High Stakes and Hazelnut Cupcakes in Las Vegas

by WINTERS, A. R.

  “Yes,” I said. “We did.”

  “And maybe you’ll tell me why?”

  “Maybe you’ll tell us why you’re planning to kill Richard,” I countered.

  It was a bluff, but the shock on Ruby’s face made it worthwhile.

  “Was it for his money? Was it because of April?” And then, light dawned. “It was because of the insider trading scheme! You wanted to kill Richard, so you wouldn’t have to give him back his seed capital.

  “If you took only your share of the profits, that’s a low six-figure payout. But if you kill Richard, you get to keep his seed capital, and his share of the profit—which comes to over a million dollars. That’ll set you up comfortably; you’ll never have to worry about money again, and you can buy whatever handbags you feel like.”

  Ruby’s face had gone pale, and she was staring at me in shock. Finally, she said, “You can’t prove that.”

  “You’ve got books here on malignant hyperthermia and Suxamethonium,” said Ian. “You work in a hospital, and you could easily get hold of some Suxamethonium to kill Richard with.”

  “That still doesn’t prove anything,” countered Ruby, this time looking slightly more confident. “I’m a nurse, I can research things if I feel like it.”

  “That’s true,” I admitted. “But we’ve got proof that you also killed April: the photo on your laptop.” I nodded to Ian and said, “We should take it with us, it’s the only proof we need.”

  Ruby smiled nervously. “You couldn’t possibly have gotten into my laptop. I always use a secure password.”

  I shrugged, deciding to go deeper into my bluff. “Ian’s a great hacker. There’s nothing he can’t hack into. And after we discovered the photos… let’s just say the cops won’t need to do much more investigating.”

  Ruby took a step backward and shook her head. “This is ridiculous.”

  “What’s ridiculous,” I said, “is that you went to all this trouble, but you still wanted to take photos of April’s dead body. Why? So you could remind yourself of what you’ve done?”

  “I’ll bet it was some kind of trophy,” said Nanna, nodding sagely. “I’ve been reading all about psychopaths, how they like to keep trophies that remind them of their victims.”

  “It wasn’t like that,” snapped Ruby. “April was my friend!”

  “Then why did you kill her?” said Ian. “I would hate to have a friend like you.”

  “I had to,” said Ruby, looking at me pleadingly. “She found my books and notes, and figured out that I planned to kill Richard. She wanted to tell him. I couldn’t let her do that—so I had to kill her. I wish she’d been a bit more reasonable.”

  I nodded, trying to look as though I understood. “It must’ve been difficult for you.”

  “You’ve got no idea,” said Ruby, her voice cracking. “She was my best friend. I loved hanging out with her. I didn’t want to kill her, but I had to. I had to kill Richard, I had to do the whole thing.”

  “That’s why you took the photos,” I said gently. “To remind yourself of all the trouble you’ve gone through.”

  Ruby nodded. “Exactly. I couldn’t chicken out. And I have to kill Richard—he’s my meal ticket. There’s more ways to get money out of a rich guy; this is better than marrying for money and getting divorced.”

  “I understand. You knew the insider trading wouldn’t last forever, and you’d figured out how to wrap things up nicely.”

  “I have all this knowledge, why not take advantage of it?”

  “Suxamethonium would have been untraceable,” said Ian. “Nobody would have suspected you; everyone would think that it had been some kind of freak accident.”

  “Where did you kill April?” I said. “They never found blood spatter in your apartment.”

  “I used to have a rug on the living room floor,” said Ruby, her eyes drifting over to the phantom rug. “April was standing on it when I killed her, and then all I had to do was get rid of the rug. No blood spatter—just a bit on the walls that I managed to scrub off quickly.”

  I nodded. “That was a stroke of luck.”

  Ruby shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Well,” I said, “we should get going now. Ian, you’ve got the laptop, right?”

  Ruby took a step forward, reached into her handbag, and pulled out a small but deadly-looking handgun.

