Lucky Break (26 page)

The older lady took a rest on a stool; raising first one foot then the other, she stretched and worked her ankles and her feet.
 
“Those babies.
 
Always active, they don’t sleep much.
 
I think they’re missing their momma.”

“A family trait,” I said, hoping I sounded sympathetic.
 
“Well, not the missing their momma part.”

The male nurse whistled as he stepped to the stove, stirring a pot.
 
“And they can eat!”

“Unfortunately, also a family trait,” I admitted, making Jean-Charles smile.

While their formula simmered, and the nurses enjoyed two pairs of helping hands, I watched Jean-Charles with Thing Two.
 
He gazed down at his little bundle enraptured, love lighting his face, softening the worry he tried to hide from me.
 
Yesterday, heck the last few months, had taken their toll.
 
When he caught me looking at him, I saw pure joy.
 

“Children.
 
They find their way into your heart and they stay.
 
You worry, you fret, you fear for them, and yet you love them to the very core of your soul.
 
They become a part of you.”

I felt those stirrings, but I wasn’t ready to admit them.
 
The whole parent thing scared the heck out of me.
 
I wasn’t sure I’d finished being a child.
 
Besides, what did I know about how the world worked, about raising a decent human when I had such a hard time making my own way and meeting my own rather low expectations?
 
Perhaps a conversation for another time, when I felt braver.

“Have you ever thought about having your own?” Jean-Charles asked, cutting right through my internal prevaricating as if he knew my heart.
 

“What?”

“Children?
 
Any thoughts?”

We’d danced around the issue, of course.
 
Jean-Charles had said he didn’t have to have more, but he thought I should have at least one of my own.
 
I know he wasn’t pressing as much as he was curious if I’d given the topic any more consideration.

The nurses fell mute, watching our little drama play out.

I forced a steady voice.
 
“With these two, Mona has done the deed for me.”
 
A dodge.
 
Even I knew it was weak.

“It is not the same.
 
The rope that binds you to them, not as strong.”
 
His eyes turned dark and deep.
 

Even though I wanted to avoid them, I couldn’t.

“I would die before losing my son, or you.”
 
The words were strong, yet simple, forthright, like my Frenchman.

The female nurse gasped and clutched a hand to her chest as she gave me one of those
awwww
looks.

And for the first time I knew I felt the same.
 
I stepped to him and gave him the best kiss I could, given the circumstances.
 
Thing Two immediately started to wail.
 
I stared down into the tiny face, scrunched in anger.
 
“He’s mine.
 
Deal with it.”

Miss Minnie’s Magical Massage Parlor hunkered in a nondescript strip mall buried in the middle of Koreatown … Chinatown apparently being too upscale for the likes of Miss Minnie.
 
Blackened windows hid the small storefront.
 
Most people would’ve sailed right by thinking nothing was there, except for the neon lights.
 
Huge, pink flashing neon screamed, “Miss Minnie’s.
 
Let Us Rub YOU the Right Way.”
 
Since I’d last had reason to darken her doorway, she’d added a halo of white lights, in case anybody missed the neon.
 
Subtlety was not one of Minnie’s strong suits.

I’d left my Frenchman to go home alone so I could go slumming.
 
Something was seriously wrong with my life.
 

The parking lot was packed, so I drove through neighboring lots, searching for a proper place for the Ferrari.
 
At the far end, hidden in the shadows, I was surprised to see Jeremy’s black Hummer and the moon of his face staring at me as I eased by.
 

This was his stakeout?

A parking space opened up further down the aisle.
 
After ditching the Ferrari and making notations of the neighboring car’s license plate number on the off chance of damage when I returned, I ambled back toward the Hummer, keeping to the shadows.
 
Of course, I had no idea who I was hiding from.

Jeremy leaned across and popped the passenger-side door for me.
 
He'd killed the interior lights, so I was feeling my way as my eyes adjusted to the dim light cast by a few distant streetlights.
 
He scraped a mound of sacks and other fast-food detritus out of the seat onto the floor, then brushed any remaining crumbs away.

I slid in, trying not to think about grease on my silk slacks.
 
“If I ask you why you’re here, would I be prying?”

Jeremy rubbed his eyes.
 
He looked like he’d been run over and left for dead.
 
“Got a hit on your Irv Gittings.
 
Rumor put him here, but I haven’t laid eyes on the bloke.
 
Lots of other comings and goings I wish I hadn’t seen.”
 
He blew right past the innuendo that probably leaked over into reality.
 
According to the small neon sign in the window, tonight’s special consisted of a happy ending for everybody.
 
Like I said, Minnie liked to hit you right in the face.
 
Okay, that one turned my stomach.
 
I shut myself down.

“He could’ve come in the back.”

Jeremy shot me a disgusted look.
 
“I’m a bit distracted, but even in my diminished state, I can hang onto that kind of detail.
 
Got a colleague watching.”
 

As if she knew we were talking about her, Flash’s voice crackled through Jeremy’s radio.
 
“All clear.
 
Still no sign of him.”

Jeremy didn’t look at me.
 
“I asked her to report on the hour, even if she had nothing.”

“Flash?
 
