Just Deserts in Las Vegas

by A. R. Winters

  Bill clutched at his chest, took a step backward, and then looked like he was about to fall over for real. Angel’s eyes went round in worried surprise, before Bill straightened up again, a smile on his face.

  “Howdy, pardners,” he said, tipping his hat our way.

  Ian stood up and shook Bill’s hand, offering him the seat opposite Angel.

  “Afternoon, Bill,” Abner said, giving him a nod as well as the verbal greeting.

  I couldn’t keep my smile to myself. Thanks to us bringing a murderous bank vice president into town, we’d gotten the two old codgers talking to each other again for the first time in fifty-five years. Not that either of them had a lot to talk about. I think they were more into quiet, manly silences rather than conversations about normal stuff like cupcake toppings.

  “Hey. What can I get you guys to drink?” Rachel called from behind the bar.

  “Beer,” Bill said. He glanced around our table. There was me, Ian, Abner, and Angel. “Five of ‘em.”

  Ian gave me a worried glance before turning to Bill. “I don’t think Angel’s old enough for beer.”

  “Huh.” He turned his head back toward the bar. “Four beers and a milk.” With his order given, he turned back to look at us and find out why he was there. “So.”

  It was enough. There was no need to go to all the effort of actually making complete sentences and questions. So would do.

  “Abner here wants to offer you a job. Don’t you, Abner?”

  He shrugged like he didn’t care. Bill put out his bottom lip in quiet contemplation. These two were not going to talk, so Ian and I would have to do it for them.

  “Job!” Angel shouted.

  Okay, there were three of us who were going to do the talking for them.

  “Silver Bend is going to be run by Rachel and Pepper.”

  “Patty,” Ian corrected. “She’s not using the name Pepper Loveslife anymore. She’s back to being plain old Patty Watson.”

  “Sorry, I forgot. Rachel and Patty are going to run the place. They’re going to handle the bookings, cooking, serving and so forth. But they want some real locals to make this place feel authentic.”

  Bill slowly leaned his head to the side. “What might I do?”

  “They’re not certain, and I think they’ll want to get some input from you. But I know some of the things they’ve discussed are horse riding, identifying desert plants and animals, cooking over a fire, navigating by stars. That kind of stuff.”

  “Tracking too,” Ian said enthusiastically. He’d become quite interested in the topic himself after we followed Hunter’s trail out of town.

  “And they think folk’ll be interested in that?”

  “Oh yes,” Ian said, “people are very into reconnecting with nature these days. They like to get away from city life for a weekend or so and try getting by without cell phones or electricity and so on. It’s all the rage. Digital detoxing.”

  “Digital detoxing? Sounds like a cattle disease.”

  “Or a rabbit disease,” Abner offered.

  “It means people just stop using their electronic devices for a little while,” I explained.

  “Like when my radio runs out of batteries,” Bill said, nodding in understanding. “Sometimes I go a week or two if I forget to buy more batteries.”

  “Right, yes, something like that,” I said. “Phones and tablets, computers and notebooks, TVs—all that kind of stuff.”

  “Good idea,” Bill said with a nod.

  “Four beers and a milk!” Patty announced as she set them down on the table. Rachel was still behind the bar. I sent a smile her way as we all began to sip at our drinks.

  “You’ve got power back there now then?” I asked her.

  “Yep. The saloon and the main office are going to have electricity. You need it for refrigeration for food safety reasons. The rest of the town is going to stay cut off though, no power or phone signals in the cabins or anywhere else around here.”

  “It’ll make it hard to upload videos.”

  Patty laughed. “Maybe it’ll keep influencers away. They’re nothing but trouble.”

  Ian and I both grinned at that. Abner and Bill just gave us looks of puzzlement. Despite spending quite a lot of time with her when she was known as Pepper, Abner never really did understand what she did.

  “Enjoy your drinks!”

  When she was gone, Bill caught my eye. “She sent her fella’ packing, too?”

  “Yes,” I said quietly. “He’s moved to New York to follow his music career there. And of course Rachel’s husband is locked up. It’s just the girls here now. They’ve made up their differences and are working together.”

  “Is that so?” Bill looked at Abner. “Made up their differences, huh.” He slowly nodded to himself as he thought about it.

  Abner looked at Bill.

  “Think we oughta give it a try?”

  Abner rubbed his chin.

  “Yeah. We could try that. Might make workin’ together a bit easier to swallow.”

  Bill offered his hand across the table. Abner took it and shook it. I squealed in excitement for them.

  “That’s great! Well done, guys. You’re going to be wonderful working here. I’m so excited for you!”

  Angel began to clap her hands together. “Friends!” she yelled.

  “Don’t push it,” Bill said, a wry smile aimed at the little girl.

  “Push it?” Angel asked with a frown.

  “Forget it,” Ian said in her ear. “Drink your milk.”

  “Okay!”

  “Y’all staying the night?” Bill asked.

  We both shook our heads.

