Talons (4 page)

“
No thanks, Dina,” Vivvie
said coolly. “I’m not interested in his doors.”

“
You’re either a total lesbo
or you’re nuts!” was the waspish reply.

Rick and Dean rose when they returned
to the table. Vivvie saw Rick looked angry when Dina said she was
taking her home. Vivvie shivered from the suddenly hostile look in
Rick’s eyes, knowing his show of concern was false. He knew his
doors weren’t getting blown off when she made her
excuses.

“
I’m sorry you don’t feel
well, Vivvie,” his mouth said. But his eyes raked over her in
anger, making her hackles rise. “That’s really too bad.”

“
I’m coming down with
something,” Vivvie mumbled in reply and knew he didn’t believe
her.

“
We’re going to the bar
later,” Rick persisted, still unwilling to let her get away. “Why
don’t you just see if it wears off, Vivvie?”

Vivvie felt pushed and recoiled from
it. Rick didn’t like being rejected that much was clear. She felt
the pressure of all three of them then. Dean looked at her in
obvious displeasure; Dina in a pleadingly way.

“
I’m tired. Really, you guys
go ahead,” she said, disconcerted by the way Rick’s eyes seemed to
glow in fury at her words.

Vivvie almost jumped out of her chair
when Rick picked up her hand and brought it to his lips; revulsion
evident in her expression. The temptation to snatch her hand back
and whip out her sanitizer was strong.

Rick kissed the back of her hand and
she winced went he bit it, not really hard, but enough to unnerve
her. She snatched her hand away, raking it against his tooth. She
rubbed the back of it, seeing the hostile look come over his gaze
once more.

“
You don’t know what you’re
missing,” he said pleasantly. His eyes were furious she wanted
nothing to do with him.

“
I’m sorry. Maybe some other
time,” she mumbled as she and Dina left the table.

Vivvie felt Rick’s eyes boring into her
back until they left the dining room, uncomfortable with the icky
way he made her feel. She was more than a little disturbed as they
got into the car. Her hand itched where he’d bitten it. Vivvie
pulled out the sanitizer and smoothed it over her hands, disgusted
to feel weak to her compulsions.

Dina didn’t say a word, music blaring
all the way back to their townhouse. She glared at Vivvie
condemningly when she clicked the door lock for her to get out.
Vivvie watched the Charger leave from the sidewalk in front of
their place with a sense of foreboding she didn’t
understand.

Vivvie went straight to bed, disgusted
she didn’t enjoy the date. Rick’s bite mark turned out to be a
scratch. It was probably self-inflicted when she jerked her hand
back. The itching sensation passed when she dosed it with
Neosporin.

Vivvie promised herself she was never
double-dating with Dina again. Her roommate could forget it. The
guy was a total jerk off who obviously just wanted sex in exchange
for dinner. He didn’t even try to be nice when he sensed the brush
off. Rachel was welcome to him.

