Straight Flushed (Hot Pursuit #1)(30)
I refused to play into Vance’s silly game. I would wait patiently out in the hallway while he held his breath.
I was about to pull the door open when I remembered I’d left my shampoo and conditioner in the shower. Everything else in the facility was top notch, but the owners understood very little about female hair. The products they provided in the shower were only fit for men, not long, thick girl hair. It took me almost ten minutes to work out the knots when I used their stuff. If I left my expensive shampoo and conditioner in the shower, which I’d done on more than one occasion, it would be gone by Monday. I dropped my bag by the door, and it released a large whoosh of air as if expelling its annoyance.
I walked past vacant rows of lockers back to where I’d been, looking for whoever had entered. As I approached, the reflection in the mirror showed no one standing in or around the area where I’d been, but I heard a shuffling noise somewhere to my right near the sauna and steam room. “Vance, I know it’s you. Hardy har har, you’re so funny.” But he didn’t answer. The entire area was under a shadow. It had its own section of lights which didn’t get turned on unless someone was using one of the two rooms, so I couldn’t see anything. I huffed and headed back to the showers.
The continued to hear the shuffling sounds, but the closer I got to the showers the more they mixed with a peculiar muffled metallic noise. I pressed my back to the textured, gunmetal gray wallpaper and inched closer to the edge of the wall. I gripped it with my fingers and listened intently. It sounded like the dulled beats of music. I turned my head and surveyed everything.
When I felt the time was right, I hopped out from around the corner and faced the long row of showers as Miss Red, one of the housekeepers, was coming out of one of the stalls holding a spray bottle of neon green cleaner.
Miss Red gasped and clutched her chest. “LAWD, JE-SUS! Girl, what you tryin’ to do? Give me a heart attack?”
Miss Red had been with the company long before I ever joined. She was a short, stalky woman with beautifully smooth, mocha skin, a set of slightly too large false teeth, and bright candy apple red curls covering her head, for which, she’d earned her nickname.
I ran to her and grabbed the bottle, resting my hand on her arm. “I’m so sorry, Miss Red! I thought you were Vance trying to scare me.” Two white cords hung from her droopy ears, the only thing on her body showing her true age. She was well into her seventies, but looking at her, it didn’t show. The cords explained why she hadn’t answered when I’d said hello. She was hard of hearing and probably had the volume up to its max. She took a couple more deep breaths and yanked the cords from her ears. “I called out a couple of times, but you didn’t answer. Are you all right?”
“You did?” She laughed. “Had these things wedged in my ears. I didn’t hear you. You got my heart tickin’, baby, that’s for sure.”
“And what are these anyway?” I smiled, tugging on the ear buds she held in her hands.
She’d been known to walk around all day long humming her own tunes. Seeing the device in her hand was as natural as seeing a toddler operating heavy machinery.
“My older boy, Jay, got me one of these fancy i thingamajiggies for my birthday. He loaded it up with all my music. I got Dizzy, Ray, my boy Nat King Cole in here.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “That man had a voice like butter.” She grunted. “Thought I’d hate this thing, but I gotta tell you, it sho does make the time fly.” She furrowed her brow. “What you doin’ here on the weekend anyway? You need to stop workin’ out so much and start eatin’. You ain’t nothin’ but skin and bones.”
“I’m holding out for some of your pumpkin bread.” I smiled.
Miss Red only made her signature quick bread when the weather turned cool after summer. It was sweet, nutty, and had the perfect amount of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in it to make my toes curl. I eagerly awaited its arrival every year.
“You got it, baby.” She winked.
“So, what exactly are you doing here on the weekend? This isn’t something new they’re making you do, is it?”
“Nah, baby. I had to leave early yesterday. One of my grandbabies had somethin’ special goin’ on at church. Couldn’t miss it. I didn’t get to clean in here yesterday the way I like to and I couldn’t rest ‘til I took care of it.”
“Miss Red, I don’t think anyone would have really cared. You keep this place spotless. You didn’t have to come in.”
She dismissed my remark with a gentle wave of her soft, caramel hands. “’Course I did, baby. Part of the job.”
“You are a special kind of special. You be careful in here by yourself. Vance and I are getting ready to head out. You shouldn’t be in here alone.”
Miss Red was strong as an ox, but she was also old. If she had a medical emergency, I shuddered to think how she’d find help. Tom Matthews, our weekend security guard, was on duty, but I couldn’t say how useful he’d be if she needed help inside one of the locker rooms.
“What’s gonna happen to me?” She smiled.
I grinned. “Nothing, of course.” Realistically the woman would probably outlive us all. “Well, sorry I scared you.” I leaned in and gave her a hug.
“You take care now. Have a good weekend, baby. See you Monday.”