Free The Pandora Box by Lilly Maytree

beating of my heart. ~ Nellie Bly
     
    The Seahorse Lounge was fairly quiet. There were a few obvious “regulars” seated at the bar, a man with a table to himself in one corner and a noisy party of eight beneath the windows that looked out onto the water. The dance floor and stage were empty, but a glimpse of the current band’s poster on the wall told Dee the place was of the honky-tonk variety.
    Wayne Hawkins was sitting with his back to her at a crowded table with a woman next to him.
    Starr gave her a friendly wave.
    There were several tanned beauties among the group, as well as a few fishermen.
    “Pull up a chair, Dee,” Starr boomed. “We just ordered the best steaks in the house.”
    “Well, that’s awfully nice of you.” Dee smiled her most enchanting smile as she came up behind Hawkins. “Actually...” She laid a deceptively friendly hand on Hawk’s shoulder, but pressed it with much the same firmness as a teacher who had caught one of her pupils cheating on a test. “I was hoping I could steal Hawk here away for a few moments?”
    Hawk reached for her hand with an equally firm grip as he stood. He tossed three quarters on the table, without letting go of Dee’s hand. “Pick out something good on the juke box honey, and I’ll be back before it’s over.”
    “Is there someplace we could talk?” Dee snatched her hand away as they walked off.
    “Sure. How ‘bout my office?”
    “Fine. Where is it?”
    He pointed to a table in one of the darkened corners of the room.
    “That’s not —” Dee protested.
    “We can talk here.” He waved at the bartender as they sat down. “What happened?” He eyed her hat and the sunglasses hooked over the first closed button of the yellow dress. “You look like you came straight from work yesterday. I didn’t expect you back before Thursday.”
    “Well, for one thing…”
    A cocktail waitress came to the table with a glass of beer and set it on a napkin in front of him. “Thanks, Terry.” He smiled at the young woman.
    He had a charming smile, if one were to look at him that way. There was a sparkle, the kind that made people smile back without realizing it.
    “Anything else?”
    “Nothing for me, thanks,” Dee answered crisply. “I’m fine.”
    “I think Dee Parker looks like…” He scrutinized her. He must have had several drinks already. “The strawberry daiquiri type,” he finally pronounced.
    “I am not here on a social call, Hawkins,” she spoke quietly, “And I don’t drink.”
    “I don’t like to drink alone.”
    “Obviously. Why did you pay the outstanding bill on Pandora ?”
    “Because I always pay my bills.”
    “But Pandora is mine. And I want everything done right and legal before we leave. Since you had an in with the harbor-master and are already registered as the current owner, I’m going to need your signature before they’ll change it down at the DMV. Honestly, is there anyone in this town that doesn’t know who you are?”
    “Small towns are like that.”
    “Then you’ll come with me to get it straightened out?”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “But you agreed to cooperate. Something like this could hold us up for days.” She ran a thumb over a smooth edge of the wooden table. “Do you want to get going, or don’t you?”
    “What happened, Dee? Yesterday, you could barely agree to leave in a week and now you’re acting like you want to untie and take off tonight.”
    “Could we?”
    His air of playfulness vanished and he suddenly looked deadly serious. “You told somebody.”
    “Not exactly. It’s just that…”
    The girl returned with a strawberry daiquiris and Dee smiled at her. “Could I return this for one that’s heavy on the strawberries and no on the daiquiri?” Not that she was so inclined to order anything at all in a place like this. It’s just that she had to do something to avoid that penetrating gaze as Hawk paid for the drink. He didn’t take his eyes off her.
    “Go on,” he