You're Busting My Nuptials (Tizzy/Ridge Trilogy Book 2) (11 page)

The old building remained the same on the outside except all the windows were blacked out. Once inside, she couldn’t tell much difference either. The counter was now a bar. There wasn’t a stage, only three original dining tables in the center of the room, a pole ran through each of them from floor to ceiling. More tables and chairs lined the perimeter.

Men dodged and ducked as girls twirled around, flinging arms and legs to a heavy beat. Apparently the old guys thought the risk of brain injury was worth it.

Tizzy and the group took stools at the bar and the bartender came over to them. Dressed in jeans, a white shirt, and black leather vest, he appeared to be about forty, with the build of a bouncer, and a day old beard.
“What’ll it be ladies—and sir?”

The thought occurred to Tizzy, Jinx must look like a pimp out with his stable. She couldn’t help but smile at the idea of being mistaken as a prostitute. She’d only been with two men in her life. She concluded she wouldn’t be much of a money maker.

Jinx took the liberty of ordering before the girls had a chance. “Beer for me, tequila for the three ladies.”

When the barkeeper set them up, Tizzy leaned forward. “I understand y’all have pictures of every girl who’s worked here.”

“Yep, back wall,” he said pointing the way.

“Thanks, we’re going to take a look, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a bit. Looking for anyone in particular?”

“We’ll recognize her when we see her,” Tizzy said.

They downed their shots and Jinx followed them to the back. There must have been photos of two hundred women. Jinx started at the top and worked his way down. By the time he got to the fourth row, he pointed her out.

Tizzy moved in close and read the name. “Gwynn Sky.”

“Gwynn Sky?” Synola repeated. “Damn, somebody buy that girl a vowel.”

About that time, a dancer came through a doorway and Tizzy spoke to her. “Excuse me, may I ask you something?”

She looked to be near thirty-five with a great body and spray-on tan. She pushed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and flashed her brown eyes. “Sure, whatcha need, Hon?”

“Do you know this girl?” Tizzy placed her finger on the picture.

“Gwynn? Sure.”

“Is she working today?”

“No, Hon. She hasn’t worked here in a while. Do you know Gwynn?”

“No, not really. We have a mutual friend and I hoped she could help me find him.”

The dancer leaned back and studied Tizzy. “Oh, I gotcha. Some guy done you wrong and you want a little payback.” Her eyes drifted to Jinx. “Men, we can’t live with ’em and we can’t bury ’em in the backyard without the dog digging them up.”

“Do you have an address or maybe her phone number? Any information would be helpful.” Tizzy said.

“Her real name is Gwynn Skylar and she lives in Tyler. We always teased her about how it rhymed.” The woman spoke to Tizzy but kept her eyes on Jinx.

Tizzy smiled. Compared to the afternoon crowd, Jinx was the devil’s candy.

“I imagine she’s working one of the clubs there. Hell, she may be working all of ’em.” She smiled at her prey. “You want a lap dance, Baby?”

Jinx gave her full wattage. “Maybe later.”

Synola clicked the roof of her mouth and wagged her head. “Take my word for it, you’d be wasting your time.”

The dancer eyed Synola. “Really? I would have never guessed by looking at him.”

When they were back in the car, Jinx glanced over at Synola. “You know, Puddin’, if I wasn’t so sure about my manhood, I might be insulted by your insinuation.”

“I’m glad one of us is sure.”

Tizzy angled to face them. “Okay, we have the stripper’s name and we know she lives in Tyler. How are we going to find her? Do you think strippers use Facebook?”

Jinx took his phone from his pocket, opened the car door and stepped out. “Excuse me, let me make a call. I’ll be right back.” He pushed the door closed and walked away.

“What’s that about?” Synola asked. “Some secret-super-sniper-spy-shit?”

“Beats me. I guess he has connections,” Tizzy said.

In a few minutes, he returned and slid in next to Synola again. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Welcome back, double O, zero.”

An hour later, Tizzy drove by the address Jinx got from his mysterious phone call. It was a rough neighborhood with plenty of locations to dump a dead body, if needed.

