Sin & Savage

by Anna Mara

  Cassie’s shoulders drooped in resignation. “Okay then, if you should change your mind about Splay’s, give me a call.”

  “I will—but I won’t.” Tori picked up her purse and briefcase, and moved towards the door. She stopped and walked back to give her friend a quick hug. “Thanks, Cassie, you’re the best.”

  “You’re not mad at me, about what I said before?”

  Tori smiled and shook her head. “I know you just want me to be happy even if you seem to think you know what’s best for me.”

  A little snort escaped her friend’s lips. “I do know what’s best for you. You need a new man in your life, Victoria Alexandra Jones, and some excitement too.”

  “Well, it ain’t happenin’ this weekend, Cassie Rebecca Platte, that’s for sure. See you Tuesday,” Tori giggled, as she waved good-bye and walked out.

  Chapter 3

  Wednesday – 6:48 p.m.

  Tori sank deeper into the warm, sudsy bubble bath and all of her cares melted away. She closed her eyes and let the heat of the water seep into her bones. It felt so good just to let go and not have to think about anything—not have to worry about how she was going to pay off the debts Tod left her with, or worry if her parents were all right in Haiti, or worry whether Nana would live to be a hundred, or worry if she herself would ever find love again…

  Love?

  Surprised, Tori’s eyes flew open and she shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought. Where had that come from? She wasn’t interested in love. What had love ever done for her except break her heart, make her the humiliating spectacle of Gideon, Texas, and put her deep deep into a tunnel of debt that she couldn’t see her way out of?

  Marrying your college sweetheart was supposed to be a sure thing, a safe bet, a happy-ever-after event, not the worst mistake of your life. How could she have been so stupid not to have seen the signs of Tod’s cheating? Sure, he did have to travel a lot for his job, being an account manager for that Dallas software company and all; and yes, she couldn’t exactly have foreseen what he’d been up to on all those business trips, but darn it, she should have known instead of blindly accepting everything he’d told her. What a fool she’d been!

  Love???

  No, thank you! That was one delicacy off her list from now on.

  She closed her eyes again and let her body sink deeper into the hot water.

  Knock, knock, knock, knock!

  Tori’s eyes flew open again at the insistent pounding on her apartment door.

  “Tori, are you in there? Tori? Please, are ya home?”

  That was her grandmother’s voice and she sounded frantic.

  “Nana? Just hang on a minute.” Tori leapt out of the tub, sloshing water on the ceramic floor. Her heart began to pound violently at the fear she’d heard in the older woman’s voice. Quickly grabbing her robe, she put it on and raced to the door, unlocking the deadbolt. “Just a sec…” Her words were barely out of her mouth when her grandmother exploded through the open portal.

  “Tori, thank God you’re home. Something terrible has happened!” Nana gushed, as she paced the living room.

  Tori felt suddenly faint. “Is it Mommy and Daddy?”

  “No, they’re fine.”

  “Are you okay? Are you feeling sick?” Tori went to grab the older woman’s arms to still her movements so that she could examine her face for signs of distress.

  Nana quickly shook her head no. “Honey, it’s not me. It’s Joe!”

  “Joe? Who’s Joe?”

  Suddenly, Nana’s eyes flickered warily as she stared at her granddaughter’s expectant face. Hesitating, she moved out of the younger woman’s grasp. “I need a smoke and a drink. Got any whiskey in this joint?” she asked, as she reached into her purse for her cigarettes. Lighting one, she puffed the smoke out quickly, her hand trembling as she brought the stick to her lips again.

  Tori noticed the tremor. “Nana, who’s Joe?” she shouted, as fear churned in her gut.

  “All right, don’t yell at me! He’s my fiancé, okay? And I love him and we’re going to get married and neither you or your mother or your asshole father are going to stop me, that’s who he is.” The older woman plopped down on the couch, the outburst seemingly having sapped all of her strength.

  Tori gawked at her. “Your fiancé? You don’t even have a boyfriend.”

  “Yes, I do. His name is Joe Sorelli. He loves me and I love him and we’re going to be married,” Nana Estelle declared, as she smashed the cigarette stub into the ashtray before reaching for another one from her purse.

