Romance in Vegas - Showgirl! (15 page)

The next morning, Lefty brought in the
newspaper at eight o'clock like he usually did.

"No comments forthcoming?" Al asked him.

"Boss," Lefty began, "I don't think you want
to look at those."

"Have to take the bad with the good, my
friend." Al pulled out the first one. Entertainment section said,
'Where was Scaletti?' The second one said, 'This Woman can
Dance...Alone.' And the third, an even worse, 'Scorned Dani Dances
at Clubs to Forget.'

"What happened, boss?" Lefty asked him,
sitting across from him at the desk.

Al rubbed his face, looking at the pictures
of Dani dancing wildly with a man, her hair fanning out as she
crouched, and one picture had even caught her in a spin. "She's
young. Kim's been around the block a few times. It's not too bad of
a combination, under certain circumstances. I think they both just
were carried away."

He sighed. "I need to know she loves me,
Lefty. And not just when she's in a drunken stupor either. She
needs to come to me with love in her heart."

His eyes took on a far away look as he
searched the skyline. "I never had this problem with Clarice. I was
always confident in her love, secure in her love. She never
questioned or second guessed me..." his voice trailed off.

Lefty just sat, nodding.

Chapter 13

Al stopped at the cage just before
nine-thirty. "How's it going?" he asked Marie.

She stepped outside to talk to him. "Nothing
yet. Vito's been around a lot, which I don't mind at all."

He smiled at her. "Good. Nothing to
report?"

"No. I'd let you know right away, Al."

In surveillance, they had just finished
watching the soft count, and Robert's eyes were blurry. He rubbed
them, and shook his head. "Les, can you order us some coffee? I'm
dying here."

He offhandedly watched Vito open the deposit
and recount it. Nothing unusual, he thought as his eyes strayed to
other monitors.

Earlier that morning, about nine, he'd
watched Dani carefully open her door, and jump as it slammed shut.
Then, she'd made her way carefully down the hallway. "Poor baby,"
he'd said to himself. He'd had hangovers too.

Al walked into the theater, loosened his tie
which he felt constantly choked by, and sat in his usual seat. The
women came out one by one, flashing him big smiles, striding along,
and he smiled. Until Dani came out. He thought she actually looked
a bit green around the gills and he had to fight to keep a straight
face. She weaved a bit, before he said, "You look a bit unsteady
today, Miss Dani. Will you be all right for the show tonight?"

She gave him a quick dirty look, then spun
and walked to the edge of the stage. Then he couldn't suppress his
smile as Kim also weaved across the stage. But he said nothing,
just tried to cover his mouth with one hand.

Lunchtime brought Dani and Kim, just staring
warily at the lunches on their plate they'd picked to eat. "Maybe
some fruit?" Dani asked weakly.

Kim lit a cigarette. "I'm never drinking
again. Not me. Never again, Sugar."

The pull team joined them, Maude, Linda,
Freddy and Michael.

Dani asked them, "So, did you find out who's
stealing yet?"

"Like we really have time for that," Maude
said, pushing back her gray hair as she lit a cigarette.

Michael was quickly eating his scrambled
eggs.

Dani asked him, "How about you, Michael? What
do you think?"

"I think Scaletti should get off my fucking
back and look to his General Manager."

They all looked at each other in
amazement.

"Mike," Freddy said patiently, "what are you
talking about?"

"Figure it this way," Michael continued,
"he's the only one with pockets in there. And he's the only one who
counts and recounts the deposits. I'm tellin' you it's him. He's
probably been ripping Scaletti off for years."

"No way," Linda said emphatically, smoothing
her dark hair, "with what he makes? I don't think so."

Michael stared at her heatedly. "Dumb
bitch."

"Mike," Freddy said, punching his arm,
"apologize."

But, Linda was checking out her arm bruises
again, and seemed to be impervious to the abuse.

"You look nice with eye make-up," Dani told
her. "I really like that smoky look; maybe you could show me how
you do it."

"Hey, thanks," Linda said. "Anytime. That's a
real compliment coming from you."