Most of the old houses were small and in need of paint. The Skylar house, like all the others on the block, had a small dirt front yard enclosed by chain-link fencing, and a cracked concrete driveway. No sign of a car parked in the drive or in front.

Tizzy hooked a U-turn and rolled past the house again, then turned into the alley and parked in the shadows.

Earlier she agreed with Jinx’s plan to travel in separate vehicles because of the tail they’d picked up in Tyler the last time. He also convinced her to wear an ear-bud in order to stay in contact with each other. She glanced behind her, and saw him park his Harley at the end of the street.

Rayann pointed to the lawn littered with yard-gnomes. “Tell me that is not the house we’re looking for.”

“Yeah, this is the one,” Tizzy said. “Four-forty-four Rosemont.”

Rayann covered her face with her hands. “Oh no. I can’t get out. Look at all those gnomes. I don’t like gnomes. I’m afraid of gnomes.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tizzy said. “First the clowns and now gnomes?”

Synola leaned forward from the back seat. “Why are you afraid of gnomes? They look like baby Santa’s. How can you not like ’em?”

“They’re scary. They have big eyes and they’re smiling all the time. They’re spooky,” Rayann said.

“Good grief, Rayann. They’re cute. Look at that one. “Tizzy pointed. “She’s a biker-babe gnome.”

Synola gestured toward a big oak tree. “Yeah, there’s one reading a book, and one climbing a ladder.”

“You like Snow White, don’t you?” Tizzy asked. “Well, think of them as the seven dwarfs. See, there’s Sleepy, taking a nap.”

“Yeah, and there’s Moony, with his bare-ass in the air,” Synola laughed.

Rayann frowned. “There’s no dwarf named Moony. Y’all go without me. I’ll sit in the car. I can be the lookout.”

Synola’s voice slipped into a sinister tone. “Suit yourself. I just hope none of them little gnomes come to life, crawl over the fence, and notice you sitting here all alone in the dark. I hope they don’t try to get in the car with you.” Synola pointed toward the edge of the yard. “That one, with the axe, could break the car windows out.”

Tizzy cut her eyes over at Synola and shook her head. She knew Synola got the message, but didn’t seem to care.

Synola lowered her voice to almost a whisper. “The gnome on the ladder might come over and help the others climb up and get through the broken window. You’d be trying to get out of course, but by then, they’d have you surrounded.” She took a quick breath. “Their eyes will get even bigger when they see a pretty little thing like you sitting here.”

“Okay! Okay! I’m getting out, but y’all better stay right with me.”

When they stepped from the car, Rayann wedged between her two friends. She hooked her arms in theirs. They walked toward the house and Tizzy pushed the metal gate open. The rusted hinges squealed. Dogs started to bark. Tizzy hesitated for a moment and waited for a ferocious canine to appear from around the house. When none did, they moved forward.

Rayann unhooked her arms and
pushed Tizzy and Synola close together, using them as a human shield.

Tizzy glanced back over her shoulder and located Jinx again.

The three women climbed the steps and when they reached the porch, a gnome by the door sang out;
if you ain’t Tim McGraw, go away!

Rayann screamed and jumped onto Synola
’s back. They both spun in a circle. Synola lost her footing, staggered, and fell forward. She coughed and choked as they hit the rough floorboards. Synola landed face down with Rayann lying on top of her, nose-to-nose with the motion-activated gnome.

Rayann screamed again, rolled off Synola
, and baby crawled back toward the steps.

Tizzy ran and pulled her up by her shoulders. Rayann wrapped her arms around Tizzy. “I hate gnomes! I should have stayed in the car.”

“You’ll be fine.” Tizzy adjusted her ear bud.

“Everything alright up there?” Jinx asked.

“We’re fine,” Tizzy said.

Synola got to her feet and stood next to them. “Good God, Rayann, it’s only a recording. The damn thing ain’t real. Get a hold of yourself.”

Rayann pulled away from Tizzy. “I’m okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry I jumped on you, Synola. I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Damn straight you won’t. Ring the bell, Tizzy, so we can get this over with and get the hell out of here.”

