Page 50

Something Like That

It was ten thirty p.m., and Pam had waited long enough.

She wasn’t going to sit around until that bubble gum–chewing psychopath decided he was good and ready to bring Elmer home—Pam was getting her dog. She, Nancy, Marlene, and Shalisa jumped in her van.

“What’s your plan?”

Marlene asked.

“I don’t have one. I just have a gut feeling. We’ll work it out when we get there.”

Pam turned into the employee parking lot around the back of the casino and pulled into Hank’s old spot, his name still emblazoned across the post. She led the way up the concrete walkway, pushing aside the memories of other times she’d made this journey, always with the goal of meeting her husband. In good times and in bad, he had always been on the other side of that door. But not now. The air-conditioning blanketed them with relief as they ducked through the carpeted vestibule, escaping the night’s stickiness.

“Sorry, ladies. This is employees only. Patrons use the—”

The guard stood up. “Oh. Sorry, Mrs. Montgomery.” He frowned and cocked his head.

Pam didn’t know the burly man’s name but recognized him from her years of coming and going. He had been a skinny teenager when he’d started, now he was filled out and over thirty. She decided to lay her cards on the table. “I’ve just come to pick up my dog. I don’t suppose you’ve seen him?”

“I did see a dog down on B2. I think they took him into the maintenance room.”

The maintenance room. That was fabulous news. Pam couldn’t imagine Farid and his pals hanging around within a utilitarian space. Maybe Elmer was alone, and they could just grab him and run. That would be perfect. “Do you think you could let us in there to get him?”

The guard grimaced and shook his head. “I’m sorry. No one’s allowed access unless previously authorized. The rules are very strict. Especially now, with the new management. I could ask Ms. Singh, though—”

He reached for the phone.

Pam put her hand up. “No. No. I don’t want to disturb her.”

Pam chewed her lip, and wished her gut could give her some further direction. She tapped her fingers on the security station and was startled when the guard spoke again.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to you at the funeral, but Mr. Montgomery was really good to me.”

“Oh?”

The young man came around the side of the desk and glanced at Nancy, Marlene, and Shalisa, who took a few steps back and turned to look out the door. He continued in a low voice, “I used to have a substance abuse problem.”

He shot his eyes to her, and then down to the floor and back up. “I got caught a few times, you know, working while under the influence. I was just a kid, and I was so stupid. I was being fired, but I, I, uh, I talked to your husband. I told him I had a new baby, and I needed this job. He looked at me and said, ‘Yes, you do.’ I’ll always remember that. He told me, my most important role in life now was to take care of my wife and child. Nothing else mattered. Not drugs, not booze. He got me into rehab and got the casino to pay. I never could have swung that on my own. He told me as long as I stayed clean, I’d have a job here. It’s been eleven years.” He smiled at Pam, tears glistening in his eyes. “I have three kids now. And a happy wife and life.”

Pam threw her arms around the young man’s broad shoulders, held him a moment, and then stepped back.

He wiped away a tear. “I really miss him.”

He cleared his throat, then said, “I have to do rounds now. It was nice seeing you again.” He turned, swiped his key card, and disappeared down the corridor.

As Shalisa, Marlene, and Nancy joined Pam, Nancy asked, “What’s that?”

She gestured to the dark patterned carpet. She stooped, picked up a key card, and turned it over to show the words stamped across the front—all access.

Pam glanced down the hallway, but the security guard was gone.

“Game on.”

She smiled.

A few minutes later, the elevator doors opened, and Pam made her way down the hall, following the signs. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Nancy and Shalisa were creeping along, hugging one wall, and Marlene was plastered up against the other. Pam wheeled around. “Will you guys stop? If anyone saw you on camera, they’d call in a SWAT team. We’re not committing a crime. We’re getting Elmer.”

Pam held the key card up to the maintenance room door and when it swung open, she jumped at the sight of Hector and, a few feet away, Brenda, crouched down and zipping up a blue duffel bag. Pam’s heart skipped as she considered the bag was the perfect size to carry Elmer. Brenda froze, her eyes wide, her mouth gaping open. She sat back on her heels.

Pam braced herself. Her heart raced. Why had she ever let her dog go? Why had she not come earlier? She whispered, “I came to get Elmer.”

Brenda and Hector both looked toward the corner of the room, and Pam followed their line of vision. Elmer’s tail thumped as he lazily pulled himself up, stretched, then waddled toward her. Pam sank to the floor with relief.

Brenda said, “He’s fine. I’m really sorry Farid took him.”

Pam hugged Elmer, whose tail swirled in circles. She wanted to get out of there before anyone tried to stop her. “Where is Farid? His men?”

Brenda said, “Um. They all left.”

“What do you mean, ‘they all left’?”

Brenda exchanged a look with Hector. “They’ve gone back to Mumbai.”

“All of them? You’re kidding me. That ‘wait till midnight’ stuff was a bluff? They’re gone?”

Pam, still holding Elmer tight, peered at Brenda and then at Hector. “Do you two know each other?”

Brenda exchanged another glance with Hector, then answered, “Hector’s my husband.”

“Your husband!”

Pam cocked her head. She glanced at Nancy, Marlene, and Shalisa for their reaction and was gratified to see they seemed as surprised as she was.

Nancy looked from Hector to Brenda and then back again, circling her finger at the two of them, and said, “This has something to do with our husbands, doesn’t it?”

Oh. That hadn’t occurred to Pam, but Nancy could be on to something.

Nancy asked, “Did they hire you as a team? You”—she looked at Hector—“to fake their deaths, and you”—she looked at Brenda—“to spy on Padma?”

Pam noticed Hector and Brenda exchange yet another look.

Hector said, “Something like that.”

Pam stood. “Well, I don’t know if it worked out for them or not, and I don’t care. I am so done with this shit.”

She pulled the leash off the chair and clipped it to Elmer, then said to Brenda, “You tell that Padma bitch our business is done. I don’t expect to see her again. Ever.”

Brenda nodded.

The wives had started toward the door when Elmer tugged his leash from Pam’s grip and lunged toward Hector for a last pet, then moved on to Brenda. He leaned against her, and Brenda bent to give him a full-body scratch. Elmer’s back end vibrated with pleasure.

Pam thought a moment, then said, “You know, Brenda, I don’t know if you legitimately have a job here or not, but Elmer’s a good judge of character. This was a great place to work when Hank ran it, but I don’t think it’s so good now. If I were you, I’d think about getting out of here while you can.”

Brenda scratched Elmer’s chin and looked up at Pam. “You might be right about that. And you know, I never met Hank, but I can tell you everyone loved him. I’m sorry whatever happened between you happened.”

Pam looked to Nancy, Marlene, and Shalisa and shrugged. “It’s the same story with anything—you’ve got to nourish a marriage if you want it to survive. Otherwise it shrivels up and dies.”

Pam looked at Hector. How could Hank ever have said this man had dead eyes? They were so full of light, they were almost blinding. Pam had another question. She asked it with a quiet voice. “Do you think we’ll ever see them again?”

Hector blew out a breath, shook his head, and answered, “Only if they want to be seen.”

Nancy stepped toward them. “And for sure they know we hired you to . . . you know?”

Hector nodded. “Oh yeah. They know.”

The women nodded in understanding, and then Pam tugged on the leash and said, “Come on, Elmer. Let’s go home.”