Tony’s expression grew dark. “He’s been trying to poach you?”
“You really didn’t know that?” Anson asked.
“No.” Tony shook his head, clearly disgusted. He turned away for a moment before facing them again. “Garbage like that is why I was leaving Lou. I liked the guy, but he wasn’t protecting me. Okay, great, he talked Gabrielle into giving me another shot, but career-wise, I was finding a lot of my own deals. You know that spot I had on the Kimmel show?”
Anson nodded.
Tony stuck a finger into his chest. “I got that deal. I made that happen. But Lou let people think otherwise. Pretty sure he signed two new clients on that press alone.” He sighed. “I just needed someone hungrier. Someone more willing to fight for me.”
“I’m not going to argue that with you,” Anson said. “Lou had a reputation as a minimal effort kind of guy.”
“He was coasting on my coattails.” Tony held his hands up. “I don’t like speaking ill of the dead, but that’s all truth.” He made a curious face at the phone. “Frank should have called by now.”
Anson shifted with the kind of anxious energy that said he was ready to go. “Tony, I just want you to know that I would never take Frank’s offer. The Crystal Palace is yours. Always will be. Even if we lose the Oasis.”
Tony nodded. “Thanks. And I really hope that doesn’t happen. I mean that.”
Anson nodded. “I appreciate that.”
Sin shot me a look, brows up. “We should go.”
I gave him a quick nod to let him know I agreed. My contraband felt like a glowing neon sign that was getting harder to hide with each passing moment.
“The kids are right,” Anson said. “We’ve taken up enough of your time.”
“If I hear anything,” Tony said, “you’ll be the first to know.”
“Thank you, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this quiet. This isn’t the kind of publicity we want. I’m sure you can understand the difference.” Anson’s subtext about Carrie wasn’t lost on Tony.
He nodded rapidly. “You got it. Not a word. We have to stick together in situations like this.”
“Have a good show,” Anson said.
“Thanks.”
“Oh, and Tony?”
“Yeah?” His brows rose.
“If I find out you’re involved in Lila’s disappearance and you lied to me, you’re going to regret you were born. You got me?”
Tony swallowed and nodded, holding up his hands. “I swear I’m not.”
Anson gave him one long, last stare, and then we left, seeing ourselves out.
We headed back to the car the way we’d come in, through the casino. Despite the bells and buzzers and jackpot sirens, I called Birdie. “I don’t think he had anything to do with it, but keep an eye on Tony’s car for a few more minutes.”
“You got it. Headed to Frank’s?”
“I think so. Tony called him, but he wasn’t in, and he still hadn’t returned Tony’s call when we left. Makes me think he’s busy doing something and he doesn’t want to be disturbed.”
Sin nodded, agreeing with my assessment.
“All right,” she said. “Call if you find anything. Or if you need us.”
“Will do, but I don’t think we’ll need you until we get back. Then I have something for you to look at.”
“You got it.”
We both hung up. I looked at Anson. “Frank’s house? Or one of his properties?”
Anson stopped at the border of the casino floor. “I need to know what else he owns. We aren’t going to get many chances to find her. As soon as he realizes we’re on to him, he’ll move her. Or worse. But she won’t be at his house. He wouldn’t keep her here. That’s too risky.”
Sin pulled up the list of properties Frank owned. “There’s a lot to cover on here.”
Anson was scanning the casino floor. Maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of Frank? “We can rule out any of the places that are going concerns. Like that coffee bar he owns. Too public. Is there anything that looks like a warehouse or a building that’s for sale?”
Sin scanned the list. Knowing Birdie, she’d made annotations for that sort of thing. “Here’s something. A nightclub near Fremont.” He looked up. “It’s not operational, as it’s currently for sale.”
Anson’s brows lifted slightly. “Asking price?”
“Two point two million. But there’s also a house listed for sale. Must have been an investment property because it’s only twenty-two hundred square feet. Too small for a guy with Frank’s money and status.”
“Where’s the house?” Anson asked.
“Skye Canyon. Looks like it’s about thirty minutes away.”
“No,” Anson said. “He wouldn’t keep her there. It’s too far away. He’d want something he could easily access. And if the house is for sale, it could be shown anytime.”
I tipped my head to one side as I thought about that. “But isn’t the same true for the nightclub?”
“Less likely,” Anson said. “At that asking price, buyers would have to be pre-qualified. Frank would know if someone was going to look at it, and it’s close enough that he could get there first.” He took a breath. “That could absolutely be where he’s keeping her. Especially because a lot of nightclubs have soundproofing. Even if she yelled for help, no one would hear her.”
Sin put his phone away. “Then that’s where we’re headed.”
It took us almost twenty minutes to get there because of traffic. Jack called to say there was still no movement from Tony, which I relayed to Sin and Anson while I kept him on the phone.
“Tell them to go back to the house,” Anson said. “Or go out to eat or play tourist or anything else they might want to do. If Lila’s not at the nightclub, we’re out of options.”
That made my heart hurt, but he was kind of right. We’d exhausted all possibilities at this point. And what I needed Birdie for could wait. “Jack? Anson said to call it. He also said you and Birdie should go back to the house or go do whatever you want to do because we’re pretty much out of options.”
