Tag Archives: Digger

Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter seventeen, part one

“Ok, now spill.”  Matt ordered as soon as we were back in our apartment.  My mom and Banana were on their way to New York.  Matt and I had stayed with my dad for a bit because he’d felt a little lonely.  Now, we were in our living room, talking about the case.

“There’s not much to tell,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.  “I told Martinez what I saw, and that was it.”

“That wasn’t it,” Matt said shrewdly.  “I hope you were protected at least.”

“Matt!”  I glared at him, mostly because he’d come too close to the truth.  “We didn’t have sex.  Not in my old room.  You should know me better than that.”

“You and I’ve had sex there,” Matt noted, a devilish gleam in his eyes.  I fought to control my embarrassment, but I blushed, anyway.  It had been on Chinese New Year’s Eve a few years ago.  My parents had had a big bash, and Matt and I had had way too much to drink.  One thing led to another, and we were having sex before either of us really knew what was going on.  We didn’t use protection, either, which was the height of stupidity.  Fortunately, I didn’t get pregnant, and we were more careful in the future.

“That’s besides the point,” I said, furious at myself for letting him get to me.

“Yeah, it is,” Matt said, dropping the jocular tone.  “The point is that we know for sure who has Danny, so we have to do something about it.”

“That’s the cops’ job, Matt,” I protested, though I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

“What are they doing about it?”

“I don’t know—it’s not like Martinez would tell me.”

“Then it’s up to us.”  Matt stood up, a determined look on his face.  “Scar, I’m going to the club tonight whether you come with me or not.  What’s it going to be?”  There was no answer to that other than, ‘of course I’m going with you.’

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Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter sixteen, part one

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”  Matt whispered into my ear.  I shivered at his proximity, then scolded myself silently.  This was Matt, not some rock star or something.  There was no reason to get all gooey in the knees.  I wondered at my reaction to him.  Was I freaking out about Martinez?  Was that why I was focusing on Matt?  Was it some kind of weird transference thing?  “Scar!  Come back to earth.”

“Sorry, Matt,” I said, flashing a smile at him.  “There’s nothing wrong.  Really.”  Matt didn’t believe me, but he didn’t push me about it, either.  I was grateful as I didn’t have the wherewithal to make something up.  At least, I thought he wasn’t going to push me about it.  I was wrong, however, as he was just marshalling his forces.

“It’s us, isn’t it?”  By now, we had stopped in the front hall and had lost sight of Banana and my mother.  “You’re confused.”

“No, nothing of the sort.”  I still had the fake smile pasted on my face, and I wondered when I had started lying to Matt.  He was one of my best friend and had been for ten years.  Why couldn’t things be the way they always were?  “I’m just tired from all the excitement.  You know.  Banana woke me up early this morning and—”  I stopped because I didn’t want to lie.  “Matt, yes, it is us, but I really don’t think I can talk about it now.  Give me some time, ok?”  This time, the smile refused to come, but the tears returned.  Matt wiped one from my cheek which caused me to totally break down.

“There you are!”  My mother said, bustling into the hallway.  “Banana was wondering—”  She stopped short when she saw I was crying.  “Scarlett!  What’s wrong?”  She hurried to my side, peering up into my eyes.  “Did that detective do something to hurt you?  I knew you should have stuck with Matt.”

That made me cry all the harder, and I raced up the stairs to my old room and flung myself on my old bed.  My mother kept all our rooms as they were when we were home.  Not out of love for us or anything like that, but because it was cheaper than redesigning them.  I cried in earnest, unsure of why exactly I was crying.  All I knew was that it hurt when I thought of giving up Matt, but it hurt more when I imagined ending things with Martinez.  How ironic that I was a woman who couldn’t hold on to one man in my life, and now I had two.  I didn’t have more time to think as the door flew open and Matt came into the room.  I was thankful it wasn’t my mother, but I wasn’t sure I could handle Matt, either.

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Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter eleven, part three

“Mr. Digs,” I purred, putting the act on again.  I placed my hand in his and let my fingers tickle his palm.  “My name is Scarlett Hsu.  It’s a real pleasure to meet you.”  I was gratified to see that Digger hadn’t tired of women and had reacted nicely to my overture by grinning like a buffoon.  “This is my colleague, Matthias Reynolds.  Would you care to sit down and tell us more about the club?  It’s ever so interesting.”

“I would love to.”  Digger sat next to me with alacrity, nodding to Mia to bring him a drink.

“Do you have a girl named Kayla working here?  I think she works under the name of Circe,” I said, trying not to grimace.  The names of these women!  Really.

“Yes, what about her?”  Nothing but pure guile on his face.  I couldn’t tell if I’d shaken him up or not, so I had to push the issue.

“She’s in the hospital, you know,” I lied.  I wanted to see what he knew, and I watched his face closely.

“Yes, I heard.  So sad, especially after what happened to her boy.”  Not a flicker of guilt in his tone or his eyes.  Either he knew nothing or he was a consummate liar.  I leaned towards the latter, though I had no reason for saying that.

