Assignment Vegas: The Case of the Athlete's Assassin: Jae Lovejoy Cozy Mystery Two (Jae Lovejoy Cozy Mysteries Book 2)

by Lucey Phillips

  Compounding the problem, the restaurant served mimosas with brunch. Ultimately, my mom had way too much to drink. As we were leaving, she lost her balance walking down a set of cement steps leading to the parking lot.

  When she started to fall, she grabbed my arm for balance, but I couldn’t keep her upright. She pulled me down with her. We tumbled down about 10 steps. I sprained my ankle and Mom ended up with a nasty scalp laceration that left blood all over my grandpa’s suit when he tried to help her.

  She went to the emergency room for stitches, then straight to rehab for two weeks.

  She finished rehab just in time to attend my high school graduation ceremony and arrange for a little party for me afterward.

  Because of my ankle, I’d been on crutches prior to the graduation. But I refused to use crutches during the ceremony, so I put them aside and walked across the stage to accept my diploma and a handshake from the principal. Each step was miserable, but I made it. My mom smiled and waved from the audience. I waved back at her.

  I don’t remember what I wore that day, but I remember her dress. It was navy with white polka dots, and it looked perfect on her petite frame. That day, her eyes had a brightness I’d never seen before.

  After the cake was served at my party, the guests, mostly our relatives, mingled. My mom worked on Step Nine. She circulated around the room, looking sincere as she made her promises and apologies. And the people she was talking with looked sincere, too. I remember there were plenty of hugs that day.

  I didn’t care that she was making my party all about her. I was proud of her. She made it to the end of my graduation day without a drink.

  She lasted another week sober, going to meetings every single night. Then, one evening, an old boyfriend of hers came over with a bottle of wine.

  The usual script played out from there; me calling her work and lying for her when she was too hung over to go in, me urging her to go back to AA, me using my fast food job money to pay the rent.

  My high school newspaper writing had earned me a college scholarship. When August came along and it was time for me to pack, she tried to help, but she was a mess. She kept shoving clothes I’d outgrown years ago and old teddy bears into my suitcase.

  She ended up falling asleep on my bed while I finished packing.

  She was still lying there the next morning when it was time to go. I called a cab to take me to the bus station, and left without saying goodbye.

  In the decade since then, I’d gradually distanced myself from my mother. There were times I gave in and believed her promises, believed that “this time” in rehab really would be the last time. I even gave her money occasionally, to help her make ends meet or pay for rehab.

  By now, though, I’d learned that Angela Lovejoy would never change. Alcoholism was something she just couldn’t beat.

  Suddenly I felt antsy to get out of the hotel room. And I was hungry. I texted Colin.

  “Did you eat yet?”

  “Nope. Just ordered room service.”

  “Ok,” I replied.

  I sighed and started to pull on my shoes. Maybe I would go down to the casino and find some lunch by myself. Then my text chimed again.

  “You should come over. I can call them back and add to the order. I’m getting wings … want some?”

  I asked him to order honey-barbecue wings for me. Then I finished putting my shoes on and headed to his room. We were on the same floor. Colin’s room was about halfway down the hall, toward the elevators.

  Maybe it wasn’t perfectly appropriate to hang out in a male colleague’s hotel room, but we pretty much lived in hotels. Besides, Colin and I had been through enough together that he wouldn’t assume my hanging out at his room meant anything more than I wanted some company for lunch.

  Colin opened the door wearing jeans, a T-shirt with a band name I didn’t recognize, and bare feet. He smiled and invited me in. A cable news channel was muted on the television and Colin’s laptop was open, sitting on the desk. It looked like he was editing photos he’d taken of street performers.

  He went back to his computer and I wandered toward the window. While my room had a view of a parking garage, a highway, and the desert horizon, Colin’s room overlooked part of the interior of the resort.

  “Wow, you can see the lagoon from here,” I said.

  “Yeah. It’s something,” he said. “Have you seen this?”

  He picked up the television controller and pressed some buttons. The screen showed an underwater view of the casino’s aquarium.

  “You can watch them feed the sharks,” he said.

  That gave me a shiver.

  “So you said you had a weird day? What happened?” he asked, changing the channel back to cable news.

  “Me and McKenna were in a car accident,” I said.

  “What?” Colin turned toward me. His eyes were wide.

  “Yeah, it was strange. It happened because everyone had to swerve when this, like, mystery car was going the wrong direction.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?” His eyes were still wide and there was an urgency in his voice.

  I shrugged. “McKenna’s mom picked us up. We ended up going to the hospital to see Mike.”

  Colin smirked and shook his head. He muttered, “McKenna and her mom.”

  I nodded. “They are really close. Like, so close. And it’s definitely not a mature relationship. It’s a straight-up parent-child relationship with whining, pouting, all that.”

  Colin’s smile faded. “I wish you would have called me, Jae. We’re out here together …”

  The expression of concern on his face left me speechless for a moment. He looked over at the muted television, where an image of a burning building was being shown.

  “Thanks,” I said, finally. “I was going to call you but I didn’t want to interrupt your morning.”

  Colin nodded slowly, but didn’t look my way.

  There was a knock on the door while a man announced “Room service.”

