Grift

by Jason Mosberg

With one hand cupping his mouth and the other comforting my shoulder, Ladislav appears concerned. Genuinely concerned. But beneath that concern lies disappointment. Disappointment that something might get in the way of his plans for the evening’s finale.

  “Is she alright?”

  “I don’t know. She’s in the hospital.”

  Ladislav takes a seat at the end of the bed. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  I relax a smidge. I can tell. He bought it. But Jesus, who is this guy? He had a man kicked out of the casino because I said he was staring at me. Now I half expect him to offer to fly in the best doctor from Europe when I say my sister’s been in a car accident.

  “Ladislav, I have to go. Maybe tomorrow we could–”

  “I have plans for tomorrow.”

  “I understand. Either way, I really need to go. I’ll make sure you’re refunded for tonight.” I slip the dress back over my head.

  In my head, I panic. This is it. It’s over. If he doesn’t want to see me tomorrow, the camera in his closet won’t do us any good.

  I need to do or say something to change his mind.

  I focus my mind on why it is Ladislav canceled his previous date to meet me. It was the chance to be first. To be first with a girl who had dropped out of her Ivy League school.

  “Maybe this is a sign I should go back to Princeton.” I muster a cute laugh as I wipe a few lingering tears from my eyes.

  The remark proves enough to get Ladislav all riled up. He stares at me for a second. His eyes going from my feet to my neck, lingering on every curve in between.

  Then he brings me in for a hug. He presses against me, his hands clinging to that ambiguous region between my butt and my lower back.

  After I pull away from the hug, he eyes me once again.

  “Perhaps I can reorganize my schedule, and we could go out again tomorrow night.”

  “I’d like that... If my sister’s okay.”

  “Of course. I’ll have one of my bodyguards escort you home safely.”

  “That won’t be necessary. Hopefully, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  And without another word, I walk out of the hotel room.

  ***

  When I get off the elevator, I spot Jesse waiting for me. Slouched between a few slot machines and camouflaged among tourists. He’s already changed out of his room service getup.

  Once he sees I’m alone, he approaches.

  He walks right behind me as I navigate the crowd of tourists and gamblers, cutting towards the casino doors.

  Just in case Ladislav’s bodyguards are in the casino somewhere, Jesse knows not to walk right next to me until we’re safely outside.

  “You okay?” he asks. Just loudly enough for me to hear.

  Whether we’re friends or something more, I never stop believing he cares for me. His first question wasn’t whether or not I got the camera set up. He asked me if I was okay.

  With the exception of Max, I’ve never felt like anyone cared for me the way Jesse cares for me. I hear people say they can’t be friends with someone they love. I think I do love Jesse.

  And I would take being his friend over being nothing.

  “Yeah. I’m okay,” I whisper out of the side of my mouth.

  “Did you do it?”

  “It’s done.”

  “Does he want to see you again tomorrow?”

  “I think so.”

  ***

  When we get back to Treasure Island, Max, Rob, Mars, and Kim have a laptop on the kitchen table. The laptop shows live feed from Ladislav’s closet! They all hug us when we walk in the door. It’s a small victory. But definitely a victory.

  One step closer to getting the jewels puts us one step closer to paying the ransom. One step closer to getting Sophie back.

  Jesse shares his side of the story, how he kept Ladislav at the door, when Kim interrupts. “Guys, look!”

  We rush over to the computer. Ladislav has opened the closet doors. The camera points at the safe. Ladislav enters a four-digit passcode, then opens the safe.

  It’s way too fast to make out the code, but we have it on tape.

  Just as Ladislav puts his gambling cash into the safe next to a titanium case, which presumably holds the twelve million dollars in jewels, Kim presses rewind. She goes back a few seconds. Replays the video in slow motion.

  Now we see a right index finger punch the four-digit passcode in slow motion.

  7-5-8-2.

  Yes! A huge score!

  But in the place of a celebration, we review the plan for tomorrow three more times. Then it’s bed. I need to get rest. Tonight was only the first date. Tomorrow is the heist.

