The Pleasure Set

by Lisa Girolami

  “Yes, I did.”

  “It has come to our attention that large amounts of cash have been deposited into and withdrawn from that account. These amounts were all just under ten thousand dollars. Under the Bank Secrecy Act, these transactions have been reported and are now under investigation for fraud and money laundering.”

  Theresa nodded. “Yes, Laney informed me that you would be calling me about this.”

  Sandrine paused. “She did?”

  “Of course. We’re, shall we say, close. I’ll tell you exactly what I told her. I’ve been aware for a while that my husband has been trying to divorce me. I’m also aware that he has been concealing large amounts of money so there’s no evidence of it when my lawyers sue him in divorce court. The more he can hide, the less I’ll get.

  “So I began buying and selling art through my friend’s company, an art gallery, and I don’t want him to know that I’m trying to prepare myself financially for what will be a bloodbath in court. The records of these sales are at the gallery. I assure you, Detective Girard, everything is on the up-and-up.” She smiled again in a charming but controlled manner.

  From the moment Theresa entered, Sandrine hadn’t expected her to play the scared victim or even the naïve character, but she also hadn’t expected her to admit that she had deliberately hidden the money.

  Sandrine made her next move. “I understand, Ms Aguilar. Nevertheless, I will forward this information to the Department of Treasury for further investigation.”

  Theresa sighed and leaned toward Sandrine. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It’s Laney. I don’t mean her any harm. And I’m afraid she’ll get rolled up into this mess.”

  Where was this woman heading? “If the facts are as you say, she has nothing to worry about.”

  “No, it’s not about the money specifically. It’s just that we’re together. Romantically. If that gets out during my divorce, my husband’s lawyers will rake her over the coals. I don’t want that for her. It’ll look very bad indeed if her reputation is questioned. I mean, the bank president having sex with a married customer. You know how it is.”

  At the word romantic, Sandrine had already stopped listening. Laney was sleeping with Theresa? How long had this been going on? Why didn’t she mention it? Simultaneously, shock and embarrassment stabbed her and she had to fight to keep from wincing.

  “Are you all right, Detective?” Theresa stared at Sandrine with a concerned expression.

  “Of course, Ms. Aguilar. However, I don’t believe this has anything to do with why you’re here. I’m sorry that you’re having problems with your husband. But this is an investigation and it will continue.”

  “Am I free to go now?”

  Sandrine nodded, looking down at the paperwork as if now focused on that. She couldn’t trust the shock her face might reveal.

  When the door clicked closed, Sandrine dropped her head in her hands trying to quell the spinning sensation that rocked her.

  *

  Laney heard someone approach her office door just as the bank was closing. Looking up, she was shocked to see Theresa enter.

  “I’ve got a surprise for you,” Theresa said. “I want to make it up to you. Things have gotten a little out of hand, so I’ve arranged a trip.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Shut down your computer and come with me.”

  Laney had no idea what she had planned, but she didn’t like any part of this offer. “Theresa, I can’t go on a trip right now. I have to be at work early tomorrow.”

  “You’ll be back in plenty of time.”

  “Really, I can’t.”

  “Don’t make this difficult, Laney. I truly feel horrible. We don’t mean anyone any harm. And I need time to talk to you more.”

  “I really—”

  “After tonight, I’ll get the tape back to you.”

  If she could get the tape back and also glean some more information for Sandrine, it might be worth it. Though Sandrine had told her not to, Laney had decided to do it anyway but wanted be the one to organize the plan. And going off to some unknown locale wasn’t a good one. Her gut told her to run, but as long as Theresa held the tape, she was in a position of power. Laney had to push through her fear. “Where are we going?”

  Theresa smiled winningly. “You’ll see.”

  Outside, an immense Hummer limo waited for them. The already massive vehicle had been elongated to what looked like the length of a transit bus. Sleek black windows lined the long sides, and Laney wasn’t convinced it could negotiate any turns. As she got in, she discovered Kay and Morgan seated inside, champagne glasses full.

