Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Maybe he’s a major patron of the club, someone who runs a theater in town. Could be he just wants to compliment her on a fantastic performance.
Except he’s running his fingers up and down her arm…
I’m seeing red.
But I can’t be.
I shake the anger out of my head, try to clear it.
The old man is leading Bianca behind the red velvet curtains in the rear of the club.
I’ve seen club patrons escort the waitresses—and occasionally a waiter—behind those curtains before. I never asked Maddox what went on in those areas, but it’s not difficult to deduce.
My heart is tugging at me, telling me to follow Bianca behind the curtain, but that would be insane. She may have gotten me into the club, but I’m not here to play the role of some white knight. Plus, she seemed to be going into the private area willingly.
I came here for one reason and one reason only. To find out if there’s anything fishy about Maddox and Alissa’s extended vacation.
Bianca is a woman—a beautiful woman—who got me into the club tonight. I owe her a favor, but that’s about it.
I push the thought of her with the old man out of my head and focus my attention on Aces Underground. I’m still in the Clubs section. I’ve been standing here frozen since Rouge left.
I look around. Mr. Night is passing out cigarettes from his silver tray. He’s pretty old. He might know some of the inner workings of this place.
Once he’s finished attending to some of the other patrons, I tap him on the shoulder.
He looks up, widens his eyes. “Dr. O’Rourke. Would you care for another cigar?”
I shake my head. “One’s enough for me, Mr. Night, and I didn’t even finish it. But I was wondering if you could help me in a different way.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” I inhale slowly. “You’ve worked here for the last several years, correct?”
“Correct, sir. It’ll be twenty years this fall.”
“And you seem to be pretty good with names and faces.” I tap my sternum. “You knew my name even though I’m not a member here.”
He nods slowly. “Rouge has a policy that all speaking staff—myself, Chet, the Diamonds dealers—memorize the names of all members and of all guests who frequent the club thrice or more.”
“But you recognized my face.”
“Chet takes photo IDs for a reason, Doctor.”
“So the photos are scanned.”
“No. But he has a photographic memory. He makes sketches of recurrent guests and distributes them to the speakers. That way we can put a name to the face when we see a guest again.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So there’s a sketch of me floating around here somewhere?”
“Several copies.” He grins. “Though most are destroyed once we memorize the names. Anonymity and all. But I’m sure Rouge keeps the originals filed away.”
“That’s fucking weird.”
Mr. Night shrugs. “We bask in both the weird and the wonderful at Aces Underground, Doctor. Here we believe that turning the known upside down reveals the hidden.”
God, these people talk like fucking fortune cookies.
“Listen.” I lower my voice and lean toward Mr. Night. “If you memorize the faces of every person who has come to this club more than three times, then you must know who Alissa Maravilla is.”
Mr. Night furrows his brow slightly but otherwise doesn’t react. “Miss Maravilla, yes. A lovely young woman. Light-blond hair. Full, pink lips. The only person Maddox Hathaway has brought to this club besides you, Doctor.”
“So you also know who Maddox is.”
“Of course. He’s a member. Though most of us who work here knew who he was before he ever started coming to the club, due to his family’s history.”
“Did you see them when they came to the club?”
Mr. Night places his silver tray of cigarettes on a nearby table. “I saw them enter the club once or twice, yes. But my job is in the Clubs section, Dr. O’Rourke. And they didn’t seem much for smoking.”
“Okay, which section did they hang out in?”
He shifts his gaze across to the Spades section. “They seemed pretty partial to the bar, at least at first.”
“At first?”
“Maddox and Alissa made quite a splash in the Diamonds section a few weeks ago. Won big at the Blackjack tables. Rouge herself crowned them the King and Queen of Diamonds.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“The title is ceremonial,” Mr. Night says. “It doesn’t carry a whole lot of meaning beyond that.”
“So what you’re telling me is that I should ask the staff in the Spades and Diamonds sections if they saw them.”
“That is where I would start, Doctor. Though…” He gazes into the distance.
“What?”
“Nothing, Doctor. Nothing. But you’ve piqued my curiosity. Why are you asking about Miss Maravilla and Mr. Hathaway? Last I heard, they were on a romantic tour around the world.”
“With all due respect, Mr. Night, that is none of your damned business.”