Ink Flamingos (15 page)

“Hey, Sylvia,” I said. “Is Jeff around?”

“Right here, dear. I understand you’ve got yourself in another pickle.”

Understatement of the year. I decided to downplay it. “Not so much,” I said. It was sort of true. At least this time I hadn’t found any bodies myself.

“Kavanaugh?” Jeff had taken the phone.

I launched right into it, telling him about how Ainsley Wainwright was dead and I had to go to the MGM and I couldn’t go alone and could he possibly come over and give me a little escort in a couple hours?

I heard a chuckle. “Can’t live without me, can you, Kavanaugh?”

I was beginning to seriously regret this. Maybe I
should
have asked Harry. He would’ve willingly gone along. Problem was, I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. I’d most definitely been on that road last night, since the man could kiss better than anyone I’d kissed in a long time. Even Colin Bixby. But despite the obvious physical attraction, there wasn’t much else there. While back in college I might have gone for the superficial relationship, I didn’t want to do that now. Regardless of what Colin Bixby thought.

So, better to regret calling Jeff and asking him to be my escort than regret something a little more serious with Harry.

“I really only need a ride,” I said, a little more snippily than I should have since I was asking him a favor.

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’ll be there.” And he hung up.

Again without saying good-bye.

 

I had asked Bitsy not to tell anyone where I was going. I didn’t want Joel to feel slighted, and I was afraid Harry would try to convince me he was the best person to come with me. But when Jeff showed up, it raised a few eyebrows.

Harry looked at him like he was sizing up the competition. Great.

Jeff gave him a short nod. I’d had my jean jacket and bag waiting at the front desk, so I grabbed them and I almost made it out before I heard Joel say, “Where are you going?”

I’d had my hand on the door, but paused. “Jeff’s giving me a ride,” I said simply, wishing I could give him more of an answer. I’d tell him the whole story tomorrow, I promised myself as Jeff and I slipped out.

“Surprised to see Harry there,” Jeff said as we turned the corner around the canal, a gondolier singing to his tourist passengers.

“Why?”

“Well, after last night and all.”

I felt my face flush. He kept talking, as though he didn’t notice.

“Asked around about Harry. He’s feeding you a line about being unemployed.”

“I knew it,” I said. “I knew something was up when I saw all that money in his wallet. Where’s he working?”

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Here and there. Harry’s got a pretty good gig for himself. He does tattoo parties.”

I frowned.

“You know, Kavanaugh. Like Tupperware. Except instead of some plastic container, everyone gets a tattoo.”

T
hat’s why he could hang out all day at my shop. Harry was working nights, going to parties and tattooing people, making a mint, apparently.

“Why wouldn’t he tell us about that, though?” I asked.

“Maybe he didn’t want you to think he was any sort of competition.” Jeff snorted. “Not that he is. I can’t imagine who’s hiring him to do these parties. They’re obviously not asking for references.” Jeff had started walking toward the exit again.

“Maybe he’s gotten better,” I ventured.

“And maybe you don’t have an impostor,” he said.

“You really hate him, don’t you?”

“He’s young and arrogant and a lousy tattooist.”

“Don’t hold back,” I said.

Jeff pushed the door open and we stepped outside at the front of the Venetian, the Doge’s Palace rising to our left, Madame Tussauds wax museum at the far end of the bridge that crossed yet another canal. We must have taken a wrong turn, because we weren’t in the self-parking garage.

“Valet,” Jeff said simply, reading my mind as he handed the bellman a ticket.

We moved to the side as we waited, watching the other hotel and casino guests coming and going, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I was still reeling from finding out about Harry’s party gigs. I’d done that a couple times, back in Jersey, to make a little extra cash. Usually, though, only one or two people at the party actually wanted to get a tattoo. I think they liked the
idea
of attending a tattoo party so they could tell their friends. I didn’t much see the point in going if you weren’t going to get tattooed, but as long as someone was willing, I made money, so I wasn’t going to quibble.