  “Finally. I’m starving,” Colin said. He gave me a smile on his way to the door.

  I sat at the little table in his room while Colin ate at his desk. I told him all the details about the accident and our visit to the hospital. When I told him the detective, Jacob White, was there, Colin raised his eyebrows and nodded thoughtfully.

  “So, this is weird, but I kind of wonder if someone’s after McKenna,” I said. “Jacob is really convinced that spa pool was tampered with.”

  “But wouldn’t that make Mike the target?”

  “Mike really wasn’t supposed to get in the water. It was supposed to be McKenna. Plus, he doesn’t have any enemies.”

  “What about insurance fraud or workers’ comp fraud? Maybe he wanted to get hurt,” Colin said. “Casinos have deep pockets. Some people think getting hurt on casino property is a lottery ticket.”

  I took a sip of my Coke and thought about that theory. It would explain the crude tampering with the pool. But Mike and Emily didn’t strike me as the fraudulent types. Plus, he was awfully close to death. How could he be sure the voltage would cause injury without killing him?

  “I might buy that, but I saw his wife today. She was really devastated. I don’t think she was acting.”

  “Maybe she wasn’t,” Colin said. “The wife isn’t always in the loop, you know?”

  “But if a physical therapist wanted to fake an injury on the job, why not just fabricate some back pain? Why risk getting himself killed?”

  Colin tossed a bone into an empty styrofoam container. “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “And then there was the car accident thing from today,” I said.

  “Maybe that was just random—you know, actually an accident—not some pre-mediated plot,” Colin said.

  “I guess so. Why would someone want to hurt McKenna, anyway?”

  “Well,” Colin said, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers behind his head, “I don’t know about that.”

  “What do you mean?” I aske
d.

  “She has money. She has a little bit of fame. People like that can attract bad attention sometimes—enemies. Not to mention her past with drugs. We don’t know—maybe she was an informant or something like that. I mean she did have a pretty severe drug problem. She was arrested, but she never got convicted of anything serious.”

  I nodded. He was right, she could have enemies from her old life. But whoever was doing this, if these accidents and mishaps were more than coincidences, had to be connected with the show.

  “There’s Anne,” I said. “She wouldn’t be a fan of McKenna’s.”

  “The baby mama?” Colin asked. “She could definitely be threatened by McKenna and want her out of the picture. But orchestrating these accidents? Trying to actually hurt or kill McKenna? That’s pretty far-fetched.”

  I went back to eating my chicken wings and thought about what Colin said. This was all really far-fetched.

  “Maybe I’m just paranoid after everything we went through in Denver,” I said.

  Colin turned toward me. His expression was soft. “You’re not being paranoid. You’re examining things on a whole different level,” he said. “You have this gift, this intelligent approach to things, you know?”

  I looked down and fumbled for my glass. I mumbled a “Nah,” and pretended to be fascinated with the television, praying the burning sensation in my cheeks would settle down.

  | Seven

  Colin and I met by the elevators on our floor, ready to go see Dream Myst for the first time. Currents had given us front row tickets. I wanted to experience the show as an audience member first. Then, during another show, I would go backstage to see what it’s really like for McKenna.

  Vegas show audiences are like a potluck of fashion. Colin and I were dressed middle-of-the-road. I had on black skinny-cut pants, black and silver studded flats, and a black sweater with a bold silver necklace. Colin wore deep brown dress pants and a light blue dress shirt with a tie.

  This man who usually wore jeans and sweaters now looked perfectly at ease in slightly more formal attire. The last time I’d seen him dressed up like this was when we attended a murder victim’s funeral.

  We walked into the theater behind a man in a tuxedo and a woman in a red satin formal gown. But the couple sitting beside us was wearing tank tops, shorts, and sandals. That’s how it is in Vegas, I thought.

  The Dream Myst theater was circular, with the stage in the center. The stage was supported on hydraulic lifts that rose up from a deep pool of water. The descriptions I’d read earlier said part of the show takes place on the platform stage, but performers also dive into the water and, at times, perform synchronized swimming routines.

  According to the synopsis I had read, Dream Myst is the story of a caterpillar who falls asleep and dreams about becoming a butterfly. As she dreams, the butterfly visits other animals in their dreams.

  The show opened with McKenna, dressed in a shiny blue bodysuit that was colored with giant purple circles, to make her look like a caterpillar, wistfully watching butterflies playing in the sky. The butterflies were actually trapeze artists performing a routine high over the stage.

  After McKenna crossed the stage several times flipping and tumbling—just like she did for her Olympics floor routine—the stage lights became dim. Lullaby music played while McKenna curled up on a leaf to go to sleep.

  The audience seemed to hold its breath for a moment when the theater became completely dark. Then a projected image of the moon and stars appeared overhead. McKenna rose from her leaf wearing beautiful butterfly wings.

  Throughout the show, different music played while she visited different forest animals. First, she fluttered around frogs, who rise from where they’re sleeping on the lily pads to dance with her and chase fireflies.

  Then the stage is transformed to look like a forest. Bats, trapeze artists in sleek black costumes with pointy ears and wings, sailed through the night air. McKenna joined them. She appeared to fly, as she was suspended from a harness and wires.

