Claiming What's His (26 page)

             
Before Sam was able to utter any words, after she woke up again after a couple hours of sleep and barely getting her eyes open, Alex forbade her to go into the office today.

             
Sam remembered the second she woke up that today was the day that some unknown meeting or event was going down at Daisy’s Diner at two o’clock.  She needed time to come up with a disguise and think of something so that she was able to hear the conversation that would go on in the dinner.

             
So instead of arguing like she’d used to, she agreed that she would not go into the office today.  It was the perfect solution for her.  On any other day, this would’ve caused her to get into a fight with him for him telling her what to do, but lucky for her (and him), she wasn’t going to.  She needed the day off (not to rest, who needed rest?) and plan her stake-out accordingly.

 
              Besides, she didn’t need to be in the office for this particular part of the assignment.

             
Alex did mention that he needed to go in and take care of some things.

             
When she agreed, Alex had given her a funny look, as if wondering why she caved so easily.  She informed him that it was nothing and that she could use the extra day off to recoup from her traumatic night.  She told him not to worry and that she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

             
Alex warily agreed, gave her a kiss on her nose and left for work. 

             
This was where Sam began making her calls.

             
First up was Maggie.  She needed to brainstorm and she needed her partner in crime, even though Maggie wasn’t officially in on the crime itself.  She ran though everything that she needed to do and Maggie gave her the idea of dressing up in a costume as one of those sign dancers that she knew Sam loved so much.  But no matter how much Sam hated it, she knew it was a good plan so she reluctantly agreed.  Maggie said that she would run by the costume shop and think of something for her.

             
The next call was to Corey.  She needed surveillance equipment and without Alex letting her know what was going on, she called the next best person available.  He told her he couldn’t help her without information.  She told him it was confidential.  He then told her the equipment wasn’t available.  She then told him this portion of the case (enough to get the equipment she needed).  He told her he had small listening devices that she could use to plant inside the diner while she listened across the street.

             
Sam had met up with the owner of Daisy’s Diner before the lunch rush and vaguely informed her of the situation (without giving her much).  From the look on her face, Sam knew that she was about to decline so Sam informed her (on a fib) that she could be held accountable for any criminal activities that were conducted on her property.  She begrudgingly agreed and allowed her to plant listening devices that she had borrowed from Conrad Security throughout the store.  Each of the listening devices was set up to be on a different channel so that Sam would be able to differentiate the conversation by sections.

             
Thirty minutes before meeting time, Sam changed into an ice cream cone costume that Maggie had rented for her from the costume shop to help Baskin Robbins promote their ice cream sales.  It didn’t take long to convince Mr. Singh since it was told that they would be promoting for free.  Since the ice cream shop was across the street from Daisy’s, Sam thought it was the perfect idea.

             
She glanced in the mirror and saw the bruising marks of yesterday’s attack.  It wasn’t as dark as she thought it would’ve been but if she glanced at it close enough, she could make out the handprint that nearly took her life.  She raised her fingers and lightly brushed the dark, contused area, outlining the area, knowing well that she would never forget it.

             
Tears spilled from her eyes as she continued to ponder of the incident.  She had to stop.  She couldn’t get emotional now, not when she finally had a possible lead on the case.  She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and continued to dress.

             
Her costume was a double-scoop vanilla ice cream cone with sprinkles.  The bottom of the cone had an open hole where she slid her body into the suit (with Maggie’s help).  The costume was made with stretchy elastic material that would help accommodate people of most sizes.  The face hole wasn’t big enough to where the entire head fits through it, but it was enough for the person wearing the costume to be able to see out of it.  The side holes where the arms poke out were large enough that the material didn’t hug around the armpit.

             
Around her waist, or the bottom half of the cone, was an apron with pockets in the front that could be used to carry anything from the store’s discount coupons to concealed weapons.

             
To her surprise, Maggie came out dressed as a triple-scoop sundae, topped with hot fudge sundae, nuts, and a cherry hat.

             
God, she loved her bestie
!
 

             
When they arrived, Baskin Robbins had given her a sign that they already had made (the same one they used to post on their windows).  It was a plain white board that had the BR logo on top with twenty percent discount below it in letters that were big enough that a blind person would be able to read it.  And it was attached to a two by two wooden pole.

             
Lunch traffic had died down tremendously when Sam made it out to the side of the street where she was dancing and spinning and twirling the signs, waving for people to stop by on this hot day to grab some ice cream.  Maggie was a few feet away doing the dancing without a sign.

             
In one hand she had the sign firmly attached as the other hand held a small clicker where she was able to switch the channels of the listening devices.

