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“What do you want?” she asked when she was done.
“Let me answer your question with a question, love. Do you know why you’re here?”
“Because I heard something I wasn’t supposed to.”
I cracked open my water bottle and took a seat behind the desk. “That’s right. But it’s only part of the answer.”
“Yeah, I know. The other part is that they think I’m lying about who I told.”
“You’re right on the money with that one. The boss is dead certain that you ran your mouth all around town about what you heard.”
“But he’s wrong.”
I winced. “Let me give you a word of advice. Don’t ever,evertell the boss he’s wrong. You talk to him like that and that pretty face of yours won’t be fit for a stage any time soon.”
She said nothing, taking another bite of her sandwich.
“Why don’t we start from the beginning?” I asked. “Tell me about the conversation. Tell me why you were having it, and what you heard.”
Kiki took a slow breath. “It was Mickey Flannigan. I was in the dressing room one night over at Pussycats between shifts, just minding my own business. That’s when fucking Mickey barged in, this big, stupid grin on his face. He sat down next to me, started talking about the big shit coming down the pipe, how the Irish mob’s about to do business with some cartel, that you guys are going to start running guns from down south instead of Russia.”
I clenched my hand into a fist. Mickey was a stupid fucker.
“So, he just marched into the dressing room and announced it for all the world to hear?”
She rolled her eyes. “He was trying to impress me, as usual. Said that he was one of the guys in charge of hammering out the details, said that Eddie was going to bring him into his inner circle for all his hard work once the deal was finished. Whole thing was his roundabout way of trying to let me know he was on the verge of being this bigshot with tons of money to throw around, as if all he had to do was flash me a wad of hundreds and I’d pull my panties off right then and there. Stupid asshole.”
She was right about that last part. Mickey wasn’t exactly subtle when it came to swinging his clout around. He’d paid for it.
“Someone was listening in,” I said. “That’s why you’re here.”
“Yeah, no shit. But why am I being punished for this? I don’t care about who’s selling guns to who. I just want to show up, shake my ass on stage for a few hours, make my money, then go home.”
“Too bad that’s not how it works,” I replied. “You run around this kind of scene, you’ll get sucked into the bullshit one way or another.”
“I don’t want to get sucked into the bullshit. I just want to go home. Talk to Eddie and tell him there’s no reason for him to keep me here.”
“Is there no reason?” I asked, taking my feet off the desk and leaning forward. “You’re telling me you didn’t tellanyone.”
Her eyes flashed, Kiki glancing down at the table in front of her. Her hesitation was clear, and there was no doubt in my mind that she was lying to me.
“Tell me the truth,” I said, my tone taking on a sharp edge. “Trust me, girlie—I’m the closest thing to a friend you’ve got right now, not to mention the only person standing in the way of you and a shallow grave somewhere on the other side of the river. Understand me?”
She pursed her lips, not making eye contact with me.
“I didn’t tell anyone else.”
Her lying was more than I could take. I slammed my fist hard onto the desk, theboommaking Kiki jump in her seat.
“Stop lying to me. You want to live, you’d better quit jerking my goddamn chain.”
Silence filled the air. Finally, she shook her head one more time.
“I didn’t tell anyone!”
I knew she was lying, but there was nothing I could do about it. I let out a grunt of frustration before springing out of my seat and rushing over to Kiki, grabbing her wrist with one hand and the food with the other.
“Hey!” The water bottle still in her hand, I pulled her out of the room and back down the hall. Once we were at the holding room, I shoved her inside and tossed the bag of food onto the small desk.