  “I’ve got to work in the casino tonight.”

  Bill let out a long whistle. “Don’t envy you that.”

  I shrugged. “It’s fun, actually.”

  He did not look convinced.

  “Sally and I have an appointment with a new counselor. She’s supposed to be very good.”

  “A councilor?” Bill shook his head. “Don’t trust politicians.”

  “Not a councilor, a… never mind. You’re right. I don’t trust them either.”

  I knew Ian was actually somewhat eager to see this counselor for once. The reason was that Sally’s ex-boyfriend, an archeologist, was just about to return from a two-year trip to North Africa and wanted to meet up with her. As friends, of course. Nothing more. It made Ian nervous, though and he wanted to speak to a professional about it.

  “Ian, Angel, are you ready?”

  “Ready!” Angel shouted.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Good luck in Silver Bend, guys,” I said to the two old-timers. “We’ll be back to visit, I’m sure.”

  “And you’ll be welcome,” Abner said. “Depending on who you bring with you.”

  “We’ll try not to bring any more murderers with us when we visit. Right, Ian?”

  “I’ll say.”

  Just as we headed out the door, Angel stopped and turned around.

  With a giant grin on her face, she made finger guns and pointed them at Abner and Bill.

  “Pow! Pow!”

  They both made a show of falling back in their chairs, arms flying out to their sides.

  I guessed that there was one little assassin we could bring back with us.

  Blurb

  Tiffany Black in Las Vegas, Book 21

  Tiffany Black and her friend Ian investigate the death of a diner at Dimmer Dinners - a mysterious poisoning in a locked room.

  Tiffany learns from Detective Elwood about Emily’s dangerous new case - and she and Jack wait with baited breath to learn more regarding the whereabouts of Stone and Ryan.

  Meanwhile, Ian has to deal with Sally’s ex-boyfriend showing up and trying to steal the day…

  Click here to be the first to read the next Tiffany Black Book

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  Sneak Peak: Killer Cruise

  Chapter One

  It was with pride and barely concealed excitement that I walked down one of the below-deck hallways of the Swan of the Seas after collecting the tools of my new trade: a smartphone and a notebook computer.

  Tucked under my arm were the two ugly blue blouses I’d been issued that made up the entirety of my uniform. Because of my unique role, which would see me scurrying back and forth across the entire ship, I was exempt from wearing dress pants or a skirt and was permitted to wear jeans.

  Having collected everything I needed for my new job, I was on my way to very my own cabin—well, mine and my mystery roommate’s.

  After an abortive attempt at being a journalist at a small town newspaper back home, I’d left Nebraska to sail the seven seas and, to quote another cliché, find myself. And I was going it alone. It was the bravest thing I’d done in my life, though sometimes I wondered if it was also the stupidest.

  I felt a tinge of pride when I got to my cabin, seeing the small plastic nameplate stuck to the wall outside filled with two printed names: A. James, who was me, and S. Williams, who was presumably my new roommate.

  “Gosh, I hope she’s nice,” I said to myself under my breath. I was feeling optimistic though; she had the same last name and first initial as my best friend. She had to be nice, right? The only worry I had was that I hadn’t yet met her; somehow, we’d missed each other during training.

  My hand hesitated. Should I knock on the door of my own room? Or should I just use the keycard and let myself in right away? I clutched the keycard in my hand as another thought occurred to me.

  What if S. Williams was a man?

  What if he was a handsome man? Wouldn’t that be an interesting way to start my new life? But I was pretty sure the cruise liner company had policies against cohabitation with members of the opposite sex. A rather outdated policy, in my opinion.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “Come in! It’s open!”

  I cocked my head. That voice. It sounded like it came from a thousand miles away.

  Tentatively, I pushed down on the heavy metal door handle, which operated a heavy metal lever to unseal the door. Although the door was sturdy, it swung open easily—if a bit slowly—and I peered inside.

  “Adrienne! Addy! Addy! Addy!” The voice was from a thousand miles away. “Yay! I told them to put us in the same room, but I didn’t think they’d actually do it!”

  “Samantha? What on earth are you doing here?” My mouth agape, I shook my head in disbelief.

  I’d left my best friend back home in Nebraska a month ago, when I left for my employee training and a few days of solo R&R before my first cruise.

  My best friend was sitting on the bottom bunk bed. Her hair had been trimmed to a cute little blonde bob and her chubby cheeks were, as almost always, locked in an indefatigable smile. Samantha bounced to her feet and grabbed me in a tight squeeze across the doorway.

  “I couldn’t let you go off and travel the world without me!” she squealed in my ear.

  “But… how?”

  Samantha let me go and I stepped inside our small room, to get a better look around.

  “It’s easy. A couple of days ago, I was browsing a job site, and there was a last-minute position here.”

  “But what about training?” I asked, blinking at her. Seeing something, even a person, in an unexpected place can leave you feeling a bit off-kilter.