             
Her earwig was firmly in place as she listened to the distance murmurs that were left in the restaurant.  Channel by channel, she listened from an elderly couple’s denture issues to a whiny little girl’s hissy fit for not having her pancakes cut into a certain shape.

             
When two thirty rolled around, Sam became anxious as she waited for someone she recognized to enter the diner.  There hadn’t been anyone yet so she continued dancing and wiggling, playing her part for the passing patrons to watch.

             
Two minutes later, Haynes entered the restaurant, looking calm and cool as a cucumber. 

             
A few people had entered the diner after Haynes did but Sam didn’t recognize anyone.  It was that time, the time the so-called meeting was to begin.  The fact that Haynes was the only person she recognized that walked in either meant the other person was already inside or the other person was a no-show.

             
The only way she would be able to know for sure was to listen through and decipher the various conversations until she found the one she was looking for.  She turned on her earpiece and began listening.

             
Channel 1: 
“… teeth looks fine, dear.  How’s my hair?  Is it on straight?”

             
Click.

             
Channel 2: 
“… not fair!  Jay gets to go to the party!  Why can’t I go?  Is it because I’m a girl?”

             
Sam mentally shook her head.  She was sure that was the reason why the girl couldn’t go.  She knew that feeling all too well but that never stopped her before.

             
Click.

             
Channel 3: 
“Tabitha, eat your greens or no ice cream for you!  No, no, don’t you dare throw that broccoli across the room!”

             
Click.

             
Channel 4: 
“… the fuckin’ money.  I should’ve hidden it at my place.  Where did you bury it?  You know that crazy bitch nearly blew my head off that night?”

             
Bingo!
  That sounded like it could be one of the guys that she shot at through the windshield and the ones who stole the money.

             
“We came too close the night of the fundraiser from being caught if it wasn’t for that nosy PI bitch.  Worst part about all of this is that she saw me!  What, you don’t trust me?  The money is hidden some place where no one would think to look.”

             
“It better be.  I don’t want anything to go wrong in our plan.  Don’t worry about her seeing you.  Minor mishap.  She may have seen you but she didn’t get a good look at you.  Otherwise, the cops would’ve pounded down your door and hauled your ass to jail… Wait a minute.  You see that?”

             
Uh-oh.  They may have caught on to her.  That she was sure.  After all, for the past ten minutes, she hadn’t moved much. 

             
Luckily for Sam, a mother and her young children were with Maggie and Sam quickly improvised, join the group that asked for the store specials.

             
“
What, where?”

             
“Nevermind.  Thought I saw something.”

             
Whew!
  That was a close call.  Sam continued to wiggle and dance to her fake music, hoping to not almost get caught again.

             
“Okay, well, that may be so, but it doesn’t help that it was too close of a call.  What’s our next move?”

             
“We can’t discuss it here.  It’s too quiet.  We need to go some place a little louder so no one can listen in on our conversation.  Meet me at Teasers, 11:30 pm.”

             
“And then what?  What’s after that?  What are we gonna do with that bitch?”

             
“We’ll discuss it tonight.  Then we wait a little while until our next payment.  As long as she stays out of our way, nothing’ll happen to her pretty little face.  Afterwards, we hightail it out of here and soon, we’ll be on the beach sipping pina coladas.”

             
“Pina Coladas?  You’re such a fuckin’ girl.  Why, the fuck, would you be thinking about a girly fruit drink when you can have an ice cold beer or whiskey?”

             
“Because they’re fuckin’ good and they come with those little fuckin’ umbrellas.”

             
The minute Sam and girls stepped foot into Teasers, a popular strip club located in the next town over, the smell reeked of sweat, lust and sex.   Thursday night was Ladies’ night which was free admission for the ladies.  This didn’t make much of a difference because there were mostly men there.

             
After the meeting at Daisy’s, Sam returned to the office and called up the girls, inviting them to go with her, making it a girls’ night out (surveillance part two for her).  She didn’t fill Alex in as to what did while he was away at work. 

             
Jeez, she made them sound like an old married couple...
while he was away at work
. 

             
Sigh.

             
The only she informed him of was that the girls were doing a girls’ night out and that he didn’t need to worry.  She rolled her eyes at his persistent growl and hung up on him.

             
She wasn’t surprised when he showed up five minutes later with Nick and Dean in tow, both had their lips pressed together to prevent themselves from laughing.  Among seeing the girls picking out dresses and holding them up and being really excited, Sam saw Alex shaking his head and she knew she had him.  He walked up to her, kissed her lips, murmured ‘stubborn’, and left.

             
Whatever.  She won, he lost.

