“There is a guy being held in the basement of the Global Hotel and Casino,” she said, “his name is C.R. Johnson, he is an ex-cop, a retired Las Vegas homicide detective. He has a daughter Katrina. Alphonso ordered a hit on his daughter. The daughter escaped. Alphonso Vietri has not been seen by anyone in days. He seems to have disappeared. The word is that Katrina has Alphonso and wants to make a trade; Alphonso for her Dad.”
“But why are they holding this ex-cop?” Ping said.
“Johnson knows where a woman named Melinda is. Supposedly she has proof that Alphonso is stealing money from the casino. Alphonso wants to find her and is using Johnson as leverage,” Tiffany said. “With the disappearance of Alphonso, everything is on hold.”
“So why did Alphonso want to kill the daughter?” Ping said.
“It all started over a woman, a woman that they both loved,” Tiffany said. “Alphonso was so jealous over their relationship that he wanted revenge in the worst way, he wanted to hurt Johnson any way he could.”
“Are they looking for Alphonso?” Ping said.
“There is no love lost between Alphonso and Fagamo, the second in command,” Tiffany said. “Fagamo is betting that the embarrassment over Alphonso’s allowing himself to be kidnapped as well as his pathological desire for revenge will lead to his being replaced, so no, he’s not tearing the town apart trying to find him.”
“How do you know all this?” Ping said.
“I asked the woman in question. I’m her closest friend and we used to work together. She knows just about everyone who works there,” Tiffany said. “Are you satisfied?”
Ping looked her up and down. “Mostly,” he said. “At least as far as the business is concerned.”
She watched his eyes, and then reached to turn on the CD player. The song starting to play was her favorite, Sam Cook’s, “Bring It On Home.” That Tiffany, being Chinese, collected Chinese furniture, and liked Chinese food was no surprise, but that she loved American Rhythm and Blues was a mystery she couldn’t explain.
Maybe it was her private rebellion against your typical Chinese-American upbringing, the continual admonitions to study hard, get good grades, the unending piano and dance lessons. When she watched “Dirty Dancing,” for the first time, she loved the dancing, but the music they were dancing to was what sent chills up her spine.
“So how much pleasure were you interested in?” Tiffany said.
“All I can stand,” Ping said.
“That might be extra,” Tiffany said. Maybe she was still rebelling, but at least now she was getting paid for it.
“Bring it on home,” Ping said.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
FAY KNOWS THINGS
I rang the bell at Fay’s apartment just a few minutes past 2:00PM.
She was wearing shorts, a t–shirt and a big smile, her legs even longer than I remembered.
“Come on in,” she said. “Where’s your bodyguard?”
“What?” I said. It was my turn to raise one eyebrow. Despite the fresh off the farm story at the coffee shop, Fay was no hayseed.
“That good looking guy,” she said, “the one pretending to look at the record albums while we got acquainted this morning?”
“Oh, that was Carlos. I told him he graduated from the Boris and Natasha School for Spies but he thought I was just being funny. Now I have proof. You’re not mad at me are you?” I said.
Fay smiled, “You were smart to have somebody watch you,” she said. “You can’t be too careful. So, no I’m not mad. Where is he now?”
“He’s waiting out in the car,” I said. “I told him I trusted you and he could stay home and take a nap but he said he would feel better if he came along.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said. “I always trusted C.R. so I’d like to feel I can trust you as well. And in case this blows up in your face I’d feel better if I knew my trust was not misplaced.”
“I guess I could tell you that discretion is my middle name, but I have no way to prove that,” I said. “All I can tell you is that they would have to beat me half to death before I would even give them the time of day, let alone mention your name.”
“Your dad said something about you being a boxer,” she said, looking at my arms, sizing me up, “Boxers are pretty tough right?”
“I’m not very tough,” I said. “Stubborn maybe, thick headed definitely, but not tough. The one thing I have learned about is pain, how to categorize it, what drawer it goes into, how to deal with it, even how to ignore it, but that doesn’t make me tough. Most people spend their whole lives seeking comfort and avoiding pain, but pain is like an old friend I know very well.” I don’t know if she needed to hear all that, but she weighed it carefully and seemed satisfied.
“Did you want something to drink?” Fay said. “I have ice tea and orange juice?”
“Ice tea would be fine,” I said, examining a row of pictures on the shelf across from where I was sitting at the table. I got up to take a closer look and was drawn to the handsome face of a boy about eighteen-years-old.
“Your son?” I said.
“Yes, that’s his high school graduation picture,” Fay said, beaming. “He’s now a freshman at Oregon State University. He got a full scholarship to play baseball.”
“You must be so proud,” I said, suddenly realizing that I was staring at the face of Alphonso’s son.
“Yes, he’s so smart, and such a good boy,” she said, handing me a tall glass, “the triumph of love over genetics is how I like to think of it.”
“Love conquers all, right?” I said.
“Sometimes,” she said, shaking her head. “Alright, here are some things that taken separately, are not very meaningful, but when you put them together they could prove themselves helpful to your situation. Let me run them by you one by one, okay?”
“Please do,” I said.
