Page 32 of In the Nick of Time
“He put his hand on you and then what?”
“He just weirdly stared at me for a few seconds. I shook him off, and you know the rest.”
“What did he look like? Would you recognize him again?”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “I mean, this is Vegas, so anything goes, right? But he seemed out of place. Or maybe out of time? He was maybe five eight, five nine. Not skinny, not fat. He wore a suit. Black, looked tailored to me, but he seemed uncomfortable in it, like it didn’t fit quite right somehow. No rings or jewelry that I saw, but his shoes were nice and he wore a hat. Like an old-timey mobster-style hat.”
“Huh.” Doug appreciated how observant Nick was. He tended to notice things that Doug didn’t, an excellent skill for a partner.
“Admittedly, I’ve seen hipster types wearing those hats lately, but he did not strike me as a hipster.”
“Agent Carroll has not yet been located,”the voice informed Doug.
Them,Doug mentally corrected. Nick hovered behind Doug, listening to the call.
Fuck. Esther had been there for him when Rich and he went their separate ways, literally. Doug wasn’t proud that he’d downed an entire bottle of Tito’s after Rich drove away with the last of his things packed into his trunk, but Esther had sat through it with him and stuck around to help him clean up the mess.
“Agent Carroll hinted that she was meeting with someone, but she was secretive as to who it was.”
“You’re sure she was at The Ace of Clubs?”
“Yes, but she was also in Old Town the day she disappeared.”
“Maybe she met someone and eloped?” Nick asked. “Decided to take a walk on the wild side?”
Not likely. Carroll was a dedicated agent. Something had happened to her. And to Mel Schoenhut, who also had a connection to Doug. Coincidence? Doug wasn’t sure and decided against mentioning anything out loud.
“Doubtful.”
“We want you to continue to check out behind the scenes at The Ace of Clubs. But expand the search to include Old Town.The last charge on Carroll’s credit card was at an establishment called Nitti’s.”
Really, they’d named a place after Al Capone’s chief enforcer? Nice.
“Where was she staying?”
April rattled off the address of a private home. “It’s a vacation rental. She’s definitely not there.”
Why didn’t we get a vacation rental, Doug wondered. He was stuck in a single room with Nick the Wonder Boy, and Esther’d had a whole fucking house to herself. Maybe she had more pull. Maybe it had been part of her cover.
“We’re on it.” Doug almost addedyou can count on us, but he felt that maybe that was going a bit too far with Nick in the formula. Nick was a chaos factor, the unknown that could throw the mission off or make everything finally come together.
“What was that about?” Nick asked.
“Typical SPAM, giving out information piecemeal. We should have known why Carroll and Schoenhut were here and where they were staying from the very beginning, not just that they went missing. Finish getting dressed and we’ll head out to Old Town before we hit the club tonight.”
Nick wasstillwearing only boxers and managing to test Doug’s patience. Or endurance. He wasn’t sure which. Probably both.
“Snap to it.”
“Pardon me, snap to what? Don’t you ever like… linger? Sit down and watch the world go by? The only thing I’m snapping is gum. Or my underwear.”
“We are not starting a philosophical discussion about why it would be good for me to rest or take my vitamins or anything else. It’s time to get dressed.”
He was being unreasonable, but Esther Carroll wasn’t just a random face or a vague name and Mel Schoenhut hadn’t beeneither. Doug didn’t have many of those in his life. Now one was dead and the other was missing, and Doug was starting to toy with the idea that whatever was going on somehow tied to him personally. Was it chance that two of the few SPAM agents he’d interacted with were part of this case? Or was someone pulling strings behind the scenes?
“Are we coming back here before going to the club again? Because if not”—Nick made a sweeping motion with his hand—“I will need to wear my tight jeans all day and they chafe a bi?—”
“Just get dressed.” Doug pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to stare out the window at the multitude of air-conditioning units dotting the rooftop.
