I woke up sputtering, icy water stinging my nostrils, burning my throat. Looked up at the guy holding a spittoon over me, Dara crying a little, her hand over her mouth. She helped me up right, and I fell back down. He rang my bell good. [He swore that everything would be OK. This coming after my new boss was punched unconscious by the bouncer from Flare and probably sustained a concussion. Honestly, I wondered if I would ever live this down. I learned that there were worse things, far worse. -Dara]
He reached down, yanked me to my feet. Guy was laughing and smiling. Told me it was the best workout he'd had in a while, better than the slobs he beat at Stu's. I told him I went to Stu's every Saturday. Walter said if I was ever there Sundays, we should spar. We laughed, I told him I needed a few weeks before I could take another beating. Then I got Dara, we were about to go in, but he put his hand on my chest. Told me I still couldn't go in to see Mandi or Candi.
I was still kinda out of it, so Dara drove us back to the office. She asked what we were gonna do, and I told her she was gonna go back to Flare tonight, get to Candi and Mandi. In the meantime, I read old papers to keep myself awake.
[Trish and I arrived around ten o'clock in front of Flare. Instead of waiting in line, I walked up to Walter and winked at him. We discussed how Trace was faring, and I introduced Trish. Then, he lifted the velvet rope and told us to have a wonderful night, winking at me specifically. Trish looked askance at me, asked what sort of job I had gotten myself ino. Then she admitted it would be worth it to work for Trace if it meant I could get us into any nightclub without our fake IDs.
Deep orange lighting illuminates Flare's interior. If you want to appear dressed in black, you wear your halloween finest orange. Trish and I had our Flare wear, and we laughed at everyone wearing actual black.
We waited by the bar a little while for some nice gentlemen to come by and offer us drinks. Trace made it abundantly clear that even though this was official business, we were not authorized to expense anything to him. It didn't take long for some men to come over. As soon as we received the drinks, I started talking about our boyfriends, and they excused themselves soon after. Trish chastised me, as they were quite cute. They were, but I told her we could pick up guys later. How often would we get to help investigate a murder?
Candi and Mandi had a table to themselves, and an orange velvet rope partitioning them from the rest of us. Trish and I walked over, and I started screaming that it was the Donaldson sisters. After a few minutes of fawning over them, they invited us to sit down. And not a moment too soon, my pumps were making my ankles ache.
I kept gushing over them another fifteen minutes, before shifting over to the topic of their mother's untimely demise. After all, that was all the gossip rags could discuss. Mandi (Candi?) broke into tears. Right there, I assumed they were innocent. They wouldn't ruin their perfect makeup for a lie.
The sisters told us they were here to avoid the press, and didn't want to discuss the issue. I apologized. We talked about some other topics, but eventually, they brought it back to their mother, and to Oscar. They asked if we could keep a secret. I crossed my heart. They told me that he was probably the murderer, and that was part of why they hadn't returned to the Peterson estate. They just didn't feel safe around him. Then, Mandi (Candi?) said it was because neither of the parents would accept his significant other and Candi (Mandi?) nodded. I asked who she was. They laughed. Candi (Mandi?) said “She? Try he.” -Dara]
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