I was a bit surprised when Suzanne called and told me she would have a car service pick me up. On the night we met at Club Noir she did not appear to be moneyed. Although her clothes were well made and stylish in a punk chic sort of way, they did not look particularly expensive. Nor did her personality project an aura of wealth and sophistication.
Thankfully the driver wasn't chatty and focused his attention on getting us to our destination, leaving me to my thoughts. I barely noticed when the black Mercedes SUV accelerated up the onramp to the 405 and merged with southbound traffic. I was preoccupied mentally reviewing what little I knew about Suzanne, whom I had only met briefly two months before.
I recalled that she was pretty in an unusual way, with a narrow nose and chin that complemented her large jet black eyes. Her close-cropped hair matched her eyes and both contrasted starkly with her pale skin, giving her a vaguely feral look. Besides the colorful, almost iridescent tattoos on both arms that stretched from her wrists to her shoulders, what stuck in my memory most was the ever-present smirk on her face.
The driver exited the freeway in the direction of Venice Beach. As we wended through the narrow streets crisscrossed with canals, I noticed how much the area had changed in the ten years or so since I had last been there. A good deal of gentrification had occurred during that period, and many of the quaint one and two bedroom cottages that used to line the canals were either remodeled beyond recognition or replaced altogether by upscale homes and compounds. I surmised that we were headed toward a now-tony neighborhood in what formerly was a low-rent seaside resort town.
Suzanne opened the door and stood silently looking at me with eyes both mischievous and mysterious that accented her signature smirk. Her appearance was strikingly different than I remembered. Short black hair was replaced by a spiky rainbow-colored Mohawk, and the white satin tap pants and unbuttoned embroidered vest that comprised her attire left exposed most of her flesh and myriad exotic tattoos, notably a large stylized bloodshot eye whose iris was centered in her navel.
"Hey!" she said finally. "Come on in...if you dare."
I followed her through the foyer into a spacious living room that was furnished sparsely yet elegantly and overlooked a well-manicured atrium garden. Suzanne chuckled as she watched me survey the room and its contents appreciatively.
"I'd be willing to bet you didn't expect I had digs like this when you met me at Club Noir," she said.
"That...is a bet you would definitely win," I replied.