Las Vegas

by Sheila Horgan

  “Good. I’ve figured out a way to get it back to Amy without anyone being the wiser.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Tell you all about it outside.”

  They tried not to look behind them to see if they were being followed. Instead they walked down to the drugstore to get gel inserts for their shoes. Then they hit a shopping center and wandered around for a bit.

  They found a Disney store and went in. In no time, a number of lovely toys for Amy’s son and the children she cares for at night were being delivered to Amy’s house. In that large box of toys was her notebook wrapped up as another toy.

  Las Vegas is still one of those few places that actually understand the concept of customer service. Everyone is friendly. Everyone is helpful. And you can arrange for just about anything you need. Usually it isn’t very expensive, and it is done quickly and courteously.

  As they were walking back down the mall Anna turned to Adeline and asked, “How did you think of that?”

  “Actually, I was thinking about finding some place to house the notebook where she could come pick it up at her convenience. I remembered Gaston telling me once that it is a common practice for people to make their flight arrangements so that they have a layover in Las Vegas for several hours so they can jump in a cab and come to the strip. That leaves the complication of luggage. The casinos are wise. They don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to win a loyal customer, so virtually any hotel will accept your luggage and store it for free while you spend your day on the strip. For the price of a tip, your baggage is secure. It was my initial plan to buy a small piece of luggage and leave it at one of the casinos for Amy to pick up, but that plan seemed awkward and suspicious. I figured that if anyone were to ask about us sending toys for the children, what is more natural than a bunch of harmless old grandmas sending toys to the friend of one of their grandchild’s little one?

  “It’s a good plan, and it has the added benefit of doing something nice for that beautiful little boy and his friends.”

  Adeline demurred. “It’s really such a small thing.”

  Anna reminded her, “It’s the small things that mean the most when you are in a situation like hers.”

  “You sound like a woman with wisdom borne of experience.”

  “Not really. I just remember what it was like to be scared and alone.” Anna seemed to focus on her toes.

  Carolyn reached toward her. “I’m sorry you ever felt that way.”

  “It’s not as bad as you are thinking. You want an ice cream?”

  Carolyn and Adeline looked at each other. Neither of them wanted an ice cream. They answered at the same time. “Love one.” “Sure.”

  They stopped at a little place, ordered their tiny cups of gelato with flat, red plastic spoons and sat at a little table in the mall.

  Anna started to explain her previous comment without being prompted. “When my husband and I were young, we moved away. He had a job offer. A good one. He was a smart man, and any company would have been blessed to have him, but jobs were hard for us to come by back then. Kids today whine about being oppressed; they have no clue how much better it is for them and how much better it was for us than it was for our parents.”

  Carolyn started to apologize for the circumstance that Anna and her husband survived, but Anna interrupted her. “You weren’t there. It had nothing to do with you. You have never treated me any different than any other woman. You have nothing to apologize for.”

  Carolyn took a breath and settled back in her chair.

  Anna continued. “Anyway, the job took us away. Away from family. Away from what we had known all our lives. I lived my whole life in a five-block radius before we left. Other than a long bus ride once to see my grandmother in the county hospital, I’d never been more than five blocks from my parents’ little saltbox house. Can you imagine that?”

  Carolyn smiled. “Times sure have changed. To be born, raised, and die in the same neighborhood was the norm not all that long ago.”

  “That’s so true. I don’t know how many generations of my family lived in that old house. It had two small bedrooms upstairs, in the front like they have, and there was this long roof, came almost to the floor in the back. My brothers slept at the very end. They couldn’t stand up in there when they were children. It was comical when they were men. But my mother, every morning of our lives, from the time we could join the family at the table until we married and had homes of our own, every morning she was at that stove at five o’clock, fixin’ a proper breakfast. She had our clothes ironed and set aside. Our socks were darned, and our shoes were shiny. We didn’t have much, but what we had, my mother cared for to the very best of her ability. I know the woman worked hard, but never once did I hear her complain. Not about anything. When her sister’s husband was killed in an industrial accident, my parents, God bless them, took her and her kids in without ever saying a word. They told anybody that would listen that they were just blessed to have family around.”

  “Your parents sound like truly amazing people.”

  “They were. Thank you. Anyway, we married and moved out of town, and it was about a year later that I fell pregnant the first time. My husband was on the road by then. They used to call them traveling salesmen. They had to visit their clients back then. No video conferencing. We were so excited. Surprised it took so long for us to start a family, really. My husband was away when I lost that first baby. I was standing outside on the driveway, and everything just went wrong. All I could do was scream. My next door neighbor’s son came to help. He was in his late teens and embarrassed as the day is long, seeing me, a pretty little thing back then, hemorrhaging like that. He picked me up and carried me into the house, screaming for his mama the whole time. Back in those days there wasn’t a lot anyone could do, and my doctor said to just wait it out. Lookin’ back, I damn near bled to death. It was three and a half weeks later, when my husband got home, that I had to break the news to him. He was devastated. Not only for the loss of our baby, but for not being there for me. He swore that he’d find a different job and never leave my side again.”

