Chapter 23
Parrish took a few wobbly steps, then looked down to see that the heel of her left sandal was broken. “Dammit.” She stooped, dropped it in a trash bin, and began limping toward her car, with Garrett following behind, weaving from side to side on the sidewalk.
“Wait up,” he called. “C’mon. Slow down. Why you gotta be so mad?”
She stopped and waited for him to catch up. “Look what you did!” She gestured at her dress, stained from the filthy barroom floor. “My favorite dress is ruined, thanks to you. My shoe is broken, and I just flashed my panties to about fifty strangers at that bar back there.”
Garrett awkwardly reached out his hand to brush away some of the dirt on the back of her dress, but she slapped his hand away.
“Leave me alone.” She stopped, removed the other shoe, and pitched it into a patch of nearby shrubbery before resuming her trek.
“Where you going?”
“Back to the Saint. It’s late and I have to work in the morning.” She turned and glared at him. “I should leave you right here. It would serve you right.”
He threw his arm around her shoulder. “Aww, Parrish, you wouldn’t do me that way, would you?”
She shrugged out from his embrace, and kept walking.
“Hang on,” he called. “Gotta water some flowers.”
He walked over to the side of a building and, with his back to her, unzipped his fly.
“Gross!” she yelled.
“All done,” he reported, still fumbling with his zipper.
“Are you crazy?” Parrish asked, grabbing him by the elbow. “You’re so completely wasted you’re gonna get yourself locked up for public drunkenness, and indecent exposure.”
“Nah. I know all the cops in town. We play darts together.”
On the way back to the Saint, the silence in the car was deafening.
Garrett yawned and tried to look penitent. “Aww, Parrish, don’t be mad at me. I didn’t mean to get drunk. And I’m sorry I messed up your pretty dress. You want me to wash it?”
“No,” she snapped.
“Listen, there’s something I feel really bad about.”
“You should.”
“No, it’s not the dress. Earlier, you asked me how come I got all those drinks for free. If I tell you something, do you swear it’ll be just between us?”
“I won’t swear to anything until I know what it is.”
“Fuuuuck,” he sighed. “Look. Your aunt has been good to me, the whole time I’ve worked for her. So I feel kinda shitty about it, you know?”
“About what?”
“The thing is, some of us at the Verandah, we got an arrangement with some places around town. Which is why I get to drink for free.”
“What kind of a deal?”
“They, uh, buy liquor from somebody at the Saint. Kinda out the back door.”
Parrish pulled the Audi to the side of the road. “You’re saying someone at the Saint is selling our liquor—liquor we pay for? Jesus, Garrett. That’s stealing. Outright theft. You’ve got to tell me who it is.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Yes, you should have. How many people are involved?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know.”
“How long has it been going on?”
“Look, it’s not that big a deal. Everybody in the restaurant business does this kind of stuff. The guy who told me about it said if I kept my mouth shut, I’d be taken care of.”
“Taken care of, how? Kickbacks?”
“Not, like, in cash. Like, the bars I hang out at, I drink and eat for free. That’s all.”
Parrish pulled at a strand of her hair, twisting it until it was almost knotted. “That is a kickback, Garrett. You know it and I know it. You just told me how good Traci has been to you, and that’s how you repay her? Looking the other way while somebody rips her off?”
He grabbed her hands. “You can’t tell anyone I told you about this stuff. Promise me, Parrish. I could get in big trouble.”
“You’re in big trouble, asshole.”
“I’m not the one dealing the booze,” he protested.
“No. You’re protecting whoever is stealing from us. That’s called, what? Accessory?”
“Please, Parrish? If you rat me out, I’ll lose my job. At the very least. And I need this job. Big time. Please? Promise me.”
“I don’t know,” she said reluctantly. “I’ll have to think about it.” She started the car again and pulled onto the roadway.
“Fuuuck.” Garrett pounded the dashboard with both fists. “You’re gonna get me killed.”
When they got to the dorm, Garrett slumped against the doorframe while Parrish keyed in the code on the front door. He lurched inside, mumbling something unintelligible as he stumbled to his room.
Parrish watched him go. “What an asshole,” she whispered.
Back in her own room she got undressed, tossing the blue dress into the trash can, and changed into an oversized Georgetown T-shirt. She tiptoed to the bathroom, washed her face, and brushed her teeth.
She climbed into bed, but she was too wired to sleep. Something was going on at the Saint. Garrett’s drunken confidence about stealing liquor was just the tip of the iceberg.
Parrish pulled out her blue notebook and scrawled some hasty notes. She had no idea what any of this meant, but she did know it wasn’t good. She yawned, then dug a sleep gummy out of the bottle on her nightstand and chewed it. Next she texted her aunt.
Hey, Traci. Can we meet up ASAP? Got something serious we need to discuss. About the Saint.
She was drifting off to sleep when she heard her phone ding with a response. So Traci was up too. Was she worrying about the fate of the hotel?
Gah! Now I’m worried. How about Sunday breakfast, my house, 10 am?
Parrish texted a thumbs-up emoji, yawned, and fell asleep.