High Stakes and Hazelnut Cupcakes in Las Vegas

by A. R. Winters

  By the time my shift ended, Ruby had replied to my text—she said it was okay if I stopped by her place around two, but she wouldn’t be waiting up for me for very long.

  I was pleased to see her message, and I hurried straight home and jumped into my car to drive over to her place.

  I pulled into the parking lot about the same time as Ruby. She drove a battered old blue Ford, and I parked and waited for her to come out. We walked over to her apartment together, making small talk about our jobs and the difficulties of shift work.

  Once inside, Ruby and I sat opposite each other in her small living area, and I noticed the gorgeous pale blue ostrich-leather handbag she was carrying.

  “That’s stunning,” I said, indicating her bag.

  Ruby smiled. “I had to really scrimp and save to buy this.”

  “Is it Hermès?”

  Ruby nodded. “Yes, I decided to indulge in a luxury for once.”

  I tried not to look too shocked. I knew that an Hermès handbag cost as much as a family car; I’d sometimes see my wealthy clients carrying them, but I’d never expected to see someone like Ruby with an Hermès handbag.

  And then, I noticed the Cartier Tank glinting on her wrist. “And your watch is gorgeous, too,” I said before I could stop myself.

  “Thanks,” said Ruby. “I like nice accessories. I figure, you only live once. After April died, I went ahead and splurged a bit on this bag and watch.”

  I looked at her, unable to keep the confusion out of my eyes. “But you drive an old car.”

  “And I live in a crummy apartment,” added Ruby, smiling. “I scrimp and save. Being a nurse doesn’t pay too badly, and I’ve always wanted a nice watch and handbag. Aren’t there any luxuries that you’d really like to buy yourself?”

  I glanced off to one side and thought hard. “I wouldn’t mind a trip around the world,” I said finally. “Or even a trip to visit all the national parks.”

  “So you get it,” said Ruby. “It’s not like you spend money on those things every day—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

  I nodded, not entirely convinced.

  “And to be honest,” Ruby added in a hushed voice, “I managed to buy this bag and watch secondhand, on one of those online auction sites. Don’t tell anyone—but I think I got a fabulous deal. I managed to buy them at about one-fourth of what they’d normally cost.”

  I raised my eyebrows, impressed by Ruby’s bargain-hunting skills. “That’s amazing. I’ve heard of people getting deals like that—I’m glad you managed to snag one for yourself.”

  Ruby shrugged modestly. “Now, I’m sure you didn’t come all the way over here just to talk about fashion with me.”

  “Actually, I wanted to ask you what you did after we came over to talk to you the day before yesterday. Did you have a shift to go to after that?”

  Ruby looked off into the distance, and then she nodded. “Yes, I did have a shift that night. Actually—now that I think about it, I had to cancel that shift. I thought I was coming down with the flu, and I didn’t want to feel any worse. I told my supervisor I couldn’t come into work, and then I made myself a large bowl of chicken soup and went to bed early. Why?”

  I shook my head, disappointed by her answer. If Ruby hadn’t gone to work that night, that meant she might be the one who’d followed me home and later sent me the threatening message.

  “No reason,” I said lightly. “And I also wanted to ask you about Serena Dove, Richard’s housekeeper.”

  Ruby looked at me, puzzled. “What about her?”

  “Did you know her very well?”

  Ruby shook her head. “I’d only see her every now and then, when I went over to Richard’s house. Although, she did seem a little bit strange to me.”

  “Strange? How?”

  “You know—always so silent and proper. I’ve never met anyone quite like her; she’s so well dressed and particular. Kind of like one of those nannies or governesses you’d expect to meet in England in the 1920s.”

  I laughed, amused by the accuracy of Ruby’s description. “Yes, that’s exactly what it is.”

  “And she seems overqualified for the job,” added Ruby. “I actually asked Richard about her once, now that I think of it. I find it odd that someone like Serena works as a housekeeper—she seems more like an accountant or executive kind of person to me.”

  “Yes, she does give off that impression.”

  “But I suppose there’s nothing wrong with being prim and proper,” added Ruby. “It’s just unusual, but there’s nothing wrong with it.”

  I nodded, but there seemed to be something else about Serena that I just couldn’t put my finger on.

  I couldn’t think of much else to ask Ruby, and my tiredness from the shift was starting to wash over me. I thanked Ruby for her time and headed back home.

  Once again, I checked through my apartment carefully, but there was nobody lying in wait.

  Just before I drifted off to sleep, I tried to call Serena’s sister one more time.

  There was still no response, and I wondered if Serena had made up the whole thing about her sister—and if so, what else she was hiding.

  Chapter 17

  When I woke up, I texted Ian to come over with his laptop; it was almost noon, and finally time to run everyone’s names through my private investigator’s database and see what information I could come up with.

  Ian arrived just after I’d finished showering and getting dressed, and said, “I ordered Thai food to be delivered to your place. I figure we’ll get hungry when we work.”

