Page 74 of High Roller

“The device or the woman?”

Owen snorts. “The woman is entirely your trouble to deal with, my friend.”

“Bastard.”

“Never have denied it.”

Together, we go to the suite where Lili is waiting, and I knock on the door.

“Come in,” she calls.

“Afternoon, Mrs. Draven,” Owen says cheerfully.

Lili visibly shudders, and for some reason that gives me comfort.

“Please call me Lili.”

Owen gives a curt nod. “We’ve had an interesting visitor to our parking lot, and I need to double check you aren’t carrying any trackers.”

“I was naked except for the hairpins in my hair and my shoes when Victor forced me into his car. And then the bastard threw out a two-thousand-dollar pair of shoes.”

“Two thousand is excessive even for me,” Owen says, incredulously. “You walk around in other people’s filth. Why spend that much?”

“You should take care of your feet Mr. Thorne.”

Owen raises an eyebrow. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’m going to scan this wand over you and see if it picks up on any signals.”

She stands and reaches for the buttons on her pajama top. Owen waves his hand before she gets to the second button. “No need for that. I’m not quite the monster Victor is. The wand will work over your clothes. I appreciate your cooperation, though.”

“I’m starting to realize that you lot are my best bet for getting out of here alive,” she admits as Owen runs the wand over her.

“Do you still have those hair pins?”

Lili frowns. “I use different ones every day. You really think my husband would put trackers in all of them?”

“He tracked you to the casino, didn’t he?”

“I’m assuming it was the large ATM withdrawals that led him there.”

“Fair point. I’d still like to check.”

I stand back and watch as Lili goes to the bathroom to retrieve them.

When Owen runs the wand over small metal pins, an orange light turns on at the top of the wand. He frowns and passes the wand across them again. “Fuck.”

“What? Are they bugged?” I ask.

“It looks like there is definitely a tracker of some kind, but it’s not transmitting. Not sure why that would be the case. I’m going to take these to my office and investigate further.”

Lili nods at Owen, and I notice her lip trembling. “I didn’t know about this. I swear,” she whispers.

Afraid she is going to burst into tears, I move forward and cup her jaw in my palm. “I believe you, Liliana. Relax.”

A single tear drops down her cheek, and I catch it with my thumb.

“Don’t cry, little Spitfire. You’re stronger than that.”

She closes her eyes and nods. “Normally, I would agree. But this is all getting to be too much.”

---