  --Darkness. There’s darkness in him.--

  CHAPTER TEN – Something is off

  Something is off.

  Everyone’s waiting for me when I come out of my room just before 10:00 AM. Seeing their troubled faces, I first worry that something happened to Sophie. That we never got the proof of life. Or that someone discovered her body.

  That she’s dead.

  “What is it?! Is it Sophie?!” My voice cracks with the second question.

  Max throws up his hands as Jesse shakes his head. “No, no, no,” adds Rob.

  Instant relief. Whatever the bad news, I can handle it as long as it’s not Sophie’s death.

  “It’s Ladislav,” Mars says.

  “What about him?” I ask. “Did he cancel our second date?”

  “No,” Max says. “I heard from my contact at the escort service. He wants to see you again. The date is set.”

  That sounds like good news. “So what’s the problem?”

  His chair screeches as Jesse pushes out of it and looks at me with one of his this really matters faces. “I had Kim look into him a little bit more. It’s not good.”

  “What do you mean, look into him?”

  “On the internet. News publications. Police databases.” replies Kim.

  “And?” I ask.

  “Well, last year, this young geisha went missing in Tokyo. They found her chopped up in a trash bag three weeks later.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Two nights before she disappeared, she was out with Ladislav,” Jesse adds.

  I look to Kim. She nods a confirmation, then chimes in, “He was questioned but never charged.”

  “So maybe he had nothing to do with it. Maybe it’s a coincidence. If she was a geisha, she might’ve been out with dozens of guys that week.”

  “Maybe,” Kim says, “but he was also questioned in the deaths of three other young girls. One in Amsterdam, one in London, and one in Dubai. Each between the ages of 17-20.”

  “That’s a lot of coincidences,” Jesse adds.

  “Well, even if it was him, and he’s some kind of serial killer who targets prostitutes, that’s not gonna happen to me.”

  “How do you know?”

  I ignore Kim’s question and instead think of Sophie. “We don’t have a lot of choices here. This is about getting Sophie back.”

  Kim puts her arm around me. “We know, Pi, but this is…”

  Looking at them, I see it: doubt. We can’t lose you and Sophie, their furrowed brows and pursed lips say.

  Well, I won’t go on without Sophie.

  I stride into the kitchen, hands waving. “We have an edge over Ladislav. If he tries anything, we’ve got a camera in his hotel suite. You guys will be watching.”

  “It’s not that simple,” replies Max. “If Ladislav is behind these murders, he probably didn’t do it the same night he entertained them, and he probably didn’t do it in his hotel suite. He likely got the girls in his car when no one knew they were with him, and then killed them somewhere else. Assuming it’s not a wild series of coincidences, and he did kill these girls, he did a hell of a job getting away with it.”

  “And those are just the murders he was questioned in,” says Kim. “Who knows how many total girls he’s killed.”

  The cause for concern now becomes crysta
l clear. I’m pretending to be a prostitute to rip off a mark who kills prostitutes. But I can’t let them pick up on any fear or doubt. I sit down and cross my legs casually.

  “Then you guys can follow me, and I won’t do anything alone the next few days. Soon as we get Sophie back, I’ll lay low in here for a few weeks until we know Ladislav has left the country.”

  They all stare. Here, speechless equals unconvinced.

  “As soon as we get the jewels and get Sophie back, we disappear. Hide out in a hotel until Ladislav is gone. ‘Til he’s back in Prague. With all the hotel rooms in this city, he’ll never find us.”

  It’s true. We’d be safe in a hotel room. This city has more hotel rooms than New York and Los Angeles combined.

  Shifting feet and rolling eyes: they all still seem reluctant. So I turn to the man in charge. “Max?”

  “I’m worried. I’m not saying no. I’m just saying I’m very worried.”

  “It’s my decision, though, right? I have to get Sophie back. If this is the way, we do it. We’re doing it, and that’s it. Mars, my sister Sophie calls you Uncle Mars. Are you going to help me get her back?”

