Read Last Diner Standing for Free Online Page A

to the party. Not with Janelle sitting in a cell and Dane slacking off on the case.
    Frustrated and needing to vent, I called Roxy.
    “What the hell,” she said. “Dane wants her to take a plea? That’s bullshit.”
    “I’m going to call Janelle’s cousin, Sondra, and see if I can stop by.”
    “Right now? I thought you were at the Strickland Christmastravaganza,” she said.
    “Yeah, I need to get out of here. My mom’s driving me batty.”
    “Well, I want to go.”
    “To the party?” I kicked my heels off and curled my toes.
    “No, dumbass, to Sondra’s,” she said.
    “Fine, I’ll pick you up on the way.”
    Now the trick was getting out of the house without my mother finding out. And there was only one way to do that. The service entrance.
    I grabbed my coat from the rack set up in the spare bedroom and snuck into the kitchen. While the caterers flowed around me, filling trays and clinking empty glasses, I slipped out the back door and trekked around the house to the car. 
    Roxy was waiting by the curb when I pulled up to the converted Victorian where she rented a room. She hopped in and smacked her gum. “So you survived your mom, huh?”
    “Yep.” Barely.
    I took Apple Tree Boulevard and headed to the poor side of town. The further south you go in Huntingford, the more run down the neighborhood, block by block, until finally, on the southern edge between Huntingford and the city of Glendale, drug related crime, and even gang shootings, weren’t uncommon.
    Sondra lived somewhere between working class and the hood in a dollhouse-sized saltbox with a one-car garage. I’d never met her, but Janelle talked a lot about her. In her mid-thirties, she was small, bird-like, with dark skin and short hair.
    When she answered the door, I smiled and introduced myself. “Hello. I’m Janelle’s friend, Rose. This is Roxy.”
    Sondra’s gaze swept over Roxy’s cat-card-yarn ball skirt. “Yeah, she’s mentioned you. Come in.”
    The house was cozy with blue furniture and an asymmetrical patterned rug. “Take a seat.”
    Rox and I parked ourselves on a sofa. “How are you holding up, Sondra? How are the kids?” I asked.
    She sank into a chair. “I’m fine. The kids finally fell asleep. They’re worried. Especially Damon. He knows Sheik’s in the hospital, wants to go see him. Sherise keeps asking for her mama.”
    “I spoke to Janelle’s lawyer. He wants her to take a plea.”
    She scoffed. “Janelle won’t go for that,” she said. “You know how stubborn she is. She’ll fight to the end.”
    “What about bail money? Is there any way you can help?” I asked.
    Sondra shook her head. “It’s all I can do to make ends meet. I work in a dentist’s office and it’s a good job, but my ex isn’t paying child support, either. Frankly, I don’t know how I’m going to afford two extra kids.”
    I pulled the little notebook out of my purse and wrote down my number. “If you need anything, give me a call. Can you think of anyone else who would want to hurt Asshat?”
    Sondra laughed. “Everybody. He owes people money, he’s a loudmouth, always struts around like some kind stud.”
    “What was the attraction?” I asked. “I don’t see Janelle falling for that type of guy.”
    “She wasn’t always so level-headed. And Sheik’s a handsome man. Women do stupid things over pretty men. As soon as Janelle filed for divorce, he quit his job so he wouldn’t have to pay child support.”
    “How does he survive if he doesn’t have a job?” Roxy asked.
    “My guess is he does some work off the books.”
    “What did he do when he was on the books?” I asked.
    “He worked at that muffler place off the Boulevard.”
    Little footsteps padded down and hall and Sherise, dressed in a pink nighty with a picture of Dora the Explorer on the front, crept into the room and rubbed her eyes.
    “Hey, Sherise, how are you?” I asked. Normally, she ran to me and wanted to play hairdresser whenever I had a