             
The girls had spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening getting ready for the fun night to come.  It was a fun-filled event filled with make-up borrowing, drunken laughs, powder bombs and champagne drinking.  Then it moved to hair curlers, hair straighteners, hair spray and more champagne drinking. 

             
Nat used some concealer to hide Sam’s bruising marks, something that she appreciated more than anything, in order to prevent random strangers staring at her all night.  The girls had learned about her incident from Maggie who received a call from Nick before he arrived at the scene.  Maggie had been out of town on assignment and had luckily been finished to hightail back to her best friend’s aid.  It was on the way back this morning that she called the girls to let her know of what she knew and it was now where they grilled her on the specifics.  The worried looks on their faces when they arrived told Sam how much they cared deeply for her.  She assured them that she was okay and that she would be more careful.  This helped ease their worriness.  Not all but some.

             
They were greeted at the door by a waitress named Bunny and she was dressed as her name.  She had on a sparkling baby blue bikini top that was plunged deep between her ample breasts.  On her head was a white bunny-eared head piece and a white cotton tail was attached to the middle of her indecently short baby blue mini-skirt.  Her make-up was done to perfection, dark and sultry to match the exotic look of her eyes with glitter painted on the corner ends.  It was cute, in a hot way.

             
Sam wore a tight black one-shoulder strap, black dress that hugged her curves and fit her like a glove.  The dress cinched at the waist, giving onlookers the allusion of a tiny waist (not that her tummy was big).  For her jewelry selection, she chose a simple silver bangle bracelet with a matching ring and hoop earrings.  Her hair was loose in soft curls and her make-up was dark to match her attire for the sultry effect.

             
Maggie, Nat, and Char were dressed similarly (as in short, tight dresses, jewelry, and lots of dark make-up), but they had their own style into it. 

             
Bunny led them into the club towards the left to a semi-circle booth that faced the stage, giving them a great view of the show and of the club floor.

             
There was a second story that protruded out about twenty feet from the wall, supported by Corinthian style columns on each end.  The front of each of those sections were covered in tinted glass windows, allowing customers in these sections to look down if they needed to but not allowing customers in the regular sections to look up which gave the perfect privacy for top payers.

             
The strippers and most of the waitresses that were walking the floor were wearing extremely minimal (and minimal was a stretch) undergarments that barely covered their intimate areas.  The ones that were clothed more seemed to be the ones waiting to take the stage and were killing time by mingling with the customers (all male except her table) by flirting and shoving their bosoms into their faces.  Sam was sure this was for future tip reasons.

             
Sam scanned the crowds for any familiar faces.  The place was full, but, so far, she hadn’t found anyone. 

             
A tall, somewhat muscular white man walked out from the hallway that lead to the main offices.   He wore black slacks and a navy polo shirt.  His blonde hair had been buzzed cut short to his hair and he had a tattoo that his under the left sleeve of his shirt.

             
His presence oozed
I’m the man
. 

             
His name was Tyrone Smith.  He was co-owner of Teasers with Sasha Federov, a former stripper from an exclusive, private gentlemen’s club in Dallas.  

             
Sasha had an interesting background.  From what Sam gathered, Sasha was “discovered” in Russia and was coming to the United States to work as a model but was sold into human trafficking.  Sam didn’t know her whole background but that was the only part of the story that had been circulating around town.  From there, she wasn’t sure how Sasha got away from trafficking and ended up in stripping, but Sam was glad that she was able to make something for herself, whether it was her first choice or not.

             
Sam wasn’t sure how Ty and Sasha met, but when they did, they clicked and started Teasers.  Through the grapevine, rumors were that Ty was a ‘guest’ at this exclusive club, saw Sasha and was interested in her, sexually.  Sasha declined so Ty offered her a business proposition instead, and that was to start up a strip club with him where she had hand pick on who would be at what level strippers.  Sasha left the club as an entertainer and started up as a business woman.  This was five years ago and the rest was history, except for a few months of those times where Sasha had been absent and no one knew her whereabouts.  Sam suspected that Ty knew but refused to tell anyone, even her.

             
Ty took the stage, flashing his thousand-watt smile out into the enthusiastic crowd and grabbed the microphone.  ”Good evening, everyone!  Today is just getting started.  To start off the evening, let me introduce you to our newest Teaser,
Dallas Dae
!”

             
The crowd went wild, erupting into claps and whistles as the lights dimmed, the bright spotlight shot to the top of center stage. 

             
Chromatic’s “Looking for Love” came on.

             
Sexy, stocking-covered legs dangled from above as a spherical-shaped swing that showcased the featured person slowly descending down and the crowd went wild. 