  “Joe Sorelli? I’ve never heard of a Joe Sorelli in Gideon.”

  “You wouldn’t have because he lives in Vegas.”

  “Vegas? Las Vegas, Nevada?”

  Nana nodded and Tori frowned before continuing. “The only time you were in Vegas was five years ago.”

  “Well, I kind of—have never actually met him—in person, I mean.” The older woman blushed and a guilty smile crinkled at the corners of her lips.

  Reproachful, Tori crossed her arms against her chest. She straightened to her full height, adopting the stance she used on her misbehaving kindergarten kids. “Nana, what have you been up to now? Start talking!”

  Nana’s chin angled up and a defiant gleam shone in her baby blue eyes. “I met Joe on a dating website about five months ago and we’ve been Skyping ever since. I’m in love with him, Tori. We’re going to be married. You know, he’s even younger than me, only 68, a real boytoy.” Nana winked.

  “An internet boyfriend? Oh, Nana…” Tori shook her head at the absurdity of it all. “Who is this guy anyway? What does he do?”

  “He owns a small butcher shop in Vegas, and he’s wonderful and kind and funny—and he loves me!” Suddenly, the defiance in her eyes evaporated and was replaced by a wash of fear. “Oh Tori, Joe’s disappeared and I can’t find him anywhere. I think something bad has happened to him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He never showed up for our last Skype appointment and he’s never missed one since the day we met. I called his neighbor, Mrs. Moore and she said he never came home last night. His van’s not in the driveway or at his shop. She checked. That’s just not like him, honey.”

  “How do you know it’s not like him? You’ve never met him in real life. Remember, the internet is full of scam artists just waiting to dupe senior ladies like you. I’ll bet that’s who this guy is—a crook.”

  “He’s not a crook!”

  A niggling thought flashed into Tori’s mind and her knowing eyes narrowed suspiciously on her grandmother. “You haven’t given him any money, have you?”

  The older woman shot up off the couch and began to nervously pace the room. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing! I’m insulted,” she declared imperiously.

  “Oh my God! How much did you give him?” It was plainly written all over her grandmother’s face. The senior had sent the crook money!

  “I—I cashed in a few T-bills,” Nana stammered.

  “How much?”

  “A slight—very very slight—shade north of… $65,000.”

  Shock flew through Tori’s body like a bolt of lightning. “Good gravy! That’s almost all you’ve got!”

  Nana rushed forward and grasped Tori’s arm. “It’s not what you think, sweetpea, please,” she pleaded.

  “It’s exactly what I think—he scammed you!”

  “No, he didn’t. The money was for a down payment for a new condo that they’re building in Las Vegas. It’s where Joe and I are going to live once we’re married. And he’s gonna sell his butcher shop and house, and I’m gonna sell my condo here.”

  Tori shook her head at her grandmother’s naiveté. “When did you send him the money?”

  “The day before last.”

  “You mean, the day before he disappeared?”

  “He didn’t steal from me, Tori. He wouldn’t do that.”

  Tori grabbed her grandmother’s hands and held them tightly. “Don’t
you see, Nana? These scam artists are all over the internet. He probably has tons of girlfriends just like you, sending him cash and when they do, they never hear from him again. He tricked you!”

  She momentarily closed her eyes in disbelief at what had happened—yet again. Why had another woman in her family just been duped by a lying, cheating, no-good scoundrel from the male species? You just couldn’t trust any of them!

  Nana shook her head. “No, Tori, you’re wrong. I know Joe’s a good man. You know why I know? Because I got the tingle.”

  Tori’s eyes flew open in surprise and her voice lowered to a whisper. “No joke, you got the tingle?”

  Nana smiled knowingly and nodded. “Yup, I did. And you know my tingle is never wrong.”

  The ‘tingle’, as the family referred to it, was Nana’s secret weapon in life. Every time she met a good, honest, trustworthy man, she would feel a tingling in her belly. It was her sixth sense and it never failed her. All of Gideon knew about it and believed in it; and it was very well respected in Tori’s family too.

