by Sibel Hodge
‘You can’t drive in that state,’ Hacker said. ‘You’re going to kill someone. Or yourself.’
‘I have to!’ Elvis stumbled slightly and caught the edge of the desk to steady himself.
‘We’ll drive you,’ Brad said then glanced at me. ‘Just give us a second.’ He took my hand and led me into the empty chapel. ‘This isn’t exactly the way I’d planned our wedding day, but we really need to sort out this mess before he gets shot again.’
I groaned. I knew what was coming.
‘He’s Tyler’s brother. He obviously needs our help, and so might Dana. I owe Tyler’s family big-time, so I have to do something for them. If Tyler was still here, he’d be helping, but he’s not here, and it’s because of me, so it’s my responsibility to make sure Dana is safe and not in trouble.’ He put a fingertip under my cheek and tilted my chin to look at him. ‘You understand, don’t you?’
I nodded. I totally got it. Of course Brad felt he owed Tyler’s family a priceless debt because Tyler died under Brad’s command. But part of me wanted to walk right out, go back to the hotel, get changed out of my beautiful wedding dress—which was now absolutely useless to me—and have a good old self-absorbed cry. I wanted to forget about Sweaty Elvis and Fainting Priscilla and guys with guns. Then I wanted to get drunk. After that, I’d be able to stop feeling sorry for myself and try to be positive by enjoying the rest of the holiday. We weren’t supposed to be getting involved in shootouts and missing people. I had enough of that in my normal life. This was supposed to be a nice, relaxing, fun honeymoon. But the other part of me felt sorry for Elvis. He was obviously frantic about his sister. The Good Samaritan in me would feel really bad just leaving him in that state. And we did owe Tyler’s family. I supposed it wouldn’t take long to drive him around and look for Dana. Then they’d be reunited, and they could sort out whatever was going on between them, and that would be the end of our involvement.
I hoped.
Chapter 7
Mum, Tia, and Suzy stayed behind to help Priscilla home while Dad, Hacker, Brad, and I got into Elvis’s powder-blue classic old Cadillac. I sat in the back with Dad and Hacker. Brad drove, following Elvis’s directions back to his house.
‘I just don’t know what’s going on. Why would they want to shoot me?’ Elvis kept repeating—more like kept shrieking, actually. He must’ve been the complete opposite of Tyler. Elvis seemed pretty emotional and high-strung, and I couldn’t imagine anyone like that being in the SAS. ‘Dana is a sweet girl—a “Teddy Bear”. She wouldn’t steal anything. She wouldn’t do anything wrong. She’s only dancing there to save money for veterinary school.’
‘When was the last time you saw Dana?’ I asked.
‘Yesterday evening. About seven. I popped home to get one of my wigs I’d forgotten. I like to change wigs twice a day because they get quite sweaty with all the jiving and performing I do. Anyway, she was getting ready to go to the club and dance. When I got back from work last night, I crashed out in bed, and I left early this morning, so I didn’t see her. She always gets up late, anyway, because she doesn’t get in till about three or four.’
I stared out of the window and watched the flashing lights and billboards disappear, and we eventually headed through a residential area.
‘Are you sure you don’t want to report the shooting to the police?’ Dad asked.
‘No. Those goons said no police. They said if I reported it, they’d kill her. I can’t take the risk.’
I caught Brad’s glance as he looked at me in the rearview mirror. That didn’t sound good. I was starting to get a bad feeling.
‘Who do those guys work for? Who’s the owner of this club? And what goes on there?’ I asked.
‘The owner of Polesque is a guy called Ivan Bolokov.’
‘Bollock off?’ Dad frowned.
‘No, Bolokov,’ Elvis said slowly. ‘He’s of Russian origin, but he’s been in Vegas for years. He owns one of the city’s top pole-dancing clubs, although it’s advertised as a “Gentleman’s Club”. Dana’s only worked there about a month. She used to dance at a place back in England, but when it closed down, I persuaded her to come to Vegas and get a job here. Since Tyler died, and we lost our parents a few months ago in a car crash, we don’t have any other family left, and we’re really close. I told her she could live with me while she got herself sorted, and she was saving up for her own place.’