You put a woman in the back alley behind Miss Minnie’s, the sketchiest massage parlor in Vegas, and all that that implies, which is saying a lot.”

“What?
 
She’s the second scariest female in town.”
 
Jeremy didn’t sound defensive, so either I had slipped from the top spot on that list or he was beyond caring.
 
“She’s damn good in a fight.”

“No argument from me.
 
I was just momentarily caught off-guard.”
 
Once again, I unfolded the photo of Sam or whatever his name was.
 
“You seen this guy or a bright yellow Lambo with a black dragon on the front quarter panel?”

“That sounds like a sweet ride, but no, haven’t seen it.”
 
Jeremy held the photo down between his knees, and used a penlight in red, so as not to interfere with his night vision.
 
“Didn’t see the car, but I may have seen this guy.
 
Hard to say.
 
That photo the best you got?”

Considering the magnitude of Sam’s apparent skill, I was glad we had this much.
 
“Yeah.
 
But you saw a guy who looks like him?”

“He came in the back.”
 
Jeremy raised his hand.
 
“I’m assuming.
 
He didn’t go in through the front, but he appeared at the desk, seemed to want to talk to Miss Minnie.
 
The conversation got pretty heated.”

I grabbed Jeremy’s radio and pushed the talk button.
 
“Flash.
 
You seen an Asian guy in a yellow Lambo?”

“Sweet ride. Yeah, I’ve seen him.
 
He was here about an hour ago, didn’t stay long.
 
Guess he was already primed.”

“How long did he stay?”

“Five minutes, maybe ten, but no more than that.”
 
Curiosity pulsed through the connection, but she didn’t ask.
 
We were on an open connection; anyone could tap in.

“Did he leave alone?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“You are going to tell me, aren’t you?”

“Later.”
 
I handed the radio back to Jeremy.
 
“Have you seen a young Asian woman?”
 
I described Kimberly Cho as best I could.

“That girl, or one who could be her twin, I’ve seen.
 
She went in several hours ago, late afternoon.
 
Looked liked the Devil himself chased her.”

“Run home to Mama, just as I thought. Am I good or what?”

“No, just lucky.”

I didn’t laugh.
 
He knew better.
 
“I’m going to go in and find her.
 
She’s got some explaining to do.”

“Her mother is there?”
 
Jeremy didn’t sound surprised as much as quizzical.
 
Vegas had already altered his reality.

“Kimberly and I have a similar upbringing; let’s leave it at that.”

“I can’t even imagine what you two talk about.”

“Kim doesn’t know I know, but I make it my job to know as much as I can about those we rely on.
 
She has a big job back in Macau.
 
Wall Street is just catching up to the fact that Far East operations are adding more to the bottom lines of Vegas holding companies than the local properties.”

“Perception versus reality.
 
It’s a bitch.”

I couldn’t interpret Jeremy’s tone and didn’t really want to.
 
Problems I couldn’t fix made me twitchy.
 
“If I don’t come back in thirty minutes—”

“I’ll summon Romeo.”

“What a Galahad you are.”
 
I almost said, I don’t know what Miss P sees in you, but, wonder of wonders, my brain kicked in and overruled my mouth.
 
First time ever.
 
I squashed a cup with my foot as I shifted to get a better look at him.
 
“How long have you been here?”

“Not long enough.”

Subtext usually did a fly-by with me.
 
Not this time.
 
“Have you and Miss P hashed this out yet?”

He waffled a bit, shifting a load of guilt.
 
“No, I sort of panicked and bolted.
 
To be honest, I don’t know what to say.”

“Want to practice on me?
 
It’s easy,” I lied.
 
“Say what you feel.” None of my business, but I had to try.
 

He stared out the windshield, gripping the steering wheel with both hands.
 
“That would seem like cheating or something.
 
But here’s the deal—I love her so much, I want her to be happy.”
 
The strain, the emotion, stretched his voice tight.
 
“I just want a fair suck.”

I must’ve looked like a pinched-neck cat.

“What?”

“Fair suck?
 
Interpretation, please, before my mind goes on walkabout and I get a visual I can’t unsee.”

Exaggerated patience leaked into his tone.
 
“I want her to hear me out, listen with an open mind.”

Apparently my attempt to lighten the mood wasn’t appreciated.
 
My vision started to swim, then I remembered to breathe.
 
Awkward situations tend to override my autonomic nervous system.
 
“Gotcha.
 
And, then?”

“I want her to be happy.”

“Even if that means she’s not with you?”

“Of course.
 
Not the outcome I’m hoping for.
 
Would take some time for those wounds to heal.
 
But why would I want her to be anywhere other than where she is happiest?”

I paused, closed my eyes, and offered a silent prayer. Dear God in Heaven and Rulers of the Universe, can you please clone this man?
 
Womankind would exalt your name thorough the eons. Then, I said “Amen” out loud.

“What?”
 
Jeremy glanced at me, looking as confused as a fourth-grader in chemistry class.

“Just agreeing with you.”
 
I put my hand on his.
 
His skin felt feverish.
 
“I haven’t talked to her.
 
You know how the past can come out of nowhere and knock you on your ass.
 
Takes time to clear your head.
 
She loves you more than you can imagine.
 
You two are great together.
 
Have faith in her.”