“Ugh, okay,” I shook my head and said. “Look, right now all we have left are people leaving this elevator with suitcases. That’s all we’ve got left. I need you to look closely at all of these men and see if you recognize any of them. Maybe someone who has been hanging around the hotel, looking suspicious, anything.”
“Ay yi, cappin’!” Gena said, with a salute and a smile. (maybe this chicks not so bad.)
We played the first video, a man in a nice suit leaving the elevator at 7:16am, six minutes after the last time we saw Leslie. This was my favorite lead because out of all the men, he seemed to have the only size suitcase that could hold a body. Elise pointed out to me, though, that the man was carrying the suitcase instead of pulling it, which would have made him Superman, apparently. I still liked him the best and was glad we started off with him. We had all but abandoned the idea of the two men team. We had to just assume the second attacker stayed behind for a while and left alone later. There would be no way of finding him.
Gena leaned in closely to the monitors and took a good hard look. “Naw, he don’t look familiar to me.”
“Doesn’t,” I corrected.
“Huh?”
“He DOESN’T look familiar to you…”
“Yeah, that’s what I just said, aintcha listenin”? (Nevermind about what I said before. ugh!)
“Okay, then here is the second guy.” Elise started the video. This guy I recognized as the large man who stepped on the elevator with Leslie as it was going up. He was seen at 7:10 as the doors closed on him and Leslie, and appeared again at 7:25 rolling out a suitcase. He would have seemed like a logical choice but we didn’t think the bag he was wheeling out was anywhere near big enough for a woman of 5”3” to be smuggled out of. It just looked way too tiny. Anyway, this guy’s door, we are assuming, was opened five minutes later, two floors above Leslie’s. I said we are assuming before because from the time after we last saw them on the elevator, four doors were opened using keycards. One was Leslie’s room on the thirty seventh floor, one was Balls’ room also on the thirty seventh floor, and two rooms we’re opened on the thirty ninth floor, all within just a few minutes of each other. We had to assume he was one of the two on the upper floor, especially since he was seen again so soon after with his bags packed.
After he stepped off the elevator with his suitcase, he made his way to a slot machine and gave it a few pulls, his suitcase left unattended by his side while he pissed some more money away. Hardly something someone would do with a body in the case. Also, as he was exiting the hotel, right when the automatic doors opened and he was crossing the threshold, his suitcase caught on the door glides and fell over. The door man immediately bent over and picked the case back up, all the while our man was calm as could be, even giving the door man a friendly pat on the shoulder. Again, not what we were looking for in a man smuggling a woman outside against her will. The camera followed him all the way along the outside of the hotel and into the parking garage. Even if we did believe the attacker had done this before, those were risks no one should ever take. Stopping at the slot machine is what pretty much clinched his innocence for us.
Gena gave the screen another hard look. No dice. She said she didn’t recognize this guy either.
“Ya’ll got these guys’s names?” Gena asked. (guys’s?)
“No,” I answered. “That would be way too easy. Apparently the only file this stupid hotel keeps on their guests is their credit card number. Mighty fine business they’re running here, huh?”
“That’s stupid.”
“Ya know what, Gena? That is stupid. You are absolutely right. I would rather call up every single person and flat out ask them if they raped some girl than sit here and try to sift through all these assholes. How a hotel can have no record of their guests beyond a credit card absolutely behooves me. They’re really taking that Whatever happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas bullshit pretty seriously.”
“That’s stupid.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. We moved on. This was our last real chance. The rest of our suspects were extreme long shots, wearing backpacks or messenger bags. Yeah, if this guy wasn’t a hit then we were done for. We would have to leave Las Vegas, just like everyone else, as losers.
Elise started the video. Out of the elevator stepped a young man of about twenty five or so. Shorts, a hoodie sweatshirt and flip flops. An odd attire for a December morning, but that wasn’t our concern. He was pulling behind him a suitcase that looked like, MAYBE, could hold our victim. We assumed Leslie wasn’t exactly riding in comfort and she would had have to be knocked out anyway. I dunno, I guess it was possible. I wished it was possible.
