Page 42 of Diamonds

Fuck it.He’s already taken care of for the night.

I turn back to Pia and Serafina.

“Let’s try one more roll.”

* * *

The old mantook the Nine of Diamonds—Svetlana—behind those curtains, and that was the last time I saw her.

According to May, her contract ended.Which makes sense.She’d been there for the last five years, as far as I could remember.

Then she disappeared.

Just like May disappeared.

Under different circumstances, though.May was suspended for breaking the rules.Svetlana would have left after five years of service with a shitload of tips saved up from servicing creeps like that lecherous old man with the goatee.

But if something happened to Svetlana—if she met a similar fate to May…

That old man might be the last person to have seen her alive.

Shit.

He could be a lead.

None of the waitstaff will want to talk to us after what happened to May, but if I can find out who this guy is, if I can make him talk…

We might be able to figure out what happened to Svetlana.

And that’ll get us one step closer to figuring out what happened to May.

12

ALISSA

Idrop my jaw so fast and so far that, for a second, I’m worried I’ve dislocated it.

“You’re kidding, right?”

Dr.O’Rourke shakes his head.“I’m not.Rouge Montrose sits on the hospital board of St.Charles.She’s been on it for several years.”

“Why the hell would she be interested in sitting on the board, though?What possible purpose would that have in her line of work?”

Dr.O’Rourke shrugs.“She’s a socialite in addition to being a businesswoman.She probably helps with lots of nonprofits.Museums, art galleries, the opera.Anything that’ll get her a ticket to a black-tie gala.”

“But she?—”

I close my mouth.

I haven’t told Dr.O’Rourke the whole story.Just that I think Rouge is involved in something.

But whymyhospital?

Sweet Jesus.This woman has her fingers ineverything.We already know that she owns the cops, the local politicians… And now this.

She’s invincible.

But I’m glad I know this.Because now I know that I can no longer trust anyone in this hospital.Dr.O’Rourke included.