Free The Christine Murders by Regina Fagan Page B

business right here in the city. She would let this all go, and in a few days he would realize he was wrong and forget about her. Maybe she could even interest him in one of her girlfriends, if need be.
    Yes, Luther Ross-Wilkerson and the spilled coffee incident would be just one more amusing story to add to so many that Christine and Bill and all their airline colleagues collected in the course of travelling the world and dealing with all sorts of people, from all over the globe.
    She smiled to herself. Maybe one day she would tell her children and grandchildren about this. But first she had to meet the one perfect man who could make that dream a reality.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
     
    SATURDAY NIGHT – OCTOBER 15 th
     
    Saturday night at Jaycene’s was the wildest night of the week. The trendy nightspot on Columbus Avenue had evolved over the past year into one of the most popular singles’ bars in the city.
    The music was always loud and the dance floor packed with couples. The polished marble-topped bar stretched one entire length of the long building, its stools and floor space filled with customers. Along the back wall and facing the dance floor were small leather-covered banquettes, most of them just large enough to accommodate two people comfortably. Trendy, if not somewhat pretentious, artwork covered the walls.
    Cocktail waitress Susan Sayles hadn’t even had a chance to take a break. The crowds had been big and demanding all evening, and the waitresses, dressed in their skimpy outfits, had been running drinks non-stop. By eleven p.m., Susan’s feet were burning with pain. She’d been running all night. But since she had accumulated overtime during the last couple of weeks, she had decided to call it quits before midnight. The main reason for leaving earlier was not so much her aching feet but the guy seated over on one of the banquettes, the guy she had been flirting with and hoping to score with later on.
    He’d come in alone and had hung around the crowded bar watching the dancing before moving over to an empty banquette. There he had stayed, watching all the single women in the bar very intently, yet never approaching any of them.
    Susan had noticed him right away. She always checked out all the single guys, paying special attention to the most prosperous looking among them. This guy interested her immediately. He looked like money, she thought. He was classy. She figured she’d watch him for a bit before making her move.
    She wasn’t the only one, however. At one point, three women approached him. One gestured toward the dance floor, but had no luck and soon moved back to the bar. Susan, busy as she was, kept the man under surveillance and noticed that, although a few more women tried, nobody got anywhere. Strange, she had thought, but good for me.
    She was sure things were about to change, once, when she saw her man watching a tall blonde who had come in alone and perched on a bar stool. The blonde wore a very short skirt, and her long legs were crossed enticingly while she spun herself slowly round and round on the bar stool, her hair flowing down her back. Susan was at the far end of the bar waiting for an order when she saw the man head straight toward the sexy blonde. Well, that’s the end of that, Susan thought, disappointed.
    She watched as he smiled and said something. Whatever it was he’d said, Miss Long Legs wasn’t interested. She gave him a look, swung off her barstool and sauntered over toward the dance floor, several pairs of male eyes following her. Undaunted by the brush-off, Susan’s man turned and walked slowly back to his table. He kept on watching the blonde, however, who was now talking with two men near the dance floor.
    Maybe he’s hot for blondes, Susan thought. Well, that one’s got nothing I can’t match, she thought, swinging her long crimped golden hair over one shoulder. She decided to deliver the tray of drinks she had just picked up and then move in on him, before anybody