by Katz, Gayle
He nodded. “That’s all that matters.”
“Besides, it has a super long and thick needle on it. I looked at that big box store down the street and they only have cheap crap. I couldn’t even find anything similar that could be used for lock picking. Those things would just fall apart the first time I stuffed them in a lock. Then I’d be screwed, as it’s difficult to remove metal fragments from a lock without special tools.”
The lock on the door soon clicked. She turned the knob and opened the door.
“Cool! Good to know. You have to teach me all your tips and tricks one day.”
“Yep, next course will be lock picking, not martial arts.”
He looked at her. “Say, you want me to go beat up that guy?”
She looked at him and laughed. He laughed back. He was not the guy who would do that.
“I’m fine. But I don’t trust him. He could be in this zombie gang for all we know.”
“Right,” he said. “Look! The lights are on.” He took a step into the corridor.
“Here we go again,” said Charlie. “It always seems like we get ourselves into these sticky situations. Déjà vu.”
“Yeah, maybe next time the zombies can come back to the miniature golf course. That was actually kind of fun.”
“Yeah, or camping. Too bad that trip was abruptly called off.”
He smiled at her. “Those were real zombies, too, not like these fake ones.”
She laughed. “Fake, man-made zombies.”
“But seriously, humans are the worst,” Owen added.
The air had a damp, mildewy smell to it.
“Weird. I wonder if they built on top of an older structure,” commented Charlie.
“Probably,” said Owen. “You’d be hard put to find land here that doesn’t have something under the ground.”
“Right,” she said. “After that Seattle fiasco, I learned that there is a whole section of Portland that has underground caverns too.”
They walked side by side down the hall. So far, most rooms were just storage.
“Do you mean the Shanghai Tunnels?” he asked.
“Not just that,” she replied. “Back west there is supposed to be an entire suburb of Portland that has been built on top of an old town.”
“Neat,” he replied. “But I expect that’s more common than we think.”
“Yep, I had no idea about that history. I guess that’s why we’re retaking our history class.” She stopped when the wall ended sharply.
“Ha! You can say that again. So, that’s it? Nothing down here.”
She walked back and checked out one of the rooms. Down here, none of them were locked. “Not exactly. Don’t you think it’s odd that there are so many empty rooms?” She looked around at the third one, also empty.
He shrugged. “The casino is new. They haven’t filled them up yet.”
She walked into one of the rooms and looked around. “Isn’t this odd? There is a drain in the floor.”
“That’s not unusual. It rains a lot in Portland and there is a lot of moisture.”
“I guess,” she said, walking around. “But there are sprinklers installed on the ceiling to protect against fire, and smoke detectors. And, what are these on the walls?”
“Oh, I have no idea,” he said, thinking. “They look like those loops they have in medieval jail cells to lock prisoners up with chains.”
“That’s weird,” said Charlie. “I wonder if this was some sort of prison in the past, or something.” She looked more closely. “They do look old. It’s like someone painted them over with white paint.”
“Too much trouble to remove then?” asked Owen.
“I guess so. OK, let me snap some photos to show Stewart tomorrow.”
“Good plan,” he said, watching.
They headed back to the stairwell and were certain the door was closed and locked behind them.
“That was creepy,” said Owen, following her up the stairs.
“Yep,” she said. “Oh, I just got a text from Stewart. He says we need to be certain we are both scheduled to work on Friday night. Oh, and I’ll send him those photos for him to look at.” She fiddled with her phone, and then put it away.
“Got it,” said Owen. “I’m checking the work app right now and can get our names in for that. Should be simple. No one ever wants to work a Friday night shift. Ah, look! I was right. There are two people wanting to trade.”
“Great,” she said, exiting into the main part of the casino. “Let’s try not to look too bored as we finish our shift tonight.”
Chapter 13
________________________________________
“So, apparently Rina Orzola has partnered up with a lawyer to fight the confiscation of her brother’s property,” said Jay.
“Here’s your beer,” said Stewart, handing him a can.
“Thanks,” said Jay. “It seems like I am always working and I rarely get to wind down nowadays.”
“Does she have a case?” asked Stewart.
Jay shrugged. “It depends. It’s unfortunate that Lieutenant Latrofa infected Ray and now he has disappeared somewhere. It’s possible she could win her case, unless we can find Ray first.”
“I wish the bad guys wouldn’t keep on getting killed,” said Stewart, frowning. “It seems we learn a little bit, then someone gets killed, and we’re back where we started.”
Jay made a small sound. “Tell me about it. My dad worked Chicago in the olden days. He went around in circles with the gangs all the time.”
“OK, so, we need to get closer to Rina then,” said Stewart.
“Yes, but she knows who I am. But you, you’ve already proven to be a customer of the casino.” He looked at him and smiled.
“I suppose I can befriend her and give it a try,” said Stewart.
Then they both burst out laughing.
“Oh, before I forget,” said Stewart, “I want you to check these photos. Can you tell me if this was a prison in the past?”
Jay grabbed his phone and flicked through the photos. “Hey! This looks like the old Portland prison. Were these taken from under the casino?”
