Garden of Dreams (32 page)

Don't think about it, Nina reminded herself. One step at a time.

She stopped at the pharmacy and picked up travel-size shampoo and toothpaste. On second thought, she grabbed a cosmetic bag, too. She didn't have anything decent for traveling. Thank goodness she'd bought that rolling overnight bag when she'd gone with the kids on a weekend to Nashville. She'd had to go to Paducah to find that.

Ed was busy at the counter, so she just waved at him, paid the clerk, and started for the side door. Julia's house was just up the back street and down the road. She could walk.

The instant she reached for the handle of the glass door, Nina saw it—the Mercedes parked in the alley beside the store. Tinted glass prevented her from seeing inside, but just the sight of the car created panic.

Easing away from the door, Nina glanced back at the pharmacy counter. The Mercedes was parked so its occupants could see the main street and her Camry, and not this side door. But she'd have to walk out not three feet from the car's trunk. If the driver turned and looked over his shoulder...

She couldn't take that chance. If JD feared the Mercedes, she would be wise to do so, also.

Ed looked startled as Nina circled around the counter, held her fingers to her lips, and slipped into his supply room. He followed her, protesting vehemently, probably protecting his shelves of expensive drugs.

“Ed, I'm avoiding someone, all right? I'm not stealing anything. Go back to your customer. And unless that Mercedes parked outside is yours, I wouldn't mention this to anyone or you may have some very unpleasant customers to deal with. Okay?”

“Nina, are you out of your mind? Wait...”

But she let herself out the back door before she heard the rest of his protests.

The heat of the parking lot smacked Nina as she hurried through the blinding sunshine. Amazingly, energy sang through her veins. Doing something was a hell of a lot better than moping and worrying.

Once safely through the parking lot, Nina cut across old man Rafferty's backyard and into the street of residences behind the shopping area. Julia lived just a few blocks over, and the huge old shade trees would prevent sunstroke since she'd forgotten her hat.

Julia looked surprised to see her but let Nina in without question. Along with the travel agency, Julia had once taught at the high school, too. After her husband's death, the life insurance policy had given her the freedom to try anything she wanted.

“First, I need to use your phone.” Familiar with Julia's house, Nina hurried toward the kitchen.

“Nina, have you been out in the sun too long? Here, let me get you a Coke.”

Nina accepted the glass as the phone rang in the sheriff's office.

“Hoyt, the Mercedes is parked in the alley between the pharmacy and Joe's. I didn't get the license plate, I'm sorry. It kind of startled me, and I ran.”

“Nina, I swear, if this is some sort of gag like the one the boys pulled last—”

“It's not a gag, Hoyt. I don't know what it is, but JD was afraid of that Mercedes. He went well out of his way to avoid it. It may be nothing. JD may have been a paranoid schizophrenic for all I know. I just know the blamed car followed me twice, and it's out there again. Do what you like, Hoyt.”

Nina slammed down the receiver and caught Julia's stare. Taking a swig of the soft drink, she thought quickly and found no easy answers.

“Just don't ask, Julia, 'cause I don't know. I need to get to Las Vegas as quickly as possible. How do I do it?”

“Why Las Vegas?”

Nina stopped with her glass in midsip and considered the question. Why Las Vegas? JD was from Los Angeles. He'd last been seen in Arizona. But Hoyt had said JD's uncle Harry lived in Las Vegas. JD had gone there, she had no doubt. She was insane. Whatever JD had was contagious. She was spending her life savings on a wild-goose chase.

“I just have to do it, Julia. Will you help me or not?”

“Well, if you want a cheap vacation, you chose the right spot. There're all kinds of inexpensive tour packages to Las Vegas. Of course, if you mean to gamble your savings for funds for that garden of yours, you'd better have your lucky rabbit's foot with you.”

Julia strode into the dining parlor as she talked. Nina followed and gaped in amazement at the array of computer equipment distributed around the room. Had JD known about this place, he'd have moved in here.

“When did you get all this stuff?” Nina asked, but she half knew the answer. Julia had no family, no children. She never used the formal dining room for meals. She'd just accumulated years of expensive toys in here.

“I bought the big computer when I started the agency. I still have the 800 hookup. I'll check on air packages for you.”

“You can do that? On the computer?”

Julia sat down and switched on the set. “Sure. I can check times, availability, and book your tickets. I don't have the agency system anymore, but there's a place on the Web that isn't much different.”

Nina watched in awe as Julia drew up airline schedules, hotel packages, and car rentals. “Will you want a car?” Julia asked idly as she clicked her way through the selections.

“I don't know. Can I take a taxi from the airport?”

“Sure. I'll give you a list of the cheapest car rentals in case you change your mind.”

A printer spit out a professional itinerary, listing flights, hotel confirmation numbers, and prices. Nina's rising excitement took a nosedive when she read the figures, but it was only money. And Julia had said these were the cheapest rates.

“This hotel won't be some kind of dive, will it?” Nina had some experience in hotel rates, at least. This one seemed amazingly low.

“It's one of the best on the strip, with a four-star rating. You might end up in a back room with a view of the roof, but it's in the center of everything.”

The center of everything. Las Vegas wasn't Madrid. She couldn't stand in the center of the street and yell for JD to come out and play as the kids did here. How the hell would she find him in a place like Vegas? She didn't even know if he was there. She had definitely lost her marbles.

But she couldn't stay here and listen to Helen's plans for selling her dream. She couldn't play hide- and-seek with a mysterious Mercedes forever. And she couldn't bear doing nothing when, for all she knew, JD had disappeared into cyberspace.

She could be sensible, though. She would call Jimmy MacTavish and tell him where she would be. Maybe by the time she arrived, he'd have some word of JD, and she could just have the best and only vacation of her life instead.

Maybe she would play the slot machines and make her fortune.

