“Hey, Joe. What’s new?” I eased myself down next to him and sipped at my coffee.
Joe did a slow blink, but didn’t take his eyes from the card game. He smelled riper than usual. I wasn’t sure he’d showered in the last three days. He for sure hadn’t changed his clothes. “Rosalita. How it be?”
Looked like Texas Elvis with the Lone Star t-shirt and black cowboy boots was cleaning everyone’s clock. “Full house,” he said to a chorus of moans. “Three kings, two jacks. I win again.”
Joe pointed at the group. “Dude’s, like, a card genius. Keeps winning every time.” He dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out a wrapped taquito. “You want?” He offered it to me.
“Thanks.” I took it and wolfed it down while I watched another round of poker. Texas won again.
“Cool, huh?” Joe asked.
Sadly, this was possibly the most coherent conversation I’d ever had with him.
I finished my coffee and stood. “See ya.”
He glanced up. “Later, man.”
Grabbing my phone from my pocket, I called Ax. “Anything new and earth-shattering?”
“Nope. The dragsters all check out. Everyone’s been working here for at least a year, except for Travis Donald, who started last week. But he’s totally legit. Used to drag as Marilyn Monroe in Florida.”
“Which one is Travis Donald?”
“I couldn’t begin to tell you. Found the headshots on the website. They’re too much. Did the photographer shoot through gauze?”
“The fuzzy focus is kinder to wrinkles. And five o’clock shadow.” Over my shoulder, a quartet started singing The First Noel. “I’ll talk to you soon,” I said, raising my voice.
ELEVEN
Cranking my neck from side to side to alleviate the stiffness, I walked through two groups of tourists to Daniel. We fought our way back into the bar.
In the past hour, the number of people had doubled. Where were they all coming from? There was a party atmosphere in the air, which was weird, considering the reason they’d all gathered was because one of their kind had been murdered.
I caught sight of Roxy. Although four other waitresses had shown up—in full drag—Roxy still hustled tables.
I jerked on Daniel’s sleeve. “Just a sec.” I swam upstream through the teeming crowd and reached Rox right before she headed back to the small kitchen area.
“Hey, any news?” I asked.
With droopy shoulders, she let the tray drop to her side and gave me a weary glance. “They’re short two waitresses. Abigail called in, said she had an appointment and so far, Selena’s a no show.”
“Which ones are they?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw Man-Margret out of drag a little while ago. He grabbed a sandwich and left.”
I set my empty mug on the bar and turned back to Daniel. Time for more questioning.
Another three hours passed. My head ached, my ankle was throbbing. I hadn’t heard any voice that resembled Ron’s partner. But then I hadn’t really been able to hear much. The roar was deafening and when people started singing karaoke onstage, I strained to hear phrases because listening for individual voices was impossible.
Roxy was still at it, swirling around tables, getting out food, serving drinks, chatting up customers. She was a total trouper.
I left Daniel and caught her in the middle of the room. “Hey, think you can quit now?”
She popped her gum. “The tips have been great, but they’re still one waitress down. Selena. Never called, never showed up. And she was scheduled to work the front desk at ten this morning. And before you ask, I found out that Selena was the Kissin’ Cousins chick from last night. The one with that horrible tablecloth dress. I wouldn’t be caught dead in that piece of crap.”
“Is Selena’s real name Travis?” Could Travis Donald, former Marilyn Monroe impersonator from Florida, and Selena be one and the same? It was worth finding out, because my tagging along with Daniel was getting us nowhere.
“Let me check.” She walked behind the bar and confabbed with Tad, then shoved customers out of her way on her return trip. “Yep,” she said. “And Travis is in hot water when he shows up. He’ll be lucky to have a job.”
“Come on, we need to talk to Ax. Meet me in the lobby. I’ll grab Daniel.”
Without asking any questions, Roxy practically ran to the bar, ditched her tray, and ripped off her apron.
