“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”
“You wouldn’t like it,” Roger said quickly, shaking his head. “Las Vegas is in the Nevada desert and even dryer than here. You think it is bad here…man, you’d shrivel up in no time there. And at this time of year it’s bitter cold. Between the cold and dryness of the air, all the moisture will immediately be sucked up out of your skin.”
“Oh, no!” Linda gasped. “I can’t let that happen. I need to look my best until I catch a wealthy man.”
“Oh, yes! It’s awful there,” Roger said. “If you go, I know you’ll regret it. No amount of moisturizer will be able to save you. And all your dreams of getting re-hitched would be for nothing. But of course, I guess you could resort to plastic surgery if need be. That’s always an option. Plastic surgery can do wonders.”
“No. I like natural beauty.” Linda smoothed her face with her fingertips.
Aggie suddenly perked up. Maybe attending the Las Vegas wedding wouldn’t be so bad after all. Maybe it was a miracle in disguise. If she could ditch Linda and Elvira for a few days it would be totally worth it.
“But…wait a minute…if you’re going to Las Vegas, what about the beach?” Linda asked, her voice squeaked a little, and her smile suddenly faded. Her eyebrows knitted closely together and tears formed in her eyes. “You promised the beach this weekend. And I had my heart set on it.”
Oh my God, Aggie thought. The woman is going to cry. Quickly, she began to babble incoherently. She couldn’t stand seeing a grown woman cry. “Um, well, dear, you can go ahead without me and… and… spend some time with Sarah. I’m sure she’d love to have you visit. And we’ll catch up with you after the wedding. It’ll work out perfectly!” Aggie hated to dump her burden on her daughter, especially with her being six months pregnant. Sarah had been extremely moody lately with her hormones running rampant. But desperate situations deserved desperate measures and she was sure Sarah would be able to handle Linda and Jill. She was always very level headed and could handle anything. Even during pregnancy. “I’ll get everything all situated, dear. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about a thing. You’re going to have a great time. All you’ll need to do is go pack.”
A large beaming smile lit up Linda’s face. Her tears were now tears of joy. “Oh, that’ll be just lovely! Don’t you think so, sweetheart?”
“Yeah, sure,” Jill said with a shrug. “Whatever.”
“Sarah’s going to be so excited to see us!” Linda squealed. “And I’ll help her shop for the baby! Oh, I love babies! Do they know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“A girl,” Aggie said.
“Oh! I love baby girl clothes!” Linda squealed. “Has she picked out a name yet?”
“Um, no,” Aggie said. “Not yet.”
“I’m really good with names. I bet I can come up with one for her.”
Betty hopped up from the table and headed straight for the coffeepot. “Anyone need a refill?” She grabbed the coffeepot and then reached for the cabinet above the refrigerator where she kept her stash of alcohol. “How about a splash of Brandy?”
Both Aggie and Roger held their mugs up.
Friday, November 18th
Chapter 2
Leaving the Amtrak station, Aggie let out a sigh of relief. Her houseguests were finally on their way to San Diego County. She felt a little guilty not driving them to Sarah’s herself, but not bad enough to actually be doing it. Besides, she, Roger, and Betty were on a very tight schedule. In just a couple of hours they were going to be leaving for Las Vegas. She’d done her best at trying to convince Betty and Roger that flying from Palm Springs to Las Vegas would be the most convenient form of transportation to get them to the wedding, but neither one of them agreed. She was a little bitter that she couldn’t at least get Betty to side in with her, but both Roger and Betty felt a road trip was in order.
Roger believed that flying was a waste of money when they lived within driving distance and Betty just wanted a road trip. She had been trying to convince Roger to let her drive his BMW, but he wasn’t backing down. Betty was the world’s worst driver and somehow she’d recently obtained her driver’s license after having had failed it numerous times in a row. Aggie felt that the man Betty had been flirting with, who worked for the DMV, hoped to get a date with her by giving her a license. Aggie knew it wasn’t Betty’s keen driving abilities that had miraculously appeared out of nowhere just for the driver’s test that caused her to pass. It was more like her keen ability to flirt with the opposite sex that got her to pass her test.
