In a way, I was glad. I wasn't sure what to say.
Just before my shift ended, I was going from table to table, refilling the salt shakers when Josie sidled up next to me.
"Alright," she said in a hushed tone. "I got the scoop."
It was almost dawn, and most of the tables were vacant.
"Scoop?" I said, glancing around the nearly empty restaurant.
"Scoop. News. Whatever," she said, waving away my confusion. "About the guys in the trunk." She put her hands on her hips. "By the way, you were supposed to be givingmethese juicy details."
I grimaced. "Sorry about that, but Keith's been dogging me all night."
"No kidding," she said. "He's like your own personal shadow. What's up with that?"
I shrugged.
"Forget Keith." She grinned. "You're gonna love this."
I paused in mid-reach, the salt shakers forgotten. "Yeah?"
"Totally." Josie looked around. "Well, remember the guy at the bar?"
"Which one?"
"Older guy. Name's Bruce. But that's not important. Anyway, he got the whole story from one of the cops."
"Really? How?"
She shrugged. "They're buddies or something. But check this out. According to Bruce, those two guys ended up locked in their own trunk because of this stupid fraternity prank that got totally messed up."
I stared at her. "Messed up? How?"
"Apparently," she said, "they were supposed to end up at some sorority bash, and got dropped here instead. Can you believe it?"
No. I couldn't believe it. I knew better. Less than twelve hours earlier, those same two guys had tried to drag me into that same dark sedan. But instead, they'd been handed their asses by Lawton and his brother, and then locked in their own trunk.
No way I'd be sharing that little nugget though. "What about the ski masks?" I said.
This ought to be good.
"Oh that's the best part," she said. "So apparently, they were supposed do some panty-raid, burglar skit when they got there –"
"Where?" I asked.
"The sorority house. But they ended up here." She grinned. "In their underwear. God, what a couple of dumb-asses."
I stared at her. That had to be the dumbest story I'd ever heard. "And the cops actually bought that story?" I said.
She squinted at me. "Why wouldn't they? You can't make that shit up, right?"
Time to change the subject.
I stopped to give her a serious look. "Can I ask you something? Youdidhear Keith say he was clocking me out, right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because according to him, he was just sending me on break. Wanna hear what he did? He tracked me down in the parking lot and practically dragged me back inside."
