by Sibel Hodge
Uh-oh. Matches were not giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling about this.
‘I’ll be back in a sec.’ Tia slipped out of the room and returned a few minutes later. She held out the quartz to me. ‘OK, hold this in one hand and a lighted match in the other. Then repeat what I say.’
I groaned. ‘You’d better say it quick, or I’ll burn my finger.’
She nodded.
I lit a match.
‘Guiding spirits, I ask for your clarity,’ she said. ‘Direct me to Dana, who we cannot find. Restore her presence and bring peace of mind. Show me the right path.’
I repeated the words in a quick scramble just before the match burnt down to my fingertips. I blew it out and glanced around the room, waiting for something to break or catch fire. ‘Nothing happened,’ I said with relief.
‘I told you nothing bad would happen,’ Tia said. ‘But that was just the first part to find Dana. We need to do another one to bring wedding luck. We can use the—’
Bang!
A loud noise like a firecracker going off sounded from the bathroom.
‘What the hell was that?’ Mum asked. ‘It sounded like a gunshot!’
We all rushed into the bathroom and discovered a glass bottle of the complimentary strawberry body wash had exploded on the side of the bath, shooting bright red goo all over it. It looked like a bloodbath.
‘Uh-oh.’ Tia bit her lip. ‘That wasn’t supposed to happen.’
‘What a mess,’ Mum said. ‘It looks like someone died in here.’
‘See! I told you something would go wrong. That can’t possibly be a good sign.’ I glared at Tia, annoyed with myself for letting her talk me into her ridiculous spells. Again.
‘It just means there’s lots of powerful energy around,’ Tia said.
‘I hope it doesn’t mean someone’s going to die an agonizingly bloody death.’ Mum pulled a worried face.
I closed the bathroom door, not wanting to even think about it anymore. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of here—I need a drink.’
Chapter 9
Two hours later, I felt suitably buzzed from the alcohol we’d consumed in the Buddha-Bar at the Paris hotel, still unable to believe the turn of events that had unfolded. Mum, Tia, Suzy, and I then moved from the bar to a booth in the all-you-can-eat buffet inside the Planet Hollywood casino. All-I-could-eat would be the best thing to happen so far that day. I could hear another glass of red wine calling my name. No, scratch that. Not just a glass. A whole bottle wasn’t even going to be enough to blot out my botched wedding day. At that rate, the only intimate relationship I was going to have on my wedding day would be with Mr Zinfandel or Mr Merlot. Did they do all-you-can-drink here, too?
Hacker walked in first, wearing a baseball cap low on his face, a loud Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sunglasses. His laptop was tucked under one arm. Brad and Dad followed. I balked at his very un-Hacker-like clothes and waved them over to our circular booth.
Brad sat on the end next to me and put his arm around my shoulder, kissing me on the cheek. ‘How are you?’
‘Fed up.’ I pouted. ‘We should be married by now.’
He ran his fingertips up and down my spine. Hot pulses flashed through me, almost making me forget the horrible afternoon. Almost.
‘Yo,’ Hacker said, his familiar greeting he used for hello and goodbye.
‘Yo-yo,’ I said to him. I always liked to save time by saying them both together.
‘Where’s Elvis?’ Suzy craned her neck. ‘Is he OK?’
‘He’s outside, calling Dana’s friends in England to see if they’ve heard from her,’ Dad said.
‘Why are you wearing a cap and shades and those really weird clothes?’ Tia asked Hacker, which was ironic coming from the queen of weird clothes, who had changed from her bridesmaid dress into a bright orange-and-red-striped top and glaring lime-green shorts.
‘I’m in disguise. I’m sick of people accosting me thinking I’m Snoop Dogg.’
‘So, go on, then,’ I said. ‘Tell us what happened to Dana.’
‘We visited all the dancers who work at Polesque, but none of them have seen her,’ Brad said. ‘They all told us Ivan’s men had been to see them this morning looking for her, too, and they also said Ivan had connections and shouldn’t be messed with.’
‘What kind of connections?’ Mum gasped. ‘Not the mob?’
I’d been involved in a case for Hi-Tec once that involved two mob goons constantly on my tail. I didn’t particularly want to repeat the experience, thank you very much.