  A smugness crossed Nana’s features. “You know, missy, that I never got the tingle about your Tod. I told you not to marry him. I told you he was a no-good, chicken-necked, son-of-a-bitch, and I was right. Why, from the first day you brought him home, I knew that man was more crooked than a barrel of snakes, and you can’t get any more crooked than that!”

  “That was just a lucky guess,” Tori shot back, irritated at being reminded, once more that day, of her own marital stupidity.

  “Believe that if it makes you feel better, sugarplum, but just know that I got the tingle when I met Joe.”

  “But you’ve never met Joe. Only on Skype.”

  Nana’s nose imperiously shot up in the air. “My tingle works across the miles and through all forms of communication. Never doubt that.”

  Tori studied her grandmother’s defiant stance. Okay—if she had truly felt the tingle then maybe this Joe Sorelli wasn’t a scammer after all? Maybe something had happened to him? Or was Nana’s tingle just getting rusty with old age? Was this guy truly a crook as he appeared to be? Either way, all she knew was that this Joe Sorelli, or whoever he was, had $65,000 dollars of her grandmother’s hard-earned money and he’d disappeared like Houdini after getting his grubby fingers on it.

  Tori released Nana’s hands and walked over to her open laptop sitting on the dining room table. She began to surf the web.

  Nana’s eyes followed her granddaughter’s movements. “What are ya doing?”

  “I’m Googling the phone number for the Las Vegas police. We need to report his disappearance.”

  “No!” Nana rushed over to Tori and put her hand over the keyboard. “You can’t do that.”

  Tori’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as she stared into her grandmother’s flushed face. “And why not? What else haven’t you told me?”

  Nervously biting her lip, Nana began to pace the room. “Well, we can’t call the cops, because of a teeny-tiny, little, insignficant—issue.”

  “Like what?”

  “Joe’s on parole.”

  Tori gasped. “He’s a convict? You’re involved with a convict?”

  “Ex-con,” Nana corrected. “He got busted a year and a half ago for selling illegal cigarettes from his butcher shop but he went to jail, found Jesus, has repented for all his sins and got out six months ago. He’s a good man, Tori, who just made a mistake. He’s paid his dues and he’s leading an honorable life now.”

  “Until yesterday, when he disappeared as quick as a snowflake in hell with all your money! Oh Nana, how could you be so dumb?”

  The senior straightened her spine and glared at her granddaughter. “Victoria Alexandra Jones, I am still your grandmama, the one who changed your diapers and cleaned your spit-up. Watch your mouth, little miss!”

  A pang of instant remorse shot through Tori. “Yes, ma’am, I’m sorry.”

  Nana nodded, silently accepting the apology. “Good, I’m glad you’re coming to your senses because I need you to be in this calm frame of mind when we get to Las Vegas.”

  “What?” Tori’s eyes bugged out in shock.

  “I’ve booked us a direct flight from Dallas and it’s leaving in 4 hours. That should give us plenty of time to pack and get to the airport.” The Dallas airport was a 40 minute highway drive from Gideon. “And I’ve also booked us two rooms at the famous Jubilee Hotel and Casino on the Strip.”

  “You can’t be serious? We are not going to Las Vegas!”

  “Oh yes, we are. We’re going to go find him before his next parole appointment on Monday. Because if he doesn’t show up for that, they’ll issue an arrest warrant and throw him back in jail. I can’t have my honey back behind bars, Tori. And what if something bad has happened to him? I don’t even want to think about it.”

  She lit another cigarette and Tori watched her grandmother’s hand tremble as she brought the smoke to her lips. Looking her over, she noticed that Nana’s blonde bouffant hairstyle was teased exceptionally high today, which meant that the senior was very worried about this situation. You could always tell Nana’s state of mind by the height of her hair. Didn’t she always say that the higher the hair, the closer to God because she needed His help?

  “Okay, Nana, I’ll help you find Joe but we’re not travelling to Vegas. I’ll find us a private detective who’s over there and get him to look.”

