The Final Catch: Book 2: See Jane Hex (The Tarot Sorceress Series) (11 page)

I headed for Whitman. I hadn’t let Emilia know that thanks to William I knew something about him that neither Emi nor Maisie did, otherwise there’s no way I’d be so bold.

I knew what Whitman’s ring of keys could really do.  And I needed to get my hands on them sooner rather than later. I needed to confront him, and try to convince him that I wasn’t really here looking for a job; Now more than ever I needed to keep my part-time teaching job at the academy. I’d already figured out what I was going to tell him. I was participating in a girl’s stag,
yeah, that was a good cover
, but before I got to him, he slipped away from me.

I figured he was headed for the men’s room. I caught glimpses of his white hair as he wound his way down the narrow, dark halls in the back areas of the pub. If he was headed for the men’s room, it was sure out of the way. 

He went through a small door. When I turned to see where Emi was, I nearly bit her. She was right behind me.

The girl had my back.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or be annoyed; we stared at each other a minute, each trying to figure what the other was doing. Then my cell phone chimed in. I’d down loaded a little witch icon and set the ringer to play “Ding Dong the witch is dead” for calls from Maisie.

Sure enough, it worked.

“Maisie, what's up?” I asked, sounding overly cheerful even to myself. “Yeah, it went great. Yeee--ah, I got the job.”  I lied and looked at Emilia. “Did Emi give me the repaired magical dancer’s outfit?” I looked at Emi again with big question marks in my eyeballs.

Emilia’s eyes went wide. She held up her hands, empty of any costume and shook her head, no.  I gave her my best confused looked and mouthed the words WHERE IS IT?  Emi only rolled her eyes at me.

Omg, she didn’t have it!

“She--did, yes, she did give it to me. And it worked, because I got the job,” I said, closing my eyes, which is a habit I developed whenever I lied. It made me feel like I wasn’t really lying. When I opened my eyes again, Emi gave me the two thumbs up and then she looked consumed with dread, and so she should I thought.  I ended the call.

“Where is it?” I asked, checking her out to see if maybe she had it hooked to her belt or some other crazy place.

“Long story, sweetie. Put it this way, that outfit is out to lunch.”

“Are you serious? I need that costume more than ever. I told Maisie I got the job, and wants me to do some dancing, but not on the poles.”

“I took it to the cleaners, and this crazy old whino was camping out there. He had a nasty sleeping bag and empty bottles in the back of the shop –“She was interrupted by Whitman noisily pushing his way past us as he now headed back to the action.

We both breathed in as he squeezed by, but he didn’t seem to notice either one of us.

“Tell me later. Whitman's getting away. Come on,” I said. But Emi caught my elbow and pointed to a sign above the door Whitman had come out from.  It read Vince Cabria, OFFICE. It appeared as if the two ‘gentleman’ had a cozy relationship.

We looked at each other like the idiots we were.  He went into Vince’s office, not the men’s room. I guess that made more sense.  Cabria’s office was way out of the way. What a couple of space cadets Emi and I were.  I had no time to wonder what business Whitman had with Cabria, I needed to make things right with my principal, so that I could stay close to his ring of keys, and I guess my job at the school meant more to me than I thought.

I was beginning to think that maybe he hadn’t noticed that one of his teaching staff had been making a fool of herself earlier on that pole. That was wishful thinking, and Whitman was getting away.

By the time I caught up to Whitman I saw that this time he really was headed to the men’s room, but by now I’d lost Emilia. The Wild Swan now had more of a crowd because it was later in the evening. It was getting harder than ever to maneuver through the joint.

I let Whitman go ahead and step into the real men’s room.  I decided to wait for Emi to catch up. She did and I told her to wait outside and watch the door.  I planned to go into the men’s room and let Whitman know my thoughts.

Emilia thought I‘d lost my mind.

“Are you nuts? Or do you just want to see his.”

“Groooo—ss,” I said, disgusted with the thought. “If I go in then I’ve got his undivided attention.”

“Yeah, and every other man’s undivided attention.”  She made a gesture at her crotch, like she was holding an imaginary sausage.

“He’s the only one in there! I’ve been watching. Tell anyone who wants to go in that it’s out of order and to use the men’s room at the front of the pub.”

“Oookay,” she said, but she looked skeptical.

“Trust me on this. And be ready. I might need some backup.”

“You think so?” she said sarcastically.

I stepped up to the men's washroom door, and motioned for Emilia to wait right there, then I pushed in.

*

I was in stealth mode, and so quiet I thought I should make some sound, so that I didn’t frighten the man to death.  While I crept in I heard a noise I hadn’t been expecting, key’s rattling, hundreds of keys jing-a-jangle.

Whitman’s key ring, he was looking for a key!

Peeking around the wall of the bathroom stall, I was in time to see Whitman insert a key into the wall opposite me. When his key touched the wall a door appeared. He opened it and walked through. One moment he was right there in front of me and in the next he was gone, but I didn’t have time to worry much about it because there was a loud commotion outside the men’s room. I figured Emi was trying to stop someone who really needed to go from getting in. I decided to get out before I got into trouble.

*

Emi was gone.

The racket I’d heard through the flimsy washroom door came from down the hall. Vince argued with a young woman. I knew her name was Jackie because earlier she’d given me a few tips on the dos and don’ts while on the pole.  Jackie was beautiful, a twenty-one year old raven haired bombshell.  And she had hardly a thing on.

She was one of Vince’s performers and she was his star. I crept closer to get a better view and listen in. She grabbed her dressing gown from the back of a chair.

“I quit! Take your pole, Vince, and go polish it. And I expect all my money, pay and the savings I gave you to invest.”

“Calm down Jackie, baby. Stay. You know you're my star.”