Jack sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Me, too.”
“I’ll let Birdie know. We’ll stay in touch. I think there’s something she wants to do anyway.”
“Okay, sounds good. Thanks.” I hung up and tucked my phone away, pretty much feeling like I was on the verge of a good cry. We couldn’t be at the end of this search. We hadn’t found Lila yet. Giving up wasn’t an option.
But we were sort of out of places to look if the nightclub didn’t pan out. Sure, there were more properties to check, but Sin would have said something if another one of them looked like a good option.
My heart sank.
Sin parked outside the nightclub. The place looked like it hadn’t been in operation for some time. We got out and took a better look. I left my purse in the car, sticking my phone in my back pocket. Sin shook his head. “We need to find a side entrance. Or a back one. A place we can get into without having the cops called on us.”
“I agree, but…” I pointed up at a security camera. “If there’s one out front, there will probably be one out back, too.”
Anson let out a little grunt. “Child’s play.” His gaze narrowed, the air shimmered, and a second later, he gave me a nod. “Taken care of.”
“Perfect. Let’s find that back entrance.”
We did, too, down a little side alley and around a corner where there were a couple of dumpsters. Sin looked back toward where we were parked. “I’m going to move the car around here. Just in case we need a quick exit.”
“Okay,” I said.
He jogged off, leaving Anson and me.
Anson smiled gently. “I know about your ability to enter places. If you’d rather I didn’t watch—”
“No, it’s fine. What’s a little Santa Claus magic amongst family, right?”
His smile grew, and he nodded. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.”
> “Well, prepare to be underwhelmed because all you’re going to see is a little ice vapor.” As tricks went, his were much more entertaining. The Saint Nick slide was boring on purpose. Anything else might draw attention, and that was the last thing my uncle needed on Christmas Eve.
“Still interesting.”
“Once I’m in, I’ll unlock the door as soon as I get in and get my bearings. Takes my head a few seconds to stop spinning.”
“Sounds good. Be careful. We’re assuming she’s in there alone, but he could have someone watching her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll do my best to stay quiet.” The back door was a standard metal security door with a push bar lever. “Um, one more thing before I go in. When you did whatever you did to the cameras, did that also deactivate any security system that might have been in place?”
“No, but good thinking. I can do that too.” He took a moment and sent a little shiver of magic at the building. “All right, should be good to go now.”
“Thanks.” I did the Saint Nick slide and went under. Once inside, I leaned against the door while I waited for everything to stop whirling around. Without the benefit of the security lights or windows, the place was pretty dark inside. Typical nightclub, I imagined. The air was stale and stuffy, like it hadn’t been circulated for a while.
While I stood there, I listened. Nothing. I made a decision. “Lila?” Worth a shot, I thought, and if Frank did have someone watching her and he came for me, I’d freeze him in place. But there was no answer. Not even a muffled response.
That could be a very bad thing.
I opened the door to let Anson in and saw Sin getting out of the car. They both came inside. As soon as the door shut, we were plunged into darkness again.
“I called her name,” I said. “No answer. Not from her or one of Frank’s henchmen.”
“She could be tied up and gagged,” Anson said. “Or in a room where she couldn’t hear you.”
“True.” I got my phone out and turned on the flashlight. They followed suit. Amazing what that small amount of light did in such a dark, cavernous place. “Split up?”
Anson nodded. “Sin, go check out the front of the house with Jayne. I’ll search through the backstage area and the DJ booth.”
I didn’t think the behind-the-scenes section of a nightclub was really called backstage, but I knew what he meant.
“And remember,” he said. “Don’t just look for her. Look for signs she’d been here.”
I nodded, but as we parted ways, I nudged Sin. “What kinds of signs did he mean exactly?”
Sin took a breath. “My mom’s day-to-day routine involves a serious vitamin regime and a lot of heavy-duty moisturizers, balms, and lotions. Living in the desert is hard on everyone’s skin, but when you’re a zombie, it’s a lot worse. She hasn’t had the benefit of that routine in twenty-four hours. There’s a good chance she’s…you know.”
“I’m not sure I do.” I could hear the reluctance in his voice. I’d heard it before, the first time he told me his mom was a zombie and he was worried it would make me not want to marry him. “Just say it.”
“She’s probably shedding.”
“Shedding?”
He nodded. “Flakes of skin. I know, it’s gross.”
I shrugged. “I’ve been sunburned a few times. I’ve peeled. It’s not that big of a deal. In fact, it might be a good thing. At least we’d know she’d been here.”
He smiled, giving me a quick side-eye. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For not freaking out about the weird stuff.”
“You can talk to the dead and I have blue hair, which I think is cool but some people probably think is pretty out there. I’m just saying I’m not sure anything can really be considered weird stuff anymore.” I smiled back. “Come on. Let’s find your mom.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Sinclair
The nightclub was a massive space, and checking all the nooks and crannies took forever. But with each passing minute, I knew the chances of finding my mom grew slimmer. So slim that it was time to face facts. She wasn’t there. And there were no signs that she’d been there. So unless my dad turned up something different, we’d finally hit a real brick wall.
