Handbags & Hooligans

by Laina Turner

  “No, he didn’t,” Jared answered for me, knowing that I wasn’t very happy.

  “Where did she work? As a stripper I mean, not the school.”

  “The Pink Pony. Presley and Anna are working there right now, too, to try and find out information.”

  I wasn’t sure what Jordan had been expecting for an answer, but he obviously wasn’t expecting that. The look on his face was one of surprise and mild shock. “I know that place. What’s this girlfriend’s name?”

  “Ashley, Ashley Griffiths,” I answered. Even though I wasn’t happy that Jared spilled the family secrets so to speak, I was now curious as to why Jordan reacted the way he did, and since he had most of the information already, what was a little more? Plus, he lived in Vegas; maybe he could be helpful.

  “Oh my. Oh my,” Jordan took a healthy swig of wine and slumped back in his chair, visibly shaken.

  Jared and I look at each other. “Did you know her or something?”

  “Yeah. Yeah I do. Lovely girl. You say she’s missing? Since when?”

  I didn’t think I could have been any more surprised. Vegas wasn’t a small town geographically or people–wise, but it indeed was a small town. Six degrees of separation truly existed.

  “What?” Jared exclaimed. He looked at me again and then back to Jordan shaking his head. “Really? You know her? How?”

  I was glad he was asking all the questions that I was thinking, because I was too paralyzed with shock to ask. But I sure as hell wanted to know the answer. This could be our big break.

  “The entertainment community is a small one. I met her several months back when she and some of the other girls came to Freezone to catch a show. Afterwards they stayed around to talk to us, and we all hit it off, so went out a few more times. She’s a good gal with great taste in clothes.”

  “Maybe you could help us find her. I mean, if you knew her and the places she might have frequented, maybe there are people we could talk to that could steer us in the right direction,” Jared said.

  “Yeah, none of the girls who worked at The Pink Pony have been very forthcoming,” I said.

  “She didn’t seem to be friends with them as much as she just seemed to hang out. I remember last time we were all together she asked a lot of questions about the big guns in town.”

  “What? I don’t understand what you mean.” I said.

  “You know, the powers that be who run the majority of things legal and illegal here.”

  “Was Benigni one of them?”

  “Of course. He’s one of the biggest players now that Garrison is in the pokey.”

  “What other kind of questions did she ask?” I said eagerly.

  “Nothing else really. Just that”

  “Could you help us ask around and see if anyone has heard from her?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Want to go now?”

  My eyebrows lifted. “But…” I looked at my watch and saw it was close to three thirty in the morning.

  Jordan laughed. “Honey, bars here never close, and I know where all the after–shift hang outs are.”

  “I’m not sure I can drag myself anywhere else right now.”

  “C’mon, Pres, we can grab a cup of coffee, and you’ll be as good as new,” Anna said.

  “Okay, fine,” I said, dragging myself to my feet.

  “Just think of Ashley,” Jared said.

  Jordan put his arm around me. “Don’t worry, Pres, there’s a Starbucks on the way.”

  After a few sips of my five shot venti latte, I was starting to perk up. We were in Jordan’s SUV headed to a diner down from the Lux, aptly called After Party. It was a typical greasy spoon, and it was packed. We walked in, and people from all over the restaurant started saying hi to Jordan. He led us to a table full of people who all scooted over to make room for us.

  “Hey, Jordan, I thought you were off on Sundays?” one of the guys at the table asked. “What brings you out here?”

  “These are my friends — Jared, Presley and Anna.”

  There was a chorus of hellos from around the table as we sat down.

  “They’re looking for information on Ashley Griffith. You know, she works at The Pink Pony and came in here a lot with Trixie and Pam.

  “Oh yeah, the blonde schoolteacher,” one of the guys said.

  “Why are you looking for her?” a suspicious looking brunette asked. She was dressed in Juicy Couture sweat pants in royal blue. I had the same ones in green.

  “She’s my brother’s girlfriend,” I spoke up.

  “Jesse?”

  “Yep, and he’s really worried about her because she disappeared, and he hasn’t seen her since Thursday morning.”

  “Oh no, we haven’t seen her since last weekend, and she seemed fine then. But, if we hear anything we will definitely let you know. Do you have a number where you can be reached at?”

  I grabbed a napkin to write down my cell and gave it to the girl who introduced herself as Julie.

  We hung out at the After Party for a while, and then Jordan took us to a few more clubs and introduced us to the regulars. Unfortunately, we were met with the same response almost everywhere. Everyone was friendly, and many at least knew of Ashley and were concerned. I didn’t get the sense anyone knew anything they were hiding. It was almost six in the morning when we decided to call it a night. My espresso shots and the Red Bull I picked up before the last place were wearing off. I was so exhausted and my feet were numb. Everyone else was exhausted by this point, too. We went back to the hotel to sleep, though I questioned how much we would get, since it was daytime. Not great for me, since I was one of those people who didn’t function too well without sleep.

  Chapter 14

  Jess, we’re going with you, and that’s final.”

  “But, Presley, I think the less you are involved the better.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen. Simon said he would to be there, and even if I question his taste in women in this town, according to Cooper he can be trusted. And Cooper would never put us in harm’s way.”

