Vegas or Bust: An Aggie Underhill Mystery
Page 10
“Thanks,” she sniffled, unraveling a portion of it.
“Sylvie,” Aggie said, after walking around the room and checking the bathroom for anything that might be out of place or look suspicious. Nothing of importance caught her eye. “When was the last time you saw Jack today?”
“Oh, I don’t know what time it was. I wasn’t paying attention.” Sylvie shrugged while dabbing at the corners of her eyes. “It was after the wedding and sometime after we talked to the police. I had walked him to his room because he was so distraught. My poor baby, he’s really very sensitive, you know? Always has been. I did what any mother would do and I tried to talk some sense into him about this wicked girl. I told him he shouldn’t let a woman hurt him like that. I mean, how dare she leave him standing at the altar looking like a fool! I was mortified! I told him that she wasn’t worth his time and to forget about her. He’s better than that! But did he want my advice? No! He didn’t want to hear anything bad about his precious fiancé. Can you believe it? He can be such an idiot at times!”
“I see,” Aggie said, getting a better insight on what had led Jack to his excessive drinking. Not only did Miriam disappear, he had to deal with his thoughtless mother lecturing him.
“Boys can be so stubborn at times,” Sylvie said. “So I left.”
Aggie frowned. “And you haven’t seen or heard from him since?”
“I was giving him some time to think about what I said. To realize that what I was saying about Miriam was true. And that he shouldn’t let a woman treat him that way.” Sylvie shook her head and then sobbed into a large wad of toilet paper. “Then when I didn’t hear from him, I just assumed he was avoiding me,” she sniffled while wiping her nose. “I mean, he didn’t even come to my room to apologize. And it’s not like my Jackie to be so thoughtless. I’ve been waiting all this time. I tried calling his room once, about an hour ago, and he never answered.”
“When Sylvie left Jack, that must’ve been right before you got here to check on him,” Aggie said to Roger.
“Give or take an hour,” Roger said. “He had enough time to down a bottle and a half of Champagne before I got here. And then he finished the second and opened a third. After that we came down to meet you in the casino.”
“Yes, that makes sense given the time frame,” Aggie said. “So we were the last to see him.”
“What does that mean?” Sylvie asked, staring at Aggie with red swollen eyes. “What are you getting at? Where’s my son?”
“No,” Roger said, holding up his index finger while correcting Aggie. “Security was the last to see him.”
“Yes, that’s right,” Aggie agreed. “They were.”
“Security?” Sylvie gasped, burying her face in her hands. “Oh my God, my poor baby! He’s such a good boy. What would security want with him?”
“They hauled him away,” Roger explained, “right after he blew chunks all over the casino.”
“What?” Sylvie sobbed even louder. “My Jackie was arrested for being sick? They can’t do that! What is this world coming to?”
“He’s probably gonna have to pay a huge bill for the mess he made,” Roger said.
“It’s all right,” Betty said, patting Sylvie’s back some more. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Jack’s fine. Security was just helping him. Maybe they took him to the hospital. He was probably dehydrated from the Champagne he drank.”
“He could have alcohol poisoning,” Roger commented. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“My poor son!” Sylvie bawled while dramatically throwing her hands up into the air.
“He’ll probably need his stomach pumped,” Roger continued. “And an IV of course…”
“And all because of this horrible woman,” Sylvie cried. “I swear she’s the devil!”
“I’m going to make some inquires and see what I can find out,” Aggie said, interrupting Sylvie’s hysterics. She talked loudly over Sylvie’s sobbing. “Betty you stay here with Sylvie in case Jack comes back. Roger and I will go down to the lobby to see if we can talk with someone in security.”
“What about dinner?” Roger asked, tapping his foot. “I thought we were going out to eat. It’s getting late and I’m hungry! Why should I have to suffer because Jack got himself drunk? It’s not my fault!”