With only her dressing gown wrapped around her, Jackie made a dramatic exit out the front door. Vince made a good riddance gesture at her. A few of the regulars at the bar looked up a moment, then got back to their drinks and the sports on the bar TV.

I raced after Jackie.

*

“Wait. Jackie! I need to talk -- about your investments!” But Jackie had already left, the door swinging behind her. I ran as fast as the platform sparkle shoes I wore would allow.  I couldn’t afford to twist an ankle.

I raced out the front door and bumped into Emi, who handed me a brown paper bag. I took the bag from her without taking my eyes from Jackie and tried to side step my sidekick, but she was having none of it.

Jackie already headed across the parking lot. I gave Emilia my annoyed look.

“Where'd you go, Ms. Backup?” I said in a tone.

“What's with Barbie?” She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. We both watched as Jackie got in her car and drove away.

“She quit,” I said. Emilia didn’t look too concerned; in fact she tapped at the brown paper bag in my hands and opened the top for me. When I didn’t pay attention, Emi took the paper bag from me, then handed it back.

“Here.”

“What’s this?” I was trying to see around Emilia but there was no getting past her. That was the end of Jackie. I watched her oil burning vehicle take off out of the parking lot and head into traffic.

“After your conversation with Maisie I thought I'd better go back to the cleaners to get the outfit. It was on the counter all fixed, but still no one there at the shop.

I stared at her. “Now, you bring me the outfit.”

“You're welcome,” she said.”

“We’re on a mission, remember?” I said.

“They’ve got a new star now,” Emi said, all twinkly.

She hustled me back into the Wild Swan.

*

When we got inside Vince was waiting. “Well, hello. I was just looking for you.” He took me by the arm and escorted me over to the pole on which I’d made a fool of myself. His face looked bright and happy, as if he saw me in a new light! I looked at Emilia who gave me a nod of approval.

“What's up, Vince?”

“You are, babe. I want you to practice. I'm gonna give you a chance.”

“You're so kind.”

“You're a bit old for our clientele, but once you get going, it all shakes out the same. Know what I mean?”

Again, I gave the creep the finger, but he looked away for a moment and didn’t see it. When he looked back I let my dressing gown fall seductively open and Vince didn’t raise his eyes above my “old” chest.

“Sure, Vince. I know what you mean and I love Theodosia.”

Vince looked at me, confused.

“My cat, Theodosia. I love her and that’s why I’m doing this.”

He looked convinced. He nodded his head in agreement.

I mouthed the word ASSHOLE to Emilia and she nodded then said, “She'll be even better now, Vince. You’ll see.” Emilia headed for a front row table.

Vince seemed to notice Emilia for the very first time. He gave her a very nasty stare and his eyes fixated on the handle of the sword sticking up over her shoulder. He obviously didn’t like anything about her. “No weapons in here, lesbo fro freak.”

Emilia had been heading for a table up front, to watch me perform when she stopped dead in in her tracks and pulled out her sword.

“Someone’s going to die. They always do when she takes out that sword,” I said to Vince warningly. 

One of Vince’s bouncers noticed the change in Vince’s body language and started to make a move toward the three of us, but before he took two steps, Emi had her sword at Vince’s throat. 

Vince looked nervously at me. “She’s a friend of yours, right?”

“Right,” I said.

“Good.” He choked the word out. He signaled the bouncer to sit down and as soon as the big lug was settled Emi released Vince, who in turn gave her a killer look.  Emilia licked her sword blade and stared Vince down. He turned back to me. “Janey, I need a pole girl. Jackie, the bitch, quit on me. She'll be back. She's addicted to the pole. In the meantime, I think, you’ll do the trick.”

Emilia glowered.

“Vince. Let me change and try again. I think you'll really like this one.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go change, baby.”

He brushed the whole thing off and recovered pretty quickly. I wanted to get this show on the road! 

I headed for the dressing room with Emilia right behind me.  She walked backwards refusing to take her eyes of the two men, Vince and the nasty bouncer.

When I reached the dressing room, Emi elbowed me and I turned back to see what was happening. The big, beefy bouncer was clutching his chest. He appeared to be having a heart attack. I gave Emi a disapproving look. The bouncer continued to struggle his chest pain obvious. “Is he gonna die, Emi?”

“Big changes await that bad boy.”

We both watched a moment longer as the bouncer writhed around on the floor. I felt helpless but I don’t think Emilia felt anything. Finally, I tugged at her sleeve.

“I don't do miracles,” she said.

“That’s too bad. I need one for this pole dance.”

I’m pretty sure that bouncer’s lights went out for good. The last thing I saw was three guys lifting him and carrying him out to the parking lot.

I sighed and Emilia gave me a crazy look.  I went towards the change room, but Emi again nudged me.  Whitman literally stepped out from the shadows in one corner of the pub. “Where the hell did he come from? The last time I saw him he stepped through a magic portal in the men’s room. Shit! I wanted to do this without him here. Oh, oh, he’s coming this way!” I said all in one breath.

“No. He’s talking to Vince.”

“They’re looking here.”

“In the men’s room he used one of the keys on his ring, touched it to the far wall and a portal opened up.  He stepped into it and disappeared.”

We watched the two men interact. Whitman had Vince’s undivided attention. He whispered into Vince’s ear and Vince bellowed with laughter which I found disturbing.  Then I heard him say overly loudly, “Education has gone to hell!” The two of them looked our way and Whitman smirked and handed Vince a big gold key from his ring. Vince slipped the key into his pocket and didn’t seem to care that Emi and I saw the whole thing.

“Now, he’s coming this way,” Emi warned.

And from his jacket pocket Sia’s soft little face appeared.