I grabbed Daniel’s shoulder. “Let’s go.” I jerked my head toward the door.
Searching my eyes, he followed me to the lobby. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.”
Roxy waited by the elevator. I glanced at Stoner Joe when I walked past. He sat cross-legged and stared with his mouth wide open, transfixed by the blinking orange lights on the Christmas tree.
I hoped we wouldn’t forget to take him home with us.
We hopped on the elevator, but because of the five other occupants it afforded no privacy, so I saved my explanation until we got to my room.
Ax was right where we left him, poking at his computer. He glanced up when we trouped through the door. “Bring anything to eat?”
“Damn, didn’t think about it,” I said. “Sorry.”
“I’m calling for a pizza,” he said. “I’m starving.”
Roxy dropped to the other bed. “I can’t believe I had to work on my vacation. So typical.”
Daniel sucked in an annoyed breath. “Could someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
I parked my butt next to Ax and grabbed a pillow to prop up my foot. “Okay, Selena didn’t show up for work today. Selena and female impersonator Travis Donald are one and the same.” I felt a moment of triumph for figuring it out.
“No,” Daniel said, “they’re not. Travis Donald was supposed to start working here last week, but someone called him and rescinded the job offer.”
“So a fake Travis showed up in his place?” I asked. My victory was so short-lived.
“That’s our assumption,” Daniel said.
“Apparently,” Roxy said, smacking her gum, “this fake Travis has been a crappy server from day one. Disappears for stretches at a time and takes too many smoke breaks. And according to Tad, he’s been squatting in empty rooms since he started. If that helps.”
Daniel grinned. Deep crevices lined either side of his mouth. “Let me call Schultz to get some cops out here. We’re going to search every room in this motel.”
While he was on the phone, I shot a glance at Rox. “I’ll bet our pizza’s here. Ax, why don’t you show Daniel that article on the missing jewels. Tell him our theories.”
His eyes slid between Roxy and me. “Right. Our theories.”
As soon as Roxy and I cleared the room, I turned to her. “Where was he staying?”
“Last seen in room two-oh-four. I’ll suddenly remember the number after we’ve searched the room.” That was my bestie, always thinking.
Although my ankle slowed me down, Rox and I fled to the second floor and were inside the room in less than a minute.
“We can’t actually touch anything,” I said.
She darted into the bathroom and came back with two small, dingy towels. “Here.”
Roxy started with the dresser and I hit the bedside table. Inside was a pad of cheap paper. I could see by the indentations where Fake Travis had written something. I held it up to the light. “I think this says Nat 3K ♥ 5 p.m.” I handed it off to Rox. “What do you think?”
“Yeah, that’s what I got, too.”
We finished quickly searching the room, found nothing else of interest, and left. Roxy wiped down the outer door handle and we tossed the towels on the bed before leaving. On our way back up to The Roustabout, I remembered the pizza.
“Go rest your foot, I’ll run down and get it,” Roxy said. “I’ll check on Ma, too. Maybe she’s ready for a break.”
Every step I took brought a grimace. To get my mind off the pain, I thought about the sheet of paper. Nat 3K ♥ 5 p.m. What the hell did it mean?
TWELVE
Daniel glanced up when I entered the room. “Where’s the pizza?”
“Delayed. Rox insisted I come back and rest my foot.” I plopped down on the bed.
“Axton couldn’t tell me anything we didn’t already know.” Daniel glanced down at him. “And I’m not sure the personal information you have on the drag queens was obtained by legal means.” He held up his hand. “And I don’t want to know.”
“Don’t shit on a gift horse’s parade,” Ax said.
I adjusted my foot. “You mixed your metaphors. Sort of.”
Daniel’s phone rang. “Yeah?” After he ended the call, he eyed me. “Your friend, Roxy, got my number from the front desk. The smell of pizza must have jarred her memory, because she suddenly remembered the room number our suspect last used.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “She’s absent-minded like that.”