Brad shrugged. ‘They didn’t elaborate. The girls who were working last night said they didn’t notice anything odd except that Dana left the club earlier than usual. Dana was onstage, pole dancing, and also doing table dances and working in the group VIP room and the private VIP rooms last night.’
I pulled a face. ‘Ew. What goes on in those?’
‘Depends on the club,’ Dad said.
‘How do you know?’ Mum asked.
Dad shrugged.
‘What, do they do extras?’ Mum asked.
Before Dad could answer, I asked, ‘Did they say anything else?’
Brad shook his head. ‘No. None of them said they saw anything strange, and they didn’t see Dana take anything. They all said she was really sweet, but they didn’t know her that well. There’s not that much time for talking at work—they’re too busy touting for dances. That’s how they earn most of their money.’
‘Should we really be getting involved in this?’ Suzy said as Hacker turned on his laptop, which rested on the edge of the table. ‘I mean, how do we know Dana isn’t a drug dealer or some other type of criminal? Didn’t you two only meet her once at Tyler’s funeral?’ She glanced between Hacker and Brad.
I’d been a police officer for seventeen years before I became an insurance investigator, so I’d amassed a wealth of knowledge in following my gut hunches and reading body language. Although I’d never met Dana myself, my instinct was pretty certain that Elvis was just a regular guy who was worried sick about his sister and who didn’t deserve to get shot at. Had she really stolen something? If so, maybe Ivan’s guys were right to be looking for her, although the shooting part was pretty excessive, which made me think something illegal or dodgy was going on.
I tried to make sense of Dana’s disappearance, but the spa was seriously calling my name. I’d need a week’s worth of massages to get rid of the tension in my shoulders. But as soon as I had that thought, I felt guilty. Elvis was in need of help and couldn’t go to the police for fear of what Dana might have done and in case Ivan’s guys returned to kill him or Dana. Surely, we couldn’t leave him stranded on his own when it was obvious he didn’t have a clue what to do next. And there was the guilt Brad felt. He owed Tyler’s family, so we didn’t really have a choice.
I hated to admit Suzy was right. ‘Look, you don’t really know Elvis that well, and like Suzy said, you only met Dana once,’ I said to Brad. ‘Shouldn’t we run a background check on both of them just in case? I mean, just because they’re Tyler’s family doesn’t mean they aren’t into something criminal.’
‘Yes, I suppose so.’ Brad looked at Hacker.
‘I’m on it.’ Hacker’s fingers whizzed across the keys.
‘What is Elvis’s real name?’ Suzy asked.
‘Why, are you interested in him?’ I cocked an eyebrow. ‘You seemed to be getting pretty cosy with his foot earlier.’
‘I was helping him!’
‘It’s Elvis,’ Brad said. ‘He legally changed his name years ago after he got into the whole themed-wedding thing. It used to be Drayn.’
‘Drain?’ Tia asked.
‘Spelt with a Y,’ Brad said.
‘No wonder he changed it.’ Mum raised her eyebrows. ‘Elvis suits him better.’
‘Maybe Elvis will have traced Dana by the time he comes in, and that will just be the end of it,’ Dad said. ‘And we can get back to…’ He glanced at Brad and me. ‘I don’t know. What are
we going to do if you can’t find a chapel to marry you?’
I sat back against the booth, arms folded, lips in full-on pout mode, not wanting to even think about that possibility. ‘I don’t know.’
A waiter came over to take our drinks order. He was called Marlon and reminded me of Morgan Freeman. He had a really soothing, soft voice. Bless him. He was old and really sweet.
Hacker carried on typing away on his laptop, taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi.
‘OK, neither Elvis or Dana have any prior police records,’ Hacker said. ‘They don’t owe money to anyone, and I can’t see anything else suspicious coming up. I’m going to go through the local hospital and medical facilities’ records to see if Dana’s been admitted. She might’ve been involved in an accident. I’m also checking car-hire companies and airlines. Her driving license and passport were still in the house, so I doubt it will lead anywhere, but I want to cover everything we can.’
‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘But the fact that Ivan’s thugs said she’d stolen something bothers me.’
‘Elvis said that would be out of character for her,’ Brad said. ‘And the other dancers all agreed Dana seemed like a nice girl.’
