The Victory
by Elise
Chapter 3
After getting dressed the next morning Ginny headed out to the last room. It was the only one left to finish. Of course work was halted right away when she found one of the pipes on the bathroom sink broken. Ginny removed it and headed for the hardware store.
Though the relationship between Ginny and Phillips Hardware had a tumultuous beginning her many trips had earned her the shop keepers respect. She walked in and was greeted by the stock boy Jeff. “Hello Miss Wilson. Can I help you today?”
“No thanks, Jeff. I just need a piece of pipe and fittings. I know where they are.” Ginny walked through the aisles. She had become accustom to the gawks the men who shopped would give her. This was a man’s store a woman should be next door in the dress shop. It took a few minutes to find the right joint fitting then she moved over to the piping.
The owner, Jacob Phillips, was there cutting a length for another customer. While she waited Ginny noticed two rough looking men browsing behind her. They passed glances her way now and then. It made her uncomfortable but she chalked it up to the usual distaste of her invasion of their man-space.
Jacob finished with the customer in front of her. “Miss Wilson, nice to see you back. Another one of those sinks gone bad?”
Ginny smiled back as she handed him the broken pipe to match for size “Yes, but it’s the last one. As soon as I get the pluming done and the floor polished I can open for business.”
Jacob introduced the other customer who was listening to the conversation. “Henry Keel, this is Miss Wilson. I was telling you about her refurbishing the Victory Motel. I’ve seen some of her work up there a right fine job for a little gal.”
Keel offered a hand that Ginny shook. “Don’t tell me you have a lazy husband that makes you do all the work?”
Ginny laughed. “No, no I’m on my own. It’s been a lot of hard work but I’ve enjoyed it actually. I think my guests will have a pleasant stay on the hill above the city.”
Phillips finished the last cut on the pieces of pipe she needed. Ginny paid for it all and headed back home to the chore of putting it together.
Keel watched her go and shook his head. “She’s the one you told me about? That little thing up there all by herself?”
“Yeah, vandals hit the place a couple of months ago too. Didn’t deter Miss Wilson though she’s tiny but tough. I think she had a hard time of it back east.”
The two men who had watched Ginny looked around the store for a while then left with out buying anything.
Ginny had finished gluing the pipes together and was hoping beyond hope that it held as she turned the water back on. When no hissing sounds came from the bathroom she went in to try it out.
Both the hot and cold ran clear and there was no leaking. At least not yet, she had to go back and reseal a couple of the ones she had done earlier.
“Plum and learn I guess.” She said to no one in particular as she picked up the tools. The sound of a car door slam closed echoed up the drive. It was around two o’clock, Bud wouldn’t back from work.
Ginny glanced outside. She watched two men; one looked around before they stepped into the office.
She wasn’t really open yet but it would be nice to get some money rolling in. She dusted herself off and she hurried in. “Good afternoon gentlemen. Looking for a room?”
She set the toolbox on the counter and looked up to see the two men from the hardware store. One of them smiled at her one corner of his lip upturned. “A room might be useful. Miss Wilson was it?”
***
Bud didn’t remember it being this slow in LA. Nothing much was happening other than warming his desk chair. Hell he’d even take a list of parolees to harass at this point.
Exley bustled in, leaned over the desk. “I just came back from a meeting with the D.A.’s Office. They are impressed with your first homicide case in the big city, White.”
“Really?” Bud purposely let the sarcasm drip.
Ed shook his head and slapped the bigger man on the shoulder. “Really. They didn’t expect you to come back, then, when you did it scared the hell out of them. They think you are a changed man and may be useful to the department.”
Ed let the thought sink into the big man’s head for a moment before grabbing White’s jacket off the back of his chair and tossing it on the desk. “It’s Friday, I think we should celebrate. Let’s go get Ginny and paint the town red. We can make it a double. You making homicide and solving your first case and for Ginny getting the Victory ready to open next week.”
