3 Sin City Hunter

by Maddie Cochere

  “Not for us it’s not,” I said smugly. Mom and Dad were both grinning.

  “Come on, kids,” Dad said. “Let’s get out of here. I think I hear another round of poker calling my name.”

  We left the restaurant, piled into the Chevelle, and made our way back to the hotel, talking the entire time about the car, which Darby thought was amazing and sexy. Back at the hotel, Dad headed straightaway for the Poker Room, and Mom went to look for an open Betty Boop machine. Darby and I acquired a second room key for him, reclaimed his luggage, and headed up to my room.

  While he was unpacking, I washed my face and hands, freshened my makeup, and changed out the white blouse and pink jacket for a soft black pullover sweater with long sleeves and a scoop neckline. I walked out of the bathroom and plopped onto my bed while Darby was finishing up.

  “Fill me in, Susan. What have you been doing since you got here?” he asked.

  “Gambling mostly,” I said. I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed my purse. I opened the zippered compartment, grabbed the Benjamins, and tossed them into the air letting them land all over the bed. It was still fun to toss the money. Darby’s mouth fell open.

  “You’re kidding!” he said in disbelief. “You won that much money in one day?”

  I giggled and pulled out the uncashed ticket. “Yep! And here’s a voucher for another $1350. And that’s not all. Mom’s got a voucher for over $3800, and Dad won $600 playing poker. Staying on the 13th floor has been very, very good for us.” I was smiling and so was he, but he was shaking his head not believing our good luck.

  As I was gathering up the money, he asked, “Anything else? Has that big diamond on your hand kept the wolves at bay?”

  “I don’t know,” I told him, a fleeting shadow of concern crossing my face.

  He saw it right away and asked, “What is it, Susan? Tell me.”

  “There was one man who seemed to think he was really important. He’s crossed my path twice, and he’s been pretty forward and unpleasant.” I paused for a moment before saying, “And it seems everywhere I go, I see Dudley, and I don’t know if he’s just there, or if he’s following me. But I just got here, and there’s no reason for anyone to follow me at all. I actually feel better and safer now that Mom and Dad are here – and now you,” I told him with a smile.

  “Who’s Dudley,” he asked.

  I giggled. “You, of course, know what Detective Bentley looks like.” He nodded. “He’s got that square-cut jaw with the cleft in it.” Darby nodded again. “Well, this guy who might be following me has a similar jaw line, but his cleft is even deeper, and he has lighter coloring and hair. He looks like Dudley Do-Right, so I’ve been calling him Dudley in my mind.”

  Darby didn’t say anything. He simply laughed, hung his head, and shook it. When he was freshened up and ready, we made our way down to the casino in search of Mom. I stopped at the cage to cash in my voucher and added the cash to the zippered compartment of my purse. The rest of the evening was spent playing slot machines with Darby and Mom. I never did see Dad again. At about 1:00 A.M., I decided to call it a night. Darby and Mom seemed to be headed into a winning streak, but I was down about $30, and I was tired. I said goodnight to the two of them and made my way through the casino to the elevators. I passed Dudley leaning against the wall. He nodded to me and slightly tipped his bowler. I ignored him and kept walking, praying he wouldn’t follow and get onto the elevator with me. He didn’t.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  By 9:00 in the morning, I was awake and in the shower. I heard Darby come in around 3:00 A.M. and whisper a soft goodnight to me, but I didn’t hear him get up and leave this morning. There was a note from him on the desk which read, “Meet everyone at the front desk at 10:00 – if you’re awake.”

  I knew we were going out to the Hoover Dam after brunch, so I wanted to dress comfortably. Thinking they would be warmer than jeans if it was cold at the dam, I pulled on a pair of skinny black corduroys. A feminine, long sleeve pullover shirt in a heather plum color with a ruffled effect down the front was next, and I zipped on a pair of black ankle boots which would be comfortable for walking. On my way out the door, I grabbed my thigh-length, gray taffeta trench coat to wear at the dam.

