The Sassy Belles by Beth Albright Read Free Book Online Page B

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to Sonny and Vivi. Sonny was explaining what he meant by “a while.”
    “Miss Vivi, how long have your ‘meetings’ with Mr. Heart been
going on?”
    “A couple of years,” Vivi answered.
    Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head and I choked on my
celery stalk.
    “And when you had these, um, meetings…was it always at the
Fountain Mist?” Sonny kept a straight face and dove head-on into the
questioning.
    “No,” answered Vivi. “Sometimes we ‘conferenced’ in his car.
And sometimes we had meetings at the Big House since we moved Mama to that fancy
retirement center last year.”
    “Would you say that the Fountain Mist was the main place for
your conferences?” Sonny asked.
    “Oh, without a doubt. Room 106 every time.”
    Sonny kept writing. “Okay, back to the events that led up to
the disappearance of Mr. Heart.”
    “Well, I said goodbye to Lewis and hung up the phone. Then I
went upstairs and sprayed my entire body with rose water and told Arthur Mama
needed me at the center and I’d be back in a jiffy. He said, ‘Okay, Miss Vivi,
you tell her I say hello.’ I put the top down on my car and flew to my meetin’
with Lewis. When I got there, Lewis’s red ’72 Corvette was parked outside in the
back. He had already gone inside. I pulled in next to him. We always parked in
the back ’cause both our cars are a dead giveaway. Anyway, I walked to our room
about halfway down the sidewalk. When I got there I stopped for a second to
catch my breath and straighten my dress. When I reached for the door handle, I
realized it was already open.”
    “What time of day was this?” Sonny asked, swigging his Dr
Pepper slowly.
    “It was at eleven o’clock this mornin’.” Vivi had obviously
returned body and spirit to room 106. Her demeanor had changed. The alcohol had
subdued her normally frenetic pace.
    “Go on. What happened next?” Sonny kept up the questioning.
    “Well, my God!” Vivi yelped. “You know what the hell happened
next. Dammit, Sonny, just use your imagination!”
    “Miss Vivi,” Sonny said, slow and steady, “we have no choice.
The details here are important. It could lead us to Lewis.”
    “Vivi, remember,” I said, “the details are what will clear all
of this up and maybe lead us to what happened to Lewis. That has to be your
focus.”
    “Okay,” she said. “Lewis was already waitin’ for me in bed. I
kicked the door closed and he revealed himself to me. He was deep into a
fantasy.”
    “What do you mean?” Sonny said.
    “He had a gun holster on,” Vivi answered directly.
    “He had a gun?” Sonny shot back.
    “No, no!” she said. “He had on a holster. He had no gun. But he did have a little surprise for me
where the gun goes.”
    “What was that?” said Sonny.
    “A toy,” Vivi answered, swigging her drink a little faster.
    “What kind of toy?” Sonny was dead serious as he continued
taking notes.
    “A sex toy, you idiot! A ginormous blue penis! We named it
Deputy Dick.”
    I threw back the rest of my Bloody Mary in one gulp.
    “I’ll have a double scotch on the rocks,” Harry announced once
he’d flagged down the cute bartender.
    “It had fiber optic rainbow lighting,” Vivi explained. “Lewis
told me to grab it, so I slipped out of my shoes and pulled up my dress. I had
no panties on and my thighs were still moist from workin’ in the rose garden. I
began to perspire on my neck and the water rolled around and down under my
breasts. I unbuttoned my dress just enough so he could see I had no bra on
either.”
    Sonny had a bewildered look on his face. He’d asked for the
details, but by no means was he expecting a play-by-play account of their sexual
escapade. He looked at me helplessly, and I tried to think of a way to get Vivi
to shut up without embarrassing her. But before I’d come up with anything, Vivi
continued to reveal her dirty little story.
    “Lewis looked hungrier than ever. He said, ‘Hey, Red, save a
horse, ride a cowboy.’ You