Outrageous Vegas Vacation (An Agnes Barton Senior Sleuths Mystery Book 8)

by Madison Johns

  When we arrived on our floor, we made way for our room and I was just dragging my feet, exhausted as could be. I had forgotten all about how demanding it could be to investigate sometimes. Especially when I had to continually traipse up and down in the elevator all day.

  Eleanor finally opened our door to find a vivacious woman sitting on Mark’s lap!

  I strolled right over there and asked, “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Don’t worry. Uhm…this young lady has no idea who I am.”

  “Oh.” She giggled. “And who are you, some high roller, I hope?”

  “You weren’t supposed to leave this room,” I pointed out.

  Mark smiled. “I didn’t. I called the escort service and they were happy to send this young lady over to spend time with me.”

  I was about to blow a gasket. “You mean a hooker?”

  “Now that’s not very nice, grandma. Nobody uses that name anymore.”

  “Prostitute, lady of the night, streetwalker, harlot, and trollop,” Eleanor said. “It’s all the same to me.”

  “I’m an escort and it’s legal in Nevada,” she countered.

  “It’s not legal in Las Vegas and it’s only allowed in certain parts of Nevada, I’m sure you know,” I insisted. “Now run along.” I motioned to the door. “Your services are no longer required.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Mark, tell these old ladies not to order me around.”

  “Mark? I thought you said she didn’t know who you were.”

  “We’re only on a first name basis.”

  “This isn’t making me feel any less worried.”

  “Oh, come on. You can’t deny me a little fun. I’ve been locked up in this room all day.”

  “That’s not my problem,” I said. “Out, bimbo.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not moving anywhere and you can’t make me.”

  I looked over at Eleanor and said, “That sounds like a challenge.”

  We silently communicated now, or it seemed like we did, as we moved forward and each of took ahold of one of the bimbo’s arms, dragging her to the door. The woman’s feet were moving, but she tried to turn back around. Neither of us let her go for a second. The door was opened just then by Andrew, his eyes wide with shock.

  “What’s going on here?” he asked.

  “Oh, nothing much. I’m tossing this hooker out, is all.”

  Eleanor and I gave the girl a kick in the rear and she tumbled out the door, slamming into the opposite wall. Luckily, she put her hands out to catch herself, but from the sound of her palms slapping the wall, I was pretty sure they would be stinging for a while.

  A laughing Mr. Wilson rolled his walker into the room with Andrew giving me the eye as he also entered, shutting the door.

  “If you’re going to hire a hooker, you should tell me beforehand so I don’t come back to the room and interrupt you.” Andrew winked.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Wilson said. “We agreed no more hiring hookers.” He slapped his knee with a hand, looking like he was having some sort of fit as he laughed.

  I ignored the men and their humor, facing down Mark, who looked none too happy that we had thrown out his entertainment for the night.

  “The point of us allowing you to stay in our room was so that nobody would know where you are,” I reminded him.

  “And now you hired a hooker to come in here,” Eleanor added. “Here we’re putting our keisters on the line for you and you do something like this?”

  “Eleanor is right. For all you know, that woman was a set up.”

  “Yes,” Eleanor said. “Did you use the same escort service that you normally do?”

  “Well, yes, but I assure you they have no idea what my name is. I used the alias of Gus Barlows.”

  “Did you use a credit card for this purchase?”

  “No, but you should have let me pay the woman before she left. We might be in some trouble with the way you shoved her out the door.”

  I jumped at the sound of someone pounding on the door.

  “I’ll handle this,” Andrew said. “Give me the money you owe the woman, Mark.”

  He handed over the money and hid in the bathroom.

  Eleanor and I gulped as Andrew opened the door. Instead of thugs being there, the detectives were standing right outside the door.

  “We’d like a word with Mark,” Detective Mader said.

  Instead of denying he was here, Andrew allowed the detectives inside. “We have someone staying here, but he’s a gambler who lost all his money. We were trying to help him out until money could be sent to him,” Andrew said. “Who is Mark?”