  Stepping out of the elevator, I walked down the hallway and past the shops and restaurants, making my way toward the entrance. As I turned the corner to go to the front desk, I pulled up and dropped back. Standing at the front desk was Dudley in a tired gray suit today. The tie still looked the same, and he was wearing the same small bowler. He was arguing with Carl, the man who had given me so much grief Friday night in the casino and again Saturday morning at the pool. Did they know each other? What were they arguing about? I watched for another minute, but I was too far away to hear what they were saying. The argument stopped abruptly, and Dudley stormed out the front entrance. Carl turned his back to me and walked out the exit toward the monorail station.

  I walked up to the counter and said to the clerk, “Those two men. What were they arguing about?”

  The clerk frowned at me, obviously irritated I would even ask, and said, “I’m sure I wouldn’t know.” She turned from me and moved to the other end of the counter.

  I wasn’t surprised she wouldn’t tell me. It was none of my business after all.

  “I can tell you what they were arguing about,” said a boy who appeared to be about 13 years old and was standing at the other end of the counter. I gave him a puzzled look, and he said, “I’m supposed to wait here for my mom and dad, so I was watching those two argue.”

  Ok,” I said. “What were they arguing about?”

  “We’re leaving today, so I’ve been here a week,” he said. “I like to walk around in the areas where I’m allowed to be, and I watch people and listen to what they say. It’s free entertainment.” He gave me a little smile and a chuckle as he said, “I actually saw and heard you tell the old guy, Carl, off yesterday at the pool. He’s a pretty slimy guy. From what I’ve overheard, he’s been staying here for a few months, and the staff doesn’t like him. He acts like he has some important role in the hotel, like he owns it or something, and he bosses people around. I think he’s kind of psycho.”

  “Ok,” I said again. “What were they arguing about?”

  “It wasn’t much,” he said. “When I first walked up, the guy in the suit was telling him to leave something alone. The old guy, Carl, started telling the suit he needed to leave the hotel. Carl figured out the guy wasn’t a guest and said he’s been hanging around too much and not gambling or spending any money. The suit said it was a free country, and he could hang around as much as he wanted. Carl threatened him and gave him one of those do you know who I am? lines. He told him if he didn’t leave, he would have him permanently removed. He tried to sound like a tough guy, but he’s just a jerk guest in the hotel. The suit must have believed him though, because he left in a huff.”

  “Ok, thanks,” I told the kid and leaned against the end of the counter beside him.

  He gave me a smile and said, “Who are you waiting for?”

  I returned the smile and repeated his earlier words, “I’m supposed to wait here for my mom and dad.” He laughed out loud.

  I saw my parents walking across the casino floor. Dad had his arm around Mom and they looked cute together. My parents were attractive. Dad still had quite a bit of wavy hair even though it was salt and pepper now. He had a nice tan and was in good shape. His best facial feature was his crow’s feet. It was obvious he liked to laugh, and he wore the smile lines on his face.

  Mom was trim and wore her auburn hair in a chin-length bob with bangs. She was always dressed stylishly in slacks with a pretty blouse or sweater depending upon the time of year. It was a mystery to me for a long time how two people with dark hair could have a naturally blonde daughter, and I used to tease my mom that I was sure I was the milkman’s kid. To shut me up, she showed a picture to me of her mother as a teenager, and I was surprised to see Grandma and I looked like twi
ns as young girls.

  Now Darby was coming across the floor, too. I thanked the kid again for the information and went to greet them.

  “Good morning, honey,” Mom said. “Did you sleep well?” She gave me a hug and a kiss, as did Dad.

  Darby caught up and said, “Good morning, Sunshine. Did I wake you this morning?”

  “I slept really well,” I told my parents and then turned to Darby and said, “and you didn’t wake me. I didn’t hear you get up, or leave, or anything.”

  Dad went to get the car while the three of us waited for him in the hotel entranceway. Darby and Mom filled me in on their slot machine exploits of the night before. They were up over $800 at one time, but managed to feed it all back into the machines and then some. Dad came out about even at the end of the night.

  Twenty minutes later, we were pulling into a restaurant on the other side of the airport called Eggs-travaganza! As we exited the car, I asked Dad, “How did you find out about this place?”

