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Hooking a hand around the back of his neck, she tugged him close to steal a kiss. “Thank you, baby,” Tess said and pounced away to start her trek over again.
Whatever happened was going to happen. No point worrying about something that hadn’t happened. And if she got killed, hey, then she couldn’t worry about anything.
Pulling the heavy door to get inside, she went across the entryway and through another door. The retro booths inside looked like old movie theatre ticket stands. Being polite, Tess was too preoccupied to pay attention to what the person inside said. They put a wristband around her arm, then allowed her through the turnstile.
The music was right in Danny’s wheelhouse. Shame she’d told him to stay outside. He might actually have fun in there.
Ascending the stairs, she appreciated the new pink carpet and the gleam of the brass banister. Her head tipped back, waiting for the revelation of the domed ceiling. One gradual slice at a time, it came into view. Lights flashed across it in wild arcs of neon joy, scattering sparkles from the glass mosaic in a dozen directions.
“The glitter,” she whispered when she got to the top, her focus glued to the towering view above.
When she was little, she’d lie on the carpet and look up at the tiny glass beads that made beautiful patterns with their reflections. Her mother called it The Glitter. It looked like a patchwork of what happy would be.
Laying her hands on her stomach, Tess hadn’t expected to be so emotional at seeing it again. All she wanted to do was lie on the carpet and pretend to be five years old. If she could trade that moment, trade everything she’d gone through, she would do it if it meant having another minute of happiness like that.
Her memories of the place gained a new hue. Her mother loved the building. Not because of the architecture or the décor, but for a secret she’d kept all her life.
Tess hoped anyway.
Gathering her emotions, she stomped them deep down and closed the lid over them. It wasn’t the time to give into feelings. Tearing her attention away from the ceiling, Tess scanned the vast room. No alleys, signs of a pin or bowling ball anywhere. The central roller rink took up most of the room. It was filled with people going round and round.
Everyone was having a good time. All around the room were people in booths or at tall tables that circled the main roller rink. She could see a cotton candy stand, an ice-cream parlor, and a long milkshake bar.
To the left was the desk to claim your skates. Tess needed what was built into the wall beyond that desk: the lockers.
Striding that way, she showed her wristband to receive a pair of lace-up roller skates. Keeping her smile in place, Tess didn’t want to draw attention to herself. The huge cavern of a room provided plenty of opportunities for anyone to see what she was doing.
Luckily, the skates desk had a central broad shelving unit that housed dozens of skates. That gave her some cover. Passing the end of the square counter area, Tess went by one long bench to round another.
The lockers had always been there. For as long as she could remember. Stopping in front of the bench, just a few feet from the lockers, she counted from the top left corner.
“One, two, three, four…” Her skates were tied together by their laces. Without looking, she lowered them to the padded bench behind her legs. “Five…” She slowed her counting. “Six… Seven.” Settling on that locker, she swallowed, her trepidation rising as she switched to count the vertical axis. “One… Two…”
Three.
FIFTEEN
SEVEN ACROSS, THREE down. Tess didn’t remember where it had come from or even when she’d been told it was their code. It always just… was.
The lockers that weren’t in use still had keys in the locks, a wristband attached. Seven across, three down didn’t have a key.
“Fuck,” she said to herself, catching the eye of a couple who were tying the laces of their young twins’ skates. Smiling, she held up an apologetic hand. “Sorry.”
What to do? Wait? Was that the plan? Wait until whoever was using the locker came back to retrieve their things? Except, if that was the place H and C exchanged their letters, others shouldn’t be able to use it. Otherwise letters could be intercepted before the recipient retrieved them. They’d take it or hand it to management.
Wandering to the end of the bench, Tess glanced around. Something… What was she missing? Something. Behind her was another bench with lockers that were obviously newer. They were set out of the wall. It couldn’t be them. Couldn’t be there. Seven along, three down was vacant, so she checked it just in case, but there was nothing there.
The couple with the twins guided their kids toward the roller rink. They were just… leaning forward, she watched until, yep, out of sight. Shooting to her feet, she took advantage of the opportunity to check out the locker in the central section. Definitely built into the wall. Definitely seven across, three down. She tried pressing the door and prying it open with her nails. Locked.
Well, duh, every other vacant locker had the wristband key and was ajar. Spinning around, she fell back against the lockers, cursing the futility. She’d got it wrong. Going to the stupid building was a stupid idea. Stupid.
Tess didn’t like to be defeated. She wouldn’t be defeated. The Corvette hadn’t beaten her. After driving across the country, she wouldn’t give up easy.
With renewed purpose, she strode around the service counter, her attention darting all over the place. How to get it open? She couldn’t make noise or be too violent with so many people around. There had to be a way and she’d find it, even if it meant breaking in after hours to rip the damn thing out of the wall with her bare hands.
Someone had the key. Could she locate it by checking the numbered wristbands worn by the skaters? Damn, she should’ve picked up her skates from the bench. Without them, she couldn’t go onto the rink. Not that it mattered. As a newbie, she’d only end up on her ass. There had to be something…
Her attention snagged on the milkshake bar. More specifically, on a guy seated on one of the red and chrome stools talking to the long-legged blonde perched next to him.
