Chapter 5 : Bittersweet

I left the diner with my head full of thoughts. I didn’t want to go home. The only thing I would do there was sit and stare at my theory board.

Part of me wished I could just run away from all my problems and move to somewhere sunny like Florida. Maybe Miami or Tampa. I would leave this life of gangs and secrets behind and restart my life. Enroll in the police academy down there and live the life my dad had worked so hard to give me.

I had enough money saved for a plane ticket and a few weeks in a crappy motel to get started. I could leave this mess behind me and choose safety. This had already been dangerous but with the information I just received from Peaches, that the Taddeo Family might be responsible for my father’s death, the situation just became ten times more deadly.

I knew I couldn’t give this up though. No matter how dangerous and stupid it was of me to keep pursuing my dad’s murderer, I couldn’t stop. I was stubborn, just like my father had been. Before she died, my mother used to call me her ‘Stubborn Audry girl’. Sometimes, she said it as a term of endearment. Sometimes, her tone was laced with undertones of annoyance.

I couldn’t just go on living a normal life without finding my father’s killer and getting revenge.

It was impossible.

Besides, what was the point of living when there was no one you cared about left?

“Audry! Hey, wait up!” I heard Lyle’s voice from behind me.

I stopped walking and turned back to see him running to catch up to me. Lyle was out of breath when he made it to me and had to put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily before he could speak.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked me and stood up straight.

I shrugged, not really wanting to get into it.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Lyle pressed.

I nodded. Even though I didn’t want to talk about what I was feeling, I didn’t really want to be alone either. Everything in my life felt like it was up in the air and that feeling was very disconcerting.

Lyle and I walked to the park. To call this place a park was very generous. Sure there was a swing set, but both of the swings were broken, and a merry-go-round that hadn’t spun even when I was a kid. There was trash all over the ground and most of the people who used this place were drug dealers and sex workers. At least there was a trail to walk through the woods and that was what Lyle and I did.

For a while, we walked in silence. It was nice to have someone’s company because ever since my father died, I’d cut off all my friends. Like the ones I met in college and most of the people I attended the police academy with. When you ignore someone’s messages for so long, they usually stop calling eventually.

“I’m worried about you, Audry,” Lyle said out of nowhere. “I don’t have to warn you that the Taddeos are dangerous, right?”

My childhood friend looked down at me with a concerned expression. I didn’t answer him at first. I stuck my hands in my pockets and stared up at the trees, hoping that they would give me a clue about what the right thing to say was.

“I have to find out who killed my father, Lyle.”

“I know,” he replied. “I just don’t want you to get into a situation you can’t get yourself out of.”

I didn’t answer him. How would I tell him that was already happening?

After we walked for another hour, my stomach grumbled, so I suggested having lunch at a local restaurant. I had a good time and Lyle had me laughing with funny stories about the people he encountered from the work he did. I picked up the tab because he had paid for the coffee and I appreciated his company. Then, we walked to the local library and spent the rest of the day reading – a hobby we always had in common – and people-watching.

It was the best day I’d had in a long time.

After the library closed, Lyle suggested that he walk me home. I thought he was scared to leave me alone. He didn’t want me to go track down Taddeo's gang and do anything rash. We ended up walking back and past my mother’s old club, BitterSweet. It was late enough that they were just opening their doors. For some reason, I stopped walking and stared at the neon green and pink sign over the awning.

“Your mother’s old club, right?” Lyle asked from beside me.

I nodded, still looking at the sign.

“I, um, think I’m going to go in,” I said hesitantly.

I hadn’t stepped foot in BitterSweet since my father died. I didn’t know what made me want to go in tonight. Maybe I missed my mother and wanted to feel closer to her.

“I have to go for a job. Are you sure I can’t walk you home?” Lyle hesitated on the sidewalk.

“I’m going to go home after I visit here,” I assured him.

Lyle studied my face, probably trying to see if I was telling the truth. He seemed satisfied with what he saw and gave me a tight hug.

“Please stay safe, Audry. Don’t do anything dangerous and call me if you need me, okay?” he said, pulling away.

I nodded. “Thank you for today, Lyle.”

I walked into the club. Even though it seemed weird, this place was comforting to me. The flashing neon lights, the bar in the corner of the room, the blaring club music, the tables, and the black stage with the shiny silver pole. I grew up surrounded by these things.