  Laney turned to Theresa. “I’ve never seen a limo this huge.”

  Theresa climbed in after her. “It’s a Hollywood tradition, honey.” She turned to the chauffeur. “Burbank Airport.”

  As the limo drove away from the bank, Laney grew more alarmed. “Where are we going? I only have what I’m wearing.”

  “Ah, the sign of a true woman,” Theresa said. “You won’t need anything. It’s all taken care of.”

  The limo was let through to the tarmac at the executive portion of the airport and pulled up next to a private jet.

  As they filed out of the car and onto the plane, Theresa placed her hand on Laney’s back, helping her up the stairs. “Courtesy of Morgan’s husband.”

  In an hour, the private jet landed at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. Another limo picked them up on the tarmac and they were at the Bellagio in less than thirty minutes.

  A three-room villa awaited them and they walked in, laughing and chattering about things Laney couldn’t care less about.

  “We have four damn bathrooms, ladies,” Kay said, “so we won’t be fighting over a mirror.”

  “I’m taking a sauna later, anyone want to join me?” Morgan said as she surveyed the in-suite workout facility that included a massage room and dry sauna.

  Laney walked through the formal dining room into a private kitchen and watched Morgan make a beeline to the fully stocked bar. Kay and Theresa stepped out onto the private terrace, which featured a garden, a pool, and a large hot tub.

  How am I going to find out about the heroin? Laney scrutinized the women. The most likely candidate was Kay, since she had spilled the beans to Laney at the Hollywood Hills party. Of course, it would probably help to wait until she was drunk. But would it be that easy to get Kay alone again?

  Theresa and Kay walked back inside. “All right, girls, let’s hit the casino.” Theresa opened her purse and pulled out large wads of one-hundred-dollar bills. She handed them out. “Bet heavy, have fun, and if we get separated, we’ll meet back here in five hours.”

  Laney checked her watch. It was after eight o’clock. She hoped she’d have enough time to glean more information. She looked down at the thick wad of one-hundred-dollar bills she’d been given. She must have been holding at least ten thousand dollars.

  Hit by the cacophony of noises when the elevator doors opened, Laney stepped out and followed Theresa and the rest. Their first stop was a craps table in the high-limit room.

  Theresa and Kay immediately cashed in a few thousand and received $100 chips. As they began to play, Theresa put her arm around Laney and pulled her close. She kissed Laney’s neck, and Laney was glad her head was turned away because she involuntarily closed her eyes, loathing the intimacy.

  She turned her head back, smiling and wishing for the courage to get her through the evening. She forced herself to wrap her hand around Theresa’s side.

  “You feel good, babe,” Theresa whispered in her ear. “Please forgive me. I really want to make it up to you.”

  Laney smiled, not sure what to say. Anything would be a lie, but which lie would be just enough to send a message of acquiescence without imparting any suggestion of desire?

  “I believe you,” Laney said. To make her think they were mending their friendship, she had to play along with this desp
icable game. She had reentered the house of malevolence and had to keep dancing just a bit longer.

  “You aren’t gambling. Aren’t you having fun?”

  No, she fucking was not having fun. She wanted to kick Theresa’s ass, she wanted to see her thrown in prison on federal charges. But she had to play along with the Laney thought. That was obviously a suggestion of desire, which she hadn’t wanted to convey. Fuck!

  Theresa turned to Laney. “Later, okay? For now, honey, fork it over.”

  “What?”

  “You can’t parlay anything with that sitting in your hand.”

  Laney followed Theresa’s eyes to the cash she clutched in her other hand. She not only had to get away from a possible sexual encounter with Theresa, she also had to get away from her watchful eyes. She wanted to see what else Kay would tell her, but the actress was too busy rolling the dice that the stick man handed her.

  “I don’t know how to play craps,” Laney lied. “I think I’ll go play some slot machines.” She took Morgan by the arm. “Come with me?”

