was part of Anthony's deal with Marty Anaheim.
Gino's visit to my office made me think that something was wrong between Gino and Marty.
I fed a dollar coin into the poker machine at the bar and won ten dollars. I fed the money back into the machine mindlessly until I lost it. It wasn't that I liked to gamble. Gambling mostly bored me. I just had nothing else to do and I didn't want all those dollar coins clanking around in my pocket. Eventually I managed to get rid of about thirty dollars. The bartender asked if I wanted another roll.
'No thanks,' I said.
'I've got to let my pulse rate settle.'
The bartender put a fresh club soda on the bar in front of me.
'On the house,' he said.
'I'm supposed to cozy up to the high rollers.'
'You've got a real instinct for the job,' I said, as Hawk slid onto the bar stool next to me.
The bartender looked at him. Hawk shook his head.
'Marty Anaheim,' Hawk said.
'At the Grand?'
'Yeah. Little guy's been tailing Anthony is with him.'
'Okay, that answers one question,' I said.
'Cops find where Shirley staying?' Hawk said.
'No,' I said.
'I called Romero this morning. As far as they can tell she wasn't registered anywhere.'
'So where's her luggage?'
'Romero says maybe she didn't have any.'
'Romero ever travel with a woman?' Hawk said.
'I asked him that. He admitted that mostly they bring luggage.'
'So where is it.'
'They don't know. They figure the murderer stole it.'
'A woman's luggage?' Hawk said.
'You knew Shirley, would she have luggage?'
'She'd have luggage like Susan has luggage.'
'So our guy rapes this woman,' Hawk said.
'And strangles her, and then runs off carrying her handbag and three, four pieces of luggage?' Hawk said.
'Or,' I said.
'He rapes her and kills her someplace else and carries her nude body to a vacant lot and drops it.'
'And your card, 'less she still clutching it in her lifeless hand and he don't notice.'
I sipped some club soda. The slot machines chanted their endless song in the background. There was very little night and day in Vegas. There were no windows in the casinos, no clocks, no closing time, no last call. Only if you went outside, for which there was very little reason, or waited at your window for the volcano to erupt, did day or night matter.
'He wanted to prevent her identification,' I said.
'Un huh.'
'And went to a lot of trouble to do it,' I said.
'Un huh.'
'Which means he can be tied to her. Otherwise why bother?'
'Which mean the finger of suspicion point to Anthony,' Hawk said.
'Or Marty Anaheim.'
'Marty ain't tied to her.'
'So why'd she have the number for me and The Mirage and the MGM Grand written on the back of my card?' I said.
'Got any tighter fix on time of death?' Hawk said.
'Cops say no. Anytime that night before she was found.'
'I got Anthony until four-fifteen,' Hawk said.
'And his girlfriend says he was with her the rest of the night.'
'
