Page 54 of Blind Luck

“One p.m. I’ll book a meeting room at the Black Diamond—go to the desk and tell them you’re from Church Group.”

Church Group? I’d heard that name before. Prior to Alexa installing an app on my phone, I’d called her answering service, and that was the name they gave.

“What’s Church Group?”

“Just a name we use sometimes.”

Why had they chosen that particular name? Temptedthough I was to ask, I figured Jerry would either lie or dodge the question, so I didn’t bother.

“I’ll be there.”

Jerry hung up without another word. She and Alexa had clearly been to the same school of etiquette.

“Goodbye to you too.”

CHAPTER 18

ARI

Six thirty in the morning, and someone knocked on the door of my hotel room. Was that Erin? She was a painfully early riser and always way too cheerful with it. Didn’t she realise Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest? I rubbed my eyes as I stumbled out of bed, ready to give her a lecture, only to find a brunette I’d never met before standing there.

“Hi, I’m Dusk. You must be Ari?” She held out a cup from the fancy coffee bar down the street and smiled brightly. “I brought caffeine.”

Dusk… Dusk… Another weird non-name. “Are you part of Jerry’s crew?”

“Jezebel? Yes. Can I come in?”

Did I have a choice? I opened the door wider, still in my pyjamas as she brushed past me in tight jeans and a plaid shirt.

“I take it this isn’t a social call?”

“Not really. I’m here to let you know that there’ll be a few changes to the way the investigation is being run.”

“Huh?”

“Jez has gone on vacation.”

Jerry hadwhat? We’d eaten lunch yesterday, and she hadn’t said a word about going away. Although she had been slightly subdued, probably because she’d split from Cole. Oh, sure, she said the breakup had been planned all along, but it was obvious she still liked him. And equally obvious that a long-term relationship was doomed from the start. From what I’d heard, Cole was a walking green flag of a man, and Jerry was a probable assassin who lied more often than she told the truth.

She’d brushed away my attempts to dig and stuck strictly to business as she picked at the burger she’d ordered. Apparently, T-Rex—whose name was actually Dylan Rodwell—really didn’t know anything more than he’d divulged already, and nor had he been paid. Amber Road held the money in escrow until the job was completed, and they took twenty percent no matter what, so AceInTheHole had lost out too. AceInTheHole—that was the username of the person behind all this, which made me think he was here in Vegas because that was a poker term. An ace dealt and held face down. A hidden advantage. Jerry wondered whether any poker players had lost big at the Galaxy recently, which was another lead for Rennick and Alexa to look into. I wanted to interview the hotel’s general manager, but Jerry was adamant that the investigation had to remain on the down-low.

“Jerry didn’t mention any trip.”

“No, well, until Priest bundled her out the door this morning, she didn’t truly think she was going on one.”

Priest was her boss, I knew that much. I’d met him once when he flew me to Hawaii after an attempt on Zach’s life. Unbeknown to me at the time, I’d first seen Jerry that day too. Hmm. Priest. Was that where the Church Group name had come from?

“So this is an involuntary vacation?”

“She needs a break. First, she fell down the stairs, andthen she got stabbed in the leg. And she broke her cast, kicking that guy in the— Oh, maybe I wasn’t supposed to mention that part.”

“Relax, I already know about the cast. She got stabbed in the leg?”

“Some deranged bitch thought Jez was hitting on her boyfriend and cut her with the stem of a champagne glass.”

“She didn’t jump out of the way?”

“As I said, shereallyneeds a break. She hasn’t slowed down in years, and she’s tired, even if she won’t admit it.”

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