Authors: Maddie Cochere
“Do you think we should go to the police?”
he asked.
“ No!” I kind of hissed it at him. “What if I didn’t see what I think I did? What if we drag the
police
out there
,
and
there’s no sign of a body or a murder
? I’m not going to bring that kind of attention to us, and I don’t want
to scare Mom and Dad. I say we
wait and see what happens.”
“Ok,”
he said, “but from here on out, you have to stay with me or your mom and dad at all times. Don’t go anywhere, not even to the bathroom, by yourself. I’ll get up with you on your workdays and make sure you get to the car.
Got it
?”
I nodded my head. We
needed
to get back to the table. I dashed into the ladies room and splashed cold water on my face. I brushed my hair, freshened my makeup, and left the restroom. Darby was still in the hallway waiting for me.
It had helped to talk with
him and tell him what I had seen. It would make it easier to put on a happ
y
face for my parents and attempt to
enjoy dinner.
Darby was holding my hand as we walked back to the table.
“Aw, you too are
so cute together,” Mom said as we slid into the booth again. “I wish
we
were getting you for a son-in-law, Darby.” She looked at me and said with a scolding tone, “Mick better be at least as great as Darby is, or I’m going to be upset.” Dad started chuckling.
“Mom,
” I said while holding back an irritated
sigh. “There’s no one like Darby, and that’s why he’s my best friend. Mick’s different. You’ll like him, too.”
“Oh, I’m just teasing you, honey,” she said. “Don’t be so sensitive. I’m sure we’ll like Mick just fine.”
Darby squeezed my hand under the table
,
while giving me
a
sympathetic
smile. He knew I was doing
all
I could to hold myself together. I
skimmed
my menu and forced myself to focus on something to eat. I had
skipped lunch
yet again,
and realized
I hadn’t
eaten anything
all day except half of my breakfast at
Eggs-travaganza!
That seemed like forever ago, and the newspaper stories from this morning were the least of my worries now.
The menu was fabulous. I drank a glass of the Riesling while I
contemplated
the offerings, and Darby quickly poured
a second glass
for me. Dad ordered a rib-eye steak,
while Mom ordered a tasting plate so
she could try several different items. Darby and I went right for the seafood with him ordering a char-grilled seafood platter, and me the New Orleans barbeque shrimp.
I was almost afraid I wouldn’t be able to eat when I spotted Dudley and his
presumed
wi
fe coming into the restaurant
. My stomach flopped over as
t
hey were seated at a table not too far from us. He caught my eye and tipped his hat to me before removing it from his head. My brain was too tired and too stressed to
make any attempt at
understand
ing
what his connection to any of this was – if there even was one.
Over dinner, Mom and Dad filled me in on the magic trick. Apparently, according to Fitch, I had been sent to the Las Vegas Zoo. In his attempts to bring me back, the box had yielded a baby brown bear, a very large snake, a duck, and a zookeeper. The last attempt before I reappeared brought four monkeys at one time. The monkeys had the a
udience laughing and
set the stage for my return. I didn’t know it, but the girl
who helped me up the ladder
had
stuck a duck feather in the back of my mussed hair
,
which added to the humor of my confusion. Dad couldn’t wait to get back home and tell Tom and Bitsy
about their nephew’s success
, and how I ended up being part of the act.
We
enjoyed the dinner conversation and the food. Darby and I had tried many of Emeril’s recipes at home, and they had been delicious, but our efforts couldn’t compare with the food we
were eating
. Darby and I
finished
the wine
after dinner,
while Mom and Dad split a piece of banana cream pie.
As we were leaving, we walked past Dudley’s table, and he looked directly at
me. I made eye contact
and gave him a cheeky salute as I walked by. I was certain I saw a surreptitious smile on his face. Who was this man, and what was he up to?
As we walked back toward the casino, Dad asked, “What do you think, Susan? Should we try our
luck
in the poker room?”
Darby nodded at me. The poker room was quieter than other areas of the casino
,
and there woul
d be no drama or confrontations
there
. Plus, Dad would unknowingly be watching over me.
“I’m up for it,” I told him. “Should we try a no limit Texas Hold ‘Em game and start with $1,000 in chips?” I gave Dad a mischievous smile.
“That’s my girl,” he said with a hearty laugh. He turned to Darby and Mom and said cheerfully, “We’ll see you two later.”
Darby gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, “I’ll look around if I can. You stay with your Dad, and don’t leave him for any reason.”
I nodded at him and waved
to
Mom, who was already running toward an open Betty Boop machine. I
hurried
off after Dad. I only had to wait
twenty
minutes for a seat at a table, and I noticed Dad was seated at the table next to mine about ten minutes later.
E
ight men and one other woman
were seated
at my table. I heard a couple of snarky comments when I sat down about a fish joining the table, but most of the
players
were cordial. The fish comm
ent was to alert the table
that
a bad player who wou
ld lose a lot of money had
joined the game.