Vivvie heard the cats prowling in the
patio all night. Their furious hissing and growling grew louder in
the night. They fought with much bumping into the fence. She
decided something needed to be done. Maybe Mrs. Donaldson could
call Animal Control. It was obvious they were being overrun by
cats.

~~~~

Vivvie wasn’t surprised to know Dina
didn’t come home the night before. She cleaned up the house, got
ready for work, and hoped to see her roommate before she
left.

The scratch on the back of her hand
itched badly; looking angry and infected. Vivvie scowled as she
applied more Neosporin and covered it with a band aid, convinced
she was right about germs and the rest of the world was
wrong.

At a quarter to four, she was pulling
out of the lot, navigating her ancient Pontiac Bonneville the five
miles across town to her job off Highway 1. G’s was a diner that
was there for nearly sixty years. It was family-owned and operated.
It was situated on one of the main strips in Sebastian.

Vivvie started working there when she
arrived from Ft. Lauderdale. Her grandma was friends with the old
man who owned it. G’s had tons of regulars, mostly old-timers;
poor-tippers all of them. Gary, the current owner and grandson,
decided to stay open twenty-four hours on the weekends. His goal
was to compete with huge chains like Denny’s in Vero Beach for the
after bar business.

Who was Gary fooling? They didn’t make
enough in sales on the weekend to put up with the crap from the
rowdy crowd.

Vivvie pulled in and could see the
place was hopping. She locked up her car and rushed inside. Gary
gave her a mean look. He wanted the night crew there at a quarter
too but didn’t pay them until four. Nobody listened to
him.

They all knew he did it to cater to
Becky. She was the pretty day waitress Gary was doing in his office
and thought nobody knew. Becky only wanted to get out of the end of
shift clean-up, putting away deliveries, and generally dump
everything on the night shift.

If Vivvie arrived any earlier; Becky
would high-tail it out before she’d assist. That fifteen minutes
forced Becky to help their dishwasher Salem unload the washers, put
dishes and pots away, and unpack the delivery items.

Vivvie was far from lazy. She knew poor
Salem got dumped on all day long. Becky complained. Gary spoke to
Vivvie. Nothing was ever enforced. Vivvie hadn’t missed a day of
work in six years, picked up extra shifts, and the customers adored
her.

Gary might pacify Becky, but he knew a
good waitress in Vivvie. Maybe he knew Becky wouldn’t last, like
all the others he fooled with over the years.

“
We got eight tickets up.
Becky’s not feelin’ good, Viv,” Gary said as soon as she hit the
door.

Vivvie nodded and went to punch in. She
deposited her stuff in the backroom and came back to start serving.
Becky looked fine to her, she noted. The overly-made up brunette
slyly made her way to Gary’s office after she cleared the front
counter of tips.

Salem stayed until eight every night to
do dishes. After that, she and the cook were on their own until
midnight. Vivvie looked forward to seeing Gary leave at five
everyday like clockwork.

Salem was a middle-aged black man with
an old prison record. Gary liked to hold it over Salem’s head that
he was lucky to have the job at all. Salem just smiled and grinned,
and bore it all with a grace he was known for. Vivvie felt for him,
wanting to deck Gary when he belittled the older man.

Salem did a lot of the heavy work in
the kitchen. Jim the head cook helped out when he could. Jim and
his three short order helpers had their hands full just keeping up
with cooking most days.

Once the place slowed down, Vivvie went
into the back and Salem looked up from the suds in the huge sink
with a grin splitting his face.

“
Hey Viv, you have a nice
couple a days off?” he asked as he washed the pans from the daily
specials.

“
Same old; same old,” Vivvie
said in response. On impulse, she decided to tell him about her
date from Hell just because she didn’t have anyone else to
tell.

“
You get treated to the Red
Lobster and you don’t even give the guy any play?” he
teased.

“
He expected it, Salem!
Whatever!” Vivvie snapped.

“
Why not give the guy a
break? You cute; he cute. Seems to me; it’s just natural,” the cook
was saying as he washed the pots and set them in a huge strainer.
“I’m just sayin’ ya gotta give a guy a chance sometime,
Viv.”

“
He just wanted one thing!”
Vivvie argued hotly. “He wasn’t even sincere about it. You weren’t
there; so never mind!”

“
You too dang young to not
be datin’ and runnin’ around like the rest of the kids in this
town, Viv,” Salem countered and grinned at her angry look. “I’m
just sayin’ ya might even like it if ya come off a somethin’ for
once. Take that cleaner with ya.”

Vivvie glared at Salem and stomped back
out front. She refilled coffee cups, snaked up change left behind,