Bud was going to protest until Exley mentioned Ginny. A night out with her sounded real nice. Even with a third wheel. Then again, this would be a good way to see if she had any interest in the captain or not. Bud may not get her but he’d be damned to see her stuck with a weasel like Exley.
On the way Bud tried to find out more about her. “You said she came from the east coast. You know anything about her family? There are no pictures or anything around her place.”
Exley cast a shocked glance his way. “You’ve been in her rooms?”
Giving the man an annoyed glance back he answered curtly. “She insisted I eat dinner with her the other night. Jealous?”
Ed snorted. “Hell yes I’m jealous. But I’ve known Ginny for a couple of months now. She’s sweet, kind like that. When I went up and talked her into letting me help her with the floors she kept me in sandwiches and iced tea. I swear I gained five pounds that week.”
Bud ignored the look Ed gave him and continued. “Last night when I got home she was sitting on the steps crying. I thought maybe she got some bad news from home or something.”
Ed thought about her being upset as he drove. “She doesn’t have any family alive that I know of. Her father was wealthy. Not Rockefeller rich but left Ginny with a nice chunk. I think her mother is dead too. Maybe it was just one of those girl moments. You know when they just get all weepy for no apparent reason.”
Bud shrugged. Maybe but he was sure it was something deeper than that. He was pulled from his thoughts by the strange car parked at the Victory. “Anybody you know?”
Ed pulled in next to it and checked his revolver. He could see Bud had the same bad feeling about this. “No. Ginny keeps pretty much to herself.”
Inside the office the two men looked at her like a steak on a platter, well done. The one with the lopsided grin trailed a finger up her arm. “So where to you keep your cash?”
Ginny swallowed and tried to step back but the friend had moved behind her. She gasped when she stepped into him she gasped. “I don’t keep cash. I have a few dollars in my purse that’s all. I’m…I’m not really open yet.”
The man at her back grabbed her around the waist, his face leaned into her ear. “Then we’ll have to make use of one of those rooms to make up for it.”
Ginny grabbed the handle of the tool box and swung it into his face. The friend fell back holding his busted nose. The first man wrapped fingers around her arm and threw Ginny back against the counter.
At Ginny’s scream Exley called for a uniform car to be sent to the Victory. Bud ran ahead for the office door. He busted in and found one man rolling on the floor bleeding. What he saw next brought all the old anger boiling to the surface.
A man had Ginny pinned to the floor, the front of her shirt torn as she fought. The man backhanded her and Bud slammed the butt of the gun into the attacker’s temple. The man fell away from Ginny. He turned to lunge at the newcomer but Bud pulled the hammer back. “LAPD don’t fucking move!”
The only reason he didn’t blow his brains out was Ginny’s trembling form. She was curled around his leg scooting away from the angry man. Bud turned enough to cover the other man as well.
Exley ran in finding Ginny clinging to Bud’s feet the both of them trembling. Her from fear, Bud from trying to control his urges. “A car is on its way get her out of here I’ll cover them.”
Bud made sure Exley did have them covered. For a second he wished the son of a bitch that hurt her would move so he could shoot him. Bud bent down, he carefully pulled Ginny to her feet then scooped her up and carried her to his room across the way.
He unlocked the door and sat her on the edge of the bed. She hadn’t said a word. The only sounds were her soft sobs. Ginny didn’t move as he sat next to her only trembled.
Bud carefully turned her face toward him and saw the ugly red marks of the abuse. His blood boiled but he spoke softly and touched her gently.
“Ginny, sweetheart, how badly are you hurt?”
Her heart thumped so hard she thought it would jump from her chest. Old memories colliding with new, her mind overloaded. She could hear Bud say something to her but wasn’t sure what he said.
He repeated the question as he looked her over. Careful how and where he touched her. Finally she understood he was looking for injuries. After two tries she managed to answer. “I’m alright.”
Ginny looked out the window tried not to feel the pain in her face or her heart. She hoped Bud wouldn’t see the lie.