Page 58 of Cherry Beats

A voicemail was waiting for me. Frowning, I pressed the phone to my ear and listened. I couldn’t hear a damn thing because of the music in the bar anyway, but I was pretty certain nobody was saying anything. Static silence stayed on the line for thirty seconds before the caller hung up.

My heart began to pitter-patter, and I swallowed as I looked down at my phone. Right on cue, it started to ring again—the same withheld number message flashing on my screen.

My gut was telling me something was off, but my job demanded that I get on with it as another punter called out for a drink. Looking up, I offered them a smile and tucked my phone back into my pocket again.

“Sorry. I’ll be two seconds. I’ve just got to take this bottle over to that table,” I said, pointing in Molly’s direction.

“No bother.” Smiled a sweet guy in a chequered shirt who was bouncing his wallet on the surface of the bar.

“Don’t worry, Tess, I’ll serve him,” Elle called out. I was starting to really like her.

The phone stopped ringing in my pocket just as I got to Molly and Trey.

“You okay?” Molly frowned, watching me. “You look pale.”

“Yeah, I’m gre—” My damn phone buzzed again, and I planted the bottle into the ice bucket with a thud before reaching around to grab my phone. This time it was a text from a number I didn’t recognise.

You’re going to want to take this call.

I typed the number into Google, ignoring Molly’s concerns. Nothing came up on Google to say it was anything to do with PPI or Insurance scams, and that only made my spine tingle more.

Who is this?I typed back.

Molly reached out to touch my arm, and it made me flinch. I turned to her, scowling hard before I registered the concern on her face, and I straightened up.

“Sorry,” I said on a sigh, pushing my long fringe back away from my forehead. “Nothing to worry about. You carry on.”

“Actually, I think we’re going to get this one to go, if that’s okay with you,” Trey interrupted, glancing at Molly with a questioning raise of his brow.

“Oh, we have a keen one here.” She smirked.

Trey flipped open his wallet and gave me enough money to cover the cost of his Moët, plus leaving me a nice little tip. I wanted to give him a tip of my own. A warning that told him not to try and top from the bottom, but I decided to keep my mouth shut and move on. With a nod of thanks his way, I tucked the money away in my pocket and turned to Molly.

“Call me in the morning?” That was my code for ‘you better be damn safe, lady.’

“Full report.” She winked, and Trey’s triumphant huff of laughter made my skin crawl.

“Okay, well. Have fun.”

It didn’t take long for my phone to ring again

This time, I answered, walking away from Molly and drowning out her giggles before they left. “Hello?”

Static silence again. I pressed a finger in my other ear and leaned forward as I walked towards the storeroom around the back of the bar. Closing the door, I let the heavy quiet of the room surround me, and I stared blankly at the bottles of alcohol that were kept in there along with a load of other crap we never used.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

“Tessa?”

“Who is this?”

“We met yesterday.”

I recognised the voice instantly. It had haunted my short dreams last night, and it instantly made my toes curl inside my Doc Martens.

“Janey Dominic,” I growled.

“Don’t hang up,” she said quickly.

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