Dwight got up at eight and was at breakfast by nine. He was looking around for a place to sit when a table with three reunion people waved him over. “Have a seat. Can’t have a compadre sitting all alone. I’m Jeff, this is my wife Amanda, and my friend Tim.”

“Dwight Hays. Thanks for sharing your table. He sat down and a waitress came over. “Orange juice, please, and water, no lemon.”

The waitress nodded and left. The conversation revolved around what they did back in Afghanistan and when and where they were now. Both Jeff and Tim were still in the military. Jeff in the Air Force at Langley and Tim at Ft. Drum in New York. Amanda, Jeff’s wife, made jewelry and sold it on-line. She gave Dwight a card with her website on it.

“I’ll even ship overseas, though that costs quite a bit more. But I really wanted my business to be international.”

“That necklace she’s wearing is one of hers,” Jeff said. “She’s making the gift shop rounds to see if they’ll carry her work.”

Dwight nodded politely and made the appropriate exclamations of awe at the quality of the necklace. He didn’t know anything about women’s fashion or jewelry. Maybe if I did I’d still be married, he thought. The others hung around until he was finished. “You all didn’t have to wait on me,” he said.

“Nonsense. We invited you over. Only polite to stay till you finished. “You didn’t want to go on the chocolate factory tour?” Tim asked.

“No.” Dwight patted his pudgy belly. “I need to stay away from that kind of thing.”

Everyone laughed in understanding. “Who doesn’t, right?” Amanda smiled. “Well. Nice to meet you. We’re off to Harrah’s to talk to the gift shop manager.”

“Good luck!” Dwight waved as Jeff and Amanda left. “How about you, Tim? What’s on your agenda for the day.”

The two walked together out of the buffet and to the casino floor. “I don’t know. I did the Hoover Dam tour yesterday. Did you hear about the murder? One of our people found the body.”

“Yeah. I heard.”

“Damnedest thing.” Tim shook his head. “Weirder yet is that the woman is supposed to be some sort of dead body whisperer. Rumor is she’s found several bodies back in the hick town where she lives. Nevada or New Mexico I think.”

Dwight had to bite his tongue. Tim was talking about Jean. He knew about her bodies from their son, Jim. She’d been in quite a bit of danger on every one she’d found. He’d been worried about her and Dawn hadn’t been pleased about that. That might have been one of the reasons she’d left.

“Who does that—find dead bodies I mean. Geesh!”

“Just happened I guess. I heard she found the body in the sauna, of all places. No one looks for a body in the sauna.”

“Death traps.” Jeff waved his hand. “Sauna’s I mean. Can’t be good for you all that heat. That’s why people stay inside here in the summer.”

“You’ve got a point.”

So far they’d been wandering around the gaming area. Dwight was just following along since he didn’t really have anywhere to go.

“Okay. This is my machine.” Jeff climbed up onto the stool seat.

Dwight looked at it. It was one of those mega-jackpot machines that needed a dollar a spin. “You’ve played this before?”

“Yeah, All day yesterday. I’m down about $460 dollars but if I win, it’ll be a million-dollar payout. I won one of these three years ago. Bought me a new house in a gated community. Love it.” Jeff settled into the seat and pulled a player’s card from his pocket and stuck it in the slot. “And, they bring me free drinks all day. Food too, if I want it.”

Dwight was boggled. “Really. Quite the set up.”

“You bet.” Jeff roared. “You bet, get it?”

Dwight pasted on a smile. “Oh, yeah. Funny. Well. Good luck.”

Jeff gave the machine’s lever a pull. “Thanks. Have fun.”

Dwight walked away a few paces and watched. The machine made a huge amount of noise with bells and sirens and lights were flashing all over it. More bells rang when the spinning stopped. Just a few bucks were won and Jeff pulled again. And again, it was all sound and fury. Nothing seemed to happen when the spinning stopped. Jeff pulled, over and over until Dwight grew tired of watching. Seemed like a waste to him. Odds were with the house after all but if the guy won once before, it wasn’t too strange that he decided to try again.

He walked off, there had to be something better to do. He went out to the pool where there was a small seating area with plants all around and umbrellas for shade. There was a view of the pool. It was only ten, too early for drinks even for him. A waiter came around and Dwight asked for a bottle of water. With the tip, it was going to come to twice what it was in the gift shop, but Dwight didn’t care.

He pulled his notebook from his pants pocket and a pen and began jotting down names of people and their companies that he thought held some promise for him. If he didn’t start bringing in more money, he was going to be living out of his car or mooching off of his son. Neither option was appealing.

Next Chapter: Chapter Nine