  “Look, I’m willing to overlook you allowing the man to stay here, but we need to question him about Malcolm’s death, as Agnes knows, since I’m sure she’s been hired by Kayla White.”

  “What makes you so sure he’s here, anyway?” I asked.

  “Besides that he called the escort service, you mean?”

  “You mean Gus Barlows did.”

  “Which happens to be Mark’s alias,” Mader said. “Where is he hiding?”

  “In the bathroom,” Eleanor admitted.

  Mader tried the door, but it was locked. He then knocked, saying, “We know you’re in there, Mark. You might as well open the door. We only want to question you.”

  When the door didn’t open, the detectives shouldered it open and ran into the bathroom, wrestling Mark to the floor. They forced his arms behind his back and cuffed him.

  “Now, look here,” I said. “You said you only wanted to question him.”

  They hauled Mark off the floor and he said, “You can’t trust cops, they’re a bunch of liars!”

  I gulped. “Where does that leave us?” I asked the detectives.

  “You didn’t know who he really was will be the story, but that escort was really a cop and she wants to see you both arrested. She was only in the room to verify Mark was here until you two showed up.”

  Detective McCullum smiled. “I have to give it to you two. I’d never have thought two old, I mean ladies your age, would be able to strong-arm a cop like that. This sure is going to be a story for the record books.”

  “I’d suggest you not harbor anymore suspects,” Mader said. “I’d hate to charge you both with obstruction.”

  “You do know this man has been in prison, right?” McCullum said.

  “Yes, he was the driver during an armed robbery.”

  “Oh, is that what he told you? More like manslaughter for a bar fight.”

  I gulped. “I had no idea, but you can’t blame him the rest of his life for what he’s done in the past.”

  “He seems good for Malcolm’s murder. He’s killed before and the blood on Malcolm’s shirt was a knife wound, just like how Mark killed that man in the bar.”

  “But he has an alibi. One of the dancers, Yvonne Green, was with him at the time of Malcolm’s death.”

  Mader shook his head. “We’ve already questioned the dancers and none of them was aware of Mark’s involvement with any of them. Kayla would have fired him if she found out.”

  “Yvonne lied is what. She admitted that he was with her, but refused to tell the cops.”

  “She’s telling the truth,” Mark said. “I won’t be railroaded for a crime I didn’t commit.”

  “You should have thought of that before you killed Malcolm.”

  “But I didn’t, I just told you.”

  “What motive did Mark have for killing Malcolm?”

  “They were spotted arguing the night before in the casino. One of the security guards had to break them up. The only reason neither of them were arrested was because they worked for Kayla,” Mader said.

  “It’s a pretty open-and-shut case,” McCullum said. “We even found the murder weapon in his room, a six-inch knife.”

  “How were you given a search warrant that quick?”

  “We suspected him all along. Looks like you’re out of a case now. Enjoy the rest
of your stay in Vegas.”

  The door closed and I was befuddled. There was no way I’d believe that Mark had done this, not if he had an alibi. We just had to press Yvonne to come forward and tell the truth.

  “Let’s head to bed,” Andrew said. “It’s been an exhausting day.”

  “I’m too wound up now to sleep. I don’t believe for a minute that Mark killed Malcolm.”

  Andrew gave me one of his ‘here we go again’ looks. “You heard what the detectives said, and you as much as admitted that Mark lied about what he did time for.”

  “That doesn’t make him a murderer.”

  “He has an alibi,” Eleanor said. “We just have to get her to come forward.”

  Andrew shook his head and Wilson chomped on a gumdrop that he pulled from his pocket. It was then that I noticed his walker. “What happened to the mechanical wheelchair?”

  “It needed a charge and they’ll be bringing it up to our room in the morning. That is, if you ever let us get any sleep tonight.”

  “Fine, we’ll go to bed, but I’m not about to drop this case.”

  “I should have known that was too simple,” Andrew said. Then he moved into the bedroom and I shrugged at Eleanor, going our separate ways.