  The next act had McKenna visiting rabbits in their dreams. They performed a magical dance hopping from flower to flower.

  After that, the platform receded so the stage was just a pool. McKenna hovered above, gracefully flapping her wings, while synchronized swimmers, dressed as goldfish, swam and splashed to the music.

  Finally, lullaby music played again while the theater was completely darkened for a moment. Then a warm golden light filled the theater and the music gradually picked up tempo.

  The light revealed McKenna as a caterpillar again curled up on her leaf.

  The audience gasped as hundreds of live butterflies were released into the theater.

  Then, slowly, McKenna rose from her leaf and spread her arms, revealing wings that were twice the size of the wings from her dream. There was a majesty in her posture that gave her a supernatural appearance. Lights on her costume illuminated the wings in electric shades of pink, gold and blue.

  She was slowly drawn toward the ceiling. There, she hung from a trapeze bar and somehow her wires were released.

  Finally, McKenna let go, falling into an incredible dive, tumbling and spinning, while her costume released blue sparks.

  She slipped gracefully into the water. The music hits its peak, the theater filled with light, and the audience jumped to its feet. I joined them, clapping and blinking away tears. I would have been impressed by the show anyway, but that was my friend up there, and she was incredible.

  Colin stood too, though more slowly than I did. He applauded, but his was a polite, stunned clapping. For a moment, his expression was unreadable. Then he saw me watching him and smiled broadly, shaking his head in amazement.

  From a documentary I’d seen about another water-themed show, I knew McKenna was probably still underwater breathing air from scuba gear, waiting for the curtain call.

  After a moment, the stage platform rose from the water with McKenna and her castmates kneeling on it. The platform stopped a couple inches below the water level, giving the impression that they were walking on water.

  The performers stood, clasped hands, and bowed. The audience clapped and cheered passionately.

  The skin on the palms of my hands felt raw from clapping, but I didn’t stop. Neither did Colin.

  One by one, the cast members dove into the water and swam down a narrow channel that disappeared under the seats.

  Finally, slowly, the audience began filing out of the theater while the show’s score continued to play.

  When we got to the lobby, I checked my phone. There was a text from Jacob White.

  “Call me when you can. I found the black sports car from your accident today,” Jacob wrote.

  I showed the text to Colin. He rested his hand gently on my shoulder and guided me to an empty hallway, away from the crowd.

  “Are you going to call him now, see what’s going on?” he said.

  I nodded, found Jacob’s number in my phone, and called. He answered immediately.

  “Jae,” he said, sounding relieved. “Is everything okay? Are you with McKenna?”

  “I’m at her show. It just ended,” I said. “I’m not with her right now, she’s backstage.”

  “Can you get backstage to talk to her? I’d go there myself but my boss still won’t make this an official investigation. I need you to talk to her for me.”

  While I listened to Jacob’s voice, I watched Colin’s face, wondering if he could hear the conversation too—wondering if his stomach was churning like mine was.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Jacob.

  “I was able to get the street cam video from your accident today. And I found a match with the plates of the black sports car that caused the collision. That car is a rental. Some guy from New Jersey, a Currents guest, was renting it from a place out by the airport.”

  “Okay?” Nothing was making sense to me.

  “He reported it stolen from the Currents underground parking garage just a few minutes before your acci
dent,” Jacob said. “Either that’s an extremely wild coincidence, or you and McKenna were being followed by a stolen car this morning.”

  “That’s too many coincidences,” I said.

  “I know,” Jacob said. “I think McKenna’s in danger. I think someone wants her hurt or dead, but they’re trying to make it look like an accident. I need you to tell her what’s going on. Tell her to be careful.”

  “Can’t you talk to her? Maybe have some officers, I don’t know, watch her? Make sure she’s safe?” I asked Jacob. Why was he pulling me into this mess?

  “This is the Las Vegas Police Department, Jae,” he said. “They have a huge workload. They’re not going to dedicate those kinds of resources to my wild hunch.”

  I sighed. “Ok. I’ll try to get back stage. I’ll talk to her.”

  After I ended the call, I looked to Colin.

  “Did you hear all that?” I asked.

  He nodded. “The car that caused the accident today was stolen from Currents. This detective thinks someone is after McKenna and he, well, it sounds like he wants you to do his job for him.”

  “Pretty much,” I said, my tone flat.

  Then, without really knowing why, I jumped to Jacob’s defense. “I think he just wants to keep McKenna safe, but, without this being an official case, he can’t really get too close.”

  I’d started walking toward the back stage entrance where we’d gone the day before to meet McKenna. Colin watched me out of the corner of his eye while keeping pace with me, walking by my side. When I looked up at him, he turned his gaze away.

  At the backstage entrance, we approached the security guard. I asked if we could see McKenna. The guard’s expression was dark as he shook his head.

  “This area is usually closed after a performance,” he said.

  I fumbled in my bag for the VIP card Currents had given me and showed it to him.

  “Please, I’ve been working with McKenna and I have something important I need to tell her,” I said.

  “Let me check with Dee,” he said as he picked up the phone. “Have a seat over there.”