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and leather briefcases. She saw a woman flash a lightning-bolt diamond engagement ring for three friends.
    Plenty of money here, she noted. And plenty of marks.
    Hefting the loaded tray, she headed off for the kitchen, detouring toward an attractive couple when the man signaled her.
    “Sweetheart, can you get me and my lovely companion a refill here?”
    She leaned closer, pasted on her sweetest smile and made a quiet and crude suggestion.
    The man only grinned. “Cops have such filthy mouths.”
    “Next case I’m going to be the one sitting on my butt, Hickman, while you work out,” Ally replied. “See anything I should know about?”
    “Nothing’s popped yet.” He grabbed the hand of the woman sitting next to him. “But Carson and I are in love.”
    Lydia Carson gave Hickman’s hand a vicious squeeze. “In your dreams.”
    “Just keep your eyes open.” Ally aimed a stare at Hickman’s glass. “And that’d better be club soda.”
    “She’s so strict,” she heard Hickman murmur as she walked away.
    “Beth, table … ah, sixteen’s looking for a refill.”
    “I’m on it. You’re doing good, Ally. Go dump those and take your break.”
    “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
    The kitchen was a madhouse, full of noise and shouted orders and heat. Gratefully Ally set down her tray, then lifted her eyebrows as she spotted Frannie slipping out the back door.
    Ally stalled for ten seconds, then followed.
    Frannie was already leaning against the outside wall and taking her first drag from a cigarette. She blew out smoke with a long, relieved sigh. “Break time?”
    “Yeah. I thought I’d grab some air.”
    “Zoo in there tonight. Blackhawk’s really packs them in.” She pulled the cigarettes out of her pocket, offered them.
    “No, thanks. I don’t smoke.”
    “Good for you. I can’t kick it. No smoking in the employee lounge. Jonah gives me a break and lets me use his office if the weather’s lousy. So how’s your first night?”
    “My feet are killing me.”
    “Occupational hazard. First paycheck you buy yourself one of those bubbling footbath things. Put some eucalyptus in it and go straight to heaven.”
    “I’ll do that.”
    An attractive woman, Ally noted, though the lines around Frannie’s eyes made her look older than twenty-eight. She kept her dark red hair cut short and the makeup subtle. Her nails were short and unpainted, her hands ringless. Like the rest of the staff, she wore black, and finished off the simple shirt and slacks with sturdy yet trendy black shoes.
    The only touch of flash was the silver hoops that swung at her ears.
    “How’d you get into tending bar?” Ally asked her.
    Frannie hesitated, then puffed on her cigarette. “I guess I hung out at bars a lot, and when there came a time I was looking for what you could call gainful employment, Jonah asked me if I wanted a job. Trained me over at Fast Break. It’s good work. You need a decent memory and people skills. You interested?”
    “I’d better see if I make it through one shift busing before I start raising my sights.”
    “You look like you can handle whatever comes along.”
    Ally smiled into Frannie’s considering eyes. “You think so?”
    “Observation’s one of those people skills. And on short observation, you don’t strike me as the type who expects to make waiting tables her life’s work.”
    “Gotta start somewhere. And paying the rent’s a priority.”
    “Don’t I know it.” Though Frannie had already calculated that Ally’s shoes equaled half a month’s rent on her own apartment. “Well, if you want to climb the ladder, Jonah’s the one to give you a boost. You’d have figured that.”
    Frannie dropped the cigarette, crushed out the butt. “Gotta get back. Pete pouts if I go over break.”
    The ex-hooker, Ally decided, was proprietary when it came to Jonah. They were probably lovers, she thought as she went back inside. When you factored in his defensive attitude toward her, it