"It's the truth," Dani said with a warm
smile.

Teeny sat watching Dani with the team, and
he'd noticed her, day after day, making friends in the casino from
the change girls to the cage cashiers, to the pull team and
security guards. He really thought she had made more connections
within the casino that he even had on the outside. She had flair,
style, that certain something that people warmed up to. He liked
her a lot, and wished his boss would get his head up out of his ass
and make his move with Dani before someone else did.

In a bar in downtown Vegas, Lorali sealed the
deal with the somewhat disheveled man in front of her. "Clean
yourself up. Here's a hundred. When you've done the thing, get out
fast, or I don't know you at all. Got it?"

He eyed the hundred dollar bill hungrily,
then nodded and grabbed it.

She knew he needed the money. She also knew
he wouldn't clean himself up with it. He just needed gambling
money. She added, "And if you don't do the thing tonight, like I
told you to do, I'll send Scaletti's men after you. Are we clear on
that?" Her eyes narrowed to slits.

He nodded nervously, and stuffed the bill in
his pocket.

After the second rehearsal, Dani walked into
her suite, weary and still nauseated. She munched on some crackers
for a minute and felt better. At least housekeeping had come in and
cleaned up the remnants of last night. She drank ice water
thirstily, before she saw the new red roses they delivered in her
absence. Inhaling their fragrance, she looked at the card. It was
blank.

Wondering what that meant, she punched up his
number.

"Yes?" he said impatiently.

She was silent for a few seconds. "I just
wanted to apologize to you and thank you for your help last
night."

"You sure you'll be all right for the
performances tonight?"

Hearing concern in his voice, she said with
more confidence than she felt, "Of course. Rehearsals went well.
I'll be fine."

"You know we can always ax the wild dance at
eleven if you aren't feeling up to it."

"No, really. I'm fine."

"All right," he said shortly, "see you after
the show." And the phone went dead in her ear.

The nine o'clock show went well, and was now
almost as crowded as the eleven 'wild dance' showing.

Dani sat talking to Kim between shows. They
were both still in costume and sat carefully on two stools.

Kim asked her, "So what did you guys do
yesterday?"

"Oh, we went for a hike on the hiking trail
up there. Really pretty, we saw a lot of birds. So, when is Tony
coming back?"

Kim smiled widely. "Tomorrow."

"Serious?"

"Yeah. I did Al a little favor a while back
and I think he's repaying me. Although, rolling forward, I'm still
not sure if it will work or not. That's a lot of distance."

"Well, there's always the phone sex thing."
Not that Dani knew anything about it, but she'd heard it
mentioned.

Kim looked thoughtful. "Guess it would be
better than nothing." Her phone rang. "It's him," she said, as she
walked around the corner into the hallway.

"Can I help you?" she said in a sweet
voice.

"I need you," he said simply.

"Oh, baby. You've got it bad," she joked.

"I'm serious. Move here. I'll support
you."

"Right. Get serious."

"I am serious."

"I don't know, I've got some payback to do
with you and you also owe me."

"What do I owe you?"

"A good session of sex."

"We had that last time."

"I want another one."

"Okay," he sighed, "I'll just have to hit you
over the head and carry you on the plane with me then."

"Caveman."

"Bitch."

"Now we're getting somewhere."

The eleven o'clock showing started as usual
with the dancers posing, arms up, then winding down the
staircase.

As they lined up in back of her, Dani posed
then flipped off her shoes. The audience hooted at that, and again
when she threw her gloves backstage along with her headdress.

She began her wild dance, but as she twirled,
something appeared at the corner of her vision field.

As she stopped, arms up, a man came up from
the audience and quickly toppled her down on the floor. She heard a
cracking noise as she fell, along with shouts and pandemonium.

Al couldn't believe his eyes at first, and
sat frozen for seconds along with everyone in the theater.
"Guards!" he finally yelled, as he ran towards the stage.

As she sprinted in the same direction, Candy
shouted into her lapel radio, "Two-forty in theater, assistance
needed!"

