Page 18 of Strip Search

Becka handed me a cup of coffee and then sat down across from me with one of her own. “We met at a job interview for a cocktail waitress at the New York-New York casino. I said I had a room for rent. She paid me cash for the first month. That was good enough for me. I wound up getting the job. She went on to work at the Spearmint Rhino.”

“She doesn’t work there anymore. Do you know where she’s working now?”

“If Miles gave you this address, then you know she was stripping at Dalton’s.”

I nodded. “But she left a few weeks ago. There was a man at the club that came in to see her sometimes. One of the dancers told me he was an older guy. White hair, short beard? Did she ever talk about him or bring him around?”

Becka frowned and shook her head. “She never had anyone over, and I don’t remember her talking about a guy.”

“What reason did she give you for moving out so suddenly?”

“She said she got a gig that included room and board.” Becka looked into her cup of coffee, then back up at me.

“Like a hospitality job. Maybe for one of the hotels around here?”

“She wouldn’t tell me. I got the impression that it was a more . . . private contract.”

I felt an icy chill. “Do you think it was sex work?”

“Why? Because all strippers are hookers?” Becka snapped.

“No.” But it had crossed my mind. If Lisa was willing to strip for quick cash, she could have also convinced herself that she could sell her body to pay off her medical bills. It didn’tsound so farfetched. Lisa hated owing anything to anybody. She was the only person I knew who didn’t have any credit card debt or student loans. “But it would account for why she hasn’t contacted us in two weeks and has been super secretive. Did she ever say why she came to Vegas?”

“She said she wanted a change of scenery and she was sick of the New York winters. She might have mentioned that her family was a little clingy. You look like her, now that I’m more awake.”

“I do?” No one had ever said that to me before.

“Same eyes. Same expressions. Why are you here?”

“My parents are terrified something happened to her.”

“So why aren’t they here? Why did they send you?”

I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

“Maybe Lisa isn’t the only one who needs a change of scene.”

I thought briefly about Miles. “Vegas does have a certain charm.”

“That goes away after you live here for a while. I don’t know where she’s working now or why she’d leave. She had a good deal at Dalton’s.”

“In what way?”

“How well do you know Miles?”

“I don’t really.” Although, he knew a lot about me from that little dance that I did. I fought a blush, but Becka noticed it.

“He’s sex on a stick, isn’t he? I used to work for him. He’s one of the good guys and takes care of his employees. He’s at that club twenty-four seven and knows what’s going down there. Lisa wouldn’t have left unless she got a better deal with someone she trusted.”

“Is that why you left?”

“I got sick of the groping and the cheap-ass tippers. At least with waitressing you only have to put up with an ass pinch and a stray hand here and there, and the tips are just as good.”

“As good as the VIP room?”

She barked out a quick laugh. “No. I do miss that part. The money. Not the men.”

“Did Lisa feel uncomfortable with it?”

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