macchiato and a bagel with cream cheese and wondered how it was that she could even be hungry. She looked over at the leftovers from last night and wondered why George didn’t have a super-sized belly ache this morning. She chuckled to herself and wondered why she seemed to be wondering a lot lately.
Breakfast arrived and she cautiously opened the door a crack and handed out the bills she had retrieved from her purse and told them to put the tray down in front of the door. She waited, as was this newly developed ritual, until the waiter was in the elevator, whisked her tray in, and locked the door. She climbed back into bed and under the covers and arranged the tray on her lap.
Her cell phone rang. It was George. “Hey! Where are you? Oh, still in court. Ok. What? Say that again? OK. Just tell him the truth, ok? We don’t need to add lying to our list of infractions. Just get here as soon as you can. Good luck!”
“Lovely,” she said to the empty room. “How on earth did the FBI connect to Jack?” She sighed. She would know soon enough. She drank her coffee and nibbled at her bagel, but her appetite had faded away. She finally made herself get up and take a shower.
Dressed her new clothes, looking at herself in the mirror, she told herself she should marry George for the simple reason that he had really great taste and had the uncanny knack of getting the right size. Weird, but wonderful.
She gathered up all of her things and straightened up the room and left a $20 bill on her unmade bed. Ever since she was a server in a busy restaurant when she was in college, she tipped big. She knew how hard it was to work in the service industry. Then she went out and sat on the deck to wait for George.
When George arrived, he told her she was already checked out so they could just leave. They didn’t even have to go into the lobby. They could just go into the parking garage from the second floor. He was parked right by the elevator. They put the bags in the trunk and got in the car and headed out.
musingsbyevajean 