The reason Betty was trying to get Roger to let her drive his car was because she no longer had one of her own. She’d had a little mishap about six months ago and accidentally drove her Lexus off the side of a cliff in Joshua Tree National Monument. Even though the car looked to be in okay shape after the incident, the insurance company deemed it a total loss since the airbags had deployed when the car crash landed, and Betty hadn’t gotten around to saving up enough money to buy a new car yet. When she had received her insurance check, she’d somehow managed to spend it. If Aggie had thought Betty should be behind the wheel of a vehicle without supervision, she’d offer to buy one for her, but that wasn’t the case. So, anyhow, to stop the cousins from arguing over whom was going to drive to Las Vegas, Aggie had jumped in and offered to drive all of them in her Mercedes.
Frowning, Aggie pulled into the gated community that she and Betty lived in. She really disliked long road trips and being in the car for four hours wasn’t her idea of fun. And, to her, being the driver was even worse than being the passenger. As a driver you couldn’t relax or take a nap. She’d much rather hop on a plane and be in Las Vegas in less than an hour instead of driving for several. But obviously that wasn’t going to happen. So she told herself to focus on the positive side of things. At least she wasn’t going to be trapped in a car with Linda and Jill. Talk about a nightmare! She could just imagine what that would’ve been and like. The thought was unbearable. At least I like both Betty and Roger, she reasoned, even though the two cousins had a habit of bickering like an old married couple.
***
A couple of hours later, Aggie and Betty were packed, ready, and on the road. They swung by Roger’s house and picked him up. Out of the three of them, he was the only one who’d been to Las Vegas before. Both Betty and Aggie were excited to see someplace new, even though Aggie wasn’t a big fan of road trips or the couple that was getting married. At least Las Vegas would be a new and exciting experience. And on top of that, it rid her of her company. She couldn’t help but wonder how long it would be before Sarah called her and begged for her to take them back.
“We’re going to cut through the Hi-desert,” Roger said from the backseat. He sat directly behind Betty who was up front in the passenger seat. They were going west on the 10 freeway headed for the Highway 62 exit. “We’ll take Amboy. It’s a shortcut.”
“Okay,” Aggie said, turning on her blinker and taking the Highway 62 exit. “Now what?”
“Follow the 62 until we get to Twentynine Palms,” he said. “Then I’ll show you where to turn left.”
Twentynine Palms was a good sixty miles from Palm Springs. Aggie knew the way well. That’s where her son-in-law, Everette, had been stationed before his recent transfer to Camp Pendleton. She drove up through the five miles of winding mountain roads known as the grade. When they got to the top they entered a small town with a population of about 1500 people called Morongo Valley. There was a large gas station on the right that looked out of place in the small desert town. Aggie pulled into the station per Roger’s request. She got out and topped off her gas tank while he and Betty ran into the gas station store to stock up on snacks and sodas.
Roger came back carrying several white plastic bags and Betty had three bottles of diet soda and three bottled waters in her arms. “This should last us a little while,” Betty said, as Aggie helped by opening the passenger door for her. “Thanks.”
“They had a sale
on the candy,” Roger said. “Buy two candy bars and get one free. There was also a sale on chips.”
“And the beef jerky,” Betty said. “We should have more than enough munchies.”
“No stopping until we get to Vegas. So if you gotta use the little girl’s room, do it now,” Roger said, crawling into the backseat. “We’ll get dinner when we get there. No reason to waste time and money. They always have really inexpensive all you can eat buffets that are open all night.”
“Oh,” Betty said, sliding into the passenger seat and pulling her seatbelt on, “sounds wonderful! This is going to be a fun weekend! I can just feel it!”
“Sure is!” Roger said, making a fist and playfully punching the air. “Vegas or bust, baby! Vegas or bust!”
Betty scrunched up her nose and repeated him, “Vegas or bust, baby? What does that mean?”
“It’s a saying,” Roger explained. “It means we’re going to Vegas!”
