Double Down (13 page)

After Rose went back to her desk, I called the police station and asked for Detective Long. He wasn’t in so I left a message, giving him the names we had identified including Martin Sanders. I doubted that Delgado would try to get in touch with me, but since I didn’t want to sit around listening for the phone to ring, I took Charlene and Mike to lunch.

When we returned, there was a message from the teamster’s representative, Jerry McCrea, saying he would be in his office all afternoon. Jerry was easier to work with than some of the other union reps. He was seldom demanding or confrontational. He preferred to be diplomatic, probably because he had been a lobbyist prior to becoming a union rep. I never knew why he changed jobs. We didn’t always agree, but when we couldn’t come to a compromise, we agreed to disagree and take it to the next level. I got out my negotiation notes to have a legitimate reason to call him.

When he answered the phone, I said, “Hi, it’s Valerie from the Royal. I was just wondering when you think you will have a draft of the new contract.”

“
I should have one ready by the end of this week. By the way, I heard about Monica. I’m so sorry. Have they arrested anyone yet?”

“
No. They’re still investigating. As you probably know they are talking to everyone she met with in the week before her death.”

“
Yeah, some detective was here asking questions. I couldn’t understand why they were talking to me. I barely knew her.”

“
According to her calendar, she had a meeting with you three days before she died.”

“
Oh, that. She sent me a text saying she had a question, and since I was already there for negotiations, I stopped by.”

“
What was her question? Because I couldn‘t find any notes on an issue.”

“
I don’t remember; something minor I was able to clear up.”

He was being evasive. I’d worked with him for years. I knew he could remember conversations we had six months ago, and the details of most of the grievances he had worked on.

“
Why didn’t you tell me? Didn’t you think it was odd that she was calling you during negotiations? Our standard procedure is to solve any issues that come up right at the negotiating table.”

“
It was no big deal. Why the inquisition? If you are trying to insinuate that I had something to do with her death, you are way off base.”

Now he was angry. It was time to back off. “No. No. Of course not. I just wanted to make sure that our records were accurate. Let me know when you have a draft of the contract.” He grumbled a reply and hung up.

Since I was on a roll making people nervous, I thought I might as well talk to Doris Fox about Arnie Waters. I needed to ask her if he was actually sexually harassing her. I called the casino manager’s secretary to check schedules. She called me back saying Arnie was off, so it was safe to talk to Doris. Doris was working, but standing on an empty game, so it wasn’t a problem to let her come see me.

When Doris arrived, Charlene brought her in and introduced her. With over 1600 employees, I don’t always meet the ones who don’t complain or stay out of trouble. Doris must have been one of those, because we’d never met. She stood in the doorway, running her hands through short dark brown hair, and tugging on the uniform of black pants and white shirt that hugged an hourglass figure. The scowl on her face indicated she wasn’t happy to see me.

I smiled, trying to let her know she wasn’t in trouble. “Please, sit down.”

She perched on the edge of the chair, ready to take flight the minute I released her.

I could see that it wasn’t going to be possible to make her comfortable and chat, so I got right to the point. “I spoke to Gary, your boyfriend, who tells me that you are being sexually harassed by Arnie. Is it true?”

Instead of answering she said, “I told him that I didn’t want him to come here.”

“
Listen, if it’s true, I can protect you. I can make it stop. We don’t allow sexual harassment. But I need you to talk to me.”

“
I don’t want to make a complaint.”

“
What are you afraid of?”

She didn’t answer, just sat with her hands in her lap looking down. It didn’t escape me that she hadn’t denied being harassed, just said she didn’t want to make a complaint. My gut told me Arnie was harassing this girl. I didn’t think she was afraid, as much as she just didn’t want to make waves. More than likely, she was a beautiful girl, who had learned a long time ago that it was better to keep your mouth shut and just put up with it. It wasn’t an uncommon attitude for women who worked predominantly with men. I wanted to make her see that she didn’t
have
to put up with that behavior anymore, so I tried again. “Look, if Arnie is harassing you, you probably aren’t the only one. I can’t make him stop unless someone tells me what is going on.”

“
I don’t want to make a complaint.” She said it deadpan with no emotion. She wasn’t going to change her mind.

“
Fine. If you change your mind, I’m here. I really believe I could help you if you’d let me.”

“
Can I go back to work now?”

After she left, I called the casino manager. I told him what I thought was going on. He agreed to have surveillance keep an eye on Arnie to see if he was touching the dealers. Without a complaint, it was the best I could do. I had appointments for the rest of the afternoon. By the time I was free, it was too late to call Dee in St. Louis. With the time difference, she would have already left for the day. It was almost five and everyone was going home. Although I rarely left this early, it had been a long day. I decided to go home as well.

Driving out of the garage, I noticed that the breaks on my car were acting funny, kind of squishy. I made a mental note to call the garage to have them checked out. I drove slowly, making sure I had plenty of room to stop. As I approached the signal, right before the freeway on-ramp, the brakes failed completely. The light was red for my lane. I pumped the brakes franticly, but nothing happened. The car continued to speed toward the intersection. Still pumping the brake, I alternated between swearing and coaxing.

“
No, no, no, please, baby, stop. I swear I’ll take you to the garage. Don’t do this to me.”

Cars were turning left in front of me to enter the on ramp. I had nowhere else to go. I swung the wheel to the right and entered the on-ramp, trying to squeeze between two on-coming cars. The car behind me sped up, honking and trying to keep me from going in front of him.

“
Give me a break, you creep. I’m doing the best I can here.”