Gena squinted and leaned in closer towards the monitor. I thought I saw a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. My heart sped up and I got excited.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, “I think I seen him before.” (seen him? You think you SEEN him before?! Come on, people, this is basic first grade grammar, here. You SEEN him?! Gah!)
I tried to hide my cringe and Elise noticed, giving me a hearty smile as she leaned back in her chair and I leaned forward in mine. “You’ve seen him before?”
“Yeah, wait, no. No. False alarm. I was thinking of that guy…from that show…ya know, the one with the other guys that used to be on TV a while ago?”
Elise spoke up, “Oh yeah, I know exactly what show you’re talking about. Come on, Archie, the one with that guy. Duh.” She shook her head in a desperate attempt to clear the stupidity from the air. “Thank you for your time, Ms…. Gena, we’ll call you if we can think of anything further we may need you for.” Elise reached into her purse and took out a five dollar bill and handed it to Gena. “Go buy yourself another can of Bud Light, on us for your trouble.”
“Well shit stain! Right on, thanks guys!” Gena exclaimed, genuinely excited. “Looks like it’s about Beer-Thirty for this ol’ gal!”
And that was that. We had nothing and it was almost time to go home. We left the security room and stopped at Mulroney’s office after we let Gena out. We informed him of the bad news but assured him we would keep working on it from home in any way possible. If we found anything we would be sure to call him. He thanked us for our effort and told us he had been working on it pretty much non-stop too with the same results. He had insurance adjusters breathing down his neck and if he didn’t come up with something soon the whole hotel was in for quite the beating. We told him we would stay in touch and closed the door on our way out.
Our next stop was at the police station where we met up again with Detective Howard of the LVPD. He told us pretty much the same thing Mulroney had told us. It was a case that had everyone stumped. He wasn’t going to be able to let this one go though, the women cases we’re always the hardest to get out of your mind. I assured him that we wouldn’t be letting this one go either.
Elise told the detective that just because we would no longer be in Vegas didn’t mean we would stop working every angle we could come up with. We wished him luck, he did the same, and we walked out to our car, starting our journey through the desert and back home, my mind never leaving the case. I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. I fought through it though and the two of us ended up barely speaking the entire drive home. We were both just too preoccupied so we let my iPod fill the silence.
20.
The drive back home was actually shorter than the drive there, something that usually never happens. Traffic leaving Vegas is notorious for being horrible all the way until Barstow, but I guess we just got lucky by leaving on a Thursday afternoon.
We picked the kids up from Jamie’s house first thing. We needed to see them. We hadn’t been away from them for that long in almost a year and a half when Jamie had to take them home from the beach when Elise and I were caught up with the Brad Jackson drama. They were excited to see us. It made me feel a whole lot better. I missed my dog, too.
We were exhausted from the drive but decided to take the kids out for a quick dinner before they had to go to
bed. Not only was tomorrow the last day of school for two weeks, but it was also Elliot’s big Christmas program. I wasn’t really sure what exactly a Christmas program consisted of, but it didn’t matter much I guess. I had volunteered to get there early and help set up. Again, I didn’t know what would need being set up, but all the same, I’ll do anything for those kids, and this seemed like it could be fun.
We ended up eating dinner at In N Out on Stockdale Hwy about two miles from my house, then Elise dropped me and Wrecker off and took the boys home. I checked my mailbox, which, if I were popular, should have been overflowing due to my absence. It was not. An ad for the grocery store that ripped me off, a mortgage bill even though I signed up for paperless statements four times and my glorious replacement Capital One Business card. Thank ya Jeebus! I dumped the ad and the bill straight into the trashcan by my gate then proceeded to walked inside my house. It felt good to be home. I went into the bathroom and washed all the Vegas dank from my body with nearly-scalding hot water, then put on some ridiculously over-priced Abercrombie sweatpants and retired to my sofa.
