Monsters
By
Karen Singer
Chapter 5 – Dinner for Two – Part 1 of 2
The hotel in Vegas was certainly nice. Brandy had no doubt that Ralphie had done his
best to book her a nice room. In this
case, Ralphie had gone overboard and booked her the best suite he could
find. Top floor. As she rode up in the elevator with the
bellboy and a luggage cart holding all her bags, her mind turned again to the
strange woman she had met, Judy. Judy…for
now. They were alike in so many
ways. But that one single big difference
they had found, the love of their mothers, she envied her for that.
The bellboy opened a door for her
to a room at the end of the hall, then turned the key over before going back
for the luggage. She looked around. Beautiful.
Sumptuous. Better than most
places she had stayed in before. And two
bedrooms. She didn’t know why Ralphie
had gotten her a place with two bedrooms.
The room was far more than she needed.
Probably far more than she wanted to pay. But now that she was here and seeing it, she
wouldn’t give it up for anything. She
tipped the bellboy generously and closed the door behind him. The nice room was certainly an unexpected
treat, but she had work to do.
As she unpacked her bags, her mind
tried to figure out where to start.
Someone was causing trouble.
Killing people. But she had
nothing to go on yet. She had no place
to look yet. Not even a single name she
could talk to.
She had phoned Uncle Vinny earlier
from the airport in Dallas, but he had no leads for her to look into yet. He told her to check in with Johnny Morrow
who had requested that she come in to help.
But he also knew that Johnny was in New York for a meeting there and
wouldn’t be back for another day. He
suggested she might possibly start with Romo Geovelli, the biggest mafia boss
in Vegas.
Romo Geovelli. In the past she had done two different jobs
for him. Vinny’s suggestion to try him
first was the only thing she could do so far.
She called Geovelli’s office, but he wasn’t in. Not even for her. Ten minutes later, she got a return phone
call. Geovelli would be back in Vegas
tomorrow morning. He would be more than happy
to meet with her then. She was guessing
he was in New York too along with Johnny Morrow. She was stuck until tomorrow. Oh well, a little R&R in Vegas wasn’t
going to hurt her.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Carol turned the key to her bike
over to the parking valet and carried her small bag into the hotel. Nice place.
Ritzy! But then almost all the
hotels in Vegas were like that. Still,
this one seemed better than most she had been in. She checked the front desk for a reservation
for Judy Cunningham. The reservation was
found immediately. When the desk clerk
asked her if someone could help her with her luggage, she declined, holding up
her small bag and her helmet, the only things she had. “I’ll be doing some shopping,” she told the desk
clerk.
She took the elevator up to her
room. Top floor she noted. Wu Enterprises had certainly gotten her more
than was necessary. Her room was at the
far end of the hall. She walked in and
looked around. Beautiful. More than beautiful. What was she going to do in a place like
this? But still, she was grateful. And now that she was there, she decided a
little bit of luxury might be nice for a change.
She needed a good long bath. She had worn nothing but her riding suit for
days now. But she also needed clean
clothes to put on…among other things. Because
she felt so filthy, she took a quick shower before getting dressed again. While she was in the shower, her mind went
back to work on her current problem.
Where should she start? She knew
already that the Wu’s had moved a lot of people into the area. And that was on top of the permanent office
they already had out here. An office she
had been to a few times before. While still
in the shower, she decided her only choice was to call the office to see about
any updates.
With that decision made, her mind
turned again to Brandy. Brandy had been
on her mind for much of the long ride here from Dallas. She might never see Brandy again, but she had
felt something different with her.
Something she had never felt before.
A kinship of sorts. The two of
them were alike in so many ways.
Except…for their mothers. She was
lucky enough to have a mother who loved her.
Brandy had basically grown up with a mother who couldn’t have cared less
about her. She couldn’t help it, she
felt sorry for Brandy because of that.
She felt something else for Brandy too.
An attraction like she had felt for few other women in her life. She wondered how Brandy would be in bed. She had a feeling that Brandy would be
sensational.
She turned the water off and
dressed in just a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
The only clothes she had other than her riding suit. Shopping time. And after looking around at such a nice room,
maybe she would indulge and get some…nicer things for a change. That would be different. A pleasant change.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
At seven thirty in the evening,
Brandy stood in front of the big full-length mirror in one of the suite’s
bedrooms and stared at her reflection. She
was dressed to the nines…and then some.
