Neil arrived a few minutes late, which meant that my cobbler had a good few bites into it. I’d already paid for it at the counter, and when Neil sat down opposite me, I offered him a bite.
“No thanks,” he said. “I talked to HR about Derek.”
I put down my fork. “And?”
“Derek applied for work at the Riverbelle but was turned down because his interview didn’t go that great. We told him he could reapply once he’d gotten a bit more experience.”
“Was Ethan at the interview?”
Neil looked at me like I was stupid. “No, of course not. That was a dealer interview, the HR guys take care of it.”
I did feel a bit naïve, but how was I supposed to know which interviews a CEO deems worthy of his time?
“What did you want to talk to me about?” Neil said.
I swallowed a bit of cobbler quickly. “I heard a rumor there might be a ring of dealers stealing chips.”
Neil’s eyes narrowed. “Where did you hear that?”
I shrugged. “Can’t name sources. But I guess you could look into your surveillance. Besides, some of your security guys are thugs. Do you know two of them threatened me the other day I was there?”
Neil smiled. “Were you trying to beat up another player?”
“I wasn’t even in the pit! This wasn’t about gambling. They told me to stay off the case.”
Neil looked at me seriously and shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And if we’re done here, I have to get going.”
I watched him head out the door and I quickly wolfed down another mouthful of cobbler before following him into the parking lot. I started up my car and followed his large black SUV toward the expressway. I figured he was heading towards his house at Lake Las Vegas. He picked up speed once we hit the expressway, but I kept an eye on him. When he signaled that he was exiting, I was only two cars behind him and I followed him onto Lake Mead Parkway. I expected him to keep going till he got to his gated community, but he surprised me after two minutes by taking a quick right.
We both drove at a slower pace along less busy suburban streets; he didn’t seem to have seen me and I followed him as he took left and right turns in quick succession. He parked on the side of the street and I quickly pulled into an empty driveway, crossing my fingers that the homeowners were out. Nobody seemed to have noticed me and I cut my engine and watched as he walked up to a modest house. He knocked, the door opened, and he disappeared inside.
I figured he would be at least a few minutes, so I moved out of the driveway before someone complained and parked right behind his SUV.
The minutes crawled by and became hours, and I watched as the sky grew darker and the sun set. Lights began to go on in the nearby houses and I imagined that dinner was being served. I regretted not bringing something to eat with me. Although I’d eaten up that large slice of cobbler in the diner, it clearly wasn’t enough sustenance for a stakeout.
Just when I was wondering if Neil had stepped into a black hole, the lights went on inside the house he’d disappeared inside. I watched as the front door opened and Neil stepped outside. He leaned back inside and kissed someone. When he stepped away and began walking towards the street, I caught a glimpse of long, bare legs and blonde hair before the door closed.
When he was two feet from his car, I stepped out of mine.
Neil’s eyes grew saucer-like and he stared at me for a long minute without blinking.
“Hi,” I said. “Remember me?”
He finally found his tongue and shook his head as if to clear the disbelief from his mind. “What do you want? Are you here to blackmail me?”
“Why would I blackmail you? I’m a nice girl and honestly, I’m a bit hurt by the accusation.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I just wanted to talk to you. But now I see why you were in such a rush to leave the diner. She must be really special if you gave up eating the world’s best apple cobbler for her. How does Thelma feel about her?”
He scowled. “Leave Thelma out of this.”
I stepped forward, feeling like I’d just been hit with a thunderbolt. “I get it now. No wonder you were two hours late getting home the night Ethan was murdered! You did leave when you said and you did take a detour.”
His scowl deepened. “So what if I did?”
“You had a great alibi but you couldn’t use it because then your wife would have grounds for divorce, and you’d lose everything you’ve gotten used to.”
He shrugged. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“That gun in Sophia’s bedroom was convenient.”
We stared at each other for a while longer.
Finally, Neil said, “You wouldn’t tell Thelma, would you?”
I shook my head, no. “So nobody else knows about this woman?”
“Ethan found out, but he kept my secret and I kept his.”
“You knew about Audrey? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“No.” He blinked in surprise. “He never had anything with Audrey. Ethan knew to stay away from co-workers. He was seeing Vanessa, his ex-wife.”
Chapter Nineteen
My heart almost stopped and I froze in place. Vanessa. I thought back to the slim, elegant woman and wondered why she’d be with Ethan.
“Are you sure?” I asked slowly, but I already knew the answer.
“Of course I’m sure. And I told Ethan I knew. That’s the only reason he didn’t tell Thelma about my girlfriend.”
I sighed. “Why can’t you guys just stick to one woman?”
Neil shrugged, got into his car and drove away.
I woke up early the next morning feeling strangely exuberant and optimistic. Maybe Max’s cheerfulness had rubbed off on me, but I felt as though life were good.
I wasn’t brave enough to re-enter the Riverbelle, because I still didn’t know who had hired Mr. Beard and Beady Eyes. But I did want to have a conversation with Steven. If Max had managed to blackmail the man into giving him a job, maybe I could blackmail Steven into talking to me. Of course, Steven was manager now, and maybe he’d cleaned up his act and I’d have nothing on him. Still, it was worth a shot.