  “Good thinking; I’ll skip breakfast and make us some coffee to drink while we work.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Ian and I were sipping on our coffees and digging up information online. I’d asked Ian to look Serena Dove up online and see what information he could find that was publicly available. Meanwhile, I was busy looking up Ruby’s details—second-hand or not, the sight of her gorgeous Hermès bag was still a bit jarring.

  It turned out that Ruby had been telling me the truth—her salary as a nurse was quite decent, and she’d been working at the hospital for the last three years. Given that she lived in a cheap apartment with a roommate and drove an old car, I could easily imagine that she would be able to save up enough money to buy nice second-hand designer accessories. However, it didn’t make sense to me to spend all your savings on a handbag and watch—or perhaps I was just being fiscally boring.

  Most of what I dug up on Ruby was quite uninteresting—she’d grown up in Madison, Wisconsin, worked a series of part-time jobs in retail, and then trained as a nurse. She’d moved to Vegas just over three years ago and immediately started working at the hospital.

  The one odd thing in Ruby’s profile was the fact that she was listed as the director of FurrCorp LLC.

  FurrCorp was a privately held company, and I couldn’t find out much information about it—the only thing I learned was that it was a “private investment company.”

  We took a break when our food arrived, and I asked Ian if he’d learned anything about Serena Dove.

  “She’s been living in Vegas for six years,” said Ian. “She lived in New York for three years before that, and in Boston before that. Apparently, she’s been a housekeeper to the wealthy for a fairly long time. Who knew that being a rich family’s housekeeper would play so well?”

  “And there’s nothing odd about her, nothing unusual?”

  “No,” said Ian, busily shoveling down his Pad Thai. “She seems pretty normal. What about Ruby? Anything strange about her?”

  I nodded, taking a moment to savor the sweet flavors of my Massaman curry. “She’s apparently the director of FurrCorp LLC. Have you ever heard of it?”

  Ian shook his head.

  “I can’t find anything about the company, because it’s privately held,” I said. “It’s some kind of investment company.”

  “Sounds like it’s a company set up for share trading,” said Ian. “I can call up the guy wh
o helped me when my startup had its IPO. He works for an investment bank now, and if it’s a share trading company, he’ll be able to access its trades.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that,” I said.

  Ian shrugged. “I don’t know if he’s officially supposed to do it, but he’s got various programs that can access the data. That’s only if the company does share trading. If it’s some other kind of investment company, you’ll just have to ask Ruby for the details.”

  “And hope that she tells me the truth,” I said, chewing my food thoughtfully. “I never thought of Ruby as someone who’d be director of a company—you’d think being a nurse wouldn’t leave you with too much free time for things like that.”

  After lunch, Ian went into the other room to give his investment banking contact a call, and I spent my time looking up Serena Dove online.

  Much to my disappointment, nothing unusual jumped out about Serena. She’d been telling the truth about her employment history, and she seemed like a fairly boring person: no priors, no arrests, not even a speeding ticket.

  On a whim, I decided to look up her previous employers, and a few minutes later, I was frowning and staring at the screen in disbelief. There was something odd about her employment history; even though it was unrelated to April’s death, my gut told me I was right about Serena not being who she claimed to be.

  When Ian came back, he was positively glowing with smugness.

  “You’ll never guess what I’ve learned,” he said.

  “Well, you seem pretty pleased, so I’m hoping it’s good.”

  Ian nodded vigorously. “Get this. FurrCorp traded shares—but not just any shares. Of course, they trade random stocks here and there, but most of their money comes from trading stocks of Richard’s company. Sometimes they trade randomly and lose a bit of money.

  “But mostly, they do what’s called ‘news trading.’ Just before an earnings announcement, or a major press release, they buy or sell stock in Richard’s company. And almost every single time, they make huge amounts of profit. Once in a while, they lose a tiny bit of money, but my contact said that the losses are probably just for show.”

  “Just like card counters lose a few games on purpose, to throw the casinos off the scent.”

  “Exactly.” Ian grinned. “And like any successful card counter, this company’s been making huge amounts of money trading the news.”

  “How huge?”

  “The company started a year ago with three-quarters of a million in capital. And right now, they’re worth almost one and a half million.”

  I raised my eyebrows and whistled softly. “And Ruby’s director of this company? I can’t imagine her having three-quarters of a million dollars lying around to start a stock trading company. How’d she get her hands on that kind of money?”

  “There’s no way to find out for sure, but I’m guessing from someone who’s already got a lot of money.”

  “So,” I said thoughtfully. “FurrCorp does insider trading on Richard’s company. And they started with a lot of money. I’m guessing that money came from Richard himself.”

  Ian looked at me somberly. “That does seem like the most probable explanation. It would also explain why Ruby and Richard are so close.”

  I nodded. “Exactly. We suspected that Richard and Ruby were more than friends, but we didn’t expect this kind of relationship.”

  Chapter 18

  Ian and I wasted no time in giving Richard a call and driving over to his place.

  Once again, Serena Dove let us in and led us over to the small living area.

  “Richard will be down shortly,” she said before disappearing silently down the hallway. I stared after her, wondering if the information about her previous employers had just been a coincidence.

