Big Easy Escapade (17 page)

“We just talked with Antonio, and he said
they’re working all the leads. The tip line is evidently bringing
in some information, too.” She wasn’t about to tell him Antonio
thought there was a problem with the investigation. “He mentioned
something we thought was odd. He said Lala hated Daisy. Did you
know that?”

Jason groaned. “No, she’s usually very
friendly toward her.”

“That’s not what Antonio got.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I slept
with La once about three months before I met Daisy. It wasn’t a big
deal, you know. I got the impression she wanted more but it just
wasn’t happening. I have another call, gotta go.”

Vivian turned to the girls. “Oh my god, he
slept with Lollipop!”

“No wonder she hates Daisy,” Lucy said. “She
was a jilted stripper.”

Kate got out her phone. “We’ve gotta find
Lala and the brothers. We need to know if she’s dancing tonight and
where, and their real last name and an address.”

“Even if we did get that,” Lucy said, “what
are we going to do?”

“
I
am
not
going to
another strip club,” Wendy said. “I’ve seen enough.”

“If she’s dancing somewhere you don’t have to
go in, I will,” Vivian said. “We can follow her when she
leaves.”

“I’m having flashbacks of cigarettes in my
lap. I’m not sure this is a good plan.”

“It’ll be fine,” Vivian said. “We’ve gotta
help Daisy.”

Lucy whipped out her phone. “Let’s just see
what we can find on little Miss Lala.” She Googled Gino’s strip
club and used it to get Lala’s Twitter handle. She checked her
tweets and found out Lala was dancing tonight at Rick’s Cabaret on
Bourbon, main stage at midnight.

“That’s easy enough,” Kate said. “We’ll be
there.”

Wendy threw her napkin on the counter. “All
right, fine. I can stand out on Bourbon with a drink at least.”

“You could get into more trouble doing that
than going in the club,” Lucy said and laughed.

“True, but I’ll take my chances.”

“That’s decided, but for now, on to the
brothers.” Lucy pulled up Trikki Vikki’s Facebook fan page.

Kate fiddled with her empty coffee cup. “What
exactly are we going to do with that information?”

Lucy kept clicking. “Go to their house. Look
around. Clint said they have a mess to clean up, and I want to know
what it is.”

“You heard what Antonio said. Do you really
think we ought to be doing that?”

Vivian shrugged. “We gotta do something.
She’s a page six story right now. Below the fold.”

“That’s not going to cut it,” Wendy said.
“Let’s go snoop.”

Lucy held out her phone. “You’re never gonna
believe this. Check it out.”

She had pulled up a picture of Clint, Kevin
and another guy on an airboat in a swamp. The caption read, “Gator
huntin’ with the bros.” Kevin and Devin Smith were tagged.

“His last name is Smith,” Vivian exclaimed.
“That damn Antonio!”

“Shut the front door,” Kate said.

“Last time I fall for that!”

They all got a good laugh. Lucy looked the
brothers up on White Pages, then mapped it.

“This is in mid-cities,” Wendy said. “We can
hit the streetcar and get over there pretty quick. We should
probably wait until it’s dark.”

“What are we going to do in the meantime?”
Kate asked.

“Where are the dream notes?” Lucy asked.

“Vivian has them,” Kate said.

Vivian pulled the crumpled paper from her
purse. “I almost forgot to take this out of my skirt, but I
remembered right before we left the room this morning.” She placed
it on the table.

Lucy read it aloud. “Don’t be tricked. Flower
petals will float and fly. You must look through the dense forest
to see into the mirrors.”

Vivian tapped her fingers on the counter. “I
feel like we’ve covered the tricked and flower petals as best we
can, except for checking out Vikki’s brothers.”

“I don’t know what the dense forest is,” Kate
said, frustrated. “Or the mirrors.”

“And what about float and fly?” Wendy asked.
“Any other thoughts?”

Everyone was quiet.

A sound similar to a slot machine rang out
next to Vivian. A lady down the counter answered her phone.

“Wait a second!” Vivian said, thinking about
her numerous nights gambling down the street. “Harrah’s has a big
wall of mirrors at the escalator going from the casino to the
hotel. Maybe that’s it.”