  I changed in to my nightgown and found a very tired Andrew already in bed. He grinned, patting my side of the bed. What could I do other than join him, resting my head on his shoulder. I gave him a quick kiss and it wasn’t long before he was snoring away. All I could think about before sleep found me was how much I wanted to talk to Kayla tomorrow. She certainly had to have known what Mark had served time for, at the very least. Was she hiding something?

  Chapter Seven

  By the time my eyelids fluttered open, a smiling Andrew was already awake with a tray in hand, featuring a Belgian waffle covered with strawberries and whipped cream on a plate, alongside two strips of limp bacon, just like I loved it. There was also a glass of orange juice and a coffee cup filled with a steaming, caffeinated brew. From the smell, vanilla creamer had been stirred into it.

  Andrew sat on the edge of the bed, giving me a morning kiss. He was dressed in tan slacks with a white, billowy shirt. “While you’re busy today, I’ll be meeting with a few colleagues of mine. I didn’t know they were in town until last night. I’ll bring Wilson along with me to keep him out of trouble. He has a habit of running over the toes of the other gamblers.”

  I smiled as I put a forkful of the waffle into my mouth. It tasted so good. After I ate breakfast, Andrew took the tray into the other room. When I finally walked toward the bathroom, everyone but me was dressed and I hadn’t even hit the shower. I hopped in and enjoyed the pounding of the hot water. Well, at least not all the hot water was gone, not until the toilet flushed, alerting me that I wasn’t alone.

  I stuck my head out of the door, the shampoo running into my eyes. “Eleanor, is that you?”

  “Yes, and would you hurry up already? The men left.”

  I slammed the door closed and finished up my shower, Eleanor handing me a towel when I was about to hop out. When I had the towel wrapped around me, I thanked her. Then I hobbled into the bedroom. Boy was my leg hurting today. It must have been from kicking the hooker out, or cop, as it would seem.

  I went into the next room once I was dressed in white Capri pants and an orange button-up shirt layered over a white camisole, with strapped sandals on my feet. Luckily these had plenty of padding and were quite comfortable, which I sorely needed, since we’d have a full day ahead of ourselves.

  “Where are we off to first?” Eleanor asked.

  “To see Kayla and get a few answers. I’d still like to question Malcolm’s family today, too.”

  “Well, we better get going, then. I, for one, would love to know if she was aware of Mark’s arrest last night.”

  We waltzed out of our room and on a whim, I placed the do not disturb sign on the door. I couldn’t shake the thought that someone might just go into our room and snoop around. Not that a sign would stop them, but it might if someone saw them entering the room.

  We got onto the elevator and took it to the twentieth floor. There was a guard posted outside Kayla’s room and I couldn’t help but wonder why. If Mark really had been the one that was responsible for Malcolm’s murder and he was now under arrest, what would Kayla have to worry about?

  “Hello,” I greeted the muscular man at the door.

  He had his arms crossed but let his hands drop to his waist, where there was a service revolver in a holster attached to his pants. “Kayla isn’t seeing anyone today.”

  “Oh, but I’m Agnes and this is Eleanor. We were hired to do a little investigating.”

  He pulled out a two-way radio and asked if it was okay to let us in. The answer was affirmative and he opened the door for us. I didn’t immediately see Kayla, but I did see an older woman, who looked to be about two decades my junior.

  “Hello there, girls. Kayla has told me all about you. You look like an Agnes to me,” she said to Eleanor.

  “Actually, that’s Eleanor. I’m Agnes.”

  “Oh.” She laughed. “I sure got one wrong.” She smoothed back her dark hair. “I’m actually surprised that you’re here, since the police found the killer.”

  “Did they now?” I asked. “I’d rather speak to Kayla about this.”

  The smile faded. “She’s taking a bath. She does that when she’s upset.”

  “Why would she be upset?” Eleanor asked. “I mean, if she found out who the killer is.”

