“Bea, you’re running late,” Antoinette said in a bossy tone as I dressed for work Monday morning. I ignored her as she was not the boss of me, no matter what she seemed to think.
A huge yawn escaped from me before I could swallow it. Rafe and I hadn’t gone to bed until well after two in the morning, and as it was now eight o’clock, I was bushed. Gone were the days when I could skate by on four or five hours of sleep. Now, if I didn’t get a solid seven hours, I was a basket case. It was worth it, though. A smile crept on my face as I recalled some of the more creative positions in which Rafe and I had found ourselves in last night. One of them gave me fierce cramps in both legs, but I had been past the point of caring by then. By the time we were through, we had each had four orgasms in two hours. Not bad for a night’s work.
“Phillip wants to talk to you at some point today,” Antoinette said, primping in the mirror.
“What for?” I asked sharply. I didn’t relish the new boss breathing down my neck, especially if he was anything like his dead brother.
“He wants to get to know his employees,” Antoinette said, her voice reproachful. “He’s a real hands-on type of guy.” I refrained from supplying the obvious retort and pulled on the giant duck head.
“Hey, where’s the mouse head?” I asked casually, trying to make it sound as if I were just making conversation. “I thought the police were returning it,” I added lightly.
I arrived at the park a few minutes late, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t even supposed to be at work, but I had to find out what was happening with the park. There was an unfamiliar car parked in Eddie’s usual spot. I wondered who had the gall to use his space. I glanced at the license plate which said PHILLIP. There weren’t any employees named Phillip as far as I knew, and besides, none of the employees could afford a vintage Jag. Black. Very well taken care of. Whoever had bought it obviously had money and time. I admired it for a few minutes before reluctantly deciding that I better get inside.
“If I were hiding something, where would it be?” I muttered, prowling the green room early in the morning. Eddie was around somewhere, but not in the green room. I was glad he had been at the park because otherwise I would have been forced to scale the outside gate and to open the door with the number which I wasn’t supposed to have, but which I had seen Eddie enter once. The last thing I wanted was to call attention to myself while I tossed the joint. I was the only one in the green room, which made it easier to snoop. It was Friday, but it didn’t feel much like the weekend. I was glad I had Saturday and Sunday off to recover from the events of the last few days.