Death in the Casino: Target Practice Mysteries 5

by Nikki Haverstock

  I had stepped up and started down when Moo jerked me back. He was edging away from the metal stairs and sat down.

  "Come on, Moo. It's okay."

  People watched us, and my cheeks flamed up in embarrassment. The practice session was about to start, and people were milling about waiting to start.

  A few of the pro male compounders were watching as I begged Moo to continue. He extended his front feet onto the platform at the top of the black stairs, but his rear legs refused to budge. I begged and pleaded in a whisper for him to move. He extended his front paws to the top stairs, his belly resting across the entire platform, but his back paws stayed.

  "Come on. Be a big boy."

  Moo responded with a dramatic moan. He wasn't in pain; it was a noise he reserved for moments when he didn't want to do what I asked him, like getting off the bed or taking a bath. I pulled a little more, and he raised his head and let loose with a long groan of displeasure.

  Heads whipped around at the noise. This was not worth the embarrassment. I looked at the stands, and at least half the people were watching.

  I went back over the platform and started up the cement arena stairs. "Okay, you win this time."

  Moo didn't budge but looked over his shoulder at me and whined.

  "I think your dog's stuck."

  I leaned to the left to see a couple of the male archers were at the bottom of the metal stairs. Two of them had Andersson jerseys on, which made my embarrassment both less and more.

  "He's just being a big baby."

  I picked up his back feet and wrestled with the weight to get them back underneath his belly. Moo was docile and did nothing to help me as I maneuvered his feet. Then I squeezed by him and started down the stairs. I tried to pull him down.

  When he lifted his right front paw I was ecstatic--until he placed it over my shoulder and started leaning into me.

  "No, no, down. Moo, down."

  I reached up for his right paw, and he placed his left paw on my other shoulder and pushed his chest to mine. He lifted his snout and let out a long cry that reminded me of a dying bagpipe.

  I reached out for the railing, steadying myself with one hand while clutching the packet of papers with the other. He let out another whine and rested his head on his paw as my knees started to buckle under his immense, furry weight.

  Mary's voice called up to me from the floor of the arena. "What are you doing?"

  "Help, Mary. Take this." I tried to reach down with the jacket-wrapped stack of papers. "Please hurry."

  A hand took the bundle from my arm, and I grabbed the railing as Moo continued to moan and whine his angst.

  "Everyone is staring, Di." Mary sounded disapproving. "They're about to start practice."

  "You think I'm doing this for fun? Help me, I'm stuck."

  Moo was resting his chin on top of my head as he carried on, and all I could see was black and white fur.

  A voice I didn't recognize called out. "Ma'am, you can't block the aisle way. It's against fire code."

  I had dog hair in my nose and no clue how I was going to get out of this when someone came up behind me and reached around to grab Moo's chest.

  Loggin's voice was loud in my ear. "You ready, Liam? One, two, three."

  Moo was lifted off me, and I could see that Loggin had the front half of Moo, while Liam was carrying the back off down the stairs past me.

  Moo lifted up his head and gave a long howl as thunderous applause went up all over the arena.

  Every eye in the arena stands and on the shooting floor was on us.

  I wanted to curl up and die but gave a little wave then joined Moo as he pranced on the floor, no worse for his little act. I followed Mary over to seats she had reserved for us.

  A security guard approached with a stern face. "Next time, go through there and use the elevator." He pointed to a curtained-off entrance at the side of the shooting lanes.

  Unc called out, "Nice floor show, Di. Look forward to the second act."

  Liam searched out my hand. I smiled up at him, and a warm happiness settled into my chest that pushed out the last bits of embarrassment.

  "I thought you were pretty adorable," he said as he slid a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The whistle blew, and the male compound archers started practice. The thumps of arrows hitting the target mat added to the general buzz of people talking through the arena and trade show.

  Mary sat next to Minx. I took the next seat, and Liam grabbed the aisle. He settled Moo down next to him.

  Minx leaned forward to look around Mary. "Hey, Princess, pull yourself together. You're giving the Westmound Training Center a bad name."