“We’ll get a bite to eat afterwards,” Aggie said, clutching his arm and practically dragging him out of the room before anymore insensitive remarks could fly out of his mouth. She left Betty sitting on the bed trying to calm Sylvie down. She heard Betty telling her that everything would be okay and then the door closed shut.
***
Harold Smith wiped beads of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. The casino seemed awfully hot and stuffy. It was so stuffy that he was afraid he’d have another panic attack. Trying to ignore the feeling swelling deep in his gut, he wandered around the tables. He wondered if he should take his chances by playing another round of poker or if he should hit the Black Jack tables.
This was the fifth casino he’d gambled in today. He’d been sticking to the hotels on the strip and was beginning to wonder if he should branch out to some of the smaller hotels in the older sections of Las Vegas. Maybe his luck would be better in a smaller casino. If he didn’t start winning big money within the next hour or two, he’d go try his luck elsewhere.
Harold’s stomach did a flip flop as he glanced around the room at all of the gamblers around him. His anxiety was growing. He wasn’t particularly happy to be back in the Planet Hollywood Casino, but so far it was where he’d been the luckiest. And he didn’t have much time to spare. After trying out five others, he realized that his best bet would be to go back even if he didn’t want to.
He was especially worried about running into Anita. This morning he’d been recognized by her. He prayed that he didn’t bump into her again or any other guests from Miriam’s wedding. And he really hoped the nosy English woman that was always carrying around the largest most hideous purses he’d ever seen, hadn’t been invited. She had her nose in everyone’s business on the cruise. And the last thing he needed was for her to be bugging him when he was running out of time. He had enough to worry about.
What was that woman’s name again? he wondered. Underhaven? Underbridge? He couldn’t remember. All he remembered was that her name was all abuzz all over the cruise ship after that jumping ship incident. And supposedly she saved Miriam from a psychotic woman with a gun. Not that he was happy about the reason as to why Miriam was up there to begin with. He balled his hands up into tight fists. Thinking of Miriam sneaking around the cruise ship behind his back with another man really made him furious. But then again, he’d been seeing someone behind her back too. It was his cheating and lack of attention that drove her into another man’s arms to begin with. He knew it was his fault. He had no one to blame but himself. And now Miriam was in trouble and again it was his fault. If he’d just stayed away and let her get remarried, then none of this would’ve happened.
Harold glanced at the gaming tables and hoped that one of them called out to him. One of these tables has to be good luck, he thought. But it was hard to have good luck when his stomach was all tied up in knots. He had so much at stake. He wondered how he got himself into this mess. He should’ve just stayed home. But now there was no going back. If he was ever going to live with his conscience, he had to at least try his best.
Taking in a few deep breaths, Harold decided to try his luck at a Black Jack table. His last hundred dollars was in his pocket. Both his checking and savings account were depleted. Next he’d have to call the bank and see if he could take money out against his car or maybe they’d give him a loan. Frowning, he knew that wouldn’t happen. His credit had been ruined during the divorce. The bank wasn’t going to give him a penny. Besides, he didn’t have any time to spare.
Sliding onto a chair in front of a Black Jack table, the dealer smiled as he pushed a twenty dollar bill her way. She gave him four chips and he hoped for Miriam’s and his sake th
at they were lucky chips.
Chapter 10
After getting the run around, Aggie and Roger sulked out of the office. The head of security said that he’d heard all about the man that threw up in the casino, but didn’t know much else. He made a few phones calls, that Aggie felt took forever, and then told them he had no idea what had happened to Jack. As far as he knew, no one working there had escorted Jack from the casino. Not any of their men, anyhow.
Aggie pushed for the head of security to play back the security tapes to see if he recognized either of the two men that Jack left the casino with, but he refused. She wondered, by the way he’d gotten quiet when she described the men, if he actually knew them and didn’t want to admit it. Aggie threatened to go to the police, but the head of security had agreed with her and told her that she should do it. Her threat didn’t quite have the effect she was looking for. She was hoping for instant action.