  That night was the opening of the poker tournament, and even though it was strictly exhibition, the previous evening when Jesse was working, Benigni had sent some of his boys over to once again try and persuade my brother he needed to work with them. Simon had called to talk to Jesse and told him not to worry, that he would be around to make sure nothing happened. He said he had spoke to Bud just to let him know what was going on. I wasn’t sure why he would need to speak to Bud, but he seemed like a decent guy who also had Jesse’s back. Jesse was still worried, but not so much about himself as everyone around him. We just had to find her.

  “So, I don’t understand why Benigni wants you to fix the game,” I asked Jesse. “Is it even possible to do that? It seems like there are a lot of controls in place to keep things on the up–and–up?”

  “His brother is in the tournament, and I’m assuming he doesn’t want to take the chance he will win legitimately, because that’s also taking the chance he will lose legitimately. Benigni would rather ensure there isn’t any way he will lose.”

  “Why wouldn’t his brother want real competition? Isn’t that the whole purpose of the tournament? To prove you’re the best? If you don’t have a real competition, then it’s all fake.”

  “My guess is the money. The pot is something like ten million dollars to the first place player. Even to someone who has money, that’s a lot.”

  “Holy crap. I can see why this is such a big deal, then. I didn’t realize the magnitude of it. Too bad I don’t know how to play poker.”

  “Well, this is Vegas after all. Everything here is done on a grand scale. You should see the fierce competition for the Rochambeau contest.”

  “The what?”

  “Rochambeau. You know rocks, paper, scissors.”

  “They have a tournament for that?” I asked incredulously.

  “They have tournaments here for everything.”

  “How are you supposed to fix the game
without getting caught?”

  “Good question. The getting caught part is the problem, not that I would do it anyway because I don’t think it’s possible. But what they want me to do is manipulate the cards so their guy gets the ones that will give him an edge to win. The Pit Boss watches for things like that on a regular table. At events like these it’s even more scrutinized. Not to mention, there are cameras watching the dealer’s every move. It’s virtually impossible to cheat. You’d have to be a much better dealer than me to do it successfully.”

  “Then why do they think you can do it?”

  “I’m not sure they do. Maybe they want me to get caught.”

  “Why would they want that? What have you done to them?”

  “It’s because they know I’m on Bud’s side, and it’s basically a turf thing here.”

  We drove in silence to the casino, which was quite a feat for Jared, who never liked being quiet. He was busy thinking about Jordan, I supposed. He was in love, which for him would last all of a few weeks. He didn’t have a very long attention span.

  “What are you guys planning on doing when you’re hanging out? You can’t just hang out by my table all night. It will look weird, plus it will freak out all the people at my table and anyone watching. These guys are professionals. They’ll get paranoid, and paranoid tough guys aren’t a good thing.”

  “Jared and I will just go gamble ourselves. It’ll be fun. Maybe we’ll win a ton of money.”

  “Ha!” Jared said. “With your luck? I think not.”

  “You never know, my luck could change. Maybe I could win enough to pay off my credit cards. ”

  “I’m not sure there’s enough money in this casino to pay off your credit card debt. What do you think, Jesse?”

  “Hmmmm, for her credit card debt? Probably not”

  “Stop it, jerks. I can’t help it if beautiful things just call my name.”

  “Besides, it’s you men who put the pressure on us women to always look amazing,” Anna said. “We can’t look amazing without spending money.”

  “No, it’s called having no willpower,” Jared said.

  “There’s something about being in a casino that is surreal, don’t you think?” I said to Jared and Anna as we walked around. Jesse had split off from us to go change and do his thing. The rest of us were just taking in the atmosphere and people watching.

  Jared looked at me strangely.

  “I just meant that there’s no sense of night or day in here, and the lights and the noise just make it seem, I don’t know, like it’s timeless. Time is standing still. I don’t know. Never mind. It gives me energy.”

  “The energy boost probably comes from the oxygen they pump into the place to keep people awake.”

  “They really do that?”

  “That’s what I’ve heard. They want to keep people alert and gambling.”

  “True. I wonder what all these people do for a living. Are they here on a vacation and just see gambling as entertainment, or do they hope to make a ton of money off a quarter in the slots?”

  “I don’t know, but it amazes me that in such a bad economy, there are still so many people who are willing to just put money in a machine with the hope they might get money back. At least when I buy shoes I’m getting something tangible for my money.”

  “Pres, I’m sure that these folks can rationalize their spending just like you can.”

  I gave him a dirty look but refrained from saying anything, because he was right, and who was I to argue? We got out of the slot area and into the tables. There were so many of them, and almost all were in use. How were we ever supposed to find Jesse’s table amidst all these?

  “Come on,” I said, “let’s go find where Jesse is. I know he doesn’t want us to hang out, but we can at least go see him for a minute. Make him worry we’ll be watching. Besides, I’m really interested in seeing him in action.”

  “That’s not very nice, Pres, hassling that poor kid,” Jared said.

  “Since when did you worry about that? Besides, he’s my brother. He doesn’t expect me to be nice.”

