Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 05 - Till Death Do Us Part (24 page)

When Bill and Brandon saw Tom, they hesitated.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s okay,” Tom said. “Have a seat.”

“What?” I repeated my earlier question.

Kenny leaned in and whispered, “It really isn’t protocol for the guys to come in and eat every meal. They’re supposed to be on duty, not sitting in your kitchen and eating all of the time.”

“Oh. Another silly FBI rule?”

“No, it’s a cop rule. We’re not supposed to fraternize with the people we are supposed to be protecting.” Tom’s voice was curt and clipped; he was in Chief of Police mode.

“They’re not fraternizing, they’re eating. Every person has to eat, right?” Kenny asked, not fazed by Tom’s tone or attitude, not one little bit.

Tom frowned but let it go.

The crab cakes were wonderful and went well with Maury’s homemade tartar sauce and coleslaw.

There wasn’t much conversation at lunch. Bill and Brandon ate quickly and left.

When Kenny finished, he extended his legs, crossed his ankles and said, “What are we doing today, Stretch?”

“Are you sure you’re up to going out?” Tom asked me.

“If she’s up to sex with you, she’s up to going out,” Kenny said.

I felt my face blush, Tom scowled and Kenny laughed and rolled his eyes at both of us, and continued, “The last time you suffered an attack that bad we went to Great America and rode roller coasters all night.”

“No.” Tom’s voice said he wouldn’t take an argument, either.

“Okay,” Kenny said slowly, then leaned forward and whispered to me. “Is he always this controlling?”

I nodded, but smiled.

“We’re not going to a place with that many people. It will be too hard to protect Liza,” Tom explained.

“We went to Pier 39 last week,” Kenny reminded him.

“Yes, and she was almost kidnapped,” Tom added.

“The key in that sentence is ‘almost,’” Kenny said.

“I’m not going to take a chance with her life, are you?” Tom said.

“Not when you put it that way.” Kenny frowned.

“I have wedding stuff we can do,” I suggested, knowing exactly what they would say.

“No,” both men said together, then looked at each other. Kenny laughed and Tom even cracked a smile. That was progress.

“How about going to a movie?” I suggested.

Kenny groaned and put his head on the table.

“What?” Tom asked.

Kenny lifted his head and said, “You do know her taste in movies, right?”

“Yeah, the higher the body count the better. They’re fine with me.”

“It must be the cop in you. I get tired of watching people get shot, blown up, and decapitated. I veto the movie idea.”

“Okay, then you pick something,” I said, but before he could make a suggestion I said, “I veto circuses and carnivals.”

“Me, too,” Tom agreed.

“Damn,” Kenny said. “I saw a carnival being set up over by the mall yesterday.”

I shuddered, just thinking about poorly maintained carnival rides. I’m sure some of them are very safe, but just the thought of getting on a ride that’s been transported on the back of a semi for miles makes me nervous.

“Monterey?” Kenny said.

“Too far,” I answered.

Then it came to me and I knew Kenny would agree. It was one of our favorite places to go in high school. Of course we snuck in because we weren’t old enough. That was part of the thrill. A big smile morphed on my face. I looked at Kenny, put my arm in the air and pulled it down, then said, “
Ch-ching!”

Kenny immediately jumped up. “Yes, oh hell yes!”

“What?” Tom asked, looking from me to Kenny and then back to me.

“Casino!” Kenny and I said together.

I immediately jumped up and said, “I’m getting my purse.”

Kenny ran out the front door, “I’ll get my wallet and change my clothes. It’s always cold in those places.”

We left Tom at the kitchen table watching the both of us run from the room.

When I came back with my purse, Tom was still at the table.

“Casino?” he asked.

“Yes, we can go to Black Oak. It’s an Indian casino up in Sonora. It’s a nice drive with a great destination.”

Tom didn’t move. I walked over to the table and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“I just realized that I didn’t know that you liked to gamble.”

“I love the slots. I only play the penny machines, but I love all those bells and spinning pictures. I really love the bonus rounds, if I get to play them.”

“What else do you like that I don’t know about?”

“We’ve got a lifetime to find out each other’s loves,” I kissed him gently on the lips.

Kenny came through the front door. “None of that. You two are
not
going back to bed, we are going to the casino.”

