Page 79 of Strip Search

“You're not going to believe this shit,” he said, handing me a tray of meats and cheese. “That asshole Zeke wants his job back.”

That was interesting. “What do you think?”

“He was good when he was here. I don't like that he took off without notice, but we could use people we don't have to train. And you took back Paulie, so why not Zeke?”

“I think Zeke might be running his own business out of the club. Escorts,” I said at Liu's look. I wasn't going to tell him about Dee's newest profession because it wasn't his business. But I didn't want Zeke leading away any of the dancers to Pahrump.

“His sister is a good worker,” Liu said. “I'd bet she'd keep an eye on him.”

“If you want him, he's yours. Don't let him know that I suspect he's up to no good. If he's clean, no problem. If he's messing around, I want to catch him in the act.”

“Deal.”

A few more rounds with security, the DJ, and of course the girls, and we were ready to open. Some clubs were twenty-four hours, but I closed my doors at four a.m. and opened them back up at noon. I only needed about six hours of sleep a night. I had been doing this every day for two years. I was getting sick of the inside of the club. If Jackie did stay in Las Vegas, maybe I'd ask Highway if he wanted to be promoted to manager and we'd split up the shifts. Maybe I'd do it even if Jackie went home.

I signaled for the DJ to start playing and three dancers sauntered into place on each of the small U-shaped stages.

“Open the doors,” I said to the doorman. I was pleased that there had been a small line. At the end of the line were Leonidas and his lieutenants.

“You got the money?” he asked when he got to where I was standing in the middle of the club.

“You've got the information?”

Leonidas nodded.

“You want to do this out here or in my office?”

“We might want some privacy for this conversation.”

I shrugged as if it didn't matter and led them back to my office. I saw Grier and Miranda getting up from their usual table. He followed her into the VIP room just as I reached my office. The goons sat on the couch and Leonidas perched a hip on my desk. He glanced at Uncle Johnny’s album and I inwardly cursed. I couldn't believe I’d left it out.

“That you as a kid?”

“Me and my uncle.” I tossed him the five thousand dollars. It was rolled up and secured with a rubber band.

He lobbed it to one of his lieutenants on the couch to count it.

“You've been waiting a long time for this,” he said.

“It better be accurate information.”

“It is. You've been staring at them for the last two years.” He jerked his thumb behind him. “Konner and Dieter from the pawn shop across the street had it in for your uncle for years. Surely, you remember that?”

“I remember that there was no love lost between them, but murder and arson? I don't buy it. The cops didn’t either when they questioned them back then.”

“Konner and Dieter are mob connected. They're not big fish, but they know people who are. While you were hustling drunks and laying socialites in Mykonos, Johnny was struggling financially.”

My jaw clenched. I hadn't known it at the time, but after the fire I had been stuck with settling his estate. He had been a few months from bankruptcy when he died.

“Your uncle went to Konner and Dieter and said he wanted to cash in on the club’s insurance policy. He hired them to burn it down.”

I was shaking my head in denial. But in my gut, it sounded right.

“He was getting old and getting sick of the club. He wasn't bringing in the crowd that he had been in the seventies andeighties. He wanted a lump sum to move to Florida and live the good life. He even had a girl picked out to take with him.” Leonidas handed me a photograph. For a second, I expected to see one of the burlesque dancers I knew from the old days. Instead I saw a younger version of Dee's mother. “Her name is Eleanor Brandon. But she went by the stage name Brandy.”

“What the fuck?” I said. Brandy hadn’t been around while I had been there. And Dee’s mom hadn’t mentioned that she had known my uncle.

“You can confirm my story with her. Her number is on the back of the picture. Anyway, at the last minute, your uncle got cold feet. Dieter and Konner were annoyed, but they were willing to stop it—as long as they got a cut of the insurance money.”

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