by AR Winters
Aaron sighed, annoyed that he hadn’t been able to get rid of us, and looked at Linda. “I’m really sorry, babe,” he said. “I should’ve told you from the beginning. But I knew you’d say no. I thought, what if we didn’t win this competition and we couldn’t get jobs once we got back? New York is expensive. We needed cash.” He looked at her pleadingly.
“I get worried, too. But what’s that got to do with any of this?” Linda waved one hand towards Carlos, who now had his mouth wide open and his eyes closed shut and appeared to be dozing through the whole conversation.
“Well,” said Aaron. I could see beads of sweat begin to form on his brow, and his skin grew redder. “Carlos needed some drugs. And he couldn’t buy them himself, not with all the paparazzi hanging around outside. Waiting to get shots of him buying stuff. So he turned to me.”
A look of horror crossed Linda’s face. “Oh, no.”
Aaron nodded. “I was worried about how we’d pay the rent when we got back home, if we got nothing out of this show. So I got stuff for Carlos, and he paid me well.”
Linda looked at Aaron in consternation. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she said softly. “I thought you were having an affair with Lana.”
I didn’t want to interrupt, but I just had to say something. “I guess you were mad at Lana for no reason. Stalking her and scaring her pointlessly.”
Linda gave me an exasperated look. “I already told you. I never tried to hurt Lana. I just wanted to know what was going on.”
I bit my lip thoughtfully and looked at Gordon, who shrugged. I believed Linda. She walked over to Aaron and gave him a hug, her body sagging with relief. “This isn’t great,” I heard her say. “But it’s better than what I thought.”
“I’ll sort it out, babe,” said Aaron. “I know I could’ve gotten in trouble. I’m not doing this anymore. We’ll focus on the show, and we’ll deal with life back home when we have to.”
Carlos let out a loud snore, and Linda and Aaron looked into each other’s eyes lovingly.
Gordon cleared his throat, and I said, “We should all get out of Lana’s room. And someone should wake Carlos before he starts drooling on the sofa.”
***
Since I was sure that Linda had nothing to do with the stalker, Gordon and I needed to continue with our plan. We headed into the casino, hand in hand, and received far too much attention. Everyone gawked at Gordon, and groups of tourists came up every few seconds, asking me to take their photo with him.
In the end, I got sick of it.
“There has to be an easier way,” I said to Gordon.
“Sure, there is,” he said.
He drew me close to him and pressed his lips against mine.
I drew back almost immediately. “No way,” I said. “We’re not doing that. Let’s go up to your room.”
He raised his eyebrows suggestively, but I knew he was only joking. I texted Ian to see what was going on (“Not much. Lana’s doing spin.”) and then held hands with Gordon again, and went up to his room.
We weren’t quite sure what to do once we were upstairs. I knew I needed to stay with him till the next morning, if I wanted to do a convincing impression of being his new girlfriend. So the first thing I did was to call the Treasury and cancel my shift.
“Again?!” said my manager. “This is getting really old!”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But my cold is acting up again.”
It was the lamest excuse, and we knew it. My manager said, “Tiffany, you know this’ll go on your record. We all know you’ve got a PI gig on the side, and it looks like you’re not serious about working here anymore.”
I was silent for a few seconds and then I said, “No. I am serious. You know I’m a great dealer, right?”
My manager sighed. “Yeah, yeah. But Brian’s introducing all these new rules and stuff. You need to keep up with the times.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” I promised. “I’m sorry about today, but I just can’t make it.”
There was nothing else to say, so I hung up and let Gordon order room service. I picked the beef lasagna, and Gordon ordered a chicken Waldorf salad, and we decided that we could have cake afterward. Since there wasn’t anything else to do, we ordered some Pixar movies through the in-room service and spent the afternoon watching them.
Ian stopped by Gordon’s room in the evening.
“I’m staying the night in Lana’s room,” he said. “She wants a bodyguard. So I’m heading home and grabbing my jammies.”
