Vegas Lies ( Lies Mystery Thriller Series Book 3) Read online

  Mo took a sip of water from a bottle that Sabrina provided.

  “And then Peep’s father was murdered, and Richard and her sister both disappeared. Peep said Richard killed her father and then he took off with her sister.”

  “I didn’t know she had a sister,” I said.

  “She only ever talks about her to me,” answered Mo. “And not often. It’s like an open wound. She can’t bring herself to talk about her to others. Her sister’s name was Andi—short for something, I’m sure, but I don't know what. She was about two years older than Peep. They were pretty close when they were younger, but grew apart when they reached their late teens. Andi was a little wilder than Peep and Peep always felt that her sister was headed for trouble down the line. I guess Andi had the hots for Richard, and Richard didn’t do anything to discourage it. In fact, Peep had a feeling that Andi and Richard were seeing each other behind her back, which she later confirmed.”

  “That’s horrible,” said Sabrina.

  Mo nodded in agreement. “I think Peep was about to leave Richard at that point. Anyway, it’s worse than that. There’s another thing that she’s only ever told me. Peep and Andi were sexually abused by their father from an early age. Their mother died when they were young and the father never remarried. The two girls became his surrogate lovers. That lasted right up into their late teens. So Peep was kind of messed up.”

  She took another sip.

  “And then everything came crashing down. She came home from work one day to find her father dead and Richard running from the house. Andi wasn’t there, so Peep figured Richard and Andi had run off together. Evidently, Richard had just conned her father out of a lot of money. So his death meant Richard got away with the money. When the estate was figured out, there was basically nothing left. Because of some bad investments and the economy tanking, their father didn’t have much money left. And what little he did have was sucked dry by Richard’s cons.

  She took a breath. She hadn’t even looked out the window at the sights of Vegas. She was in her own world.

  “Anyway, as you can probably guess, he and Andi dropped off the face of the earth. The police were investigating it when word came—and I don’t exactly remember how—that he had been murdered somewhere in Central America. I guess it was credible enough for the cops to drop the case. So in a matter of days, Peep lost a father, a sister, and a husband. She figured that if Richard was killed in Central America, Andi probably was too. If not, she was probably living there.”

  “We’re getting close,” I said. I didn’t want to interrupt Mo’s story, but I thought it was important for her to get a feel for the area of the city where the business was located.

  She looked out the window for the first time since leaving the airport.

  “Pleasant,” she said.

  “Even more pleasant are its inhabitants,” I said. “Some real sketchy types.”

  “Whatever.” She didn’t appear to be too concerned.

  Somehow, I managed to remember the way through the unfamiliar streets and ended up on the right one.

  I pulled up in front of the building. Before I turned off the engine I looked around nervously. No one in sight. I had no doubt that they’d all be crawling out of their holes within minutes.

  “This is it,” I said, motioning to the building.

  “Impressive,” Mo responded.

  She opened the door and stepped out. Sabrina and I followed.

  Mo looked at the sign. “IT Gadgets? What do they sell?”

  “Gadgets, I guess,” I said.

  She gave me a dirty look. “So you think it’s a front for something else?”

  “In all honesty,” said Sabrina, “we hadn’t really thought that far.”

  We approached the front door and I tried the handle. Locked. Mo walked down the driveway on the side, looking for another entrance. She was back a minute later.

  “There’s a back door,” she said, “but it’s locked. Definitely no one here. I’d love to see what’s inside.”

  “Unless you can come up with a battering ram,” I said, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

  “Woooeee.”

  It came from the street. I turned and saw five guys walking toward us. Uh oh.

  “Looky what we got here, boys. Some fine looking pussy.”

  I hated that word, but as much as I hated it, I could already tell that Sabrina and Mo were seeing red. Five of those guys versus two very pissed off women. It wasn’t going to be a fair fight at all. I wasn’t discounting my presence, but the fact was, I was the least of these guys’ problems.

  They looked like they had come from central casting for a politically correct gang movie. There were two white guys, two black guys, and one Latino. Nobody had pulled a gun yet. That was good. The three of us stood in a semi-circle facing the five men, who were now only ten feet in front of us.

  “You people come up here to party with us?” asked one of the white guys.

  “We’re looking for someone,” I said, trying to be reasonable. I knew it wasn’t going to work and I knew my voice had a nervous edge to it, but I had to try anyway.

  “You found us.”

  “We’re looking for a big guy. About 6’5”, ex-football player. Have you seen him?”

  They weren’t listening.

  “You got some mighty fine women. Want to share?”

  “We’re not here to cause trouble,” I said. “We’ll be on our way.”

  “Don’t think so,” said one of the black guys. “I taken a shine to this black-haired one.”

  He reached for Mo and I knew it was going to be the last thing he would remember for a long, long time. Mo grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm so the elbow was facing up, and brought her forearm down on it. It made a sickening crack and he screamed. But Mo wasn’t finished with him yet. She whipped her foot around and caught him in the side of his head, producing a second sickening crack. He dropped to the ground unconscious. The whole thing lasted about three seconds.