“Oh,” she said, mulling it over for a moment. “Still doesn’t make sense. Why would you want to bust? Wouldn’t that be a bad thing?”
Roger groaned. “Yes, it would. That’s why you choose Vegas instead.”
“Oh!” Betty perked up. “I get it! Vegas or bust!”
Roger shook his head. He figured she didn’t get it at all, but wasn’t in the mood to explain it to her further.
They drove through Yucca Valley which was the next town down the highway. It began at the top of a steep mountain and gradually came down in elevation as you drove towards Twentynine Palms. Yucca Valley was known as the Hi-desert. Aggie’s thoughts drifted again to Sarah. She’d bought them a house there in town while Everette was stationed in Twentynine Palms. She hoped the renters that were now living in the house were taking good care of it. She then wondered how Sarah was going to handle Linda and Jill when they arrived. The train should be getting there any time now. She was pretty sure she’d get a distress call from her daughter sometime soon.
Betty switched on the stereo and plugged in her iPod. “What would you like to listen to?”
“Anything but classical,” Roger said.
“Okay.” Betty scrolled through her list of songs.
“And no country,” Roger said. “Oh, or heavy metal…”
Betty turned around in her seat to scowl at him. “You don’t like anything.”
“I like all sorts of things. I’m just not in the mood for certain types of music right now. That’s all.”
“Then what are you in the mood for?”
“Pop,” he said, shrugging, “or maybe R&B.”
Betty rolled her eyes. “Agsie dear, what are you in the mood for? Since you’re driving, you should choose.”
“Pop’s fine.”
“All right,” Betty said, selecting a song. Upbeat music flooded the stereo speakers and all three of them burst into song, singing along with the Backstreet Boys.
***
There was a knock at the door. Miriam Smith gently laid her dress down on the bed and ran a finger over the plastic bag protecting the beautiful emerald green satin material. She took one more admiring glance at it before answering the door. Peeking out, she said, “You can’t come in.”
“Why not?” Jack asked.
“It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”
“But our wedding isn’t until tomorrow,” he said. He knew they’d been through this dialog before, but not seeing her was killing him. He wanted to spend the evening with the love of his life. He really wished she wasn’t so paranoid about marriage. He understood that her last marriage had been a horrible experience. And since she’d been married to a cheat and a louse, it’d really made it hard for him to prove to her that he was nothing like that. Not all men were jerks. He was one of the good guys. As he’d explained numerous times, he loves her and will take care of her for the rest of his life and he’ll never even dream of cheating on her. So he didn’t understand why she was being so superstitious about him seeing her.
“Yes,” she said. “But I’m not taking any chances. I’ve already had one horrible marriage and I don’t want that to happen again. I want everything to be perfect.”
“Come on, Miriam,” Jack laughed. “Don’t be silly.”
“I’m not. I’m being practical.”
“Just give me one kiss,” he said, winking at her. “Then I’ll leave. I promise.”
“No,” she said, peeking out through the small crack between the door and the jamb. “I’m not taking any chances.” She pushed the door closed, leaned her back against it and sucked in some air. Letting out her breath, she reached up and tightened the oversized dark green bow in her straight mousy brown hair. She unzipped her floral print suitcase and went back to work, unloading her toiletries and everything she’d need to get ready for the wedding. She wanted to make sure she had her makeup, curling iron, and other beauty supplies all ready for tomorrow.
Jack stood in the hallway staring at the closed door. He shook his head and sighed. He understood that Miriam wanted to make sure that their wedding went smoothly especially since her nightmare of a divorce finally ended, but he felt she was being paranoid. She had even reserved them each their own hotel rooms for tonight. She was in the honeymoon suite and he was in a standard room. They weren’t to see each other, talk to each other, or anything else until the actual wedding took place. Then tomorrow night they would share the honeymoon suite as a married couple.