“That’s a good plan,” I said, giving him the key to my apartment. “Could you get me my toothbrush, please? We can walk home together, tomorrow morning.”
An hour later, Ian delivered my toothbrush as promised and then headed over to Lana’s.
Gordon and I decided to play up our “relationship” and headed over to the Riverbelle’s exclusive dinner restaurant, Le Chat Noir. We made a big deal of getting a table in the back and ordering romantic oysters and champagne, and when dessert was served, I fed Gordon chocolate-covered strawberries off my plate. I wasn’t sure who the show was for, but I figured it couldn’t hurt.
“You two are really serious about this PI stuff,” Gordon said, just before we went to sleep. He’d been all chivalrous and offered to sleep on the foldout couch. “I guess Lana’s lucky to have hired you.”
I made a regretful face. “Her stalker seems pretty serious, too. I wish I knew what was going on—it seems like I’m too late to this party.”
I slept fitfully. A few hours before dawn, I gave up on sleep and grabbed the keys to Gordon’s room and the pass that gave me access to the corporate floors.
I was in front of Stone’s office within a few seconds, staring up at the ceiling-mounted cameras again. I tried the door, but as usual, it wouldn’t budge.
Once again, I wrote some messages on my notepad and help them up for the cameras.
“Stone,” I wrote. “What’s going on? I said I’d help you, and I meant it. I’m not going to give up.”
I hung around for a few minutes, and then I sat on the floor, reading a book on my phone.
After an hour, nothing had happened.
I checked the door to Stone’s office once again, waved to the cameras, and headed back to Gordon’s room.
Gordon was still asleep when I got there, but I decided I’d had enough. I texted Ian and woke him up, and together, we headed back to our apartments.
I kept checking over my shoulder, expecting someone to jump out at me and attack, but nothing happened.
“This is disappointing,” I said to Ian.
“I know. Why doesn’t this guy try to kill you again?”
“I’m not sure.” My mind flashed back to Gordon, who’d been fast asleep when I’d crept out. “Unless we’re doing things all wrong.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ian and I decided to put our newfound baking skills to the test and make another batch of chocolate cupcakes before we headed back to the Riverbelle. This time, we used the frosted icing recipe, and they were even more delicious than the first batch.
“Should we take some over for Lana?” Ian asked.
I shook my head. “She only eats salad. But speaking of, I guess it’s high time I checked up on her. You wanna come with?”
“Sure,” he said, and we headed back to the Singing Duos studios again. We took a box of cupcakes with us, just in case Lana changed her mind about her diet.
Lana was in a much better mood today. “I took the bandage off,” she said, showing us the raw stitches. Ian and I made disgusted faces, but she just laughed. “You won’t be able to see it on camera. I can’t use concealer on it, but they’ll have me half-sitting in the shade, so the stitches won’t show up on TV. And anyway, weren’t you supposed to bring me a salad?”
“We only had cupcakes,” Ian said. “Here’s a box of them.”
“I don’t eat cupcakes. And there’s salad in the cafeteria. Hint, hint.”
Ian looked at me and rolled hi
s eyes. I shrugged and said, “I guess it should be safe for her to eat.”
“Don’t dawdle, honey,” said Lana. “I don’t want to get low blood sugar and overeat.”
Ian made grumbling noises and headed out the door.
“I didn’t get anywhere by pretending to go out with Gordon,” I said. “That seems like a dead end. Are you absolutely sure you trust Gordon?”
“I am, I am! The guy who stabbed me was definitely someone else. Gordon’s very tall and muscular. The guy who stabbed me was short and skinny.”
“Hmm. Well, it seems like your relationship with Gordon isn’t the issue.”
There was a knock on the door, and Lana called out, “Come in, Ian. I hope you got the chicken Caesar, not the chicken Waldorf.”
The door opened, and a short, skinny man stepped inside. He was wearing an oversized gray hoodie, a black baseball cap, and large, hipster-style sunglasses. The lower half of his face was covered by a thick beard, and he held two large, scary-looking syringes, one in either hand.