I heard the squeal of the tires a second before the acrid smell of burning rubber hit my nostrils. The impact threw me forward. The seat belt burned across my chest. The car behind me clipped my left rear and sent me spinning out of control around it. Desperately fighting the steering wheel, I watched as my world revolved. The second impact against the guardrail snapped my head back. Metal screeched against metal as the car slid along the rail, barely slowing the momentum. The passenger side window exploded, covering me with fragments of glass. My car broke free of the rail, facing into the traffic entering the on-ramp. The images in front of me flickered like an old movie as time seemed to slow down. Through my windshield, I could see the horror reflected on the face of the other driver as my car slowly swung around to face his car. My car continued to revolve. With nowhere else to go, his car smashed into my passenger side, shoving me down the ramp sideways. Thrown against the door, I hit my head on the window as the car flipped over. The next thing I remember was someone calling my name.

“
Valerie, Valerie, can you hear me?”

The voice sounded somehow familiar. I assumed I was dreaming. I couldn’t seem to move, and I didn’t want to open my eyes. I wanted to continue dreaming. The next thing I heard was a screeching of metal. Hands pulled at me. The wave of pain hit me like a tsunami. I was in agony. Every part of me hurt. I screamed for them to stop. It felt like they were ripping me apart. They kept yanking, and I kept screaming. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t see anything. Voices swirled around me, but I was in too much pain to make sense of the words. After what seemed like an eternity of mind numbing agony, I felt a jab. The pain started to recede. Now I was cold, so cold. Again, I heard that voice.

“
Val baby, stay with me. Don’t leave. Please stay with me.”

I wanted more than anything to stay and listen to the voice, but darkness enveloped me.

Chapter Nine

The next thing I remember, someone was holding my hand. I was still cold. The hand was warm. Lips brushed my forehead. I forced my eyes open so I could see who was there. It was so bright. I immediately closed them again.

“
Hey beautiful, wake up.”

I knew that voice. I opened my eyes and managed to focus. Alan was standing next to me. He smiled. Beyond him, white everywhere, metal poles stood next to the bed with fluids dripping through a tube. I was in a hospital room. All at once, I remembered the accident. With that came an awareness of pain, not the sharp pain of before, just a steady dull ache everywhere. I couldn’t move my left arm. I looked up at Alan and managed to croak out, “My car?”

“
Absolutely totaled. They had to pry it open with the Jaws of Life to get you out.”

“
What about me? How bad?”

“
Dislocated left shoulder, couple of cracked ribs, various scrapes, and bruises. You hit your head pretty hard and lost a lot of blood, but the doctors say you’re going to be fine.” He patted the hand he was holding and kept smiling.

I looked over and saw that my arm was in a sling. That would explain why I couldn’t move it. My mouth was so dry. I was having a hard time forming words.

I croaked out, “Water?”

Alan stuck a straw in my mouth. When my tongue stopped sticking to the roof of my mouth, I asked, “How long have I been out?”

“
About thirty-six hours. It’s Wednesday.”

“
How long have you been here?” I had a vague recollection of someone sleeping in the chair next to the bed.

“
I just got here. They had you in ICU until a few hours ago. They only allowed family to stay with you.”

“
Mom?”

“
I think she’s been here the whole time. I convinced her to take a break, and go get a Coke. I’m sure she’ll be back any minute.”

Just then, the nurse came in. She asked Alan to wait outside while she changed some dressings. When she was through, Mom came back. She looked tired, but she had a big smile on her face.

She said, “It’s so good to see you awake.” She hugged me gently. “Alan got a phone call and had to go back to work. He said to tell you he would stop in again later.” She felt my forehead, and rubbed the only available arm. “You had us really worried there for awhile.” Tears formed in her eyes, but she brushed them away and kept smiling.

“
Why? I thought all I had were a few broken bones.”

“
A piece of metal from the wreckage nicked an artery in your neck. You lost a lot of blood. If it hadn’t been for Detective Delgado, you would have died.”

“
Delgado was there?”

“
Yes, he saw the accident happen. He managed to get to you and apply pressure until the paramedics could get to you. I think I like your detective very much.”

I remembered the voice I heard. Delgado? No, I was just dreaming. I shook my head. “He’s not my detective. He would have done the same for anyone.”

“
I think you’re wrong about that. He’s been here the whole time. In fact, he would probably be here now, if Brian hadn’t insisted he go home and get cleaned up.”

“
Brian?”

“
His partner, Detective Brian Long. Brian had to swear he would guard your room every minute until Nick could come back.”

Brian? Nick? How did she manage to get on a first name basis so quickly? “You said Delgado has been here the whole time?” I was trying to remember the person in the chair holding my hand. Delgado? I couldn’t capture the image. It was just too fuzzy. My brain refused to accept the possibility. “I thought I wasn’t allowed any visitors.”

“
He told them you were in danger, and he was your police protection. By the way, Charlene’s been here as well. She told them she was your sister.”

I could picture that, Charlene charging in and daring anyone to stop her. I laughed. That was a mistake. A stabbing pain encircled my rib cage making me double over, which in turn triggered all the other injuries to begin throbbing. Mom immediately stabbed the nurse’s call button, announcing I was in pain. I tried to tell them that I was fine, that it just wasn’t a good idea to laugh, but nobody was listening. The throbbing had increased by the time the nurse came with the medication, so I stopped fighting, gratefully drifting back to sleep as the pills took effect.

The next time I woke up was just like the first time. Somebody was holding my hand and lips brushed my forehead. Only when I opened my eyes this time, I was looking into Delgado’s beautiful green eyes.

With only a ghost of a smile he said, “Welcome back.”

I closed my eyes again. I’d been dreaming about him and if this was just a continuation of the dream, I didn’t want to wake up. He laid his hand on my cheek. I took a deep breath, inhaling essence of Delgado. “You smell sooooo good,” I murmured. I heard my own voice, embarrassed that I had said it aloud.