They waited forty minutes. “Maybe he went out the back,” Dwight said.

Jean rubbed her ear. “Let’s wait a few more, maybe he had a lot to do.”

“Okay.” Dwight drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “This is kind of boring. Have you done this before?”

“No. But we’ve, that’s Karen and me, done drive-bys to check out a place or two. Never a stake-out.”

“You know the cops are going to have a fit, don’t you?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. I’m getting used to being yelled at by the police.”

Dwight rolled his eyes. “For the love of…”

“There he is!” Jean pointed. “And he has Brandon and Gail with him. Oh, and the dark-haired man I saw Brandon with at the candy factory.”

The group walked the other direction, away from Dwight and Jean.

“Don’t start the car yet.” Jean put her hand on Dwight’s arm, reaching for the start button. “They’ll hear it start up and turn around.”

Dwight nodded. They waited until the foursome turned right around the corner and Dwight started the car and pulled up to the corner. “Good thing a Prius is so quiet.”

Jean nodded. “Looks like they’re headed for the Caesar’s parking garage.”

They pulled up as the others went left and Dwight stopped at the corner. “Yep, right into the garage. Now what?”

Jean leaned forward to see them go into the garage. “I don’t know. We don’t know what they’ll be driving. Or if they’re all going in the same car.” She rubbed her temple. “Let’s give it a minute, maybe we’ll be able to spot them.

They spotted the dark-haired man first. He pulled out in a black SUV, but Jean recognized him right away. “Should we follow him or wait for the others?”

“I say wait for the others. We don’t know who that guy is or how dangerous.”

Jean agreed. “Sure.  No sense getting crazy.”

Dwight snorted. “There they are. All in that blue Mercury.” He followed discretely but the three just went back to their hotel. Dwight pulled into the garage after them and followed them to the third level. He kept going. “Why come back together when they went separately? That makes no sense.”

Jean shook her head and sighed. “No telling. But we do know now that they’re working together on something. And that black-haired guy. But what?”

“Time to go in. They’re probably gone by now.”

Dwight went with her to her room. “What’s your plan? It’s our last day here.”

“Stay out of trouble. With luck, Voberg will call me with an update.”

“Be safe,” he said at the door. “Lock up tight.”

“I will.” She locked up and went to the bedroom. Jean took a shower in the opulent bathroom, then after drying her hair, lay down on the bed. It was perfect. Not too hard, not too soft and the sheets were silk! She climbed in and after bolstering herself with pillows, fell asleep.

She woke to her cell ringing. “Yes?”

“Detective Voberg here. Just wanted to let you know. The figures at your door at four and at seven-forty-five, were masked and hooded. Can’t tell much except it was a male, probably the same one both times as both figures seemed about the same size and build. And, Blackstone found a tiny camera in the hall. That’s how he knew you’d left the room.”

“The note?”

“Nothing so far. No prints, block letters. A dead-end, I think, except if we catch whoever it is. Then it’s evidence of a threat.”

“That’s something, I guess.”

“We’re looking into your suspect list’s backgrounds. Nothing so far but it’s early yet. We’ll keep working. How’re your kidneys?”

“They hurt but I just had a nap, so I feel better. I’m planning on going to dinner tonight with the reunion.”

“I don’t recommend that.”

“I know. But it’s our last night. And if I go out, I may figure out who the killer is. I feel like Justin’s been forgotten in all of the fuss over me.”

“We haven’t forgotten, Miss Hays.”

“Thanks. But I’m going. I’ll stay in the room till then, though.”

“Let me know where you’re going. Just in case.”

“As soon as I know, I’ll text you.”

“Fair enough.” She clicked off.

Jean got up and got a glass of water and sat down in front of the television. A guy, huh, she thought. That’s Brandon, Fletcher, Soren, Norm or Damon. Not narrowed down a bit. But Gail, Fletcher and Brandon were arguing this morning so was it one of them and he hadn’t told the others he was going to do it? That was a thought. Or maybe the four a.m. was one and the seven o’clock one was the other and they figured it out in the lobby this morning. That’s why they were all angry. But what were they doing this afternoon? Who is that black-haired guy?