‘Maybe she stole some money from them,’ Hacker said.
‘No! She wouldn’t steal anything. I’m sure of it. They’ve got it wrong.’ Elvis chewed on his thumbnail.
A few minutes later, we pulled up outside a small white bungalow-style property. It had a rock garden at the front with cacti dotted in between. The front door was gaping open. The fly screen hung off its frame.
‘Oh no! Looks like they’ve already been here.’ Elvis fumbled with the car door handle, but in his haste, he couldn’t get it to work.
I jumped out of the car and opened his door.
Elvis rushed inside. ‘Dana? Dana?’
Brad, Dad, Hacker, and I all followed cautiously, eyes peeled, alert and ready for any possible intruders.
The place was a mess. In the lounge, cushions from the navy-blue sofa were ripped open, spilling foam innards onto the beige carpet. Wooden dining-table chairs were scattered on the floor at the end of the room along with drawers from a side unit and their contents.
‘Oh no. Oh no!’ Elvis squashed his hands to his head.
‘I take it you’re not usually this untidy,’ I said.
‘No.’ He slumped down onto the sofa base, minus its cushion. ‘This is bad. This is really bad. Where is she? Where’s Dana?’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled her number again. It went to voicemail.
‘If they came looking for you, then they can’t have found Dana yet,’ Brad said. ‘Maybe she’s gone to stay with a friend, or she’s run away somewhere.’
‘She doesn’t have any friends here, really—just acquaintances, girls from the club. She’s only been in town a little while. She might’ve run away, I guess, but why didn’t she say anything to me? It’s not like her. Not like her at all.’
‘Check to see if any of her things are missing,’ I said.
He tried to stand up, but his knees buckled, and he collapsed back onto the sofa. I helped him up and crooked my arm through his elbow, walking him towards Dana’s room. We passed through the kitchen, which hadn’t fared any better. It looked like the intruders had emptied the entire contents of the cupboards and drawers onto the floor. We crunched over cereal, broken eggs, and crisps and made our way to the other side of the house, where the two bedrooms were.
‘This is Dana’s room.’ Elvis hovered in the doorway, eyes darting around.
The pink sheets had been ripped off the bed and scattered on the carpet. The mattress was slashed open, revealing foam and metal springs. Dana’s clothes were dumped all over the floor. Her makeup box looked as if it had been hurled at the wall, leaving a kaleidoscope pattern of colours from the nail varnish bottles, which were now broken on the carpet, oozing gunk.
‘I don’t know if any of her clothes are missing,’ Elvis said, hands in his hair. ‘I didn’t really pay attention to what she had. But she kept her driver’s license and personal stuff in there.’ He picked up a wooden box from the corner of the room. The lid had broken off, and the hinges were twisted. The paperwork was littered on the carpet.
Elvis picked it up, piece by piece, looking through. He handed me two passports—one British, one American. ‘These are still here.’
I stared down at the photos of her. She had almond-shaped dark eyes, full lips, and long, straight black hair. I glanced around the room again. The bad feeling got worse.
‘And all her other personal documents are here. Her driver’s license is, too. She wouldn’t have left these if she’d run away somewhere, would she?’
‘Maybe. Maybe not.’ Brad entered the room. ‘If she was in a hurry to leave, she m
ight not have taken anything. What about credit or ATM cards?’
‘They’re not here. She probably had them in her purse, which she usually took to the club. But she’d call me and let me know where she was—and that she was OK.’
‘Did she have a car?’ Hacker asked.
‘No,’ Elvis said. ‘She was saving up for one. Sometimes she borrowed mine.’
I spied a mobile phone underneath the corner of the bed. ‘Is this hers?’
‘Uh-huh.’ He nodded.
‘So, she couldn’t call,’ Brad said. ‘At least, not before she left. It looks like she might’ve run away. I’m sure she’ll call as soon as she can.’
‘But why would she run away?’ he wailed. ‘Why would they be after her? Do you think she really stole something? And if she did, why? I don’t understand it. It doesn’t make any sense.’