  “Let’s go.”

  Laney and Morgan found the hundred-dollar machines and took seats at two side-by-side Lucky Sevens. As they fed money in, the cocktail waitress came by for drinks. They both ordered Chivas, and when the waitress quickly brought their drinks, Morgan tipped her a hundred dollars.

  They talked about this and that for the first half hour. Morgan had gone through three Chivas Regals, and after Laney nervously downed her first, she took her time, sipping her second.

  “How’s the gallery doing?” It was time to see where she could take a conversation with Morgan.

  “Doing well.” Morgan stared at her machine’s spinning wheels as she spoke. “Laney, we all know you talked with Theresa about the bank accounts. It’s not what you think. Really. She explained to you about her divorce, didn’t she?”

  “Yes.”

  “My husband is up to the same trick.”

  “You just should have told me, that’s all.”

  Morgan gulped down half her drink. “Ah. Warms the tummy. Listen, I know she should have. Maybe that would have stopped your employee from reporting it. They did report it, not you, right?”

  So Theresa had probably put the rest of the women up to trying to get information out of Laney as well. She’d have to be especially careful. “That was a big mistake. I was irate when Theresa didn’t clue me in.”

  “You know, this whole situation has many benefits.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like this, for instance. We can go wherever we want and do whatever we want.”

  “This is nice.” Laney pretended to agree. Funny, Laney thought with abhorrence, a few weeks ago, she would have wholeheartedly believed what she said.

  “The company is always hot.” She downed the rest of her drink and waved the waitress over again. “Whoosh. That went down smoothly. We’re setting ourselves up nicely and it won’t matter what our husbands do.” She held up two fingers to the waitress. “Two more for each of us, please.”

  “No more for me, thanks,” Laney told the waitress before turning back to Morgan. “But I don’t have a husband.”

  “That you don’t. There are many more benefits. How much do you party, Laney?”

  “Party?”

  “Yes. Weed? Pills? We can get anything very easily.”

  This might be her chance. “I do get high.”

  “So weed is your vice?” Morgan smiled mischievously.

  Laney hoped she could pull this act off. She shook her head.

  “Crack?”

  Again, she shook her head.

  Morgan stopped hitting the maximum-play button. “Horse?”

  “I used to. It almost got a hold of me so I stopped. But every once in a while, I”—she bobbed her head back and forth innocuously—“partake.” She leaned into Morgan for effect. “Please don’t tell Theresa.”

  “She won’t care. But you don’t have to tell her. Just talk to Kay.”

  “Why Kay?”

  “Because of Rance.”

  The waitress returned with two drinks and left with two hundred more dollars.

  “Does he use?” Laney was trying to seem enticed and prayed she didn’t look stupid.

  Morgan downed half of her fourth Chivas, then shook her head. “Jimmy Pick, his business agent.”

  “He uses?”

  “Deals.”

  There it was. That must be the way Theresa was getting the heroin. Suddenly, the casino noise and the smoke and the lights charged her with anxiety. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? Maybe she was being set up. Maybe Theresa had everyone out to con her so they could get her into more trouble or, at the very least, keep her under wraps. And if she was being set up, she might be getting in way deeper than was safe. For now, she’d change the subject and let things cool down a bit.

  “I thought Kay broke up with Rance.”

  “She did. But they’re back together. It didn’t look good that they were apart. Plus it didn’t help pay for our business dealings, if you know what I mean.”

  Actually, Laney didn’t know what she meant, but before she could ask, Morgan’s machine exploded with loud bells and sirens. Morgan screamed and pointed to the machine. “I just won ten thousand dollars!”

  Laney laughed as a casino attendant came over to register the win. Morgan moved aside to let the attendant fuss with the machine and sat down on Laney’s lap. She held up her Chivas. “Here’s to a fucking good time!”

