Diva Las Vegas (12 page)

“Doesn’t look like there’s much business for the doctor today,” Jakes said to the girl.

She looked up at them with a bored expression. “Can I help you?”

Jakes looked at Cushing, who took out her badge and showed it to the young woman.

“We’re looking for Dr. Reynolds,” Detective Cushing said.

“The doctor is not in,” the woman said.

“What’s your name?” Cushing asked.

The girl blinked, as if she was surprised by the question. “Um, my name’s Gina.”

“Well, Gina, where is the doctor today?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” Gina said, suddenly becoming more girl than woman.

“Would he be at home?” Cushing asked.

“He might,” Gina said. “I really don’t know.”

Cushing looked at Jakes. He shrugged. They had Reynolds’s home address, so he figured they might as well check there.

“Okay,” Cushing said, leaving her card. “If he comes in, please ask him to call me so we can make an appointment to speak.”

Gina took the card and said, “Um, sure.”

“Thank you.”

Jakes and Cushing turned to leave. At that moment, a middle-aged woman came rushing in. She looked like she had dressed in a hurry.

“What’s this about my appointment being canceled?” she asked. “You can’t do that with only a half hour’s notice.”

“Mrs. Jansen, please—” Gina said, but the agitated woman cut her off.

“I demand to see the doctor! This is . . . absurd! I cleared my schedule for this consultation.”

“When did the doctor cancel?” Jakes asked her. Mrs. Jansen hesitated, studied Jakes, apparently liked the looks of him and decided to answer.

“Less than a half hour ago,” she said. “It’s preposterous. He demands a week’s notice, and then does this?”

“Have you seen the doctor before, ma’am?” Cushing asked.

“No, this was to be my first appointment.”

“Mrs. Jansen, we can reschedule—” Gina started, but Jakes cut her off.

“So the doctor was in today, but he decided to leave?” he asked.

“Um . . .”

Jakes and Cushing turned and walked back to the desk. The girl shrank back in her seat. She looked around for help, but there didn’t seem to be any. Mrs. Jansen stood back, confused.

“Gina, if you impede a police investigation, you can get in a lot of trouble.”

“I-I’m not. I—”

“Doctor Reynolds did have office hours today, right?” Cushing asked.

“Y-yes.”

“And he left abruptly?”

“Um, yes.”

“Did he get a phone call before he left?”

“Th-the doctor gets a l-lot of phone calls,” she stammered.

“Is there a nurse here?” Jakes asked.

“N-no,” Gina said, “everybody’s gone b-but me.”

Her eyes filled, but she managed to hold back the tears.

“Gina,” Cushing said, “if I were you, I wouldn’t call the doctor after we leave. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes.”

“And if I find out you did, I’ll come back to arrest you—with handcuffs. Understand?” Cushing was getting into it.

The girl’s eyes went wide, and she nodded.

As they turned, Jakes looked at Mrs. Jansen.

“Ma’am,” he said, “you might want to find another doctor.”

“Well,” Mrs. Jansen said.

As they left, they could hear the woman once again berating the poor girl.

“I think the doctor got a call warning that we were coming,” Jakes said.

They got into the car and buckled up.

“That may be my fault,” Cushing said.

“What do you mean?”

“I called ahead to see if the doctor was in.”

“And you identified yourself?”

“I’m afraid so,” she said, looking chagrined. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think—”

“It’s okay, Cushing,” Jakes said. He was annoyed but didn’t show it. She was feeling bad enough. “We’ll find him. Let’s just go check out his house.”

“You really think he’s going to be there?” she asked, starting the car.

“If he got warned off, no,” he said, “but it’s our only logical next step.”

As they pulled away from the curb she asked, “You think Gina will call him?”

“Depends who she’s more afraid of,” Jakes said, “you or him . . .”

“So, tell me what you were thinking,” I said.

“What could I think? I had only been to two places, and both were police stations.”

“Did you mention the doctor’s name at either?” I asked.

“No, but the sheriff knew. I had spoken with him on the phone from LA.”

“So he could have called Dr. Reynolds and warned him.”

“Yes,” Jakes said, “or someone from his office. Or maybe he really didn’t know until Cushing’s call alerted him.”

“What about his house?”

“Cushing and I went, but no one answered the bell. In fact, we couldn’t get past the front gate.”

“So you gave up?”

“I wanted to come back here and meet you,” he said. “And Cushing had to get back.”

“Are you and Detective Cushing going to work together again?”

“Probably,” he said, wrapping his arms around me. “She’s my police contact.”

“You asked her if she was married or had kids,” I said. “Did she ask you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“We talked about a lot of things in the car, killing time,” he said. “No, now that I think of it, she didn’t ask.”

“So when’s your next date?”

“Date?”

“With Detective Cushing,” I said. “How did you two leave it?”

He reached out and tried to pinch my side, but I pride myself on not having an inch to pinch, so he had to look elsewhere. He finally settled on my butt.

“She’s going to run a background check on the good doctor for me,” he said. “Of course, I had to tell her how to run an extensive one.”

“She’s a detective and didn’t know how to do that?” I asked.

“She’s computer literate, but most of her work is community service.”

“Then why did they assign her to you?”

“Because I don’t think they’re really in a hurry to help me,” he said.

He also reminded me that detective was not a rank in the Las Vegas Police Department, so she really did not have any training for the job.

“She’s not going to get in trouble?” I asked.

“She just needs to sit at a computer and access a few official databases,” he said. “She’s allowed to do that.”

“And what’s your partner doing while we’re here in Vegas enjoying ourselves?”