I called Vanessa. It was only eight, but she answered the phone with the annoying alertness that morning people have.
“Vanessa, it’s me, Tiffany,” I said, “Do you mind if I come over to talk to you? Something’s come up.”
“Can it wait?”
She sounded doubtful, so I decided to fib a little. Living at the Tremonte was nice, but I was eager to go back to my old, boring condo.
“It’s about Sophia,” I said, “And I thought you might be able to help.”
“Ok,” she said. I told her I’d swing by in an hour.
I rushed to get dressed and was just applying mascara when my phone buzzed. I paused mid-swipe, and checked the caller ID. Stone.
I finished applying my mascara and called him back. “Hey Stone, what’s up?”
“Checking in. Everything ok at the Tremonte?”
“It’s all good,” I said, “My room’s intruder-free and I’ve been sleeping well at night. I don’t think they’ve figured out I’m living here, whoever they are.”
“You driving?”
“Umm. I took a cab a few times. I drove yesterday and there didn’t seem to be anyone following me.”
There was a pause and then he asked, “How do you know?”
I shrugged. “Just that feeling.”
He took some time to think about it and then he said, “Take a cab. From now on. Until we find out who is following you.”
I felt a brief moment of panic. Why was Stone acting so worried? “Is anything wrong?”
“Your gun license should’ve been here already. They’re being slow. I want you to be extra-careful till I know you’re packing.”
“Fine.” I sighed. Who would’ve known I’d miss my beat-up Accord and tiny condo so much?
“Where’re you going toda
y?”
I wondered if I should try to keep secrets from Stone. I hardly knew the guy and Sophia had hired him. I frowned, wondering if this was all a grand scheme of hers – hire a detective to look good in court, then hire someone to kill said detective before she found out too much. I mentally shook myself. No, that couldn’t be true.
I decided to trust Stone. “I’m talking to Vanessa Conigliani at her Summerlin house in a few minutes. I guess I’ll head back to the Strip after that and maybe try to talk to some other people.”
“Ok.” There was a pause. “Call me if you need me.”
He hung up abruptly. I wondered if he even knew how to make small talk.
The cab dropped me off in front of Vanessa’s house and as soon as I rang the bell she opened the door.
She was looking as beautiful as ever. She wore minimal makeup and another gorgeous silk print top with white capri pants. She wore no jewelry and there was something delicate and attractive about her.
“What happened to your car?” she asked and I made a face.
“Long story, don’t ask.” I headed into the living room and sat down.
Vanessa sat opposite me and asked, “What’s going on?”
I looked at her carefully. She seemed smooth and unruffled, like one of those people who always had their life under control.
“Ethan Becker,” I said. “Tell me about him.”
She shrugged. “I already told you. I fell for him when I was too young to know better, we got married and then we got divorced.”
“You wasted precious years of your life with him.”
“Yes.” She looked annoyed at having been reminded. “I already told you this. I regret having married him.”
“Then why did you take him back? I know you were having an affair with him.”
She looked at me in surprise and then she nodded. “So you found out.”
“Yes. What was that about?”
She sat silently. I decided to give it a shot, sound out my theory. “You hated that he left you,” I said. “You always thought things might’ve worked out, that you could’ve had a marriage that worked. But he refused to see it that way and he stiffed you in the divorce. You told yourself he wasn’t the marriage type, but two years ago he married some two-bit stripper and you wanted to die of jealousy. It must’ve been hard seeing him marry that floozy.”
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “You know Sophia better than I do.”
I nodded. “She isn’t wife material.”
“Exactly. Anyway, why bring all this up now?”
“You decided to steal him away from her.”
She laughed shortly. “There were always women trying to ‘steal him away.’”
“But you didn’t even have to try. He fell for you. Who wouldn’t?”
She smiled a tiny, flattered smile and I could see her struggle with her emotions. She had kept the secret for so long; it was prudent not to tell anyone. And yet, at the same time, the weight of keeping the secret was bearing down on her. She needed to get it off her chest. She needed to tell someone, anyone. A no-body like me, someone who wasn’t a part of her social circle, would be perfect. And yet – secrets were always safer when they were kept.
In the end, the need to unburden herself won out. “He fell like a ton of bricks,” she said, smiling at the memory. “And for once, I played my cards well. He had to chase me. He had to buy me nice things - dinners and holidays and gifts. I didn’t care about those things, but it was nice to see him work for it. And he told me he loved me, that he wanted to be happy with me.”
“What went wrong?”
She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Let me guess. He said he didn’t really love you. He wanted to make things work with Sophia and he was ready to get therapy.”
“He was supposed to try to make things work with me.”
“So you snapped. He’d rejected you once and he was rejecting you again, and you couldn’t handle it. What did you do, ask him to give you a lift and then make him pull over when you had a fight? You killed him, didn’t you?”
She stared into space blankly, her eyes not seeing me. She murmured, “It was all so sudden.”