and by seven o’clock she made twelve dollars in tips.

It was deserted by nine. They played
poker in the back, using sugar packets instead of money. Salem read
at a booth out front.

“
You best be careful coming
and going, Miss Vivian,” Old Jim warned her, his grizzled
countenance softening as he looked at her, taking the pot once
more. “They got some women gone missin’ again in the
newspapers.”

Vivvie nodded, knowing it was
commonplace. This was Florida. People came and went all the time.
It didn’t mean anything happened to them. It just meant most
realized the east coast of Florida wasn’t hopping like the west.
Sometimes people left in the night, running out on jobs, bills, and
whatever else they didn’t care to face.

“
You always think the worst,
Jim,” Vivvie said as Troy, one of the helpers dealt. “I bet those
women will turn up, lots happier, somewhere else.”

“
I don’t know,” Jim said as
he scratched his head. “The FBI been in here today. They had lunch.
Something’s going on. You just keep an eye out, and make sure you
keep your doors locked at night.”

Vivvie shivered with unease, knowing
serial killers caught in Florida was pretty commonplace. More
tended to be caught here than anywhere else in the country, lured
there by the weather and the always shifting transient
community.

You never met too many people born and
raised here anymore, as much as people from other states. Florida
was a melting pot of discontented northerners, a bursting Latin
population, and tourists from everywhere in the world.

It weirded Vivvie out thinking another
serial killer was on the loose, obviously targeting young women
again. Why didn’t they ever target anything but attractive young
women? How about senile retirees who left some really crappy tips
at diners? You never saw them go missing. She retired her hand to
go back up front. It was after ten and completely dead in the
diner. They didn't have a customer in almost two hours.

“
You mad at me, Viv?” Salem
asked as she slid into the booth with him. He sometimes stayed
after some nights to read, saying the lighting in his rented room
was poor. They both knew he didn’t have anything to go home to at
the weekly-rate hotel across the street. He put down his
book.

“
No, you’re right about me
being a stick in the mud, just wrong about the guy is all,” she
said defensively and smiled. “He just wasn’t the one,
Salem.”

“
That one you came here with
ain’t comin’ back, Viv,” Salem reminded her knowingly, his brown
eyes gentle. “Ya need to move on and get on with your
life.”

“
You don’t know Kevin like I
do,” Vivvie argued, avoiding his wise all-knowing eyes. “Sooner or
later he’ll realize he made a mistake. He’s like that.”

“
Maybe, or maybe he just
gonna pick up with someone else,” Salem said and shook his head.
“He ain’t the one for you, Viv.”

“
He put up with me the way I
am, Salem,” Vivvie said, looking away from his understanding gaze.
“That’s not easy to do. Most wouldn’t, you know? Who would want a
girlfriend who has a problem like mine?”

“
That ain’t love, honey,”
Salem told her. “Shoot, as soon as somebody flashed some ass at
that boy, he was gone.”

Vivvie knew it was true. Kevin didn’t
even stay away from the diner now out of respect. Lennie came in
with Kevin on the weekends. He treated her like an old buddy, not
an ex-girlfriend.

Vivvie got busy refilling napkin
holders and salt shakers. The fact she was wasting her life waiting
for Kevin to come back to her wasn’t news. Like everything she did,
over and over again, without any control over it; she just couldn’t
stop.

~~~~

Dina wasn’t home when Vivvie got up.
She couldn’t tell if she’d even been home. She didn’t worry until
Thursday night when she was off work. By three in the afternoon on
Friday, Vivvie was frantic and started making calls. Dina’s cell
phone and Rachel’s both went to voicemail on the first
ring.

Rachel’s mom left three messages on the
house phone, sounding pissed off her daughter didn't check in.
Vivvie called her first. Mrs. Sayers was now doing the same as her,
calling everyone.

Dina’s mom was always out on house
showings when she called her office. Vivvie was growing really
worried. Dina might be a wild child, but she always came home
sooner or later. Being gone without a word wasn’t like her; for
this long anyway.

Vivvie went to work Friday night
feeling out of sorts. Mrs. Donaldson got a maintenance guy over to
check out the deck. The guy replaced the screen and said he was
looking into some industrial spray to get rid of the odor. The
stench was so bad on the deck Vivvie could smell it inside
now.

When Vivvie got up Saturday afternoon
after working a double, she knew something was wrong. She called in
sick for the first time in six years. Gary sounded stunned, but he
couldn’t say a word. Vivvie finally got through to Dina’s mom. The
lady sounded none-too-pleased to hear from her.