I pulled away from Tom. Kenny wore jeans and a black T-shirt with an American flag on it.

“I like your shirt,” I told him.

“Thanks, Stretch. Let’s go!”

Tom shrugged, grabbed his wallet, ankle gun, and jacket from my room. He called the boys over at Kenny’s house and they said they would follow us.

It was warm, so we took the top off the Jeep. Kenny immediately got into the backseat. I nodded and smiled at him. He winked at me.

When the engine came to life, my country-western station blared to life and I reached to turn it down.

“Turn it up,” Kenny said. “It’s going to be hard for us to talk with the top open so I want to sing.”

“I will when I get out of the city limits,” I told him.

He huffed, but said, “Okay.”

As soon as we were on the freeway, Kenny reached over and turned up the radio. The three of us sang along to every song. I had finally found something we all liked – country-western music.

When we got off the freeway and on to the highways, the FBI black sedan was four cars behind us. My life changed when I started looking into unsolved kidnappings and murders – some positive and others negative. Now I had a protective detail and Tom.

Since we slowed down, Kenny and I started talking – about everything and anything we saw on the road from the fruit stand to the type of trees we thought were planted on the side of the road.

“You think they have …,” Kenny began.

“Probably,” I finished.

“Can we?”

“On the way home.” I moved to go around a pickup truck that pulled a horse trailer.

“What?” Tom asked.

“Kenny loves kettle corn and this fruit stand sells big bags of them. He wants some on the way home.” I pulled in front of the truck to let a little red sports car pass me.

“How do you to know that’s what he was talking about?” Tom raised his eyebrows, clearly perplexed.

I shrugged. “I know Kenny and his obsession with kettle corn.”

“It’s better than yours,” Kenny laughed.

“I know but at least I have,” I said, thinking that a big bag of peanut M & M’s would be great right now.

“Chocolate.” Kenny nodded.

We spent the next forty-five minutes finishing each other’s sentences and talking at warp speed. When we went through Oakdale, I told Kenny all about Tom’s bull riding career.

Kenny tapped Tom on the shoulder and said, “Really?”

“Really, what?” he bellowed. “I have no idea what the two of you are talking about.”

“You,” both Kenny and I said together and then started laughing.

Tom rubbed his temple and I cringed. He was getting another headache.

When we stopped at a light leaving Oakdale, Kenny tightened his seat belt and said, “Okay, Stretch. Can we take the curves only ten miles over the posted speed limit?”

I looked into the rearview mirror and glared at Kenny.

“What?” Tom asked.

“Have you driven with her on winding roads?” Kenny asked.

“Of course, I don’t remember anything special about her driving.”

Kenny looked at me and said, “You drive slower with him?”

I lowered my eyes. “Maybe.”

“Damn, Stretch. I never thought I’d see the day when you curbed yourself for someone else.”

“What do you mean?” Tom asked.

“Stretch is a speed demon. She usually has one foot on the brake and the other on the accelerator.”

Tom looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not that bad,” I sneered at Kenny, willing him to shut up, but he only laughed.

“I’d love to see the way you really drive, Liza. Go ahead.” Tom pointed to the open road.

Kenny laughed harder. “Be careful what you wish for, man.”

“I’m not that bad,” I told both men.

Kenny took my head in his hands and pointed it at the road, “Forget we’re here, Stretch. Be the road, slide the road, bank the road and fly.”

I took a deep breath, focused and pushed down on the accelerator. When we hit the curves, I used the brake and accelerator to slide around the corner. On the straights I pushed the Jeep and it responded like a coiled cobra, striking to life and flying down the road. It didn’t react like my little sports car I drove in high school, so I couldn’t push it as much as I would have. Once the Jeep slid on the gravel on the shoulder of a curb but I easily jerked it back on the road. The sports car was so
much lower to the ground and was just part of the road. Maybe this wasn’t the car for me?

When we got to Sonora and I slowed down, Kenny said, “Dump this car, Stretch. You can’t drive it like I’m used to. Get another sports car.”

“What the hell was that?” Tom asked, then finished with, “I could have given you at least twenty tickets since we left Oakdale. Not to mention I thought we would slide off the road
twice
.”

“This Jeep isn’t made to slide the curves, Kenny.” I glanced in the rearview mirror at him.