I actually got to sleep in a bit the next morning. It was a rather nice luxury that I had nearly forgotten about. I didn’t have a single appointment today and Elise and I decided there was no need for us to even be at the office. All I had to do was call Vince and tell him where we stood. We would also be releasing five hundred dollars of the hold we put on his credit card. The five-hundred he paid us up front along with an addition five from the hold would be enough to cover our expenses. We had every right to keep the entire amount, being as we told him up front the case was a long shot and we did spend several days on it, but we felt bad. I also needed to tell him that we weren’t giving up on it just yet, either.
After I made the call the rest of my morning was spent watching television and relaxing. I kept checking the clock. I was excited to help Elliot set up at his school tonight and I was excited to have a nice evening out with my loved ones.
My cell phone rang at 3:50. It was Elliot. It was time to go!
I walked out to my car and drove over to pick him up. Elliot and I would get there early and Elise and Eric would meet us there before show time. I was happy to have some time together with the little dude.
We got to the school and Elliot held my hand and led me to the office where I had to check in and get a GUEST sticker. We were then instructed to go to the auditorium where various staff members were preparing for tonight’s show. Elliot ran. I followed behind.
The inside of the auditorium was actually pretty impressive, especially for a grade school. I had often seen it from the outside, but never once had a reason to go inside until now. The stage was busy with men and women setting up various sets, chit-chatting and drinking coffee. Some kids were huddled in the corner watching and Elliot saw a few of his friends and took off to visit. I walked up to the first adult I could find and told her who I was and what I was here for. She instructed me to check in with some other lady, a Mrs. McClintock. Apparently she was in charge of this fiasco. She was pointed out to me and I took off to get my orders.
“Mrs. McClintock?” I inquire as I lightly tap her on her shoulder.
“Yes?” she said, turning around.
“Hi, my name’s Archie. I’m Elliot’s…I’m here with Elliot.” My finger wandered over the crowd until I finally spotted him and pointed. “That dude, right there.”
“Oh yes. You are here to help set up, right?”
“That’s right. Just tell me what to do.”
“Great, you see that guy standing over there with the flannel shirt on?”
“Yep.”
“That’s Bob. He’s in charge of the sets. There are a few large items that need to be put out on to the stage and we need some strong, strapping young men to do it for us. Do you think you’re up to the task?”
“Um, sure. Yeah. I think I can handle it. So, check in with Bob?”
“Yep.”
“Great. I’ll be back,” and off I went to talk to Bob.
Bob didn’t appear to be young, strong or strapping, whatever that meant. In fact, he reminded me of Dan Conner from Roseanne, but whatever.
“Bob?” I asked as I approached him.
“Yeah, I’m Bob.”
“Archie Lemons, I’m here with Elliot, who isssss…” I glanced around the room , “well, he’s over there somewhere. I’m here to help. Heard ya had a few heavy things that needed to be moved on stage.”
“Oh great. Yeah, we have a few fake trees and some other crap back there. We also need the speakers pushed out and set up. You know anything about speakers?”
“Actually, I do. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Great, well, let’s get started. Everything is on dollies so it’ll make it a little easier to push out. The hard part will be taking them off the dollies. It’s not that these things are really heavy, they’re not, some of them are just a little top heavy, ya know.”
“I know. I’m pretty sure we can handle it. Let’s go.”
Bob led me through the curtains to backstage. Here was where all the props were being held. It didn’t look like it would be too difficult of a job. In fact, I’m pretty sure Bob could have handled this on his own. Oh well, no big deal. I was happy to help, especially if it made Elliot happy, even though he had all but abandoned me and left me alone. With Bob
Bob walked over to the side of the stage and opened up the curtains. There were long slits with metal runners fit down inside them on the floor at the back of the stage where the backdrop pictures would need to be fitted in to so they could slide in and out on their grooves for the scene changes. We would do that. First we had trees to bring out.
