Lost in Las Vegas

by Kristen Painter

  Sin nodded. “Good. Call him up, Dad. Leave him a voice mail now so you can get in to see him as soon as possible. It would even be interesting to see just how soon he makes himself available.”

  “Right,” I said. “If he’s occupied with Lila, that might impact his schedule.” I smiled at Sin. “Good thinking, honey.”

  Anson pulled out his phone and looked up Lou’s number. He tapped the screen to dial. After a moment, he spoke. “Lou, this is Anson Crowe. If you have time to meet, I’d like to see you. Maybe…talk about what you could offer us. Call me and let me know when you’re available.”

  He hung up and stared at his phone for a second. “If I think for a moment that he’s guilty, it’s going to be hard not to use my magic on him. In a painful way.”

  I grimaced. “Any chance you have a truth serum spell?”

  “No.” A dark gleam filled Anson’s gaze. “But I’m pretty sure I could get him to talk.”

  “You know,” Sin said abruptly, “maybe I should go with you?”

  Anson nodded. “Maybe you should. What do I say to him if he asks where your mother is? How do I answer him if he tells me he’s heard she’s gone missing?”

  We all sort of looked at each other.

  Sin made eye contact with me for a moment before turning back to his dad. “I think you tell him the truth and see how he reacts.”

  “But then I’d be confirming what he knows. And then the world will know what’s happened. You know how fast news like that would travel in this town.” Anson’s anger had turned back into hurt. “Everyone would know she’s been taken. That I couldn’t protect her.”

  “No one will think that,” I said. “What happened to her was in no way your fault.”

  Birdie nodded. “Jayne’s right. The only person who deserves blame is the one who took Lila. She was doing what she was supposed to be doing when she was supposed to be doing it. So were you. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  “About that.” Jack rocked back on his heels. “Might be time to revisit who on your team knew about that tunnel. And who knew the timing of the trick. Then see if any of their bank accounts have had large payments made recently. Seems to me the timing of this thing would have required a little inside knowledge.”

  Sin nodded.

  “Seems someone might have told Lou something. Could be that someone got a bonus for telling him about Lila.” Jack shrugged. “Maybe not. Just a civilian guess.”

  “And a brilliant one,” I said. “Birdie?”

  “I’m on it just as soon as Anson can get me a list of employees.”

  Sin’s dad took a deep breath. “I’ll do that now.”

  “Then,” Sin said, “maybe you should try to get some sleep.”

  Anson shook his head slightly. “Try would be all I did. I can’t sleep while your mother’s out there, who knows where. Probably scared. Maybe even hurt. Or being hurt.” He swallowed.

  “They’re not hurting her.” I didn’t know that, but I felt it. “First of all, she’s incredibly strong. Secondly, the note said she’d be back soon. It read like her disappearance was a temporary inconvenience. Not something she was going to have to recover from. Plus anyone who knows you knows they’d better not hurt her or they will have hell to pay.”

  Anson looked at me, new confidence in his gaze. “You’ve got that right.”

  His phone vibrated. He took it from his pocket and checked the screen. “That was quick. Lou is calling me back.” He looked up at Sin. “Let’s see how fast he can fit me in.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sinclair

  Lou managed to fit my dad in at eleven the next morning. Practically dawn by Vegas standards. Earlier would have been better, but an appointment was an appointment, so my dad agreed.

  The rest of the night was spent speculating about who was behind my mom’s abduction, running every possible scenario we could think of and re-reading the ransom note.

  We also helped Birdie dig through employee records. We even went back into employees who’d been fired or who had moved on in the last year. Anyone who might have an ax to grind. Of course, employees that had left in the last year wouldn’t know about the new trick, but they might know about the tunnel under the stage.

  As had become our guiding motto in this search for my mom’s abductor, we were leaving no stone unturned.

  Right around 3 a.m., Birdie announced, “I’ve got something.” She pointed at her computer screen. “An employee by the name of Buck Murphy deposited forty-five hundred dollars yesterday.”

