Laura was crying when she came out of the intensive care unit. Mollie had been highly medicated and unresponsive. Further, reports from the medical staff had been vague and inconclusive.
"Want to stop and get something to eat," I asked as we started north. We were going directly to the brothel because Laura wanted to be there before 8 P.M. since she still had to get dressed for work.
"If you want," she said complacently.
Having had breakfast at the brothel and more eggs at our house after our nap I was in the mood for something more substantial. We settled for thick milkshakes which we could drink while driving.
Laura showed me how to take an alley to the back of the brothel where we could park the car out of sight from the street. We went in through the back door and made it to the upstairs office before anyone knew we were there.
"Male appendage on the floor," Laura announced to the empty hallway causing four heads to pop out of doorways. Seeing me wave at them, three of the girls ventured out in various stages of undress.
"What's an appendage?" Rachel asked. "What's Randy doing up here?"
"He'll be in the office for a few minutes while I change. He's going to help me with the books so you can get paid. I just wanted you to know he's up here," Laura explained to the girls. She led me into the office and opened the safe.
"We don't bring males up here so I am breaking the rules. Ralph only comes upstairs when the toilet gets backed up," she whispered to me.
Laura pulled the brown envelopes containing cash receipts out of the safe. I was to verify Ralph's counts which were written in the corner of each envelope along with the date. Laura showed me how to make journal entries.
"Yell when you've finished this part. I'll come back and show you the next step," she said as she left the room.
There was an envelope for each day Laura had been away. The envelopes, in addition to bills, contained a sheet of paper with the names of the girls and their take for the night. I only had to check three of the papers to learn that Kelley was outperforming the others by a wide margin. By comparison, the amounts next to Rachel's name were predominately for straight fucks, the smallest charge, while Kelley did not do them. As a minimum, Kelley sold her clients suck and fucks.
Ralph's handwriting was difficult to decipher but his counts were accurate. Some of the bills were new and crisp while others were rolled and crumpled, making we wonder where they had been. The denominations ranged from singles to 100 dollar bills. I recorded the take for each date and stacked the envelopes in date order.
"Tess," I shouted when I had recorded the last day's figures.
"Whatcha doin?" I recognized Kelley's buttery voice. She had entered the room and was taking a seat in the second chair. She plopped her butt at the front of the seat and leaned back, crossing her bare legs to show red tights under the short skirt. It was the same outfit she had worn the night before when she had bent over to show me her bottom.
I let my eyes linger on the red panties too long. She caught me staring. "See anything you like?" she said blatantly, spreading her legs wider and showing amusement when I bugged my eyes out in mock astonishment.
"Isn't Tess taking good care of you?" Kelley said in a taunting way that made me stop showing my appreciation for the brazen display of her wares.
"Tess takes excellent care of him," Laura said as she entered the room. "What are you doing in here?"
Kelley's demeanor changed to somber. She sat up straight in the chair and closed her legs.
"I want to see his appendage," she answered innocently, making Laura and me burst into laughter.
"Zip me up, will you honey?" Laura said, coming to stand with her back to me. The back of the black dress was open half way down the back. I got up and turned her around. The front of the dress was low cut and she wore a light covering of makeup.
"We'll do it this way," I said, placing my arms around her and feeling for the zipper.
"Tell her that I take good care of you," Laura said, her hands on my shoulders, keeping her cheek two inches from mine.
I fastened the top snap and patted Laura on the butt. "She takes excellent care of me," I said to Kelley who was watching us, a very sober look on her face.
Moving back from her I checked Laura's hair and makeup again. Her eyes widened and a furrow came to her brow when she saw me cock my head to the side.
"Pearls?" I asked. She was wearing the chain. It extended to the valley between her breasts. I watched her swallow, her eyes held mine, telling me not to press the issue with Kelley in the room.
I shrugged my shoulder as if to say, "Wear the damned thing if you must."
She lifted her hand to show the ring, the furrow returning to her brow.
"Can I see the appendage?" Kelley interrupted our silent conversation making Laura smile. Hurriedly, I lifted Laura's hand and kissed the ring to express my approval for her to wear it.
"Be a dear. Go downstairs and see if Ralph has the front door open. Tell him I'll be down in a few minutes," Laura said to Kelley.
On her way out the door Kelley paused. "I still haven't seen his appendage."
Laura gave me accounting paper and showed me how she calculated each girl's pay. They had not been paid for the three weeks that Laura had been away but Mollie had given them advances which were to be deducted.
An hour later when I was finished checking and double checking the pay envelopes I went down stairs to find Laura, wanting to tell her that I had locked everything inside the safe. But she was too busy to talk to me.
Ralph told me the four girls were entertaining gentlemen in their rooms and there were more guys waiting in the front room. One of the doors opened and Ralph took four giant steps to take the bills from the extended hand. I went out the back door with Laura's pay envelope in my pocket.