Page 26 of The Innocent

Her shoulders sagged and she glanced up at Lou. “When do you think Angie and Ricky will arrive?”

“They’re inside already.”

Wait, weren’t they running late or had something to do beforehand? Wasn’t that the reason she was going in with Lou? That was strange. But maybe their prior commitment had fallen through.

“Is it always this busy?”

Lou didn’t bother looking up from his phone when he answered. “Yeah. But it’s worth the wait. I work the circuit twice a week and never seen the line shorter.”

Imogene knitted her brows. “You work here?”

If that was the case, why were they standing in line? Surely employees were given a special privilege to bypass the wait.

His hand stilled, hovering over his phone. He licked his lips and drew in a breath. Why was he stalling?

“Kind of. I mean, I don’t directly work for the club, but I conduct business in it.”

“What do you do?”

He glanced down at his phone and held up his hand. “Give me a minute, I gotta return a text.”

“Okay,” Imogene replied, and continued to peer around.

There wasn’t much open in the area. There were factories and a few small shops, but everything was closed for the day, drowning the end of the street in darkness, with only a soft glow from the streetlamps. She turned to the side when a man slipped through the line, making room. It had her positioned facing the street, and she looked up at the high rise. It was massively tall and ironically dark. There were only about two dozen windows lit up. It was after ten and possible the residents were asleep for the night.

When her phone rang, she pulled it out, smiling down at the screen. She tapped him on his shoulder.

“It’s my boss, I have to take it.”

He nodded. “Alright, I’ll hold your spot.”

Imogene stepped out of line, making her way to the curb. She pressed her phone to one ear and plugged her other with a finger in an effort to lessen the background noise.

“Hello?”

“Imogene, it’s Judy. Sorry for calling so late.”

“Oh no worries. I wasn’t sleeping. I’m actually out. At a nightclub with friends.” Imogene spared her the details of technically only being in line. There was still a chance she’d never make it inside. But her boss didn’t need to know that.

“That’s sounds like fun. I’ll make this quick. I spoke to my friend, and she’s got some open apartments. Do I have your permission to give her your information? Social security number, driver’s license, things that are needed for the background check?”

Yes!

Imogene bounced on her toes, grinning. Everything was working out so perfectly.

“Absolutely!”

“Good,” Judy said. “If everything checks out, you can move in tomorrow or the day after?”

Imogene stilled. Really?

“They can do a background check that quick?”

The line went silent. For a brief second, she thought Judy had hung up.

“Judy?”

“The landlord has a few connections, so yes.”