‘I decided I had my own limits when they set about me back in my room, Jeff. It’s not often a five-star hotel forcibly removes the guest of a local motel.’
‘I see.’
‘You’ll find them when we’re through here.’
‘We are through.’
Rader said, ‘You’ll know when we’re through.’
McDonald said nothing.
Rader said, ‘Who do you answer to here?’
‘I’m head of security and I work directly for Mr. Marquis.’
‘And Marquis knows about tonight?’
‘Not yet, but he soon will,’ McDonald said, his teeth showing beneath the salt-and-pepper moustache. ‘He likes to keep abreast of every last detail in his hotels. This is gonna loom long and large on his mind the rest of the night, and all through the day.’
The phone rang on the desk, McDonald glancing sideways at it. He glared again, the moustache crumpling against his nostrils. ‘You mind if I answer that?’
‘I do,’ Rader said.
McDonald turned as the phone kept ringing. When his hand moved towards the phone Rader put his arm across it.
‘Get your hand away from that phone before I put a bullet in it. Let it ring out.’
‘You’re only making this worse. People are gonna wonder where I’m at.’
‘That’s their problem.’
‘And it’ll be yours when they come to investigate.’
The ringing stopped.
Rader said, ‘Why did you send those two clowns to get me?’
McDonald faced Rader again, puffing his chest out. ‘That was a decision based on some intelligence we received.’
Rader said, ‘From who?’
‘From the hotel detectives. They see everything and deemed you worthy of scrutiny. It happens from time to time. And their instincts were correct.’
‘They ever get it wrong, like they did this time?’
‘They weren’t wrong this time. I already explained.’
Rader said, ‘I heard enough. I’m letting this go, for now.’
‘You expect me to thank you? Or was that a threat?’
Rader moved to the door and then stopped. ‘Here’s a threat. If you send anybody else looking for me at the motel, or anywhere else, I’ll come back here and take your head off your shoulders.’
McDonald blinked a few times before the lenses of his eyeglasses caught the light again, and all Rader got was two white orbs and a scowl.
Closing the door, and heading for the elevator, Rader remembered that he still had his gun. He would dispose of it with all the rest. As for right now, eyes would be on him. He rode the elevator car to a gray-brick corridor on level two, got out and found the stairs. Soon he heard music.
Keeping the .22 in his pocket, he headed for the first door he saw. It swung open into a broad passage lined with some cleaning products and a mop. The next door, straight ahead, swung towards him and a Latino lady in a dark suit, a lot of keys on a chain linked to her pants, came through, the casino music loud at her back. Rader felt her eyes on him; he moved straight past, into the casino.
The steakhouse, closed now, was on his right. The casino floor was emptier. Rader walked directly left, past the tables, to the piano bar. He kept it slow, nothing sudden, trotting up the stairs. A few couples were mingling near the bar. Kerri was on the opposite end, and her eyes were on him all the way.
‘I’m not the only person of interest around here,’ he said.
She eyed him up and down, once. Her smile was bright, and she didn’t blink, the purse tight in her fingers. ‘You left when things were getting interesting,’ she said. ‘Care to buy me another? It’s not too late.’
Rader stepped in close, said, ‘You can quit with that garbage, Kerri.’
Still smiling. ‘I don’t know what you—’
‘You see the hotel security standing around the casino? You won’t need to look far. Well I’ve just outed you, and that means your time is up at the Marquis Vanguard if you want to see the next hour.’
This time she said nothing.
‘I’m not supposed to be here, for various reasons,’ he said, glancing around, his eyes on a black guy in a suit, talking on a wrist mic. ‘And the fact that I am, and that it’s you I’m with, means we both have to get out in the next minute.’ Rader took her arm.
‘Let go of me.’
‘We’re leaving,’ he said. ‘You’ve got some explaining to do.’
‘I’m not going any place with you. Let go.’
Rader gestured back into the casino at two bulky, suited guys heading over. ‘You see that?’ he said. ‘They’re coming for us.’
‘That’s nothing to do with me.’
‘I’m leaving,’ he said, pulling harder on her lower arm as a third man joined them. Fanning out, two heading to one end of the bar, the third guy at the nearest side. ‘We’re leaving. You’re no good to me dead.’
She stared at him.
‘Can you run in these heels, Kerri? You’ll have to run fast and even then it might be too late.’
‘Shut up with that, will you? And how’d you even know my name?’
‘You’re never coming back here, unless it’s in disguise.’
‘Just, will you shut the hell up?’
‘You’re no good to me dead,’ Rader said again. ‘We got seconds left to get out.’
Now she stared from one end of the bar to the other: at both entrances, suited men were moving up the stairs.
Rader jerked on her arm. ‘Go,’ he said.
9
Rader moved towards the piano, stepping onto a low marble wall and barging through a display of plastic shrubs onto the casino floor. Kerri followed, running ahead in jerky steps on three-inch heels. Rader saw them coming: two men at each side, heading for her through the craps tables. He moved up behind, grabbing Kerri’s arm and pulling her off into the maze of slot machines.
The lobby entrance was thirty yards away. Rader cut left and reached the edge of the casino. The floor was the tiled mosaic now and Kerri kicked off her shoes before she left the carpet. Two more men rushed forward, one to the side of the doors, the other crossing the floor mosaic. Rader kept moving, slugging one and pulling a gun on the last man. Kerri was padding out in front, into the night, off through the cab line and across the lot.
For a few seconds he didn’t see her. Rader, hurrying out past the cabs, one driver yelling, looked around the entranceway.
‘Over here.’
She was waiting in the near distance by a fountain.
‘Where is it?’ Kerri said. ‘Where’s your car?’
‘Parked at the motel. Where’s yours?’
‘I don’t have one.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I got the bus here. It stops just outside on Domingo.’
Rader sprinted off, down past the other fountains to the darkened area and the fence. Kerri followed, arguing with herself, moaning. She stopped at the ripped section of fence, peering down at the debris scattered across the dirt.
‘You gotta be kidding me. I can’t walk on this.’
Rader didn’t answer, didn’t wait. He was already through, hurrying across to the other end, ducking under the opening and out onto the sidewalk. He moved through traffic towards the side street, into more darkness. Looked back just once and saw Kerri, ten paces behind, waiting for a chance to cross the road. Rader took a breath, putting the gun away.