“No luck, huh?”
“Not yet. I’ll get a picture of whoever gets him in the bachelor auction tonight. It would be fair to assume some jealousy on the nurse’s part, don’t you think?”
“Sounds like the makings of a juicy story. So, what’s wrong?”
“Unfortunately, I lost my balance and fell out of the bushes. When I landed on something hard, I inadvertently made a noise. The cops came. Someone must have spotted me.” She took a long sip of her drink. “I’m losing my touch.”
Kevin gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure it happens to the best of ’em.”
“That’s just it. Iwasthe best of them. I thought my job was solid and secure. There’s no loyalty anymore. It used to be that if you worked hard, your employer would cut you a break if you had a temporary setback.”
“How temporary are we talking?”
“I haven’t had a good story in a couple of months.” She hid her face by resting her forehead on her arm.Don’t cry.How humiliating would that be? No one likes a sloppy drunk.
“Is there anything else going on that might cause you to be fired?”
She lifted her face and ran her fingers through her hair. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she realized she looked old and tired. “You mean like the bottle of Bacardi I hide in my locked drawer?”
He nodded. Lila knew Kevin was no fool. He worked in a hotel bar, for God’s sakes. How frequently did he see the same faces? Not often. So, she imagined a regular customer like herself might stand out. And almost daily attendance might indicate a drinking problem.
The real problem was she didn’t care what anyone thought anymore. She didn’t drive, was over twenty-one, and as far as she was concerned, it was her God-given right to get shit-facedevery night if she wanted to. Who was she hurting by it? No one. Well, no one but herself—especially if she couldn’t get to that bachelor auction later on.
“Am I doing you any favors here, Lila?” he asked.
Fear gripped her.He’d better not try to cut me off!“What are you saying?”
“I mean, do you need help? I know addiction can be brutal. I don’t want to see anything bad happening to you because I didn’t have the balls to say something.”
“But… it’s not your fault. And if you shut me off, I’ll just go to another bar. You can’t cut me off all over town.” Suddenly a horrible thought occurred to her. What if he could?“Can you?”
He chuckled. “No, I can’t. And I won’t cut you off here, either. No one can get you out of this situation but yourself. But without help, it’s almost impossible. Just let me know if you want help, okay? I know some good people in AA.”
“Oh.”Whew, that was a close one.Lila shook her head, “Nah, I’m good.” She took another swig of the sweet, tangy liquid that seemed like her lifeline. “Really, the best help you can give me is to keep your eyes and ears open—for other people’s problems. I’m fine.Really.I can always get a picture of Falco and some random female. Then I can make up an angle between that person and his auction sweetie.”
“Or maybe you could include the nurse in your story too and make it like he’s three-timing all of them.”
Lila laughed. “Three-timing? I love it. Thanks, Kevin. You just gave me my headline!”
“Halloween brings with it strange happenings. So, to have a bachelor auction on Halloween night with a full moon…? Now there’s an extra crazy idea.”Chad knew who would show up.The weirdoes. If not paranormal types, then the highest of high-maintenance women, and they’d be more motivated than usual.“I smell a super-sized disaster. At least trick-or-treating will keep the single mothers at bay. Or some of them with pups may be baying at the moon.”
Jason helped Merry into her coat. As they walked toward the back door where Jason’s Corvette waited, a loud crash sounded from the second floor.
The couple gawked at each other for an undecided second.
Jason said, “What the hell…?” and the two of them raced up the stairs.
At the top of the landing, a huge dog lapped up a puddle of water. Slumped beside it was the unconscious body of Dottie Falco.
“Aunt Dottie!” Jason yelled. The dog jerked his head in their direction, then maneuvered around them and bounded down the stairs. Someone on the other side of the front door opened it and he rushed out.
Jason shook his aunt until her eyes opened and she groaned.
Merry said, “Don’t move her. She may have hit her head.”
As soon as she’d said that, Dottie struggled to a sitting position, fighting off their help. “I’m all right. Did you see thatwolf?”
Jason glanced at Merry. “Uh, yeah. We saw something like that. It must have been a dog, though. Last I heard, wolves aren’t roaming the city.”