  She pointed the gun at us and looked from me to Nanna to Ian. “I can’t let you leave. It was nice to finally tell someone the truth, but I’m not about to give up my dreams. Put the laptop away, and put your hands above your heads, where I can see them.”

  Ian gingerly put the laptop on the floor, and the three of us did as Ruby said, holding our hands up above our heads.

  “I’ll just get going,” said Nanna casually. “I wasn’t even really supposed to be here. Tiffany insisted that I come along and have a bit of fun before I leave for Illinois. I don’t have anything to do with this investigation.”

  “You do now,” said Ruby harshly. “The three of you are the only people who know what really happened, and I’m going to make sure it stays that way.”

  “You can’t kill us here,” said Ian. “We’re three people—imagine how messy it’ll be. Your whole apartment will be full of blood.”

  “That’s true,” said Ruby. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure out something. I’ve got lots of anesthetics stockpiled in my bedside table.”

  “We would’ve known that if we’d split up,” Ian said to me. “I told you we should’ve split into teams. Instead, we all got stuck looking at her laptop and her books.”

  “You can’t really mean to kill us,” I said. “Why don’t you let us go, and we can forget the whole thing?”

  Ruby shook her head. “I’m a good judge of character. As soon as I met you, I knew you were tenacious, and that you wouldn’t stop till you found out the truth. That’s why I sent you the letter and the photo.”

  “Wow,” said Ian. “That’s a real compliment, isn’t it, Tiff?”

  I looked at Ian as though he’d lost his mind; I didn’t want murderers thinking highly of my detecting skills.

  Just then, there was a loud knock on the door.

  “Who’s that?” said Ruby. “You guys didn’t bring anyone else along, did you?”

  We all shook our heads, and I said, “Perhaps it’s a friend of yours.”

  “I don’t have that many friends,” said Ruby. “Maybe they’ll go away if we stay quiet.”

  But the knocking continued, and Ruby rolled her eyes. “We better find out who it is; I don’t want my neighbors getting suspicious. The three of you walk into the living room and you—Tiffany—go open the front door. You can lower your hands, I don’t want whoever it is to get suspicious. But don’t do anything stupid, or I’ll shoot.”

  Ian and Nanna gingerly lowered their arms, and I went to the front door and opened it carefully.

  “Tee-fany,” slurred Carl as soon as he saw me. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

  Chapter 24

  “This isn’t a good time,” I hissed. “You really should go back home.”

  “Nonsense,” said Carl. “I’m not going back home. I followed you all the way out here. And then I sat and waited in the parking lot for a bit, just to make sure it’s a party. C’mon, let’s dance!”

  “This isn’t a party.”

  Behind me, Ruby said, “Who’s that?”

  Carl flung the door open and pushed his way inside. He spread his arms out wide and said proudly, “It’s me. And I’m here to party.”

  He looked around at Ian and Nanna and took a few more steps forward before he noticed that Ruby was holding a gun in her hands.

  “Don’t move,” said Ruby. “I don’t want to shoot you.”

  “Cool,” said Carl. “Guns and robbers. Theme party!” He turned back to look at me and said, “Why isn’t there any music? Why aren’t we dancing?”

  “It’s not that kind of party,” I said slowly. Much as I despised Carl, I didn’t wan
t him getting killed for no reason. “You should leave.”

  But Carl ignored me and turned to look at Ruby again. “You’re pretty,” he slurred. “Maybe the two of us should get together.”

  Ruby rolled her eyes and said, “I’m not looking to date right now.”

  “I can be really romantic,” said Carl. “I’m gonna give you a special teddy bear.”

  “I’m very busy with my career,” said Ruby as Carl took another step forward.

  “My mother keeps saying you shouldn’t put off love for a career,” I said, creeping up behind Carl. “She says you need to take a chance on love.”

  And then, I shoved Carl forward with all my might.

  He toppled over easily, crashing into Ruby and pushing her down onto the floor underneath them.

  Ruby twisted around, but it was too late to avoid him; she flung out her gun-holding arm in an attempt to avoid shooting.

