4 Ghost of a Gamble

by Sue Ann Jaffarian

  Phil put a hand over Emma’s and squeezed it against his face. “I want to marry you, Emma. You know that.”

  She nodded and pulled her hand away. “And I think about marrying you, but I can’t if I feel you don’t trust me. I don’t plan on being divorced twice in my lifetime.”

  “Neither do I.” He reached for her hand again, holding it in both of his. “You know, today was the first time since we’ve been together that you haven’t greeted me with a kiss.”

  Emma started tearing up and looked away.

  “Be honest with me, Emma. Have you already made up your mind?” When she didn’t answer, he tried again. “Is it too late for us to fix this?”

  In response, she leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his lips. “No, Phil. It’s not too late. Not by a long shot.” She followed up with another kiss, this one a few seconds longer.

  While Emma showered, Phil ordered their dinner through room service. Over dinner they discussed Dolly and the situation with Nemo and Lenny, steering clear of their personal problems. Not long after dinner, they turned in—Emma to her bed and Phil to the couch.

  The text from Quinn came around four thirty, telling them to meet him in fifteen minutes on the third floor of the Venetian Hotel parking structure. They were ready and antsy to get moving. On their way out they made a quick detour to the food court to pick up breakfast and coffee for the road. They got to the designated spot just as Quinn pulled up in a shiny black Jeep Cherokee. Phil opened the front passenger door for Emma, then climbed into the back. Quinn started sucking down coffee before they were even on the road.

  “It amazes me,” said Emma, observing the brisk early morning traffic around the casinos as they made their way toward the highway, “how this town never sleeps.”

  “Many of these people probably haven’t been to bed yet,” laughed Quinn. “Or are coming to work at one of the hotels.”

  The ride out of town was uneventful with daylight just beginning to show itself. Emma dug into the bag they’d brought and handed Phil a wrapped item. She held one out to Quinn.

  “What in the world is that?” he asked.

  “A protein bar,” Emma answered. “For your breakfast.”

  “What? No egg and ham sandwiches? No cheesy croissants?”

  “The coffee place didn’t have anything like that ready yet. Besides, this is much better for you.” She started unwrapping his for him.

  Quinn glanced at it with a curled lip. “I eat those things when I’m tramping around out in the middle of nowhere. Doesn’t mean I like them.”

  “As I recall,” noted Emma, “we are tramping around in the middle of nowhere.”

  Phil leaned forward. “I’m with you on these things, pal. But you hang out with Emma, you eat protein bars.” He chuckled and bit into his. “They’re not bad with hot coffee.”

  Following the GPS, they traveled along a major highway shared by the 95, the 93, and Interstate 515 as it skirted the city of Henderson and made its way into the desert. To the left was a lone casino and hotel called Railroad Pass. Just past the hotel, the highway split off with the 95 going off to the right. Quinn followed it.

  “Is this the Old Highway 95?” asked Emma.

  “No. We’re still on the newer road,” he answered. “Since Lenny said if we hit Silver Springs, we’ve gone too far and Silver Springs intersects both the old and new roads, I thought we’d turn at Silver Springs and backtrack on the old highway. Less chance of missing Jasper.”

  “Good idea,” said Phil from the backseat.

  “By the way,” Quinn added, “back at that intersection, if we’d kept going on the highway, we’d be on our way to Dolan Springs.”

  “Really?” asked Emma, her voice swollen with interest.

  “Yep. It’s about an hour from here.”

  Phil leaned forward from the backseat. “You suggesting something, Quinn?”

  Quinn shrugged. “Just throwing the information out there, seeing who salutes.”

  “It’s very early,” noted Emma. “We might be able to catch them by surprise.”

  “Armed with what,” scoffed Phil, “our good looks?” He paused. “Then again, it might be worth a look.”

  “Let’s shelve this until after we get the money,” said Emma, her mind doing anything but letting the idea rest. “But it is something to consider.”

  Quinn glanced at Emma. “Did you tell Milo yet about Dolan Springs?”