Lana and I stood and backed up towards the wall.
“What’s going on?” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “What’s in those syringes? Who are you?”
“You don’t know who I am,” said the man, his voice low and measured. “But these syringes are full of concentrated poison. No mistakes this time. You’ll both be dead within seconds.”
He took a step towards us, and Lana and I took another step backward.
“You can’t do this,” Lana said. “You’ll get found out.”
The man snorted. “I got in using a backstage pass. They’ll never find me. It’s so easy to run off from those ‘backstage tour’ guides. Thanks for the idea, by the way. Too bad that brat ate one of your muffins yesterday.”
I groaned. I couldn’t believe that I’d be partially responsible for this psycho getting away.
“But you don’t have to kill us,” I said, trying to think fast. “Why don’t you tell us what you want? Lana can help you be famous, or make you very rich.”
“I—I can give you anything,” Lana said. “Don’t hurt us.”
“I don’t want fame or money,” the guy said, taking another step forward. “I just want love. Love makes the world go round.”
Right then, the door burst open, and Simone ran in. The guy in the hoodie turned around, and Simone stopped halfway between the open doorway and the man, her tiny mouth a round ‘o’.
There was the pattering of tiny feet, and then Sam appeared behind her, red-faced. A split second later, Karma appeared, equally red in the face.
“There you are,” Karma said, grabbing Sam’s arm. “Stop running off. Simone, it’s not nice to r—”
And then she caught sight of the man in the hoodie, holding his two syringes.
“Uh,” Karma said, grabbing Simone’s arm with her other hand. “We’ll just go.”
She began to drag the kids away, and the man started to turn back to look at Lana and me. Before I could think things through, I launched myself into the air and onto the man. I pinned him down to the floor, and Lana and I wrestled the syringes out of his hands.
“I didn’t want to hurt the kids,” I said, pinning the man down onto the ground with one knee. Karma had dragged Sam and Simone away, and they were nowhere to be seen. “Their studio tours haven’t gone so well.”
“I’ll have to get them new passes,” Lana said, sounding a lot braver than she had a few moments ago. “Maybe their next visit will be better. Third time’s the charm.”
“D’you have any rope here?” I asked. “We could tie up this guy’s hands while we wait for the cops.”
“I’ve got handcuffs,” Lana said.
I glanced up at her in surprise. “You’ve got cuffs?”
She shrugged modestly. “I like to use them in bed.”
“Too much info!” I said.
“Yeah,” said the guy on the floor. “You’re gross.”
His voice sounded strangely high-pitched, and as I cuffed his wrists together, Lana pulled off his baseball cap and glasses. Under the cap, his hair was bright red.
Lana gasped. “You’re not a man! You’re Pam!”
“Shut up!” said Pam. “I don’t need to deal with your drama anymore.”
“My drama?” Lana said. “You’re the one trying to kill me!”
“Of course I tried to kill you!” Pam said. “Gordon wouldn’t notice me as long as you were around. I needed him to realize he could actually fall in love and settle down. As long as you hung around, with your theories of love not existing, he’d never take anyone seriously.”
“Oh, honey,” Lana said. “Gordon’s never going to settle down anyhow. There are far too many pretty girls around.”
“Yeah, but he dumps them the next day. Except for you and Tiffany here. Tiffany’s the only one he took to dinner, so I figured I should get her, too.”
“You’re nuts,” I said. “Gordon’s a man-child with commitment issues. You don’t need to kill someone to figure that out.”
“Well, I tried to get Lana to just quit the show. But she wouldn’t. So I decided not to do things halfway.”
“Then why’d you try to get Gordon in trouble by wearing a gray hoodie all the time?”
“This is his hoodie,” said Pam, her eyes suddenly misting over with emotion. “I grabbed it from his room, and I wear it whenever I can. It smells like him.”
“What about the card with the muffins?” Lana said. “Folks for sure would’ve thought he’d tried to poison me.”
“Oh, I meant to throw that card away afterward. I knew you’d gotten suspicious and wouldn’t eat the muffins otherwise. I really needed to get you out of the way so I could have Gordon to myself, finally.”