  Anna stared off into space, her gelato melting, not noticing the looks Adeline and Carolyn exchanged.

  “Of course, it didn’t work out that way. He was on the road when I found out I was pregnant about a year later. He was on the road when I lost that one too. In church of all places.” Anna shook her head.

  “And every time I was alone. It’s not good to go through that kind of thing alone. You shouldn’t have to be alone when times are hard.”

  Carolyn found herself holding Anna’s hand. “I’m sorry, Anna. I’m sorry that you went through it at all, and very sorry that you went through it with your husband out on the road.”

  “I had it better than most. My husband and I were always together, even though he was on the road, you know what I mean? He was my best friend. He supported me in anything I wanted to do in life. When we had all those health problems, he was willing to give up his job and move back home, just so I would be happy. The man loved me. He was a good man.”

  Adeline was steadfast. “He certainly was.”

  “Okay, now we can throw away this ice cream — it’s all melted anyway — and get along with our day. I’m sorry to bring down the mood. For some reason I just needed to tell you girls that.”

  They say with age comes wisdom. Maybe that’s why Carolyn and Adeline didn’t feel the need to share stories of their own. To compare and contrast their lives. To get into a competition, no matter how harmless it seemed.

  A lesson most don’t learn until they’ve been around a while.

  One person’s experiences don’t negate or calibrate anyone else’s experiences.

  No reason to even bring them up at a time like this.

  They were in front of a hair extension boutique when Adeline hissed, “That woman is behind us. Don’t look. She is all the way back at the tattoo place.”

  Anna laughed. “Maybe we should get a tatto
o. That will give her something to report to whoever she is reporting to.”

  “Wouldn’t that be funny?” Carolyn’s tone didn’t match her comment. She sounded completely uninterested.

  “Is his handsomeness back there somewhere?”

  “Probably, but I don’t see him. What should we do?”

  Anna leaned in. “I think we should make them earn their money. Let’s split up and come back together. Remember that movie where Whoopi was a nun and they all end up in a casino in Reno? We should make like the nuns.”

  Carolyn smiled. “If I recall, Whoopi ended up in front of a guy with a gun.”

  “Yeah, but she was going to end up like that long before they were racing around the casino.”

  “Is that me?” Adeline reached in her purse to get her phone. She mouthed Gaston to the girls. They found a bench and sat down.

  Adeline’s side of the conversation was filled with “uh-huh” and “yes, I see.”

  When she disconnected, she smiled broadly and asked the girls if they’d like to join her for lunch. They’d seen a little Italian restaurant back about a third of the way down the mall. It seemed quiet enough for them to be able to talk, and there were windows everywhere so that they could watch their watchers.

  Anna laughed. “Since we are walking about twenty miles a day, a little more food shouldn’t hurt.”

  Adeline shook her head. “I’m sorry that all we’ve done in this town is eat and wander. That was not my intent for this vacation.”

  “I got us all involved in Amy’s business. That didn’t help.”

  Adeline sighed. “Well, it seems that I have reason to believe that those following us are my burden, but we will discuss that over lunch. Shall we?”

  They were seated in a little fenced-off area that was technically part of the mall. The designers were probably trying to give their clients the feel of dining alfresco, which was ridiculous as they were actually indoors and far from a sophisticated experience, but the area served their purposes.

  Anna put her napkin in her lap. “So, what did Gaston say?”

  “He was quite informative. It is interesting how fast information can change hands in this day and age.”

  Carolyn smiled. “When a young man sees his entire future implode before his eyes, I can imagine he has some serious motivation to get the job done.”

  “Good point. What did Gaston say? Any news?”

  “Well, our female follower is indeed a private detective. Gaston was given a lot of information by the hotel and then had his people follow up on it. I’m quite certain that he was well aware of most of that information before my demands, but I will address the timeline later.”

  Anna scooted her chair a little closer to the table. “Yeah, if his handsomeness is one of Gaston’s guys, you can bet that he reported back as soon as he saw that Lori was following us.”

  “Precisely. At any rate, what we now know is that Lori was hired to follow me.”

  Carolyn’s eyebrows rose. “You?”

  “Me.”

  “Why you?”

  “I’ve told you of my children, the older ones. They are having me watched. Turns out they have been having me watched for some time now.”

  Carolyn felt like she was repeating herself. “Why would they do that?”

  “Better question is why, if they knew you were poorly, did they do nothing about it?”

  “As much as it pains me to say so, my guess is they were waiting for me to die, hopefully soon, or they were hoping they could prove me to be incompetent so that they could step in and become conservators of my estate.”

  Carolyn shook her head. “They could do that?”

  “They could certainly try.”

  Anna hissed, “That’s just nasty.”

  “That is a very appropriate description.”

  Carolyn arranged her silverware for a moment to give herself time to calm down. “So is Gaston going to do some type of cease and desist?”

  “No. He said he could probably assert some type of harassment, but even if we stopped Lori, they would just hire someone else to put in her place.”