  “No! I want to go look myself and if you don’t want to come with me, then fine, I’ll just go all alone. Then who knows what’ll happen to a defenseless, little old lady like me in that den of a sin city, not to mention my close proximity to all those slot machines. You know how I love my slot machines. Why, when I went to Vegas that one time, didn’t I lose over $6,000?”

  Tori heard her grandmother’s pathetic attempt at manipulation and a scalding fury at Joe Sorelli raged through her body. How dare he do this to her precious, beloved Nana, making her fall in love with him, stealing her heart and her money! Well, he wasn’t going to get away with this, if she could help it. Yes—she would go to Las Vegas with her grandmother, then find the bastard, call the police and have him arrested—yet again. And Joe Sorelli was going to do another stint in jail, this time for messing with her family!

  Tori nodded, as she turned to the older lady’s expectant face. “All right, Nana, I’ll come and help you find your Joe.”

  Joy bubbled up in Nana’s countenance. “Oh sweetie-pie, thank you, thank you, thank you. I knew you’d see it my way.” She clapped her hands with glee before racing to the front door and opening it. Reaching out, she pulled in a suitcase which she had secreted in the hallway. “I’m ready,” she announced, giving her granddaughter a wide, satisfied smile.

  Tori rolled her eyes heavenward. So much for her plans for a long weekend of peace and quiet, she thought, as she began to make a mental checklist of all the things she needed to pack.

  Chapter 4

  Thursday – 2:34 a.m.

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  On touching down in Las Vegas, the pair had rented a car at the airport and driven to the ultra-modern Jubilee Hotel and Casino situated along the famous ‘Strip’, a 4.2 mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South which housed many of the largest hotels, resorts and casinos in the world.

  After checking in and finding their rooms, Nana had wanted to drive to Joe’s house right away to look for clues. But Tori, worried at her grandmother’s tired-looking visage, had insisted that they get a good night’s rest first before venturing out in the morning instead. After all, it was already past 2 a.m. and although the city never slept, she knew her Nana must. At first, the senior had protested but soon capitulated, realizing the truth behind Tori’s logic.

  * * *

  Thursday – 9:27 a.m.

  Bright and early, the pair had googled the directions on Tori’s smart phone and driven to Joe Sorelli’s butcher shop located in an older part of town. They found the store closed with no sign of the older man’s van anywhere.

&n
bsp; They had then spoken to the owner of the variety store next door. The man told them that the senior had been around on Tuesday, yes, but that the butcher shop had been closed since then. This, of course, was not necessarily an odd occurrence he’d explained, because Joe sometimes closed his shop when business was slow anyway.

  Next on their stop was Joe Sorelli’s home, a small, well-maintained bungalow on the outskirts of town. Joe had given Nana his address when they’d first started Skyping months ago.

  Unfortunately, the house too was shut tight and Joe’s van was nowhere to be seen. Tori knocked on the front door and waited for an answer, but the building remained silent.

  Tori frowned, as she tried peering through the front window for any signs of life. “I think we need to call the police, Nana.”

  Nana defiantly raised her chin. “No, sir! We’re going inside to look for clues.”

  “How? I’m not breaking in and getting arrested.”

  Nana smiled knowingly. “Come with me, pumpkin.” She motioned with her hand for Tori to follow, before making her way to the backyard and walking to a clay vase sitting near a garden shed. Tilting it, she reached underneath and recovered a secreted key. She smiled. “It opens the backdoor. Joe told me about it.”

  Slipping the key into the lock, Nana swung the door open. “Hello? Joe? Are you here? It’s Estelle,” she gushed, as she raced inside, followed closely by her granddaughter.

  The women found themselves in a small but clean kitchen with a 1950’s style table and chairs in the middle of the room.

  “Mr. Sorelli, are you home?” Tori shouted, but there was no response. The house was deathly quiet. Her eyes suddenly wandered to the kitchen counter near the sink where she spotted an empty salad bowl, with a bag of wilted lettuce, a tomato, and a cucumber resting next to it. She moved to the spot and held up the plastic bag of rotting produce. “Does he usually leave food out like this?”

  Nana’s face went pale. “No. He’s a bit of a clean freak. He’d never do that.”