  Mars looks at everyone else, avoiding eye contact with me.

  “Mars, look at me. I’m asking you. Are you going to help get my sister back?”

  Mars rubs his right hand through two days worth of whiskers. Then nods. “I’ll help,” he says.

  Rob looks away when I face him next. “Rob? You going to help bring Sophie home?”

  “Okay.”

  “Kim?”

  “I want to help but I think you’re blinded by the fact that she’s your sister.”

  “No, Kim, she’s our sister. And she needs our help.”

  “I don’t like it, but it’s your call.”

  “I already made it.” My eyes shift to Jesse. He sighs and shrugs as if to say he’s fully against it but will stand by me.

  “I’m going to go shower and then get ready.”

  “Pi.”

  When I turn back, Kim sticks out her hand. “This was delivered today.”

  My suspicion’s correct: the proof of life has arrived. Inside the envelope sits a picture of Sophie. Her bound hands hold today’s Las Vegas Sun. My heart thumps faster and faster as I stare at the picture. Her eyes are open. She’s clearly alive.

  For a moment, I start thinking like a detective. Is there any clue in the photograph? Something that could show who took Sophie? Or some indication of where she’s being held?

  Nothing but a white, painted wall in the background.

  Staring at the picture, two emotions strike me.

  Relief that’s she still alive. A form of hope.

  But also terror. Whoever took this picture stole Sophie.

  Seeing her tied up as a prisoner makes me feel old. As if it depleted my childhood of whatever innocence remained.

  ***

  I tend to take either three to four minute showers or half-hour showers. Never a ten-minute shower. Never a fifteen-minute shower. Either I’m in and out, or I stand there under the hot water ‘til my skin can’t take it anymore.

  This is one of those half-hour showers. There’s much to process.

  My mind lingers on that picture of Sophie. Knowing that she was a prisoner and seeing that she is a prisoner are different. Seeing her bound and gagged makes me feel like all my gastrointestinal organs are tied up in a knot. But at least I know that she’s not dead.

  It’s not just the picture lingering in my head. I can’t stop thinking about Ladislav. About the vibe I got from him yesterday. About his commanding voice and his eerie eyes. About the way he looked at me in the car and in the restaurant. About the way he kissed me in the elevator and the way he told me to take my dress off as soon as we entered his hotel room. About his hunger for power. There is little doubt in my mind that he killed these girls. I could see it in his face. Darkness. Pure evil.

  Ladislav killed at least four girls. Were there more? How many more? Before, Max made it sound as if Ladislav had paid for hundreds of escorts over the years. If those were the only four he killed, why did Ladislav choose them? Had they done something specific? Had they refused to sleep with them? Had he gotten attached to them? Does Ladislav want to kill all the girls he takes out? Did he want to kill me last night? Is he inviting me out tonight to finish the job?

  Suspecting he’s a serial killer, it’ll be different seeing him. Conning him. The anticipation has grown. But one focus overrides my emotions: bring Sophie home. The fear of getting chopped up into little pieces and disposed of like pig innards pales in comparison to the possible guilt of living the rest of my life knowing I didn’t do everything possible to get my sister back.

  ***

  Blue lace panties and a black push up bra. I intentionally avoid matching my lingerie as a subconscious way of comforting myself.

  Well, maybe a conscious way of comforting myself.

  Mismatched lingerie signals an amateur. A john paying for class would expect matched lingerie. But I’m reassuring myself that Ladislav’s never going to see my underwear. His safe will be emptied of jewels before I ever have to return to his suite. While we’re still gambling – before he knows he’s been robbed – I’ll slip away to use the lady’s room, and I’ll disappear. Ladislav will never see me, let alone my underwear, ever again.

  “Piper! Get out here!” Kim’s shrill voice echoes throughout the suite.

  I throw a towel around myself and rush out into the main room to find the rest of the crew huddled around the laptop.

  As I walk over towards them, Max ushers Mars towards the door. “See what you can find out,” I hear Max tell him.