“You’re crazy,” I said. “There’s more to life than some guy.”
Pam laughed. “That’s just what sad single people say.”
Just then, Ian showed up at the door. “I couldn’t find any salad,” he said. “They’re all out.”
“That’s okay,” Lana said. “We might as well have those cupcakes.”
Chapter Thirty
Detective Dimitriou showed up while we were munching on our cupcakes, and he ate one before he took our statements and dragged Pam off to the precinct for booking.
“I guess that’s done,” Lana said. “Now Gordon can say that he’s literally a lady killer.”
I laughed. “I don’t think that’s what ‘literally’ really means.”
“How’d Pam attack you in New York?” Ian asked. “I thought she didn’t get hired till the next city.”
“She was just Gordon’s fan at that time,” Lana explained. “She was obsessed with him, following him around. That’s how she found out about the affair. She tried to attack me outside of the studio in New York, and then afterward, she got this job so that she could be closer to Gordon. And to me.”
“At least she’s far away now,” I said.
“And,” said Ian, “We’ve solved another case.”
Lana and I wrapped up the paperwork and she gave us our final paycheck, and then Ian and I headed home.
“Come watch the auditions tonight,” Lana said.
I shook my head. “Can’t do it. I have to get back to my job at the Treasury.”
“And I’ll be home,” Ian said. “I need to watch the latest Avengers movie again.”
My excitement at having found Lana’s stalker didn’t last too long, since I needed to make my way over to the Treasury. I had an early shift, starting in the afternoon, and I took a big box of chocolate cupcakes with me.
The other dealers and I stood around munching them while we waited for the pre-work briefing to start.
Even Brian came and helped himself to a cupcake. “These aren’t bad,” he said. “But they’re too sweet.”
I made a face. “I like them.”
“Well,” he said. “Everyone here’s supposed to be losing weight. Not eating cupcakes.”
“You’re eating one,” I sa
id pointedly.
Brian smirked. “That’s because I don’t need to lose weight. Or wear one of those sexy new uniforms we’re designing.”
Everyone within earshot groaned. So the rumors were true: we’d be getting new, skimpier uniforms. Which would make dealing with drunk players so much more difficult.
I was feeling disappointed with life by the time I got to my assigned blackjack table and clapped my hands out. Working at the Treasury used to be relatively enjoyable; it was one of the better casinos to work at. But with all these changes Brian was introducing, it would soon turn into bimbo-ville. I used to think that my skills as a dealer were valued. Now, it seemed that I was going to be reduced to a woman who needed to diet and wear a sexy uniform at work, if she wanted to stay employable.
I tried to stop myself from about stressing about the future too much, and the hours passed quickly. The night air was chilly when I finally stepped out after my shift, in the wee hours of the morning. There was a sharp breeze that would’ve been pleasant during the day, but right now, it just made me worry I’d catch a cold. I’d changed back into my jeans and a t-shirt, and I crossed my arms across my chest as I hurried back home.
I took the shortcut that ran behind the Cosmo Hotel. It was as dark as ever; it was as if the Powers That Be who ran this city had made a deal to never fix the streetlights on this alleyway.
This was where I’d last seen Stone, right before he’d stepped into his car and driven off. I was thinking about him, wondering if I’d ever see him again, when a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of me.
I froze, and then when I realized what I was seeing, I gasped and took a step back.
“Tiffany,” said Stone. “How was your shift?”
Chapter Thirty-One
I stammered meaninglessly for a few seconds.
Finally, I managed to say, “Good. It was good.”
We stared at each other in silence. Even though the streetlights weren’t working, I could make out the darkness of Stone’s eyes, shimmering quietly. Stone and I had worked together for what felt like many decades, but in reality, I hadn’t known him for very long. In fact, I realized now that I knew nothing about him at all. I thought back to what Jack had told me about Stone kidnapping two women in Afghanistan, and I just couldn’t reconcile that with the man in front of me.