She turned on the tv, the clarity was astounding. Jean found a documentary on African animals and left it to run while she thought over what Detective Voberg had said. She thought briefly that she should have told the detective that they’d followed Fletcher, Brandon and Gail. Jean sighed. But that would have made the detective angry and other than that they saw the four leave an office building together, there wasn’t any real information gained. After an hour of staring at the tv screen without seeing a thing, Jean couldn’t make any more of the pieces of information she had. She was just going to have to see what the evening would bring. It was going to suck big time if she had to leave without knowing who killed Justin.

She got ready for dinner. It was pretty easy, she put on what she’d been wearing all day. She was glad she’d at least put on clean clothes before she went for tea, and went down to the lobby. The group was taking a bus to the restaurant so that no one would drink and drive. She made a quick call to the detective then Jean chatted with several of the reunion members before Stephanie came up to her. “You’re looking good. How’s your back?”

“Still hurts. But I didn’t want to miss the last event of the weekend.”

“Have you heard anything about Justin?”

Jean shook her head. “No. I haven’t.”

Stephanie sighed. “Just like the cops. Question after question but no information.”

Jean nodded. “I know.” She spotted Gail with another group. “Gail’s top is pretty.”

“I like the color, blue is my favorite, but not the sequins. Too flashy.”

“Seems to be all the rage, lately. Sequins and crystals on everything.”

The organizer called out that the bus was ready, and everyone filed through the door. On the bus, Jean passed by the already seated Gail. The sequins on her top looked like the same ones in the hall outside of Justin’s room. She tucked that little bit of information away in the back of her mind.

The ride was uneventful, everyone talking and laughing. Jean smiled and nodded but kept an eye on Brandon, Fletcher and Gail. They weren’t sitting together. But that might just have been the way everyone got on the bus. Dwight was way up front, and she was in the back. The three were chatting with their seat mates, nothing unusual.

Inside the restaurant there was a separate room for parties. The room looked wonderful with posters of pictures from Afghanistan on easels around the room. Jean found the one she’d sent in, of her at the school she was helping to build, a construction helmet over the black scarf she’d had to wear in public. She hated that scarf and burned it as soon as she got home.

The tables had assigned seating, so Jean couldn’t tell if her suspects were communicating. She wished Karen were here to give her moral support, or at least walk by them to hear what they were saying. The dinner was good and there were remarks by an old commander and the organizer. After that, people got up and moved around. Jean spun her water glass around and around on the table. The bar at the end of the room was doing a booming business and everyone was having fun. She watched as Gail, Fletcher, Soren, Norm, Ian, Damon and Brandon drifted together. It didn’t look like a serious conversation, at least not yet.

Jean got up and wandered in their direction. She said hello to several people and looked at the posters as she glided toward the group. Luckily, there was a big pillar there that would block her from view as she listened. It was tough. The room was noisy, and they were speaking softly. Jean had to get close.

“I didn’t do anything,” Gail said. Jean could tell she was angry. “It was you two who turned this into a nightmare.”

“I just wanted her to back off.” Jean could tell it was Fletcher. “She’s like a dog with a bone. I thought a warning would scare her.”

“Good job!” That was Damon. “Scared her right to the police, especially since you trashed her room.”

“Same thing,” Brandon said. “I just wanted to scare her off. She didn’t have anything in the room that implicated us.”

“That’s a small blessing,” Soren spoke up. “And now? Cops asking all kinds of questions and they found your camera, Brandon. I hope you wiped that thing down.”

“I did.” Brandon sighed. “Ari said it was all covered, and it has been. We all leave in the morning. It will be over.”

“No, it won’t.” Gail nearly shouted. Everyone shushed her. She began again in an angry low tone. “Justin is dead. The cops are going to keep looking into it.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Brandon said. “The case will go cold and we’ll be scattered to the four winds.”

