“Then he starts talking to me about the Security and Surveillance trade show that’s going to be held in L.A. next month. He tells me he really likes me and would like me to go with him. He promised to ‘show me a good time,’ as he put it.”
“Naturally, you turned him down.”
“Naturally. But then, he starts asking me a lot of personal questions.” Morgan picked up Myra’s cigarettes and removed one from the pack. Myra reached across the table and lit it for her.
“Such as—” Myra prompted.
“Such as, he asks how my mother is doing. I tell him Mom needs an operation. He asks how much it will cost. When I tell him, he wants to know if we have enough money to pay for it. I tell him no, but we’ll manage to get it somehow. Then he comes right out and propositions me. He says I get him so hot he can’t stand it any more, and if I’ll have sex with him now and go to the trade show in California with him next month, he’ll give me $25,000 to pay for Mom’s operation. Just like that. A business deal, like he’s making an offer on a used car. Then, he has the gall to tell me if I want to be his mistress afterwards, he’ll set me up with a fancy apartment and pay my bills.”
“The nerve of that jerk! He’s lying to you, Morgan. Once you’ve slept with him you’ll never see a dime.”
Morgan’s brows wrinkled. “That’s what I thought at first, too. But Rick promised to give me the money for Mom’s operation—the entire twenty-five thousand—in advance. He said if I’ll agree to the deal, he’ll give me the cash tonight, when I turn in the half million dollars I’ll win at blackjack.”
“What he was saying is that he’s going to steal the money so he can pay you to sleep with him.”
“Yeah, that was clear to me, too.”
“What did Lacey say when you turned him down?”
Morgan averted Myra’s eyes. “Well—”
Myra’s voice became stern. “You did turn him down, didn’t you, Morgan?”
“Not exactly,” Morgan waffled. “I said I’d give him my answer tonight.”
“Morgan! You’re not actually considering having sex with Rick Lacey?”
Tears were forming in Morgan’s eyes. “Myra, you know I would never have sex with any man of my own free will. But—Mom does need that operation. As much as I despise Lacey, I can accommodate him a few times if it will give me enough money to make Mom well. It would be worth the sacrifice.”
“No, no, no! Lacey might get you pregnant. He might give you a disease. Worse yet, he might just want to get you somewhere and murder you. I talked with Mark Caruso, not half an hour ago. When I told Mark that Lacey and Patti Ho had been having an affair, Mark said he’s almost completely convinced that Lacey’s the serial killer. Lacey could be completely insane, Morgan. You could be trading your life for your mother’s health. I won’t let you do it, Morgan, and that’s that.
“Michael and I have some money put aside. We were going to use it to make a down payment on a house. I’ll give my share of the money to you. It won’t be enough to cover Mom’s operation, but I can borrow the rest. Kim has oodles of dough socked away from life insurance proceeds. I know she’ll loan me the balance of what you need. I’ll pay her back, with interest.”
“You … you’d really do that for me, Myra?”
Myra reached across the table and grasped Morgan’s hands. “Of course I will, Morgan. I love you. You’re my whole life now. I’ll do anything I can for you. Call your mother’s doctor this afternoon and schedule her operation. I’ll talk with Michael and Kim and have the money for you by the end of the week.
“Another thing. I’m going to stay here at Blue Hawaii with you tonight. I’ll find a video poker machine near the blackjack pit where I can keep my eye on you. And when you turn the winnings in to Lacey, I’ll be right there with you, so you won’t have to face him by yourself.”
Morgan shook her head. “You can’t do that, Myra. We’d both be in trouble. Lacey told me no one can know about the plan, except for Mr. Carey, me, and the mechanic who’s going to be dealing the cards. He’ll be furious when he learns I told you.”
“Then, let him be furious. By the time Lacey finds out I know, it will be too late for him to do anything about it.” Myra was fuming. “I can’t get over Lacey’s chutzpah. He actually thought he could buy you for a measly twenty-five thousand dollars!”
“That’s a lot of money, Myra. I know plenty of women who would sell their bodies for far less. Many of them do it for nothing at all.”
