Chapter 74

It was dimly lit where we sat them. The dimmer the better, I thought. Though, to be honest, if anyone walked by, they would have sworn Pearl and Auntie were sitting there. They had on their doppelgangers’ wigs, their clothes, their makeup; they were, pardon the choice of wording, dead ringers.

The other queens walked away, so as not to call attention to the show. Me, I walked in and whispered, “Okay, I’m going to go sit a few feet away and film you on my cell phone.” I lifted up a device I’d bought discounted through my school. It was a microphone amplifier. “I’ll be able to hear you just fine. Whisper to make it seem real.”

They stared at me. They stared some more. I wondered if we’d suddenly entered a staring contest. I blinked; they won. “Um,” Bobo finally said, “what do we whisper?”

I nodded. “Right. Just say you’re worried that the police are closing in. Say that you have no choice but to turn Hall and Jackson in; it’s them or us, and you vote for us.”