“You better not have touched anything in that room,” he said, jabbing his finger at me. “Or I’ll haul your ass to jail for obstruction so fast, you won’t know what hit you.”
I widened my eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Special Agent.”
He stormed to the door, but before he could leave, I called out to him. “Daniel, give me your number, just in case something jogs my memory.”
He rattled if off and slammed the door on his way out of the room. I quickly added it to my phone’s contacts.
Ax nudged my arm. “So, did you find anything?”
I snatched a piece of paper and pen from my purse, writing the ghost message.
“Nat 3K ♥ 5 p.m. What does it mean?” he asked.
“Don’t know and it’s driving me bonkers. I want to catch this guy.”
Ax scratched his jaw. “Teager’s on the case. We can finally go home.”
“And we will. If we start back tonight, I’ll be home in time to watch Scotty open presents. But Ron’s murder is going to keep eating away at me. And this doodle. Has to be five this evening, right? Because Selena was our waitress in the bar last night.”
Ax glanced at the message again. “Three thousand dollars? Is Nat short for Natalie? Nature?”
Roxy popped into the room, dropping the pizza on the bed. It smelled delicious and garlicky. Glancing around, she set three Cokes on the nightstand. “Where’s Daniel?”
“Gone. And he was pissed,” I said.
“Maybe we can talk Ma into hitting the road.” She flung open the box lid and snatched a slice of pepperoni.
“Rose wants to tie up loose ends,” Ax said.
She heaved a sigh. “Of course. So, any thoughts on Nat? Or the 3K?”
“A bar maybe? An address?” I asked.
Axton grabbed a slice and shoved the end in his mouth. He ate with one hand as he tapped on his tablet with the other.
Rox and I each ate a couple of pieces. I swallowed two more Tylenol for my ankle. “What’s Ma up to?” I asked.
“No good,” Roxy said. “And singing Christmas carols in the bar. At least she had a great trip, even if it sucked balls for the rest of us.”
We got down to business. Ax plugged all sorts of combos into the search engine, and I scoured the Yellow Pages Roxy’d nabbed from the front desk. Both of us came up blank.
After an hour and a half, he rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “I need a break. I’m going to check on Joe.”
I flexed my ankle. “I’ll come with. I should tell Ma it’s time to leave.”
“So, you’re going to give up on recovering the jewels and finding the killer?” Roxy asked.
Frustrated and achy, I didn’t want to give up. Wasn’t in my nature. But I was hitting a brick wall. “I don’t know what else to do. What’s the point of staying here a few more hours and spinning our wheels? 3K has to mean three thousand. But three thousand what? Surely the jewels are worth more than three thousand dollars.”
Roxy stuck a piece of gum in her mouth. “If the Feds are looking for those jewels, they’ll be harder to fence. Three thousand might be a good price.”
“Sometimes,” I said, “you scare me. And three thousand seems cheap compared to a man’s life. Ron was killed for those stones.”
We left the room and risked the elevator once again. In the lobby, Ax and Roxy parked on the saggy sofa next to Stoner Joe while I hunted for Ma in the bar. Found her onstage singing We Three Kings with African-American Elvis and a woman wearing a Beale Street t-shirt.
The bar was only half as full as it had been earlier. I waved my hand, beckoning to Ma. She nodded, but continued to sing, so I limped out of the bar and crossed the deserted lobby, parking myself on the sofa’s armrest.
“How was your day, Joe?”
He flipped through an abandoned deck of cards. “Dude kept winning, hand after hand.”
“Let me see those.” Ax plucked the cards from Joe and thumbed through the deck, inspecting the back. “Marked. See the little indentations? I read about this.”
He handed the deck to me. Sure enough, jacks had one mark, queens two, kings three. “What a cheater, huh?” But something about it finally flashed through my tired brain. Wise men. Kings. We Three Kings. “Oh my gosh, I think I have something.”