  “This is what I’m talking about,” slurred Carl, trying unsuccessfully to give Ruby a kiss.

  “Get off me, you oaf!” yelled Ruby. “What kind of idiot tries to kiss a woman with a gun?”

  An idiot like Carl, I thought to myself as I stepped over him and clamped my hands down on Ruby’s wrist.

  Carl was muttering something about “romantic kisses,” and Ruby was twisting her head around, trying to avoid him. In the melee, I managed to pry Ruby’s fingers off the gun.

  And then I was standing up, pointing the gun down at Ruby.

  She stared up at me, her eyes full of shock and horror.

  “This is pretty cool,” Carl was saying. “It’s not the kind of party I expected, but we can still have fun.”

  “I think you should get off her,” I said to Carl. “Ian can help you stand up. Women don’t always like when you push them to the ground.”

  As soon as Ian helped Carl stand up, Ruby tried to jump up, but I held her down and pointed the gun at her. “I wouldn’t move if I were you. Nanna can dial 911 while Ian keeps Carl company. We’ll tell the cops what you just told us, and then we can all go celebrate. Well, not you, obviously. And probably not Carl—I think he’s had enough partying for today.”

  Chapter 25

  Two days later, I was having a pre-shift early dinner with Ryan at our favorite bistro.

  As I sipped on my red wine, Ryan said, “Our tech guy finally managed to get onto Ruby’s laptop. Now we’ve got the photos as proof, in addition to her confession.”

  “I still find it so weird that she took photos of the crime scene. There must be something wrong with her.”

  “She was planning to kill Richard in cold blood. Clearly, she doesn’t think of murder as being a big deal.”

  “They say the first one’s the hardest,” I said, cutting up my steak thoughtfully. “I’m sure she would’ve gone ahead with her plan for Richard.”

  “Who’s now also in trouble, since his insider trading scheme came to light.”

  “I actually feel kind of sorry for him. He really thought he could trust Ruby.”

  Ryan shrugged. “That’s what psychopaths are good at—getting you to trust them. I really don’t like that you have to deal with them; you could’ve really gotten hurt this time.”

  “Well, I didn’t,” I said lightly. “Carl showed up just in time.”

  Ryan laughed. “Has your mother invited him over for lunch again?”

  “She has, but he won’t have anything to do with me now—another win! But of course, now my mom’s mad that I almost got another date killed.”

  Ryan laughed again. “You’re lucky your boyfriend’s okay with a bit of danger.”

  I smiled at him seriously. “Yes, I suppose I am.”

  “Any chance I’ll finally get to meet your family?”

  “You still want to? After all the crazy stories I’ve told you about them?”

  “Absolutely. And your mother’s just trying to look out for you—you won’t get any more dates if the other boys hear you almost got one of them killed.”

  I laughed again. “Okay, if you really mean it. Oh—before I forget again. Do you remember how Richard had a housekeeper named Serena Dove? Well, I always thought there was something off about her; she was too smart to just be a housekeeper.”

  “And?”

  “And… the thing is, I don’t think she is just a housekeeper.”

  “What else is she?”

  “Well, she moves houses frequently. And every time she leaves an employer, about six months or so later, there’s a big burglary at their place. Usually when nobody’s home; and usually, big-ticket things like jewelry, cash and art go missing.”

  “So…”

  “I think Serena scopes things out, maybe even encourages her employers to buy certain expensive items. And then when the crime happens, she’s nowhere around, so she’s never a suspect. Her record’s clean.”

  Ryan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And none of the victims mention her in their crime report.”

  “Serena works hard at being invisible. There’s no proof of anything, but…”

  “But we can keep an eye out. For next time.”

  I nodded. “And I’m pretty sure there’ll be a next time—she’s too good to stop.”

  “And what about your blind dates?” said Ryan gently. “Is there going to be a next time? Or are you really going to tell your family about us?”

  “I’ll tell them,” I said. “I don’t need any more drunk nannycam-lovers showing up at my doorstep.”

