Double Down (29 page)

Delgado had been watching me. When I opened my eyes, he said, “You don’t have to do this. You can stay at my place. I’ll hire a bodyguard to keep you safe when I’m not there. There’s bound to be evidence. We just need time to find it.”

I shook my head and then took his face between my hands. “Please, I need it to be over. I’ll never be able to rest until they’re behind bars. I need to do this.”

He closed his eyes. His teeth so tightly clinched that the muscles in his jaw were jumping.

“
I can’t lose you again,” he whispered.

I wrapped my arms tightly around him, pressing my forehead against his. We stayed like that for a few minutes, while I gathered the courage I would need. Looking over his shoulder at Brian, I said, “Let’s do this. What do you want me to do?”

“
We’ll be moving you to a private room in a few minutes. We’ve told the staff on the floor that your family hired a private nurse. There should be no reason for them to check on you. However, there’s bound to be cleaning staff, and possibly others entering your room. In order for this to work, he has to be able to get to you. Whenever anyone comes in, all you need to do is lie there and pretend you’re asleep. We’ll be monitoring your room. The minute anyone tries something, we’ll be there to stop him.”

“
What about my family?”

“
One of us will always be with them when they come to visit you. I promise they won’t be in any danger.”

Before he left, Brian took out a recorder and had me go over the whole story again in detail, beginning with what I read in Monica’s diaries right up until I woke up in the hospital.

When he left, I asked Delgado to stay. “I know I must look terrible, but do you think you could give me a good luck kiss?”

For just a moment, some of the worry faded from his eyes. That crooked little smile reappeared. He took me in his arms and kissed me fiercely, until I was sure all my bones must have melted. When he would have pulled back, I held on. Who needs bones anyway? I only released him when I heard someone in the room cough. I opened my eyes to see Delgado looking back at me. His eyes burned with a new fire that had nothing to do with anger. Caught up in their intensity, I was perfectly willing to go on ignoring Eddie who coughed again, until I realized Mom was standing next to him. That broke the spell.

Mom spoke up, “Nick, Brian says he needs to go over some details with you.”

After Delgado left, Eddie said, “Detective Delgado needs to stay away from you.”

“
Are you my father now?”

“
No, but it might be a little bit difficult for anyone to believe you’re in a coma with your heart rate that high.” He pointed at the monitor.

“
Oh.” The commotion in the next cubicle prevented me from saying more. Up until now with a wall on one side and several empty cubicles on the other side, we’d felt free to talk quietly. Next door, we could hear the emergency room staff working feverishly to save a life. Since not all of the staff was in on our secret, I needed to stay silent. Hearing footsteps coming our way, I tucked my arms inside the sheet and closed my eyes seconds before my curtain parted.

I heard a male voice say, “Her room is ready now, you can go on up to room 432. The doctor has ordered another set of X-rays. I’ll bring her up as soon as they’re finished with her.”

I knew that voice. I remembered the ice-cold eyes that went with it.

Mom said, “I’ve been here a while, but I don’t think I know you.”

Good job, Mom, keep him talking. Don’t trust him
.

“
I usually work in x-ray. When we called down, these guys said they were too busy to bring her up, so I volunteered to come get her.” I heard him walk to the head of the bed and felt him lower it to a flat position

Thankfully, Mom was still wary. “Why are you wearing a mask? She’s not contagious.”

He must have unplugged the monitors, because everything went silent. “Oh, I know. I have a cold. You know how it is. I’m not sick enough to stay home, but I don’t want to take the chance of passing anything to the patients.” He sounded so sane, so friendly. If I didn’t know better, I would have trusted him. I heard him unlock the brake, and then we were moving. “This won’t take long. I’ll have her up to the room in about 10 minutes.”

Neither Mom nor Eddie said anything else. I heard their footsteps walk away. I wanted to scream at them, but I didn’t dare. I was sure he wouldn’t hesitate to kill whoever got in his way.