  My father shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s anything more than Buck having a good night at the tables. Pretty sure he spends at least an hour playing blackjack after every shift.”

  Birdie glanced at my dad. “You think so? That seems like a lot of money.”

  “Two years ago he bought himself a brand-new Dodge Charger. Paid cash. All from blackjack. Plus Buck’s been around a long time. Since before we took over the theater at the Oasis.”

  “Which means he has to know about the tunnel,” Birdie said. “But he’s probably not going to do something to mess up his job. Then again…” She shrugged.

  I got up and stretched. “He could be worth talking to. Maybe see if he suspects anyone.”

  Jayne nodded sleepily. “Short-list him for later.”

  And that was that until dawn broke, when we took a break to eat. No one was really hungry, except Jayne and Birdie, but we made breakfast anyway. Eggs and toast, nothing much. My dad went out and got doughnuts, too. I think more because he needed something to do than for any great desire for sweets.

  We’d gone through more coffee, and in Jayne’s case, more Dr Pepper, than I think anyone had consumed since the last World Grand Tour Poker tournament.

  And, because of everything going on, I brought Sugar and Spider into the house. With my dad’s permission, of course. Jayne and I certainly weren’t going to be spending much time in the RV with the search for my mom in full swing, and neither of us liked the thought of them being out there alone.

  It was nice having them around. The cats were a welcome diversion from the dark cloud hanging over us, entertaining us with their exploration of the house and sudden bursts of speed through certain rooms.

  I had a moment where I thought if my mom never came back, my dad should get a cat. Then I almost wept that such a thought had even entered my brain. It made me sick. My mother was absolutely coming back.

  I would not think anything to the contrary.

  Around ten, my dad and I got ready to meet with Lou. We were going to his office, which wasn’t nearly as swanky as his home. It was in a strip mall near Fremont. He liked to tell people that the office brought him good luck because it was the very spot where Tony had walked in one day, looking for representation.

  Lou also liked to say it kept him humble.

  Truth was, I don’t think he spent much time at the office anymore, but I got the luck part. This was Las Vegas. No one made light of such things.

  Before we left, I made Jayne and Birdie promise to get some sleep. Even if it was just a twenty-minute nap. I told Jack to keep after them. We’d all be useless if we didn’t rest a little.

  I drove my dad’s SUV with him in the passenger’s seat. The silence weighed on me. “How are you doing?” It was a dumb question, but commenting on the weather seemed like an even worse direction to go in.

  My father sighed. “Not great.”

  I nodded. “Me either. But we’re going to get her back. And she’s going to be fine.”

  He shook his head. “I want to believe that.”

  “You should. Listen, you don’t know Jayne like I do. She’s unstoppable. Especially when she has Birdie’s help.”

  He just stared straight ahead, looking unconvinced.

  I was out of words. Didn’t matter. There was nothing I could say that would help. We parked outside of Lou’s office. A Jaguar sat two spots over, probably his. On one side of his office was the Hunan Pa
lace Buffet. On the other, Lucky’s Dry Cleaning.

  It was kind of the perfect spot for him.

  “You ready?” I asked my dad.

  “Yes.” He looked at me, his hand on the car door handle. “But I’ll tell you again, if I think he’s involved, I’m not leaving without answers.”

  “If I think he’s involved, I’ll help you get those answers.”

  One corner of my father’s mouth lifted, the closest he’d gotten to a smile since my mom had failed to appear.

  “Come on. Let’s see what Lou has to tell us.”

  We went straight into his office. He had an outer waiting room but no receptionist. The door to the inner office was closed.

  “Lou?” My dad called. “It’s Anson.”

  When there was no reply, I went and knocked on the office door. It opened slightly under the pressure of my hand, allowing me a glimpse inside.

  Lou was in his chair, slumped over his desk. I shoved the door wide and ran to the desk. “Dad, call 911.”

