Chapter Nine

 

By the time Sara had collected all of the money and let people in there were 384 people at the club tonight, barely legal.  Fire marshal set the limit at 400; there were several exits to the building, including two fire escapes from the landing.  Great turnout, as expected.  When she went in, VooDoo Blue was already playing “Too Old to Cry,” their newest single.  Everyone was having a spectacular time.  Sara decided to go find Jared and Mel.  Well, she knew where Jared was, he was running the bar.  So really, she only needed to find Mel.

            Weaving her way through a sea of people, she saw her friend standing in the corner by the stage.  Sara tried to call her name and had no success, VooDoo Blue started playing “Still Tomorrow,” it was a rather loud song.  Smart one.  After giving up on trying to shove through people, she went around them.  It proved to be easier.

            “Hey you!” she half whispered, half yelled into Mel’s ear, and put her hand on her shoulder.

            Startled, she spun around, “Hey!  It’s a great show babe, it really is, thank you.”

            “No problem, what else can I do to make everything up to you?  This isn’t even a start.”

            “Stop.  You don’t have to make anything up to me.  Not one thing.”  She kissed her deeply before she had a chance to protest the matter, Sara, of course, returned the gesture.

            “Now that wasn’t cool, I was about to try to prove you wrong.”  She smirked, “You know I was.”

            “I know; that was the point!”  Mel grinned.  At least she’s having a good time, and Sara wrapped her arms around her companion’s waist from behind.  Mel laid her hands atop Sara’s, everything is going to be all right, or so Sara felt.

            “Sara, you’re tense.  What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing, just been a long day… with Josh and all.  Still kind of jumpy, that’s all.  Are you okay as far as that goes?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine, besides the distraction’s nice, isn’t it?” she motioned toward the stage and Sara nodded.

            Josh was no where to be found, VooDoo Blue was playing “Breaking Me,” and everything was going smoothly, she should be having a good time, but she wasn’t enjoying the show so much, the questions from afore were pulling at the back of her mind like a child would the wings of a determined fly.  Reminding herself that her best friend was in front of her, having a marvelous time and that Mel had told her to forget about him for the night, Sara leaned against the wall, turned her attention to the music, and closed her eyes.

            The next thing she knew, Jared was shaking her shoulder, saying something that sounded like “Sara, come back to f*****g reality, we’ve got a problem.”  The moment she registered the words, she was immediately alert, turning toward him she loosened her grasp around Mel, which made her turn too.

            “What’s wrong?”  Sara asked.

            “Um, well nothing much, just the fact that we got a visit from the cops.  They want to talk to you.”

            “What the hell?  About what?  Christ, we’re under maximum occupancy, we’re on the outskirts of town, so no one’s going to be bitching about the loud music.”

            “S**t, I don’t know, they said they wanted to talk to you.  I tried to take your place and say you were busy, but they wouldn’t compromise.  Come on, they’re in the office.”

Sara obliged and kissed Mel on the cheek, she was looking worried, “I’ll be back, hon.” Mel didn’t say anything, just nodded and slowly turned back to the stage, glancing back a couple times.

            “Now tell me what the hell is going on?”  Sara was now following Jared to her office, which was on the second floor over the side opposite the bar.

            “I don’t know, Sara, I’m serious, they’re not telling me anything.  They said I’m not the one who’s concerned with the matter, so they aren’t saying s**t to me.”  They were on the landing and half way to the office.  Normally, you could see into an office from this distance, but not here, Sara’s windows were like two-way mirrors, except for the fact that they had a kind of multicolor oil spill appearance to them.

            She sighed, “Fine, how many?  You keep saying they?”

            “Two.”  Jared unlocked the door with his key, and opened the way for Sara.  The two men sitting in her office were in uniform, they’d chosen to stand and wait.

            “Hi, sorry for the wait, I was down by the stage.”  She motioned for them to sit at in the two black velveteen chairs in front of her lacquered cherry desk as she moved around it.  The officers denied the offer and stood, this made Sara twice as nervous as she was before… she never really liked cops ever since being questioned about her mother’s death and then her father’s.

            Taking a deep breath, she began, “Okay, now, how may I help you?”

“One of your neighbors called in about 8:00 tonight, said there’d been someone poking around your house.  When we went to check it out, one of the side windows were broken and the backdoor was left wide open…”  The officer, whom Sara was familiar with, was Jimmy Carson.  He was one of the more sympathetic when her father passed.  The other officer Sara didn’t recognize, but his nametag read Robertson.  Sara just looked at the both of them, wide-eyed.  The other officer continued, “Well, we went in to check things out and there was a fair amount of blood on the carpeting, and traces on the broken glass, so we searched the house.  Drops led back to the bedroom, and to the master bath, where there was more on the counter.  And, well, it looks like the perp wanted you to be intimidated because,” Carson handed her a digital photo, “they wrote that on the mirror.”