No one seemed excited about this
revelation.

“Maybe the dense forest is the swamp?” Lucy
said. “A boat floats.”

“Yeah, but there’s a lot of swamp around
here,” Wendy said. “Where do we even begin to start?”

Kate closed her eyes for a minute, then
opened them. “Okay, Harrah’s is walking distance and the four of us
can cover the casino. The swamp, I’m afraid, is beyond what we can
do.”

Vivian stood up, clapped, then rubbed her
hands together. “Ladies, break out your wallets. It’s time to go
gambling!”

“Just keep in mind, we’re on a mission to
find Daisy,” Wendy said.

“I know, I know, but the sound of slot
machines is in my future.”

The girls paid the check, then made their way
to Decatur, then North St. Peter to Canal. The bright lights of the
giant Harrah’s globe beckoned Vivian, and she walked faster the
closer they got.

She ran up the steps. “Take my picture!”

Kate pulled out her phone. “Only you would
want a picture with a giant ball.”

Vivian could not deny this.

They went in but weren’t carded by
security.

“Damn, we’re getting old,” Wendy said.

Once inside, Vivian led the way to the
mirrored escalator. They rode down, then back up, then down
again.

“Let’s take a picture like in that movie!”
Lucy squealed.

“
Like
in
The Hangover
?”
Kate asked.

“That’s it,” Lucy said and snapped a few
shots.

“
Excuse
me,” Vivian said. “This was actually from
Rain
Man
.
The
Hangover
made a spoof of
it.”

“Whatever,” Lucy said. The pictures didn’t
get everyone in, so they rode up, then back down and tried again.
Lucy was more successful the second time, so they rode the
escalator up and stopped to regroup.

“The mirrors talking to you, Kate?” Wendy
asked.

“The slot machines are drowning out
everything. I got nothing.”

Lucy waved her hand in front of her face.
“The smoke’s killing me. Let’s go.”

“Whoa ho ho ho,” Vivian said. “No need to
rush this. I say we split up and search the casino for more
mirrors. Or a forest. You know, these casinos can have some weird
themed crap around. I’d hate to hurry and miss something.”

Lucy smiled. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

“I don’t have any idea what you’re
implying.”

“Vivian, we know you’re just dying to throw
some money into a machine. Any machine.”

Vivian
pulled her best shocked look. “
Moi?”

Wendy looked around. “I gotta go to the
bathroom anyway. You’ve got 30 minutes.”

Vivian jumped up and down.

“
Show us
where you’ll be,” Kate said. “We’ll hit
el
baño
, then walk
around.”

Vivian took them to The Hangover slot machine
and sat down. “I’ll be right here. I like looking at Bradley
Cooper, and that Asian guy cracks me up.” She whipped out her
player’s card and put it in the machine, along with $100.

The display lit up. Welcome, Vivian!

“Anyone want a drink? I can order one on the
slot machine!” Vivian worked on her order of rum and Coke as the
others turned and walked away.

“Where’s the restroom?” Kate asked Lucy and
Wendy, looking around. She felt a need to go toward the high-limit
slots, she didn’t know why. They found the restroom and met right
outside afterward.

“Is that slot machine a $100 minimum?” Lucy
asked, pointing to a Lucky 7s nearby.

Kate walked over to it. “Actually, if you bet
the max per spin, it’s $300.”

“Wow,” Wendy said, “Who does that?”

A purple-haired woman with tubing wrapped
around her face connecting to her oxygen tank sat at another Lucky
7s. She stared intently at the spinning reels, continuously pushing
the max spin button, lit cigarette in hand.

“That’s an explosion waiting to happen,”
Wendy said, then directed them out of the area.

A loud crash to the right got Kate’s
attention. She looked toward the commotion and stopped in her
tracks, shocked at who had a hand of cards and a pile of chips.

***

Daisy devoured her breakfast but didn’t drink
the coffee or orange juice that had been delivered. She didn’t
trust them not to roofie her again. The food made her feel better
physically, but as the day wore on, she felt worse and worse
emotionally. She had searched the room again, looking for anything
to help her break out, use as a weapon or write a note to post in
the window. Nothing had magically appeared.