“But your speed was so slow on the straights, Stretch.”

“That’s all this vehicle has to give.”

“That’s why you need another sports car.”

“I like my new Jeep, I put it in the ditch and it still ran,” I reminded him.

“You would have outrun the guy in your sports car and wouldn’t have been in the ditch, Stretch,” Kenny insisted.

“Probably, but I still like this car,” I told Kenny.

“It doesn’t suit you, Stretch,” he said.

“Yes, it does,” I argued back, sticking my tongue at him.

Kenny stuck his tongue out at me and blew me a raspberry.

“Hey!” Tom yelled.

We both looked at him.

Tom was rubbing the temples on his head with both hands now.

“What?” Kenny and I said together, then looked at each other and started laughing.

“You,” Tom looked at Kenny, “shut up and you,” he turned his gaze to me, “slow down!”

“What?” I growled at Tom. He was using that voice with me again. It felt like the times my dad yelled at Kenny and me. When did Tom turn into my dad?

“Uh oh,” I heard Kenny say.

Chapter 26

Tom immediately put his hand up and said, “I am
not
telling you what to do, Liza. I would just like for you to slow down a little bit,
please
.”

“Smart move,” Kenny said from the back seat, then added, “The man can learn, I’m impressed.”

I eased off on the accelerator, bringing it down to only a few miles over the speed limit and continued to the casino.

Kenny looked behind us, laughed and said, “I think we lost the FBI guys on the second turn.”

As if on cue, Tom’s phone rang.

He answered it with, “We’re pulling into the casino parking lot right now. No, we will not be deliberately losing you again.”

“Then they better learn to drive better or we’ll lose them on the way home,” Kenny mumbled under his breath in the backseat.

As I parked the Jeep in the parking structure, Tom said, “We can’t go in until the agents catch up with us.”

“We’ve got to sit in the parking lot until they get here?” I asked.

“Yes, I can’t protect you by myself in a casino.”

“That sucks,” Kenny sat back in the seat.

I could tell that Tom wanted to say something. Probably about if I’d driven slower we wouldn’t have lost them and now wouldn’t have to sit and wait for them. But he didn’t say a word. We waited in silence. Twenty minutes later the black sedan pulled into the garage and parked next to us.

Brandon opened the door and said, “Where the hell did you learn to drive, Liza, NASCAR?”

“She can outdrive those guys,” Kenny said as he jumped out of the jeep without using a door.

Tom and I got out of the Jeep.

“Brandon, you stay with the cars. Bill, I want you to keep Liza in your sights at all times. I’m staying with her, but I want back up.”

Brandon and Bill nodded.

We all walked into the casino.

I was still a little mad at Tom for his controlling attitude, but the bells and lights of the casino lifted my mood.

“I heard they’ve got some Wizard of Oz machines that are cool,” Kenny said.

I nodded.

“I’m off to a table,” Kenny left us. He was a blackjack or poker player and usually won.

I went to the cashier and exchanged my two twenty dollar bills for eight fives, Tom followed me.

“Aren’t you going to gamble?” I asked.

“I’m not much of a gambler, Liza. I’ll just watch you.”

“Why’d you agree to come here?”

“You and Kenny wanted to go and it was fine with me.” Tom shrugged.

The Wizard of Oz Machines were in sets of three and each one was different. That was cool. I sat in the middle and Tom sat on the right.

I handed him five dollars and said, “You’ve got to at least look like you’re playing or someone is going to ask you for the machine.”

Tom put the money into the machine and then looked at all the buttons.

“I usually play all the lines, but only by one, so that’s only thirty cents at a time.”

“How can you win any real money if you’re only playing thirty cents at a time?” Tom asked.

“Thirty cents is in my budget,” I told him.

I put my five dollars into the machine and started watching the pictures from the Wizard of Oz spin. Tom would push his every once in a while. I got to play the bonus round several times. It was fun. It was as if you were going down the yellow brick road to visit the wizard. His green head would come out and then you’d get to know how much money you won. Sometimes Glenda would come in a huge bubble and make some of the columns wild. That was fun, too. My five dollars investment got up to thirty-six dollars at one point, but I lost it all eventually. It didn’t matter, the five dollars lasted me over an hour.