“Morgan, you’re the most precious person in the whole world to me. I could never place a value on what you’re worth.”
Morgan squeezed Myra’s hand. “Aw, you’re just saying that because you love me.”
Myra and Morgan left the Help’s Hall holding hands. More than a few eyebrows raised and more than a few tongues started wagging, but the lovers neither noticed nor cared.
Myra and Morgan had been so busily engaged in conversation at lunch they were completely unaware of the woman sitting at the booth directly behind Myra. Lois Lewis had been listening attentively to every word they said. And she was fuming.
Thirty-Three
ABOUT NOON, SUSAN LACEY thought she detected the first twinges of labor. By one, she was sure her baby was on its way. Susan’s contractions were frequent and regular and increasing in intensity. At one-thirty, she phoned her husband and told him she’d called a taxi and was headed for the hospital.
Rick left the Blue Hawaii immediately. He wanted to be at the hospital with Susan when his daughter was born. Even though neither of them had trained in the Lamaze method, Susan’s doctor had given his consent for Rick to be present in the delivery room.
The excitement of the impending birth of his first daughter almost—but not quite—took Rick’s mind off a puzzle that had been perplexing him for the past several hours. He’d been sitting at his desk watching his surveillance monitor and saw Myra Kaplan leave her office, walk down the hall, descend the escalator, cross the casino floor, and take the employee stairs to the Help’s Hall in the basement. There wasn’t anything unusual about that. But then, just as Rick was about to turn the TV monitor off, Myra joined up with Morgan Penny. Morgan Penny, the loyal employee in Surveillance he’d had tracking Myra’s treks around the property. Morgan Penny, the great-looking black broad he had the hots for. Morgan Penny, the shill in his money scheme that was to take place in just a few hours.
Morgan Penny and Myra Kaplan. What in hell are they doing together? he worried. From all appearances, it was not just a casual, happenstance sharing of the booth by two Blue Hawaii co-workers. It was an intimate lunch, despite the hundred or so other people eating and milling about in the Help’s Hall. Lacey watched Myra and Morgan hold hands across the table, and he watched them leave the Help’s Hall still holding hands.
Rick had several of his most trustworthy security officers spread out through the casino to see what they could learn. He knew the casino was always rife with gossip and rumors. Within minutes, one of the men returned, a shit-eating grin on his face, with the news that Myra Kaplan had left her husband and was getting a divorce. It further appeared that Myra and Morgan had become lovers.
That would mean Morgan’s a lesbian. Damn! Still—
If Morgan’s a lesbian, that would explain a lot of things. Why she still lives at home. Why she never married. Why an outrageously gorgeous woman doesn’t have any boyfriends. So what? Lesbians have teats and pussies just like straight women.
Wait a minute. Can it be—can it really be? Wouldn’t that be a blast—
No woman Morgan’s age could still be a virgin. But perhaps she is. Perhaps she’s never had the thrill of feeling a man, a real man like me, deep inside her body. If Morgan’s a virgin, I’ll pop her cherry like the cork on a bottle of champagne and I’ll teach her tastes and thrills she never knew existed. When I get through with Miss Morgan Penny, she’ll never want to go down with another woman again.
This thing about the Kaplan woman intrigues me. I don’t
blame her for leaving that dorky husband of hers. I knew she was AC-DC after watching the video of the orgies she and her old man had with the blonde with big boobs. I think Myra might be willing—more than willing—to trade a little pussy for keeping those videos private. Damn, she looked classy today. Almost as sexy as Morgan. I’d never paid much attention to Myra before. Maybe I should have. Tomorrow, I’ll invite her down to my office and put one of the DVDs in the player. I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides to do me right there on the top of my desk to keep me quiet.
Lacey’s reverie was broken when his cell phone rang.
“Rick Lacey.”
Rick noticed an unusual edge in Lois Lewis’s voice. “It’s me, Rick. Where are you?”
“I’m on my way to the hospital. Susan’s gone into labor.”
“I don’t give a fuck about Susan,” Lois snarled viciously. “You’re going to see me. Right after work. Tonight.”
