He smiled at me. “How about Risky Business? It sounds like you. It’s a businessman’s lunch, slightly spicy but pretty much a normal stir-fry dish. Plus I don’t see Trouble Magnet on the menu. Should we suggest it as a title?”
“I wonder what kind of a dish it would be. What are you going to order?”
“How about Twilight Romance? Or Bold Adventure? That one’s spicy.”
“Are you telling me you order by the title, not by what it is?”
“Only when the title might tell something about my intentions.”
“So, what do we get if we mix Risky Business with Bold Adventure?”
“I don’t know, let’s find out. By the way, Sex on the Beach is not a drink here. It’s bunch of naked seafood basking in a brown sauce with steamed vegetables and rice on the side.”
“You didn’t order Sex on the Beach when you were with me.”
“I didn’t order it at all. I saw it go by and knew I didn’t want it so I asked what it was called. It was a little disappointing to know I didn’t want Sex on the Beach.”
“Maybe one of these days we can go looking for a deserted beach.”
A waiter came over to our table to take our order so Rusty ordered Risky Business and Bold Adventure served family style. As the waiter turned to leave I noticed two women being seated a couple of tables away. It took me a moment to realize one of the women was Kima Tumibay. I watched discreetly.
“This is really not necessary…” I heard Mrs. T say. Her friend, also an Asian woman, seemed apologetic. They glanced around themselves frequently but they seemed calm. I noticed her friend spoke very little English and frequently reverted to some foreign language that I didn’t recognize.
“He may be an activist but he’s never been dangerous.”
Her friend spoke and she thought for a minute and then seemed to repeat the statement in the foreign language.
“Cassidy, are you home?” Rusty asked.
“Oh yeah, sorry.”
“What is it?”
“Remember the teacher I told Tom about at the station? That’s her in the navy slacks and Hawaiian shirt.”
Rusty watched. I knew I shouldn’t eavesdrop, but I knew I could get valuable information for Tom. I wished I could have switched tables.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “English first, Chinese second. It’s a rule….”
More Chinese.
“Mai, try short sentences in English, first. Tell me about your life before you came here. Short sentences.”
They began a choppy conversation with Mai struggling and Mrs. T correcting her gently. I turned to Rusty.
“So, how much can we use and how much must we ignore?”
“Let’s just open our own restaurant and then you can run it and all the people we are looking for can just come eat there, blow their cover, tell us their secrets. I can go undercover as a waiter and arrest them as I take their order. I was going to suggest we go to Trujillo’s for a drink but maybe we better not.”
“Rusty, you’re getting superstitious. Admit it.”
“At least she isn’t dangerous.”
“I don’t think you’d be able to pass as a waiter. No one would believe for a second that you were really a waiter.”
“Why not? I already carry a pad of paper and a pen. I could trade my gun in for a cheese grater or a pepper grinder.”
“The tips would be great. I’m for finding a deserted beach.”
Our food arrived and I looked at it suspiciously. It didn’t look too risky. I looked at the Bold Adventure and I could see little heat waves floating over the top of the dish. Or maybe it was just the spicy aroma which seemed hot. Rusty took some rice then spooned Bold Adventure over the top. He took a bite then reached for his glass of tea. Boldly going where many men had gone before, straight to the tea.
I scooped out some sticky rice and topped it with some Risky Business. I smelled it but I couldn’t detect much of anything over the Bold Adventure. I took a bite. It was a little spicy, but I dug in while Rusty carefully searched his plate pulling out little peppers.
“Don’t eat these,” he warned me. “They’ll set you right on fire.”
“This is good. Do you want some?”
“Maybe after this.”
The meal was interesting. Eventually I did try a little Bold Adventure. I didn’t find it as spicy as Rusty did. Maybe bold adventure was becoming more normal for me. I tried to keep track of the conversation at both tables at once but I wasn’t very successful. Whenever I caught a few words from the other table it was Mai talking about her family in very broken English. I knew Rusty didn’t appreciate work infringing on his date. I tried to remember this was Tom’s case; he’d talk to Kima Tumibay. It was none of my business.
Rusty attempted to use the chopsticks. He did okay while he was just grasping bite-sized pieces but gave up when he was left with only rice. I wasn’t going to try chopsticks in a white dress. That seemed like an invitation for a fashion disaster. Bold adventure had a habit of leaving stains behind.
When we left the restaurant I caught Rusty following and watching me from behind. I sashayed a little and he smiled and winked at me. It was odd; in the beginning I’d never really done anything to attract Rusty. I didn’t encourage him in any way but now that we were married I enjoyed flirting with him. In a way that was good. It opened up new and interesting twists and turns to our relationship. It was fun. And I thought he rather enjoyed seeing this new side of me.
Trujillo’s was busy but, since I was with Rusty, no felons tried to strike up a conversation with me. Rusty scared them all off. Benny and Marco, the Trujillo brothers were there working the crowd.
“Ey, Rusty, long time no see! Are you working tonight?”
“Trying not to. How’s business?”
“Is good, I’ve been trying to think up some gimmick to bring people in, like Mexican karaoke. You think Mexican karaoke would work?”
“Um, no.”
“Aw, why not?”
“Your clientele is too mixed. Not enough customers who know Mexican songs.”
“So,” he asked, “what brings you here?”
“An evening when Cassidy and I are in town together.”
“Oh, can’t make a gimmick out of that.”
Chapter 4
The call came midmorning the next day.
“Cassidy? I’ve got a job for you. Can you be at Elk Meadows in a few hours?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a pack ready to go. I just need to call Rusty. Any details?”
“Man and wife camping at Elk Meadows. They went out for a hike and the wife wanted to turn back early. The husband kept going and when he got back to camp his wife was nowhere to be seen. He went out looking for her yesterday evening and called early this morning, concerned because she was still out there.”
“Were they following the trail?”
“No, they crossed the meadows and headed up into the hills nearby.”
At