Kenny wandered up and said, “The tables have cleaned me out, Stretch, and I’m hungry. I don’t think crab cakes are very filling. They must be like Chinese food – I’m always hungry a few hours later. Let’s get a burger at the grill.”

“Sounds good,” I turned to Tom and said, “You ready for a break?”

He shrugged and said, “Sure, I’ve just been sitting here pushing buttons.”

I looked at his machine and said, “Did you put more money into the machine?”

He shook his head and I pointed to his total. “You have three hundred and thirty-six dollars in credits.”

“Really?” Tom looked at the number.

“You didn’t know you were winning?” Kenny asked.

“No, I just pushed the buttons, watched Liza, and kept an eye on the people around us.”

“Cash out. You’re the big winner so you’re buying dinner,” I told him.

“That’s fair. It was your five dollar initial investment, after all.” Tom pushed the button to cash out and got his ticket.

On the way to the restaurant, he cashed in his ticket and got his money.

Our late lunch, snack or early dinner, whatever you wanted to call it, was very good. The grill makes a fabulous burger. You just have to be careful how you order it. I like my meat rare and made the mistake of ordering it that way once. It was almost raw. Now I order my burgers medium.

After dinner, Tom gave me the rest of his money.

I pushed it back at him and said, “You won it.”

“It was your investment.” He held out the money.

I shrugged, took it and gave half to Kenny. “Go play the tables a little longer; I want to play some more slots.”

Kenny nodded at me and said, “Thanks,” to Tom and he was gone.

I wondered from machine to machine putting in five dollars and seeing what happened. I played a little while on each machine but wasn’t having any luck.

“I’m done,” I told Tom an hour later when the last of his money was gone. “Let’s go and find Kenny.”

We found Kenny at the blackjack tables with a stack of chips in front of him.

“You must be winning?” I asked.

He looked at me, smiled, and handed the female dealer a chip. “My ride is here.”

“Thanks, Kenny,” the dealer said, pocketing the chip, then added, “Don’t forget to call me if you’re up here and are staying a few nights.”

Kenny winked at her, gathered up his chips, and stood.

“Made a new friend?” I asked.

“Of course,” Kenny replied.

“Isn’t she a little young for you?” Tom asked.

“Brenda’s a nice girl. She’s going to college to be a nurse.”

“When she gets out of high school?” Tom asked.

“She has to be at least twenty-one to work here, right?” I asked.

“This is an Indian casino, Liza. I have no idea if they have to follow the regular laws. She didn’t look a day over sixteen.”

“How much did you win?” I asked, changing the subject, as we walked to the cashier to convert Kenny’s chips to cash.

“I started with the hundred you gave me and took the table for a thousand dollars.”

“Really? That’s great!”

After he got his money, he tried to give Tom back his hundred dollars. “No, give it to Liza. It was her five dollar original investment.”

When he tried to give it to me I said, “Keep it.”

When he shook his head I said, “Buy me a bigger wedding gift.”

“I already bought you a wedding gift,” Kenny said.

“Really? What did you get me?”

Kenny shook his head. “It’s a surprise.”

“I hate surprises,” I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted.

“No, you say you hate surprises so people will tell you. I’m not telling you. It’s going to be a surprise.”

When we got to the cars, Tom went directly to the driver’s seat. I could have argued, thrown a fit, told him it was my car and he couldn’t drive it, but why? Kenny got into the back and I took the passenger seat.

We drove out of the casino and out onto the open road. The air was still very warm and having a convertible was nice. I was glad that I bought one. The black sedan was right behind us. It was slow going as Tom braked at every corner.

When I tried to turn up the radio, Tom put his hand on my arm.

“What?”

“I don’t know this road and the radio will distract me.”

“I could drive,” I suggested.

“No, that’s okay. I don’t mind driving.”

I heard Kenny sighing from the backseat. At this rate it would take us twice as long to get home as it took us to get to the casino.

“Maybe we’ll get home by tomorrow,” I heard Kenny mumble from the backseat.

I looked back at him and forced a smile, even though I felt exactly the same way.

We got to an incline and Tom finally pushed the accelerator down and picked up some speed. When we got to the top, Tom pushed the brake down and it slammed with a loud pop into the floorboard.

“Shit! We’ve lost our brakes,” Tom said as the Jeep began to pick up speed and slide on the gravel of the shoulder.