“Running background checks on Shana and anybody else he can think of.”

“Thanks for this.” I looked from his mouth to his eyes to all the candles.

“You’ve gotta go, right?”

“I promised Sarah I’d be back for dinner.”

“What time am I going to see you tomorrow?”

“I finish the brunch at twelve. I’ll be free for two hours.”

He stood up, looking all sexy. Just then his cell phone rang. It was sitting on the bathroom counter next to mine. He flipped it open and read the caller ID.

“Davis?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“Detective Cushing.”

“Oh, lovely. Go ahead and answer it.”

He did, standing there stark naked, looking very hot, and listened for a few minutes. Finally, he said, “That’s interesting. No, no, that’s okay. I can meet you for dinner. Just bring those printouts. Okay. Thanks.”

“What printouts? What dinner?” I asked, after he’d broken the connection.

“She’s got some interesting information about the good doctor,” he said.

“Like what?”

“I’ll find that out when I meet her.”

“Well, go and meet her, then. But dinner? Really?”

“You’re unavailable. Remember?” He held my eyes. He didn’t have to say anything else. I knew what he meant.

“Fine. Have dinner. Just don’t do anything silly until we talk again, all right?”

We got dressed, and there was an awkward silence that lasted all the way until he dropped me off at the back door of the Bellagio.

“Have a nice dinner,” I said. I didn’t mean it one bit.

“I will.” He kissed me. “But I’d rather be having it with you.”

I woke Saturday morning with a full schedule ahead of me. My mom had made plans with Sarah to go to Circus, Circus, then to the Excalibur to see the show. They left the room before I did. I was putting the finishing touches on myself when my cell rang.

“Morning,” Jakes said.

“How was your dinner with Detective Cushing?”

“No dinner,” he said. “At least, not with Detective Cushing.”

“Why not?”

“She canceled, said she had something to do,” he said. “So it was dinner on my own.”

“What about her news?” I asked, smiling. “The printouts?”

“I’m meeting her at noon at a diner off the strip,” he said. “For coffee. Wanna come?”

“Noon?” My brunch would be over at noon, but I could be a little late. He took my silence as hesitation.

“Don’t you want to meet Detective Cushing?”

“Sure, I do,” I said. “Okay, noon it is.”

“Write this down.”

He gave me the address of the diner.

“What are you going to do until then?”

“Go to the doctor’s office on the off chance he’s there,” he said.

“Not many doctors work on Saturday,” I said.

“Well, maybe I’ll take a run over there anyway. After that, maybe some video poker until our meeting.”

“You said you weren’t a gambler.”

“I’m not. But, hey, this is Vegas, baby.”

“What are you
really
planning to do?” I asked.

“Okay, I thought I might check out his house.”

“If he’s not home—”

“I’m counting on that,” Jakes said.

“What do you mean? You’re going to break in?”

“It’s the only thing I can think of.”

“You can’t do that,” I said. “You’re a cop.”

“Not in Vegas, I’m not.”

“But that’s even worse,” I reasoned. “If you get caught—”

“I won’t.”

“If you do, you could go to jail and lose your job,” I said. “Is it worth the risk?”

“My job is to find out who killed Shana Stern,” he said. “That’s what I’m going to do, whatever it takes.”

We both fell silent then. I could hear him breathing. I’d heard that sound before, when we would lie close together in bed.

“I want to come with you.”

“Oh, no, Alex—”

“Oh, yes,” I said. “At the very least, you’ll need a lookout.”

“Lookout?” he asked. “You’ve been watching too many—”

“Don’t make fun of me, Jakes!” I said, cutting him off. “I came here to help, remember?”

“Okay, okay. You’re right. I didn’t mean to make fun of you.”

“Go and meet with your new . . . partner,” I said. “Hopefully, she’ll have something helpful to tell you.”

“And you go and meet your legion of fans,” he said. “They’re probably waiting eagerly. I’ll bet if Davis wasn’t working, he’d be here at this thing.”

“Oh, I get the feeling his allegiance may have changed a bit,” I said.

“I don’t think so. To him you’ll always be Tiffany.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

“Alex, I’ll see you a little after noon.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting your new . . . friend.”

“I like this jealous side of you,” he said. “I like it very much.”

“You wish.”

I reminded Larry, my driver, that I needed to be picked up at noon; then I stepped out of my limo in front of the Las Vegas Hilton and was met by a handful of very eager event organizers. Poster-sized photos of all the actors lined the entrance to the hotel, and a red carpet had been laid for us to walk on. What a nice touch. It also worked as a “trail” for us to follow to the Grand Ballroom, where that morning’s brunch was to be held.

“I love your dress, Alex! How are you this morning?” Kathy Tomson was Daytime in the Desert’s organizer. She was in her element planning events like this. She also doubled as a fan-mail answerer. If she worked for you, she would pick up your fan mail from the various soap opera production offices and go through the letters. Then she’d send you a list of names to sign on photos. Any special requests, such as birthdays or, sadly, notes for fans who were ill, and she’d let you know so you could write something personal to them. I always admire people who are good at what they do and do it with grace. Kathy Tomson is one of those people. That’s why I use her for my fan mail.

“I’m fine, Kathy. How are you? Are you managing to have any fun this trip?” As we headed down the red carpet, we passed a massive photo of my smiling self. I had expected a throng of screaming fans, but I guess they were already inside.

“Oh yeah. If you call winning a couple grand at keno fun.” If Kathy wasn’t a big keno fan before, she sure was now.