  “I texted him last night that we think we know where Dolly is and we’re looking into it today.” She took another drink of her coffee. “He texted back asking where, but I didn’t tell him, just said we’d connect later today. I knew if I told him, he and Tracy would go running off to Dolan Springs with no thought to their safety.”

  “Or Dolly’s,” added Phil. “A surprise visit from any of us might backfire. We’ll have to be very careful if we go.”

  Keeping her eyes on the landscape whizzing by, Emma nodded. “Granny did say last night that Frankie was armed.”

  Quinn looked in the rearview mirror at Phil “Phil, in the back right behind you, there should be a bag with some binoculars. Why don’t you dig them out. They might be useful about now.”

  Phil undid his seatbelt and turned to reach in the back. When he faced forward again, he held a nice pair of binoculars. “Did you bring all that equipment with you to Las Vegas?”

  “Survival store,” Quinn answered. “There are a couple in Vegas and they’re open late. Like I said, digging in the dirt is my specialty.” Quinn turned to Emma. “I also bought something special for you.”

  “Bet I know which item that was.” Phil turned around again and retrieved something else. He held it out to Emma. “Am I right?” he asked Quinn.

  “You got it,” answered Quinn.

  Emma took the item, holding it carefully. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “Sorry it’s not pink,” Quinn said with a chuckle. “They come in pink but survival stores aren’t big on stocking pink anything.”

  “A Taser. More good thinking, Quinn.” Phil looked at Emma. “I want you to keep that with you at all times, Emma. Especially when you make the exchange.” He turned his attention back to Quinn. “You don’t by chance have a handgun in there, do you?”

  “Sorry,” Quinn said with a shake of his head. “I’m not into guns myself, but I sure wouldn’t mind having one right about now. Bet you could handle it.”

  “Been shooting all my life. I’ve even taken Emma here to the range a few times.”

  “Can we finish up the male bonding and get back to business?” Emma handed the Taser back to Phil. “Here, I don’t want to even hold it. At least not until I know how to use it.”

  “Don’t worry,” Quinn said to her with a grin. “I’ll show you. I bought one for my mother last year. Hers is pink.”

  It didn’t take long before the Silver Springs turnoff came up. Quinn made a right-hand turn onto Silver Springs and almost immediately another right onto Old Highway 95, which almost joined at this point with the newer highway. With no other traffic around they were able to travel the older road slowly, keeping their eyes open for any sign of a road named Jasper or any unmarked road that might be it. Using the binoculars, Phil scanned the landscape for anything that might look promising.

  “Okay,” said Emma, pointing ahead. “This road here is Roger Ray.”

  They kept going. Soon after, they crossed an unmarked paved road. Quinn slowed down even more so Phil could take a good look at it through the binoculars. “That can’t be it,” said Phil. “It looks like it leads to some sort of business.” Quinn moved the vehicle forward a little faster.

  They passed another couple of unmarked but well-maintained short roads that also led to businesses of some kind. Two cars passed them going in the opposite direction and turned onto one of the roads. They continued on until they crossed Silver Line Road.

  “I think we’ve gone too far,” said Phil. “We’re almost back to that casino.”

&nbs
p; “I think you’re right.” Quinn made a U-turn and they headed back south, taking it slower. When he got to the road where the cars had turned, he made a right. It appeared to be a quarry of some kind with a small parking lot. A man dressed in work clothes and carrying a lunch pail and Thermos was getting out of a beatup pickup truck. “When in doubt, ask a local.”

  Quinn pulled up next to the man. “Excuse me. We’re trying to find Jasper Road. Do you know it?”

  The guy was young but his face showed the wear and tear of working hard and out of doors. He nodded. “It’s about a mile south on your right. Easy to miss because it’s unmarked and nothing but dirt.” He peered through the window at the three of them. “You hikers?”

  “Sort of,” answered Quinn. “I like to take photos of the desert in the morning and my friends here heard there’s paranormal activity out that way.”

  “You mean like ghosts?”

  “Yes, exactly that.”

