Page 81 of Long Live the King

There was something about that strange guy, something dark and threatening, the way he moved slowly as he turned and stared at me as I went by.

Don had purposely gotten me out of there, was he in trouble? Why did the man ask for Ash, was that dude looking for me? Was I in trouble?

Did I need to call the police?

Don called in, “Is Ash back there?”

I called out, “No, not sure, she’s not on the schedule tonight.”

I could hear Don speaking to the guy, “Yeah, man, sorry, forgot what her schedule was...”

I looked at my phone, it was too early for our security guard to get in.

I had a gun in my bag. I unbuckled it and had my phone in one hand, my gun in the other. I stood in the hallway, just inside the storeroom door, and waited, listening, for any clue what I needed to do.

After about five tense minutes. Don pushed through the doors and came to the storeroom, looking agitated.

I said, “What was going on?”

“I don’t know, Ash, that guy was effing around all up in your business and got me all freaked out — you got enemies?”

I shook my head. “No, none, I’m the nicest girl in the world — what the hell?”

“Did you recognize him? Did you see how shadowy he was?”

I shook my head, “Yeah, totally, I never got what shadowy meant. As soon as he looked at me I wanted the hell out of there.”

“Yeah,” he ran his hand through his hair. “Jeez.” He looked at his watch. “When does security get here? Who’s on the shift?”

I shrugged, “Travis I think, not sure when he’s coming.”

He looked up and down the hall. “Yeah, right. Travis is coming in, right.”

“Man, he really rattled you — what did he say?”

“I served him first, thinking he was just a dude, needing a beer. Made him pay upfront though, because he looked shifty. Then, all casual like, he asked if I had seen a man named Magnus around. They were ‘old friends,’ he said. I said, ‘Yeah he was just here the other night,’ then he said, ‘good,’ but kept sitting there. My spidey senses went up. I asked if he was going to call his friend, he pretended like he hadn’t heard me. Then he just kinda said, ‘What about a man named Lochinvar, you seen him?’ I said, ‘Is he a friend too?’ He smiled a really sick grin and I knew he was trouble. I was trying to figure out how to get him out ofthere, then he said, ‘What time does Ash get in?’ A beat later, you walked in. I thought fast, banking on him not knowing what you looked like. It seemed to work.”

“You did think really fast, thank you, but why is he looking for me?”

“I have no idea. When does Lochie get back?”

“Two weeks, he just left yesterday.”

“Maybe you ought to call his sister.”

I thought about that for a moment. “Yeah, maybe, my heart is racing. He’s really gone?”

“Yeah, totally gone, I looked down the street, he got in a big SUV and rode away.”

“Cool, cool. So yeah, it’s probably fine, right? Maybe he is a friend — or wait, what if Buck sent him? Could he have been a biker he knows? Maybe he was here to scare Lochie, that seems like a Buck thing, right?”

Don shook his head. “I mean I guess but, I don’t know, Ash,maybe…?”

“Yeah, that’s what it is, and he’s gone, right? So no worries. I feel weird calling her, she’s like really rich and… you know, it’sawkward. She gave me her phone number hours ago and already I’m like, ‘Hey! Just calling to check in!’ Let me think about it. I’ll call her if it seems necessary.”

Just then the security guard entered. Don filled him in on the weirdness and the guard went on high alert, checking the locks on the doors, and standing in the sidewalk looking up and down, but there wasn’t much he could do.

Customers came in and it got busy, I almost forgot what was going on, except… at one point Don came around the bar to talk to me, something he never ever did. “I just thought of something!”

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