14. Jezebel

CHAPTER 14

JEZEBEL

E cho had already accessed the Galaxy’s camera network, of course, but picking Jimmy out of the crowd had proven difficult when we didn’t have an exact date for the visit. Plus footage was missing. There were cameras in the lobby, for example—Tulsa had scouted the place—but the recordings from those cameras weren’t stored with the recordings from the gambling areas. We couldn’t discount the possibility of another closed system whose data we hadn’t yet obtained.

“This is Clyde.” Cole introduced me to a balding man in his mid-forties. “Clyde, this is my girl— My friend Bella.”

Fuck, had he been about to say “girlfriend”? If my leg hadn’t been broken, I would have run screaming from the building. He was a nice guy, but relationships weren’t my jam, not anymore. At least he’d corrected himself.

I shook hands with Clyde. “Good to meet you.”

“We’re looking for any footage you might have of a guy who came to see me in Uncle Mike’s office a few weeks ago,” Cole said.

“Is this something to do with the incident tonight? ”

“It seems unlikely, but he didn’t have an appointment, and we want to cover all bases.”

“What date? You know we only keep footage for thirty days.”

“It was a Thursday. Chet Mason plays piano in the main bar on Thursdays, and right after the guy left, Chet showed up to complain the piano was out of tune.”

“So twenty-nine days ago?” Clyde asked.

“I think so. Five weeks feels too long ago, and three weeks doesn’t feel long enough.”

“I’ll see what we have.”

“Maybe coming in through the lobby?” I suggested.

Clyde’s face morphed into a faint grimace. “We can try.”

“We don’t have full coverage in the lobby,” Cole explained.

Well, that would explain why Echo hadn’t been able to find half the files. I adopted my best confused expression.

“I thought casinos had cameras everywhere?”

Clyde glanced at me and then looked back to Cole. His unasked question was clear: how much should he say in front of me?

“I don’t have any secrets from Bella.”

Way to make a girl feel guilty. Because I had a million secrets, and I intended to keep them.

Clyde cleared his throat. “We did have a system that gave full coverage, but that system reached the end of its natural life a couple of years ago. The software wasn’t supported anymore. Management was unable to free up the budget for a like-for-like replacement, so now we have a slimmed-down version.”

“Isn’t that a false economy?” I asked.

“Our current eye in the sky still covers the important areas.”

“Basically the casino floor, the bars, and the check-in desks,” Cole added .

Damn.

Cole found me a seat and a glass of water, and we settled in at a monitor. Having a man take care of me felt disconcerting. I’d spent my whole life being self-sufficient, and the idea that I couldn’t fetch my own drink if I wanted one was…insulting. And suspicious. What was his ulterior motive? Surely, he’d realised by now that I didn’t require coddling to put out.

Dusk assured me that there were men out there who genuinely cared about more than sex or state secrets. Of course, those men still did dumb things, like becoming Hollywood megastars, for example. Dusk had loved Marc, and perhaps she still did, but their lifestyles had ultimately proven to be incompatible.

We’d been skipping through footage for nearly an hour when Cole jabbed a finger at the screen.

“There. I think that’s him.”

Clyde replayed the clip, and I squinted at the unremarkable white guy at the edge of the shot. Average height and build, brown hair. His face was only visible for a moment, and the resolution, like everything else in this place, was shit. Fingers crossed, Echo had some whizzy software that could enhance the picture. After she’d finished laughing about the lack of a security system, obvs.

“Make sure you keep a copy of that clip,” I told Clyde.

“Should we give it to the cops?” Cole asked. When had I turned into a fucking consultant? In a way, it was good that he turned to me for advice, but I also had to be careful. A writer of obituaries wouldn’t be expected to know too much about security systems, law enforcement, or attempted-murder investigations, even if a number of her subjects had come to unpleasant ends.

And did we want the LVMPD involved? On the minus side, they screwed a lot of things up. On the plus side, Echo had a backdoor into their servers, so it would be like getting free labour. And maybe one of the cops would recognise the asshole?

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt, but don’t get your hopes up. My friend Shelby’s ex-boyfriend broke into her place and took her TV, and they didn’t arrest him even after he sent her a text message bragging about it.”

Cole pulled a face. “Reminds me of home.”

“The police in San Gallicano aren’t fit for purpose?”

“The new police chief only cares about getting on TV, and rumour says half the officers will take a bribe. Is that the same here?”

“Not the bribery part. It’s more that they’re overworked and underpaid, and that’s turned into a vicious circle. The criminals grow more powerful and put pressure on the politicians, and budgets get cut even further. The cops who are left end up scared and do even less, and then you have the bad apples who get into policing for the wrong reasons. At least, that’s what I’ve read on the internet.”

“My sister’s neighbour got murdered three weeks ago,” Clyde chipped in. “ Boom. A gunshot in the middle of the night, and they still haven’t caught the guy.”

Cole squeezed my hand. “How do you feel about moving to San Gallicano?” he joked, his voice tight. At least, I thought he was joking.

“Sometimes I have to meet clients in person, and the commute would be tricky.”

He leaned down to kiss my hair, and I stiffened. Why did this man have to be so damn nice? I couldn’t afford to like him any more than I already did. He was meant to be a one-night stand. What was I even doing here?

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, I promise.”

Right now, he was the danger.

He was the man who could hurt me.

