“We play it cool,” he said, taking a sip of his martini. “Let her approach us. If we approach her, she might smell a rat.”
“What if she doesn’t come over here?” Laura asked.
“If she’s really a troll, she will,” Jake assured her.
And, sure enough, he was right. Perhaps five minutes went by and then the woman stood up, carrying her now-empty drink glass over to the bar. She sidled up right next to Laura but did not look at her or even seem to notice her. It was a good move. She was pretending that she wanted another drink and just happened to pick the spot next to Laura to ask for one.
The bartender—a suave-looking mid-twenties man in a tuxedo—came over and stood before her. “Another clipper-tini?” he asked politely.
What the fuck is a clipper-tini? Jake wondered, and then dismissed the thought as irrelevant.
“Yes, please,” the woman responded.
“On the way,” the bartender promised, taking her empty glass and carrying it to the sink. He then began pulling down ingredients and a cocktail shaker and began construction.
While he was doing that, the woman glanced over, seemingly at random, and acted like she had just noticed who was at the bar with her. Her eyes lit up a bit and a friendly smile appeared on her face. “Oh ... hey,” she said. “I know who you two are.”
“Do you?” asked Jake, making his voice sound a little friendlier than he normally would have in such circumstances. “Who are we?”
“Jake and Laura Kingsley,” she said. “I mean ... uh ... aren’t you?”
“We are,” Laura said, offering a small smile of her own. “We’re in town tonight for the Celia Valdez concert.”
“I know!” the woman said excitedly. “I was there! Great show! Absolutely amazing!”
“I’m glad you liked it,” Laura said.
“My boyfriend and I came all the way from Ogden to see the show,” she said. “That’s why we’re staying here in the hotel. You know ... so we didn’t have to drive home after.”
“A wise choice,” Jake agreed, his suspicion that this was their troll rising a little because she had just volunteered an explanation for her presence in the hotel without being asked.
“What’s your name?” Laura asked her.
“I’m Julie,” she said. “Julie Brigg. I teach seventh grade at Joseph Smith Middle School in Ogden.”
“No kidding?” Laura said, her smile getting bigger. “I used to teach seventh grade as well.”
“Really?” Julie asked, seemingly surprised. “I remember hearing that you were a teacher at some point, but I didn’t know it was seventh grade. What a coincidence!”
What a coincidence indeed, Jake thought slyly. “Will you ladies excuse me for just a minute?” he asked. “I need to check out the facilities.”
“Of course,” Julie said.
“I’ll order you another drink,” Laura told him. “And how about we buy Julie her drink?”
“Sounds good,” Jake said, standing up.
While Julie gushed about how grateful she was, Jake walked over in the direction of the bathrooms. He did not go inside, however. Inside the hallway where the bathrooms were located, out of sight of the bar, he pulled his cellular phone out of his pocket and dialed a number in the 310 area code. After two rings, a familiar voice answered and said “hello?”.
“Nerdly, it’s Jake,” he said, his voice low.
“Hey, Jake,” Nerdly replied. “How is it going?”
“I think we got one. You ready?”
“Always,” Nerdly assured him. “Give me the particulars.”
“She says her name is Julie Brigg. She’s maybe thirty to thirty-five years old, dyed blonde hair, claims she is a teacher at Joseph Smith Middle School in Ogden.”
“I don’t suppose you know how to spell Brigg?” Nerdly asked.
“There’s only two ways I can think of: one G or two.”
“All right,” Nerdly said. “Stand by.”
“Standing.”
Jake heard the sound of fingers frantically clicking on a keyboard. This was followed by a few moments of silence and then a few clicks that were probably a mouse. Finally, Nerdly began to speak again.
“Well ... in the first place, there is no Joseph Smith Middle School in Ogden or any of the surrounding area.”
“A significant finding,” Jake said.
There was another flurry of keyboard clicks, another period of silence, and then Nerdly said, “There is no Julie Brigg listed in the Ogden white pages either.”
“Okay,” Jake said. “That would be a corroboration but not necessarily proof.”
“True,” Nerdly said. “Let me broaden my search a bit.”
“You do that,” Jake told him.
More clicks on the keyboard. Another period of silence. Another few clicks of the mouse. And then: “Well ... this is interesting indeed.”
“What’s that?” Jake asked.
“My search led me to the American Watcher’s website,” he said. “They just got it up and running last year. In the section marked ‘Los Angeles Office Staff’ there is an entertainment reporter named Julie Brigg—with two G’s I might add. There is even a picture. Her hair is blonde and she appears to be in her early thirties.”
“A little overweight?” Jake asked.
“It’s hard to tell,” Nerdly said. “The picture is only of her face.”
“Oh well, I’m gonna go ahead and call that confirmation. I think we got ourselves a troll here.”
“It seems likely,” Nerdly agreed.
“Thanks, Bill. You can go to bed now.”
“I think I’ll attempt to engage in sexual congress with Sharon first,” he said.
“Good luck with that,” Jake told him. “I’ll catch you later.”
“On the return orbit,” Nerdly agreed.
They broke the connection. Jake put his cell phone away and then walked back into the bar. Laura and Julie were chatting away like old friends. Jake caught Laura’s eyes and gave her a discreet thumbs up. She acknowledged it with a small nod.
Jake sat back down and picked up his fresh drink. Julie was talking about how her boyfriend was going to be upset that he decided to go to bed and didn’t get a chance to meet Jake Kingsley.
“He’s a big Intemperance fan,” she told him.
“Give him a call,” Jake suggested. “Wake him up and tell him to come on down. I’m always happy to meet a fan.”
“Uh ... well ... he’s already in bed,” she said. “And he’s a bear to wake up, especially when he’s been drinking. He had quite a few at the show tonight. He’ll just have to miss out.”
“Bummer for him, I guess,” Jake said, getting another piece of confirmation that Julie was a troll. Due to the strict ABC laws in Utah, alcohol had not been available for sale at the venue, so it would have been a little difficult for her alleged boyfriend to have too much to drink there.
“Yeah, his loss,” she said.
The continued to chat, mostly Laura and Julie, but with Jake throwing in the occasional contribution as well. They talked about Intemperance, about Laura’s upbringing, about when and how she had learned to play the saxophone, about how the two of them had met and started to develop romantic feelings for each other. They kept their voices friendly and replied honestly when possible, sharing as much meaningless information with her as they could, speaking with her as if she was a charming new friend. She seemed quite delighted that they were being so open with her instead of suspicious, as she really should have been.
Jake bought her another drink. Once it was on the bar before her, she began to steer the conversation in the direction that she wanted. She first asked about their relationship with Greg and Celia, how long they had all been friends, and then progressed from there.
“I’ve been seeing all the news reports about their divorce,” she said. “It’s so sad, isn’t it?”
“Well ... yeah,” Jake agreed. “I’m never happy to see any marriage end, but this has been coming for quite some time.”
Laura nodded sadly. “It was pretty much inevitable.”