  “Already on it.”

  I put my hand on Lou’s neck. There was still a pulse, thankfully. I hauled him back in the chair so he was sitting up. Not the easiest task. Lou was a large man.

  My dad was telling the dispatcher what was going on. When he hung up, he joined me at the desk. “Is he…?”

  “No,” I said. “He still has a pulse. But he’s cold and clammy.”

  “Pale, too.” My dad leaned in. “Lou, can you hear me? Help is on the way.”

  No response. Lou’s eyes were rolled back in his head. I looked at the desk. There were a few prescription bottles and a carafe of water near the phone.

  My dad picked the bottles up and read the labels. “A diuretic, blood-pressure meds and some high-cholesterol pills.” He grimaced as he looked at me. “Not good. I think it might be his ticker.”

  The faint wail of sirens filled the air.

  “They’re going to want a reason why we’re here,” I told my dad. “What are we going to say?”

  “We’ll just tell them what I told Lou, that I was thinking about changing management and wanted to see what he could offer.”

  “And when Maude hears about that?” Maude Dabrowski was my parents’ agent. She was a tough cookie and had done well for them, but hearing secondhand that her number-one client was at the number-two agent’s office might cause some stress.

  My dad put his hand to his forehead. “I still haven’t told Maude about your mom.”

  “Go call her and fill her in. I’ll stay here in case the paramedics arrive before you’re back.”

  “Thanks.” He walked outside.

  I checked Lou’s pulse again. Thready but there. I was slightly disappointed for a very selfish reason. If he was dead, I could use my skills to bring him back and find out what had happened.

  Not that I thought there was foul play involved. But then again, my mother had just gone missing, he was our number one suspect, and now, right before we were set to talk to him, he was having a major medical emergency?

  Life had taught me that there was rarely any such thing as coincidence. Especially in a case like this.

  My dad came back to say he’d squared things with Maude just as the paramedics arrived. We got out of the way and let them do their thing. They asked us a few questions but thankfully, nothing too deep. They were emergency services, not cops.

  While we waited, I looked around to see what kind of security the strip mall had. Not much. Maybe because of its age, maybe because the landlord didn’t want to spring for the tech. But there were no cameras that I could see.

  That was disappointing but about what I’d expected.

  Lou left on a stretcher, in the back of an ambulance. They’d hooked him up to an IV and oxygen, but he didn’t look any better than he had when we’d arrived.

  I hated to be pessimistic, but if Lou was the one who’d abducted my mom, things had just gone from bad to worse.

  We headed back to the house.

  My dad turned in his seat toward me. “You think we should go by his house? See…what we can see?”

  “Jayne wanted to do the same thing last night, and I wouldn’t let her. There’s no way to get past the guard at the gate, but her idea was to climb up on top of the RV and jump down over the wall.”

  “I like that girl.”

  “Dad, that was a terrible idea.”

  “Head for his house.”

  “How are we going to get into the community without him to tell the guard we’re there to see him?”

  My father’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been living in the North Pole too long. All that cold has frozen your mind.”

  I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but I drove to Lou’s anyway. As we got closer to Lou’s neighborhood, the air in the SUV shimmered with magic.

  I kept my eyes on road so I didn’t miss the turn. “What are you up to?”

  “Just smile at the guard if he says anything to you.”

  The guard shack was just ahead. I looked over at my dad. “Why? What are you—hey.” He looked exactly like Lou. I glanced at myself in the rearview mirror. He’d turned me into a hot, busty blonde. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “It’s just until we get inside. Now put the window down and let me do the talking.”

  I did as he asked, slowing as we reached the guard shack. The guard got off his chair and came to greet us.

  My dad leaned closer to my open window. “What do you think of my new car?” He grinned wider. “And my new driver?”

  “Afternoon, Mr. Scholtz. Looking good.” The guard smiled at my dad, but his gaze immediately went to my imaginary bustline. If only he knew.

