Monsters
By
Karen Singer
Chapter 5 – Dinner for Two – Part 2 of 2
Both women knew they were turning
heads as they walked through the hotel.
When they got to the restaurant, Carol didn’t even hesitate. The two one-hundred-dollar bills she gave the
maître d’ not only got them into the restaurant without a reservation, it got
them a nice table right away.
“So how did you pick this hotel?”
Carol asked.
“I didn’t. Ralphie booked it for me.”
“Ralphie?”
“He’s kind of like my personal
secretary.”
“A personal secretary. How nice.”
She laughed. “Actually, Ralphie is one of my little
toys. I met him on a job a few years
ago. He was a pimp out on the streets. He thought I would make a good addition to
his stable of girls. Now, his whole life
revolves around me instead, and I make sure he gets all the sex he can handle,
but only on the receiving end from other guys.”
She smiled. “I go out of my way
to try to make his whole life miserable.”
Carol laughed. “Sounds delightful.”
“He is. I don’t know why he booked me a suite. And a two-room suite at that. He doesn’t usually, and I don’t need it. But once I got there, I decided I liked it. So this time, I’ll pay for it. How about you? Why did you pick this hotel?”
“I didn’t. Wu Enterprises books my rooms for me,
although not usually anything so luxurious as I have now. I’ve only got one room though. I have no idea what I’d ever do with
two. Most of the places I stay in are
dumps. But this one…pure luxury. Hence…”
She looked down at her dress. “This!”
Brandy chuckled. “Since I’ve got two rooms, I’m considering
bringing Ralphie out here, just to have some fun with him.”
“You can’t find someone else here
to have fun with? I can arrange
something for you if you want.”
“No, don’t bother. I have no problem finding someone to enjoy
myself with. But humiliating Ralphie is
kind of a special icing on the cake for me.”
She briefly eyed Carol again.
“Especially when I’m…entertaining someone else.”
“Well this is a surprise.”
The women looked up to see another
woman approaching them. “Susan!” Carol
exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to meet you,” Susan Wu
replied. You weren’t in your room, so I
decided to check here before I called you.
But now I see you’re having dinner with our latest client.”
“Brandy,” Carol said. “You have no idea how honored you should
be. Almost nobody meets Susan Wu. Susan, this is Brandy.”
Brandy nodded her head
cautiously. “Nice to meet you.”
Susan pulled out a chair and sat
down. “Did your rooms meet your expectations?”
“You mean you arranged for both of
us to be staying here?” Brandy asked.
“Yes. Earlier today we discovered that you were
staying at this hotel. We upped you from
a regular room to one of the better suites…at our expense.”
“With two bedrooms?”
“We needed two suites and the rooms
were the only ones we could get on that floor for you. You got one and we moved…Judy here, over to
this hotel to stay in the other one.”
She looked them over briefly.
“Hot dates tonight?” she asked.
“No,” Carol replied. “We both….
It’s a long story. I don’t get to
dress up much.”
“No. You never do,” Susan agreed.
“So this was all orchestrated by
you?” Brandy asked.
“Only some of it. We were told that you had changed your mind
and had decided to accept our offer.
When we discovered you were coming here to Vegas, we could only guess
that it was for the same reason that Car…Judy…is here as well. We thought it might be helpful if you two
could at least confer once in a while.”
Brandy looked over to Carol. “And you didn’t know about this?”
“Not at all. I had no idea. Like I said, I didn’t even know you were
coming to Vegas.”
Brandy looked back to Susan. “What is it you want?”
“I’m guessing the same thing that
you and your people want. To find out
who’s been trying to destroy the system that’s kept Vegas in business all these
years, and stop them.”
Brandy stared at her for a
moment. “I don’t work with others.”
“Neither does Ca…Judy.”
It was the second time that Brandy
had noticed the small slip in the name.
“I won’t work with her unless it’s cleared by someone else.”
“I would expect nothing less. Judy…already has our permission to work with
you.”
That was news to Carol.
“If we do work together,” Brandy
said, “where are we supposed to start?”
Susan shook her head. “If we knew that, we wouldn’t need either of
you. By the way, one of our people
should have contacted your Uncle Vinny a little while ago. Call him.”
“Maybe I will,” Brandy replied
cautiously, never taking her eyes off of Susan.
She fished her cellphone out of her purse and still watching Susan,
called her Uncle Vinny.
“Uncle Vinny?”
“Hey Kid!” Vinny’s voice came back,
sounding very happy. “Are you in Vegas?”
“Yes. And I’m sitting here with some woman who
works for Wu Enterprises. She says she
wants me to work with another person on the same thing.”
“I might know a little about
that,” Vinny admitted. “I talked with
someone a little while ago who mentioned it.
Who’s the other person you’ll be working with?”
