Unnatural Acts

55

He hadn’t recognized her, Shelley was sure of it. She could take her time now. Carefully, face by face, she checked the room again. Nearly everybody was riveted on the singer; the rest seemed absorbed with each other, including the lesbians at the bar. Dino had started to check the room again.

“Everything all right?” Shelley said to Steve.

“I could use another drink. How about you?” He looked over his shoulder and waved at a waiter.

“I’m fine for the moment,” she replied.

The waiter brought Steve another drink.

“I’ll tell you this,” Rosie was saying to Viv, “even if I could afford it, I wouldn’t wear that designer shit-you know, Armani, Ralph Lauren. It isn’t cut for real women.”

“If I had money, I’d wear nothing else,” Viv replied. She flicked her eyes at the room.

“Don’t do that,” Rosie said. “The boss said not to.”

“I know, but it’s driving me crazy.”

“Look over my shoulder and tell me what the boss is doing,” Rosie said.

Viv looked at Dino for half a second. “He’s leaning on the bar, facing the room. Shelley isn’t here yet.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because he’s still looking for her, and he looks bored.”

“Why would she not show up?”

“Maybe she couldn’t get a table,” Viv said. “The place is jammed.”

“That would be a joke, wouldn’t it? She couldn’t get a table?”

“Wait a minute,” Viv said. “Dino sees something.”

“Stop looking.”

“He didn’t say don’t look at him. Something’s happening.”

Shelley fixed her gaze on Dino now. His eyes were panning the room again, starting from her right. She looked directly into his eyes and flashed a little of her new cosmetic dentistry, which practically glowed in the dark. The eyes came to her and stopped.

Shelley turned back toward Steve. “In just a minute, I’m going to get up and walk toward the bar,” she said.

“What would you like me to do?” he asked.

“If I stop at the bar and talk to a man standing there, pay the check and leave.” She threw a couple of hundreds on the table. “If I keep going and leave the room, follow me upstairs. I’m going to want to fuck you.”

“Anything you want,” Steve said, waving for the waiter again.

DINO’S MOVING gaze was stopped by half a smile and a pair of eyes. A woman he didn’t recognize was staring directly at him. Then she turned back toward the man she was with. That couldn’t be Shelley, he thought-or could it? He couldn’t tell how tall she was, but the nose wasn’t right. The hair was dark, though, maybe an auburn red. He continued to watch her. She glanced at him again.

Shelley took her handbag and stood up. Steve stood and pulled the table back for her, and she began picking her way slowly through the tables toward the bar. Then she was aware of another pair of eyes on her, in the mirror behind the bar. One of the two lesbians was watching her.

Dino slipped off the bar stool and stood, unbuttoning his jacket. She was coming slowly, the tables being close together, but she was coming. He remembered he was supposed to give Viv and Rosie some sort of sign. He tilted his head back and let go with a loud sneeze.

Shelley saw the two women turn and look at Dino, but half the room was looking at him; he had sneezed in the middle of “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Then she saw something that got her attention. As the women turned to look at Dino, Shelley looked in the mirror and saw something that looked like the butt of a pistol under one of the women’s jackets. At the same time, she saw Dino unbutton his jacket. She reached into her purse and found her own weapon.

Viv hopped off the bar stool and put her hand under her jacket. Dino had sneezed, and he couldn’t do that and watch the woman at the same time. She saw the woman’s hand go into her purse and come out with what looked like a compact Glock. “Dino!” she yelled. “Gun!”

Shelley saw the woman’s hand go under her jacket, heard her shout, then saw Dino’s hand go under his jacket. She didn’t have time to aim; she snapped a shot off at the woman, then turned to see Dino’s hand coming up with a gun in it. Everything was in slow motion. She saw the woman duck, but she didn’t think her shot had hit her. The other woman was turning, and she was coming up with a gun, but Dino was faster. Shelley got a shot off at Dino and saw him stagger, then she turned to her right and ran for the door.

Viv got back on her feet and elbowed Rosie. “Out of the way!” The woman had turned and was sprinting toward the door, her back to Viv. Viv fired once and saw, simultaneously, the woman struck and propelled forward and the shattering of the heavy glass door. Up until that moment she had heard nothing, but now there was the sound of a couple of women screaming and men shouting, and people all over the room were hitting the floor. “Police!” Viv shouted. “Everybody stay down!” She started toward the door, with her gun held out in front of her, trained on the woman ahead of her. Rosie was right behind her.

Dino had been knocked back against the bar by the round, and his feet had slid from under him. Now he heard a shot from the direction of Viv and Rosie. Both women were walking

Viv had another eight feet to go, when the woman suddenly spun onto her back and got off another round. Viv fired, striking her full in the chest, and she didn’t move again. “Rosie, check on Dino,” she said, then continued toward the woman on the floor, her gun beside her. Viv kicked the weapon out of her reach, then got a hand on the woman’s throat. Nothing. Her chest was a mess, and the floor was slippery with her blood. The screaming continued.

Rosie turned toward Dino. “Boss, are you hit?”

“Yes, goddammit!” Dino replied, taking a hand from under his jacket and holding it up, bloody. “Call this in and get these people quieted down!”

Rosie reached for her cell phone. “All right, everybody,” she screamed at the crowd. “Police! Everybody sit down and shut up.” To her surprise, they did.