  The guy shifted and glanced over his shoulder as if checking for nearby ghosts. “Yeah, I’ve heard the same. It’s believed to be haunted by old Jasper Jenkins, a former construction worker on the Boulder Dam who holed up in a shack out there after the dam was finished. At least that’s the local legend.”

  “So it’s a dirt road a mile down on the right?” Quinn confirmed.

  “Yep.”

  “Hey, thanks a lot.”

  The guy waved to them and started for the entrance to the quarry. Quinn headed down the drive back to Old Highway 95. “You ready to meet Jasper?” he asked Emma with a smile.

  “Better than meeting a snake.”

  They drove down the old highway until they found a dirt road that was so little used it barely looked like a road at all. Quinn checked his odometer. “Just about a mile.” He turned down it while Phil leaned forward and scanned the terrain for any sign of a structure. When the dirt road ended, Quinn kept the Jeep moving forwarded.

  “There’s something up ahead,” Phil announced. “Just to our right.”

  They continued forward, stopping when they reached a pile of rubble. It was still too early for the sun, but a soft glow of daybreak spread over the desert and the hills beyond.

  Emma got out of the Jeep and stretched while taking in the vast dry land spotted with cactuses and creosote. In the distance were brown craggy hills covered in the same type of vegetation. “It’s so beautiful here. Not a peaceful beauty like in Julian with all the pine trees, but a stark, dangerous beauty.” She scuffed the dirt with the toe of her sneaker. It felt like it hadn’t seen water in decades. High above them two large black birds gracefully soared by.

  Phil pointed at them. “They’re looking for their breakfast. Lots of rodents in places like this.” They watched for a few seconds, then walked to the back of the Jeep, where Quinn was pulling out small shovels. He handed one to Phil. “And here, I got us some work gloves, too.”

  Phil said thanks and slipped the gloves onto his hands.

  “No gloves or shovel for me?” asked Emma.

  “You won’t need them,” Quinn quipped. “The manual labor is our job. You just take care of the ghost stuff.” He handed her a heavy-duty flashlight. “And be ready with this since we don’t have good light yet.”

  When Emma looked to Phil for support, he said, “And I’m in total agreement with him. Just watch where you step and let us do the digging.”

  “Do you have Lenny’s directions?” Quinn asked Emma.

  “Yes, in my back pocket, but I also memorized them.”

  Quinn put on his own work gloves then shut the back of the Jeep. “Then let’s do this.”

  The rubble looked to be a wooden structure, or it had been at one time. The three of them looked it over. Phil poked around the base with his shovel, using it to push aside scraggly brush, being careful in case something was lurking underneath. “Doesn’t look like much more than kindling now, does it?”

  Quinn slowly walked around the perimeter of the dilapidated shack. “I sure hope Lenny didn’t hide the money inside this pile of rubble.”

  Emma shook her head. “He told me it was buried under a rock at one of the corners.”

  “This looks to be what’s left of the door frame,” said Phil, still examining with his shovel. With the tip, he began tracing the fallen wood heading away from the door, going over the ground and around scrub brush, hoping to find a corner. “I think this is a corner, but there’s no rock.”

  “There are two piles of rocks back here,” Quinn told them. “Pretty evenly spaced, too.”

  Emma and Phil joined Quinn. Emma shined the flashlight along the base of the structure in the back so they would see it better.

  “This was probably a single-room shanty,” continued Quinn. “Old Jasper might have used the rocks to bolster the corners. At one time, he might have outlined the shack with them to discourage animals from digging under the wood and coming in.”

  Quinn put his shovel under one of the larger rocks at one corner. “Stand back,” he told them, “in case something slithers out.”

  Emma didn’t like the sound of that one bit. She took several steps back but kept the light trained on the area. As Quinn raised the rock, several lizards scattered in all directions.

  Working together, Quinn and Phil used their shovels to move the rocks out of the way, then began digging where the pile had been.

  “Any idea how far down he might have buried it?” Sweat beaded on Phil’s bald forehead as he worked. The desert floor was hard and dry, making the digging difficult.

  “I hope he had the sense to bury it a little deep or in something secure,” said Quinn, scooping another shovel. “Otherwise rodents might have chewed through the money.”