Norm spoke for the first time. “If Ari would have just explained it to him. Why’d he have to kill him? And you, why did you go see him?”

Jean inched closer.

“Because I was trying to talk him down. He was understandably nervous. Then Ari showed up.” Gail sighed. “I can’t believe he just killed him right in front of me.”

That was all Jean needed to hear. She started to walk away and in her rush, her toe caught one of the easel legs. The whole thing started to topple over.

“Hey!”

Her heart jumped. Crap! She tried to catch the poster and the easel, but it was more than her back could take. “Hey, Norm.” She leaned over to look. There were all of them, staring at her. “Oh. Hi everybody. Don’t you just love these pictures? I’ve been walking around the room looking at them.”

“What’s going on, Hays?” Brandon glared at her.

Jean put on her most innocent face. “Looking at pictures, Brandon. What’s going on here, a secret cabal?” She chuckled.

Gail went white. The guys faces all went blank. What were they going to do? They wouldn’t grab her right here, would they?

Brandon began walking toward her.

Dwight’s voice came from behind her. “Hey, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Jean pasted a smile on her face and turned around. “Looking at the pictures.”

“Yeah, they’re great. I want you to meet someone.” He took her by the arm to escort her. “Later, guys.” They strolled across the room. “What is going on?”

“I heard them say the dark-haired guy, Ari they called him, killed Justin. Gail was in the room.”

“Holy crap, Jean. And they caught you listening?”

“Yeah.”

He walked up to a couple of guys Jean didn’t know. “Hi, thought we’d introduce ourselves. I’m Dwight and this is Jean. When were you there?”

They all shook hands and chatted a few minutes when Dwight said, “Well, we’d better mingle a little more. Have fun.” He nodded to them and escorted Jean toward the door. “Where are they?”

Jean didn’t need him to tell her who he was asking about. “Brandon and Damon are glaring at us from where we left them. I don’t see the others.”

“That’s not good.” They left the room and headed for the restaurant door. “We need to get out of here.”

“Agreed. I need to call the detective.”

“First let’s get safe.” Outside the door, they turned right. The restaurant was in a casino four blocks from the strip. “Call a taxi or something. I want to get some speed. They’re on foot, just like we are.”

Jean pulled her phone out and dialed the Uber number she’d used two days ago. “Hi, yes, we’re on,” she looked around for a street sign. “Um, East Harmon Ave. Can you pick us up?”

“Sure. What number are you at?”

“I don’t know. Just west of the Hard Rock casino. Oh, here it is, Kishner Drive. We’ll be on the corner.”

“Sure, be there in five.”

“Thanks.”

Jean clicked off her phone. “Five minutes.”

Dwight was looking all around. “We can’t hang out here for five minutes. They’ll find us.”

“Look,” Jean pointed, “We can hide behind that convenience store. Then come out just before the Uber gets here.”

“Fine,” Dwight said as he led them over there.

Jean could tell it wasn’t fine by the tone of his voice, but she didn’t know what else to do. He was right, those guys suspected she heard them. They were going to make sure she didn’t tell anyone. Once they got behind the store, Jean dialed the detective’s number.

“Voberg.”

“It’s Jean Hays. I’m with my ex, Dwight. We’re running from the people I gave you the list of this morning. They caught me listening to their conversation and they’re mad.”

“You heard something?”

“That a guy named Ari killed Justin and that Gail was in the room when it happened.”

“Where are you?”

“Kishner Drive and Harmon, hiding behind the convenience store. I have an Uber coming to pick us up.”

“Have him take you to the South Main Street station.”

“Okay.”

“Stay safe.”

“We’re trying.” Jean hung up. “She wants us to go to the South Main Street station.”

“Fine.”

Jean checked the Uber status. “Two minutes.”

That’s when Dwight tapped her on the arm. “They’re here,” he whispered.

Next Chapter: Chapter Eighteen