  “Can you buzz us in?” my dad asked. “I don’t have a clicker in this car.”

  “No problem.” The guard reached over and pressed a button. The gate started rolling back. “Have a good day.”

  “You too.” My dad straightened and gave the guard a wave.

  I put the window up as I drove forward. “I don’t even know what to say about that except make me me again, please.”

  “Not until we get into the house. Can’t have the neighbors thinking we’re breaking in.”

  He was right, of course. That didn’t make me like my new look any more.

  Chapter Twenty

  Sinclair

  Getting into the house was a no bigger deal than getting into the neighborhood had been. My dad’s magic took care of that, too. A little conjuring, and the lock was turned. Honestly, it was a good thing he hadn’t chosen a life of crime, because he’d have been a very successful criminal.

  Lou’s house was nice. I’d expected gaudy, but it wasn’t. Lots of creams and beiges and whites except for the pops of color in the modern art that adorned the walls. It was restrained in a way that made me see him a little differently. Like he was more than he seemed to be.

  My dad stared up at one of the largest pieces. “That’s a Damien Hirst.”

  “Looks like multicolor dots on a canvas to me. Let’s just check the house for clues and any sign Mom’s been here, then get out.”

  He turned his head. “Son, if Lou can afford a $30,000 painting, why would he be involved in this abduction scheme?”

  “Beats me. Does it matter?”

  “Yes. I don’t think he did it.”

  “Based on a painting?”

  “Look around. This is not the home of a man hurting for money. The idea that he would abduct your mother in the hopes that we’d break our contract and Tony would get moved into our spot makes no sense.”

  Was my dad right? “Maybe he’s got financial worries we don’t know about.”

  “Maybe, but Birdie didn’t say anything about that. And if that was true, he’s got all kinds of money hanging on these walls. You see any bare spots?”

  I looked around. “No.”

  “If he’d sold something recently, there’d be a place where a piece was missing.”

  “Okay but could be he just wants to move Tony up.
”

  My father seemed to consider that. “Could be. But Lou isn’t a hustler. Never has been. He’s got a handful of other clients but all because they know he reps Tony. And he fell into managing Tony because Tony picked him. All Lou did was be in the right office at the right time. I’m not saying we aren’t going to look around the house, but I already know we aren’t going to find anything.”

  Twenty minutes later, and my father was right. There was nothing in Lou’s house that even hinted of his involvement in my mom’s disappearance. The most interesting thing I’d seen was a signed photo of Gabrielle on his office wall. Tony’s wife. The pregnant one he was going to work things out with.

  I wondered how that was going. Then I wondered if Lou had been instrumental in making that reconciliation happen. I knew he’d been Gabrielle’s manager for a few years before she retired. All because of Tony. After they’d started dating, he’d connected her with Lou.

  And Lou, wanting to impress Tony, had made a few phone calls, talked to a few people, and somehow Gabrielle rose to the position of principal dancer. I knew all this from my time in Vegas and from things my parents had said. Vegas was a big small town. And in the show circuit, everyone knew everything.

  I stared at the picture. She was a beautiful woman. I felt for her. Whether or not she knew Tony was cheating on her, she didn’t deserve a husband who couldn’t be faithful. And a baby on the way was no guarantee he wouldn’t step out again.

  My guess was Gabrielle didn’t know. But that was based on the fact that Jayne would have killed me if the situation was the same. Of course, I’d never cheat on Jayne. The very idea disgusted me. Why marry a person if you didn’t love them enough to be true?

  As I joined my dad downstairs in the living room, my phone buzzed. I took it out and checked the screen, instantly answering the call. “Hi, babe. What’s up?”

  “Please tell me your dad didn’t kill Lou Scholtz.”

  I frowned. “Why would you think that?”

  “Because the news is reporting that he just died.”

  I took a breath as I processed. “You’re sure?”