It was taking a long time for the valet to get Jeff’s Pontiac. I glanced over at the doors when they opened again.

Harry was coming out. He hadn’t looked in our direction, just kept going straight, so he didn’t see us. I tapped on Jeff’s arm and cocked my head.

“Where’s he going?” I wondered.

“Only one way to find out,” Jeff said, taking a step toward the driveway. At just that moment, the orange Pontiac slid to a stop in front of us. The valet got out, holding the keys out to Jeff, who shook his head. “Sorry, but can you take it back?”

The valet looked confused, but Jeff pushed the keys at him. “We’ll be back,” he said as he indicated I should follow him to see where Harry was headed.

Harry hadn’t even looked behind him, and we stayed far enough back so even if he did, he might not notice us. We passed the Walgreens and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, where a kid was standing with parrots on his shoulders as a photographer snapped his picture. Just as he did, one of the birds let loose all over the back of the kid’s shirt.

Jeff let out a snort of laughter but didn’t stop.

Harry was walking as if he were on a mission. Didn’t look one way or the other, just straight ahead. Not like me. Every time I saw a camera flash, I flinched, my eyes skirting around to make sure nothing was aimed at me. Since I hadn’t noticed the night before, I wasn’t sure how I’d see it this time, but at least I wasn’t drunk on absinthe now.

I was getting tired. We passed Harrah’s, the sounds of the casino spilling out onto the street, and the Imperial Palace, which didn’t look like much since you had to walk down a sort of alleyway to get to the entrance. It was one of the older casinos, but I’d been there a while back to see the poor man’s Cirque du Soleil: Matsuri, a Japanese acrobatic show that also had a magic act.

I wondered if we were walking to the MGM. Would’ve been easier on the feet if we’d taken the monorail.

But just as I thought we’d be walking forever, Harry veered left.

The entrance overhang was studded with lights. We hung back a little as Harry went inside and then up the escalator. When he was about halfway up, we followed.

It was the Flamingo. One of my favorite hotels and casinos because it still had that old-time feel to it, the feel of old Vegas, when Frank and Dean and the rest of the Rat Pack were kings and Bugsy Siegel felt this city in the desert was worth building and even dying for.

The black-and-white tiled floor reminded me of my grandmother’s bathroom back in Jersey, and the bronze statue of the flamingo stood sentry just above the steps that led down to the casino floor.

Harry was walking through the casino, not paying any more attention to the table games or slot machines than he had to the people on the sidewalk outside. Where was he going?

We had our answer when we saw him push the glass doors open to the outdoor aviary. Somehow I didn’t think he was here to check out the real pink flamingos that lived in the little watery alcove.

But maybe he was. Harry stopped on the footbridge overlooking the flamingos and leaned his elbows on the railing, watching the birds. Jeff touched my arm and indicated I should fall back, and we moved to the right, so Harry wouldn’t see us if he turned around.

“What’s he doing?” I whispered.

Jeff shrugged.

“Why are we following him anyway?” While it seemed like a no-brainer back at the Venetian, the question had started to nag at me.

“You wanted to know more about him,” Jeff whispered.

Okay, so it was
my
fault that my flats had given me blisters.

I was about to say something snarky when Harry suddenly straightened up and turned, not toward us, but in the opposite direction. It looked as though he was about to greet someone, but right at that moment, a wedding party moved in between us. The bride was decked out in a flowing white dress and long veil, four giggling bridesmaids in pink taffeta clung to each other, and a groom and three other young guys in tuxedos surrounded them.

I tried to see through them to whomever it was Harry was greeting, but all I caught was a flash of blond hair and a pair of jeans.

“Is he meeting up with a girl?” I asked, realizing that Jeff couldn’t see any more than I could and he’d shifted a little to the right to try to get a better view.

Jeff shrugged. “Can’t tell, but I think so.”

So maybe she hadn’t seen the blog pictures of Harry and me. After a second of feeling resentful that my boyfriend broke up with me because of Harry, I realized that Harry had been stepping out, too.

“Wonder who she is,” I muttered.