Having no resources other than herself, she
could think of only one other option. She opened the curtains and
took off her shirt and bra. Maybe she could catch the attention of
someone in the two-story building across the street, or on
Chartres, who would be offended and call police. Either way, surely
security would come to the room and she could escape.

Daisy waved frantically for 20 minutes,
always listening for the lock. No one noticed her. Arms tired and
getting frustrated, she dragged the desk chair to the window and
stepped up. She pressed her chest against the glass and looked
down. A tourist had a camera with a long lens pointed down the
street.

Point it this way! Point it this way!

He slowly turned and angled the lens to what
seemed like her direction. She started jumping on the chair, waving
and boobs bouncing. He lowered the camera and looked at the hotel,
then lifted it again and adjusted the focus.

He saw me!
She started waving frantically again and mouthing
the words help me. She pointed to him and drew an S-O-S in the air.
She clasped her hands together under her chin and begged for his
help. He lowered the camera, then lifted it again toward her. She
repeated everything, but this time instead of S-O-S, she indicated
9-1-1 with her fingers. He let his camera hang around his neck and
pulled his cell phone from his shirt pocket.

Daisy put her shirt on and felt a wave of
relief when a police car pulled up and her favorite tourist walked
over to it. Then came a quick click of the lock and the door
opened. She flinched and was too scared to get off the chair.

“Get down, now!” a burly Middle Eastern man
yelled, running into the room.

When she didn’t move, he slung her over his
shoulder and threw her onto the bed. She squirmed trying to get
away. The doorbell to the suite rang and he threw his hand over her
mouth and whispered, “I will end your life right now if you
move.”

The pressure of his weight was already
choking her, so she stayed still. The door to the room closed and
she heard muffled voices and eventually laughter. A tear slipped
from her eye and rolled into her hair.

The guy eased his hold on her and whispered,
“Do not do that again. Sonu will not be pleased. He will kill
you.”

The calm the man exhibited as he lay on top
of her and the coolness of his voice scared her.

He shoved off her and stormed out. She saw
the handgun in the small of his back and decided to stay away from
the windows, knowing that Sonu’s men were keeping watch outside.
Instead she paced the room, ran in place, did some lunges and a few
pushups to keep herself from going crazy. She listened at the door
for any noises in the rest of the suite but couldn’t hear anything
but the television.

K
ate
swatted at Wendy and Lucy. “Look! Look! Look! It’s Hairy Harry!”
She pointed to the hairy guy at a poker table, drenched in the
drinks the waitress had been carrying. He looked like the only
sleep he’d had was between hands at the poker table, and he still
wore the same clothes as the night Daisy was kidnapped. His hair,
which was bad to start with, didn’t need any gel to stay slicked
back it was so greasy. Harry was crumpled, crusty and
cranky.

He threw in his hand and stormed off to the
restroom.

“I think freshening up is a lost cause at
this point,” Lucy said, scrunching her nose even though they were
too far away to smell him.

Wendy looked shocked. “We’ve got to get
Viv.”

“Y’all stay here. I’ll run get her,” Kate
said and took off.

Vivian kept hitting the spin button, even
though she saw Kate darting across the casino in her direction.

Dammit, she found the dense forest or
something
. She pretended
she didn’t see Kate coming.

“Viv! We saw Harry!”

Vivian pushed the max bet button. “Who?”

“Hairy Harry! Come on!” And with that, Kate
hit the “cash out” button.

“This thing was about to hit!” Vivian
yelled.

“You’re about to get hit if you don’t get
up!” Kate said.

Vivian recognized Kate’s kick-ass voice and
stood up, grabbing the receipt and her player’s card before she was
hauled away.

They made it back to the restroom just as
Harry emerged, stumbling a bit, looking down at his shirt.

“Harry, what are you up to?” Vivian asked in
a friendly manner.

He looked up, not able to focus, blank look
on his face.

“It’s me, Vivian. I met you at the club the
other night.” She lied.

“Oh yeah, how ya doin’?” He looked at the
other girls, not recognizing them, either.

“Looks like you’ve been on a poker streak,”
Wendy said. “You been winning?”