Page 17

Fancy

An hour later I have a whole new understanding of Roja than what I first suspected. Although she’s an awful cook, I managed to swallow a couple bites of overcooked scrambled eggs and finish a slice of burnt toast that, with enough peanut butter, was palatable. Sort of.

Her mind is like a kaleidoscope, shifting and twisting each new piece of information, looking at it from all angles then coming up with an image I never expected.

“So your mom was getting worried about her age and how long she could keep turning tricks.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“No, you said she turned forty-six. Her primary john recently gave her to his cousin. She hadn’t had a lot of success finding new clients at the clubs where she worked as a stripper or hung out.

She kept changing her makeup every couple of weeks, her hair color each month, and ordered and returned at least two new wardrobes.

You caught her doing Kegel exercises and she had a recent appointment for breast assessment. She was scared. She wanted stability.”

Slamming my coffee mug on the counter I stare her down. “Then why didn’t she go back to Phil? The man was still besotted with her even after she treated him like shit.”

“Because she treated him like shit. She rolled him for a bigger fish and going back to him would have been a step backward in her mind. She’d been with a top dog.

She couldn’t settle for less. Her ego would take a hit.

But she wasn’t getting younger. She needed security.

Tell me about the days leading up to her last night again.

You heard her arguing on the phone with someone about a key before she left. ”

“Keychain. I think she was talking to DeStefano but I’m not sure. She said something like, ‘ babe, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What is a gold ingot anyway? I haven’t seen a key chain laying around. That new housekeeper was cleaning. Did you ask her?’

“Which I can tell you was bullshit. Mom knew what a gold ingot was. She asked Phil for one at Christmas a couple years ago.”

“Keychain. Gold. Ingot.” Roja looks at me. I swear I see wheels turning. “You can buy a gold-plated flash drive that resembles an ingot. Would your mother know what a flash drive was?”

“No.”

“So, hypothetically, let’s say your mother did see one and lifted it thinking it was real gold. Did she have any hiding places at the house or otherwise that you know of? Like a safety deposit box? Or did Phil have one she knew about?”

“No….” Oh shit. Leaving the kitchen, I rush to the bedroom and my backpack. Pulling out the lockbox, I key in the code, open it and place the pictures to the side. I feel Roja behind me.

“Mom didn’t have a lock box, but I had one that Phil gave to me.

I found it out of place a few months after she died.

I just thought it shifted when I opened the trapdoor.

I always use the same numbers for codes, on my phone, the door lock.

She was good at picking that kind of information up.

Phil had to change his code for his checking account on a regular basis. I should have known better.”

“Well, well, well, aren’t you a bundle of surprises,” she says, reaching around me and removing my Sig P365. Pulling it from the clip holster, she checks for a magazine. “Yours?”

“Phil gave it to me and taught me how to use it when I turned twenty-one. I’ve never carried it.

But it was at home if I ever needed it. He worried.

Mom would sometimes bring random clients home.

One got pushy with me. I think Phil handled it because the guy never came back.

But Phil wanted me to be able to protect myself. Magazines are under the false bottom.”

“I’m liking you better and better, girl. You may have potential.”

Since she already knows about the weapon, I dump the contents on the bed. As I’m pushing things around, I notice an unfamiliar coin envelope. Hand shaking, I reach for it. Unclasping the top, I tip the opening toward my open palm.

A gold ingot with a key chain attached to the corner slides out.

“Don’t touch it. They may be able to get fingerprints.

Drop it on the bed.” Reaching into the side of her cargo pants, Roja pulls out a very thin bladed knife.

Using the tip she examines the bar. “See this? I think that’s the lever for a flash drive.

We need to get this to the right people.

Hmmm. But who could that be. Don’t touch anything else.

Take pictures with your phone. I’m calling Diego. ”

Thirty minutes later she tells me a special courier is on the way to pick it up. “Why not the police or the feds?”

“Diego was a cop. His wife is in internal affairs here in Vegas. Local law enforcement has had a few issues of their own. They’re still cleaning house.

“Rico and Kade are DEA. This should be their find, but I’m not sure the best way to protect it until they get back. An expert needs to inspect it to make sure the device doesn’t have a self-destruct. Diego and I know a guy who could do it, but again, proper protocol.”

After taking pictures, she has me use the tip of her knife to slide it back into the envelope.

“Your mother was probably killed for this. Your friend, Phil, may have been part of the collateral damage or he found supporting information. I understand his laptop is still missing?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a safe in the basement. We’re securing your lock box down there with the drive. You, I and Diego will be the only ones to know for now.”

“How brave are you feeling?” she asks.

“Why do you ask?”

“I want to find that laptop. Don’t you?”

“Yes. And I want them to pay for what they did to Phil. Every last one of them.”

She smiles. “Welcome to the club, girlfriend. Payback is a bitch and there’s two of us. When was the last time you fired that weapon?”

“Four months, and I cleaned it after. Phil’s rule.”

“I’ve got a change of clothes in my trunk. Cover as much of yourself as you can in dark black. We’ll take my car, you drive.”

After parking, she hands me a balaclava and a pair of tactical gloves. I lead the way to the building across from the back of the casino and we climb the fire escape. The moon is brighter than the last time I searched up there with my men. We divide the roof into quadrants.

I’m on my knees feeling around the base of one of the industrial air conditioners while Roja does the other.

The siding is loose on the corner and a thin chain hangs off a jagged piece of metal.

Lifting the corner gently and using the light on my phone, I shine it inside.

Something is still attached to the chain.

Reaching in I gently untangle the chain and remove it from where it caught, then scoop up the metal pieces from the cement.

Dog tags and a miniature USB drive. I shine the light on the tags: Clark, Philip C.

Roja joins me, whispering in my ear. “Something’s going on in the alley.

A blacked-out SUV just showed up with what looks like four hired guns. I want to get back to the alley so we can follow if we need to.”

I nod. Shutting the light off on my phone I stuff my discovery deep in my jean pocket and follow her.