  She tended to her fork again. “What about stalking laws?”

  “I’m sure if there is any legal way to stop them, Gaston and company will think of it.”

  Anna stared in middle space. She couldn’t look Adeline in the eye. “I have a question, and please don’t be offended.”

  “Certainly. What is it?”

  “How did they know you were here?”

  “What?”

  “Well, this Lori person is local, isn’t she?”

  “I believe so.”

  Carolyn understood the question immediately. “So that means that your children knew that you would be here at this time. We are only here for three days. How did they know when you would be here? Did you tell them?”

  “That is a very good point. No, I did not. I haven’t spoken to them in some time.”

  Anna shook her head. “You gotta wonder if they were watching you in Florida. Following you from the hospital to Carolyn’s place. Then maybe the airport? That doesn’t sound right.”

  Adeline ran her finger around the rim of her glass. It didn’t sing like the fine crystal she was accustomed to. She didn’t seem to notice. “Let me think. Cara knows about our plans. She did some research for me. I can’t imagine that she would say anything to anyone.”

  “I can vouch for that. She didn’t even tell A.J. When he wanted the details about our adventure she told him to call me and ask, said it wasn’t her place to say anything.”

  “Remind me to give that girl a bonus. My doctors are aware, but again I can’t imagine them giving out privileged information.”

  Anna seemed anxious for an answer. “Can you think of anyone else?”

  “I’ll give it thought. That was a good catch, Anna. Thank you.”

  “No problem. I don’t want it to be any harder on you. I can’t imagine going through this type of thing. Of course, other than my slightly lazy grandnephew, no one in my family has the slightest interest in anything of mine. The only reason he cares is because I have most of his material possessions held hostage in my garage until I get back.”

  Adeline smiled a very sad smile. “I find it to be a very large leap to think that my children, cloistered in their elitist coterie, would approach your grandnephew.”

  “Your children in their who, what?”

  “Their annoying little group of elitist friends. All to the manor born. All worth their weight in — what is dust going for these days?”

  The ladies laughed.

  Anna took charge, again. “Okay. So we know Lori is a bad guy and that his handsomeness is a good guy even if he was hired under questionable judgment, so who is the other guy?”

  “His handsomeness is looking into that. I should know…” Adeline’s ears perked at the tone from her phone. She dug in her purse and found it while it was still ringing.

  After several minutes of “uh-huh” and “I see” and a couple of “Gaston, please relax”-s, Adeline put her phone back in her purse and took a deep breath.

  “Well, we now know who the other individual is. Lori’s husband.”

  Anna clicked her tongue. “The couple that spies together?”

  “Actually, it turns out that he was following her because he didn’t trust that her days spent away from the house were actually in the pursuit of knowledge. He thought she was doing something else. I can only imagine.”

  “So, we had a woman following us, and she was being followed by his handsomeness and he was being followed by the first woman’s jealous husband?”

  “Unfortunately, that’s where we stand.”

  Carolyn asked, “So, what does Gaston suggest we do from here?”

  “He suggested — ” The girls were interrupted by a loud altercation in the mall. A man, way too drunk, way too early in the day, was screaming at his girlfriend, or maybe wife, about the fact that she’d lost two hundred and thirty-seven
dollars at the roulette table and he’d been able to keep his mouth, he hadn’t said a word to her about spending that kind of money, or rather losing that kind of money, but when he wanted to spend a lousy ten bucks on a souvenir glass she had to make a snide comment and he’d lost his sense of humor and his ability to deal with anything quietly. It looked like the two of them might start an actual, physical fight. Right there in the mall.

  Anna let out a low whistle. “I’ll bet there are people makin’ bets on who would walk away from that one. Those two look pretty well evenly matched. He’s a little more drunk, so she might just be able to get the drop on him.”

  It was Adeline who said, “I always told my girls, if you are willing to throw a punch, you’d better be willing to take one.”

  Just then, two young women on Segways rode by. That got the drunk guy’s attention just long enough for the young woman to cold-cock him. He was on the floor, seemingly unconscious, when she chose to kick him repeatedly with her very expensive looking sky-scraper-high heels. She smacked him a couple of times with her purse before anyone stepped in to stop her.

  Anna hadn’t been in Vegas for all that long, but she was very observant, and she’d determined that things were done a little differently in Vegas. Security was no exception. Two men, presumably security for the mall, approached. From what Anna could figure out, they were the second string. Many of the members of the visible security force in malls in Las Vegas are older people walking around answering questions for tourists.

  The older tourist informers are subsidized by others in their group who are younger people, usually female, rolling around on their Segways, coordinating everything and everybody. They kept their eyes open and the proper people informed, but they were mostly to watch and make tourists feel comfortable.

  Then there’s the second string. Big guys. The kind you see standing in the doorways of clubs in bad neighborhoods. Their suits were well tailored. But it didn’t hide their bulk, their guns, or their intensity.

  The young woman was about to smack the guy again when the man on the right simply picked her up and carried her off. When they were a reasonable distance, he set her down and told her to calm herself.