  The others just stared at their fallen comrade. Then one of the white guys tried to grab Sabrina, getting a hand on her left forearm. She shot her right hand out, thumb extended, and caught him in the eye. He screamed. But Sabrina hadn’t just poked him in the eye, her thumb was still wedged in his eye socket. She pushed until blood was streaming down his face. Finally, she let up and gave him a vicious kick to the groin. He fell to the ground, one hand over what was left of his eye and the other holding his groin. He threw up.

  As Sabrina’s guy fell to the ground, I saw the other white guy reach under his shirt. There was no doubt what he was after. I charged him and caught him under his chin with the top of my forehead. He went sailing back and cracked his head against the back of our rental. He fell to the ground unconscious … or dead. I hoped he wasn’t dead. He moaned. Whew.

  I looked back to find the other two men sprawled on the ground, with Sabrina standing over one and Mo standing over the other. The men didn’t seem particularly hurt, but they were well aware that they weren’t going anywhere.

  “Now, you are going to answer some questions or I will kick the ever-lovin’ shit out of you,” said Mo to her guy. He nodded weakly. On a good day, Mo was dangerous. With Peep missing, everything went out the window. She was a superhuman force.

  “We’re looking for two people,” she began. “One is a woman. Short, with curly blond hair. See her?”

  The guy shook his head. I saw Sabrina’s guy do the same thing.

  “Okay then, how about the big guy we described before? Football player type?”

  They both nodded.

  “Seen him around,” said Mo’s victim. “He comes in and out of this building. Couple other guys, too. All white guys. The other two are just normal-looking guys. Average. Hey, can we go? Our friends are hurt bad. They might need to go to a hospital.”

  “No shit, Sherlock,” said Mo. “When was the last time you saw anyone here?”

  “Yesterday afternoon. The two other gu
ys—not the football player—loaded a truck with a bunch of boxes and took off. Haven’t seen anyone since.”

  At that moment, two police cars came screaming around the corner and skidded to a halt in front of us. Two cops got out of each car. They had their guns drawn and pointed right at us.

  Chapter 9

  This wasn’t the first time I'd had a gun pointed at me. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time I’d had a gun pointed at me by a cop. And to think that for about ten years before I met Sabrina I was slaving away at a boring—but safe—dead end job. Now I looked down the barrels of guns on a regular basis. Well, as long as they didn’t go off, I was okay.

  There were a few minutes of confusion as the cops sorted out the good guys from the bad guys. Luckily, we didn’t exactly look like members of a gang. And then, as soon as the cops realized that they were talking to the famous Sabrina Spencer, things started to go our way.

  The police, now a force of almost fifteen strong—most likely due to Sabrina’s name being broadcast across the police band—called for ambulances for the damaged gang members. A detective showed up to ask us why in the world we were in the worst section of the worst area in the city. So we gave him the story of Peep having disappeared.

  “We filed a missing person report, but we know the chances are slim of finding her that way,” said Sabrina, “especially in a city like Las Vegas, where getting lost is a way of life. But the fact is, Priscilla isn’t that kind of person. And if this guy really is her ex-husband, there should be an old warrant for his arrest.”

  “He’s a dangerous guy,” said Mo.

  “Where would this warrant be out of?” asked the detective, whose nametag read “Miller.”

  “San Francisco,” said Mo. “That’s where Peep … Priscilla is from and where she married the asshole. After he disappeared, word came out of Central America that he was dead, so I don’t know if the case was officially closed.”

  “We’ll check into it,” said Miller. “Meanwhile, I’ll see if we can get a warrant to search this building.”

  It didn’t take long for Miller to find a judge willing to issue a search order. While we waited, Mo and I sat back and watched as Sabrina schmoozed with the cops. When put in a situation where the people she was talking to were genuine, Sabrina felt totally at ease. It was when she was surrounded by people whose interest in her was less than honest that she retreated into her cocoon and let the panic take over.

  Forty-five minutes later the search warrant arrived. Miller and his men broke into the building and entered with guns drawn. They came out a short time later.

  “Nothing,” said Miller. “Completely empty. There is no sign that your friend was kept here.”

  “I didn’t think she had been,” said Mo. “I guess we were hoping that we would learn a little bit about Richard.”

  “We won’t learn anything here. But I’ll have my people check with San Francisco PD about this Richard guy. What’s his last name?”

  Mo thought long and hard. Finally it hit her. “Fisher,” said Mo. “That was it. My guess though is that he abandoned that name a long time ago.”

  “His new name ought to be on the trade show registration,” I offered.

  “Unless he’s already changed it,” said Miller. “Nonetheless, we’ll have someone check it out. Let’s get you people back to your hotel. I’ll make sure your friend is officially listed as missing and we make use of resources available.”

  We couldn’t leave the rental car there, so the three of us piled in and drove back to the hotel with a rather large police escort.