All the time they were talking, I was carefully peeling away the tape around the IV stuck in my hand, determined to pull it out so he couldn’t kill me by injecting the line. I recognized the swish of elevator doors opening. The bump of the wheels as we entered the elevator gave me the perfect opportunity. Just before the doors closed, someone yelled, “Hey you stop!”

The doors closed. The elevator started to move and then stopped. Hugo jerked the pillow out from under my head and pressed it over my face. That’s when all pretenses ended. I fought like a wild woman, bucking and kicking. With my free hand, I scratched and pulled at his hands. When I finally freed the other hand from the tangle of the sheets, I stabbed him with the IV needle. He yelped, but didn’t let go. It was only when I turned my hand and stabbed him in the throat, that he released his grip on the pillow. As soon as he did, I rolled away from him off the side of the gurney. I watched as he pulled the needle from the side of his neck. Blood dripped from the hole it left.

He looked over the gurney at me, his eyes hard as ice. “I should have shot you when I had the chance.” He lunged over the top of the gurney, trying to wrap his hands around my neck.

I shoved the gurney as hard as I could. Instead of pinning him against the opposite wall as I had hoped, all it did was cause him fall back a few steps. The wires attaching me to the heart monitor pulled me with it, keeping me just out of reach the elevator buttons. I frantically pulled at the wires. He shoved the gurney back at me. I ducked under it just before it crashed against the wall. I could hear people screaming and pounding on the elevator doors. Trapped under the gurney with the cross bars of the legs pinning me against the wall, I watched with horror as he knelt down and reached through the bars, an evil grin on his face. I did the only thing I could do. It took every ounce of courage I possessed to look away from him, to find the emergency stop button. I flipped it to the off position just as his hands circled my neck.

I punched the open door button, just before I lost consciousness.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I woke up to see Delgado bending over me. Looking into his eyes I said, “Next time, could you try and get here before I pass out?” I was still on the floor of the elevator. I could see Hugo lying slumped against the wall on the other side. He was covered in blood. I couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead, and frankly, I didn’t care.

Delgado closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, rocking back on his heels. “I don’t mind coming to your rescue woman, but this is getting ridiculous. Are you always going to be this much trouble?”

“
More than likely. You should get out now while you can.”

He shook his head. “Now you tell me, after it’s too late. Couldn’t you have mentioned this before I fell in love with you?”

Bruised and broken, lying on the dirty floor of an emergency room elevator, my throat raw and blood dripping from my hand, was not exactly how I pictured this moment. Still, no matter what the circumstances were, he said he loved me, and I wasn’t about to let him take it back. I reached out, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him in for a kiss. Without breaking the kiss, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me out of the elevator.

***

Two days later, I sat on a white sofa in the front room of Delgado’s penthouse condominium, where he insisted on bringing me until they could arrest Darryl. It wasn’t your typical bachelor pad. In front of me, a wall of windows opened onto an enormous balcony overlooking the strip. The room was light and airy filled with light woods and pale colors, mimicking the desert. It made for a seamless transition.

Naturally, when he brought me home from the hospital, Delgado put me in the guest room. Always the perfect gentleman, he did not attempt to capitalize on the arrangement. In fact, I’d barely seen him. Of course, I’d been asleep most of the time, thanks to the pain pills the doctor prescribed.

This morning I was finally awake and relatively pain free when Delgado came in to tell me Darryl was now in custody, thanks to Hugo. It seemed that Hugo, still in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to the back, a broken arm, and a dislocated shoulder, inflicted when Delgado had thrown him across the elevator, wasn’t about to take all the blame.

Delgado left to listen in on the interrogation, promising to be home in time for dinner with a complete update. I called Mom and Charlene to join us. Naturally, Mom insisted on bringing dinner. After looking in the mirror, I booked an appointment for a haircut, facial, manicure, and pedicure at the salon downstairs, one of the many amenities of Delgado’s building.