Lois, you bitch, you’re really making my day complete, Rick thought sarcastically. Susan’s in labor, and I want to be with her until the baby’s born. I have to be back at Blue Hawaii no later than five to get Morgan started on the money scam. And I have to be there at midnight when Morgan brings me the money. “That may be difficult, Lois. I’ve …”
“Difficult, my ass,” she snapped. “You be in your room in the hotel tower at six. Bring your handcuffs and a coil of rope. You don’t want to find out what I’m going to do if you stand me up. I’ll go crazy on you, Rick. I’ll really go crazy on you. Be there.”
Rick started to tell Lois he would try, but she didn’t give him the opportunity. She slammed down her phone. When he attempted to call Lois back at her office, the line was busy. The operator said the phone was off the hook.
Lacey’s daughter was born a few minutes before four. By four-fifteen, he’d changed from green hospital scrubs into his own clothes and was driving back to Blue Hawaii. He’d wanted to spend a few minutes with Susan, but there wasn’t time. Lacey had scheduled his meeting with Morgan for five sharp.
Morgan entered Rick Lacey’s office precisely at five. She was already dressed in the African princess costume—a large, flowing cotton gown in saffron with tangerine trim. She wore a matching headpiece and carried an enormous handbag made from faux leopard skin. Her arms and neck were covered with gold-plated costume jewelry bracelets and necklaces. Her earrings were large golden hoops. Using blue makeup, she’d painted a geometrical design on her forehead. It was a somewhat grotesque get-up, but Rick decided it would have to do. After all, how many casino workers had ever seen a real African princess and knew what one looked like?
“Okay, I’m giving you a starting bankroll of twenty-five one-thousand-dollar chips. Vary the amount of your bets. Never wager less than two thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars per hand, unless you split pairs or double down. I know you know how to play the game. Play like you’re really trying to win. You won’t win every hand, though. If we let you do that, other players at the table might catch on. When you do lose, it will be when your bets are small. When you wager larger amounts, you’ll always win. The mechanic will see to that.
“Never leave more than fifty or sixty chips sitting on the table. Drop any excess chips into your purse, but don’t make it obvious what you’re doing. I’ll be watching you, either in person or on the surveillance video, so don’t try to pull anything on me. Don’t have anything alcoholic to drink. If you were to get drunk you might screw up. If you get hungry, just tell the pit boss and he’ll have someone bring you a sandwich. Stop playing promptly at eleven-thirty. Cash in your chips at the cage and meet me back here at midnight. That’s it. Do you have any questions?”
“No, Mr. Lacey. Don’t worry. I can handle the job.”
“Good. Now, I have a question for you. Did you decide to take me up on my generous offer? If so, I’ll pay you the twenty-five grand tonight and expect to have our first date tomorrow night. Okay?”
“I understand the deal. I’ll give you an answer at midnight, as I promised.”
“Sorta like Cinderella, is that it? Just be sure to tell me before you turn into a pumpkin or something.”
Even Morgan had to laugh at that.
Thirty-Four
THERE WAS NO SIGNATURE and no return address on the package. Inside was an unlabeled DVD, wrapped in an ominous note composed on a computer and printed on a laser printer—making it virtually impossible to trace the note’s author.
“Myra and Michael Kaplan,” the note stated. “If you don’t want your business put in the street, stay out of mine. Don’t ask any more questions at Blue Hawaii.”
Michael slid the DVD into the slot on the front of his player.
“Holy shit!” he yelled, when the picture came on the screen in full color. It was a video of Michael, Myra, and Kimberly having sex together. At the same time. In their bedroom in the condo. “Kim, come quick. Take a look at this!”
Kimberly stepped from the kitchen, where she’d been preparing dinner, and stood in front of the television set. She watched for a few minutes, but seemed unconcerned. “If you’d told me you were going to make a video of our lovemaking, Michael, I’d have done my hair first and put on more makeup,” she commented dryly. “Where’d you have the camera, anyway?”
Michael was flustered by Kimberly’s calm reaction, or, more precisely, lack of reaction. “Damn it, Kim, I didn’t have anything to do with this. Look—” He showed her the note that accompanied the DVD.
