The woman’s red, red lips smacked hard against her yellow, yellow teeth. Billy took a harder look at her and could see all the freshly scabbed pock marks on her face. Meth Head, he thought. Definitely a Meth Head.

“And how much will that cost me?” Billy asked. He only had a couple of fives in his wallet. I should have gone to the ATM, he thought.

Billy stayed standing in front of her. Shading her eyes with his shadow, Polly looked up at him and pointed her chin toward the Chinese café across the street.

“It’ll cost you breakfast. I haven’t eaten in a few days.”

Billy sat across from Polly, watching her guzzle down a breakfast of sausages and eggs. She was gulping her food. No chewing involved. He wondered how many minutes it would take for her to puke it all up. He had better talk fast.

“Here’s the picture again. Have you ever seen a young Indigenous woman wearing this?”

Polly leaned in and a drop of egg yolk dripped from her chin onto the picture.

“Nope!”

“Please look again. One more time and think about it.” Billy moved the picture closer to her plate and away from her chin.

“Yep, maybe. Let me see. There was this girl. Ah, I can’t remember her name. But she worked along here for a while. We were all jealous of her at first. Her and her mom had pretty much taken over. But the new meat gets old pretty fast on these streets. I don’t know where they are now.”

“Her mom? What about her mom? Is she still around here?”

“Sometimes I see her at The Hope and sometimes I see her at that fancy hotel. She’s all over the place.”

“Fancy hotel? Which one?” He was fishing for information.

“You know the one. You soldier boys love going there.” Polly managed a grin and the many gaps between her teeth were plugged up with bits of white toast and bacon. Not a pretty sight at breakfast, or ever.

“Thought all you soldier types liked to take your fancy women there to impress them.” Polly began to pick the food out from her front teeth with the tine of a fork, scraping the mush from her mouth in sideways swipes. “It’s an upscale sort of place to fuck a lady. Gawd, you could do that for so much cheaper in the back of your car!”

“Well, Polly, I’m not going to comment on that, but I think I understand what you’re saying. I’ll pay for your breakfast and be on my way. Thank you for your help.” Billy extended his right hand. Polly placed her right palm in his and intentionally bent and rubbed her middle finger into Billy’s palm.