Page 21 of In the Nick of Time
Fucking sunshine.
“What happened earlier?” Doug asked again.
Nick pretended to misunderstand him. “Well,” he said slowly, “I slept later than I expected to. Sorry about that. Hey, we really need to see if we can find some food for Tim. I don’t know how long that hay I brought will last. And we should probably get him out for a walk. Do tortoises need walks? What if housekeeping finds him?”
“Nice try. What did you do to keep me from being hit by the Humvee?”
A gusty sigh escaped Nick. Doug did not watch his lips.
“Nothing?” There was a hopeful tone to his voice.
Doug shook his head. “It wasn’t nothing.”
“Nothing, really? I just saw you falling and thought that’s a bad idea. I can’t explain it, I just focused on it beingbeforeand then it was enough earlier that I was able to grab your arm instead of you clumsily falling into the street. What was up with that anyway? You should probably order one of those balance boards to keep your joints healthy so you don’t fall. Did you know that more seniors end up in care facilities from falling than from anything else?”
Doug gave up. But he had also sort of gotten the answer he’d been looking for. And Nick was deflecting again, which meanthe wasn’t going to get much more out of him. He was slowly starting to decode Nick Sedgewick.
“Let’s wander down toward The Ace of Clubs before we meet my contact. And before you say anything, we’ll stop at one of the stores along the way for your damn candy.”
Daylight did nothing for the club. The entrance was ratty, the sidewalk in front of it strewn with litter. The revealing glare of sunlight did nothing for Las Vegas as a whole; it was a city better experienced in darkness, when the carefully placed neon lights only lit what they were supposed to.
There was no bouncer at the club’s door, and when Doug and Nick poked their heads inside, they were informed by the cleaning staff that it didn’t open for another few hours.
“Now it’s time for me to meet Wizard.”
Doug repressed a sigh. He really didn’t want to see Wizard. He didn’t like him and he didn’t trust him. But, needs must.
The meeting placewas near the Eiffel Tower. With all the people milling around and acting like they really were in Paris, Doug was going to be lucky if he managed to find the semi- retired SPAM agent while not losing track of Nick.
“Who are we meeting again?” his partner asked between sips of coffee and spicy candy.
“An older guy—older than me, just to be clear. And it’s me who’s meeting him. You stay out here.”
There was no way Doug wanted Wizard meeting Nick. Doug didn’t trust the guy as far as he could throw him, which, considering things, was likely fairly far.
“So far, Vegas is nothing but older folks and families. Mostly. How am I supposed to learn anything if you don’t let me tag along?”
“Ah, there he is.”
With Nick behind him, Doug made a beeline for a Vegas-style hole-in-the-wall bar tucked into a corner of the underground pedestrian area. The place wasn’t a real hole-in-the-wall, it just looked like one, and the drinks were going to be much, much, more expensive than the real thing.
“You,” he said to Nick, “wait here. Do not move. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.”
“Monopoly is a dumb game,” Nick said to Doug’s back, but he stayed put. Doug watched Nick’s reflection in a plate glass window as he leaned back against an out-of-the-way archway that was supposed to be the opening to a crypt or something like that.
Inside the bar, Doug stopped next to a small, round, faux marble-topped table where a pudgy man sat at a slant, alone. He wore a pale blue track suit with white sneakers and had some sort of icy drink in front of him.
“Steven.” Doug kept his hands in his pockets.
Doug had no doubt that Wizard had tried to find out what he could about Agent Sedgewick before the meeting, but he preferred Steven Marks to feel a little off-kilter. If he wondered where Doug’s partner was, that was good.
“Have a seat.” Marks waved toward the empty chairs at the table.
As if Doug would sit at a table with Steven Marks anywhere near it. He did his best to shove aside memories of that awful day three years ago, but the surprise and shock in Todd’s too quickly dimming eyes slipped past his mental barriers.
Motherfucker.
“I’m not staying.”
