Murder by Chance (Betty Chance Mystery) (21 page)

“Speaking of Tillie,” Betty said, pointing toward the crash scene. Two patrolmen had climbed on top of the bus. Incredibly, as the officers managed to yank the door open a hand appeared from inside the bus, clutching and waving a stack of bills in the open air. Betty couldn’t tell whom the fingers belonged to. The wiggling fingers could have been Rose, Tillie or even Ogawa.

Relief appeared in the whisks of red hair that were edging upwards out of the doorway. Tillie hoisted herself slowly out of the bus. The two officers guided her to the ground. Limping, and holding one of her arms in obvious pain, Tillie trudged toward the two women.

Betty yelled, “Tillie!”

Tillie responded with a weak smile and then stumbled, appearing to pass out. An officer caught her right before she hit the ground. He wrapped his arms around Tillie’s body, lifted her up and carried her as if she were nothing more than a sleeping child.

“I wasn’t in a coma.” Tillie said one more time, poking at her lunch plate filled with organic spring greens, almond bits and Mandarin orange slices. “I don’t know why you keep saying that.” Although her arm was in a sling, and the buffet jam-packed with customers, she’d refused to let Lori or Betty carry her food back to the table for her.

Lori said, “In our minds, you were. You were passed out for three hours.”

“Did you ever think I passed out because the cop next to me was a hunk of burning love?” Tillie suggested, a sly look making her eyelids crinkle.

“Most cops are hunks, even with their love for all things pastry.” Betty smiled warmly. It was wonderful to see her friend joking around, considering she’d been involved in a horrific accident only twenty hours earlier.

She asked, “Did the doctor say how long it would be until you can drive again?”

Tillie responded, “It should only be a few weeks. By that time, I’ll be off pain killers for my sprained wrist.”

Gloria had arranged for a tour bus and driver to take them back to Chicago. Take A Chance Tours would be able to leave right on schedule. In only three hours Betty would be checking her clients’ names off on her checklist and watching them board.

“You really are lucky,” Betty said, shaking off the image of what could have happened to her friend.

“Incredibly lucky,” Lori added, sitting back in her chair.

Betty noticed Lori gazing toward the buffet entrance. Tom Songbird had said he would be joining them.

Tillie nodded. “I know I am, not like Rose or her poor Oga.”

Both Ogawa and Rose had been severely injured in the accident. Rose suffered a broken leg and a cracked pelvis. Because Ogawa had been standing up when the bus crashed. He catapulted through the windshield like a racehorse out of the gate. Although he wasn’t killed, he’d never work as a contortionist again, or walk. His spine was severed.

As Tillie lifted her arm to take a sip of coffee, a glimmer of gold sparkled on her wrist.

“You’re wearing your bracelet!” Lori said, grabbing a spoonful of New Orleans bread pudding. The last time she’d seen the familiar piece of jewelry it was on Ogawa’s wrist in the security tape.

“Tom gave it back to me this morning. He said the cleaning lady found it in the dressing room, the same place she discovered Betty’s cell phone and laptop,” Tillie stated.

“Ogawa must have stolen it off your wrist without you knowing it,” Betty said, shifting her attention to Lori’s plate of bread pudding. As far she was concerned, life didn’t get any better than eating a concoction made from French bread soaked in eggs, sweet cream butter, and oceans of Kentucky bourbon.

Tillie said, “That little jackass Ogawa could yank teeth from a mule without the mule raising an eyebrow. He’s a genius. Too bad he didn’t use his talent for good rather than evil.”

Betty agreed as she poked at her Tandoori Chicken. The dish was excellent but she’d already sampled five different international cuisines. Now that the murders appeared to be solved, she could finally concentrate on her job. Before she checked out of the hotel, she needed to post a brief review of the Hungry Moose Buffet on her blog, as well as share a few recipes.

Betty asked, “Tillie, did Ogawa or Rose talk about being related to Farsi and Slevitch?”

Tillie shook her head. “Not really, but they did talk about ‘family’. The sheriff told me afterwards that he’d discovered Farsi and Slevitch were Ogawa’s brothers-in-laws.”

Betty didn’t mention that it was she who informed the sheriff of her hypothesis that Farsi, Slevitch, and Rose were related. She’d suggested their propensity for being overweight was genetically connected.