Instinctively, she drew an impression of the
man as he ran offstage, "Foot pursuit, theater," she yelled, as she
zigzagged past the dancers clustering around Dani, "five-eight,
weight 180, black jacket, headed towards rear exit." She grew
breathless then, but kept going and pounded her way out the back
exit.

"No you don't, banana brain, you don't run
out on us," she muttered to herself, as she picked up her pace, and
sprinted over a box onto the dumpster, then over the fence, where
the man had run. She saw a flash of black flip around the corner
towards the street.

Finally almost catching up with him, she
yelled, "Freeze, asshole!" But he just kept running. With relief,
she saw Matt heading towards them from the street. The man was
trapped now. She drew her gun. "You call LVPD?" she asked Matt.

"Yeah, base called right away."

"Well," she said, gun still trained on him,
turning him around, "guess we'll just wait right here, won't we
dick-brain?"

Dani gazed at the top of the burgundy
curtain. She couldn't breathe. Wheezing, she finally took some air
in her lungs. Faces appeared in front of her, Adriene, Kim, Al, in
a strange procession, in and out, she heard vague noises, clicks,
and saw badges, guns.

Murmurs. Odd sounds. She couldn't quite make
it out.

But then a voice loudly said, "Dani? I'm a
paramedic, my name is Sam. Stay with me now, Dani. Don't go to
sleep okay?"

She breathed, while she began to close her
eyes.

"Dani...Sugar?" Kim's voice.

"Dani? You're doing okay now." Then to
someone else, he said, "Start a line, Hank."

She felt a needle pierce her hand, a
sting.

"Dani?"

"Be quiet," she told him, tired of hearing
his voice.

"I'll be quiet if you leave your eyes open,
how's that?"

Things came more into focus for her after
that. She felt herself being loaded slowly onto their gurney then
she was rolled out into the fresh air.

"Can't breathe, Al," she said as she stared
up at the top of the ambulance.

"Dani, Al said he'd meet you at the hospital.
Keep your eyes open now, sweetheart. Stay with us."

In the alley, Al strode up to the man held at
gunpoint, grabbed him by the collar, and punched him with all his
might. Then, as the man crumpled by his feet, he left for the
hospital.

"Holy shit," Candy breathed, watching the man
on the ground, "he knocked him out with one punch."

"Yeah," Matt said, "he's one of the good
guys. Guess this piece of shit resisted arrest. Right?"

Al arrived at the hospital five minutes after
Dani was rolled in. They wouldn't let him in to see her, so he
paced the hallway, up and back, up and back.

The doctor came out fifteen minutes later.
"Mr. Scaletti," he said, "she said you're a relative. You can go in
and see her if you want."

"How is she?"

"We still have to x-ray her. Appears to be a
broken rib. We'll let you know. Need to make sure it didn't
puncture the lung. Plus probably some bruises. I understand the man
just came onto the stage and tackled her? Is that right?"

Al nodded, as a muscle in his jaw
twitched.

"He knocked the wind out of her when he did
the tackle. She should be fine in four to six weeks. Ribs take a
while to heal. We gave her an injection for the pain, so she might
be a little sleepy. But, she should be okay to go home after we
read the x-ray."

"Home," Al said, "right." He nodded again,
and ran a hand through his hair.

Dani, he thought, looked like an angel, with
her long red hair trailing on the pillow and off from her face now.
Her eyes were closed, but her color was good and her breathing was
regular.

He immediately thought of Clarice.

Teeny's enormous bulk showed up in the
doorway. "'Ey. Told them I was her long lost fucking uncle. How's
she doin'?"

"She'll be fine," Al said with a confidence
he didn't feel.

Her hand came up to her face. "Al?" She
opened her green eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"What is it baby?" He kissed her cheek
tenderly.

A flash suddenly interrupted him, as a man
snapped their picture. Teeny turned to grab him, but the man dashed
off.

"Sorry, boss," he said, "didn't see him
comin'."

"They're like pesky little flies, my friend."
Then he turned back to Dani. "Where would you like to go when we
leave here? The doctor says we can leave in a while."

Smiling up at him wanly she said, "The house.
In the hills."