The trees were all handmade and rather impressive for an elementary school Christmas program. They were each about ten feet tall and set on a dolly, which was really just a square piece of cheaply carpeted wood with four wheels. It was an easy move, seeing as our only obstacle was the little set runners at the back. They glided over them with perfect ease and we arranged all three trees on the stage. We would take them off the dollies once we were finished with everything.
Our last dolly was piled high with the stereo equipment. There were more speakers than I thought there would be, and I figured it would take me at least an hour to run all the wires and get everything up and running.
The speakers were stacked with two huge subwoofers, (for a children’s program? Really?) two mid-range speakers and a cardboard box filled with microphones, microphone stands and a receiver. It was wobbly and unsteady. (Just great.)
Bob and I wheeled the pile of electronics very slowly, steering with one hand each and holding the top of the pile with the other hand. We had good momentum going but as soon as we hit the divot in the stage the wheels caught and down came crashing the box of microphones and all the microphone stands, making a horribly loud, tingy clank that echoed all throughout the auditorium.
All eyes were on us (hey look, there’s Elliot) as I could offer up nothing more for an apology than a lazy, apathetic shoulder shrug.
“Oops.” I said. “My bad.”
21.
Nothing was badly damaged during the unfortunate spill to the ground and I was able to get everything in perfect working order and totally set up in just over an hour. I was shocked. It was the first time I had ever set something up and not had something go terribly wrong on me. I was rather impressed with myself.
As I was doing that, several teachers were scrambling around the auditorium setting up all the chairs and putting up all the last minute touches that apparently make grade school Christmas productions seem to move so smoothly. None of that would help the kids’ acting abilities though. Oh well.
I checked the clock on the wall. It was almost time for Elise and Eric to arrive, along with all the other proud parents. It was already dark outside. Elliot came up to me and finally decided to leave his friends for a minute and come say hello. I rustled his hair up a bit and told him he better go get ready. He thanke
d me, gave me a hug and hurried off back towards his friends and out of my sight to get prepared.
The parents began flooding the auditorium, but still no sign of the E’s. I sent her a text but it went unanswered. With ten minutes left to show time and most people already in their seats, I began to get a little worried and stepped outside to call. I didn’t even finish dialing the number before I saw them hustle up through the open gate towards me.
“Oh man,” I said, “I thought you guys weren’t going to make it. What’s the deal?”
“Sorry sorry,” Elise said. “I couldn’t find my keys! I looked everywhere and they just vanished.”
“Mmhmm, and where were they?”
“Pocket of the sweatshirt I wore earlier today.”
“Ha! Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I bent over and picked up Eric. “Hey buddy! Long time no see.”
“Mommy tried to make us late,” he whispered to me.
“Yeah,” I said. “That mommy. She’s a troublemaker. Ready to go watch your brother?”
“Yeah!” And with that we all walked into the auditorium and took our seats towards the back. I had to have the aisle seat of course. Any other seat is too risky for me, for a rather large number of reasons, none of which I will bore you with. You’re welcome.
The lights dimmed and the show started. It was the younger kids, one year older than Eric, who lead off the show with a couple of generic Christmas tunes. I leaned over to Little E and whispered, “Get ready, homes, that’s going to be you next year.”
Eric screwed up his eyes, stuck out his tongue and said “Yuck!”, perhaps a little too loudly. Elise gave us both a look and told us to shh. We did as we were told.
When that group of kids finished and marched off stage, Elliot’s group came on. They did a version of Charlie Brown Christmas, or whatever it’s called, and it was actually quite cute. Sure, all of the kids looked like they attended the Denise Richard’s School of Shitty, Flat and Cardboard Acting, but whatever, right? They’re kids; they deserve a little slack when it comes to these types of things. I clapped the loudest and obnoxiously longest when they were finished. I was proud of the little guy. He played Schroeder.
Lemons 03 Stroke of Genius Page 10