Hacker leaned on the door frame, arms folded, surveying the scene. Dad stood next to him.
‘Why don’t you contact the girls from the club?’ Hacker asked. ‘See if she’s gone to stay with one of them?’
‘I don’t know their numbers. Or where they live.’
Hacker thought about that for a moment. ‘Do you have a computer or laptop?’
‘Um… yeah, a laptop. If they haven’t taken it.’
‘I’ll get into the club’s employment records, and we can find out their addresses,’ Hacker said.
‘What do you mean? I don’t want Ivan to know what I’m doing. He’ll send his goons after me again.’
‘Don’t worry—I won’t leave a trace.’
Elvis got wearily to his feet and walked to his bedroom, which was in the same state as the rest of the house. He looked as if he’d aged about twenty years in twenty minutes. ‘I keep it in here.’ He looked around at the mess, a stunned look on his face.
‘We’ll find it,’ I said.
We picked up pillows and clothes and towels.
‘Got it.’ Dad found it underneath a pile of glittery Elvis costumes. He handed it to Hacker. ‘I’m not sure if it’ll work, though.’
The laptop was smashed and dented as if it had been thrown across the room and then stamped on.
Hacker sat on the bed, balanced it on his lap, and hit the power button. It made a whirr, whirr, eeep, ip noise and then completely died. ‘If I had the right equipment, I could fix it, but that would take a while. We can head back to our motel and get my laptop instead.’
‘Right. Let’s go,’ I said.
As we walked back outside, Dad said to me, ‘Er… I hate to mention this, but you’ve got oil stains on your wedding dress. And it’s ripped.’
My head whipped down to look. I heard something crack in my neck and winced in pain. He was right. There was an eight-inch rip in the gorgeous material just below the knee and a huge oil splat just above the hem.
Great. Just bloody great!
Chapter 8
My phone rang as we were heading back to Hell. It was Suzy.
‘Is Elvis OK? Did you find his sister?’ she asked breathlessly.
Wow, I was seeing it all today. Sympathetic Suzy. Concerned Suzy. If I wasn’t so buzzed on adrenaline, I might’ve done a Priscilla and fainted with shock.
‘He’s OK, but Dana seems to be missing. I think you need a lie down, though. You sound almost human.’
She snorted. ‘What can I do to help? We took Priscilla home, and we’re just having a drink in the room.’
My taste buds salivated at the thought. That was exactly what I needed: alcohol. And some cake. Or a cinnamon roll. Something sugary. With all the bad things happening that day, my appetite was going into overdrive.
‘You can’t really do anything at the moment. We’ll be back to join you soon. Hacker needs his laptop.’ I hung up.
Twenty minutes later, we headed through reception and up the corridor to Hacker’s room. Hacker sat down on the round bed, grabbed his laptop from his suitcase, and booted it up. He cracked his knuckles and got to work hacking into Polesque’s software.
I alternated between examining my dress, wondering how the hell I could salvage it, and chewing on my lip, wondering how the hell we’d become embroiled in all of this. Elvis slumped onto the tiny red velvet sofa, staring into space, fidgeting with his hands.
Brad touched my shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. I know this wasn’t exactly the day we’d planned, but it’s not as if the holiday’s over yet. Somehow, we’re going to find a way to get married. And soon.’
I forced a smile. ‘I told you I was jinxed.’
He let out a slight laugh and wrapped his arms around me. ‘One day we’ll—’
‘Yeah, yeah. We’ll have a right old laugh about it. I don’t feel like laughing at the moment.’
‘I know.’ He kissed my forehead.
‘OK, I’m in,’ Hacker said.
Elvis glanced at him sharply. ‘Wow. You really just hacked into their system?’
‘Uh-huh.’ Hacker’s fingers whizzed over the keyboard. ‘We don’t have a printer, so I’ll just write these addresses down.’ Hacker grabbed a pad with the motel’s logo on it and started scribbling. ‘There are twenty-six names on here.’
I peered over Hacker’s shoulder. Names like Candy, Candi, Candee, Brandi, Coco, Apple, and Cristal were on there. Surely they weren’t real. Why did they all sound like drinks or food?