He nodded. “Yep, Charlie took them. Isn’t it odd they built a casino over a landmark?”
Jay grimaced. “I’ll bet Jane got paid off for it. It must have been one sweet deal to build on top of a landmark, and to approve the land use for a casino. It’s particularly frustrating because it should have been an official historic site protected by the law. But last time I checked, Jane doesn’t exactly play by the rules.”
“I see. Another mark against the mayor then.” Stewart texted back to Charlie about the history of the region, and assured her that the casino basement wasn’t suspicious.
Jay nodded. “She’s always into something.”
Jay hung around for a bit longer, but then there was a buzz from the intercom telephone. “OK. That’s the kids. I’d better get going.”
“That’s fine. If anything comes up, we’ll let each other know.”
Stewart held the door open for him, while the teens headed down the hall. Hellos were exchanged, and then they headed inside.
Everyone got settled, while Stewart handed out drinks.
“Well, things are moving along rather quickly,” he said. “Jay just gave me some valuable information that Rina Orzola has been involved in a money laundering scheme in the past. She had her employees’ names on the records, so was never convicted, and not enough evidence was proven to convict the employees.”
“Money laundering?” Zan asked. “Like, for money that was collected through illicit means?”
Stewart nodded. “Yep. And it can’t be a coincidence that she has opened a supposedly legal casino with the money she has made in the past.”
“So, she’s been running illegal gambling jobs up to now?” asked Owen.
Stewart nodded.
“I don’t understand,” said Charlie. “We are pledged as zlayers,” she looked at Owen, “sorry, and ayers, s
o we don’t care about money. Why are we discussing this?”
“True,” replied Stewart. “But she may be playing a part in this zombie mess.”
Owen finished off his soda.
“Another one?” asked Stewart, handing him one from the ice bucket.
“Sure, thanks. Oh, so Rina could be part of the zombie gang,” Owen added. “But how are we going to get close enough to her? She’s not going to hang out with workers at a casino.”
Stewart chuckled. “Well, I thought you guys would enjoy having jobs.”
They shrugged.
“Gee, Stewart, it kind of cuts into our investigations and our schoolwork,” said Charlie.
He had a silent chuckle. “OK, then I’m going undercover,” he said. “We need to get to the root of the problem. This has been going on since at least the spring, if not longer.”
“Well, Portland has had zombies since last fall,” said Owen, correcting him.
“Yes, but those ones had nothing to do with the zombie gang,” said Stewart. “That was a normal zombie outbreak. This second outbreak is directly caused by humans, not magical creatures.”
“So, what are you going to do?” asked Zan.
“Well, rumor has it that Rina has broken up with her husband of fifteen years.” He paused.
The teens looked at each other. Rina was a high roller with expensive taste, which was the complete opposite of Stewart. He was a simple guy, who frowned upon breaking the law.
“No way!” said Owen.
Zan chuckled. “Come on, Stewart. You give off vibes that you are a goody two-shoes. She’s not going to believe it.”
“Oh, come on. I can pass for a bad boy,” said Stewart. “I’ll charm the information right out of her.”
Zan, Charlie, and Owen all looked at each other and had a really good laugh.
Stewart looked at them in chagrin. “OK, fine,” he admitted. “Maybe you can give me some tips.”
Zan laughed a bit too loudly, and then Charlie nudged her with her arm. “For one, ditch that pink shirt. Bad boys don’t wear pink.”
Stewart looked down at his shirt. “Why, I’ll have you know it’s my fave color.”
“I think my dad can lend you some blue shirts, if you want,” said Owen.
“Fine. I do need you guys. Owen, drop those shirts off tomorrow before we head to the casino. And Zan? Charlie? What else?”
“For one, don’t be so nice,” said Zan.
“What?” Stewart answered. “Fine.”
“Oh, and don’t be so agreeable,” suggested Charlie.
“Sure, OK. I got it,” he answered.
“So, does that mean I have no date on Friday night?” said Zan in a dejected tone of voice.
“We can go together, then have a fight,” said Stewart. “That may draw attention to security, and they’ll notify the owner, who is Rina in this case. In my experience, casino owners always work the show.”
“Either that, or you’ve been watching too much TV,” said Owen.
“OK, so, we’ll have a fight. Good. Same as always,” said Zan.
Charlie shook her head and rolled her eyes. “What is zombie slaying coming to?”
“I can even get Jay there,” said Stewart. “Perhaps he can go with Jane.”
Zan laughed. “I think they broke up. Besides, she’ll probably be there anyway.”
“Oh,” said Charlie, now they were on a roll with the jokes. “And I can invite that Paulo guy, since he’s a bit suspicious too.”
Everyone burst into laughter and Stewart went with it. Things would become very serious. By their records, someone was about to die, and he hoped it wouldn’t be a member of his team. Already, Charlie’s life and Owen’s life had been in jeopardy. He knew Zan not only had been bitten and survived with the help of magic, but also had suffered a trauma long ago, before they had even met.
So, for just one night, they goofed off and had fun, and spent the rest of the evening avoiding talk about ayer duties.
zzz
“You want to what?” Jane asked over the telephone.