Our drinks arrived, and I downed half of mine in one go. I stood up to get some food from the buffet but didn’t know where to start. There was an around-the-world theme going on, with dishes from China, India, the Middle East, USA, England, and Mexico. I grabbed a big plate and piled on some deep-fried prawns with garlic mayo, chicken chow mein, BBQ ribs, lamb curry, and mushroom rice, with a couple of vanilla and choc-chip muffins on the side in case I got peckish for a sweet treat in between courses. I eyed Brad’s bowl. He’d gone for a watery-looking soup.
He eyed my plate. ‘That is a disgusting concoction.’
I shrugged. It looked yummy to me. ‘Well, that looks like sewage water.’
‘It’s miso soup with kombu.’
‘Kombu? What’s that?’ I eyed some green stuff floating unappetisingly in the bowl.
‘Seaweed.’
‘It doesn’t look anything like that crispy seaweed we get in the Chinese restaurant.’
‘That’s because the seaweed there isn’t real seaweed. It’s just cabbage deep-fried in lots of oil and then sprinkled with sugar. This is the real deal. Packed full of vitamins and minerals.’
‘It looks yuck. Anyway, seaweed water isn’t going to fill you up.’
‘I’m pacing myself.’
‘Yep, me too. I was going to get four muffins, but I only got two.’
When we got back to the table, Hacker was still typing at warp speed.
‘Can you see in those sunglasses?’ I asked him.
‘Uh-huh.’ He carried on, deep in concentration.
I took a bite of chow mein. My taste buds shouted a woo-hoo!
Hacker eventually looked up from the laptop. ‘OK. Dana hasn’t been admitted to any medical facility in the surrounding area. She hasn’t hired a vehicle anywhere nearby, either, or booked a flight out.’
Elvis rushed in, frantically scanning the restaurant for us.
‘He doesn’t look like he’s got good news, either,’ I said as he spotted us and hurried over.
He sat down, breathless. He gulped in some air before he could get his words out. ‘Dana hasn’t been in contact with any of her friends from back in England.’ He ran a hand through his wobbly quiff wig, and it slipped to one side, revealing a patch of hair so blond it was almost white. It was in complete contrast to his black eyebrows. I wondered if he dyed them. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘Looks like she hasn’t been hospitalized or hired a car or jumped on a plane, either,’ Hacker explained.
Elvis grabbed my glass of wine and downed the rest of it in one go before I could grab it back. I opened my mouth to have a go at him but then thought maybe that would be mean, under the circumstances, so I called Marlon over and ordered more drinks instead.
‘I’ve got to find her.’ Elvis’s pleading eyes looked from me to Brad to Hacker. ‘She’s in trouble. Will you help me “Find Out What’s Happening”?’
I groaned inwardly. Actually, it was more than a groan. It was an invisible throwing myself on the floor, legs in the air, kicking-and-screaming four-year-old tantrum. How on earth had we managed to get mixed up in this?
Suzy, Mum, Tia, and Dad returned with their plates piled high. Suzy sat next to Elvis, the corners of her lips twitching. I think it was supposed to be a smile, but her facial muscles obviously weren’t used to it and were having trouble keeping up with the strain.
‘How’s your foot?’ Suzy asked.
‘My what?’ Elvis distractedly ran his hands through his wig again. It fell off and plopped onto the floor.
An elderly woman at the next table shrieked and pointed to the wig. ‘Rat! There’s a rat in here!’
The crowded restaurant stopped talking in unison and looked in the direction the woman was pointing at. Elvis quickly scooped up his wig and slapped it back on his head, back to front so the quiff was facing the wrong way. Not an ideal fashion statement, but under the circumstances, he could be forgiven.
The elderly woman glared at Elvis. ‘You could’ve given me a heart attack with that thing! You’re lucky I don’t sue for distress!’
Elvis leaned his elbows onto the table and flopped his head in his hands. ‘What if they’ve found her and killed her?’ he wailed.
Suzy put an arm around him. ‘Shhh, don’t cry. We’ll help you find Dana.’ It looked as if her own eyes were welling up.
I stared at her, open-mouthed. Emotional Suzy? This was another new one.
