The Quake

Chapter 5

After a movie star worthy strut up to the bar, the mysterious woman leaned on the counter beside Daphne. "Garcon. Does this establishment have Nolet gin?" she asked the air in front of the bar.

Ricky had long since gone to check out a few other tables. Erin looked up and down the bar for someone named Garcon, but no one was there.

"Sweetie, do you know where you are?" Daphne asked.

"The middle of butt-fuck nowhere," the woman answered, a slight southern belle twang to her voice. She turned toward Daphne, offering up a sugary sweet smile. "I'm Sarah, by the way, and you are?"

"Daphne." Daphne extended perfectly manicured fingertips toward the woman.

Sarah took Daphne's hand, gracing her with a polite smile. "Delighted." The woman was both intimidating and gorgeous.

Then she looked at Erin expectantly. Erin wracked her fuzzy brain for the appropriate response. "Erin," she said triumphantly. "I'm Erin."

Sarah nodded her acknowledgement. She looked around the bar impatiently, drumming her own French tips on the rough wood. Obviously Sarah wasn't used to being ignored. Silence stretched between the three of them, growing uncomfortable when still no bartender came to check on them. Reluctantly, Erin opened her mouth again, "Where did you come from, Sarah?"

In response, a little growl escaped Sarah, causing Erin to flinch. Disbelievingly, she watched Sarah rise and- as if she owned the place- tuck herself behind the bar. When Sarah began rummaging through the open bottles there, Erin glanced at Daphne, wondering if they should stop her. Her new friend, instead, shouted suggestions for where else Sarah should look. Erin's eyes widened in panic when Sarah rose triumphantly brandishing a thick green bottle. "This will have to do. Anyone else want some?" she drawled.

She'd poured out three glasses by the time she was interrupted. "I hope you're paying for that," Ricky glowered.

Sarah sniffed with superiority. "Of course. But I am not tipping you since I had to get it myself." She tossed her blonde hair with a flourish.

"Get out from behind my bar, before I put you to work," Ricky threatened menacingly.

Erin held her breath in awe as Sarah paused to stare up at the giant beef steak of man for a full count of 60 seconds before exiting with glass in hand. Elegantly, she slid onto the stool to Erin's left sipping her drink casually. Erin would have obeyed immediately, but this Sarah was made of different stuff.

Defeated, Ricky slammed the tray he'd been carrying onto the bar with a jarring thump. It rattled the glassware so much that Erin cringed, but Sarah turned back to the ladies, blinking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Maybe stealing from a local bar wasn't out of the ordinary for her. "So where were we?"

"Erin here asked where you were from," Daphne prompted, leaning her elbows on the bar so she could look past Erin.

Sarah waved a hand in the air noncommittally. "All over I suppose. Recently I'm outta LA."

"Passing through Elkton?" Daphne asked doubtfully. Tourists didn't typically choose this bar to pass through. The wine bar with its cute rhododendron bushes growing out front just down the street, looked far more inviting than this dingy townie hangout.

Sarah rolled her eyes, then settled her now half empty glass on the bar. "Actually, I am looking for someone."

Erin pictured this black leather clad woman as a motorcycle-riding bounty hunter straight out of Mad Max. Perhaps, someone in this town was hiding a drug scheme like an episode of Breaking Bad, and Sarah was here to collect. Erin blinked. Or perhaps Erin just watched too much television and did too little actual living. She eyed Daphne to see what she thought. "Who?" Daphne panted, obviously salivating for hot gossip.