“I don’t know her real name. Even she admits that the one she gave me is
false. But Vinny, she and I are so much
alike, it scares the hell out of me.”
“Alike? Like you?
Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Listen Brandy. I may have a sneaking suspicion about who
that other woman is.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know her name. Nobody does.
The few times I heard about her, they just said that death came. So if it’s who I suspect it is, then whatever
you do, don’t get in a fight with her.”
“Who do you suspect it is?” Brandy asked.
“Like I said, I don’t know her
name. Just that they have someone like
you, only better. So Brandy, watch your
ass, because she could probably kill you.”
“Tell me something I don’t already
know. How about working with her?”
“Brandy, if she’s like you, and
you’re both trying to figure this thing out, then yeah, go for it. Besides, maybe getting on her good side could
be a good thing. And with two of you
working on that mess out there, hopefully it will get sorted out faster.”
“Okay, Uncle Vinny. Was it Wu Enterprises that contacted you
about this?”
“Yes kid, they did. The guy I talked with said there was a chance
they wanted you to work with one of their people out there. And I’m happy to add, that I am now a charter
member with them. The guy told me that
you said you were going to sign up as well.”
“Yeah, I agreed to it, on your
recommendation.”
“Good! I’m proud you kid. But whatever you do, watch your back. If that’s the girl I think it is, that girl
is deadly.”
“I know that already Uncle Vinny. See you when I get back.”
“Love you, kid.”
“Love you too.”
She hung up the phone. She noted the amused look on Susan’s
face. “Okay,” she said. “I’m in.”
“Good!” Susan replied. She got up from the table. “I’ll leave you two ladies to get better acquainted. And Carol, maybe we can find you someplace
once in a while to dress up like that.
It would do you good. To tell the
truth, you look sensational. You too
Brandy. See you around.”
They watched as Susan walked out.
“Carol? She called you Carol, and she almost called
you that several times.”
Carol sighed. “An old name.
Actually, I’ve been a few different Carols. I’ve been a few different…lots of names.”
“Does it ever get confusing?”
“It used to. You get used to it after a while.”
“Would it be bad if I called you
Carol instead of Judy? I’d rather deal
with a name that I feel is a bit more real.”
“It doesn’t matter what you call
me,” Carol replied. “I answer to almost
anything anymore.”
“Ladies…” the wine steward said as
he arrived at the table with a bottle of red wine. “I was asked to bring you this. Compliments of the lady who just departed.”
“How nice,” Brandy said. While the wine steward poured their wine, she
asked. “Do you get treated like this all
the time?”
Carol laughed. “I told you about the bars I usually go
into. That’s the kind of life I usually
lead. All this is so out of the norm for
me, I hardly know what to do about it.”
Brandy smiled slyly. “Well, that dress seems like a good start to
me.”
Carol smiled back. “Yours too.”
The two of them stared at each
other for a moment, then Brandy sighed and decided it was time to get down to
business. “So where do we start with
this thing?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. Wu Enterprises has a small office here in
town, but when I called them earlier, they had nothing new for me. I asked them to put together a list for me of
all the big bosses in the city.
Tomorrow, I was going to try to talk to as many as I could to find out
from each of them what’s really been happening.”
Brandy nodded. “Good idea.
I’ve already got an appointment tomorrow morning with Romo Geovelli,
then another one tomorrow afternoon with Johnny Morrow. He’s the one who asked Uncle Vinny to send me
in. Want to come?”
“Geovelli and Morrow?” Carol
replied cautiously. “I’m not sure about
Geovelli. I met him once and he may
remember me. He paid the big bucks to
hire my mother for something. I had
another job nearby and I stopped to visit while she was working.”
“If you don’t want to go, don’t
worry about it. It’s fine with me. I’ll fill you in when I get back.”
Carol shook her head. “No, I’ll go.
Even if he does recognize me, hopefully it won’t matter.”
After dinner, they wandered slowly
out into the casino. At first, they split
up. An hour later, they found themselves
at the same craps table. They didn’t
separate for the rest of the night. They
played. They won. They lost.
They drank. And they
laughed. Finally, they walked into an
elevator together and took it to the top floor of the hotel. They stepped out of the elevator, turned, and
looked at each other.
“I enjoyed that,” Brandy told her.
“You have no idea how much I
enjoyed tonight too.”
“Busy day tomorrow,” Brandy noted.
“I’m sure it will be,” Carol
replied. She started to take a
chance. “Brandy….”
“Yeah?”
“Never mind. I shouldn’t ask.”
Brandy stared at her for a
moment. “Let me guess. You feel it too.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Brandy shrugged. “I notice things like that. Especially when…. Never mind.”
“When you feel it too.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe you would like to come to my
room for a drink?” Carol asked.
Brandy nodded. “Maybe.”
That night, Carol discovered what
she already suspected. Brandy was
sensational in bed.
