Death in the Casino: Target Practice Mysteries 5 (5 page)

Indy blushed a little. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, thanks. See you guys later." He set off down the hall, grabbing Minx as he passed. They hugged, then she nodded and they continued walking.

Loggin walked over from talking with Minx. He cast glances over his shoulder at Minx as she walked away. "Have you figured out who killed Mike Champ yet? Ready to confront the killer or however you do it?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "You underestimate how much skill and time it takes to solve these murders."

I snickered. "Especially when we have no clue what we're doing. "

Mary gasped. "Don't say that! We totally know what we're doing. We're"-- She turned so her back was to mine and extended her arm straight out, her index finger pointed to mimic a gun --"Loggin's Angels."

I pushed my back to hers and replicated her stance for a second before giggling. I stepped forward so I could face both her and Loggin. "We talked to a couple eyewitnesses to the crash. They stopped to talk to Liam, and we snuck in a few questions."

Moo pawed at my shin and whined.

I checked the time. "Can we walk and talk? I think Moo needs to go outside." I pulled out the map of the casino with the pet facilities marked. "Which one is the closest?" I ran a finger over the paper, trying to locate our position.

Mary peeked at the map then jabbed a finger into one corner, bending the paper. "That one is right next to the competition and practice ranges."

I refolded the paper. "Perfect. Lead the way."

"Wait up!" Loggin jogged to my other side. "You didn't tell me what you learned from the eyewitnesses."

We dodged around a group of men wearing shooter jerseys, their fronts covered in archery company names. "They seemed to have two versions of what happened. One was that the driver waited until they started to cross the road then hit Mike. The other guy thought that the driver just wasn't paying attention and tried to veer away at the last second. So either it was an accident or purposeful. We haven't really nailed anything down at all."

Mary shook her head. "It's part of our process. We'll learn a little more about his life, what enemies he has here, that kind of thing, then start investigating."

Loggin stepped in front of me. "Whoa, let's not forget your real focus, Angels. Protecting me."

I grabbed his arm to pull him down the hallway. Moo was doing a high trot, a sign that he was eager to get outside. "Don't worry. We'll protect you. Mike was probably the target."

He shook his head. "I heard the guy rev the engine right before he almost hit us."

That gave me pause. "That is what the other guy said. He heard revving as well."

We ascended a set of stairs and it was obvious we were near the tournament site. The trickle of people carrying bows and arrows in the hallways led to crowds of people mingling at the top of the stairs. There was a window with a check-in sign above it and a snack bar that served beer and wine with a line twenty people deep. Signs advertised the various shooting halls and the direction of the trade show. Banners for various archery companies hung on the banister, including one with Loggin's face the size of a small car.

I stumbled over the last stair as I stared around. "Wow."

A group of kids raced past. Someone yelled at them not to run.

Mary grabbed me out of their way. "Come this way. Past the last shooting room should be the door that takes you outside to a pet place, but I'm not sure that's correct since we went up one flight. We can check in afterwards."

I followed her as she turned right and followed the wide hallway down. People pressed in from all sides, and Moo and I had to weave through them. The farther we went, the more the crowd cleared out.

"Wow. I had no idea there would be this many people."

Mary dodged around a lady in a wheelchair who was rolling over to get a picture taken in front of a banner declaring the year and name of the tournament. "This is nothing. It will be even crazier tomorrow. There are over five thousand people shooting. I have our schedule all lined up so that we get here in plenty of time."

"What time are we getting up? Four a.m.?" I threw out the ridiculous time with a laugh.

"No, you can sleep in until five."

I stopped laughing and sighed. That was far too early.

We passed a door designated for tournament staff only, and Mary pushed on the door leading outside.

I followed her out onto a large balcony and startled a lady leaning against the wall next to the door outside.

She was short and curvy, with cherub cheeks and black hair backcombed to the heavens. "You startled me, and now you've caught me with my dirty little secret." She waved a hand around holding a thin black rod.

Moo pulled me past her to a square of fake grass and a few plastic bushes. He sniffed and snuffled as Mary stopped to talk.

"What
is
that?" Mary pointed to the black rod, and I turned in their direction to hear the answer.

"E-cigarette. I quit smoking ten years ago. And nine years ago. And eight years ago." She laughed and took a drag off the end of the e-cig. "Every year at this tournament, I would relapse, but not this year. I figured that it wasn't even the nicotine that had me relapsing; it's the act of stopping everything I'm doing, going outside, and taking a break. So I got one of these. There isn't even any nicotine in here, just flavor, but the opportunity to cut out of the office for ten minutes is a miracle. Don't tell Bobby about the no-nicotine thing. He has no issue with my smoke breaks, but he might feel differently if he knew that they were really Bobby breaks."

I found myself laughing along with her eruption of words. She was bubbly and cheerful. I raised a hand in greeting. "We won't tell a soul. I'm Di. This is Loggin and Mary."

"I know Loggin and Mary. Hi. Nice to meet you, Di. I'm Becca Bishop. And what's your dog's name? So big."

"Moo." He was finished with his business. I passed the leash over to Mary while I got out a baggy to dispose of the evidence. "He's very friendly.

Mary dragged Moo over. "Sit. Shake."

As Moo lifted his huge paw and offered it to Becca, she laughed with delight. "So nice to meet you. What a gentleman." She kneeled down to scratch his neck, and Moo closed his eyes in bliss. "If you had a credit card, I think I would ask you on a date, Moo. You're twice the gentleman of anyone else around here. Present company excluded, of course."

Loggin leaned on the wall next to Becca. "Archers behaving badly?"