The gravity of the situation slowly sank in. “Ohmygod. Someone must have snuck in and hidden a camera in our bedroom,” Kim surmised. “But who? And when? And how? And why? And where is it?”
Michael shook his head disgustedly. “How should I know? I can’t figure out how anyone could have learned about us. Or, how they could get inside the condo to plant the camera without setting off the burglar alarm. Come on, let’s look for it.”
It took them a few minutes to locate the camera, even though they knew from the angle of the pictures approximately where it should be. A very small hole had been drilled in the bedroom ceiling, and only the shiny reflection of a tiny lens was visible from below.
“How can we get the camera down?” Kimberly asked. “I won’t be able to sleep tonight, let alone make love, with that thing still up there.”
After his abysmal failure the night before, making love was the last thing on Michael’s mind. “I could climb into the crawl space above the ceiling. There’s a wooden panel in the closet that lifts out. I’d need to borrow a tall ladder from somebody, though. I don’t own one. However, I don’t think we should touch anything ourselves. There might be fingerprints on the camera. I’m going to phone Mark Caruso. He’ll know what we should do.”
“We’d better call Myra, too.” Kimberly said. “She needs to be told about this right away. Michael, I’m scared. Someone’s been stalking us. It has to be the person who’s been killing the women from Blue Hawaii. He must think that if Myra continues to ask questions she’d going to learn who he is.”
“The note’s addressed to me, too,” Michael noted. “And I haven’t been asking any questions at Blue Hawaii.” A thought flashed through his mind. “I did talk with Jeff Herbert,” he remembered. “But how would anyone know about that? The only people who know I spoke with Jeff are you, Myra, and Mark—and possibly, Jeff’s killer.
“You’re right, Kim. We’re all in danger, especially Myra. I’ll call her right now.” He checked his watch. “It’s almost six-thirty. Myra’s probably at Morgan’s apartment. She didn’t give me Morgan’s telephone number. Do you have it, Kim?”
“No. I meant to ask Myra for it before she left, but I forgot. Try her cell phone. Maybe she still has it turned on. While you’re calling Myra, I’ll try to reach Mark.”
Myra answered her cell phone on the third ring, just one ring before the voice mailbox would have taken the call. “Hello,” she said. She knew the call had to be from Michael or Kim. Nobody else had her cell phone number exc
ept for Morgan and Morgan’s mother, and, as she was watching Morgan playing blackjack not twenty feet away, she knew the call was not from her.
“Myra, it’s me.” Michael said. “What’s all that noise in the background? Where are you?” he asked.
“It’s the slot machines. I’m in a casino playing video poker. Deuces Wild. What is it you want, Michael?” Myra seemed to be a little irritated by the interruption.
Michael did not want to tell Myra about the DVD over the telephone. “I need to see you right away. At the condo. It’s important.”
“I’m busy now, Michael. Whatever you want to say to me will have to wait.”
“This can’t wait. Kim’s here and—”
“Why are you telling me that?” Myra snapped. “I know that wherever you are, so’s Kim. The two of you are connected at the hip—or perhaps somewhere else. When you’re at work and when you’re at home. Now that Kim has you all to herself, she’s not going to give you the—”
“No, listen to me, Myra,” Michael interrupted. “You don’t understand—”
Myra interrupted him. The irritation in her voice now sounded more like anger. “Michael, you don’t understand. It’s over. Let’s not drag things out or rehash what went wrong with our marriage. Last night, I told you precisely how I feel. I have nothing more to add to what I said then. Please. You and Kim get on with your lives. That’s what I’m doing. I’m busy right now and I can’t leave. Strike that—I don’t want to leave. I’m sure whatever you and Kim have to say will keep for another day. Call me at my office tomorrow, if you still want to talk with me. Please don’t bother me again tonight.”
Myra pushed the end button and then turned off her cell phone. She dropped five quarters in the poker machine, held the two deuces she was dealt, drew two more, and the machine started spitting out a thousand quarters. She scooped them out of the tray and started filling the first of two plastic coin cups.
A Time For Us (Michael Kaplan Mysteries) Page 24