  I rolled my eyes at her for using the nickname I hated and for her comment.

  She chuckled, sat back, and lifted her binoculars. Then she gave a little wave to someone.

  I followed her line of sight to see Lucky smiling at her, and I gave a second eye roll, like she had any right to say anything.

  "I saw that." Minx leaned across Mary. "After they're done shooting, we are all going to go hang at the bar. He told me right before this that his friends know he's getting a divorce, though no one is talking about it until it's public. So we're going to hang out as a group."

  "I don't want to go hang at the bar," I whispered back.

  "Yes, you do because you love me. Please. You'll come, Mary, right?"

  Mary and I exchanged a look, then I sighed. "Fine, for a bit."

  She squealed and leaned back in her seat.

  Mary chuckled and unwrapped the stack of papers. "What is this?"

  I leaned over and blocked the papers from being seen by others. "I met with Orion and Elizabeth in a room that the tournament staff uses. After they left, Moo knocked over a box of papers, and some of them looked really interesting, so I grabbed some of them. Can you put them in your backpack for us to look over later?"

  She flipped through them then shoved the crumpled printouts into her backpack. "What's on them?"

  I shrugged. "I didn't get a chance to see, but I know there were some with financial information and division registration."

  She nodded. "Maybe we'll find something useful in there. Why did Orion and Elizabeth want to meet? You're not in trouble, are you?" She spoke softly, ready to console me if I needed it.

  I had forgotten to tell her. Grabbing her arm in excitement, I shared the news. "They offered me the opportunity to work on a campaign for women in archery, and you get to help!"

  I shared all the information and realized how much information I didn't have as Mary peppered me with questions about implementation of the program. It made me uneasy. Maybe they had made the wrong decision in offering me this position and opportunity.

  Liam laid a hand on my arm, and I turned back to him.

  "You'll do great."

  My anxiety settled down. "You'll help me?"

  He nodded and squeezed my arm again before turning his attention back to the archers.

  Suddenly, halfway through the shooting time, the lights started to flash and a siren went off.

  ***

  Lucky brought over my glass of water at the bar while filling in Mary and me on what had happened. "The fire alarm kept going off. They only evacuated us that one time, but it was still a huge mess."

  Minx sauntered over, her hips swaying left and right, with her drink in hand. "I can't believe you were able to shoot clean with all those distractions."

  He gave a smarmy smile to Minx and leaned in closer. "Only twenty Xs, well below my normal count, but good enough. It helped to have my own cheering section, sweetie."

  If he shot clean, that meant every arrow was within the ten ring for the highest possible score per arrow of ten points. The X ring was half as big as the ten ring and still worth ten points, but many archers listed the X count to indicate how many of the arrows were in the center versus catching the edge of the ten ring.

  They stood smiling at each other until I had
to say something. "Sorry we didn't stay. Moo was upset, so we left."

  Minx had offered to stay with Loggin and protect him, though her motives were a bit mixed since she had kept her eyes on Lucky up to that point. Mary and I had taken Moo out to go to the bathroom then picked up our bows and quivers to drop off in the room along with the wad of papers. Liam had meetings and offered to take Moo with him, leaving Mary and me free to grab lunch and hang out at the bar for a bit.

  I was happy to let Liam take Moo for a bit. My ego stung from the embarrassing scene he had caused. I told Moo sternly that he needed to go think about what he had done. I even threatened to make him sleep in Liam's room.

  Liam hadn't walked more than a dozen feet away before I chased after him to hug Moo and tell him that I still loved him. He had me wrapped around his paw for sure.

  I turned away with a grimace as I spotted Moose approaching.

  "Di, congratulations are in order." He slapped my back with a beefy hand that knocked me off balance.

  "Moose, I wasn't--"

  "No need to say it." He winked.

  I let out a sigh and gave up. He thought he knew it all, and no explanation would prove otherwise. In a way, he had been right, and that chapped my hide.