"The worst. They love to act like they are the height of professionalism, but behind closed doors, they whine like babies. And they prefer to complain to me than to Bobby. No idea why. I'm as likely to tell them to shut their face holes as Bobby is."

I snorted at the turn of phrase. "Who's whining?"

"Oh, there's always something. A bunch of recurvers were complaining at having to shoot so early. People that want me to rearrange five hundred other people's target assignments so they can shoot on the same target as their friends. Pro compound men wanted refunds even though it is past the refund date. And the pro compound women are just as bad, constantly hounding me about why their payout isn't more. Every year is the same thing. Whine. Whine. Whine. I swear after this year I'm done. Done. But I also say that every year, then afterward I forget and swear that wasn't so bad. It's a sickness."

"Nothing unusual about this year? Same old same old?" I tried to keep my tone casual and relaxed. People get suspicious when you are too eager for an answer.

"The recurvers always shoot early, and we never rearrange target assignments unless there is a genuine need like accessibility issues for the para archers. Those are normal complaints, but I have pat answers for both. And, of course, the pro female compounders always complain about making less money, but since Bobby raised the amount the men make, the women are super pissed this year. I can't blame them, but I'm not getting into that again. Oh boy, you do not want to open that can of worms. I said something when I was hired a dozen years ago, and I'm still smarting from the butt chewing I got on that one. You'd think I proposed that we go into the homes of the male archers, steal their undies, and shoot their dogs. They about flipped the table when I suggested increasing the ladies' payout."

"Who decides on the payout?"

"Bobby's the president of the organization, so he has the most say. There's a board that contributes to the decision, though they mostly follow his lead. The board is almost all professional male archers so, of course, they're big fans of increasing the men's payouts. There are also a few judges and tournament directors, but everyone is all about keeping the pro men happy. It's a good ole boys' club. But not my job to change the world." She took a long drag off the e-cig and blew out a cloud of water vapor lightly scented with vanilla.

Loggin shifted uncomfortably. He had benefitted greatly last year when he won this tournament. "What about the compound men dropping out of the tournament?"

Becca's eyebrows knitted up. "That is kinda unusual. There's always a few people that drop out, but this year has been more than normal. Maybe the flu is going around or something. Anyways, it was great to meet you, Moo and Di. Nice seeing you, Loggin and Mary, but I better get back to work before Bobby catches me." She gave a wave and snuck back through the door, letting it slam behind her.

I chuckled. "She's so fun." I took Moo's leash back and scratched his rump.

Mary smoothed her hair down as the breeze blew strands all around her face. "She's always like that. Talk, talk, talk. But she's awesome. We might need to accidently bump into her a few more times."

I nodded at Mary. "Definitely. She was a wealth of information. Now what?"

Loggin grabbed the door and held it open for me. "How about we find the van driver so I can compete tomorrow with a clear head?"

I stepped through the door and turned to hear Mary's answer.

"Sure, Loggin, first we'll--watch out!"

I flipped my head around to see that I was inches from running into a man's chest. "Excuse me." I lifted a hand to stop my momentum then looked up into Moose's eyes towering overhead.

Moose was a mover and shaker within the industry, a man in the know. At least that is how he'd described himself when we met last month. I was still not convinced.

He chuckled and looked down at me. "It's okay. I'm used to women throwing themselves at me. I'm glad I caught you; someone said they saw you heading down this way. I want to introduce you to two of my up-and-coming archers. This is Hornet and Bee." He gestured to me. "This is Di, the new pro-staff manager at Westmound-Andersson Industries."

"I see there's an insect theme." I extended my hand to greet them. They were probably in their early twenties and only slightly taller than me. Not short but not tall. Liam had explained that the really tall archers had a disadvantage since taller usually means longer draw length. The equipment in the industry was most efficient for "average" height archers, whatever that meant.

Neither man smiled as they greeted me but kept a demeanor that I imagined they thought made them seem important and cool. I needed to clear up Moose's misunderstanding. "Pleased to meet you, but unfortunately there's been some bad information going around. I'm not the pro-staff coordinator for anything. I'm just the computer person at the training center in Wyoming."

Moose leaned back and gave me a dubious look. "So you didn't give a speech to a bunch of kids at the training center on how to get sponsorship?"

"Well..." I faltered. I had done that. It was a plan concocted to investigate after a murder, which was not something I was eager to share. "Liam had me do it because..." I couldn't think of a valid excuse, but I had started the sentence and needed to finish it. "He thought it would be fun."

Moose crossed his arms and clearly didn't buy my explanation.

"Someone filmed it and put it up online. But they said I was the new pro-staff manager, and that's not true at all. The rumor started there, and now everyone believes it as fact."

Moose nodded, and his face broke into a smile. "I get it." He gave me a wink. "I know how these things work, so I won't push it. But know that I know."

I had no clue what he thought he knew. "I swear. I'm not--"

He cut me off. "No, no. I understand. Keep an eye on these two this weekend, and we'll talk in the future." He gave me another wink and left with his two archers in tow.

Mary rolled her eyes. "That guy."

"You guys could have had my back on that one." I wasn't genuinely angry, but I gave Mary a mock-stern face.

She waved a hand at me. "You didn't need us. Besides, he was going to believe what he wanted to believe. Come on, I'll show you where we shoot.

CHAPTER FOUR

She gave me a tour of the shooting ranges, and we found our target assignments for the next day.

As we headed into the trade show, I scanned the crowd for Liam. My stomach grumbled, and I pressed a hand to my middle. Breakfast had been a long time ago, and we had skipped lunch. The trade show was smaller than the OIT show we had visited last month, but most of the major companies were there. Each booth had a crowd several people deep.