  Richard appeared a few minutes later, just like Serena had said he would. Today, he was wearing a green polo shirt and khakis.

  “You’re lucky I’m working from home,” he said. “Most days, especially if it’s just before quarterly earnings reports, I have appointments all day. But I thought I’d take the day off to do some coding and planning.”

  “We appreciate you meeting us on such short notice,” I said, watching Richard warily. “Something interesting came to my notice a little while ago.”

  Richard looked at us with friendly curiosity. “Oh? And what’s that?”

  I took a deep breath, wondering how to broach the subject. In the end, I decided a direct approach was best. “We found out that you and Ruby have been colluding and doing insider trading.”

  Richard stared at me, the muscles on his face not moving. Finally, he managed to say, “Oh?”

  “I’m glad you’re not going to deny it.”

  Richard pressed his lips together, shook his head, and looked out the window. He sat in silence for a few long minutes, and finally, he said, “How did you find out?”

  “We have our ways. You guys are doing quite well. And you’ve done a good job staying under the SEC’s radar.”

  Richard looked at me and nodded. “If you tell anyone else, I’ll deny it.”

  I smiled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”

  Richard sighed again and shook his head. He stared at the floor and finally looked back at me and Ian. “My company hasn’t been doing too well in the last few years. I needed some way to supplement my income.”

  “And you thought this was foolproof.”

  Richard nodded. “Of course. I couldn’t do the trading myself, so I asked Ruby to do it. I trust her, and I pay her part of the profits. Everything’s set up so nothing can be traced back to me.”

  “Except people know that you and Ruby are friends.”

  “I thought of that. The trick is not to trade too often, and not to make profits every time. Anyway, this next trade—around this next earnings report—is going to be our last one.”

  “And why’s that?”

  Richard shrugged. “The company’s made a decent amount of money; I don’t want anyone thinking that the news trading profits are abnormal. I always knew this wouldn’t last forever.”

  “And what about April?” said Ian. “Did she know about this?”

  Richard nodded sadly. “She found out a few days before she died. In fact, she wanted me to stop.”

  “And why was that?”

  “April was worried about me. She said she didn’t want me to get into any trouble. I told her the whole thing was set up really well, but she said it was probably time to take my winnings and leave the table.”

  I nodded. As a dealer, I could see where April was coming from. “Winning streaks don’t last forever—you’ve got to take the profits when you can.”

  Richard looked sadly out of the window and took a deep breath. “You know, April had an idealistic sense of morality. She thought insider trading was bad, and that I shouldn’t do it. Her attitude seemed silly and childish to me, but I can appreciate it. She believed in living life with integrity.”

  “And you clearly didn’t,” said Ian.

  Richard turned to face him and smiled wryly. “I’m a businessman. Sometimes you need to do things that are a little gray.”

  “Like killing April?” said Ian. “Did you kill her because she found out about your scheme?”

  Richard shook his head and sighed. “No, I’d never hurt her. If she’d been alive, I think the two of us would have ended up getting married. I don’t care about all those other guys, what I care about…”

  Richard let his words trail off and stared out the window once again. He ran his hands through his hair, took a deep breath, and finally said, “You meet lots of people when you have a business. But nobody really cares about you. They care about your product, your profits, how your company is doing.

  “But April cared about me. She didn’t care about my money, she didn’t care about how much profit I was making. She just wanted me to be safe, not to get into trouble. That’s rare—I don’t think I’ve met anyone else like that.

&n
bsp; “I know what most people thought about April—that she was a young, pretty girl dating a rich man for his money—but it wasn’t like that. She was a good person, and she cared about me.”

  When he turned to face me, I could see the sadness in Richard’s eyes, and I knew that he was telling the truth about being in love with April and appreciating her concern for him.

  Of course, I’m too much of a cynic to believe that someone like April was with a rich man for more than just his money. But I forced myself to make sympathetic noises and said, “I’m sure the two of you would have been happy together.”

  “Thank you,” said Richard. “Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

  I said, “Does anyone else know about your trading scheme?”

  “No. Absolutely not.”

  “And how do you plan to wrap things up?”

  “Everything’s arranged to be wired through an offshore bank account. I’ll take my seed capital and my half of the profits, and Ruby’ll take her half. It’s untraceable.”

  Ian and I asked him a few more questions about how he’d come up with the idea and how he’d managed to set things up so that nobody understood what was going on, and then we ran out of questions to ask.

  So finally, we said goodbye to him and headed over to Ruby’s again.

  Chapter 19

  It was almost three o’clock by the time we got to Ruby’s apartment, and she smiled and invited us in politely.

  “If you’d arrived just an hour later,” she said, “you would have missed me. I’ve been asked to come into my shift earlier today.”

  “I hate when that happens,” I said sympathetically. “Sometimes these shifts really mess up your plans.”

  Ruby smiled and shrugged. “I’m lucky I don’t have much of a life. At least the pay is decent.”

  I nodded, and Ian and I exchanged a glance.

  “What is it?” said Ruby, sensing our hesitation.