  Mars slips out the door and into the elevator.

  “What’s going on?” I ask. “Where’s Mars going?”

  When no one answers, I follow their disappointed eyes to the live feed from Ladislav’s room.

  Ladislav’s bodyguards are packing everything up from the closet. Then a figure goes to the safe. From the back of his head, I can tell it’s Ladislav. He opens the safe and dumps all the cash and jewels into some black designer luggage.

  What are they doing?” I look to Max.

  “They’re changing rooms.”

  “What? Why?”

  Max turns away from the computer. “We don’t know. I sent Mars over to Caesars to follow them. Maybe he can find out where they end up or why the hell they changed rooms.”

  “We got the passcode to the safe, though, so even if he changes rooms, we can still use the same plan?”

  Max replies, “If he uses the same passcode. How will we know?”

  “But it’s still worth trying, isn’t it?” Still hot from the shower and now panicking, I’m sweating profusely.

  “And now we won’t have eyes in his room,” Kim says. “So Rob and Mars won’t know for sure it’s empty.”

  On the computer screen, Ladislav’s bodyguards finish packing up their stuff. Then nothing. No one else passes in front of the camera’s view. The camera now shows the live feed of an empty closet in an abandoned room.

  “They’re gone,” Kim says.

  We sit in silence for a couple minutes, waiting for Mars. The quiet makes the two minutes feel like twenty-two, but no one has anything to say.

  Finally, Max’s phone rings. “It’s Mars. Be quiet,” he says, despite it already being silent.

  Max answers the phone. “Mars?” He listens for a half minute, then hangs up.

  Max relays, “They changed rooms, and they had the hotel manager put the jewels in the Caesars vault.”

  All of my fear that Sophie would die had been transferred into hope that the jewel heist would work. Now my fears return. Will she die? What would Charlie Moses do with her if we couldn’t pay the money in the allotted time? There are only three days left. If not through stealing and selling Ladislav’s jewels, how can we possibly get our hands on ten million dollars in three days?

  Rob, the slowest to connect the dots, questions, “So it
’s off?”

  Max nods. “It has to be.”

  “Screw it. Let’s bust in and rob the Caesars vault.” No one even bothers to shoot this suggestion down. Rob has watched Ocean’s 11 ten too many times.

  “Well if it’s off, what we gonna do?” Still, no one answers Rob.

  It’s then I look to Jesse. It’s then that I notice something off with him. It’s a combination of two of his faces.

  One, relief. And I get it. He was worried about me being alone with this serial killer, and now he’s relieved that I won’t be in that situation.

  But I also see satisfaction. It’s after seeing the amalgamation of these two faces that I know.

  Rushing at him, I knock the laptop off the table. “What did you do?”

  Jesse looks up at me as I strain to read his face. “You did this?”

  “No. Piper, calm down.”

  “Calm down!? This was the only way to get her back. What did you do? Did you call them, tell them to change rooms? Huh? Or call in an anonymous tip to the hotel that their room was being watched? You did something! I know you did something!”

  I raise a closed right fist to hit Jesse, but Rob grabs me and holds me back.

  “Take it easy, Pi.” Jesse reaches down, picks up the computer, and places it back on the table.

  “What did you do, Jesse?” I rip away from Rob’s grip for only a brief second before he grabs me again. “Did you call Ladislav and pretend to be the hotel? And claim there’d been thefts in the last couple days? Or did you call the front desk, pretending to be a guest, and claim you saw someone trying to break into room 2214?”

  “Piper, I didn’t do anything.” Jesse remains calm and steadfast.

  I shake like a wild animal in an attempt to escape Rob’s grip. Max yells for us to stop. Jesse repeatedly claims that he didn’t do anything. Mars walks into the room, returning from his reconnaissance mission at Caesars and tries to figure out what the hell is going on. I slip out of Rob’s grip and go after Jesse. Now it takes both Mars and Rob to hold me back. The commotion has transformed into chaos.