  The woman shuddered. “Imagine finding out your bodyguard did that, but I’ll let Kayla tell you the specifics. It’s not my place.”

  “I missed your name,” I said.

  “It’s Sue White. I divorced Kayla’s father when she was quite young, but I decided to keep his name. It’s easier that way for the children.”

  “And how many do you have? Children—not husbands?” Eleanor asked with a smirk, eyeing up Sue’s ensemble of black leggings, denim miniskirt, and low cut white top, which displayed more cleavage than a showgirl.

  “I must admit that I’ve been married—”

  “Too many times to count,” Kayla said from the bathroom door, as she walked out, wrapped in a towel.

  “Now, Kayla. That’s not fair. You know it wasn’t my fault that your father left. He was a traveling salesman,” she told us.

  “Then there was the manager of the fast food joint, the loan officer, and the corrections officer. Should I go on?”

  “Don’t be so snappy, Kayla, just because you woke up in a mood. I’m here to help you out like I told you I would when you called me.”

  “I must have been out of my mind at the time,” she muttered under her breath, but I heard her. Obviously, her mother didn’t, though, since she didn’t react to the slam. “Give me a few minutes, Agnes and Eleanor. Then I’d like to speak with you both, privately.”

  “Don’t let me get in your way, girls. I have a book to read on my iPhone.”

  Eleanor and I sat down, knowing it took younger women more time to get dressed and ready. I couldn’t help but wonder what Sue’s deal was. By all appearances, she dressed more provocatively than her daughter Kayla did. She appeared engrossed in her book, but she could be doing anything over there for all I knew.

  Kayla cleared her throat, suddenly appearing with jeans around her slim hips, a simple tee on that you might see any young lady wear, certainly not a pop star.

  I followed Kayla into her room, with Eleanor right behind me.

  “Would you close the door behind you, please,” Kayla said.

  Eleanor closed the door and we were motioned to sit in two chairs opposite the bed that Kayla sank into. The bed wasn’t made, as it had to have been much too early for the maid to be around.

  Kayla dabbed at a tear that didn’t even have the time to appear. “The detectives were here this morning and I can’t believe they arrested Mark. I thought he was hiding in your room.”

  “He was, but he cal
led an escort service using an alias that the police knew about. The woman was no escort, but a cop.”

  “A good one at that,” Eleanor said. “She didn’t come out of character one time, not even when we kicked her out the door. And when I say kicked her out, I mean, we both kicked her keister.”

  “I wish I hadn’t now. Boy, is my leg and hip smarting today,” I admitted.

  Kayla laughed at that. “Mark really set himself up, then, didn’t he?”

  “Yes and no. I suppose it was only a matter of time before the police caught up with him so that they could question him, but I never thought he’d be arrested.”

  Kayla sighed. “The police told me that the murder weapon was found in his room.”

  “Did you know what Mark served time for in prison?”

  “Just what he told us both, he was a getaway driver. I wouldn’t have hired him if I had known that he had served time for manslaughter.”

  Eleanor puffed up her chest. “That doesn’t mean anything. If it were a bar fight, like we were led to believe, he might have just hit the guy too hard. He is a big guy.”

  “Detective Mader said that Mark had used a knife in the manslaughter case.”

  “So, just because he served time in the past and it had something to do with a knife, it makes him guilty of killing Malcolm?”

  Kayla covered her face with her hands. She then let them drop to her sides and said, “I don’t know what to think. It’s hard to believe Mark would kill Malcolm.”

  “They also said that Mark and Malcolm had an argument the night before. Do you know anything about that?” I asked.

  “No, but they didn’t always see eye-to-eye in regards to the pay-to-party with me venture, but Malcolm insisted it would be easy money. How was I to know that such weirdoes would come up here.”

  “What kind of weirdoes are we talking about here?”

  “Just rough types, the kind of people you wouldn’t want to meet on a lonely street.”

  I was shocked that Malcolm would do that. “And Malcolm was in charge of who came up here?”