“Why don’t you call Tom?” Roger said. “Maybe he can put the heat on the security team here.”
“Doubt it,” she sighed.
“I’m sure Tom has friends working in Las Vegas. He seems to have cop friends everywhere. Give him a call.”
Aggie gnawed on her bottom lip. She couldn’t go to Tom for help, especially since he advised her to not get involved. If she had to, she’d use him as a last resort. But until then, she’d keep this to herself.
After a second or two of silence, Roger knew something was up. “Tom told you to stay out of this, didn’t he?” He tapped the toe of his brown loafer on the tile floor. They were now standing in the lobby of the casino. Roger studied Aggie for a moment and twitched his mustache. “He said to let the police handle Miriam’s disappearance, didn’t he? He doesn’t believe that anything happened to her.”
“Well,” Aggie said. “He didn’t exactly say he didn’t believe that Miriam wasn’t kidnapped.”
“What exactly did Tom say?” Roger probed. “Come on, tell me.”
Aggie looked around the casino to avoid eye contact with him. She didn’t want to tell him that he was correct and that Tom told her not to get involved. And that’s when she spotted the top of a balding head with a comb over. It was Miriam’s ex-husband, Harold Smith.
“I can tell by your silence that Tom told you to stay out of this, didn’t he? He believes Miriam got cold feet. I can’t say I disagree with him. After meeting Jack’s mother, yikes! I’d run away, too! The woman is a total…”
“Not now,” Aggie said, clutching Roger’s upper arm and turning him around.
“Ouch! That hurt! Why’d you grab me like that?” Roger complained, looking at his arm while rubbing his sore bicep. “You put a permanent crease in my shirt.”
“Look over there,” Aggie said, sternly.
“I have delicate skin,” he said, still perturbed. “If you creased my shirt just think of what you did to my skin. You probably left a bruise.”
“Oh, hush,” Aggie said, nodding in Harold’s direction. “Just look over there, will you?”
“What? Where?” he asked, staring out into the casino. “What am I looking for? Is Jack out there?”
“No, dear,” Aggie said. “Look past the slot machines and over at the table straight ahead.”
Roger squinted. It took him a moment to register what it was Aggie was so excited about. “Is that Harold Smith?”
“I believe so,” Aggie said. “Shall we go get a closer look?”
“Yeah,” Roger agreed, forgetting about his arm and his hunger pangs. “I guess he was on the guest list after all. Unless he’s here to crash Miriam’s wedding.”
“Well, let’s go find out. If he showed up to crash the wedding, I’d say he did a pretty good job of it by making the bride disappear.”
Roger took the lead with Aggie trailing right behind him. They came up behind Harold and waited for him to finish his hand.
“Twenty three; bust,” said the dealer.
Harold sighed while staring at his cards. The dealer swept them away and Harold pushed another red, five dollar chip across the green felt tabletop. There was an empty chair on each side of him.
“Two more,” Roger said to the dealer while sitting down to Harold’s left. Harold turned to look at him and stared hard. It was apparent that he was trying to place where he knew Roger from. Roger smiled. Aggie took a seat to Harold’s right. She plopped her large silver pocketbook on the table in front of him. She began to dig around for her matching silver wallet so she could pay the dealer.
Harold’s eyes grew large when he realized where he knew Roger from. The enormous purse had jogged his memory. He looked over at Aggie and his jaw dropped. She was the last person he wanted to see. “I think I’m out,” he said to the dealer and started to get up as she returned his chip. “I’ll try my luck elsewhere.”
“Not so fast,” Roger said, putting his hand on Harold’s shoulder and nodding at Aggie. “We have a lot of catching up to do. Sit back down. We’ll pay for this round.”
“Thanks, Roger,” Aggie said sarcastically as she dug through her wallet. “Let me get some cash.” She passed a twenty to the dealer who in turn gave each of them each a chip and Aggie two.