  They left the slot machine, and Morgan draped an arm over Laney’s shoulder as she laughed about her winnings. The odor of Morgan’s alcohol-soaked breath hung in the air and mixed with Laney’s palpable apprehension. Laney kept Morgan moving around the casino all evening, stopping at the nickel machines and ten-dollar blackjack tables and any other place where she thought Theresa wouldn’t look for them.

  *

  Finally at one a.m., Laney virtually carried Morgan back to the villa. The rest of the women returned shortly, and Laney braced for the sex party that she presumed would transpire next. Kay fell onto the couch, giggling at something her alcohol-soaked mind must have thought funny. Theresa looked at Laney and cracked a wicked smile.

  “How did you do?”

  “Okay,” Laney said. “Morgan hit a jackpot in between hitting the Chivas.”

  Morgan had collapsed in an armchair and was groaning miserably. “I don’t feel so good.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t either.” Theresa walked over to Laney and put her arms around her. “Morgan, you have to stop tying them on so heavily.”

  How could she get out of what would surely happen next? No way was she having sex with Theresa. While Theresa kissed her shoulder, she closed her eyes and concentrated on anything other than her. Anything. She heard a far-off clinking of silverware and glasses on what was probably a room service cart in the hall. Then Morgan groaned louder.

  “I really don’t feel good,” she repeated.

  Laney pushed gently away from Theresa. “She’s about to throw up.”

  It was the excuse she needed. She helped Morgan up, and on their way to the bathroom, she gave Theresa an apologetic look. “It’s my fault. I should have stopped her at three.” She pulled Morgan into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.

  Holding Morgan’s hair out of the way of her vomit wasn’t the way Laney had intended to circumvent Theresa’s sexual desires, but it was working very well. Over the dreadful retching, she heard Theresa and Kay laughing and talking loudly. Even after Morgan stopped being sick, Laney kept her there, washing her face with a cool cloth, convincing her to just sit still on the commode.

  Finally, close to two a.m., Theresa knocked on the door. “We have to go, ladies. Is Morgan okay?”

  Laney helped Morgan stand and they exited the bathroom. “I’m not sure she’ll enjoy the plane ride back, but now’s as good a time as any.”

  Theresa glowered at Morgan, obviously annoyed at the disruption she’d caused.


  With Morgan as the obstacle Laney intended to use to keep Theresa from any shenanigans on the plane ride home, they left the villa and headed for the limo that would take them to the airport.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sandrine started when her doorbell rang at six o’clock in the morning. Through the peephole she saw Laney standing there. The pain of longing fought with the fury that rose in her throat.

  She jerked the door open. “What are you doing here?”

  “Please, Sandrine, may I come in?”

  It couldn’t get worse, she thought. Her heart had already been stabbed when Theresa revealed their relationship or affair or whatever it was. As much as she’d thought she was okay with Laney dating others, this was just too much.

  Laney entered and immediately began to chatter. She was wound up about something, but all Sandrine could make out were the words Vegas and heroin and last night.

  “Stop,” Sandrine said. “Come sit on the couch and slow down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I found out more. I know who’s dealing the heroin to Theresa.”

  “We don’t even know yet if that’s true. Kay was drunk when she told you.”

  “If it is true, I know who’s dealing it.”

  Sandrine decided to hear Laney out and decide afterward if she should confront her about what Theresa had told her. “What do you mean?”

  “Kay wanted to break up with Rance, but when we were in Las Vegas, Morgan said they didn’t because it wouldn’t look good. Then she told me if I wanted any heroin, to talk to Rance. Turns out, Jimmy Pick, his business agent, is the dealer. I think Theresa influenced Kay to stay with Rance because he’s the heroin connection. She’s been the mastermind all along. I mean, it was Theresa that got me into the group, and it was Theresa who left by herself to go to the bathroom. That’s when she turned the security camera on.”

  As Laney continued, Sandrine grew angrier, clenching her fists to keep from interrupting her. All she could think about was that woman having her lips on Laney and her legs wrapped around her. She tried to block out an image of them together but couldn’t.