Hacker took a bite of food from the plate Tia had got him, without looking to see what it was, and continued typing.
‘Will you? Will you really help me?’ Elvis looked up at Suzy, blinking rapidly. His dark eyeliner had run down in streaks across his cheeks.
‘Of course,’ she said. And there it was: a full-blown, dazzling smile with teeth showing and everything. She looked really weird with that smile. Scary, actually.
Oh. My. God. Suzy fancied him! Yes! Way to go, Sweaty Elvis. Being in the midst of what could be a crime was hardly conducive to a nice holiday romance, but hey, it was the first bit of humanity I’d seen in Suzy for… well, forever.
I thought about having a go at her for making promises she couldn’t keep, but for once, I bit my lip—chewed on it, actually, because it was pretty damn hard to stop myself blurting stuff out. I felt sorry for Elvis. Plus, I was actually worried about what had happened to Dana. If stealing and then disappearing was completely out of character, something dodgy was definitely going on.
Suzy rubbed Elvis’s back. ‘If anyone can help you find her, it’s these people.’ She pointed to the rest of us. ‘You’ve got ex-police officers and ex-SAS soldiers on your side.’
Wow. Usually, she was having a go at me for chasing criminals.
‘And me—don’t forget me!’ Mum said.
‘What are you?’ I asked her.
‘Wonder Woman,’ she said.
‘I’m Wonder Woman!’ When she helped out on my last investigation, I kept telling her that. I told her I had the knickers and everything, but she wouldn’t listen. I even had a little dressing-up outfit with a gold headband and gold gloves, although it was so revealing it was definitely bedroom-wear only. I’d left the Wonder Woman knickers at home this time, though, because I didn’t think I’d need their special powers. How wrong was I?
‘And I’m Penelope Pitstop.’ Tia held out her hand to Elvis. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
Thank God, Marlon arrived with more wine before I could start bashing my head repeatedly on the table. ‘Did Dana mention anything criminal that was going on at the club that she might’ve been mixed up in?’ I asked.
Elvis shook his head wildly. ‘No. Never.’
‘I can think of three possibilities off the top of my head,’ Brad said. ‘Money laundering, drugs, or trafficked girls.’
‘According to the employm
ent records, all the girls are American citizens,’ Hacker said. ‘It’s not like the place is a brothel, so I doubt trafficking is involved.’
‘So, that leaves the other two,’ Dad said.
‘I should’ve asked her more about the club,’ Elvis said. ‘It’s just that we’ve been ships passing in the night since she started working there, and we haven’t had any time to have a decent conversation.’
We carried on eating for a while with Hacker glued to his laptop.
‘I’ve found something interesting,’ Hacker said a little later, resting his fork on his plate. ‘I just got into Polesque’s surveillance cameras. They’ve got them all over the place in there. Even in the toilets.’
‘Ew, gross!’ Tia said.
‘Not the actual cubicles, but the sink areas.’ Hacker twisted the laptop round so that Brad, Dad, Elvis, and I could see. Suzy, Mum, and Tia craned their necks, trying to get a better look.
On screen were about eighteen small colour-video boxes tiled one on top of the other, each showing a different camera angle. There was a stage in what looked like the centre of the main club floor. It was T-shaped with a pole on the end of each corner. Two dancers were doing things around them that didn’t even look humanly possible. Other angles showed a long bar opposite the stage with a mirror that ran above the length of it. There was another room with less lighting. I couldn’t tell what colours the walls were painted, but booths dotted the edges and centre of the rooms with overstuffed black sofas and small tables in front. The booths provided a tiny bit of privacy for the guys sitting down enjoying lap dances on the screen. I guessed this was the group VIP room. Then there were some smaller, private rooms, also dimly lit, each with a different décor theme. A couple were empty, but one larger room had a group of guys who looked as though they were on a stag night. There were a couple of dancers with them, dressed in very skimpy outfits. One was drinking and flirting, and one was dancing for them. Hacker’s voice dragged my gaze away from the screen,
‘This is a live feed happening right now, but I’ve managed to look through the stored footage from the night Dana went missing. Check this out.’ Hacker pressed a button and the tiles disappeared and were replaced with new ones. He pointed at one camera shot. ‘This is Dana.’