‘Hopefully, she’ll be with one of them,’ I said, desperately praying it wouldn’t be long before we’d find Dana safe and well and we could get back to normal so we could try to scour the other wedding chapels for an opening in their record-breaking schedule.
‘What are we waiting for? “C’mon, Everybody”,’ Elvis said. ‘“Doncha’ Think It’s Time” we checked them out?’
‘Is that a song title?’ Dad asked.
‘Uh-huh-huh,’ Elvis was back in true Elvis mode now. ‘Dana’s in “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” and we need to help her quick.’
Brad pulled me aside. ‘There’s no sense in all of us going. Hacker, Tom, and I can handle this. Why don’t you get changed and have a drink. I’ll give you an update soon.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely. I want at least one of us to enjoy what we can of today.’ He kissed me hard on the lips then turned to the others. ‘You ready?’
‘Let’s go.’ Elvis leaped to his feet.
When they left, I looked down forlornly at my dress as I stood in my room. My dream wedding was ruined, and the last two days had morphed from disappointing and bizarre to mind-blowing, out-of-control overload. I wanted to crawl into bed, pull the duvet over my head, and wake up the next morning to find miraculously that this day had never happened. I was having my own little pity party, torn between bawling my eyes out, screaming, and punching something. I was heading towards the tears when there was a knock at the door.
I opened it and found Tia and Mum outside. Mum pulled me into a hug as Tia rubbed my back.
‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart,’ Mum said. ‘But don’t worry. Hopefully, they’ll find Dana safe and you can rearrange the wedding. It’s not the end of the world.’ She pulled back and gave me an encouraging smile.
I nodded.
‘I know!’ Tia said. ‘We should do a spell to get Dana to come home and another one for good luck sorting out a new wedding.’
I rolled my eyes at her. Tia was psychic and did spells, and she was always trying to make me do them, too. But her alleged psychic powers had never done anything remotely helpful to solve a case, and her spells always ended up with something breaking or catching fire, which was never a good sign. I was even convinced one of the spells she’d made me do actually got someone killed. I was never doing one of her spells again. No way.
‘What did I tell you about spells?’ I said to her.
‘Um… that you’d never do one again?’
‘Exactly. Every time we do one, something goes wrong. Why can’t you use your psychic premonition stuff to find out where Dana is?’
‘Because it doesn’t work like that.
I can’t control when my spirit guides choose to channel information to me. Or when I’m going to get a feeling about something. It’s better to do a spell. I’ve got this really fab one in mind that will bring good luck and find a missing person.’
‘No spells!’ I held my hand up to stop her.
Mum pursed her lips. ‘It couldn’t hurt, could it?’
‘No way. No more stupid spells.’
‘Think of the fortune-cookie message. You don’t want your problem to get even bigger! Go on.’ Tia pouted at me. ‘Nothing will go wrong—I swear.’
‘You said that the last time. And the time before that. And the time before that. But things still have a nasty habit of exploding or people end up dying.’
‘That spell did not make anyone die,’ Mum said.
‘No, I only use my powers for good things.’ Tia nodded.
‘You want to find Dana, don’t you?’ Mum said. ‘The quicker we can find her, the quicker we can get back to rearranging the wedding. Just do the spell. It’s not going to hurt.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake, all right!’ I said with a sigh. ‘Let me get changed first.’
‘No,’ Tia said. ‘We want to invoke good luck for a future wedding, so you should wear your dress.’
I glanced down at it again, thinking if the spell had anything to do with it, it would probably spontaneously combust with me in it. Still, it was pretty much ruined anyway.
I shrugged and sat down on the bed. ‘OK, what do I have to do?’ Better just to get it over with as quickly as possible, and then I could have a much-needed drink. It was definitely wine-o-clock.
‘We need a candle and a crystal,’ Tia said. ‘I brought a rose quartz with me. It’s in my room. I’ll just go get it.’
‘What about the candle?’ Mum asked.
‘I haven’t got one, but we’ll improvise.’ Tia grabbed a packet of matches from the ashtray on the patio table outside and brought them in.