“Oh s**t,” Sara dropped the picture onto her desk.  “Jared, go get Mel.”  She knew he was standing outside of the door, the police didn’t, so she got a weird look, but a few moments later, when Mel walked in, they understood.

Sara stood and motioned for Mel to sit down, “Hey honey, give me one minute and I’ll tell you what’s up.”  Turning to the police, she said, “Okay, I know who did this.  Was anything else wrong?”

“Well, the room was sort of torn apart; do you want to go see if anything’s missing?”

“No, nothing is.  This is just intimidation, sick, but intimidation.”  Turning back to Mel Sara flipped the picture over, it was of the mirror in the master bath, but someone had written, or drawn, “SHE’S MINE” on it, not in blood, but red something that looked almost like blood.  “Do you think he’d have done it?”

Mel’s eyes widened and she gasped, “I’m…  I’m not sure anymore.”  Giving the picture back to the police, Mel curled up in the office chair and Sara held her hand, slightly squeezing.  “I’m so sorry Sara.”

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault he’s an a*****e.”  Looking up to the police she said, “This is Melanie, she stayed with me last night, and I think she’s going to be for a few days,” Mel nodded.  “Her boyfriend, Josh Andersen, came here earlier and verbally threatened me to stay away from her.”

“Uh-huh, well, what’d he say?”

“He came in and told me to leave her alone, or else.  When I told him to leave, he didn’t at first, he just said something like ‘leave her alone you little b***h or else,’ and I asked him what he’d do and he told me I’d see.  Well, I guess I know now.  I thought he was too smart to break in… or do something illegal, I guess I was wrong.”

“Mhm, well, we’re generally not supposed to act on such little evidence as that statement, but we will, just because I’ve got a hunch about it, and you’ve never had problems with the police before.”  Carson was talking and taking notes.

Sara looked up at him, “Thank you so much, Jimmy.  When I get home do I have to leave everything how it is, or should I not even go home tonight?”

“Well, everything’s taken care of, but I suggest you go elsewhere tonight, just in case he comes back.  Do you have somewhere to go?”

“Um… yeah, I think I can find a place.  Thanks again, Jimmy and you too, Officer Robertson.  If you find anything out let me know, you have my cell number.  It hasn’t changed.”  They nodded.  Sara hugged Jimmy, and shook Robertson’s hand.  “Have a good night boys.”

“You too Sara, Mel,” and they were out the door.  Sara slumped against the wall, slid down it, and sighed.  Mel got up out of the chair and went to sit with Sara, she wrapped her arms around her, and they sat in silence for several moments.

When Jared came in unannounced, he scared the hell out of both of them.  They jumped and were halfway standing before he’d gotten to say a word.

“What happened?” he seemed worried.

“We’ll talk later.  First I have an important question for you.  Don’t feel like you’re obligated to agree though, okay?”

“Um… okay?  But how am I supposed to acquiesce to that if I don’t even know what the hell you’re going to ask me?” he looked at Sara as they straightened up against the wall.

“I don’t know, just do it,” he nodded, “are you busy tonight?  Like…  Mel and I need a place to stay…  I hate being so forward about it, but I don’t know who else to ask.  Josh doesn’t know where you live and…  Well…”  Sara went rambling on for another minute or two.

“Sara…”  She kept explaining herself, as if expecting a denial, “Sara, shut up for a second.  Stop explaining yourself.  No, I don’t have anywhere to go.  Yes, you and Mel can stay at my place tonight, or however long you need to.  You know I don’t mind that, I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about it.”

“Because it’s a huge deal to me, I don’t like being dependent on people, you know that, everyone who knows me does.  But thank you so much.”  She hugged and kissed his cheek and Mel hugged him, he returned both hugs unhesitatingly and with a friendly sense of security for them.

Sara and Mel were feeling comfortable enough to go out and enjoy the rest of the show, except one problem, it was already over.

“We were in there for that long?  Long enough for the show to be over?”

“Yeah, band’s getting packed up, if you wanted to give them something I suggest you hurry up.”  He had a point. 

Sara ran up to Dan and cupped her hand in his, “Thanks for coming out honey.”  When she let go of his hand, there were three neatly folded one hundred dollar bills in his palm; she knew he wouldn’t have taken them if no trickery were involved.