Scottsdale Heat: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 1) by B A Trimmer Read Free Book Online Page B

apparently the headliner because the DJ got on the mike and introduced her.
    “Ladies and gentleman,” he called out. “Jeannie’s Cabaret is pleased to introduce Player Magazine’s Miss November, Scottsdale’s own -- Miss Danica Taylor.”
    The announcement was met with scattered applause and whistles. I looked to the stage where the new girl had just come out. Realization hit me in an instant. She was the same girl that had gone out with Alex the night before. The same girl he had spent the night with.
    I watched as she began her first dance. Last night she has seemed merely beautiful and athletic, but today every move she made seemed to be an invitation for the men in the room to come and indulge in her pleasures. From the looks on the faces of the men, all of them would have been glad to take her up on her offer. Several men went up to the stage to offer her money, just so she would spend a few seconds looking intently at them while she danced.
    After ten minutes, the three songs comprising her act finished. The music faded and the room seemed to come out of a trance. Men and women again began talking, laughing, and walking around. The blonde gathered up a sizeable pile of bills that had accumulated in the center of the stage and disappeared behind the curtain. Alex again sat down at the bar. I supposed he was waiting for her to come out again as a cocktail waitress.
    My waitress came to the table carrying another ginger ale. “That’s OK,” I started to say. I hadn’t drunk more than half of my foul tasting drink and hadn’t planned on ordering another.
    “It’s from the lady at the table over there,” she said, pointing to a table by the stage.
    I looked over to the table the waitress had been pointing to. I saw a woman smiling and holding up her hand, wiggling her pinky at me. This was the same woman that had been standing next to the stage, wiggling her wiener, a few minutes earlier.
    The woman got up and came over to my booth. She was a few years younger than me and a little shorter. She was wearing white denim shorts and a green button down Oxford. On her feet, she wore white socks and brown leather sandals. She had short blonde hair, cut in a style that fit her face nicely, and just a splash of make-up. Her lipstick was a shade of pink that went well with her skin and hair.
    “My name’s Annie,” she said. “I saw you when you came in.”
    Her soft voice had a velvety smooth and soothing quality, almost like a cat purring.
    “I’m Laura, Laura Black,” I said as she slid into the booth, across from me.
    “It didn’t look like you’re here with anybody, so I figured you came here to pick up a man, same as me.” She stopped for a moment as if unsure how to go on. “Umm, I was just thinking since we both are here to pick up a guy, maybe we could do it together. You know, work as a team.”
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “But I didn’t come here to pick up a man. Actually, I’m working”
    “Oh, must be some job where you can do it surrounded by a bunch of horny guys,” she said in her soft voice.
    Danica, or whatever the blonde’s name was, had just come out of the back. She was now a cocktail waitress and was talking to Alex at the bar. They talked for several seconds then she gave out a squeal of joy and hugged him.
    “I wish I could say my job was full of glamor and excitement,” I said, “but most of the time I end up following guys around to places like this.”
    I looked at her and saw she was still glancing around at the guys in the room.
    “So, you came here to pick up a guy?” I asked. “How’s it going?”
    “Not so good,” she said with a sad tone in her voice. “I really want to be with a guy, it doesn’t need to be a long term thing, I’d settle for a weekend. Even a one night stand would be OK. But I’m painfully shy around men. I’ve tried the clubs and some of the bars, but I can’t seem to work up the nerve to just walk up to a man and ask him out. I never