“Would she still have a job if she came back?  She’s a friend of mine, and I know she needs the money.”  I leaned forward slightly, allowing Digger to look down my dress.  I noticed that he was developing quite the lump in his pants, which was exactly what I was hoping to achieve.

“Honey, it’s a hard world, this world,” Digger began, staring for all he was worth.  “I would hate to see that poor gal lose her job, but, well, I need to fill her slot.”  That was more a non-answer than an answer, but I let it slide.  “You ever do any dancing?  I bet you’d be good.  I could give you an interview.”  Digger slid closer, his arm creeping around my waist.  I was glad we were sitting as his arm went over the steel bars of the backing of the chair.

“You don’t want me,” I said, the slightest edge noticeable in my laugh.  “I’m way too old to be a dancer.”

“You can’t be more than twenty-five,” Digger insisted, his hand somehow finding its way to my thigh/buttock.  He gave me a gentle squeeze which I tolerated in the interest of finding information.  Matt tensed, though he didn’t move a muscle.  I gave him a look which signified that he should just chill.  He made an attempt to calm down, but I knew it cost him a great deal.  I may not be his woman, but I was with him.  Proprietary habits died hard.

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Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter eleven, part two

“But not like that,” Matt said, gesturing to my dress.  I stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek, leaving an impression of my lips behind.  Great, I’d have to check my lip gloss before I left.  As I was about to step back, Matt grabbed me by the hips and pulled me closer.  He crushed my lips under his, completely ruining my lip gloss.  Before I could ruminate on that thought, he moved his hands to my ass and squeezed.  As usual, my body reacted by pressing itself further into him.  I could feel his erection digging into my belly, and I had to make a decision.  Two seconds more of this, and we weren’t going to the club for some time.  A sense of duty made me pull away from him and put space between us.

“Matt, we have to go soon,” I panted, giggling as I looked at his face.  He had lip gloss smeared all over his lips, and I knew I didn’t look much better.  “We’ll have to save this for another time.”

“Fuck the club,” Matt said hoarsely, taking a step towards me.  The look in his eyes told me that he wanted me more than he wanted information.  “Let’s go to my room.”  Two more steps and he’d be on top of me.

“Matt, come on,” I said, stepping back again.  As much as I wanted him, I knew I’d regret it if we didn’t go to the club—and what’s more, so would he.  Every day we let go without finding Danny meant one day closer to perhaps not finding him at all.  “We have to talk to Digger.  You have to take a rain check on this.”  I didn’t know if my talking had swayed him or not until he spoke.

“Ok, but you have to promise me one thing.”  I looked at him inquiringly, wondering what string he’d attach to my offer.  “You have to dress like this when I cash in on that rain check.  In fact, I want you to wear this dress.”  He grinned, looking slightly demented with his bruised lips.

“Oh, ok, you big brute,” I said, patting his arm.  He caught my hand and licked my palm, sending a thrill up my arm.  I gasped, unable to stop myself.

“You sure you want to take a rain check?”  Matt asked, sliding my thumb into his mouth.  My knees buckled, nearly dropping me to the floor.  Somehow, I managed to wrest my hand free of his and nod my head.  Not without giving him a dirty look, however, which caused him to chuckle.  He headed to the bathroom before I could do anything to him, namely jump his bones.  I whipped out my lipstick container because it had a small mirror in it and painstakingly recreated my lips.  After I finished, I sat on the futon to watch the game until Matt was ready.

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Out of Sight, Into Mind; chapter eleven, part one

“Shit.  The cops think Kayla was taken,” Matt said the second I walked into the apartment.  His hair was a mess, and it was clear that he’d had a beer or five.  He had a fresh one in his hand, and he wasn’t just sipping it.  I plucked it from his fingers and drank the rest of it in one gulp.  “Hey, that was mine!”

“No more for you,” I said, shaking a finger in his face.  Matt didn’t drink much so when he did, it went straight to his head.  I knew he was under a great deal of stress, but this wasn’t the way to deal with his problems.  “Tell me everything.”

Matt and I went into the living room and sat on the futon before he spilled his guts to me.  It turned out that the hospital had called the cops when it discovered Kayla missing.  The cops went over her room with a CSI kit and found traces of another person.  Now, that wouldn’t be so unusual as it was a hospital, but they found pieces of skin, hair and fibers from a shirt—all indications of a struggle between Kayla and the person who took her.  They were running tests on the samples found, but Martinez wasn’t too sanguine about the results.

“You talked to Martinez?”  I asked, interrupting his recitation.

“Yup,” Matt said, smirking slightly.  “I even got to see him.  Jealous?”  I punched him in the arm and indicated for him to continue.  He didn’t have much else to say.  The kidnapper hadn’t left a note this time, so the cops didn’t have many leads.  They were also concerned because of her hit-and-run case, but there wasn’t much they could do about that.

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