Maybe she should just buy a lottery ticket and stay home.

The dry, hot air of Vegas didn't faze Nina as she rolled her one suitcase through the sliding glass doors and out to the taxi stand. Even the airport hadn't been the hectic, crowded experience she'd feared. The rather laid-back atmosphere had given her time to look around and adapt to her surroundings.

The taxis, however, terrified her. She'd heard all the horror stories about taxis. Admittedly, most of them had been about New York taxis, but the same rules could apply. She had little experience in dealing with rude people.

Taking a deep breath, she threw her suitcase into the first cab in line and named her hotel.

“Hey, I heard they got a great show in there,” the driver informed her as the car squealed away from the curb. “You ain't one of the new performers, are ya? Ya look like one. A dancer, I bet. How do ya balance the fancy headdresses with all the feathers?”

Nina let out her breath and laughed at her silly fears. A dancer! A taxi driver thought she was a dancer and not some poky schoolteacher from the outback of nowhere. Marvelous! Maybe she'd take on a new persona. The foolishness hid some of her anxiety.

With the same kind of questions she used to draw out her students, Nina had the talkative driver telling her everything he knew about Las Vegas. He told her who owned which hotels, which ones were reportedly Mafia, the best places to eat, the best shows to see, and how to increase her odds on the slots.

The wealth of information she acquired was cheaper than a guidebook, Nina decided as she handed the driver some of her few precious twenties when they reached the hotel. Julia had advised her not to bother with travelers' checks and to carry plenty of ones. If she thought of spending them as buying information instead of the exorbitant cost of traveling a few miles, she might not expire at the extravagance.

Palm trees and vivid gardens held Nina's attention as the taxi drove off, but before she'd looked her fill, a bellhop ran to claim her suitcase. Unwilling to lose sight of her bag, she chased after it—straight into the first circles of hell.

Bells clamored. Sirens screamed. Red, blue, and green lights flashed blindingly through a smoky dusk. Disoriented by the sensory bombardment, Nina staggered onward. Cascades of coins jangled into metal trays. Zombies in shorts and sequins manipulated flashing machines that whizzed and whirled so fast, her eyes crossed just watching. Surely this was hell. These people couldn't really want to live like this.

She couldn't stand it. Panicking, Nina searched wildly for the bellhop, the lobby, any island of sanity in this swirl of sensation. Surely she'd landed in the devil's hands.

The bellhop led her to a room fastidiously decorated in southwestern colors. With the draperies closed against the afternoon sun and the air-conditioning blasting out cold air, it had the effect of an icy desert. Nina dug in her purse and handed the bellhop a dollar and breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind him. She needed time to reorient herself again.

She flipped a switch that lit the shiny chrome and tile bathroom. The huge mirror encompassing the wall over the sink reflected her haggard image, and she grimaced before surveying the counter. Hair dryer, coffeepot, a basket of little coffee, sugar, and creamer packets. What would they think of next? Everything glass-enclosed and hermetically sealed and electronically wired. Scary.

She picked through the basket of amenities, latching onto one called “aloe skin refresher.” She was paying for all this luxury. She might as well take advantage of it. Patting the moisturizer on her face, she searched for the thermostat. A person could become a Popsicle in here.

She couldn't find the thermostat, but she found the room service menu. It fell open to a page listing the various wines and champagnes available. Just what she needed right now: a bucket of ice and champagne. Maybe she could add to her list of new experiences and get bombed. The idea almost appealed.

The telephone had enough buttons to fly an airplane. Discouraged, Nina flopped backward on the king-size bed, testing it for bounce. It had none. A flickering memory of JD leaning over her on a bed half this size drove her back to her feet again. JD would know how to use that phone to full effect. JD would know how to use the damned bed even better.

Damn, but she didn't want to think about that.

She escaped to the bathroom to make some sense of her image, but she wasn't certain it was worth the effort once she got there. She rested her forehead against the cool glass of the bathroom mirror and tried assembling the scattered remains of her brain. The exhausting cross-country flight, the sensory assault of the casino, and the strain of coping with so many new experiences had drained and exhausted her.

For the life of her, she couldn't remember why she'd come. She must have suffered a temporary bout of insanity. Was there any way she could scream “Stop the train, I want to get off”?

Maybe if she went back outside among the palm trees and the flowers, she could get her head back together again.

That idea brought a new spurt of energy. A vacation. She just had to look at this as a vacation. She needed to throw off the shell of the woman she had been and return as the woman she wanted to be, as soon as she figured out who she wanted to be. A vacation was a good start. One step at a time.

Not acknowledging the myriad worries chasing through her overworked mind, Nina hurriedly discarded the wraparound skirt and blouse she'd traveled in. Julia had advised shorts and casual clothes. Nina didn't own many, and she figured her favorite bib jean shorts wouldn't look right in a city. So she'd packed a pretty pair of pastel blue cuffed shorts and a matching T-shirt she'd bought for the Opryland trip and hadn't worn since. Aunt Hattie had thought they looked nice.

The little frill at the neckline looked childish, and she didn't like exposing her legs so much in front of strangers, but Nina was beyond caring at the moment. She needed to be outside in the sun and out of the hellish gloom of the hotel. Hell wouldn't be fire. It would be the dark cold gloom of air-conditioned rooms without windows.

Outside by the pool, Nina took a deep breath of hot desert air and let the sun fry her head for a while. She'd forgotten her hat. She supposed she could charge one. It would make a nice souvenir. She'd be happier if she could take JD home as a souvenir.

There weren't sufficient trees and flowers around the pool to satisfy her craving for nature. She needed to brave the casino again so she could reach the oasis out front. She'd seen waterfalls and a lagoon when she arrived. They struck her as fairly incongruous on a city street, but she'd take what she could get.