And then she snapped back to reality and her eyes focused on me.
“You killed him,” I said. “And then you found out when Sophia wouldn’t be home and entered her house with the key Ethan had given you. You put the gun in her nightstand and gave the police an anonymous tip. The perfect revenge.”
I could see that Vanessa was determined not to say anything more, so I continued, “And then you tracked down Audrey and killed her.”
She snapped back to reality and frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know any Audrey.”
“It’s ok,” I said, “It doesn’t make a difference. How did you break into her place?”
Her frown grew deeper. “Who’s Audrey?”
“You know who she is. How did you break into her apartment?”
“I didn’t. I don’t know what you mean.”
“You hired someone to break into my place, too. And you hired someone to follow me around.”
She shook her head again. “I have no idea what you’re saying. And I wouldn’t bother to hire anyone to threaten you.”
“Oh, come on. There’s no point denying it now.”
It annoyed me a little that Vanessa confided in me and told me everything – but then refused to admit to killing Audrey. I thought about a masked man waiting for Audrey in her darkened apartment, and the image bothered me. How did Vanessa, the ultimate sophisticate, tie in with that image?
I looked at Vanessa expectantly, but she was frowning at me and didn’t say anything, so I stood up to leave. Just then, Vanessa stood up too, and said, “Wait. I need to show you something.”
I thought she would tell me something about Audrey, maybe show me pictures of her, so I waited expectantly as she walked over to a large, wide-mouthed ceramic vase. She reached in, and I wondered what she could possibly keep inside it. Something secret, obviously. Maybe something valuable. It seemed like a great hiding place for something no-body else should know about, something like –
Vanessa pulled out her hand. She was holding a gun and the barrel was pointed right at me. I took a step back.
“Don’t move,” Vanessa said.
How could I have been so stupid as to expect her to pull out photos of Audrey from a vase? I mentally slapped my forehead and wondered what to do. I could try to make a run for it, but she looked ready to pull the trigger at any moment. “You don’t mean this,” I said slowly. “You don’t want to shoot me. You got mad and shot Ethan, but it wasn’t intentional. The police will understand.”
Vanessa shook her head. “I can’t have you blabbing to Sophia about this. I didn’t mean to kill Ethan, but then the whole thing got tied up so nicely. I can’t let you untie it now.”
My heart was racing now and everything around me seemed to fade away into insignificance. All I could see was that large barrel. Any moment a bullet could come whizzing out and shoot me. I couldn’t let that happen, not when my life was finally starting to pick up. I’d just met Glen and I was looking forward to having more of his cupcakes. Nanna was becoming a better poker player and someday she’d go on to win the World Series of Poker and then she’d thank me on live TV. Emily had promised to introduce me to a cute guy and if I could just get out of this alive, I could prevent Sophia from being convicted of murder.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” I said, “Just don’t shoot me.”
“Good.” She seemed to relax a bit. “I’m glad you’re being logical.”
She walked towards the wall, moving sideways, keeping the gun trained on me. She opened a door I’d seen earlier, and moved away a bit.
“In there,” she said and I obliged, moving slowly toward the door, trying to figure out how I could escape.
The door opened into the garage and I could
see her large silver SUV sitting there. I heard a clicking noise; she’d unlocked the car.
“Get in,” she said.
I glanced around, wondering if there was any way I could get out of here. But the garage was locked, its automatic roller door preventing any escape and, behind me, Vanessa was standing in the way with her gun.
I opened the door and climbed into the elevated passenger seat wordlessly. I wondered if I could try to call Stone. Maybe I could pretend to be looking for my sunglasses in my bag, and surreptitiously press a few buttons.
Vanessa walked around to the other side and got into the driver’s side, her gun still pointed at me. She was watching me carefully and said, “Put both hands behind your head. I don’t want you to try anything funny.”
I cursed silently and did as she said. The plan to call for help vaporized into thin air. I closed my eyes and breathed, trying to keep calm and hoping I’d think of something else. I heard Vanessa buckle her seatbelt and then I heard the garage door opening.
When I opened my eyes Vanessa had slid the car out of the garage and we were moving down the street. She had one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand held the gun, keeping it low and pointed at me. She drove rapidly through the suburban streets, weaving and picking up speed as we merged onto the Las Vegas Beltway.
I heard a strangled noise escape from my throat. She could get us both killed by driving like a madman with only one hand on the wheel. A car swerved and its driver honked at us angrily and I groaned.
“Can’t you drive more carefully?” I said.
“My driving’s fine.”
“That’s what they all say!”
She didn’t say anything in reply, so I tried to calm her down. “Killing me won’t solve anything,” I said. “I know you think you’ll get away with it, but there are people who know where I went.” She didn’t look impressed so I fibbed, “I’m meant to meet my boyfriend in a few hours’ time.”
“What’s your boyfriend’s name?”
She had me stumped. I paused for a moment and said the first name that came to my mind. “Stone.”
A.R. Winters - Tiffany Black 01 - Innocent in Las Vegas Page 13