1 Law 4 All - Vegas. Billy Angel

on their honeymoon.

      "See you tonight, Anthony's, elevenish." Sugar proclaimed strutting towards the Starlight Room.

      While Jimmy waited at the valet for his car, he sent a text to Rizzo, 'find dancer wendy wells'.

      Chapter 7 The Search Begins

      Rick Rizzo answered his phone, "Lieutenant Rizzo."

      "Riz, it's Jimmy."

      "I understand you made progress with Sugar this morning," Rizzo chuckled.

      "You might say that in more ways than one," Jimmy paused.

      Rizzo picked up that Jimmy was talking about sex along with the Wendy Wells lead. "Is she as sweet as she looks?"

      Jimmy slowly expressed the word, "Sweeter!" while flashing on Sugar's shoe falling on his back.

      "Who is this Wendy Wells?" Rizzo abruptly changed the subject and had to wait a few extra seconds for Jimmy's answer.

      "Sugar asked around and found out that Wendy and Janelle were best friends. Interesting that Wendy was fired a few days ago. Coincidence, maybe, but she's worth checking out."

      "Let's sort this out at lunch. Quiet Storm Pavilion at one?"

      "See you there."

      The Quiet Storm Pavilion played smooth jazz selections all day. On selected evenings, a quartet would play an elegant style of restrained music ranging from the cool to bebop classical. Jimmy walked in noticing Rizzo parked at the end of the long, ornate bar.

      "Iced tea and a cheeseburger for me, too," he said to the bartender approaching Rizzo.

      "And hold the sugar," Rizzo said. "He's already sampled the sweet stuff."

      "I have a feeling you're just beginning with the sugar jokes," Jimmy said sitting down on Rizzo's right.

      "She's so sweet, sugar wouldn't melt in her mouth. How's that for starters?"

      "You might be right. Did you check out Janelle's apartment?" Jimmy wondered.

      "Yea, not much to see. It's about a mile east of the strip, one of those furnished types, decorated in early salvation army. She did have some pictures laying around. I grabbed a few. Hopefully, Tonya or Sugar will be able to ID the people in them. The manager says he doesn't keep track of the tenants, just their rent. I gave him my card. He said he'd be in touch if she doesn't pay next month's rent."

      The bartender set plates with a cheeseburger and fries in front of each of them. "The iced tea is on its way. Brewing a new batch," he said.

      After a few chews, Jimmy asked, "And what about Wendy Wells?"

      "I thought we could both drop by her lake cottage after lunch."

      Jimmy's face took a puzzled look. "Are you talking about the Blue Lake cottages, west of here?"

      Rizzo swallowed some chewed fries. "Those are pricey, huh."

      "I'll bet she has a sponsor. No way she could afford one on a dancer's pay."

      "That's what I was thinking, no way. So, I investigated whose paying the bills. Guess whose name popped up?"

      "Santa Claus."

      "Close, Ralph Locci, the Galaxy's CEO."

      Their iced teas arrived and they finished lunch. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jimmy asked.

      "Pass the sugar?" Rizzo answered.

      "No! Investigating Locci could be a black hole."

      "In what way?"

      "Locci is connected to Frankie 'Lollipops' Cesare," Jimmy spoke quietly.

      "Let's check out the cottage. One boss at a time."

      Jimmy paid the check and they decided to go in Rizzo's unmarked police sedan. Fifteen minutes later Rizzo flashed his badge at the Blue Lake, overweight, gate guard. "Cottage 64," he said.

      The guard handed Rizzo a map. He started explaining the route through a hole between his long mustache and unkempt beard. Then with a yellow marker drew a squiggle of a line to a spot. Rizzo thanked him. They motored through the entrance in search of the cottage.

      Rizzo parked behind the car in the driveway of cottage 64. Jimmy and Rizzo reached to open their doors. A girl, dressed in a three-quarter length, black leotard and white tank top came flying through the yellow cottage's side door with a blue overnight bag in her hand. "You guys have to move your car. I need to leave," the girl said frantically.

      "Hold on, lady," Rizzo said holding his badge up. We're looking for a miss Wendy Wells. Are you her?"

      "Am I in trouble?" she quickly assumed.

      "Are you Miss Wells?" Jimmy asked.

      "Yes, but I do have to be moving along."

      Rizzo asked, "Can we go into your cottage? This won't take long. We have a few questions about Janelle Park."

      Jimmy and Rizzo noticed that Wendy became visibly shaken at the mention of Janelle's name. "You're not in any trouble, but we do need to locate Miss Park. Can we go inside?" Rizzo asked.

      Hesitating at first, Wendy finally lead them inside the cottage. It was clean and orderly. Everything seemed to have its own resting place. Jimmy noticed the large, enclosed yard with a crystal clean pool and hot tub.

      "Wendy," Rizzo began, "when was the last time you saw Janelle?"

      Wendy went over to the calendar on her desk. She counted back from today and looked up. "I saw Janelle ten days ago. We finished dancing our nightly jailbreak scene and we went to the changing room. This Toms guy came in and handed Janelle a note. She read it. Then she dressed and left the room."

      "Is that the last contact you've had with her?" Rizzo asked.

      Wendy hesitated. Nervously, she said, "I really have to get out of here."

      "Wendy, we know about the text Janelle sent you that night," Jimmy said smoothly. "Her brother, Mark asked us to find her."

      At the mention of Janelle's brother, Wendy stood. "Fellows, I'm in way over my head. You know everything I know. Please let me leave."

      Rizzo handed Wendy his card. "If you think of anything else that might help us find Janelle, don't hesitate to call me." He instinctively added, "We can protect you."

      They all left the house. Wendy hustled to her Toyota Camary and sped off.

      "She was definitely afraid of something," Jimmy mused.

      "Definitely, someone more threatening than the police. Are you sure you want to be involved? We can take it from here." Rizzo added.

      Jimmy shook his head. "Our Foundation started this thing. We have to finish it. At dinner tonight, we need to advise the girls not to ask around about Janelle or Wendy anymore. We don't want them implicated in any way."

      Chapter 8 The Almost Hit

      "You need more sugar to get your brain working."

      "And hello to you too Riz," Jimmy said sitting at their usual Anthony's dinner table.

      Anthony's fed a packed house every Thursday night. But Jimmy called ahead and Paula obliged, opening up their table for an eleven o'clock dinner. The Thursday night Prime Rib comes same-day, air express straight from a Kansas City distributor.

      Sugar and Tonya worked their way through the crowed bar area shortly after Jimmy sat down. They looked like two expensively sexy, Barbie dolls. Tonya wore a teal, one-shoulder casual cocktail dress that stopped five inches above her knees. Sugar floated in wearing a purple and white, V-neck casual dress. Both stepped along in four inch, low cut pumps. By the time they moved into the dining room, they had enough fingerprints on them to open their own FBI catalogue.

      "Ladies, the pleasure is all ours," Rizzo said feeling every eyeball in the joint scouting the table.