  “Tom and Bitsy,” Dad said. “They come to Vegas often, so Mom called Bitsy and got a big list of places to go, things to see, and some out-of-the-way restaurants they go to all the time.”

  The restaurant was a typical, friendly, dining establishment which was nicely decorated. It was bright with plenty of light coming in through the windows. We were seated at a table in the middle of the room. The menu had eggs prepared in so many ways, it was hard to make a decision. I decided to go with a Fresh Veggie Omelet. I didn’t want to start my day off too heavy, and the omelet sounded really good.

  After our orders were placed, Dad asked, “How about going downtown after we see the dam? Tom says a trip to Vegas wouldn’t be complete without spending some time on Fremont Street.”

  Mom and Darby were nodding, and I said, “Sounds good to me. Is there something in particular you want to see there?”

  Dad had a silly grin on his face and said, “Your mom wants to go down the zip line.”

  “Me, too,” said Darby with a big grin.

  I swear Darby and mom were like two little kids together. “You’re kidding,” I said in astonishment while looking at Mom. She was even grinning like a little kid. “I’ll have to see it first,” I said hesitantly. “I’m not good with heights, so I’ll decide later.” I looked at Dad and asked, “Are you going to do it?”

  “Not a chance,” he said with disdain. “It runs over top of people on the street, and I’m not crappin’ my pants or barfin’ for all the world to see.” Dad looked so serious, we burst out laughing at him.

  Before I could stop laughing, my eye caught the man at the next table. He was holding a newspaper up as he read it. My heart leapt into my throat. “Oh no,” I said in distress. “Oh no, no, no.” I could see the newspaper wasn’t local. It was a USA Today. I grabbed my purse, ran out of the restaurant, and quickly purchased a copy of the paper, as well as the local paper, from the machines outside the door.

  Mom, Dad, and Darby could see where I had run off to, so they didn’t follow me, but they were puzzled by my behavior. I came rushing back in, sat down, and hurriedly flipped through the USA Today pulling out the sports section. There on the front page was a huge picture of me in Dell’s arms. We were both looking lovingly into each other’s eyes with big smiles on our faces. An inset picture showed my hand on his arm with my ring as the focus of the picture. The headline screamed, DELL GRADY TO WED. There was a smaller picture showing me touching Dell’s arm and gazing lovingly at him while we were seated at brunch. Below that was one of us hugging after we stood from the table. The piece de resistance was a final picture of me on Dell’s back with Dell beaming as he was running through the airport. I scanned the article quickly and could see the name Susan peppered throughout.

  I tossed the paper toward Darby and grabbed the local paper. Their sports section had similar pictures and a story mirroring the one in USA Today. I put my head in my hands and moaned.

  Darby was already laughing. Mom picked up one of the papers for her and Dad to see, and I could hear her gasp. “Susan Hunter!” she exclaimed. “What have you been doing now? How are you going to explain this to Mick?” Mom was starting to look distressed. Dad seemed to be in Darby’s camp and was chuckling as he read through the story. “Susan,” my mom said with a look of horror on her face, “are you having an affair?”

  Darby burst into laughter. Mom looked even more confused. The waitress brought our food. The man next to us could overhear us and started looking through his paper to see what we were talking about.

  “No. No. Nothing like that,” I said in exasperation. I started grabbing up the newspapers and cramming them onto the floor between my purse and the chair. Of course there was no alcohol served here, but a breakfast of Jack Daniels sounded way better than the eggs right now.

  Over breakfast, I filled them all in about meeting Dell on the airplane, the piggyback ride in the airport, the cell phone videos with the newscast; and then, falling into Dell’s arms, having brunch, and our conversations about getting married. I finished with, “And I can get us all tickets to the hockey game Tuesday night.”

  Dad and Darby nodded their heads and looked at each other as if to say that’s a really good idea, but Mom erupted into uncontrollable laughter. “Susan Elizabeth Hunter!” she finally eked out. “How in the world do you get yourself into situations like this?”