The place had just opened and I was the only customer in here. I made eye contact with someone who was smoking at one of the red velvet booths, recognizing her immediately.

“Sylvia!” I yelled in excitement, making my way to her.

The woman jumped up and embraced me. Sylvia had been my mother’s best friend at the club. She smelled exactly as I remembered, like cigarettes and vanilla perfume. Sylvia was wearing tiny shorts and a revealing black bra. She was forty-something but had an amazing body and long red hair.

We sat down at the booth.

“Hey, girly! It’s good to see you. How have you been?” Sylvia asked, taking another pull from her cigarette.

“I’ve been… okay.”

She gave me a sympathetic look. “I was sorry to hear about your daddy,” she told me.

I felt a lump develop in my throat. “Yeah, it’s been hard.”

That was an understatement.

“So, what brings you in tonight, darling?” Sylvia changed the subject, clearly noticing my discomfort. “You’re not applying for a job, are you? Your mother made me swear to keep you off the pole.”

“No, nothing like that. Well, I, um, just wanted to feel close to her again,” I said in a quiet voice.

Sylvia put her hand over mine.

“I miss her too, honey. Every day,” my mother’s old friend said. “She loved you so fiercely. You were her whole world. I know that many folks would say she was a bad mother for the way she raised you, but you were always taken care of. You always had food in your belly and a roof over your head. And most importantly, she loved you.”

Her words made tears form in my eyes. Speaking with Sylvia made me think of my mother and my childhood. I was reminded of how happy my mother and I were. But also how hard life was for us. How each day it seemed like we were facing a new challenge. Like one day rent would be due, and then the next day, I sprained my wrist and we were slapped with a thousand-dollars hospital bill. But my mother and I had always made it work.

I got a glass of red wine from the bar and chatted with Sylvia for a while. The club became increasingly busier. When Ambrosia came out, she headed straight for me and swept me into a hug, saying it was nice to see me after all this time and that I had become a beautiful woman. She told me that the club was doing really well and this was the busiest it had ever been.

Ambrosia also shared the same sentiment as Sylvia, saying I better not be here asking for a job. She said my mother never wanted that life for me. It was good to see the two women who had been closest to my mother. After a while, Sylvia sighed and said she had to get back to work. I left the club. It would be too weird to watch her perform. I hugged both of them and promised to visit soon.

I took the bus home since it was nighttime. I quickly made my way up the stairs toward my apartment but I froze in the hallway, my eyes locked firmly on the slightly ajar front door.

I was one-hundred percent sure I had locked my door.

That meant someone was in my home.

I entered the apartment, but before I could swing my bag around and grab my stun gun, the man who had starred in my sex dream this morning walked around the corner.

Daniel motherfucking Molton.

He had a smirk on his handsome face and was wearing all black, just like me. Although, I had to hand it to him, he looked way sexier. Black definitely suited him.

“Good evening, Audry,” he said casually, and sat down at my small kitchen table. His attitude was calm like he hadn’t just broken into my home.

I followed his lead and closed the door before sitting across from him. I slid my hand into my purse and held the stun gun. Just in case.

“Daniel, what an unexpected surprise,” I told him, staring straight into those brown eyes of his. “How did you get into my apartment?”

He shrugged, then crossed his arms. “You’re not the only one who knows how to pick a lock.”

He was wearing a smug grin that I wanted to slap off his face. So, that meant Daniel knew I had snuck into the storage room with the files. Did he ask around? Or was he bluffing?

Shit.

I decided to cut the bullshit.

“What are you doing in my home, Daniel? How do you even know where I live?” I asked flatly.

“Audry, do you think you’re the only one who has connections to The Cherry Pickers?”

I couldn’t hide the way my eyes went wide and my jaw fell slightly. He chuckled at my surprised expression, which made me loathe him even more. Daniel had been speaking with the underground informant group as well.

“That still doesn’t clear up why the hell you broke into my home,” I pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him, fighting hard to keep my tone even. I didn’t want him to notice how on edge I was.

Daniel clasped his hands and leaned forward. “Well, I had a very interesting conversation with a lovely woman named Peaches today, and I think you owe me an explanation on a few things.”