The clapping was loud and ringing in his ears when he hit the atrium glass. His body crashed through and landed in the empty crow's nest. His eyes were open and there was still a smile on his face.
Glass shattered down on the casino and cries of panic followed. But as the players looked up they saw the gaping hole in the glass and nothing else. Karch's body could not be seen from below. Then the golden curtain dropped through the shattered atrium like a failed parachute. It seemed to open at the last moment as it glided down into the crow's nest. It draped over Karch's body like a shroud.
A hush settled over the casino and all eyes remained fixed on the gaping, unexplained hole above them. Then out of the blackness of the night sky money came floating down and into the casino. Thousands and thousands of bills came floating in. Hundred-dollar bills. Soon the shouting started again and people began rushing to the money, hands outstretched, jumping and snatching hundred-dollar bills out of the air. A blackjack table was overturned. Men in blue blazers ran into the melee but were overrun by the crowd. Some of them joined in the fight for the money.
Cassie broke open another brick of hundreds and threw the loosened currency out into the night air. The five hundred bills spread apart and started languidly floating down. She heard screams from far below. She looked down and saw that some of the bills were being carried on air currents out to the fountains at the entrance and even over to the Strip. Cars were stopping, horns blasting. People were running into the traffic and the wading pools. People were fighting over the money. She had needed a diversion for an escape. She had one now.
She turned and pushed the room service cart back beneath the open air vent. She climbed up and peered into the darkness.
'Jodie! It's all right. It's me, Cassie. We can go now.'
She waited and then the girl crawled from the shadows of her hiding spot and into the light. Cassie reached her hands in to her and hooked them under her arms. She pulled the girl out and lowered her to the table. She then got down and brought Jodie down. She hugged her for a long moment.
'We have to go now, Jodie.'
'Where's that man?'
'He's gone. He can't hurt us.'
As she turned to lead the girl from the room she saw on the floor two green passports. She picked them up and realized they must have fallen from Karch's jacket when she had pulled it over his head. She opened one and saw her own photo staring back at her. Jane Davis. Clipped to the page was an Illinois driver's license with the same name.
'What's that?' Jodie asked.
'Just some things I dropped.'
She opened the other passport and looked at the photo of Jodie for a long moment. She then closed it and shoved both passports into the back pocket of her jeans. She took Jodie's hand and started leading her out. As she went she bent down and grabbed the gym bag with her other hand. She hadn't kept count but she was pretty sure there were still more than twenty bricks in the bag. More than a million dollars.
She looked at the gun lying on the floor near the open window. She thought about it for a moment but decided to leave it. No guns.
'Let's go,' she said to herself more than Jodie.
As they went through the bedroom Cassie glanced back into the room. In the bullet-fractured mirror she caught a disjointed image from the television. It was Porky Pig doffing his hat. He said, 'Th-th-th-that's all, folks.'
The disorder in the casino was still in full thrust when they came out of the elevator alcove and started making their way toward the exit doors. Cassie picked up Jodie and carried her. They skirted around two men who had wrestled each other to the ground as they fought over a sheaf of bills that had apparently fallen without coming apart.
'What are they doing?' Jodie asked.
'Showing their true hearts,' Cassie answered.
They made it to the exit doors without Cassie seeing a single blue blazer. Cassie turned to push the glass door open with her back because her hands were full with Jodie and the gym bag. She glanced back across the casino, her eyes rising above the melee to the crow's nest. She saw one corner of the gold curtain hanging over the edge. Otherwise it looked empty.
47
CASSIE'S full focus was on getting to the car and then getting out of Las Vegas. So she and Jodie did not speak until the Boxster was on the freeway heading toward Los Angeles. It was as if Cassie could not take a breath until she was far from the neon glow of the Strip. When she had pushed the Boxster into fifth and set the cruise control at seventy-five, she finally looked over at the little girl belted into the seat next to her.
'Are you okay, Jodie?'
'Yes. Are you?'
'I'm fine.'
'You have a bruise on your cheek where that man hit you. I saw him. That's when I hid in the tunnel.'
'Bruises go away. Are you tired?'
'Nope.'
But Cassie knew she was. She reached across and reclined Jodie's seat to the maximum so that she could sleep. She put the Lucinda Williams CD into the player and put it on low. She was listening to the lyrics and thinking about the choice she had to make at some point on the drive to L.A. when Jodie spoke again.
'I knew you would come for me.'
Cassie looked over at her. The glow from the dashboard revealed her daughter's face looking back at her.
'How did you know?'
'My mommy told me I have a guarding angel watching me. I think it is you.'
Cassie looked back at the road ahead. She felt tears welling in her eyes.
'Guardian angel, baby. Guardian.'
'I'm not a baby.'
'I know. I'm sorry.'
They drove in silence for a half minute. Cassie thought about her choice.
'I know,' she repeated.
'How come you're crying?' Jodie asked.
Cassie wiped the tears aside with the heels of her palms. She then tightly gripped the steering wheel and willed herself not to shed another tear in front of the girl.
'Because I'm happy,' she answered.
'About what?'
Cassie looked over at Jodie and smiled.
'Because I'm with you. And because we got away.'
A confused look crossed Jodie's face in the dim light.
'Are you taking me home?'
Cassie nodded slowly.
'Jodie, I'm… From now on you're going to be with your mother.'
Jodie fell asleep soon after and dreamed all the way to Los Angeles. Cassie took long looks at her as she slept and thought she saw both Max and herself. She definitely had Max's high forehead. It made her love her all the more.
'I love you, Jane,' she said, using the name she would have given her.
