Free Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker by Peggy Holloway Page B

help you with this, Brandy. I really will. I think we can figure this out together. And forget about that disgusting old fart. I don’t think he’ll try to make trouble for you. If he does, he’ll have me to deal with. But right now, I’m tired,” she said with a yawn. “Let’s take a nap before we have to go to work.”
    Frank was totally all right with me just dancing. He said that some of the other girls just wanted to serve drinks. So it would turn out good and everyone would be happy. Frank wanted to see my driver’s license. The date of birth on it was February 3 rd , 1963, which would have made me twenty. My last name was Alexander.
    “Well, I guess we’re all set,” he said, “Are you ready?”
    “I’m ready and so excited. I want to do real well for you, Frank.”
    “You will, doll. Only three girls showed up tonight, so you’re going to be on stage a lot and will have a chance to make a lot of money. Oh, I forgot to tell you, there’s a sandwich place next door. You can go over there and get free sandwiches anytime you’re not on stage. I give them free drinks, and they give my girls free sandwiches. And all your drinks are free also.”
    The rest of the week went smoothly. I was earning good money and told Rosa that I needed to get my own apartment. She said there was no hurry and that she was glad for the company right now because she was between boyfriends.
    When Saturday arrived, the phone woke us up at noon. Rosa grumbled as she rolled over to answer it. When she heard who it was, she sat up in bed wide awake, and started hitting me with her elbow.
    “Brandy, she’s there. Julia’s in the Gallery. We’ll be right down,” she said into the phone.
    I think she was as excited as I was. We got dressed in a hurry and were soon speeding down I-10 towards the French Quarter and Royal Street. We didn’t talk much until she parked the car. Then we started both talking at once, saying how excited we were. I was also scared. What if she didn’t like me? What if she took one look at me and decided she didn’t want anything to do with me?
    I tried to slow my breathing down and took one long deep breath and opened the door. The first thing I saw was Jean talking to a girl who had her back to me. I had thrown on a pair of jeans, but this girl was pure class.
    She had on a beige straight-skirted dress with a wide alligator belt and alligator pumps. She had on one bracelet that was silver and, as she talked to Jean, she waved her hand, and the bracelet caught the light and sent out little shiny lights.
    I had stopped halfway inside the gallery and was standing there watching her when Jean spotted me.
    “Come on over, Vicky.” He said.
    He introduced us, but I didn’t hear a word he said, and I don’t think she did either. It was like looking in a mirror before I had my own hair done.
    Julia said, “You look just like me except for the hair. If I didn’t know better, I would think we were twins. But I know we aren’t because my parents said that I wasn’t adopted. They have always been truthful with me.”
      I knew her parents were lying, but I couldn’t figure out why at this point.
    She said something that surprised me, “My parents want to meet you. Can you come home with me? I live in St. Augustine, Florida.”
    I told her I would let her know. I didn’t understand why her parents would want to meet me if they didn’t think we had any connection. I wanted to talk this over with my new best friend, Rosa.

    CHAPTER 10

    On Sunday, Rosa and I decided to go to the nursing home where Henrietta Hendrix was and see if we could talk to Tom, the nurse. I was hoping he would have some information for me. The nursing home wasn’t very far from where we lived. When we got there we were told that Tom was off that day but would be in the next day, for the three to eleven shift.
    When we left there, I asked Rosa if I could drive. After all, I had a license now. She said that I could since it was just