“Is it contagious?” Roxy asked. With her head tipped back and her eyes closed, she didn’t move.
“Nat is nativity. 3K are the three kings—the magi—the wise men.”
Her eyes popped open. “There was that nativity scene outside Graceland, on the way up to the mansion.”
I shook my head. “That’s inaccessible. The buses drive right by it, no one’s allowed in the front yard.”
Ax ran a hand over his mouth. “Every church in this city could have a nativity scene. How do you narrow it down?”
“What about the heart?” Roxy asked.
“The first hotel we stopped at,” I said, “the one that canceled our reservation, they had a nativity scene. And a neon heart at the top of the building. The three kings were all Elvis statues. Could that be it?”
“Seems as good an idea as any,” Axton said. “Call Daniel.”
I yanked out my phone and dialed. Straight to voicemail. “Damn. Think he’s still searching the room?”
We all clambered into the elevator. But when the doors opened on the second floor, the hallway was empty.
We got out and hustled to Fake Travis’ room. Roxy placed her ear against the door. “Nope, don’t hear a thing.” Then she knocked on the door, but no one answered.
“Surely they found the message?” Axton shoved his hands into his back pockets. “Call again.”
I called Daniel—left a message this time telling him my suspicions. I hung up and stared at my three compadres. Well, two compadres and Joe.
Ax leaned his shoulder against the wall. “I guess we’ve done all we can?”
“Totally,” Joe said. “We’ve done it all, man. We’ve been there. We’ve lived it and have the scars to prove it.”
“Joe,” I said, “have you been hitting the popcorn balls again?”
“Rosalita Mamacita.”
I spun and holding the wall with one hand, hobbled toward the elevator.
“Where are you going?” Roxy asked.
“I’m going to check out the hotel. Who’s with me?”
Ax glanced at his phone. “It’s almost four o’clock. We should let Ma know where we’re going.”
Roxy texted Ma who was back in The Roustabout. She wanted to go with, natch. So we stopped by and grabbed her as we headed out.
“Fill me in, kids,” she said on the way to the car.
We told her everything. “I could be completely wrong.” I had thrown an arm around Ax’s shoulder to help steady my ankle.
Ma handed Roxy the keys. “Or you may be right on target. They have that conference going on. Things will be crowded.”
“We should set up lookout points around the nativity scene,” Roxy said. She slid behind the wheel and adjusted the seat and mirrors. “Just one question.”
Ma scooted into the passenger seat. “What’s that, hon?”
“What’s this guy look like out of drag?”
THIRTEEN
The hotel was indeed busy. Roxy made a parking spot by driving up over a curb near an empty handicap spot and pulling onto the sidewalk in front of the building. She only stopped when she hit a shrub. The Christmas lights laced through its branches didn’t stand a chance.
As we exited the car, my nerves were on high alert, causing my heart to race and my palms to sweat. Roxy worked a wad of gum as big as a tennis ball and Axton, usually chill and laid back, was a bundle of energy, nervously rotating his neck and stroking his jaw.
Ma had her dander up and her body practically hummed with righteous indignation.
“We’re going to get this son of a bitch. Bring him down. Drop the hammer,” she said, slamming her palm into her fist. “He killed Ron and he’s going to pay.”
I wasn’t sure how we were going to accomplish such a feat, but Axton planned on recording everything with his phone and Roxy was ready to put the smack down on someone. I just hoped that Daniel would make it in time to take over.
Among us, only Joe seemed calm. But Stoner Joe was, well, stoned.
We’d made plans in the car and after walking into the bustling hotel, we put them into action. Ax stood near the front door, Roxy picked a spot by the elevators. Ma would take up post near the blue Christmas trees, and I would stand close to the nativity scene. Joe had one job: stay the hell out of the way.
Heartache Motel: Three Interconnected Mystery Novellas (Henery Press Mystery Novellas) Page 6