Question:“Why is there a post-it stuck to your ceiling?”
Prescott looked up, “To remind me of something.”
“What?”
“It says groceries,” he said squinting, then sighed, “Damn.”
Oliver laughed, a rough sound today. After the fight. He scratched his neck, “Well, it can’t be that bad.” Prescott opened the fridge, “It is.” The only thing in the fridge was six cases of really terrible beer. Preston Prescott really is the worse A.A. counselor in the world. Noll grabbed a case, “Go order Chinese, I want my own order of wontons.”
Prescott glared at him, “You’re paying, you ungrateful bastard. I don’t let just anybody into my home you know.”
“I can tell.”
“What?”
“I can tell it’s a new car,” said Doug, wrinkling her nose. Angelina laughed, a light airy sound because she’s thinking about Oliver and their fight. “Well, what does it matter if it’s a new car?”
“It means either he just bought a car, unlikely, or it’s a rental, meant to impress,” she said, frowning at her chewed nails. It’s a filthy habit that she broke both her triplets of but never managed to toss herself. “Maybe he just likes new car smell,” said Angelina with a shrug. She doesn’t really care what Doug thinks about Eddie because she doesn’t really like Doug. This was only a favor for Alicia who was doing it as a favor for Jack Wood. Which meant this was also a favor for Noll, which meant he really owed her double after yelling at her last night. She was just introducing Doug to Eddie who may or may not have a real job for the girl. One could never tell with Eddie.
Eddie opened the car door with one of his winning smiles, “Ladies, they found the reservation. Let’s go talk some business shall we?”
Doug smoothed her dress uncomfortably, “Alright.”
“Thank goodness,” sighed Angelina, “You took forever.”
Alicia glared at Zach, “Took forever my arse, just because you don’t care about your appearance at all doesn’t mean some of us don’t like to look nice.”
“We’re going out for beer, not dinner at the Ritz,” he said, rolling his eyes, “Besides, those clothes aren’t going to stay on you after that.”
This didn’t seem to alleviate the glare, “We don’t do that any more Zach.”
“A joke, only a joke.”
“It wasn’t a very good joke,” said Gale looking uncomfortably around. “I’m only asking you guys because Errol said you were good and Rowan won’t help.”
Benjy’s Cheshire grin grew, “Errol recommended us? Why the old softy!”
“I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.”
“It’ll be our little secret,” said Benjy, spreading his hands with a smile. “Now, back to the case. What’s your problem exactly?”
“Josephine Montgomery, I- I need to find her.”
“Does she moonlight as one Carmen Sandiego?”
“Wh-what no,” said Gale looking confused, already uncomfortable in the dingy bar. His suit made him stick out uncomfortably in comparison to Benjy’s shirt and jeans.
“Then I definitely think we can find her, unless you’re a stalker, are you a stalker?”
“No- I was told you could help, are you going to help or not?” said Gale, his irritation over-powering his discomfort. He was once again the self-assured quidditch player. Benjy frowned, looking more serious, “She’s been missing for how long?”
“It feels like an eternity.”
George stared at him until Chuck blushed, “Sorry.”
“You are the most hopeless romantic I have ever met and I’m ashamed to be related to you.”
Chuck rubbed the back of his neck, “Hopeless is right.”
“Why don’t you take a vacation?” said George pointing his chopsticks at the travel magazines scattered over the table. Charlie looked down at them for a moment, his brows knit together as if looking at a puzzle.
“My whole life has been a vacation, George,” Chuck said after a moment, “I think I’m ready for my real life to begin.”
George grabbed a magazine with a young woman in a coconut bra and grass skirt beckoning you into her world of lit pools and fake tiki torches and smiled, “I have an idea.”
Chuck didn’t even crack a smile, George always admired his ability to play a joke straight. “I am not wearing a coconut bra.”
Eddie held up his hands in defense against Doug’s glare, “Hear me out!”
“No, I will not ‘hear you out’,” Doug hissed leaning over the table, her hair dangerously close to the expensive Chinese cuisine. “I am not prostituting myself for some business venture.”
Angelina pinched the bridge of her nose and grabbed her beer. She downed the bottle in one go, thinking back to her meeting earlier that week, “Cheers, Preston.”
“Cheers,” said Preston, clinking his bottle with Oliver’s. “So how’s that boyrfriend of yours?” Oliver chokes on his beer, “Wh- I’m not-“
“He is,” replies Prescott with a shrug, taking another cool swig of beer.
“Well- that doesn’t mean that-“
“Look, it doesn’t matter to me, as a rule of thumb I wouldn’t even ask,” says Preston, “I hate hearing about people’s relationships, makes a man turn to the drink. But that boy of yours is going to get himself in trouble.”
A chill goes down Oliver’s spine, “What do you mean?”
“The people he’s with, that sponsor of his, who do you think it really is?”
“It’s people who sponsor the show- I don’t-“
“It’s Zenith.”
Oliver knows that Preston Prescott was forced into early retirement. He’s heard the department’s story too, it’s in his nature to do a little research. Cracked, obsessed, they had called him. But there doesn’t seem anything crazy about the man across from him, a man who’s deadly serious. Who’s telling him that his Charlie, his Chuck is involved with these people, whoever they are.
“Those parties, it’s them, their people,” he said, nodding, “Their entertainers. It’s Zenith alright.”
“Entertainers?”
“It’s a fancy word for prostitute.”
Benjy swallows uncomfortably, he’s already got enough trouble on his hands with Terence Higgs still running amok. Suddenly this little ‘missing persons’ case isn’t looking so little. Gale’s hands are folded on the table and he looks Benjy in the eye, “I want her back.”
“Zach, that’s stupid,” said Alicia with a sigh, “That’s the drink talking and anyways, she’s in India by now for all we know. Besides, if you do catch up to her what’s to stop her from running again.”
“I don’t know but- I can’t- I’ve never felt this way about anyone Leesh,” he says and Zach is just starting to look really wrecked. He’s already too drunk for a fancy place like this and he’s on the edge of well and truly pissed at this point.
Alicia reached out her hand and put it over his, “I’m going to help you, alright?”
Chuck slouched back against the sofa, “There’s isn’t anything you can do George. I know my options, I have to get over him or pine till I die.”
“That’s the beer talking.”
“I just- I came back for him, you know? I don’t even like it here.”
“Fortune cookie?”
Chuck took the cookie and snapped in half, he pulled out the fortune.
Hold tight to the things you love.
Chuck sighed, “That’s not even a fortune.”
“It doesn’t matter, Zach- Zach!” she said grabbing his arm as he yanked a fortune cookie out of the hands of a brunette she didn’t know.
“None for you Wayne Hopkins!” he slurred with a grin.
