AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The fact he owned a pistol had come up soon after we met, when he was telling me stories about being a waiter and walking home after work in the small hours of the morning, to an apartment that was off the strip and away from the seeming impregnability of the crowds.
“Not happening,” I murmured. Near a high top at the BP’s Tower of London pub was a pretend suit of armor. It was holding a two-balled flail, though the orbs and spikes were hollow and made of plastic. “I’d sooner swing a toy flail at my assailant,” I said.
“Which would be rather ineffective.”
“Quite. The thing is, even John Aldred’s people didn’t carry guns. At least as far as I know,” I reminded him, referring to the senator. Nigel was among the circle well aware of John’s and my affair. I had presumed a U.S. senator had a security detail, but most didn’t. John didn’t even have a body man; he had a chief of staff who would be with him on occasion, and sometimes a driver, but they rarely came into the casino, except when he would be in my audience. They were just out there in the ether somewhere, away from us when we’d dine in my suite or find a secluded nook in one of the BP’s restaurants.
“You know you’re at war, Crissy. I’m not sure that you understand that. But you are and you need to be ready.”
“Ready for what? A gunfight in a casino?”
“They killed your friend. They stole your car key and took your Mini, and set you up to take the fall.”
“I have an airtight alibi. I was at Cocoon with a writer while Yevgeny was at Red Rocks. And I told the police to go ahead and search my car and dust it for fingerprints and reenact whatever CSI protocols they want.”
“I wouldn’t be so glib.”
“I’m not glib. I’m scared. And I’m cheesed off.”
He smiled gently at me. “Save expressions like that for the stage. Even I can’t get away with ‘cheesed off,’ and I’m from the UK.”
“You can’t use ‘cheesed off’ because now you’re king.”
“Oh, you’re going to write my promotion into the show? I’m honored.”
“Yes, at some point this month I will. One must keep current.”
“I hope I will be a king that makes his subjects proud.”
“We’ll see. You’ve sure as hell had a boatload of years to grow into the job.”
He smiled and raised his glass.
“Look, I don’t want a gun, Nigel,” I went on. “I barely leave the casino. Between you and Bud McDonald and the rest of hotel security, I feel like I have my own private beefeaters.”
“You clearly can’t trust the casino. Not anymore.”
I nodded. The truth was painful. My home had been violated.
“Have you heard from Betsy today?” he asked. “Since you told the police to talk to her?”
“I have not.”
He tilted back his head and finished the last of his Guinness. “They’ll be back, you know,” he said. “The police.”
“I know.”
“Tell me something,” he said.
“Of course.”
“You were here in October 2017.”
He knew I was. He knew my history. And bringing up October 2017 to someone who lives in Las Vegas is rather like bringing up September 2001 to someone who lives in New York City. I knew where this was going.
“Yes,” I said. “That’s right.”
“It was October first, right?” Nigel was saying.