Rayann returned to her position behind the two women.

Tizzy read a note attached to the wall.
Knock. The doorbell don’t work no more.
She lightly tapped, surprised the commotion hadn’t already alerted someone. A woman’s voice came from the other side. “Who is it?”

“We’re friends of Gwynn’s. May we talk to her a minute?” Tizzy asked.

The door opened and a small, thin, pasty-faced woman, with wild brown eyes and unruly hair, threw her hands up in surprise. “Omigod, omigod, omigod! You’re wearing pink and pink is my favorite color. This is not a coincidence,” she said, jerking nervously, starting to pace, rattling like an auctioneer.

“You know Gwynn. How do you know Gwynn? Have you seen Gwynn? Is she with you?” She looked beyond them toward the street.

Tizzy cut her eyes toward Synola and shrugged. “No, Gwynn’s not with us. We know her from the club. When do you expect her?”

Rayann peeked around Synola to get a look at the woman.

“Omigod, omigod, omigod!” The woman shrieked. She ran her hands through her dark hair and picked up her pace. “There are three of you and three is an unlucky number! This is not a coincidence! Omigod, omigod, omigod! Something bad has happened.”

Tizzy tried to reassure her. “No. Nothing bad has happened. We just need to speak to Gwynn. That’s all.”

Pasty-face turned in a circle, wringing her hands. “This is bad. This is really bad. There are three of you and three is unlucky. The last time I saw Gwynn was Friday, today is Monday. That’s three days. There are three of you. This is not a coincidence!”

“Hell, woman, what are you on?” Synola snapped.

The woman ignored her and continued pacing; now going in a figure eight formation in the doorway.

“Point me out, Tizzy. You’re losing her.” Jinx said into Tizzy’s ear.

“Ma’am, settle down. There are not three of us. There are four of us. See,” she said, pointing to the street where Jinx stood. “He’s with us, so that makes four. Is four an unlucky number?”

The woman stopped, crossed her hands over her chest, and took a deep breath. “Four,” she said with a gasp. “Omigod, omigod, omigod. You’re wearing pink. It’s my favorite color and there are four of you. Four is my lucky number. This is not a coincidence. You’re here to help me find my sister. Aren’t you?”

“Omigod!” Tizzy said. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. This is not a coincidence. We’re here to help you find Gwynn.” She decided to get on the same wave-length as the woman, which was probably beaming straight from Mars.

“I knew it, I knew it,” the woman said.

Tizzy stuck out her hand. “I’m Tizzy, and this is Synola and Rayann. May we come in?”

“Yes, yes, of course. I’m sorry. I’m not thinking clearly.” She latched on to Tizzy’s hand and pulled her inside. “I’m Ramona. Do y’all perform with Gwynn?”

“Yes, we do,” Synola said. “She hasn’t been at work, so we got worried about her. You say you haven’t seen her since Friday?”

Ramona started to pace again, taking Tizzy with her. “That’s right. This is not good. This is not good. She was supposed to perform at a private party and she never came back.”

Tizzy tried to pull her hand away, but Ramona had it in a death grip. They continued to move around the room, Ramona leading, Tizzy following. “Did Gwynn drive her own car to the party or did someone pick her up?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where was she working?” Tizzy asked.

“I don’t remember.”

“Was the party out of town?”

“I’m not sure.”

“In Brownsboro, maybe?” Rayann asked.

Ramona let go of Tizzy’s hand and lifted her eyes toward the ceiling, as if letting the words sink in. “I don’t know.”

Synola stepped forward and grabbed Ramona by her shoulders. “Stop! Let’s sit down over here and you tell us everything you do know.”

Tizzy locked her eyes on Ramona, and decided to tell her the truth. “I think Gwynn performed at my fiancé’s bachelor party—and now he’s missing.”

Ramona jumped up, threw her hands in the air. “Omigod, omigod, omigod! No, no, no. What am I gonna do? She promised me she’d never do this again. She’s run off with your man.”