Page 125 of Blue Moon

“Before he went to prison. Yeah, yeah, we know.”

Dusk shot me a look. What was that supposed to mean? Oh, right. Tact.

She took over again. “We’re going to show you some names. Can you tell me if any of them look familiar? Have you spent time with any of these people?”

It was the list of missing control centre employees. Nola read through it carefully, but she was shaking her head by the end.

“No, I don’t recognise any of them.”

Now Priest had a question, which meant Emmy had asked it. “Did you notice anyone spending too much time on the twelfth floor? Any member of the hotel staff?”

Another shake of the head. Dusk could stick around in case the kidnapper called again, but it was time for me to head back to the Nile Palace.

“I need a list of everyone who worked the seven-to-three shift last Saturday,” I told Echo through the phone as I hurtled along the streets of Vegas. “Can you get it? We’re looking for a big guy.”

“My size, but not so muscular,” Priest added from the passenger seat.

“I can get it, but the personnel records don’t include physical attributes.”

“Is Monroe there?”

“No, Romeo Serafini escorted him out after I found Monroe’s login was used to change the data retention parameters in the security system.”

“Fuck. So he’s dirty?”

“Not necessarily. I’d say there’s an equal possibility that he’s just incompetent. He’s the head of security, and his password was the name of his cat, five characters, all lowercase. Nacho. It should be illegal.”

“Calling a cat Nacho?”

“No, using such a shitty password. Anyhow, Romeo took Monroe away, and I haven’t seen him since. You want me to send Chase to look?”

“I’ll try calling first. I’m nearly there in any case.”

Romeo answered with his usual charm on the second ring. “Now what do you want?”

“Don’t drop Monroe in Lake Mead. We might need him.”

“I wasn’t planning to. With the way the waters are receding, Lake Mead is a terrible place to dump bodies. Lake Tahoe works much better. Or the forest around Cedar City if you don’t feel like taking a long drive.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“What, you’re going to claim you’re whiter than white?”

Romeo wasn’t certain exactly how I spent my time, and that was the way I wanted it to stay. He thought I worked for Eagle Investigations, which officially, I did. It was a front company we used to cover our tracks if the need arose. When Romeo had questioned my presence at the beginning of this job, I’d just told him Eagle was subcontracting for Blackwood.

“Not at all, but you need to treat your staff better.”

Romeo sighed through the phone. “Are you planning to give me another lecture on business practices?”

“Yes, but only because you need it. If a waitress is worried about missing a shift because she won’t make the rent, you’re not paying her enough. And while you’re at it, a cost-effective childcare option wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

When a friend of Echo’s took over day-to-day operations at the Nebula, the first thing he’d done was start a company crèche. Staff retention was excellent, and happy staff made happy customers, apparently.

“I’ll take that on board.”

“Don’t give me that corporate bullshit.”

He lowered his voice. “Why? What are you going to do about it?”

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