Page 15 of Dark Alleys

“Sure.” I pushed the pack of American Spirit and my lighter across the table to her.

“Thanks. You live in Riverside?”

“Yep. I like it here. Nice and quiet.” I kept scrolling to see if Regan had left me another message and she hadn’t. Could be I’d already blown that one with my non-participation cop out.

“You a cop?”

I shrugged.

“You have long hair and tats like a ganger.”

“Used to ride with the Eight.”

“Huh. My brother did too.”

I looked up from my phone and gazed into her teary eyes and figured something bad had happened to her brother.

Not up for a sob story. My own life is bad enough.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“Thanks. I can’t talk about it.”

I thought about texting Regan but decided to wait to see if she was still interested enough to text me first.

“Your machines have stopped,” Cindy said. “You need to put your stuff into the dryers.”

“Thanks. I should’ve been paying attention.”

“Give me some quarters and I’ll do it for you. You shouldn’t use your arm.”

“Don’t bother. I can do it.”

“What am I gonna do for the next hour? Give me your quarters.”

I handed over my mess of quarters and Cindy started emptying my machines and filling up dryers. She came back and sat down when she finished.

“You’re washing lots of bedding.”

“My arm bled all over all of it. A goddamned mess.”

“Aw, that’s too bad.”

“Yeah, made more work for me.” I laughed.

An hour later when everything was dry, Cindy helped me fold my stuff and she packed it back into the trash bag for me. Nice and neat.

At the same time, she folded her laundry. Some were her clothes—not too many—and a lot were baby clothes.

“You have a baby?”

She dropped her head and stared at the floor before she mumbled out words I could barely hear. “I was raped down by the river and now I have Flint.”

“They catch the rapist?” I whispered thinking she was going to clam up and not tell me any more of the story.

Cindy shook her head. “Nope. Never caught him. Saw his cut and told the cops.”

“Who was he with?”

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