  He stepped to the side and introduced me to three female archers. "I want you to meet some of the athletes I represent. This is Tone, Priss, and Batter."

  The ladies were various heights and sizes, which was common for archery. Archers came in all shapes, some tall and lean and others short and stouter.

  As I listened to each lady list which Westmound sponsor she shot for, Minx and Lucky peeled away to move closer to the bar. They stood closer and gazed into each other's eyes. Their voices were lost in the bells and beeps of the slot machines around us and the cheers from the craps tables, but their body language was loud and clear as they flirted. She looked up at him through her eyelashes and had precious little smiles. He had his chest puffed out and loudly gestured around.

  The ladies finished their shooting resumes, and I asked the question you had to ask every archer at a tournament. "How did you guys shoot today?"

  It was rare to hear anyone give a positive answer to that question. The answers ranged from negative, where they convinced you that they were much better archers than their scores, to modest answers that it went okay even if they broke a world record. Someone should do a study on the culture of how archers described their scores.

  They nodded in response to the question and made non-committal noises, implying neither great nor awful. Batter was the only one to vocalize her thoughts. "Not too bad. Not too bad. I'm just glad we weren't shooting in the arena. Normally I'd complain that the pro men get the arena and the pro women get tucked in a back room, but not today. Have you seen the scores?" She gave a long whistle.

  Mary perked up. "No, we haven't. How many are still clean?"

  Shooting clean meant a perfect three hundred score. Over three days, that would equal nine hundred and qualify those shooters to the shoot-off for the hundred thousand dollars.

  Batter leaned forward, her large cleavage shifting in her shooter's jersey. "Fifteen. Can you believe it?"

  Mary gasped. "Fifteen? Are you for real?"

  I looked between them. I was missing some sense of the importance of this information.

  Mary caught my eye and filled me in as she always did. "Normally there are ninety to a hundred and fifty guys clean at this point. By the end there might be thirteen to fifty with a perfect nine hundred, but I've never, ever heard of them being down to only fifteen after the first day."

  "It wasn't an accident," said Priss, a tiny lady with a high, squeaky voice.

  Mary's face crinkled up. "What wasn't an accident?"

  "The fire alarm. When I left the venue, I was behind two maintenance guys. I heard them say that someone had tampered with it."

  Mary and I exchanged a smirk and nod. Clues.

  "Really? What else did they say?" Mary smoothly asked.

  "That's all I heard. The guy was talking loudly. He was pissed that he missed his lunch break. The other guy hushed him, then they went into a maintenance room. Why would someone mess with the fire alarm?"

  "Oh boy." Moose said. He was looking over our heads toward the entrance to the casino. "This is going to be a scene."

  I turned around and looked for anyone or thing out of place. The only thing was a lady with red hair who was very pregnant and dragging a rolling bag behind her.

  "Is that Katie, Lucky's wife?" Batter asked.

  "Oh no." I stepped toward the bar to tell Minx that Lucky's soon-to-be-ex wife was here and might not be so ex-y.

  But the gal, Katie, reached them first, and her voice carried across the casino. "Get away from my husband, you hussy." Katie grabbed Minx by the shoulder and pulled her away from Lucky.

  Minx reared back. "He told me he was divorcing you. And don't you call me a hussy."

  Mary and I reached Minx. I wedged myself in between our friend and the redhead. Minx had a temper, and no one needed a fight with a pregnant lady. "Hey now, I think this anger is misplaced. Lucky is the one saying that he is almost divorced."

  Katie gestured at her stomach. "Does this look like we're getting a divorce? I'm about to have his baby. I wasn't here because of work, but they gave me the day off at the last minute. I came out here to surprise Lucky, but I didn't expect for women to throw themselves at him."

  "Turn around is fair play, eh, Katie?" a voice said behind me.

  I stepped aside to see that Pinkie had joined us. I grabbed Minx's arm and pushed her out of the way. Pinkie stepped up and confronted Katie in the space we had left.

  Pinkie jabbed a finger at Katie. "Don't try to act so high and mighty when you got knocked up while Lucky was living with me."

