CHAPTER NINE
Val turned her first trick at the bar of the Bel-Mar hotel. The Bel-Mar was a big, expensive luxury hotel; about a half mile further down Collins Avenue from where she was staying. Following Alyscia's professional advice to the letter, she'd been sitting in the lounge a little more than ten minutes before the slightly paunchy, roughly handsome man tried to pick her up.
"Well; hello there, little lady," he said. Standing beside Val's table, with his drink in his hand, the other hand in the pocket of his flannel gray slacks, he seemed both wealthy and confident. Deeply tanned, graying around the temples, from the wide grin on his face, it was obvious he was hoping Val would invite him to sit down. "Don't tell me somebody as pretty as you has been stood up? Why, that's a crime.
