Page 68 of Blind Luck

“Can you listen in on the conversation?”

“They might think it’s weird if we suddenly go back in and take the table next to them. We were sitting with Kina and Maddie before we left.”

“Yup, that would be weird. I’m at AnyBet with Dusk. We can get there in fifteen minutes, and we’ll listen in.”

“Did you find anything in the numbers yet?”

“Maybe. We’ll talk later, okay? You did good, Erin.”

I grinned; I couldn’t help it. I might not have been the best private investigator in the world, but I wasn’t the worst either.

CHAPTER 23

ARI

Ten thirty p.m. on Tuesday, and Digby Rennick was scribbling on the walls in his office while I sat on the second largest of the rocks in his Zen garden. Sounds weird? Itwasweird, but I’d grown used to it. Rennick’s domain took up the whole top floor of AnyBet’s Las Vegas headquarters. His assistants—Lila Margot and Caryn Hermes—usually sat in a vestibule outside, but tonight, Caryn was tucked up in bed while Lila spun in slow circles in Rennick’s swivel chair.

Inside the office, which was bigger than most apartments, the space was split in two. The left-hand side was mostly empty, with a desk at the far end and a glass table surrounded by four squat stools in the middle. The windows had been covered up to make more space for Rennick’s mathematical graffiti. Lila told me that once every spot was full, they repainted the walls and he started again.

The right-hand side of the room still had its windows. And it also had the Zen garden. Fine gravel covered a sunken floor, with four rocks at one end and a fountain burbling away in a pool at the other. One of the rocks wasnew. Digby almost had a meltdown the other day when his feng shui expert told him it was in the wrong place, but several sturdy straps, six people, and brute force had resolved that issue. Right now, Dusk was walking around barefoot, raking the stones into swirling patterns.Shoosh, shoosh, shoosh.

“Hey, this is actually quite relaxing,” she said, sounding surprised.

Lila paused mid-spin. “Not so crazy after all, huh?”

“Guess not.”

Rennick wasn’t crazy, but hewascrazy smart. A savant. A human calculator. He liked to do things his own way, and he’d built a successful company based on his abilities.

So, why were we all in the office so late?

Because sometime around midday, Rennick said, “Hmm,” and began writing faster, then went to look up stuff on his computer. Lila was certain that was significant, and since she was closer to him than anyone, she knew things like that. But nobody dared to interrupt and ask for details.

Then a half hour after the “Hmm” moment, Erin had called with her theory about golf, Jace Fuller, and our mysterious loan shark-slash-hirer of dark web thugs. It sounded farfetched. But occasionally, even the wildest theories turned out to be true; I knew that from experience.

And the Fuller family made sense as suspects.

Dusk and I had headed to the Galaxy while Lila stayed to make Rennick coffee, but by the time we arrived, Kelsey and Jace Fuller were on their way out of the bar. Seemed they’d been there for drinks and not lunch. That was where things got interesting. They spent an hour walking around the resort, but not the fun parts. They skipped the restaurants and casino in favour of the parking garage, the pool deck, the children’s play area, and the tired mini-golf course that a few tourists were half-heartedly thwackingballs around. Jace gestured at the surroundings as they walked, and Kelsey was making notes on a tablet. He invaded her personal space at every opportunity, and although she remained professional, she looked far from happy to be there.

“He so thinks he’s building a freaking golf course,” Dusk whispered.

“This isn’t a social visit, that’s for sure.”

“Tell Echo. She’ll start digging.”

“She’s finished skipping around the planet now?”

Dusk nodded. “Jez went to San Gallicano with Cole instead of taking off after her, so she’s set up shop somewhere for now.”

Caryn was at lunch when we arrived back at AnyBet, so I’d borrowed her desk and video-called Alexa. Today, she had a rabbit filter over her face. The coat and scarf she was wrapped up in were real rather than computer-generated, and even in cartoon form, she appeared thoroughly miserable as I explained the situation.

“Can you look at Jace Fuller?” I asked.

“Of course, and Kelsey too. If I don’t freeze to death first, that is.”

“Where are you?”

She shrugged. “That’s not important. Be vague with Jez about this, okay? I thought she’d never meet another man she liked, and if she realises we have solid suspects, she’s going to fly right back here to take care of the problem. Which is completely unnecessary.”

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