  “It’s at the other corner,” came a voice to their left. “In a metal box.”

  Emma turned to see the hazy outline of Lenny Speidel watching the men work.

  “Lenny’s here,” Emma told them. “He said it’s buried at the other corner in a metal box.” She turned to the ghost. “I’m glad you’re here, Lenny. It will make it easier to find it.”

  “I should have told you right off,” the ghost said, its voice filled with remorse. “I should have told you the first day I met you at Doll’s place. Maybe Nemo wouldn’t have grabbed her.”

  Phil and Quinn stopped digging and went to the other back corner of the shack. Again, Quinn carefully started moving rocks out of the way and again there was a scurry of small reptiles.

  “It’s under the rock next to the biggest one,” directed Lenny. Emma passed the direction along to Phil and Quinn. Phil stuck his shovel under the rock indicated and slowly pried it up and moved it away from the area. Then both he and Quinn took turns shoveling dirt.

  “I hit something,” announced Quinn when his shovel hit something hard. He tapped the end of his shovel downward and was rewarded with a metallic echo.

  He and Phil worked until they uncovered a box the size and shape of a briefcase. Once they had it uncovered, Quinn got down on his knees and started clearing the dirt from around the edges of the box with his gloved hands. “Dig here on this side,” he directed Phil.

  Phil stuck his shovel where Quinn indicated, removing dirt from around the edge of the box in several spots. “Okay,” Quinn told him, “I think I can grab it now.” Using both hands, Quinn started wiggling the box free. He stopped just long enough to wipe the sweat dripping from his forehead into his eyes, then went back to it until he could lift the box out of its longtime residence.

  “There’s a lock on it,” Quinn noticed. He looked up, focusing near Emma. “Hey, Lenny, don’t suppose you have the key?”

  Phil laughed. “Stand back.” When Quinn got to his feet and moved away, Phil took a couple of powerful stabs at the lock with the edge of his shovel. On the third thrust the old lock gave way. Quinn bent down again and opened it.

  “So this is what a million dollars looks like?” he said, giving a long whistle. “It’s almost tempting to hit the road with it, isn’t it?”


  “But you can’t!” yelled Lenny, his image spinning like a whirling dervish. “You have to save Doll.”

  “Calm down, Lenny,” Emma told the ghost. “Quinn’s just kidding. Of course we’re going to use it to help Dolly.”

  “Nice work, Emma and friends.”

  Emma turned toward the voice she was learning to hate. It was Nemo. He’d not even been dead forty-eight hours and he was already giving ghosts a bad name. He drifted over to them. “Nemo’s here,” she told Phil and Quinn.

  Phil looked around. Emma pointed to where Nemo was hovering. “So, Nemo,” said Phil to the spirit, giving him a smirk. “Are you going to haul this away right this minute? If so, be our guest. Just leave Dolly and Laura with us and we can all go home happy.”

  “He makes a good point, Nemo,” responded Emma. “Here’s the money. Let’s make the exchange.”

  “I’d love to.” Nemo floated around, moving closer to Emma. “But you see, we have a little problem. The Lady Laura is not working out, so you’ll have to handle the communication between me and my sons.”

  “There is no way I’m doing that, Nemo.” Emma stepped closer to the ghost, showing him she was not afraid.

  “Then we have no way to make the exchange. I can’t very well tell them where to meet you, can I?”

  “Tell me where Dolly is. We’ll go there with the money and make the exchange. This cash for both Dolly and Laura.” She hesitated as a cold vibration shot through her. “You haven’t hurt Laura, have you?”

  Nemo waved Emma’s question away with his hand, as if swatting a fly. “No, the girl is fine for now, though we are growing very impatient with her.” Nemo considered Emma’s suggestion. “Your suggestion is reasonable, but I have no way to discuss it with my sons. I really should run it by them since they are the ones whose necks are on the line.”

  Lenny was agitated. “Tell them where Doll is.”

  Emma put out a hand toward Lenny, indicating for him to calm down. To Nemo, she said, “But I thought you were in charge.”