I played the first few hands loosely. The dumb blonde act might work in my favor with a few of the players. Little by little, I tightened up my game. Aunt Charlotte and I had worked hard to have no tells in the game, and had worked even harder to make
up a few
to use for bluffing tactics.
When you know how to play the game
well
, it
mig
ht appear to another player
you’re getting
lucky cards or special treatment
. One of the younger players at the table sta
rted to whine to the dealer saying
I had been dealt cards to make three full houses in a row, even though they hadn’t actually been in a row. He demanded the dealer open a new deck of cards. He had a huge pile of chips, but the more he complained, the more he was losing.
Three hours later,
everyone was still at the table
, and the chips were mo
ving back and forth rapidly between players
. I had my own huge stack of chips now
,
and was looking to take one of the bigger pots when it came around again.
I watched the whiner lo
ok at the two cards he had
been dealt. His twitch and furtive loo
k around the table told me
he had picked up something he liked. A couple of other players
also gave promising tells
. I
slighted lifted my two cards to peek at them.
I had been dealt the jack and queen of hearts. There would be some action on this hand. The flop came and produced the ten of hearts, the king of clubs, and the ten of clubs. The turn card came and was the king of hearts. The pot had already swelled to several thousand dollars with raises and re-raises. The whiner’s twitch went crazy for a second when the turn card was revealed. He probably had kings and, at least, a full house now. All I could hope for was a royal flush. I had to continue bluffing and hope for the final card on the river.
Five
people
were still
in the
pot, and we went through another round of raises and re-raises. It was time for the river card . . . and it was the Ace of Hearts. I didn’t flinch, not even the tiniest bit. One of the men started to stroke his nose, and I knew the river card hit something in his hand. When it came to me, I pushed all of my chips toward the center of the table and said, “All in.”
The complainer smiled. He was sure I was bluffing. Two people folded. The man stroking his nose matched my chips of $2800. The complainer shoved in his $2800. It was time for the showdown. The nose stroker showed a full house with aces high. The complainer didn’t even wait to see my hand, he stood up and yelled, “Yeah, baby!” and threw his hand down on the table. He had four kings. He did several celebratory fi
st pumps by his chair, and
turned to claim the pot. I had quietly turned over my cards. It took a few
seconds for him to realize
I had the royal flush.
To say the complainer went ballistic would be an understatement. He went full tilt and turned on the dealer accusing her of palming cards to deal hands to me. It
quickly became
ugly, and he had to be escorted from the room
by security
. I glanced at Dad as I stacked the chips from the pot
;
he was grinning from ear to ear. The pot was $12,100.
It was nearly 1:00 A.M., and
the
pot seemed to bust the table. Everyone gathered up their chips, jackets, and personal belongings
,
and headed out of the room. I stayed where I was and waited for Dad to finish his hand.
As soon as we left
, we made a
fast
stop at the casino cage to cash in our chips. I finally broke down and deposited most of my cash in
a safety deposit box
. Dad had won almost $300 at his table, and he was comfortable to keep his winnings to date in his wallet.
We strolled
around the casin
o
looking
for Mom and Darby, and
found them sitting in the food court in front of Starbucks
. They were
drinking
caramel macchiatos and
snacking on
chocolate cinnamon bread. We sat down to tell them about our evening. They were shocked and excited when Dad told them about my big poker win. They had won money playing slots, but Mom said
“
it wasn’t anything to get excited over
.
”
As exhilarated as I was over the poker game, I had to stifle a yawn. It had been a long and emotional day.
“It’s late, and Susan’s going to go to sleep right here, if w
e don’t get her upstairs
soon,” Darby said with a chuckle.
He popped the last piece of
bread in his mouth, washed it down with the last of his
macchiato
, and stood up. He
held
his hand out to me and said, “Come on, Susan. Your dad can keep your mom company while she finishes up.” He didn’t have to ask twice.
We didn’t talk
on the elevator ride
.
As soon as we entered the room,
I grabbed my pajamas and headed for the bathroom to wash my face, brush my teeth, and change my clothes. I climbed into bed, and struggled to stay awake until Darby
came
out of the bathroom and
climbed
into his bed.
He turned the lights out, and
I whispered softly, “Are you awake?”
“Yep,” he replied in a normal voice. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I do,” I told him. “I haven’t had time to think very h
ard about it, and I want to
remember the details.”
“
Ok,” he said, “but first,
when you and your dad went to play poker, I wal
ked around the hotel
. I saw your Dudley character. He was in t
he restaurant
, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.” I nodded my head even though he couldn’t see me.
“He was easy to spot from your descrip
tion.” I heard him chuckle
. “He did seem to be just hanging around as though he were watching someone or something. I didn’t see anyone else
who
seemed
suspicious, but I really didn’t know who or what I was looking for. And, I think I found the place where you opened the door.
It was dark
, and
even though it wasn’t far from the main entrance, it was a
secluded
area. I looked around, but there wasn’t anything to see
. No body, no apparent blood stains that I could make out. Nothing. Do you think you could have been mistaken?”