  “Over this way, Pres. I see a sign that says poker tables, so he must be over this way.”

  We finally got through the maze of tables to Jesse’s. The casino officials had the tournament tables roped off. Because of it being the tournament’s first official day, there were a lot of people watching, so it was hard to get close enough to see anything going on at the tables. We finally pushed our way through, not making friends in the process, but I didn’t care. Jared, Anna, and I were up to the rope and finally we could see Jesse. He was in two tables deep, so he wasn’t close enough to talk to, although that was probably against the rules anyways. But I could still see what was going on.

  “Here to keep an eye on baby brother?” a familiar voice behind me asked.

  I whipped around. “Simon! What are you doing here?” Simon didn’t look as menacing as usual; he actually looked fairly normal. Or maybe I was just getting used to him.

  “Doing Cooper a favor, and trying to keep Jesse out of trouble and the bad element out of my casino,” he replied, rolling a toothpick around in his mouth.

  “Is it working?” I asked.

  “Is what working?”

  “Keeping Jesse out of trouble?”

  “I think so.”

  “You think so? Is that really the best you can do, Simon?” I raised my eyebrows. I was being somewhat sarcastic and was interested in seeing how Simon took it. He wasn’t the most jovial person around.

  Simon looked at me, and at one time I would have been intimidated, but now I was secure in the fact that he would never hurt me, even if it was strictly out of respect for Cooper. It made things much more fun, for me anyway.

  “I’ve got it under control, Presley.”

  “Did you talk to those guys? Did they say they would leave him alone? Or are you just waiting for them to show up, see you, and be intimidated?”

  “Nice to see you’re as annoying as usual,” Simon said dryly. “If it makes you feel better, I made a few calls and let Benigni know that he needed to back off. I’m here to make sure he and his boys got the message.”

  “And if they didn’t?”

  “That’s why I’m here. If need be, I will pay a personal visit. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  While Simon really was one of the good guys, he had been in the world of not-so-good for a long time, and he knew how things worked. More importantly, he knew how to make things happen. I got the feeling Simon wouldn’t have a problem bending the rules a little if it meant the end result was what was needed. And I didn’t disagree. Sometimes living in the gray area was necessary. Something Cooper didn’t really agree with, but somehow it didn’t bother him that Simon was that way. They had been friends for years, since their military days.

  “Is Helen here with you?”

  “No. She doesn’t really like the casinos much. Unless, it’s to shop or go to the spa.”

  I had run out of questions and Simon wasn’t exactly a chatty Cathy, so we stood there in silence watching the tournament start. I was enthralled by the game. I watched Jesse dealing and found it interesting that so much transpired without anyone saying a word. I hadn’t given much credence to Jesse’s newfound profession, but this actually seemed to take skill. I didn’t think it was something I could do. Math was not my strong suit. I could barely add two plus two without a calculator, and it seemed that to be good at this game it was crucial to have a comfort level with numbers and be able to keep track of where the cards were at all times.

  I was somewhat distracted by what I was watching, but not distracted enough to not notice that Simon all of sudden went from being relaxed, much like all the other spectators, to tense and visibly on edge.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  “Benigni’s guys are here. Guess my message wasn’t clear enough.”

  I looked around—not that I would recognize Benigni’s guys if I saw them—and Simon w
as too good to give away their location by his actions, but as I turned my attention back to Jesse, I saw his demeanor change. He must have noticed them, too. He kept looking to his right, so I looked over to where Jesse kept glancing and saw two fairly normal looking guys. Much like Simon, they seemed like regular spectators.

  One of the guys noticed me checking him out. He looked at me and noticed Simon next to me. He elbowed the guy next to him, who then looked over. We locked eyes, and I could tell he and his buddy knew who I was. I felt myself shiver but couldn’t look away. Didn’t want to look away. I didn’t want him to think I was anything but confident that he meant nothing and was harmless. So I raised my hand and gave a little wave. Still nothing. These guys were stoic.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Simon said to me and Jared.

  “What? But those guys. They’re here to watch Jesse. We can’t just leave.”

  “Presley, don’t be a pain. They can’t do anything when he’s in the pit. He’ll be fine. There’s someone I need to go see, and I don’t want you two hanging out here. Besides, let them think we don’t care. Us leaving will make them wonder.”

  “I think that’s a good idea, Pres,” Jared said. “I don’t want to hang around with those guys here. They’re creepy.”

  “You’d better be right that they can’t bother Jesse,” I grumbled.

  “Trust me. He’s fine. I want you two to get out of here.”

  “We’re not leaving.”

  “Presley, he will be fine,” Simon said. “I need to make a couple of phone calls. If it makes you feel better, I will send one of my guys, and then I’ll go back to the pit and keep an eye on him. I just don’t need to worry about you at the same time.”

  “Since when did you need to worry about me?”

  “Since Cooper told me too. Now go!”

  “What?” I exclaimed.

  “Presley, let’s go,” Anna said. “It’s almost time for us to go back to The Pink Pony.”

  “I heard about that. The Pink Pony?” Simon said cracking a smile. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  “Shut up. There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

  “I’m sure. Now go on and get out of here.”