Lori admitted, “It still shocks me that Rose didn’t cringe when her own family member was killed onstage in front of her.”

Tillie answered disgustedly, “That’s an example of how strongly the Serbian gang feel about the people who rat on them. Once someone turns, they’re no longer considered human, even if it was only a few minutes earlier that you would have killed
for
them.” Tillie catapulted an almond bit into her mouth. “Did the sheriff say anything about the money?”

Betty shook her head, “Just that the two million in Farsi’s luggage was real, and not counterfeit.”

“Still no idea why the money was in his luggage?” Lori asked. “Or why he was killed?”

A baritone voice behind them said, “Farsi was planning on escaping to Canada with the dough.” Tom Songbird had walked up without any of them noticing. He slid into a seat next to Lori. “He’d arranged for a car rental through the casino host. He even pre-paid for it.”

“Was it Ogawa’s money he stole?” Betty asked.

Tom nodded. “Severson told me it was the—quote, unquote—family money. Farsi stole it from their jointly owned safety box. He probably thought no one would miss it because there was another twelve million inside the box.”

“So I’m guessing he took what he thought was
his
share?” Betty asked.

Tom said, “Ogawa didn’t look at it that way, although both Farsi and Slevitch probably did. Slevitch was furious that Farsi was killed. Slevitch threatened to turn Ogawa in unless he was given the two million dollars to keep quiet. Ogawa killed him, instead.”

Betty asked, “How did Severson find all of this out?”

Tom reached and grabbed a grape from Lori’s plate and tossed it in air. He caught it in his mouth, swallowed and answered, “Rose.”

“Rose sang to the cops?” Tillie asked, her mouth dropping open in shock.

“Like an off-key canary.” Tom grinned.

“Why?” Betty asked.

“She’s basically trying to cut a deal for herself,” Tom explained. “She knows Ogawa will spend the rest of his life behind bars so she’s trying to save herself a little time by telling everything she knows.”

Betty sat back to digest the information from Songbird. There were still a few questions she needed answered.

Songbird must have read her mind. “Remember the bathroom scene? The one that looked like an episode of
CSI Moose Bay
?” he asked.

“Yes?” Betty said, encouraging him to carry on.

“The showgirls are Rose’s nieces. Heather’s the one who broke into the penthouse dressed like Tillie, and scattered blood around the bathroom.”

Betty asked, “Did Rose give any reason why the gang tried to frame one of us?”

Tom shook his head. “She just said the two of you were easy targets. I do know they were able to hack into your company’s database even before they broke into your office and stole your computer.”

“So they already knew that Tillie would be our driver for this trip?” Betty asked.

Tom said, “Looks like it.”

Betty continued, “Then why did they have someone steal our computer and the junket file?”

Tom answered, “Rose said Ogawa was paranoid about Farsi. He was afraid Farsi had given you his real name and address.”

Lori asked, “But why wait to kill him on our tour bus? Why not before?”

Tom answered, “Rose said that Ogawa had made a phone call at the truck stop on his cell phone. That’s when he learned about the money taken. One of his family members in Chicago tipped him off.”

Betty asked, “You’re certain that Ogawa killed Slevitch as well?”

Tom nodded. “Rose claims he did. Should take too long to confirm if true.”

Lori asked, “Has Boris been apprehended?”

Tom shook his head. “No, and the two girls have disappeared along with him.”

Tillie added, “Rose and Ogawa’s kids never had a chance at a straight life, did they? I guess the apple just doesn’t fall far from the tree, it hits you in the friggin’ head if you’re standing too damn close.”

Betty noticed that Lori was quiet and looked pensive.

“What’s the matter, Lori?” Betty asked.

Lori pushed her plate away and said quietly, “Tony Gillette wasn’t involved in any of this, was he?”

Tom looked confused.

“Your men led him away from the high-stakes table …” Lori began.

“Oh, you’re referring to the poker room incident last night?” Tom interjected. “I read my men the riot act over that. Tony’s done a few favors for me from time to time. He’s great at identifying card counting. I wanted him to view a security tape. I forgot to tell my men to say pretty please with sugar on it.”

Betty asked, “What about the thirteen million dollar win? Did Ogawa tamper with it?”