“They’re having a Zombie Party at the casino on Friday night,” explained Sergeant Bourne, while he had a guy sprawled out over the trunk of his unmarked police car.
“Really?” she cried. “Are you serious?”
“Yep, more Portland weirdness,” he said.
“Hey, man! Can I stand up?” asked his prisoner.
Jay let him stand up. The guy had handcuffs on his wrists, behind his back.
“Don’t go anywhere!” said Sergeant Bourne. “Besides, I know where you live.”
“Nooo!” he wailed. “You can’t tell my mother!”
“What on earth are you doing to that poor guy?” asked Jane on the other end of the telephone.
“Arresting him for dealing, what else?”
She made a small sound.
“So, you balance that budget yet?” he asked.
“Ha-ha, very funny. You know there are other people on the council besides me, right? If you think someone is embezzling funds, it could be anyone. It could even be my assistant.”
“Nah, I’m not concerned about money. That case is closed.”
“Really?” she asked.
“Well, maybe not for others at the station, but you know my job is always to snoop around. Right now, the zombie gang seems to be alive and well.”
“Right. I heard about Mr. Warcola’s wife. How crazy was that? I heard she was more difficult to kill than your average zombie.”
“That’s right, and I have no idea how he did it. I went back later to find out, but the spell book he’d stolen from one of the second hand shops here had been burnt to a crisp. I think he’s learned his lesson. With luck, no one else in Portland knows that spell.”
“So, you want me to go with you to this party?” she asked.
“Yep,” he said. “It’ll be fun.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Just think, when all the zombies come out, it’ll be a free for all!”
She sighed. “OK, I’ll go with you. But if there aren’t any zombies, I’m going home.”
“Fair enough,” he replied. They made plans to meet on Friday.
Chapter 14
________________________________________
Zan and Charlie were seated on her bed. Zan held a powder palette in her hand and was lightly brushing color onto Charlie’s face.
“Don’t put on too much. I want to look older but not old.”
“Relax. I know what I’m doing,” said Zan.
“I hope you aren’t jealous that I’m going with Owen,” said Charlie.
“Nah, go for it,” she said, giggling.
“OK, but that’s not what I meant,” said Charlie, grabbing a mirror to check her face. “Hey! Good job!” she said.
“I know,” said Zan. “Remember that we’re going to the big prom together at the end of the school year.”
Charlie smiled. “That’s cool. I don’t even have a date.”
Zan shrugged. “What about that Paulo guy?”
Charlie grimaced. “Something is up with him. I don’t know if he’s a zombie gang spy, or just super concerned about me. But I don’t like guys fawning over me. I can look after myself.”
Zan laughed, and laughed again. “He has no idea!”
Charlie smiled and laughed too. “OK, so, hair next?”
“Yep.” Zan grabbed a brush and hairspray. “Seriously, when was the last time you went to a salon to have your hair cut?”
“Why? What’s wrong with it? Gran trims it for me.”
Zan decided to keep her mouth shut.
zzz
“You look great!” said Owen, as they drove to the casino.
“Thanks. You clean up well too,” said Charlie.
“Too bad we have to work the gig,” he said.
“Well, I’d like to take a look at the basement again,” said Charlie.
“Yeah, that was weird.”
As he parked the car,
they saw Stewart and Zan drive up, and then Jay and Jane.
“Hey, Jay and Jane. Their names go together,” said Charlie.
“That’s funny. I thought they had broken up?”
Charlie got out of the car. “I think it’s one of those, it’s complicated things.”
“Great.”
Charlie and Owen went on ahead of the others. They didn’t want it to appear that they knew each other, so each couple ignored the others, like they were strangers.
Charlie and Owen headed to the staff rooms to get changed into their uniforms.
Once Charlie was changed, she looked in the mirror. She thought the hair and makeup might have been overdoing it a bit, but she had received a notice from their supervisor that everyone was expected to look polished for this special event.
“Probably so we’re tastier for the zombies,” she muttered to herself. She patted her back, where she’d hid her dagger in a special holster.
Soon it was time to work the floor. Tonight, she and Owen handed out glasses of champagne and chocolates. The event was by ticket only, and the people who were there had paid a large amount of cash for entry. Even many of the table games were free, with some token prizes. But they still kept the bigger tables open for play.
Charlie walked past one table and heard a bid of one hundred thousand dollars. She was fairly certain that wasn’t legal in Portland but just smiled and offered the players glasses of champagne. She discreetly sniffed the wine. It was much higher quality than the cheap sparkling wine they regularly served.
She watched as Zan and Stewart worked the room. They chatted with many of the other guests. Rina Orzola was on one side of the room. Stewart and Zan were trying to make their way over there, but there were too many people in the way.
Charlie was beginning to wonder where the zombies were. But then she saw what they were doing. She and Owen weren’t a part of this, but she watched as some of the other casino workers slowly devolved.
One minute the poker dealer looked normal, the next, she’d torn a piece of skin off her arm to reveal blood and bone beneath. Another blackjack dealer lost bits of his hair. Blood magically appeared on uniforms.