“There is this guy in Room #112, Thomas Lombardi. His son is the Chief Financial Officer at Global Entertainment. Thomas is an older guy, in declining health. His son wanted him close by so he could keep an eye on him. Global agreed to let him to stay in the hotel. He’s been there just over a year. About once a month he has an incident, forgets to take his pills, falls down, passes out, et cetera, and is taken to the ER. The bottom line is that Hotel Security is familiar with his situation and if he has another incident, it won’t raise any red flags. The interesting part of all this as far as your concerned is that whenever they take anybody out of the hotel obviously they don’t want to alarm the guests so they always take them out through the basement to the rear exit. Which means the gurney goes down a long hallway that runs right past the dungeon.”
“So, you two are friends then?” I said.
“We have coffee every once in a while. He’s lonely and seems to appreciate the company,” Fay said.
“Okay, that’s nice of you and certainly good news as far as we’re concerned,” I said.
“The next thing is that I still know some of the showgirls at the Casino. I try and stay up on the latest gossip. Jackie is one of those girls. Turns out that Jimmy V., one of the two guys watching the dungeon on the midnight to 8:00AM shift is hot for Jackie and vice versa. She usually gets off around 11:30PM and they try and spend some quality time together if you catch my drift. What that means is even though he is supposed to be on duty with Rocco, he’s not there for at least an hour.”
“I get the picture,” I said.
“For some reason, his partner Rocco, doesn’t seem to mind covering for him,” she said. “For what it’s worth.”
“Okay,” I said.
“The last piece of information is that my ex, Kevin, who is an EMT, works for Las Vegas Ambulance Service. They come to the casino fairly often, know the layout, et cetera. They even took Mr. Lombardi in Room #112 to the ER once or twice. Do you remember those sporadic child support payments I told you about?” Fay said.
I nodded.
“Turns out he’s once again more than ju
st a couple months behind, nothing new there really, except this time I went to court and not only does he owe me, but this time the Superior Court of Clark County says he owes me, and they are about to garnish his wages. So he might be amenable to helping out, know what I mean?”
“Yes, is that everything?” I said.
“I think so,” she said.
“Can I ask a question?” I said.
She nodded, “yes, go ahead,” she said.
“Why are you willing to risk everything to help me? When my Dad says it’s personal, and Alphonso says it’s personal, they don’t mean personal, do they? What they really mean is its Fay Anne Willingham, from Strawberry Point, Iowa, don’t they? This is about you.”
“You’re a smart girl,” she said, starting to tear up. “You’ve done your homework. I’ve loved C.R. for the longest time, but it never seemed to be in the cards for us. Alphonso loved me too, in his own twisted way, and was so jealous, he did everything he could to come between us. So even though it never worked out for us, I still owe your Dad this much.”
I suddenly realized I was staring at Miss Jane Doe, the woman indirectly responsible for my parent’s divorce. She was the person or persons unnamed in the line about alienation of affection in the divorce decree. That explained a lot. If she looked this good now, just think what she looked like eighteen years ago. But more than that, she still had all those small town Midwestern values she brought to sin city so many years ago, the character traits that most people shed as fast as their inhibitions when they pass the sign that says, Welcome to Las Vegas.
I hugged her, my eyes wet as well. “Thank you so much,” I said. “I know my dad still carries a torch for you. Maybe you two can get back together somehow. Can I meet you again tomorrow morning at The Beat Coffeehouse so we can iron out all the details?”
“Okay,” she said, “and thanks for sharing that. All these years I thought I was the only one carrying anything. Is 8:30AM still okay?”
“That will be fine,” I said. “We told Fagamo that we wanted to make the exchange at noon on Wednesday in the middle of the casino for the whole world to see. If you could spread that piece of information through the grapevine, it might help us pull this off, especially if that’s what Jimmy and Rocco think.”
“I’ll be sure to tell Jackie,” she said.
“Great,” I said. “I’m not sure if we’re going to need Mr. Lombardi’s assistance. I’m hoping that just using his name will get us in the door. Can you ask Mr. Lombardi to help us out, maybe play along, in case he gets a telephone call from security?”
“I will, and he doesn’t like Alphonso very much, so I’m sure he wouldn‘t mind helping out,” she said.
“I’ve got the uniform you wanted,” she said, getting up from her chair. “There are also some blonde wigs I thought might come in handy. Come take a look.” She went into the hall closet and brought them out. I followed along and picked out a couple.
“Can I borrow these?” I said.
“Sure you can,” she said. “Anything else?”
“Do you think you could loan me an extra uniform for my friend Jamie?”
“Yeah, I think so, help yourself,” she said.
“Thanks,” I said. “I was thinking that rather than having Kevin’s face show up on all the security camera videos at the casino, which could put him at risk, it might be better if he just left an extra set of keys in an ambulance, maybe under the floor mat and a couple of extra uniforms too. That way he can say it was stolen, keep him out of the loop. That be okay?”
“Yeah, sure. I think that’s a good idea,” she said.
“Good,” I said, “do they have an extra one, you know, a back-up vehicle they keep on hand for emergencies?”
“He used to talk about #33, an older ambulance they kept on the lot, but I haven’t heard him talk about it lately.”
