“Well, well. Look who’s
wearing a dress.” Frank’s jolly, if gravelly, bass
boomed above the din of a dozen conversations. Callie
eyed the fifty-something man behind the bar with pure
mischief. She always looked forward to sparring with
him.
“It’s not a dress. It
happens to be a skirt, a blouse, and a blazer. What some
folks like to call a suit.”
“Is that a fact?” Frank
poured cola into a glass and set it on the glossy wooden
surface in front of her.
“It certainly is.” Callie
climbed onto a barstool. “I happen to have a whole
handful of them in my closet. I might even own a dress
or two.”
Looking down at the icy
glass sitting in front of her, Callie wondered how Frank
always seemed to know what she wanted. It wasn’t as if
she always ordered the same thing. But today, after
coming in out of the Florida afternoon heat, a cola was
perfect.
“Roberts in a real honest to
God dress. Now that’s something we’d all like to see.”
Callie turned to the source
of the teasing comment. Little Jimmy Johnson sat at a
table in the corner. The wiry little man with bushy
eyebrows grinned, showing the gap in his smile. She’d
heard he’d lost the teeth in a bar brawl. Trouble
followed Jimmy like a shadow, but so did street gossip,
and he and others like him made it worth her while to
spend time in places like Frank’s bar. Today though, she
wasn’t there for information, just a quick drink, then
back to work. Thanks to her very successful day, she had
a proposal to work on, so Callie saluted him with her
glass, then turned back to Frank.
“You’re sure in a good mood,
Callie girl.”
Callie smiled her biggest
smile. “I love my job, even when I have to dress up and
spend the day in court to deliver the evidence.” She
much preferred handing over a surveillance video in the
client’s office, but courtrooms no longer intimidated
her the way they once had. She’d learned to enjoy the
spectacle and drama.
“The trial went well?”
“The bastard didn’t get a
dime from my client.” She chuckled, remembering the
outrage on the man’s face when the decision was read.
“My client’s attorney practically wet himself with
excitement when he saw the tape.”
“I’ll bet you loved that.”
Frank poured whiskey into a glass for a regular half way
down the bar.
Callie didn’t reply. She
didn’t need to. Everyone knew how she felt about
attorneys. It was the reason she’d specialized in fraud
instead of some other area of private investigation.
Working fraud she didn’t have to work directly for the
lawyers. The only time she had to deal with them was
when she handed over a surveillance tape or testified in
court.
So Callie just grinned and
waited for Frank to make his way back down the bar. The
polished wood interior of the place had been styled
after the pub his parents had owned in Ireland. The
autographed jerseys that decorated the walls added color
and paid homage to the local college teams.
When he stood in front of
her again, she leaned forward and tipped up her chin,
unable to keep the smile off her face. “I have even
better news. I think I’ve finally landed Pepper
Insurance.”
“Whoa, the big fish, eh?”
“Harvey Pepper was in the
courthouse today. I ran into him on the way out of the
building. He’d already heard all about what happened in
court. He’s promised to give me a chance to win all his
business.”
“You best not be a stranger
when you get rich and successful, Callie girl. Remember
where you come from, I always say.”
She reached over and patted
the back of Frank’s hand. “Believe me, I’m not likely to
forget.”
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