  Sabrina, always the practical one, insisted that we take time for dinner. As word was already circulating that the famous Sabrina Spencer was staying at the Mirage, we knew that eating at one of the restaurants was going to be a disaster, so we ordered room service.

  While we were waiting for the food, we took turns showering. I was last, and when I came out, Sabrina and Mo were conspiring. They had hit upon a plan. They stopped talking as I entered the main area of the suite, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Nothing was said at first.

  Finally I said, “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

  “It’ll be fine,” said Mo.

  “Uh huh.”

  Sabrina got up from the floor where she and Mo were sitting, and came over and gave me a hug.

  Uh oh.

  “We looked up the owner of IT Gadgets,” she said. “He lives in town. We thought we would pay him a visit.”

  “Not the smartest move,” I replied. “We don’t know what he’s into. He might be surrounded by an army of thugs. It would be an easy way for us to disappear for good.”

  “Not if he knows that there are people who know where we are.”

  “Are there people who will know where we are?” I asked.

  “I’ll call Steve,” she answered.

  She was talking about her super-agent and lawyer, Captain America. I called him that because his name was Steve Rogers, which was Captain America’s name in the comic books. Not to mention that he was classically handsome and could accomplish just about anything.

  “And you don’t think the police are going to check him out?”

  “They are limited in what they can do,” said Mo. “They have to follow the law.”

  Uh oh, again. This could get ugly. Who had I hooked up with? Thelma and Louise?

  They could sense my doubts. It was Mo’s turn to get up and hug me. She had tears in her eyes.

  “Del, we all know the statistics. The longer someone is missing, the less chance there is of finding them alive. That would destroy me. I have to do everything possible to find her. The police will do what they can, but it won’t be enough. I have to turn over every stone and follow every clue myself. It might be the only way to bring her home. Do you understand that?”

  Sadly, I did, and I told her so.

  “So what’s the plan?” I asked.

  “We thought we’d head over to his house right now and see what we can learn,” said Mo.

  I looked at my watch. Seven o’clock.

  “If I can make a suggestion,” I said, “by the time we find this guy’s house, it’ll be getting dark, putting us at a distinct disadvantage. If we catch him first thing in the morning, we might have a better chance of learning something.”

  I didn’t really know if that was true, but there was no way I wanted to visit some mobster wannabe’s house in the dark. It took a few minutes, but I finally convinced her. I understood. She was desperate to find Peep. We all were, but not like Mo. I knew that if it was Sabrina who was missing, I would be crazed and would be pulling out all the stops to find her. But I would hope that I would have someone who could keep me on track and centered.

  While it was too late in the day to confront the owner of IT Gadgets—Robert Ludwick was his name—it wasn’t too late to take a drive and find his house, so we’d know where to go in the morning. After we ate, of course. I was starving.

  *****

  Ludwick’s house was in a totally opposite sort of neighborhood from the one where we had met the gang members a few hours earlier. They weren’t mansions by any means, but they were close. Large manicured lawns, circular driveways, and enormous Spanish-style houses with signs for alarm companies plastered everywhere. A little paranoid? Or did they just know Las Vegas that well? Most of the properties on the street were surrounded by walls. Ludwick’s was taller than any of the others. That wasn’t being paranoid. That was being secretive.

  As we passed Ludwick’s house, we saw a police car parked in the driveway. Good thing we had decided to wait until morning.

  “Nice to see the police doing their job,” said Sabrina. “That was fast. They must be taking this seriously.”

  “Because of you,” said Mo. “If this had been me or Del, they wouldn’t have given it quite the priority status.” She could see that Sabrina was feeling guilty from the comment and quickly said, “Not that I’m complaining. I know you don’t like all the fame you ha
ve, but right now I'm grateful for it. It does help pave the way for getting things done.”

  “Now that we know the police have interviewed Mr. Ludwick,” I said, “we can wait for the report. We don’t have to pay him a visit tomorrow morning.”

  “And when do you think we’ll hear from our friend, Detective Miller?” asked Mo.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “How forthcoming do you think he’ll be?” she asked. “And more importantly, how long do you think it will be before he tells us anything?”

  “Del, I have to agree with Mo. The chances of Detective Miller finding some incriminating evidence on Ludwick in an interview at his house are pretty slim, and if he has suspicions, he’s not going to share them with us—at least not right away. It could be days before we hear anything. I still think we have to visit Ludwick ourselves.”

  I hated being double-teamed.

  Chapter 10

  Peep painfully opened her eyes, then slowly closed them again. Everything around her was swimming. She also had a massive headache. It was as bad as any migraine she had ever experienced. She felt sick and thought she might throw up.

  What had happened? Where was she? Her memory didn’t seem to be working. She opened her eyes again. She was in a room, but she didn’t think it was her hotel room. No, definitely not. She was on the floor and her back hurt. She was desperately trying to put it all together, but all her thoughts were jumbled. She closed her eyes again and tried to think.