Night Shield Read Online Free PDF Page A

thick curls and made a note in the book. “Lookslike we’re turning most tables over twice tonight. Big dinner crowd for midweek.”
    “Good thing I brought you some help. Beth Dickerman, Allison Fletcher. She needs training.”
    “Ah, another victim.” Beth shot out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Allison.”
    “Ally. Thanks.”
    “You show her the ropes, Beth. She’ll bus tables until you figure she can wait them.”
    “We’ll whip her into shape. Come on with me, Ally. I’ll get you set up. Got any experience in food services?” she asked as she plowed through the crowd.
    “Well, I eat.”
    Beth let out a bright cackle of a laugh. “Welcome to my world. Frannie, this is Ally, new waitress-in-training. Frannie’s captain of the bar here.”
    “Nice to meetcha,” Frannie called out, flipped a smile, dumping ice into a blender with one hand and shooting soda into a glass with the other.
    “And that gorgeous specimen down the other end of the bar’s Pete.”
    The big-shouldered black man sent them a wink as he measured Kahlúa into a short glass.
    “Now, no flirting with Pete, ‘cause he’s my man and nobody else’s. That right, Pete?”
    “You’re the one for me, sugar lips.”
    With another laugh, Beth unlocked a door marked Employees Only. “Pete’s got a beautiful wife and a baby on the way. We just tease. Now, if you need to get in here for any reason— Hey, Jan.”
    “Hey, Beth.” The curvy brunette on the other side of the door had her waist-length hair pulled back with combs from a lovely, heart-shaped face. Ally gauged her as mid-twenties, and a fashion plate. She’d gone for a skirt the approximate size of a table napkin, and a clingy shirt with small silver buttons. Silver winked at her wrists, ears and throat as she freshened her lipstick in a mirror.
    “This is Ally. Fresh meat.”
    “Oh, yeah.” The smile when she turned was friendly enough, but there was a measuring gleam in her eye. One female sizing up another, the competition.
    “Jan works the bar area,” Beth explained. “But she’ll pinch-hit in the club if we need her.” There was a wild burst of laughter from outside the door. “Tom-toms are beating.”
    “I’d better get out there.” Jan tied a short, many-pocketed black apron at her waist. “Good luck, Ally, and welcome aboard.”
    “Thanks. Everybody’s so friendly,” Ally said to Beth when Jan strolled out.
    “You get to be kind of a family when you work for Jonah. He’s a good boss.” She pulled an apron out of a closet. “You work your butt off for him, but he lets you know he notices and that he appreciates. Makes a difference. Here, you’ll need this.”
    “Have you worked for him long?”
    “About six years, give or take. I handled tables at Fast Break, his sports bar. And when he opened the club here, he asked me if I wanted to switch. It’s a classy place and closer to home. You can leave your purse in here.” She opened a narrow locker. “You reset the combination by spinning around zero twice.”
    “Great.” Ally set her purse inside, palming her beeper out of it and hooking it on the waist of her skirt under the apron. She shut the locker, set the combination. “I guess that’s it.”
    “You want to freshen up or anything?”
    “No, I’m fine. A little nervous, I guess.”
    “Don’t worry. In a few hours your feet are going to ache so bad you won’t think about nerves.”
    *  *  *
    Beth was right. About the feet anyway. By ten, Ally felt she’d hiked twenty miles in the wrong shoes and lifted approximately three tons of trays loaded with dirty dishes.
    She could have marched the trail from table to kitchen in her sleep.
    The live band was considerably louder than the recorded music that had played until just after nine. The crowd shouted above it, crammed the dance floor and jammed together at the tables.
    Ally piled dishes on trays and watched the crowd. There were plenty of designer clothes, expensive watches, cell phones