  She shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, you know. When you’ve been working on cruise ships for five years, you don’t actually need to attend the training.”

  “But you…” I shook my head and laughed. I knew for a fact she’d never even seen an ocean before—at least she hadn’t a month earlier when I last saw her. Five years cruising experience indeed. “You lied!”

  Sam flicked her short hair defensively and gave me a charming smile. “For a good cause! It’s your first time going off on your own for so long, and God knows cruises can be dangerous. What if something happened to you? I’d never forgive myself!”

  I rolled my eyes. “You know I can take care of myself.”

  Sam eyed me warily. I knew she didn’t have much faith in my abilities, but she was trying to be polite. “Sure,” she said finally. “But it’s your first time on a big ship like this, and who knows what kinds of people are here? All kinds of crazies in close quarters—”

  “Like you!” I interrupted with a grin.

  Sam looked relieved. “Glad you’re not mad at me. I just—you know, the last time you went on a road trip alone, last summer? What happened then… well, I just can’t let that happen again. I needed to be with you, even if that meant fibbing a little on my resume.”

  Refusing to let that terrible memory cloud this important day, I smiled at Sam. “Unbelievable. It’s so exciting you’re here!”

  “I know!” said Sam, though her excitement had seemed to fade rapidly.

  “Are you okay?” I asked with a frown. “You look a little… green.”

  Samantha gave me a lopsided smile, held up a pill she produced from somewhere, and popped it into her mouth. “It’s because we’re still docked. Once the ship gets going, I’ll be fine.”

  “You’re seasick? And we haven’t even left yet!”

  She gave me a sad nod. “I’ll be fine. I read all about it. Apparently the body adapts.”

  “Does it? For everyone?”

  She shrugged. “It better. Speaking of everyone, what time is it? Don’t we have a meeting to get to?”

  “Hold on…” I whipped out my smartphone. “Smile!”

  Sam gave me a thumbs-up and a passably genuine smile, though I knew she was having to force it more than normal. She also looked a little green, but that would be fixed with the liberal use of photo filters.

  “I’m glad you thought to capture this moment,” said Sam, her smile now wan.

  “Ye-es. But actually, it’s work! #FirstDay #CrewLife … I’ll think of some more.”

  “What do you mean that’s work? Taking selfies?”

  I bobbed my head excitedly. “Yep! And that wasn’t a selfie because I wasn’t in it. I’m the social media manager, Sam, which means I spend all day taking pictures and Tweeting and Instagramming and Facebooking and posting things on the ship’s digital displays and customer information websites.”

  Sam was frowning now. “That’s not fair. I’m just a customer liaison. That means I have to listen to all their complaints and help them with all their problems.”

  I gave her a supportive shoulder squeeze. “That’s awesome! You’ll get to meet so many interesting people. I’m a little bit jealous!” This was a one hundred percent, total, absolute lie, but it was also sparkling white. I was pretty sure my job was going to be way more fun than hers, but I didn’t want to get her down.

  “Yeah, maybe. Come on. Let’s go.”

  Remembering she’d said something about a staff meeting, I pulled up my schedule using the staff app on the phone. She was right. Although my role was different, I was technically part of the Customer Liaison Team like Sam and we indeed had a meeting.

  We walked arm in arm down the hall and I felt like I was floating
on a cloud. Of course, I was actually floating on water, but I guess they’re pretty similar feelings. I wanted to grill Sam more about how she faked her way into the job, but that conversation would have to wait until we were back in our room with the door sealed tight.

  “We must be going the right way. Can you hear all those people?”

  From ahead of us, we could hear the echoing chatter of a small group of people. Down below deck, it was all hard metal surfaces and sounds bounced around like in a cave. Up in the passenger areas, though, it was more like being inside a proper building: carpets and wallpapers and wood paneling absorbed sound normally rather than the utilitarian echo chamber of the ‘working’ levels.

  “Know where you’re going?” The voice had a rich, melodious tone and when I turned to look, I saw that the girl it was coming from had a smile just as friendly as Sam’s. In fact, given Sam’s current state, it was even friendlier. She must have heard us as she’d been walking down a corridor that intersected the one we were on.

  “I think so,” I said, offering the girl a smile.

  I had been worried about not knowing anyone aboard the ship, but then Sam showed up, and now this girl, even though we’d just met, had an air of friendliness about her that seemed infectious.

  “Cece Blake,” she said, sticking out a hand.

  Sam and I both exchanged quick, gentle handshakes with her.

  “Adrienne James.”

  “Samantha Williams.”

  She gave us a once-over, her eyes flicking over our uniforms. “Ooh, social media manager? That’s a new one, you lucky thing.”

  I beamed at her.

  “And customer liaison.” Cece’s smile grew notably tighter. “That can be real interesting.”

  “What do you do?” I asked her at the same time as I read her name badge. Idiot, I mentally kicked myself.

  “Housekeeping,” she said, tapping a short-nailed finger against a badge that said exactly that under her name.