Chapter 6

As might have been expected, neither Lisa nor Holly made it to work that day. In fact, Holly could not even remember shutting off the alarm when she finally awoke at seven thirty. No one had bothered to notice the time when the three of them finally surrendered to sleep, but the sun was already high above the smoggy horizon as they pulled the rumpled covers over their faces and fell asleep.

Lisa called in and presented an almost believable account of her harrowing night stranded on the fog bound Coast Highway between Monterey and San Francisco with a broken fan belt and a resulting dead battery. That was one of her best stories - some forgotten boyfriend along the line had concocted it for her. Employers usually bought it because it was so unusual; running out of gas was an excuse no one would fall for.

As Holly listened to her rattling off her heart-rending tale on the kitchen phone, she found herself almost buying it. She was smiling when she came back in, so it looked as though the boss had gone for it.

"Well, he didn't bat an eye," she bragged as she came into the living room where another fire was crackling in the fireplace. "Of course, I may be fired tomorrow when I go in. But he said some new girl had just dropped in looking for a dancing gig . . . and he's gonna let her try out. It's just Bruce's cheap-ass way of getting a free dancer. He'll probably tell her around midnight that he can't use another girl after all, but 'leave your number.' Or maybe he'll hire her, if she's got anything, and dump me when I walk in tomorrow night."

"You're lucky," said Holly looking up from her hot chocolate, "At least you've got a fifty-fifty chance. I don't have to guess ... I know that bastard night bartender will call Todd and get me fired. He's been dreaming of this moment."

Lisa's success had made her optimistic. "Why don't you call him anyway. Use the same story I used . . . you're only an hour late now. Maybe he'd let you come in late."

Holly laughed. "Are you kidding? I've already missed the cocktail rush. What's the point of having me around now that business is thinning out? No, I think I'll just wait and try my luck with Todd tomorrow. That'll give me all night to think up a really good alibi; and he'll have time to cool off."

Everyone suddenly froze absolutely still as the phone rang from the kitchen. No one made a move to answer it.

"One thing's for sure . . . it's not for me," said Richard. "You guys expecting a call?"

Lisa and Holly eyed each other questioningly.

"Do you suppose it's Todd?" asked Lisa. "Maybe I should answer it and tell him you're not back from out-of-town yet. That way he'll be more inclined to believe you when you call him tomorrow."

Holly shook her head. "You know Todd doesn't have our number. I told you last week he asked for it but I told him we didn't have a phone. It couldn't be him . . . unless he got the number from one of the girls. Maybe you'd better answer it to be sure."

Lisa took her time walking to the kitchen, and caught it on the fourth ring. "Hello."

"Hello. Is that you, Lisa?"

"Yeah . . . who's this?" she replied.

"Levi . . . Levi Terrasa. I just finished work at the bookstore and I was wondering if I might come over. That is . . . unless you and Holly have other plans."

Lisa leaned around the door frame so she could see Holly sprawled on the carpet by the fire. "Wow, I don't think we have anything lined up, Levi. Unless Holly had something planned she hasn't told me about." She clearly telegraphed her message to Richard and Holly, and they nodded their approval. "Sure, come on over. Richard is here ... we could maybe have a little party."

"That sounds pretty good," said Levi without a trace of enthusiasm. "I've got some fantastic Acapulco gold pot that slipped by the Operation Intercept fellows . . . I'll bring some over if you'd like."

"Man, the last thing any of us need is more dope," confessed Lisa, "But never let it be said that I turned down a free high. Bring it along . . . What time are you coming? We'll be getting hungry pretty soon, but we can wait for you if you're coming right away. We'll be starving again anyway after a couple of joints, so we might as well make one big number of it."

"I should be there in one hour. If you'd like to wait, that would be fine." His voice still carried all the sparkle of a mortuary PR man. "I'll see you then . . . Good-bye."

"Levi is on his way out from the city," announced Lisa after hanging the receiver back on the wall base. "He's bringing some goodies for us, so I told him we'd wait before going out to get food. Hope that was okay."

The mention of food seemed to spark new life in Richard. "Chow! Man, that's a beautiful idea ..." He quickly feigned an over-done hangdog sheepishness, "... Except I have absolutely no coins. Could one of you guys maybe lend me a little? You know, maybe enough for a grilled cheese on rye?"

Holly slugged his shoulder teasingly. "Come on now, stop being cute. You know we won't let you starve. See if you can find your shoes ... it may take you an hour to dig em up in all this rubble."

"I'll find them all right, you'd better worry about getting some panties on." Richard playfully shoved his hand under Holly's wrinkled nightgown and pinched the delicate softness of her inner thigh before she leaped out of his reach.

"Okay, wise ass, keep that up and you'll get yours!"

Richard grinned from ear to ear. "I'm counting on it, baby . . . I'm counting on it."