“Elise Lyon’s parents are not speaking to the media, but we have her future father-in-law, developer Bruce Manning, via satellite.”
Bruce Manning? Wow. Now that was a household name. He made Donald Trump look like a bag person. Manning owned properties all over the country, and he’d just opened a swanky new resort and casino on the Strip. He called it Versailles, and having been to the real one, I could vouch for how authentic it looked. It was that Vegas illusion again.
“What do you think happened to your future daughter-in-law, Mr. Manning?”
“We just want to make sure she’s safe.” Manning’s bright white hair was perfectly coiffed, his tie perfectly knotted. He looked directly at the camera as he spoke, his words measured and firm.
I leaned forward in my seat as if I’d miss something if I didn’t.
“My son has been devastated by Elise’s disappearance. None of us believes she would leave of her own accord.”
“Do you believe foul play is involved?”
“You have to talk to the police about that.”
“But you believe she was taken to Las Vegas against her will?”
This was better than the soaps. Although my encounter with Kelly, or Elise, or whatever she was calling herself today, didn’t indicate she was someone who’d been kidnapped. She’d been a little nervous, but no one else was hovering around. She was alone. And if someone had kidnapped her, why would she be allowed to go to a tattoo parlor for devotion ink? She’d said it was a surprise for her fiance.
Maybe she just took a quick trip here before the wedding to unwind, get the tat, go home, and get hitched. She could easily turn up tomorrow in Philadelphia in her white dress and pearls.
I wondered why her parents weren’t going public. Did they think that having Bruce Manning on the air would be enough to generate interest and, thus, lead police to their daughter? And what about the groom? Where was he?
I’d been so engrossed in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear the rest of the interview with Bruce Manning. But I was paying attention when the two anchors grimly discussed the report afterward:
“Bruce Manning has just opened Versailles, the newest, most extravagant Las Vegas resort. His son, Bruce Manning Jr., who goes by the nickname Chip, is dividing his time between his father’s New York City development offices and the new resort. He and Elise Lyon have planned to move into a penthouse in one of his father’s buildings on the Upper West Side in Manhattan after their wedding. We can only hope Elise Lyon is found safe. Anyone with any information about her should contact the local police department immediately.”
I saw right through the picture of Kelly/Elise as it popped up on the screen. My brain was a few sentences back.
Kelly/Elise had wanted her devotion tat to say “Matthew.”
Her fiance’s name was Chip, or Bruce.
Who was Matthew?
Chapter 4
Tim was gone when I got up, but the note I’d left him saying Kelly wanted her ink to say “Matthew” was no longer on the kitchen table. As I fired up the engine in my Mustang Bullitt-I’ve got a thing for Steve McQueen; what woman doesn’t?-I was a little resentful that I was doing his job for him and he still wouldn’t tell me anything.
I was getting obsessed with Kelly/Elise. It was the most interesting thing that had happened for a while.
I slipped on my sunglasses and pulled out of the driveway.
Henderson to the Strip isn’t too far, just a straight shot on 215. But there’s traffic. Always traffic. Vegas has grown even in the short time I’ve been here, and between the residential population and the tourists and gas prices, well, it made me start thinking seriously about public transportation. The only thing I didn’t like was that I worked until midnight most nights, and taking a bus that late meant dealing with a lot more than just greenhouse gases.
Anyway, if I took the bus, I wouldn’t be able to crank Springsteen, who was singing about the Badlands.
I wasn’t putting the top down today, though. The desert in June is like an oven, and don’t get me started on that “it’s a dry heat” crap. Heat is heat, whether it’s wet or dry. The sun is searing, and even after only three years, the red tile roof on our house had faded to a pale pink.
In the distance, the mountains beckoned me. A hike at Red Rock Canyon, just outside the city and a world away, would balance my chi, but with the temperature hovering above a hundred, I’d risk more than just a bad mood. I didn’t much believe in Chinese hocus-pocus-the sisters had instilled a lifetime of the fear of God in me-but I knew when I was feeling a little off.
I had a cheap pass for the Henderson outdoor competition pool-that was my summer exercise. It didn’t have the same powers as Red Rock, but gliding through the water, the rhythmic breathing, the emptying of my mind as I counted each stroke, each lap, centered me in a different way. Sometimes Tim came with me, arriving at the pool at six a.m., and we’d swim side by side. We’ve been mistaken for synchronized swimmers because we look so much alike. We were both on our high school team, but he’s five years older.
As I approached, I saw the Strip’s lights were off, the glitz diminished by the glare of the sun. The magic just wasn’t there in the daytime. From a distance, it looked like a kid had dropped a bunch of toys in one spot and hadn’t bothered to straighten them out: a castle, the Statue of Liberty, a golden lion, the Eiffel Tower, an Egyptian pyramid, a Space Needle. A playground for adults, where no one can really win, but the illusion puts blinders on.
Instead of driving up Las Vegas Boulevard, I veered off onto Koval Lane, which runs parallel and behind the MGM, Flamingo, Paris, and the Venetian. Strip traffic isn’t so bad in the mornings, but the lights are too long and I get too frustrated.
While prices in Vegas have gone up-impossible to get that $2.99 breakfast buffet, unless you’re far off the Strip-parking can still be free. I turned left into the Venetian’s driveway and then right into the self-parking garage. I drove up to the sixth level and eased the Mustang into a spot. I slung my black messenger bag over my shoulder, adjusting it so the strap crossed over my chest. I wore my usual tank top-fuchsia, today-and a billowy cotton hippie skirt with an Indian print. My Tevas kept me from towering too tall, but I still topped out at five-nine.
Getting out of the car, I felt like I’d stepped into the center of a volcano; the heat was trapped in the garage, and it closed in around me. I hightailed it to the elevator, hitting the button too many times, like that would make the doors open faster. Once it got to the third level, where the Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes were, I went back out into the heat and looped around up to the walkway. The automatic doors slid open, the cold, air-conditioned breeze washing over me. I sighed with relief.
Springsteen warbled “Born to Run” in my bag. I reached in for my cell phone.
You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take Jersey out of the girl.
The caller ID said,
“Brett?”
It was Tim. “Yeah?”
“Couple of quick questions. When Elise Lyon came into your shop, what was she wearing?”
I described her outfit. “Why do you need to know that?”
He ignored me. “Did she seem frightened?”
He’d asked me that last night. “No.” My voice echoed through the phone. “Hey, am I on speaker?”
A woman brushed past me, glaring at the phone in my ear. I made a face at her and leaned against the wall.
“Was she with anyone?”
“I told you, she was alone. She didn’t seem afraid, except maybe a little nervous about the idea of a tat.”
“How nervous?”
“As nervous as someone who’s never gotten one before.” I paused. “It hurts. And it’s permanent. People know that coming in.”
“But she still wanted to go through with it?”