  ***

  My shift at the casino was fairly uneventful that night, and I walked home in the early hours of the morning in high spirits. Quite a few of the gamblers at my blackjack table had managed to enjoy big wins, and when I moved over to the roulette table, a group of friends had enjoyed a long winning streak.

  The energy and enthusiasm of the winning gamblers were addictive, and nights like this made me appreciate working at the casino. Sure, the work was superficial and less meaningful than solving murders, but the people were more pleasant to hang out with.

  I walked down the dark alley behind the Cosmo Hotel, lost in my thoughts. I wasn’t paying too much attention to my surroundings, when suddenly, a dark figure stepped out in front of me.

  My heart leaped into my throat. I wondered whether I should scream or run—or both—when the man said, “Tiffany.”

  My breathing slowed down instantly. “Johnson. What’re you doing here?”

  He took a step forward, until we were standing closer. “I’m here to talk about Stone.”

  “Right,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Stone. What happened to Eli?”

  “We traced him back to Florida. We’ve got folks trying to find Tariq, and… anyway, I thought you’d like me to start at the beginning.”

  “Yes.” I nodded rapidly. “The beginning. When Stone went to Afghanistan.”

  “Actually, the beginning is a while before that—while Stone was in school. He didn’t have too many friends, but he became close with a boy from Afghanistan, and quickly became fluent in Daro and Pashto, the two official languages.”

  “Right,” I said. “But what’s that got to do with—”

  “Well, by the time Stone graduated high school, there were rumors that the Islamic uprising in Afghanistan was getting a bit out of control. We didn’t have too many people here who could speak the native languages fluently, and somehow Stone got noticed by a CIA recruiter.”

  “So they hired him…”

  “Well, not quite ‘they.’ A subdivision of the CIA, the TIO, recruited Stone for observational purposes.”

  “And sent him to Afghanistan.”

  Johnson sighed. “They barely gave him any training, there was no time for that. We were so short on men… you have to remember, Stone was just out of high school. He’d grown up the only child of a single mom and was used to trying to help people and make things right.”

  “He’s still like that.”

  Johnson nodded. “Of course. He hasn’t changed. Anyway, the TIO
got him a fake beard and fake credentials: he was to be a ‘visiting professor’ from a Pakistani university, and he’d get a position at the university in Kabul.”

  “But really he’d be a spy?”

  “Sort of. His job was to observe, and report back to us. Nothing more.”

  “But he did something.”

  “Unfortunately. You see, this was two years before 9/11, when President Hamid Karzai was asking the West for help—he kept warning that extremists were taking over, and being very dangerous. Before 9/11, we’d never really dealt with Islamic extremists, so we didn’t know what we were up against. Instead, we were actually supplying the extremists with weapons and training, because we thought they’d keep the Russians out of Afghanistan.”

  “That didn’t go so well,” I said sarcastically.

  “No. But no one expected it. Well, except for Stone. He kept sending missives that the extremists were dangerous, and needed to be stopped.”

  “I thought he was working in a team—where was Eli during this?”

  Johnson nodded. “He was in a team, and Eli was part of it. Thing is, Eli was responsible for helping us ensure that the extremists—who we thought were fighting Russian terrorists—were properly supplied with weapons. In retrospect, I guess he was also dealing in arms, but the CIA turned a blind eye to that; it was just the cost of doing business.”

  “Especially since you didn’t have many people you could send out to Afghanistan at the time.”

  “It wasn’t a priority—we didn’t think extremists would be such a threat.”

  “But Stone did.”

  “Yes,” said Johnson. “He did. He kept asking us to do something, and I could see he didn’t want to keep sitting in a corner, watching schools and statues getting blown up, women and children being oppressed. He became friends with some local anti-extremists, kept telling us that the extremists were dangerous.”

  “Emails the CIA ignored.”

  “Partly because Eli was saying the opposite—that the extremists were all bark and no bite, and they’d be useful in keeping the Russians at bay.”

  “Which he’d say, because of his arms racket.”