“Could you please ask him about it, see if it is something we could use?”
“I will,” she said. “Why don’t you can bring Carlos? I’d like to meet him.”
“I’ll bring him,” I said. “I promise. I think you’ll like him. In a lot of ways he reminds me of Dad.”
“Do you mean handsome with eyes you can get lost in,” Fay said.
“No, actually what I meant was a good guy with a big heart that oh, by the way, knows how to kill people,” I said.
“That’s even better. You can never have too many friends like that, especially in Las Vegas,” Fay said.
“Exactly,” I said.
“And speaking of Dad,” I said, “I’m worried about him. I need to know if he’s okay. I wish there was some way I could make sure he was alright.”
“Hmmm, maybe there is a way we could check, make sure he was okay,” Faye said. “Let me work on it, see what I can come up with.”
“Thanks Fay, you’re a sweetheart,” I said, giving her a hug. “I am so grateful for everything.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll let you know what I find out” she said.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
FAGAMO HAS A VISITOR
I was outside on the patio enjoying the view, watching the late afternoon sun dance across the pool below. I especially liked the way the palm trees filtered the light so it was possible to darken my still pale left arm by hanging it over the side of the chair without exposing my face. I wondered how it long it had been since I was able to relax without feeling guilty about it. Probably too damn long.
When Alphonso’s phone rang, I was surprised to discover it was still on the table where I’d left it the day before. Curious, I picked it up. “Hello,” I said.
“Katrina, this is Fagamo, we spoke yesterday morning?”
“Yes,” I said, recognizing his voice.
“I just had a very interesting visitor,” he said, “a Mr. Chou, the Deputy Counsel-General from the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. He very much wanted to talk to Alphonso. When I told him Alphonso was taking a long overdue extended vacation and not available his disappointment in not being able to speak to Alphonso seemed entirely out of proportion to a mere courtesy visit. Which was strange given that the Chinese are notorious, if I may use a gambling metaphor, for playing their cards very close to their vest, and not divulging their true intentions. You wouldn’t be able to shed any light on the reason for his visit, would you?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” I said. “The only reason we even have Alphonso is solely due to the fact that you’re holding my Dad. We just want to exchange Alphonso for my Dad, and we have no idea what the Chinese want.”
“Katrina, you are being far too modest,” Fagamo said. “Let’s quit pretending you’re someone who just wants her father back and has no idea why the Chinese would be interested in any of this. I see you as someone who was wronged by Alphonso and is looking to extract more than your fair share of revenge.”
“If by wronged you mean kidnapped,” I said, “assaulted and left in the desert to die, then yes, I was wronged with a capital, “W.” As far as looking for my more than my fair share of revenge, just exactly why do you get to decide what price to put on someone’s near death experience?”
“I don’t know what it’s worth, to be honest with you,” Fagamo said, “but it seems that whoever sent an e-mail to the Chinese just after midnight, twelve days ago, seems to think it’s worth quite a lot. A check of our records indicates that Alphonso was not even in the building on the date in question but when we looked at the video recording we saw someone who looked very much like you enter his office just before midnight. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“Maybe we just wanted to have a little chat,” I said. “See if he could give me a good reason why he sent Mikey to kill me.”
“I don’t know if the Chinese have the whole picture yet,” Fagamo said, “I think they’re still putting the pieces together, but when they do, I’m sure they will very much want to talk to you. In fact, Mr. Chou seemed to know who you are. He referred to you as, ‘the daughter
of a former antagonist’.”
“Look,” I said, “We’re on the same side in that we both want Alphonso gone and besides I’m giving him back to you. The Chinese can talk to him as long as it takes to find out whatever they want to know.”
“Alphonso, despite his many faults,” Fagamo said, “is still family, and I have no intention of turning him over to the Chinese to be interrogated. It appears that you know things that Alphonso does not. And since you’re unwilling to be forthright, I imagine they would very much want to talk to your Dad. I’m sure he can be persuaded into telling them more than you appear willing to do.”
Despite the blue sky and the sunshine on for an unlimited run, I was now seeing nothing but dark clouds and heavy rain. There was obviously no longer any reason to play dumb. I was still selling it, but Fagamo wasn’t buying it.
“Look,” I said, my voice rising, “it seems you don’t have the whole picture either. If you’re smart enough to figure out Alphonso didn’t send that e-mail you should be smart enough to figure out what he did do, which is siphon incredible amounts of money from Global Entertainment to a bank account in mainland China. Does that sound like family to you?”
“You making this up as you go along?” Fagamo said. “Trying to keep me from handing your Dad over to the Chinese?”
“Of course I don’t want you to give him to the Chinese,” I said. “But I’m telling you the truth. Alphonso is stealing you blind. Check it out for yourself. All I’m asking is that if I’m right that you keep your promise to give me my Dad in return for Alphonso.”
“I haven’t been looking for you, but if it turns out that you’re lying to me,” Fagamo said, “I’m giving the Chinese your Dad gift wrapped with a bow and then I’m coming after you. Are we clear?”
“Yeah,” I said, “we’re clear.”
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