“Jealous?” Jeff gave me a wink, and I knew he was teasing.

The wedding party had paused to take some pictures against the backdrop of the flamingo lagoon, but Harry and the blonde walked a little farther down the path, past the little ducks and birds and pheasants that were wandering on the grass, toward the fountain. Because night had fallen and their backs were to us, we still couldn’t make out the girl’s features. Jeff and I sidestepped a few people, trying to stay far enough behind so they wouldn’t notice us following them.

“This is ridiculous,” I finally said when another couple stepped between us in front of the little waterfall that provided a backdrop for wedding pictures. The flamingo logo of the resort was strategically placed for advertising purposes. “Why are we doing this, anyway? So he’s meeting up with a girlfriend. Big deal.”

Jeff nodded. “You may be right.”

“I know I’m right.”

He studied my face for a second, a grin spreading wide. “Is it tiring being right all the time?”

I slugged him on the arm and turned around, wincing slightly as the newfound blister caught on the leather of my shoe. Socks are underrated.

Suddenly, I felt Jeff’s hand on my arm, tight, stopping me. He cocked his head back toward Harry.

The twosome was becoming a threesome.

I froze.

Ace van Nes, my employee, was laughing as he approached them. He held a case that I recognized. It was the case he used for his tattoo equipment.

I
could put two and two together. All that time at the shop and the oxygen bar clearly had created a friendship and possibly more. With Jeff’s information about Harry’s tattoo parties, it seemed likely that Ace was moonlighting with Harry.

I wanted to think that I paid him enough so he wouldn’t need to do that. And anyway, what was up with all his whining about how tattooing was not his life’s calling, that he was so frustrated as an artist because he couldn’t express himself the way he wanted?

I took a step toward them, but felt Jeff’s hand holding me back.

I could see in his face that he’d drawn the same conclusion I had, but he was shaking his head.

“They can’t know we’re following them,” he said softly. “How would we explain that? You can talk to Ace tomorrow about this.” And he indicated I should follow him back toward the building.

Once safely inside and definitely out of sight, I let out a deep breath. “That was something I didn’t expect.”

“You can talk to him tomorrow,” Jeff said again. “We’ve got to get to the MGM.”

But we were without a car now.

Jeff was reading my mind. “We can pick up the monorail here at the Flamingo,” he said. “It’ll take us straight to the MGM.”

I’d been on the Las Vegas Monorail before. It ran back and forth between the MGM and the Sahara, stopping occasionally. More and more people were taking it these days, but it was still mostly tourists.

There were enough people so we couldn’t sit down, but had to hold on to the silver poles in the middle of the car. It reminded me—sort of—of the New York subway, but it was a tad too clean. I noticed Jeff was checking out a girl standing close to him, long blond tresses, tasteful makeup, a tight red dress that left nothing to the imagination. Was that his type? I looked down at my own jeans and black T-shirt with the skull, my tattoos bleeding down my arms. Couldn’t be more different.

Jeff caught me watching him, but instead of looking surprised, he merely winked.

I made a face at him and turned toward the guy next to me, a white kid who had aspirations to be a black rapper, wearing a wife-beater T, jeans hanging precariously around his hips, strands of gold “bling” around his neck. I bet this guy grew up in the white suburbs somewhere, had never been in a ’hood in his life.

He caught me looking at him and a leer crossed his face.

I had to stop paying attention to people. It was safer to be oblivious.

The monorail slowed at the Bally’s/Paris stop. I could see the tip of the Eiffel Tower from the window, all lit up like a Christmas tree. I imagined the real thing, and wished I were there, away from all this. Would I be a coward if I left town now?

I felt the slight jolt as the monorail began to move again, and because I’d shifted my feet a little, I fell against the white rapper guy. I felt his hand cup my ass and I jerked away, my face growing hot with anger.

Before I could say anything, Jeff had the guy by the scruff of his shirtfront and had lifted him to his tiptoes.

“That’s not a way to treat a lady,” he growled in the guy’s face, which was now even whiter with fear.