Since Bastian’s death, I’d clung to one rule—if I didn’t give my heart to anyone, they couldn’t break it. One loss was enough. I’d built a wall around my emotions, and my life depended on me keeping that shield intact, but Cole was chipping away at my defences, and I couldn’t stop him. Not without walking away. And that would leave him vulnerable. Exposed to the enemy.

Bastian’s death had caused me many sleepless nights, but that was mainly because I used to lie awake, cursing my own stupidity. If I had to arrange Cole’s funeral, I’d be angry for a whole other reason.

And nobody needed a Kill Bill remake in Vegas.

“I don’t recognise him. This is the only picture you have?”

With Cole at work, I’d hijacked Priest’s apartment again, this time to meet with Ari and Erin. Ari was a pretty blonde who’d ended up dating Zach Torres, interesting because he was a surfer and she was scared of water. But they’d ironed out the hiccups, and along the way, she’d met Erin, who appeared to have turned into her sidekick. Erin had the personality of an insect bite. If I had to spend a day with her, I’d probably end up in jail, but Ari seemed to have far more patience than I did.

That she didn’t recognise Jimmy wasn’t a surprise, but it had been worth asking, just in case.

“The Galaxy is suffering from a lack of security,” I said.

“And hot water,” Erin muttered. So what? Cold water was character-building.

“Is that how he was able to get into Cole’s office?” Ari asked.

I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. I’d swung by the Sunrise Diner on my way to the meeting and grabbed lunch for everyone. Ari was picking at a cheeseburger, and Erin was shovelling fries into her mouth as if they were the last food on earth.

“Apparently, Jimmy knocked on the door and then walked in without waiting for an answer,” I said. “Twice. At least, he called himself Jimmy. We have no idea whether that’s his real name.”

“Tell me everything you know about the situation. Try not to leave anything out—even the smallest clue can be important.”

I glanced pointedly at Erin. “I’ll have to gloss over some parts.”

Ari sucked in a breath. She was smart, and she knew exactly what I was referring to.

“Okay, so I don’t think I want to know the detail on those aspects anyway.”

“Detail on what aspects?” Erin asked, then yelped, presumably because Ari had kicked her underneath the table. “Never mind.”

Ari took notes as I started at the beginning, from my initial meeting with Cole to Wednesday morning’s vehicular events. She’d also been at Brax’s wedding, so I didn’t have to elaborate too much on that part of the story, but I covered the break-in at Uncle Mike’s house, Cole’s quest to save the Galaxy from becoming a sand bunker, Lucy’s job with the Diamondback Devils, the possible Russian connection…

“So there are two possibilities? Either Cole is the target and Jimmy is our main suspect, or you and Lucy McCall were the victims of unrelated attacks, and Cole’s involvement is purely coincidental?”

“That’s about the shape of it.”

“What’s your gut telling you?”

It was a question I’d asked myself a thousand times.

“I think Cole’s the target.”

“Why? ”

“Originally, I figured the hit squad was after yours truly because that was the obvious assumption, and it would have been a good place to catch me—I was slightly drunk, potentially naked, and definitely distracted. Plus I have a permanent bullseye painted on my back. But I’m not easy to hit. Not to brag, but if a person was serious about taking me out, they’d have sent a better team.”

“Also, the attack was at Cole’s property.”

“That’s stating the obvious. We’ve installed cameras to monitor the yard, but if we need in-person surveillance, we’ll have to use a vehicle. There aren’t any vacant rentals nearby.”

“You checked Airbnb?”

Did Ari think we were fools? “There are sixteen suitable properties listed for short-term rent, and they’re all occupied right now. We have a reservation two streets away from next Friday in case we need it.”

“We can’t ignore Occam’s razor. Cole seems the most likely target.”

“Which brings us to yesterday morning. The driver of the vehicle left a message for Lucy’s boss. She has two of those, but the incident happened at the Galaxy. If the message was for the Diamondback Devils, why didn’t they hit her at the Steel Horse?”

“Because fifty angry bikers would have chased them down, but I take your point. Assuming Cole is the target, we need to work out why. Is it due to his involvement with the Galaxy, which has been brief? Or did he annoy somebody unconnected to the hotel?”

“He’s only lived in Vegas for a few months.”

“You’re certain of that?”

“Speak with Alexa—she background-checked him. But yes, his home is in San Gallicano, and he’s planning to return there.”

“We still need to dig into his personal life. He slept with you the first night you met, right? Did he check you were single? What if he pulled the same trick with another woman and stirred up a possessive boyfriend?”

“I came onto him, not the other way around.”

“On that occasion. While you’re hanging out, can you indulge in a little light interrogation?”

“I was planning to back off.”

“Off Cole? Why? In case you get caught in the crossfire again?”

“Crossfire?” I scoffed. “I’m not worried by a little crossfire. I’m just not a fan of commitment.”

Ari tilted her head to one side. “Really? You were committed enough to fly me here from California in a hurry.”

Damn. Sometimes, I didn’t much like Ari Danner.

“I was merely doing my civic duty.”

“Well, can you carry on doing it for a bit longer? I need to understand what makes Cole tick, and you’re in a better position than me to root out that information.”

“That man is fine,” Erin added. “There’s a picture of him on his boat website, and he isn’t wearing a shirt.”

I had a knife in my bra. It would take three seconds to poke her eyes out.

“Down, girl,” Ari said, laughing.

“Just do your damn job.” I got to my feet and hobbled away, cursing the crutches as I went. “Find me a suspect, and I’ll do the rest.”

Right before I slammed the door, I heard Erin say, “Wait, isn’t this your apartment?”

Fuck my fucking life.