Mason shook his head. “I don’t think so. You recognized my name when you got it from the desk clerk, and you knew you weren’t going to talk to me about Carol’s case. So why did you come, and why did you bring the Gold Dust Twins with you?”
“It’s my job to know what’s going on with my employees. You went to a lot of trouble to get me here instead of calling me on the phone for an appointment. I wanted to know why, but I wanted to make certain it was safe to find out.”
Her explanation was reasonable and, more importantly, it was all she was going to tell him at the moment. She wasn’t under oath and she didn’t trust him. If he pressed her too hard, she’d whistle for her attack dogs. He’d have to take what she gave him, hoping to box her in. He decided to verify what Bongiovanni had told him before he drilled down to the critical questions.
“I want to talk about something I don’t think you’d want to discuss at your office or over the phone. I met Vince Bongiovanni through my investigation of Charles Rockley’s murder. He told me about this suite. I asked him to set up this meeting. It was the only way I could think of on short notice to speak with you privately and safely.”
“Why would Bongiovanni help you?”
“Because I promised to tell him everything I found out about Carol Hill’s case.”
“Did you really think I would talk to you about that?”
Mason smiled. “Not a chance, but I can’t help what Vince might have thought.”
Her bony shoulders relaxed and she chuckled for an instant. “Lawyers screwing lawyers. I like that. Okay, what’s so secret that you had to play spy games with me?”
FIFTY-NINE
“Ed Fiori. You used to work for him?”
She nodded.
“How long?”
“Five years.”
“Were you working for him when he was killed?”
She nodded again, this time more cautiously.
“That’s why you recognized my name,” he said. “It wasn’t because I represent Avery Fish.”
“I never met you before today.”
Her answer was another dodge and he let it slide. “What did you do for Fiori?”
“I was his secretary.”
“Which meant what?”
She straightened in her chair, arms folded across her chest. “That was a long time ago. Why are you interested in that now?”
“I’m going to write his biography.”
She rose and turned toward the door.
“Okay,” he said, holding up a hand. “Take it easy. I’m not going to write his biography.”
“Mr. Mason, do you know what a director of human resources does all day? Deals with other people’s bullshit. I’m not interested in yours.”
She had come to the suite knowing it was a setup, cautious enough to bring two goons along but confident enough to leave them outside the room. He’d kept her off balance, gotten her to laugh, and picked up some tantalizing hints, but he wasn’t going to chitchat her into submission. He played one of his hole cards, mixing it with a bluff, remembering Fish’s lesson that a con works because the mark wants it to whether she knows it or not.
“What if someone at Galaxy was blackmailing Judge Carter into ruling in your favor on Carol Hill’s case? Is that a human resources issue that interests you?”
She stood next to her chair, gripping its high back. “I thought you didn’t want to talk about Carol’s case.”
“I don’t. I’m working on an old case involving Ed Fiori. There may be some splash back on Carol because she was related to him. Vince Bongiovanni says you helped him clean out Fiori’s office after he was killed. Is that true?”
She hesitated, sifting what he’d told her, gauging her reply. “I was there.”
“Fiori taped a lot of his conversations,” he said, treating it as a fact, daring her to deny it. “You knew that, didn’t you?”
“He was a careful man.”
“Careful enough to tell you about the tapes and what was on them?”
“Careful enough to know who he could trust.”
“Did he trust you?”
She looked him full in the eyes, her own slightly moist with a flash of memory that suggested they’d had more than a professional relationship. “Yes.”
“What happened to the tapes?”
“Vince took them.”
“All of them?”
Before she could answer, the door to the suite blew open, banging hard against the wall.
“What the fuck is this?” Al Webb marched into the living room, trailed by the two thugs. Webb was hot, the smooth, honeyed manner he’d shown Mason at the Republican Party dinner gone; his eyes were narrow slits, chest puffed up, shoulders flared back. Lila bolted from her chair, color rising in her neck, the words not coming. Webb pounced again. “I said what the fuck is this?”
“It’s a private meeting,” Mason said. “And you aren’t on the guest list, so get out.”
“I run this goddamn casino and this hotel, Mason, and I’m going to throw your ass out of it.”
“Every square inch except this suite. You don’t own it and I didn’t invite you in. That makes you a trespasser. Vince Bongiovanni doesn’t give frequent-defendant discounts, and I don’t think he’ll make an exception for you.”
Webb aimed a finger at Lila. “Go on. Get back to the office.” Lila ducked her head, her confidence evaporated, the two goons grinning as she walked past them, both of them following her out into the hall. Turning to Mason, he said, “You keep showing up where I don’t expect you. Why is that?”
“Somebody’s bad luck.”
Webb took a deep breath, calm descending on him, the craft of the con man clicking in. “Don’t make it yours. What did you want with Lila? And don’t lie to me because she won’t.”
Mason didn’t know whether she would, but he wasn’t willing to take the chance. He also didn’t want to say anything that would make Webb resist the bait that Fish was about to dangle in front of him. If Webb were suspicious of Mason, he’d be even more suspicious of Fish.
“I’ve got a case that involves Ed Fiori. Lila used to work for him. I wanted someplace private to talk with her. Vince Bongiovanni told me about this suite. I asked him if I could use it. I was afraid Lila wouldn’t meet with me if she knew what I wanted to talk about so I asked Vince to have Carol Hill call her and say she wanted to meet with her to settle her case. Lila showed up with her entourage. One of them belted me hard enough to renumber my ribs. She and I were just getting acquainted when you showed up.”
Webb smiled as if he’d already known that was what happened, renewing Mason’s suspicion that the suite was bugged and confirming his decision not to lie.
“Fiori, huh?” Webb asked. “Wasn’t he the guy that owned the casino before Galaxy bought it? He’s been dead for what, three years?”
“Long before you came to work here. Too bad you never got to meet him. He was an interesting guy.”
“The dead don’t interest me, Mason, because they don’t gamble.”
“So you won’t be interested in me, because I don’t gamble either.”
“Then I guess there’s not much difference between you and a dead man,” Webb said.
“If you don’t count breathing.”
