Death Runs in the Family (The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries) by Heather Haven

Author:Heather Haven [Haven, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wives of Bath Press
Published: 2014-04-22T04:00:00+00:00

* * * *

It was now exactly eleven p.m., which gave us performers little time to put props and costumes in place once we arrived on the thirty-eighth floor. The penthouse show was scheduled for eleven fifteen. Wearing the first wet and over-used costume from the two previous shows in the main lounge, we carried the equally sweat-drenched second costume with us. Yuk.

Johnny pressed the elevator button for the penthouse, while I thought about the scenario Lila, Richard, Gurn and I had come up with. My job, after I had humiliated myself on stage for the third time in one night, was to make sure they came out of the room no later than one a.m. If not, I was to take appropriate action. This was no time for nerves; just follow the program. It was a matter of timing, remembering what to do, and being in the right place at the right time. I repeated this mantra endlessly.

Lila and Gurn arrived at the hotel around seven, followed discretely by Flint. They had checked into adjoining suites, she as Alice Farnsworth and Gurn as Rick Maddock, her personal pilot and thinly veiled boy-toy. Both had worked their way into the inner sanctum of the private casino around eight thirty p.m. Once inside the metallic cage of the private casino, Lila and Gurn had hopefully been able to break into the electronic, unprotected transmissions, taping them for scrutiny later. I would finish the third set with Johnny and my new best friends by twelve thirty a.m. By that time, everything that needed to go down should have gone down, and it would be simply a case of standing by the door and waiting.

I adjusted the purple wig and checked myself out in the elevator mirror, feeling the whoosh in my stomach as we lurched skywards. When the doors opened, two men with AKAs stood on either side, watching us alight.

I looked out into the small but opulent casino room, done in every conceivable shade of off-white, with shimmering touches of soft pink, peach, and magenta. Back, floor, and overhead lighting showcased larger than life white ceramic or frosted glass art deco statues of slim, long-haired

women. Frozen in time, they held vases of cascading water or cavorted with darling, ghostly companions, such as dogs, dolphins, monkeys, and birds, each sculpture surrounded strategically by green gaming tables.

As I stepped off the elevator, the guard closest to me checked the toy gun in my garter and moved up my leg, giving me a screening any airport would be proud of. I wanted to tell him he could at least buy me dinner first but restrained myself. After, I was free to follow the others to the stage at the end of the room. But I had other plans.

I decided to check out as much of the room as I could and scuttled away. This main casino fed into other smaller rooms, separated by see-through curtains, slats of carved, white wood or hidden doors, one of them being the multi-million dollar private casino.

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