Eventually we made our way back to where we’d started. My disappointment was fast turning into anger. The feeling of helplessness made me want to rage.
A juvenile response, maybe, but it was that or break down in a way I wasn’t sure I ever had before. I was not prepared to lose my mom. Not when there had to be something else I could do.
My dad joined us a couple of minutes later, the look on his face mirroring my own emotions. “She’s not here,” he said tersely.
“We didn’t have any luck either,” Jayne said. “Sin, what other possibilities are on the list?”
I shook my head. “Nothing as promising as this.”
She put one hand on her hip. “But maybe he didn’t pick this place because it was too obvious.”
She was trying to keep us going. And bless her for it, but the darkness hanging over me had gotten its claws into my soul, and I wasn’t sure there was any recovering. I didn’t say anything.
Neither did my father.
She glanced at my dad, then back at me like she thought one of us would respond. When neither of us did, she frowned. “Snap out of it. Both of you. I know you expected to find her here. So did I. But just because we didn’t doesn’t mean we’re giving up.”
My dad looked away.
“Sin,” Jayne repeated. “The list of properties.”
I couldn’t ignore my wife, so I pulled up the list on my phone, the rage turning into a numbness that just barely let me remain functional. I scanned the list. Birdie’s notes were helpful, making it easy to eliminate places. “I don’t see anything worth investigating.”
“It’s time to call your Aunt Zinnia,” my father said in a small, quiet voice.
Just the idea made me freeze up. I couldn’t process what he was suggesting. The idea that we’d come to that point. “No.”
“Sin,” my dad said. “At least we’d know.”
“Know what?” Jayne asked.
I shook my head. My father could answer her because I wasn’t ready to put that explanation into words.
“Lila’s great aunt Zinnia is a necro-psychometrist. Basically, by holding or touching something that belongs to someone, she can tell if they’re alive or dead. Well. Dead mostly. Death magic runs in Lila’s family. It’s probably responsible for her turning into a zombie and for why Sin’s necromancy is so strong.”
I couldn’t look at either one of them. Instead, I stared at the floor. “He wants to give Aunt Zinnia something of Mom’s and…” I couldn’t finish.
The softest gasp escaped Jayne’s mouth as she understood what I was saying. “And have her tell you if your mom is…not with us anymore.”
I nodded, my throat a knot of emotion that wouldn’t let words pass.
Jayne shook her head. “I hate to be indelicate, but isn’t your mom…that is, she’s a zombie so…isn’t she technically already not with us?”
“She’s not that kind of zombie,” I explained. “She was turned in her teens, and probably because of the death magic that runs in her family, she survived the bite without losing her life. She just changed. She wasn’t reanimated, like a zombie that came from someone already deceased.”
“Okay,” Jayne said. “That makes sense now. Thanks, Sin.”
“Sure,” I said.
“We should go.” My dad gestured toward the exit. “I’ll take you back to the house, then go get her.”
Aunt Zinnia lived in a retirement community about fifteen minutes from my parents’ house. They’d tried to get her to move in with them, but she’d refused, claiming she didn’t need anyone to look after her. She didn’t either.
But my dad soon might.
Without saying anything else, we all headed for the car. Jayne waited until we wer
e out of the building, then locked the door and slipped back under like she had at Carrie’s.
My father drove. I stared blankly out the window, seeing nothing and trying to hold myself together.
If my mother was dead, she would not go unavenged. My skills had a dark side. A side I’d never used because I’d never wanted to or had a reason to. Until now. And now I had both those things, the will and the reason. Or I would, if my mother didn’t make it home.
Back at the house, Jayne and I went inside while my dad left to get Aunt Z.
Jayne and I continued on in the same silent status. Moving like we were underwater. Moving with a kind of purposeless aim that seemed more about not breaking down than doing anything meaningful.
Jayne went straight to the couch, where Spider was sleeping, and picked him up, pressing her face into his fur. He didn’t seem to mind. Or maybe he knew she needed the comfort he provided.
Birdie and Jack showed up about ten minutes later. Birdie looked at me, sympathy filling her eyes. “No luck, huh?”
I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t have it in me to explain about my father going to get Aunt Zinnia and what that meant. They’d figure it out soon enough.
“Sorry, son,” Jack said.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
Birdie went to her laptop. “Don’t give up hope.”
“I haven’t.” But even I could hear the gloom in my voice. “I thought you two might do some sightseeing.”
Birdie glanced at Jack before answering me. “We did. Sort of. We took a little trip to the Dove and Wand.”
“The magic bookstore?”
Jack nodded. “On a hunch, we had a little talk with the proprietor about the book your father bought.” He sighed. “That Xavier fellow needed a little convincing, but we still didn’t find out much, other than he got it on eBay from a seller by the name of Superfine. Not a lot of help.”
Birdie frowned. “I’d hoped for more. I’m still going to dig and see if I can find out who’s behind that screen name, but…”
“Right. Doesn’t sound like it’s going to amount to much.” I sat beside Jayne on the couch. “Did you see Sugar?”
Lost in Las Vegas Page 14