Tom answered, “There’s good news and bad news about that you’ll want to know about. The good news is that the headquarters in Nevada validated the win. I thought there was a system error that happened at the same time as the win, but it had nothing to do with the winning spin itself.”

“What’s the bad news?” Betty asked.

“It concerns someone on your tour,” Tom said a half grin.

Betty’s brow furrowed quizzically until Tom explained, “Hannah found out the progressive is being awarded right before your bus leaves.”

Betty groaned in exaggerated pain. “I bet she’ll be standing in the front row, claiming the money should have been hers.”

“It gets worse,” Tom added.

“How?” Betty asked, not knowing if she really wanted to hear.

“Hannah heard me say the media will be present when we hand the winner the check. She made a point of telling me that during the ceremony she will let the media know the truth.”

“What truth?” Betty asked.

“The truth about Take A Chance Tours.”

**

Three hours later, Betty scrambled down the hotel sidewalk wheeling her luggage behind her. Fortunately, Lori had volunteered to welcome the passengers as they boarded the bus. Tillie stood at the side of the bus steps as well, assuring the riders that the new driver was more than qualified to take them back to Chicago. From Betty’s viewpoint, it looked as if the bus was almost filled.

“Everyone show up?” Betty asked, as she watched the bellmen jam bag after bag into the luggage compartment.

“Everyone but Hannah—and here she comes,” Tillie said, pointing down the sidewalk.

Hannah was moving slowly, her cane cracking angrily against the concrete with every step. Betty could tell Hannah was still embarrassed by her performance at the news conference only minutes earlier.

Hannah had shown up at the event as promised. She bullied her way to the front of the crowd. All during the ceremony she kept raising her hand like a schoolgirl begging to be called on. Once the oversized check was presented to the winner, a television camera panned over to her. A budding reporter asked, “Is there something you’d like to say about the multi-million dollar win at Moose Bay?”

Hannah, seeing her face on the monitor of the camera, and probably realizing millions of people would hear what she was going to say, lost her bravado. Instead she said, “It’s wonderful,” and scurried off.

For Betty, the best thing about the nationally aired sound bite was that Hannah was wearing a Take A Chance Tours t-shirt at the time.

Tillie tapped Betty on the shoulder, and said, “I’m going inside. Maybe I’ll use the microphone to tell a few jokes before Road Bingo begins. Who knows? Maybe I’ll decide to become a tour host.”

“You’d be a great one,” Betty replied, watching Tillie walk up the steps.

Betty looked back at her niece, who appeared to be lost in thought as she stared back toward the casino. Betty said, “The sheriff was looking for you earlier. Did he get ahold of you?”

Lori nodded. “He wanted to know if he could give me a call when this entire thing was over.”

Betty scoffed, “That could take years.”

“Exactly,” she smiled. “That’s why I told him he could.”

“What about Tony Gillette?” Betty questioned, knowing his interest in Lori rivaled the sheriff’s.

“Tony’s flying into Chicago to take me to dinner on Sunday,” Lori smiled before a serious expression took hold. “Aunt Betty, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What?” Betty asked, hoping Hannah’s slow moving assault toward the bus would give Lori enough time to share what was on her mind.

“This weekend turned out to be pretty good for me, at the tables. I did really well at poker. I mean, I love playing poker, maybe too much in fact,” Lori admitted, her eyes shifting downward.

Betty waited for Lori to continue, thankful that Hannah who was still a few yards away was hard of hearing.

Lori continued, “I’m thinking about taking a shot at becoming a professional poker player. That’s one of the reasons Tony is flying in to see me. He wants to become my mentor.”

“Lori, that’s great,” Betty answered. “Remember what I always say? Do what you love and the money will follow?”

Lori nodded, but the worried look on her face told her aunt that for whatever reason, the change in careers frightened her. Maybe her niece didn’t want to burden Betty with Take A Chance accounting. Betty decided to add, “Besides, what could possibly go wrong? If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out for you. It’s no big deal.”

The look on Lori’s face didn’t change. Betty thought her offer to help would have comforted her niece. She said, “Lori, I really don’t mind helping you with handling the company’s finances. You’re overworked as it is, and I’ve been thinking for a while about hiring a professional accounting firm. That way you could help me with promotions.”