Jack leaned against the wall next to Miriam’s door and sighed again. His mind drifted to his older brother. The perfect brother. In his mother’s eyes, anything and everything that Brice ever did was perfect. Well, almost everything, until he got caught in the middle of a shady business deal while on the Mexican Riviera Cruise. Even then, his mother didn’t believe for one second that Brice was guilty. She believed that he was set up and the bad government put her precious son behind bars by accident. It was all a big mix up. Jack frowned. Even though he had a lot of animosity for his brother, especially since Brice would’ve been willing to let him be the fall guy and go to jail in his place, he still loved him. And he really wished that his brother could be there to see him marry the woman of his dreams, but he knew that wasn’t about to happen. At least his mother would be there. And on the bright side, since Brice was locked up, this was his chance to finally be his mother’s favorite son. Or at least he hoped to become his mother’s favorite. After all, he was getting married to the most perfect woman in the world. In her eyes, that had to be worth something.
Walking down the hall on the way to the elevators, Jack had an idea. His mother should be arriving shortly. When she got there, he’d orchestrate a way of getting her and Miriam together. They could have dinner together. He was positive that they’d get along famously. In fact, it would be wonderful if his mother could help Miriam get ready for the wedding tomorrow morning. He knew Miriam would welcome having someone help fix her hair and makeup and whatever it was that a woman did to get ready for a wedding. Since Miriam didn’t want him to see her before the wedding, there was no way he’d be able to help her. But his Mama could. And he could pretty much bet on his mother’s grave, if she were dead, but he was happy that she wasn’t, that Miriam would appreciate any kind of help she could get. Pushing his long brown hair out of his eyes, Jack pressed the button for the elevator and waited.
***
Aggie grimaced. She had to go to the bathroom. She was silently cursing herself for drinking the entire bottle of diet soda. Now her bladder felt like it was about to burst and there wasn’t a restroom in sight. Heck, there wasn’t anything in sight. Not even people. There were only sand, rocks, some cactus and lots of prickly desert brush.
A snort and then a grumbling sort of noise escaped Betty’s lips as her head rolled to the side and her mouth opened. Aggie hoped that Betty hadn’t been drooling on her leather headrest as she slept. She then glanced in her rearview mirror to get a look at the backseat where Roger had fallen asleep too.
So much for him being
in charge of driving directions, Aggie thought, bitterly. She really wished she hadn’t let the two of them push her into a road trip. What she should’ve done was bought herself a plane ticket and met them in Las Vegas. That would’ve been the smart thing to do. Oh well, there was no use in beating herself up over it now. What was done was done. Maybe she’d buy a plane ticket and fly back. She could hand over the car keys to Roger. She trusted Roger to drive her car home safely. As long as Betty didn’t talk him into driving, everything would be fine.
“Amboy. Founded in 1858,” Aggie said out loud, reading a sign on the right side of the road. She’d been driving on the historical Route 66 and thought that was pretty neat. If only there’d been a few places to stop, she’d like Route 66 even more. “Oh, good. A town is coming up. Finally.” She thanked the heavens above for the town of Amboy. Her silent prayers had been answered. Now all she had to do was find a place with a restroom. She told herself that anyplace would do. At this moment in time, she wouldn’t be too picky. Besides, if she didn’t find one soon, she’d have to pull over and go on the side of the road. She really didn’t want to do that. But she reasoned that her chances of being seen by anyone were slim to none since it was growing dark out. Heck, it’s not like she’d seen very many people on the road since they left Twentynine Palms anyway. There was no one around to see her if she did pull over. Every now and then a car would zoom up out of nowhere, ride on her tail for a bit, and then zip past her going ninety plus miles per hour. Or, once in a great while, a car would zip past her going the other direction. And she wasn’t even a slow driver.
The only concern Aggie really had about relieving herself on the side of the road, besides the fact that she didn’t want to, was worrying that she might accidentally squat down on a cactus or rattlesnake or something.
Suddenly a foreboding feeling washed over her. So far, Aggie had spotted maybe five buildings. Each had been rundown, boarded up, and looked vacated. She gnawed on her lower lip. She couldn’t hold it much longer. She needed to pull over. Driving for a minute or two more, she sighed with relief when she spotted a gas station on the left hand side of the road.
Vegas or Bust: An Aggie Underhill Mystery Page 2