“Um… all right, thanks,” Harold said, sitting back down. He squirmed a bit, glancing over at Aggie.
“So, dear,” Aggie said, “you’re Miriam’s ex-husband, right?”
Harold cleared his throat. “Um, yeah, I’m her ex.”
“I thought so. I recognize you from the cruise. Must be hard coming to her wedding,” Aggie said, shaking her head. “I don’t know if I’d be able to do that.”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “It’s been hard, but I believe in letting bygones be bygones.”
“That’s really big of you,” Roger said. “I’d never go to my ex’s wedding. I’d rather drop dead.”
“You have an ex?” Aggie asked, leaning forward to look past Harold and get a better look at Roger’s face. She’d never thought of Roger being with someone. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a hard time picturing him with anyone.
“Yes,” Roger said, snidely. “I do. Doesn’t everyone?”
“Huh. I suppose so, dear,” was all she could think to say. Sitting back in her chair she directed the conversation back to Harold. “It’s such a shame about what happened at the wedding.”
The dealer opened a new pack of cards and began to shuffle them.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he could feel beads of sweat popping out on his forehead. “Um, yeah…shame.”
The dealer dealt the cards.
“Poor Jack being stood up at the altar. I felt so bad for him,” Aggie continued. “Stay,” she said to the dealer and then continued chatting. “Some people say she got cold feet, but I don’t think that’s what happened. What about you, dear? What do you think? Do you think she got cold feet?”
“Umm.” Harold scrunched up his forehead as he studied his cards. “Hit me.”
The dealer dealt him another card causing him to bust.
Roger tapped at his card giving the dealer a silent command to give him another card. “Stay,” he said. His cards totaled eighteen.
The dealer’s cards totaled sixteen. She kept dealing until she bust at twenty four.
“I win!” Aggie exclaimed. Her cards totaled twenty.
“I’m out,” Harold said, turning around in his seat and getting up.
“Leaving so soon?” Aggie asked.
“There you are!” Anita said, excitedly. “And you found Harold! How wonderful! I’ve been looking all over for you! The wedding party is getting together for dinner.”
“Dinner?” Aggie asked. “That hardly seems appropriate under the circumstances.” She and Roger slid off their seats.
“Oh, don’t be silly,” Anita said, pushing past Aggie and looping her arm through Harold’s. His eyes bulged with surprise. “You are coming with us, aren’t you?” Anita batted her long, naturally thick lashes at him.
“I, uh, I don’t really have the time,” he said.
Aggie and Roger followed behind Anita as she dragged Harold out of the casino and toward the elevators.
“Do you know if Jack returned?” Aggie asked Anita while they waited in the hallway for the next available lift.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” Anita said and tsk, tsk, tsked. “I went to his room to see if he wanted to join us all for dinner and Betty told me what happened. Poor guy. I bet he’s out drowning his sorrow at some bar. I told his mother not to be surprised if he comes back to his room completely plastered with some slutty woman on the rebound.”
“You said that?” Roger asked, jaw dropping. “To his mother?”
“Of course she did,” Aggie muttered, rolling her eyes.
“Why not? It true!” Anita sang. “Men always look for a rebound to mend a broken heart. Besides, it seemed to cheer her up. No harm done.”
“And I thought I was callous,” Roger said. “I can’t believe she was okay with that!”
“Oh, yes. She was as happy as a clam by the time I left. She’s even going out to dinner with us.”
“I, uh, I really should get back to…” Full of anxiety, Harold glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the casino.
“Silly,” Anita said, holding his arm hostage. “The wedding didn’t happen. Cheer up! Besides, you need to get over Miriam. As I told you, I met the perfect person for you. You’ll love Paula!”
But will Paula love Harold? Aggie thought. Poor Paula. And did Harold have anything to do with Miriam’s disappearance?
As the doors to the elevator to their right slid open, Roger asked, “And where are we all meeting for dinner? I’m starved.”