  Minx tore her arm out of my gasp to address Pinkie. "You dated Lucky?"

  "Yeah, I dated him for a year. We were living together when suddenly he and Katie eloped because she was pregnant." Pinkie glared at Katie while Minx looked between them.

  Mary whispered in my ear, "Notice something about Minx, Pinkie, and Katie?"

  The three gals stood next to each other arguing about who did what, when, and why. They were all roughly the same age and height, with similar haircuts and hair ranging in the red to pink color family.

  "Oh my gosh, they look alike." I started giggling.

  Minx glared at me, and Katie and Pinkie followed suit.

  Katie put her hands on her hips. "What are you laughing at?"

  "Clearly, Lucky has a type."

  Mary snorted next to me.

  I tried to stop laughing as the three narrowed their eyes at me in unison. "Oh come on, look at you three. It's like central casting called for redheads with fiery personalities."

  A crowd had gathered around, and they seemed to see the humor in the situation even if those involved didn't. I turned to Moose and a few faces I recognized. "Why didn't anyone warn us? We"--I gestured to Minx, Mary, and myself--"thought he was practically divorced?"

  Batter shrugged. "We figured you knew. Everyone in 3D knows how Lucky is."

  My eyebrows shot up. "We didn't know. We aren't 3D shooters. Next time, you tell us."

  She chuckled. "You'll be the first to know."

  My fondness for her grew. I was slowly easing into the archery community and discovering more people I liked. There was something appealing about someone who was willing to go along with your jokes or requests. Maybe it was my new position that was already well known, but I hoped it was just the age-old action of people making friends.

  I grabbed Minx one last time. "Come on, Minx. He lied to you about his situation, and you don't owe any more explanation than that."

  She gave him one last glare and snatched my glass of water from my hand to toss the remaining bit in his face.

  He sputtered and shouted as water dripped off his face and shirt.

  Minx turned back to me. "Now I'm ready."

  I let out a sigh and walk
ed through the casino to a different bar twenty yards away. The bars were identical even down to the group of archers drinking away their bad shots.

  Batter followed us over and pointed to the row of men in their shooter jerseys, sitting morosely and drinking in silence. "The two ninety-nine club."

  These would be the archers that dropped a point and were out of the shoot-out on Sunday no matter how well they shot the rest of the weekend.

  Lucky was wiping his face off with a napkin at the other bar while Pinkie and Katie gestured at each other. The group that had watched the fight trailed behind us as they came over to the new bar.

  Unc appeared next to Mary with a glass he offered to her. "I know you aren't drinking, so I got you a soda."

  She turned to him with a smile on her face. "Thank you, Unc. How did you shoot?"

  "Clean. And I saw that you shot pretty well yourself." He edged in a bit closer to her.

  I stepped away, giving them a chance to talk, and checked on Minx. She was sulking and sucking on her drink.

  "Hey, Minx, you doing okay?"

  She reared around on me, tears building in her eyes. "What's wrong with me?"

  Minx and I butted heads like sisters, and in the same way, my heart broke for her. I wrapped my arms around her. "Nothing is wrong with you."

  She flopped her forehead on my shoulder. "Why do I have such bad luck in love?"

  I rolled my eyes. "You have pretty awful taste in guys; that I can't deny, but you're hardly alone in that. If you want help, maybe you could listen to Mary and me when we warn you."

  She grumbled into my shirt. "Well, you're getting a divorce."

  I grimaced and grabbed her shoulders to look her in the eye. "Do you want sympathy or a smack in the head?"

  She rolled her eyes and finished her drink. "Hey, Orion."

  I smiled at him in greeting. He started to smile, then his eyes skipped past me to the bar and the smile faded. Mary and Unc were at the bar talking. Smug satisfaction rolled over me. My early mention of Unc hitting on Mary was paying off as Orion focused on them, a visible scowl on his face.

  He tore his eyes off them and faced me. "Di, I was thinking that you might want to go around and meet the people at our companies that you'll be working on this project with."