  Darby reached for my hand under the table, gave it a little squeeze, and looked at me with kind eyes. I knew he was telling me not to worry about it, but I was worried. What if Mick saw this? There was no way he would understand without knowing the context of the pictures. And even then, would he really be ok with it? If I saw pictures like this of Mick and another girl, I would probably explode from anger no matter what the story behind them. I was afraid this wasn’t going to end well. For my parent’s sake, I forced myself to try and set the angst aside and have a good day with them.

  A little over an hour later, we were nearly to the dam. Dad and I were in the front seat, and Mom and Darby were in the back. Darby was filling her in on how he met Nate in Florida and what they’ve been doing since.

  Dad drove over a little rise, and I let out an “Ooh.” There, spread below us, was Lake Mead. The view was breathtaking. The ride to the dam was on a winding road, and the surrounding terrain was rugged. It was truly a marvel the dam had ever been constructed here.

  The popular tourist site was busy, but not terribly crowded. As we walked out onto the bridge atop the dam, I tied the belt of my coat a little tighter. It was still warmer than usual today with temperatures in the high 60s, and the sun was shining, but when you were in shaded areas, you could definitely feel the chill in the air.

  We spent the first hour of our visit enjoying the sunshine and the spectacular view from atop the dam. Darby and I brought out our cell phones and snapped pictures of the view, of Mom and Dad, and of each other. A nice Japanese man used Darby’s phone to take a few pictures of the four of us together.

  Dad went to buy tickets to take the guided tour through the turbines, generator room, and a few top-secret tunnels. He had always been fascinated with how things worked, and I knew he couldn’t wait to get inside the dam to see what was making it tick. Mom and Darby were going with him, but I begged off and assured them I would be better off staying topside. My churning stomach was only able to eat half of my breakfast, and I didn’t relish the idea of being in small spaces and having to feign interest in the tour guide when my mind was still out-of-control over the newspaper articles. I would have at least an hour to settle down before they returned.

  I walked out onto the bridge again and stood facing Lake Mead. I pulled out my phone and contemplated calling Mick. He would be skiing with Alex, so I knew this wouldn’t be a good time to call. Besides, what could I say to him? “Hi, honey. If you see pictures of me and another man in some compromising positions, ignore them. They don’t mean anything.” No. I had to tell him about this in person. It would have to wait until he arrived on Friday, an
d I could only hope he wouldn’t see or hear about it in the meantime.

  I glanced at my watch. Only ten minutes had elapsed since Darby and my parents left for their tour. This was going to take longer than I thought. I decided to look through the gift shop. If I considered every single item, my browsing would kill some time.

  I turned to walk toward the parking garage where the gift shop was located, and stopped in my tracks. Not fifty feet from me, was Dudley, and he wasn’t tipping his hat to me, he was glaring at me.

  Chapter Five

  There was absolutely no way I was going to put up with someone following me. I was already irritated, and I was going to nip this in the bud right now.

  I marched up to Dudley, poked in him the chest with my finger and said, “Enough is enough! Why are you following me?”

  He jerked his head back while stepping out of reach of my finger. His hands showed his nervousness as he attempted to straighten his tie. “Lady,” he said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t even know you were here. The sun was in my eyes.”

  “You were looking right at me!” I shrieked at him. “I see you wherever I go, and you’re always looking at me.”

  “Oh, for the love of Pete,” he said with annoyance. “Lady, I’m on vacation. I assume you are, too. I can’t help it if we’re both in the same hotel and ending up in the same places at the same time. I’m sure when I leave here, I’ll see you back in Vegas.”

  “No,” I told him while shaking my head. “No. It’s too much of a coincidence. Something’s going on here.”

  “Lady, I gotta go,” he said while starting to move away from me and glancing toward an open parking area. “I’m not following you. I go where my wife tells me to go. This is more her vacation than mine, and she’s over there waving to me, so I know she’s ready to leave. I’m sorry if I alarmed you.” He turned and walked away before I could respond.

  A wife? I hadn’t seen him with a woman, and I certainly didn’t see one over by the vehicles. I didn’t believe what he was telling me, and I still didn’t know if he posed a threat or not.