Rear-View Murder: A Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery by Willow Monroe Page B

the center of the room and booths ran along the far wall, all done in the same shiny stainless and red leather.
    And it smelled heavenly, making Gemma’s mouth water.
    A heavy set red haired woman came out from the kitchen. “I’m Sadie. Find yourself a seat and we’ll take good care of ya.”
    Gemma chose a booth near the window and Sadie appeared with menus immediately. “Sweet tea to drink?” she asked.
    “Yes, that would be fine,” Gemma said and Holly agreed.
    “Is this place great or what?” Holly asked, looking around at the photos of Elvis and James Dean and Buddy Holly.
    “It’s like going back in time,” Gemma said.
    By the time Sadie returned with their drinks, they were ready to order. When Sadie retreated to the kitchen again, they sat there looking at each other.
    “So?” Holly asked, plopping her straw into her icy glass and taking a sip.
    “So what?” Gemma asked as she did the same and closed her eyes. The tea was perfect, cold and sweet.
    “How are we going to and find Opal’s, um, friends?”
    “You mean you’re going to help?” Gemma gasped.
    Holly shook her head. “I’ve known you since we were toddlers. The one thing I do know is that when you get something in your head, you’re going to do it come hell or high water.”
    “It’s a flaw. I’m working on it,” Gemma said, trying to sound apologetic.
    “Two rules,” Holly said, holding up her fingers. “At no time do we split up during this little search. And we only do this during daylight hours. This is scary stuff, Gemma, and dangerous. I’m not even going to tell Mitch about it until it’s over.”
    “Deal,” Gemma said. Holly told Mitch everything and his lawyer brain analyzed it to pieces, so this was good news. He was good at arguing his point as well and would surely talk her out of it. “Now how do we find out where Opal might have, um, worked?”
    Holly shook her head. “I have no idea. Richmond, Virginia is a huge city.”
    Sadie arrived at their table with food, big juicy burgers and homemade French fries.
    Gemma decided to take a chance. “Ma’am, could I ask you a question?”
    “Of course,” Sadie said, resting her ample hip against the edge of their booth.
    “Do you know where prostitutes work in Richmond?”
    The look on Sadie’s face went from surprise to shock as she looked from one of them to the other. “Girls, you don’t have to resort to that. You’re too pretty and you look like you’re too smart, to... Why I’ll hire you to work here before I let you do that.”
    Holly barked out a laugh and Gemma shook her head struggling to hold back her own laughter. “No, ma’am, we’re just looking for someone and we were told that’s where she would be.”
    Not exactly the truth but...
    “Oh, well in that case wait a minute.” She went to the front counter, leaned over it and called out “Chester. Come out here please.”
    Returning to the table, she explained. “Chester lived in Richmond his whole life until I hired him. He should be able to help,” she said.
    A tall, thin black man approached their table, caramel colored eyes moving from one of them to the other and then to his boss. “Yes, ma’am, is something wrong?” he asked, wiping his hands on his apron.
    “No, these two ladies here just need some information about Richmond.”
    His gaze traveled back to where Gemma was dragging a French fry through ketchup. She popped it in her mouth and chewed.
    Holly reached for her drink. She took a sip and said. “If you were looking for a prostitute in Richmond, where would you go?”
    “Are you cops?”
    Gemma laughed. Did they look like cops? This was the second time that day they’d been asked that. “No, we’re just trying to locate someone.”
    “Private dicks?”
    “Excuse me?” This time it was Holly talking.
    “Private investigators?” Sadie explained.
    “No,” Holly said.
    “Yes,” Gemma said at the same time.
    Gemma and Holly looked at each other. Sadie simply