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way of finding out where she was.
    Once again, Terri had managed to muck things up.
    Starting the engine, Randy threw the truck into drive and stomped on the gas. Rubber squealed against asphalt as the truck careened onto the street and cut around the corner, fading into the night. 

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    The weather this year had been all over the place. First it was bitter cold, then it turned warm and pleasant like Terri thought spring should be. Today turned out to be a cold, blustery day, quite unlike yesterday’s unseasonable warmth.
    Standing at the rear entrance, hidden from public view, Terri curled further into her coat while she waited for Luke to unlock the doors to the club. Her teeth chattered and she held the uniform clutched in her fist tighter to her chest, as if she could glean some kind of warmth from the thin material.
    “Come on, Grandpa,” she goaded, and bounced on her toes to emphasize how cold she was and that he definitely needed to hurry before she froze to death.
    “Hold your horses,” Luke muttered, trying another key.
    Finally the lock clicked open and as soon as Luke turned the handle, Terri shoved her way inside, eager to be surrounded by warmth. 
    “Never knew you could be so pushy,” Luke complained. The smile on his face told her he wasn’t the least bit mad or annoyed, not that Terri would have cared either way.
    Shrugging a shoulder, Terri headed for the locker room. “I’ll just go get changed.”
    After relocking the door, Luke followed. “I’ll be in my office making a few calls if you need me,” he informed her, then ducked inside.
    Terri was just pushing open the door to the locker room when she heard Luke’s voice carrying from the open office door. The guy didn’t waste any time, Terri thought.
    The locker room was pretty basic, just a few battleship-gray gym lockers lining one wall, a floor to ceiling mirror opposite and a long couch from yesteryear that was remarkably comfortable considering its age and appearance.
    Terri opened her own locker set at the far end of the row and shrugged off her coat, hanging it on the hook inside. Tugging the turtleneck over her head, she took her time folding it and placing it on the interior shelf, then proceeded to undress and redress in the same fashion until she was standing in her uniform, goosebumps rising on her arms and legs from the chill that hadn’t quite left her yet.
    Terri had never been alone at the club, before or after hours. With no one to talk to and without the chorus of voices mixing with music to drown out her thoughts, it felt strange. Even so, it was sort of nice being caught in the calm before the storm, all alone with her thoughts. It made the task of setting the bar less tedious somehow. And without the constant interruptions from having to take orders or clear the way for another of the waitresses, she found that everything she did went twice as fast.
    She had the glasses washed, dried and put back on the shelves in less than fifteen minutes. The counters were already wiped clean from the previous night, so she set about pulling the chairs from the tabletops and replacing them on the floor. Once finished with that chore, Terri wasn’t sure what else to do with herself, so she returned to the bar and started wiping the already gleaming countertops.
    When she was finished with that task, she meandered about the room, finally settling herself in a chair. As the pervading silence engulfed the room, her thoughts wandered down a dark path.
    She hadn’t been able to shake her worry from the previous night and ended up calling her lawyer first thing that morning. What he told her disturbed her. Randy had been released from prison nearly one week ago. No one had bothered to inform her, not the court and certainly not her own lawyer.
    She was furious, and she decided to share some of her outrage with her lawyer.
    She should have been told immediately, she argued. What did she pay him for