Chapter 73 - Naughty Cathy

After a light sprint of about 10 minutes, Ed’s Diner came into full view. The sun had set at the time I had left my mother’s house, and now, the first brush of darkness had begun to set in within the county. And I imagined the diner’s red neon lights were the only source of illumination for miles to come.

It was a pretty typical establishment as far as diners came, preserving that 80’s style of architecture and simpleness. A few streetlights surrounded the establishment, but most of them were flickering, and the others were not working. When I arrived in the parking lot, not more than two old dainty cars could be seen, and there was no way to distinguish if they had just come in or they had been sitting for months.

I looked about. There was no sign of Catherina. And no crevices, and hiding places. It was a diner inside a parking lot, period. There was always the back to check though, but I couldn’t imagine Catherina having anything to do with this place. The glass door in front swung open, and what looked like a middle-aged construction worker, walked out, patting his belly.

He looked at me and initiated a wry smile.

“Well, look who it is.” He started. I was startled.

“Do you know who I am?” I asked him.

“Course I know who you are. You’re the angel that’s gonna come back to my place tonight” he winked and laughed. Ugh.

“Come on Angel, what’s wrong? Listen, you wanna see a trick? Come over and I’d show you how to tie a knot with those humongous tits of yours”

“Keep walking, or you’re going to regret it, Mister” I warned.

He waved his arms around. “Whoa, calm down. I’m just kidding around. Someone’s got an attitude”

The door to the diner swung open again, and a man of similar build and profession approached us. I was already thinking of leaving. “What you doing over here, Bob?” asked the new man. The first man, who was supposedly, Bob, clicked his tongue.

“Get off my back, Jack. I’m just having a nice conversation with the lady”

“I don’t think you know the meaning of what a nice conversation is, Bob. You’re lucky the last one didn’t call the police.” Replied Jack. “Go fuck a telephone pole, Jack!”

“It’s better than what you’d be doing tonight”

Against my better interest, I waved over to the man called Jack.

“I’m sorry, Jack. Did you just say the ‘last one’? I’m looking for my friend, uhh, Catherina. She’s about my height, a bit darker, short hair?” I asked, hopeful.

Jack nodded. “You’d be at the right place, Ma’am. Your friend’s inside. Although I do have to apologize for the scene my friend caused with her back inside. He’s going through a nasty divorce, see? And our hours aren’t helping?” explained Jack.

“Not a problem, Jack. Thank you and take care.”

“Alright, you bastard. Let’s get in the truck.”

“Fuck off. You blew it., She was totally feeling me.”

“Uh-huh”

They entered into their DuraMax Worktruck and drove out of the diner. Now, that I had confirmed Catherina was indeed inside, did I approach silently to sneak on her, or confront her? I decided on the latter, and produced the silver dagger. There was no time for theatrics. It would be just me and her there, and she was at an overwhelming disadvantage of a surprise attack.

I would keep my interrogation simple. Was the plot to kill me real? And whose idea was it? I strolled slowly, but convictedly, through the parking lot until I reached the door, and swung it open. I concealed the dagger in my left hand as I scanned the diner. The seats by the front counter, all empty. The booths to my left, had clean tables not a speck of half-eaten food or thrown-away wrappers to be found. Also empty.

The drinks dispenser to my right seemed to be equally cleaned up, with no drops of fizzy pop or other sodas at the bottom of the rails. I walked further in, and looked beyond the counter, into the serving space. It had been cleaned up. In fact, the tiles seemed to have been polished only recently.

I looked outside. Nobody. Was the man called Jack, messing with me? Where was Catherina? In fact, where was anybody? It looked like the place was getting ready to close, even if it was only shy of 07:00 PM. Anyway, there was no point in staying there. It was time to head back.

But at the back of my mind, something kept nagging at me. It was the fact that the descriptions I had given Jack perfectly matched. Why? If he had said he didn’t see her, it would’ve been clear. So why? I turned back and rang the attending bell. Once. Twice. Three Times. And then the fourth. Until I just kept at it endlessly, for one minute, and nobody emerged.

“Alright. There’s something wrong here. I’m going out back” I muttered to myself. Until I heard it. My werewolf senses had picked it up particularly. Was this the effect of the knife my mom fired to teach me a lesson? I thought. I could pick up several sounds.

One of which was moaning, and the other repeated thumping. I groaned. Why did I always have the unfortunate luck of running into people having sex? This was three times now in two months. But, it couldn’t be, could it? It very much could, I concluded. Either way, sex or not, I had a job to do. I jumped over the counter and tried on the door leading to probably the Kitchen.

It was Jammed, of course. My first instinct was to break it, but I had another idea. Diners usually had emergency exits outside, for dumping refuse, didn’t they? I left the doorknob, jumped over, and circled the Diner outside. There was a dumpster, a few more lights that didn’t work, and an opaque window, where you could make out two figures dancing?

Also, I found the door. I didn’t have to pull hard on it this time as it parted, and the sounds with it. “Fuck, Cathy! You’re so tight!” grunted a young man pinned against Catherina on the wall. From this angle, I couldn’t see her expression, but I could hear her. “Harder, Jermaine. Pound me harder!” she cried.