Lovelace and Button (International Investigators) Inc. (35 page)

“And he hadn't?”

“No,” she laughs. “He'd gone to China to get a kidney transplant. He's coming back next week; a new man.”

“Okay,” says Bliss as he starts pushing Daisy away in the wheelchair. “I've booked a table for us all at seven o'clock at Caesar's Palace. Now Daisy and I are going shopping.”

“C'mon, Daphne,” says Samantha, once her father is out of sight. “What's he planning?”

“I don't know. But I haven't seen him so happy for a long time.”

“Amazing what a good woman does for you,” says Peter Bryan putting his arms around his wife.

“Okay,” says Daphne with her eyes on the casino. “This is Vegas. Let's hit the tables.”

Daisy's mother's flight arrives mid-afternoon, to be met by Daisy, Bliss and a nattily dressed chauffeur. “See? I promised you I'd get her a limousine,” Bliss had said when he'd ordered the smartest one in Vegas, and he has also ensured that the French woman will receive VIP treatment at the Paris Hotel upon her arrival.

“Zhat will make her very happy,” Daisy had said, and Bliss had smiled at the prospect.

“
Maman!
” cries Daisy joyfully as she waits to greet her at the arrival's gate, but the elderly woman's face falls at the sight of the wheelchair. “
C'est rien…
It is nothing,” she says, and stands up shakily to prove her point.

Dianna LeBlanc has the same olive skin and raven hair as her daughter; however, age and stress have dulled her ebony eyes over the years. But as they ride to the hotel in the stretch limo, she soaks up some of the Las
Vegas glitz and continually repeats, “It is very beautiful… It is very beautiful,” in a heavy accent.

“Zhat is all
Maman
can say in English,” Daisy confides when Bliss asks if she enjoyed the flight, so he switches to French.

Trina is bursting with excitement when Bliss, flanked by Daisy's mother, pushes her daughter into the dining room at Caesar's Palace.

“Daphne won five hundred bucks,” Trina blurts as Bliss helps Daisy into a chair.

“You lucky thing,” he is saying, when Samantha spots Daisy's diamond necklace.

“Is that a Tiffany?” she asks in awe.

“It is a present from your father,” says Daisy with a proud smile.

“Oh… my… God,” screeches Trina, and the women rise as one to fawn over Daisy while Mike Phillips and Peter Bryan slap Bliss on the back.

“My mother says she would like to give you a special present,
Daaavid,
” says Daisy once the commotion has died down.

“What's that?”

“She says zhat she would now like you to write your book.”

“Really?”

“Yes. She says it is time for zhe truth to be known.”

“Thank you very much,” he says, before turning to the assembly with an announcement. “Well. I guess you all want to know why you are here,” he says as if he has no notion of the pent-up expectancy, and then he takes a crumpled envelope from his pocket and hands it to his son-in-law with a wink. “Here. Give this to the commissioner, will you?”

“What is it?”

“It's my resignation, Peter, and that's why I wanted you all here — to celebrate this moment with me.”

“You can't quit,” bleats Peter Bryan.

“I just did.”

“But what about Edwards?” Bryan continues in dismay. “You promised to nail him before you left.”

“I know,” says Bliss. “And I will, in my own way.”

“What way?”

“I'm going to make him the villain in my book.”

Time stretches. Eight pairs of eyes focus on Bliss. He knows what they want, but he's haunted by the warning he uttered at Samantha's wedding.
The poor sucker hasn't got a clue what he's taking on,
he is thinking when he realizes that no one is breathing. Then Samantha breaks the spell.

“Is that it, Dad?” she asks finally. “Your resignation?”

“Oh. No,” he says, then pauses as if he has to give it some thought. “There's more,” he continues, knowing that they are all waiting to hear the word “marriage,” but instead he turns to Daphne and Trina, splits Montague's hush money, and announces that they have each been awarded ten thousand dollars' compensation by the U.S. government for their unlawful detention.

“That's terrific…” starts Trina, and she grabs Daphne's hand. “Hey… how ‘bout you and me taking that world trip you were planning?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Of course. We can do it as a sort of tribute to Minnie.”

“Well, I suppose she did pay for it in a way,” admits Daphne, then she turns to Bliss. “But what on earth are you going to do with your time now you're quitting the police force?”

“Well,” he says as he hangs on to Daisy. “I think you were right, Daphne. I think that you can reach a
point where all you have to look forward to is the past. So, I've decided to start looking to the future. I'm going to live in France and write a book that will stand the literary world on its head.”

“About the man in the iron mask?” she queries.

“Yes,” says Bliss. “The true expose of a three-hundred-year-old mystery that involves political intrigue, government dishonesty and individual greed.”

“That sounds very, very, familiar,” says Phillips.

“Yes, Mike,” agrees Bliss. “Absolutely nothing has changed.”

“And…?” questions Samantha, seeing the adoration in Daisy's eyes and hoping to push her father in that direction.

“And,” he says after a moment's silence, “I shall call it,
The Truth behind the Mask
.”

The End