Page 118 of The Newcomer
“Can we not do this tonight?” she asked. “After tomorrow, after you’ve dealt with Evan, I promise I’ll think about moving in with you for a few days.”
“Letty! Mr. Joe.” Maya was standing by the door. “Let’s go!” She swished her grass skirt. Joe swished his hips in imitation, and Letty swished hers. She went to the sliding glass door and checked the lock. She locked the window that led to the breezeway, and finally, after they were outside, she locked the front door.
44
“ALOHA!” AVA CALLED, WHEN SHEspotted Letty and Joe approaching the rec room with Maya. “Oh, if y’all don’t look too stinking cute!” She whipped out her phone. “Joe, stand right there with those girls, and for God’s sake try to smile. Put your arm around Letty. No, closer. Maya, sweetheart, look at me now.” She quickly snapped half a dozen photos.
The motel owner was dressed in a floor-length fuchsia flowered muumuu, with a flower crown balanced on her graying blond curls and half a dozen leis draped around her neck.
“You look pretty cute yourself,” Letty said.
“Are we done yet?” Joe asked, deliberately baiting his mother. “This shirt itches. What the hell is it made of? Aquarium gravel?”
“Quit your bitching and get inside and start working the bar,” Ava directed. “We’re gonna have a full house tonight. Letty, can you sit by the table and sell bingo cards?” She looked over at Maya and smacked her forehead. “Oh Lord. I am getting senile in my old age.” She leaned in closer to Letty and lowered her voice. “I’m so sorry, hon. I completely forgot. We can’t let Maya stay. It’s illegal for a minor to be on the premises when gambling is going on.”
“She’s right,” Joe admitted.
“But it’s only bingo,” Letty protested. “Who’s going to mind?”
“Vanita Dunn,” Ava said promptly. “The bitch who owns the Islander. A couple years ago, Joe arrested Vanita’s son for stealing from her hotel guests, and ever since then, she’s always trying to make trouble for me. I wouldn’t put it past her to have one of herspies here tonight. She’d rat me out in a heartbeat. It wouldn’t be so bad for me, but Joe’s a cop. It could look bad for him.”
“I’ll keep Maya tonight.”
Letty turned to see that Vikki Hill had joined the small group clustered around the four-year-old.
The FBI agent was dressed in jeans and a pale pink button-down blouse, with a plastic flower stuck behind her ear as her only concession to the evening’s theme.
She nodded at Joe. “Nice shirt, DeCurtis.”
“Oh no, Vikki, I couldn’t ask you to babysit,” Letty said, uneasily. “You’re sweet to offer.…”
“What? You don’t think I could keep a kid alive for three hours? I’ll have you know I had a pet goldfish in a bowl on my kitchen counter for three years. That’s longer than either of my marriages lasted.”
“You don’t want to play bingo?” Ava asked.
“Nah. I just came out because those four walls in the crummy efficiency were starting to close in on me—no offense, Ava. Plus I was hungry.”
“If you’re really serious, you could watch her at my place,” Letty offered.
“And you can eat dinner from the buffet,” Ava added. “We won’t start the first game for another fifteen minutes.”
“Good deal.” Vikki squatted down until she was at eye level with the four-year-old. “Hey Maya. Wanna hang out with me tonight? We can eat some sweet-and-sour meatballs and, uh, watchHawaii Five-Oon television, okay?”
Maya focused her huge blue eyes on the agent for a moment, considering the offer. “PAW Patrol?”
“Huh?” Vikki wrinkled her nose.
“It’s sorta likeFive-O,but with cartoon dogs,” Joe advised.
“Okay, cool. But let’s eat first.” Vikki extended her hand and Maya took it.
As Ava predicted, the motel’s regulars were already streamingtoward the rec room, and the parking lot was filling with cars. “Big crowd, huh?” Letty observed.
“Word gets around,” Ava said, showing her the metal cash box containing stacks of one-, five-, and ten-dollar bills. “Of course, it’s mostly snowbirds and retirees. Where else are folks gonna go for a night out where they maybe spend ten or twenty dollars for an evening of entertainment like this—they get as much food as they can eat, cheap drinks, and maybe even win a jackpot.”
“And it’s legal to gamble like this?” Letty asked.
“As long as you do it for a nonprofit,” Ava said. “We partner with the Legion of Mary, from the Catholic church. We don’t make any money on this. After we pay for our operating costs, all the rest of the money gets paid out in jackpots. Good clean fun, right? Our regulars look forward to this all year long. It’s a tradition, and lesson one here at the Murmuring Surf is, you don’t mess with tradition.”