             
The sexiest ninja that Sam had ever seen appeared and the crowd got even louder. 

             
Her wardrobe consisted of an indecently short, black kimono shaped robe with satin red trim, held closed by a matching satin red obi robe belt with a red dragon above her left thigh.  Her legs were covered in black stockings that went up to her mid-thighs, showing a hint of lace and the clips of her garter straps, leaving very little to the imagination.  On her feet were black peep-toe stilettos that ultimately made her legs look a mile long. 

             
Her mysterious eyes were covered with a see-through lace mask that was pretty sure to give every male in the room a hard-on.  Her dark hair was up in two different buns; one off-centered from the top right and the other to the side on the left.  A loose strand hung over her right shoulder.  The chopstick decors stuck in her hair had dangling jewels attached to its end for an added finishing touch.

             
Sam knew her eyes were wide and people may even call her woman-gawking-gun-toting-hussy, she didn’t care because Dallas Dae was a gawk-worthy, sexy ninja stripper ready to kick ass!

             
Something about Dallas Dae made Sam feel as if she knew who it was.  It was hard to tell with her eyes covered with the lace mask.  But just because her eyes were covered, it never stopped Sam from wondering.

             
The minute her foot touched the stage floor and she stepped off the swing, the song changed to Enrique Iglesias’ “On Top of You”, erupting loudly from the speakers.

             
Attached at her hip appeared to be a real samurai sword.  If it wasn’t, then that was the best, most realistic prop Sam had ever seen.  Her hands clutched around the sword and as she stood up straight, she drew the sword that made the clearly audible
whoosh
sound.  The audience broke out into a loud applause.

             
Dallas Dae was shorter than the average Comfort citizen and Sam only knew of one person in town who could possibly match her description, even if she thought it was still impossible.

             
Her hips swayed slowly back and forth with silky fluid-like motions, then going into a slow dip down to her heels and smoothly back up, her legs spread wide giving a show of its own to the audience (especially those who got center stage seats).

             
Damn.  That was
hot
.

             
But something about the sway to her hips made the memory don on Sam.

             
“It can’t be,” she whispered softly so no one heard her.  The way her hips swayed side to side was only one indication of who her suspect was.

             
The song was a slow song that had a dance beat to it, the perfect song that anyone could choose to strip to, luring people in not only with their body or their eyes, but with the sensual, raw movements to the song. 

             
Her hips rolled while she swung her sword towards the crowd that caught lots of “oohs”, “aahs”, and “ohs” as they broke out into a loud applause.  She stabbed the sword into the bale of hay that sat on the side of the stage and continued her seductive dancing.

             
Her hand went to her obi belt where she slowly and teasingly pulled on it, gliding it loosely, opening up her kimono robe.  With her back to the crowd, next went the robe, falling off her shoulders, down her arms, enough to where she caught it with one of her hands before it fell to the floor.

             
And as tradition of the club, for the opening night for each of the newest star, the stripper was to toss her main piece of wardrobe out to the crowd which, in this case, a group of what looked like college guys in the center room were fighting over the robe.

             
Her hand reached up and slowly pulled off the lower chopstick, having her tumbling down against her shoulders.  Then the second one followed with her tossing her head to shake out her now-wavy hair.

             
Sam took a moment to turn away and readjust her dried eyes that resulted from the lack of blinking.  In doing so, she noticed the other waitresses stopping their work to watch their dancer do her thing.

             
At that moment stepping through the doors were Lynn, Brown, and another man who Sam couldn’t make out due to the thick cloud of smoke in the air.  Bunny greeted them as the door and assuming when they told her their names, she walked them back towards the stairs.

             
Now was the time.

             
Sam excused herself with the girls who waved her off absentmindedly as the continued their mesmerization with Dallas Dae. 

             
By the time she looked back up, she saw Brown’s back as he headed up the stairs that lead to five of the private sections of Teasers.  And by private, it meant that guests in these sections were able to see down if they sat at the end of the balcony, but no one on the first level was able to see up.  It was because of how they were designed, protruding outward and near the stage that made it impossible for anyone to see.

             
Sam worked her way through the crowd of men whose eyes were glued to the stage, saluting their drinks and yelling out their enthusiasm without having a thought as to who could possibly go deaf as they walked by.  She slowly made her way up the stairs, her clicking heels against the wooden steps drowned out by the rowdy crowd.

             
Sam reached the first room and slowly peeked inside, trying hard to not move the curtains.  It was a bunch of guys who were doing shots together with one guy who was wearing a plastic tiara on his head and a fluffy fur scarf around his neck.  It was a bachelor party but with the party not paying attention to the onstage show.  Weird.