She shook her head. “No, but I’d like to leave out the back door. Before you leave out the front, can you give me a fifteen-minute head start? I can go through the back alley and come out down the block. It’s probably nothing, but I’d rather not take any chances.”

“He was watching you. After you asked me to get his name, I kept my eye on him,” David admitted. “He tried to be subtle about it, but even when he picked up the newspaper, he wasn’t reading it. He was looking at you over the top of it.”

“He’s probably harmless,” Catarina assured him. “But I really don’t want to find out. I’m tired tonight and the thought of having to kick his ass is too exhausting.”

David laughed. “The idea that you think you can is funny. Old Tuttle is pretty beefy. He’s got a hundred pounds on you, Cat, maybe more.”

She put her fists up. “I’m scrappy.”

He threw his head back and laughed louder. “Great. I’m all for you ducking out the back, although, if you’d rather, I could call a taxi.”

She shook her head. “Not necessary. I can make it home. Just give me my start.”

“You got it. Text me when you’re home safe.”

“David, how many times do I have to tell you, I don’t have a cell phone and I’m not getting one.”

“Oh. Yeah. I keep forgetting you’re living in the dark ages.”

Ridley had said the same thing and offered to get her a cell. She’d refused of course. Apparently no one really could exist without a phone. She managed quite nicely. Phones led to bills and bills were a paper trail. She didn’t want that.

When she’d first been hired at Poetry Slam, they were barely scraping by. Most days only a few customers came in regularly unless it was poetry night, then it got a little crowded. David couldn’t afford to pay her much so he’d paid her under the table. Once word got out that the new barista was very good at her job and customers began pouring in, David had offered her more money and the chance to go legit. She took the extra money but refused to go legit. No paper trails.

Catarina made her way to the back, David following her, the way they did each night to put the money and receipts in a safe until David could go to the bank. Catarina slipped out the back door. David waited in silence until she searched the alley to make certain no one was lurking there. She gave him the thumbs-up and began to jog back toward the warehouse district.