Mom arrived early to pop her famous lasagna in the oven. Sitting at the breakfast bar in Delgado’s spacious kitchen, I watched as Mom made garlic bread and tossed a green salad.

Eyeing me critically she said, “In spite of all you’ve been through, you look happy.”

“
I am happy. I’m happy it’s finally over.”

“
It’s not just that. There’s a glow about you.”

“
Oh please, not the glow. These rosy cheeks are from a facial, nothing more.”

“
You and Nick haven’t?”

“
No, we haven’t, and this is not a conversation I want to have with my mother. What about you and Brian?” I only asked to get back at her. I was horrified when she blushed. “Don’t tell me . . .?”

“
No, No, nothing like that. It’s just that I like him. He’s the first man I’ve even looked at since your father died.”

The doorbell saved me. Charlene and Evan arrived with a bottle of wine. One look at Charlene’s radiant smile told me she and Evan had finally found some time together. Delgado and Brian followed close behind. They refused to tell us anything until after dinner.

“
Okay, now that we’ve wined and dined, will you please tell us what happened today?” I begged. Delgado sat next to me on the couch with Mom on my other side. Charlene and Evan sat on the loveseat holding hands.

Delgado smiled, waving his hand at Brian who stood, leaning against the fireplace. “Since you’re the one conducting Hugo’s interrogation, you should go first.”

Brian nodded. “It’s all coming out, now that they’re each trying to negotiate a plea deal by testifying against the other. Between the two of them, we managed to piece together what actually happened. Hugo told us, on their way to the charity event Darryl received a text from Monica threatening to reveal everything, unless he agreed to meet with her at the Royal. Darryl used a wine spill on his tie as an excuse to be gone for a few minutes. Donning a chef’s coat, he slipped out through the kitchen, where Hugo picked him up and drove him across the street to the Royal. Hugo says he waited in the car while Darryl went in. A few moments later, Darryl came running out. He told him Monica was dead. When Hugo asked him what happened, Darryl said Monica was upset because her plan to discredit Valerie wasn’t working. She insisted Darryl divorce his wife and marry her now. When he refused, she attacked him, and he pushed her in self-defense. When he realized she was dead, he ran out. Hugo drove him back to the MGM, where he rejoined the charity event.”

Delgado picked up the story from there. “According to Darryl, Hugo went back to the Royal HR. Taking Monica’s cell phone and keys, Hugo searched her office and apartment for anything that would point to Darryl. Darryl had told him about Monica’s habit of writing in a diary. When Hugo didn’t find anything, they relaxed. Both of them claimed they had no reason to search Valerie’s house since they knew Monica would never give her anything.”

“
Are you saying that the vandalism of my house was random, unrelated to Monica’s death?”

Brian shook his head. “No, it was definitely related. When we realized that they didn’t do it, we went back and re-interviewed the people Monica was blackmailing. Jerry McCrae admitted taking money from the fund to cover his gambling debts. However, he says, when Monica tried to blackmail him, he went to the International, confessed and repaid the money, which we confirmed with the International. He had no reason to kill Monica or search your house. Arnie Waters was working that night. That left Martin Sanders who finally confessed to breaking into your house. He believed Monica when she told him you were in on the blackmail.”

Charlene gloated, “See I told you it didn’t have to be the same person.”

“
Was it Martin who cut my brake lines?”

Brian answered, “No. That was Hugo. When you mentioned to Darryl that Monica had told you they were keeping in touch, he told Hugo. After dropping Darryl off at the corporate offices, Hugo went back to the Royal, stopped in to see his friend Warren in surveillance, and accidently on purpose shifted the camera in the parking garage. Then he went down and sliced through your brake lines. Just as we thought, it was meant as a warning.”

Delgado got up to get another cup of coffee, bringing the pot back with him. Refilling Charlene and Evan’s cups, he said, “Darryl didn’t really freak out until he found out Valerie went to St. Louis and met Monica’s mom and Mrs. Combs. The threatening note was their way of keeping the investigation centered in Las Vegas.”