Only because for once in her life, she wanted to. Maybe it was the elegant room. Maybe the nice hotel. Or maybe, she just needed a change from all
the dirty work she usually did. But as
long as she had the time, she had decided, why not, and she had gone shopping
and bought the beautiful gown and the overly extravagant jewelry to go with it. A gown she knew she didn’t need just to go to
dinner, then do some gambling.
She checked the black sequined
purse that matched her gown. Everything
was there including the gun that had been in the package that had been waiting
for her when she checked in.
After one last long glance at her
strange reflection, noticing again how her one leg teasingly exposed itself through
the slit in her skirt, she headed for the door, hoping to get a seat in the award-winning
restaurant downstairs.
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Carol almost didn’t recognize
herself. For all the money she had, she
dressed up so rarely. But tonight…for
some reason, she couldn’t help herself.
She had seen the gorgeous gown and had bought it…along with the shoes,
the jewelry, the purse, the makeup…everything!
It was a stupid indulgence because she knew that, like most of the
clothes she bought wherever she went, it would all only get left behind when
she was done in Vegas. But why did she
really need to care about something like that?
According to her mother, she could buy her own airline if she wanted
it. That didn’t make it seem any less
strange to her though.
She checked her shiny gold purse
that went with her dress. Her room key,
her credit card, some cash, her gun, and her smallest knife were all
there. The only things she should need
just to have dinner downstairs and then do some gambling. She was overdressed for dinner and she knew
it, but she rarely ever had a chance to dress up anymore. Almost never.
At home, on the island off the coast of Columbia, bathing suits were
what she wore mostly. Other than that,
it was work clothes. Clothes she could
kill people in. Not that she couldn’t
kill someone while wearing the dress she had on. She had made sure to get one with a slit that
went all the way up the skirt so she could still fight if she needed to.
After shaking her head at her own
figure in the mirror, she left her room to go to dinner. Her room was at the end of the hall. Walking in the high heels felt strange, but nice. She felt nice. She felt different. She noticed the woman walking toward her from
the end of the hallway on the far side.
She was wearing a beautiful black gown.
Carol felt a bit better. She
wasn’t the only woman in the hotel who was dressed so nicely.
The closer she got to the other
woman, the more she slowed. She couldn’t
take her eyes off her if she wanted to.
It couldn’t be!
--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---
Brandy stared as her steps grew
slower. She didn’t know if she should
feel angry or what. Angry absolutely! In front of her, wearing a gorgeous gold gown,
was Judy. The two women stopped about
ten feet apart. Both women said exactly
the same thing, at exactly the same time.
“What are you doing here?”
“You’re following me again!” Brandy
said angrily. “Why?”
“I’m not following you,” Carol
replied. “I had no idea you were staying
here.”
“Isn’t information the biggest
thing you people deal in?”
That stopped Carol. “Yes, it is.
But I swear, I had no idea you were staying in the same hotel.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“I find it hard to believe we’re
both in the same place too,” Carol told her.
“And both on the same floor? That’s a bit too much of a coincidence.”
“Yes, it is,” Carol replied
suspiciously. “I’ll look into it.”
“So will I.”
Their eyes seemed to roam all over
each other.
“You clean up nicely,” Brandy told
her. “I love your dress.”
“I love yours too. With your black hair, it makes an incredible
impact.”
“And the gold goes perfectly with
your brown hair.”
“You know,” Carol said, “I liked
that red mask you wore last night too. Very
cute.”
“Yeah. I’ve got a number of different ones that I
wear. I like that one with the red wig.”
“Of course. Red on red.”
“I like that riding suit you wear,”
Brandy told her. “And it seems to have
some handy little pockets for things.”
“You have no idea. I can get you one if you want. Do you ride?”
“Not much, but I’ve ridden.”
“Maybe sometime….” She stopped.
“What are we doing? I swear, I
had no idea you’d be here.”
“Me either,” Brandy replied. “Where are you off to? A party?”
“No. Just dinner.
I just got into the room and… I
don’t know. I’ve only had a reason to
dress this nice maybe two or three times in my entire life. I saw the dress and…”
“And you just had to buy it. Just like me,” Brandy finished.
“And what party are you going to?”
Carol asked.
“Like you, no party. I saw the dress this afternoon and had to
have it. I was going to dinner, then the
casino afterwards. I’m a bit
overdressed, but damn, I never get to dress up.”
“So we’re both over dressed for
dinner, then the casino. This is getting
a bit awkward.”
“Do you think?”
“Dinner?” Carol asked.
“Why not?”
1 comment:
getting interesting to say the least Keep it up
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