12

12

         “So that’s how it is, Kalinka.”

         A blonde man smiled as he turned to the blonde woman sitting next to him as he spread out his arms. He was lucky that the two of them were the only customers at that time, or else it would be kind of embarassign. The bar was dim-lighted, but everyone could still see the woman was having a rather bored expression on her face.

         “How do you think? Isn’t it a great plan?” he bragged. “That’s why we’re here – I’ll pay for whatever you drink today, even if you order a thousand glasses.”

         She turned to him and looked at him for a while, then he turned to the bartender, who was smiling to the both of them. She looked away as she pulled her black poncho up, and sighed.

         “Too bad I don’t drink…”

         “Don’t worry about that, ma’am,” the bartender said politely. “We do serve non-alcoholic cocktails here. Say, would you like Shirley Temple? Or maybe Cinderella?”

         “It’s fine,” she said. “Since Charles said he’ll be paying, I guess a drink will be fine. Can you get me something, well, with low alcohol?”
         “Well, then…” The bartender smiled as he took a bottle of Absolut Vodka – the blue one – from the shelves. “I hope Screwdriver suits your taste.”

         The bartender opened the freezer placed next to the shelves and took a carton of orange juice. Charles smiled and turned to her, only to see that she still had the same expression on her face, and looked away again.

         “Women sure confuses me,” he said. “Really, what’s that face for? We’re going to get something we’ve been searching and wanting for a long time, and you don’t seem to be happy at all…”

         “You’re the one who wanted it,” she said. “I’m just helping you, right?”

         The bartender smiled as he served the orange cocktail in front of her, then he stepped back and turned to the man. He looked at his customer for a while, reading whatever he could read from his face, then he took a cocktail glass and turned back to the shelves.

         “I’m going to drink this and go,” she said as she rose the glass. “I have to meet someone.”

         “So you came just for a free drink?”
         “I came because I was told to.”

         Charles smiled – well, at least he has quite an obedient friend, that was not something bad, is it? Kalinka took the glass and drank the cocktail, then she put down the glass, now filled with ice, and stood up.

         “Tastes like some normal orange juice, but it’s good,” she said as she turned away. “Thanks, Charles. Call me if you need something.”

         “Sure.”

          The two men let silence took over for a few seconds, but then a click from the door could be heard. Charles sighed loudly and looked away with a smile as the bartender continued stirring whatever cocktail he was making.

         “Is it nice to have such a friend, bartender?” Charles asked. “I enjoy having her as a friend very much, how about you, if you are me?”

         “I would, too,” the bartender answered as he took a lemon and a knife. “Seems like she’s been through a lot.”

         “Oh?” Charles looked up to the bartender, interested. “How do you know?”

         “You can tell just by looking at her hands,” the bartender said. “We, bartenders, as we serve our customers, unconsciously observe their hands.”

         “So what do you get from that observing?”

         “We know what cocktail we should serve,” the bartender answered as he started peeling the skin of the lemon carefully. “But well, I served Screwdriver because she said she hardly ever drinks. You know why, sir?”

         “No.” Charles smiled as he leaned closer to the bartender in curiosity. “Why?”

         “Well, maybe I should mention she was married,” the bartender said. “There’s a whitish line on her right ring finger, because the sun didn’t tan the part that worn the ring. From her body, you can also see that she had a child.”

         “Oh,” Charles said. “And poor kid doesn’t know his mum is involved in all this.”

         “Well, we can never understand women, can we?” the bartender said as he served the cocktail. “Rusty Nail. This one’s on the house.”

         “Hey, thanks!” Charles smiled and took the glass, then he sipped the drink from the plastic straw. The bartender took the highball glass sitting in front of the empty seat and put it on the sink.

         “You know, sir,” he said as he turned on the water tap. “I have my own formulae to remember the liquors needed for the cocktail you’re drinking right now.”

         “Which is?”

         “Don’t step on a rusty nail,” the bartender answered. “Nails might be useful, even rusty ones, but if you’re not careful, you might hurt yourself.”

         “Is that an advice?”

         “…Maybe.”

         “Thanks, then,” Charles said as he took the peeled lemon skin used as the garnish. “But don’t worry, I’ll remember it.”

~•~

         KNOCK KNOCK

         What?
         Megan sighed as she got up from bed, leaving her iPad on the pillow. She sighed loudly as she walked to the door. She looked into a small hole in the middle of the door and she saw a man with long black hair and grey muffler standing outside. She sighed and opened the door.

         “For God’s sake, take off that muffler. It’s summer.”

         “It’s twenty degrees…”

         “So what?” she asked with a sigh. “We sometimes go to work at around minus ten degress celcius. This is pretty warm.”

         “I’m wearing this if I want to,” he said with a sour face. “And well, we don’t have time to talk about that. There’s something more important we should talk about.”

         “Get in then.” She pushed the door to the back, making a wider way for him to get in. He walked into the room and looked around the room. It wasn’t quite messy like his room – well, women are women for a reason – even if there are a bunch of cables scattered on the desk.

         “So, what were you doing?”

         “Reading,” she answered as she closed the door. “Thanks for ruining it. What’s important?”

         “The doll has been stolen.”

         She looked at the man for a while, with a rather blank expression. She didn’t even feel her heart race when hearing the bad news like other might have did.

         “Oh.”

         He turned to her as he could nearly feel his hand automatically moved to cover his face. The popular term for it is ‘facepalm’.

         Aren’t there many expressions she can use instead of ‘oh’? Can’t she just show a bit expression…

         “So you want me to track it?”
          Nah. At least that’s a solution, right?
         “No need,” he said. “If you can just pry off some information off the British, or if you can make them help us, that’ll be good.”

         She turned to the man as she took the iPad, then she put it on the bedside table and walked over to the wardrobe.
         “Where’s Julia?”

         “She went out to meet someone, but I suppose she should be back now. Maybe at the bar.”

         “Oh, I see that,” she said as she turned to him with a smile. “So just make them help us, right?”

         “Right.”

         “That’s not something difficult,” she said as she took out a black jacket. “You’re lucky I have some connections that might be useful. You should just pray they’re willing to help.”

         “They?” Hee, she’s more interesting than I ever thought. Looks like she knows a lot of interesting people. “So what will you do now?”

         “I have to talk to Julia first and ask if she’ll like my plan,” she said as she walked to the door. “She is the supervisor, after all, so let’s just obey her.”

         She opened the door, then she turned to the man with a fake smile. He was a bit scared with the smile, as it looked kind of abnormal, but then her face turned into a blank expression as she looked out.

         …She’s kicking him out.

         “So, will you step out of my room now, since I’m going to go meet her down at the bar?”