I unlocked the door and Susan went in.
'You make the Buick,' Hawk said to me.
'Yeah.'
'You got a thought who that might be?'
'I'm losing track,' I said.
'You do that easy,' Hawk said and unlocked the door to his room.
I followed Susan into mine. It was a one-bedroom suite. The ceilings were high. The walls were banked with windows, the decor was multicolored southwestern mixed with Catskills. The woodwork was dark. The living room was bigger than my apartment in Boston, with a bar, a huge walnut armoire concealing a television, two red couches, four blue armchairs, a large round dining room table finished in black, and six black dining room chairs. There was pottery and there were paintings and there was beige wall-to-wall carpeting. I went across the room and opened the curtains. The volcano was there as promised. Not, at the moment, erupting. But if I were patient… the doorbell rang, and Susan let the bellhop in with the luggage. He put the bags in the bedroom. I tipped him. He left.
Susan picked up a printed card off the bar.
'
'Dear V.I.P Guest,'
' she read. '
'Welcome to our V.I.P Level.
Please call the V.I.P office with any requests you may have. We are at your service twenty-four hours a day.'
' 'That's us,' I said.
'V.I.P guests.'
'On the V.I.P Level,' Susan said.
'Is it because you are a famous detective?'
'No. Hawk knows somebody here that owes him something.'
'Are we paying for this?'
'I don't think so.'
Susan went into the bedroom. In a moment I heard her say, 'Oh, oh.'
I looked in. The bags were open on a black king-sized bed big enough for pony races, and the ceiling was mirrored.
'Oh? Oh?' I said.
'The mirrored ceiling,' Susan said.
'I'll shut my eyes,' I said.
'You'll pretend to,' Susan said.
'You can watch too,' I said.
'I'd rather go dancing with Howard Stern,' Susan said.
'Oh come on,' I said.
'It's not that bad to see.'
'And I am desperately oversexed,' Susan said.
'Yes you are.'
'And it's probably better than watching the volcano,' Susan said.
'Yes it is.'
'So.' Susan shrugged, her eyes gleaming.
'So?'
'So peekaboo,' she said.
CHAPTER 15
Vegas is not a big town, but if you want to gamble there, they have lots of places to do it. All we had for a plan was to cruise the casinos until Anthony appeared.
'And if he doesn't appear?' Susan said.
I shrugged.
'Then we assume he's not here, and we look for him someplace else.'
'Maybe he's in New York,' Susan said, 'hiding out at Bergdorf's.'
We were at breakfast, sitting in a grotto of tropical vegetation, some of which was real, at the rim of the
