“I’m searching,” Raine said. “That might be much more difficult than finding the facts about a murder.”
“Daniel wouldn’t dare have Vienna disappear and then be killed like this Liam Gram was murdered, would he?” Zahra asked. “Suspicion would fall on him right away. If the Mafia no longer has a stronghold in Vegas, he wouldn’t get away with it.”
“He might not think that if he’s had his way all this time,” Vienna pointed out. “I certainly am not going back to play anyone in person. When I play, I’ll go back to anonymity and play online like I’ve always done. I don’t know what I was thinking accepting the invitation to play in the tournament when it was in person.”
Raine turned away from her laptop to look at her. “How did they know it was you, Vienna? You always played anonymously. How would the hotel know you were a nurse living in Knightly? And why would they track you down and offer the buy-in money to have you come play in their tournament?”
“I actually asked them those questions,” Vienna said. “I thought it was a little shady myself. A woman who claimed she was Wallin’s secretary told me I’d won a number of their larger online tournaments, which was true, and they’d paid the money I won into my bank account, which was true as well. Since they had to transfer the money I won into my account, it wouldn’t be a leap that they would know the name on the account.”
“I get that, Vienna,” Raine persisted, “but why invite you and pay the buy-in for you? You did have to work your way to the semifinal and then the final table just like everyone else, but why would the hotel pay your buy-in?”
Vienna was a little uncomfortable admitting the truth. “According to the rumors, it had to do with my looks. The hotel thought my appearance and the fact that I’m a nurse would look good in their ads and in interviews. They thought it would bring in new viewers who would be rooting for me to win. The little working girl against the celebrities, that sort of thing.”
Raine continued to frown as she drummed her fingers along her thigh. All of them knew her. When she was thinking about something, turning it over and over in her mind, she often had to do something physical to accompany the rapid rate at which her mind computed the data she viewed and rejected.
“You don’t think that’s the reason?” Shabina asked.
“I don’t know,” Raine said. “I don’t like that he mentioned this Liam Gram’s murder to her after she defeated him in a televised game. Everyone saw their hands. We were watching, Vienna. We saw you had him beat. He was almost pompous about it, so certain he had you. Don’t get me wrong. My heart was pounding like crazy until that last card turned over and you had a straight flush. I don’t know why you didn’t fold. I would have. But you’re always cool under fire.”
“I honestly don’t know if he was threatening me,” Vienna admitted. “I hate to make all of you think he’s a serial killer when someone is trying to kill him and he’s practically had to go into hiding. I’m just glad I’m out of there.”
“Does this Daniel have children?” Harlow asked, turning away from the dishwasher to face her friends.
“One son,” Raine said. “He had him late in life with a casino employee, a woman who worked as a server in one of the club rooms. They had a son, Axel. Daniel and the woman, Miriam was her name, never lived together. Daniel was forty and Miriam twenty-two when Axel was born. She died in a car accident when Axel was five. At that time, the boy went to live with his father. He helps with the running of the hotel now,” she added.
“Please tell me Miriam’s body wasn’t found in the desert with cards in her mouth,” Zahra pleaded. “If she was, we’re going back to Knightly and skipping your bridal party, Stella.”
“No, she wasn’t found with cards in her mouth,” Raine said, laughing. “You have such an imagination, Zahra.”
“I don’t think it’s imagination when one poor man was already buried up to his neck in the desert. I don’t want to see Vienna, or any of us for that matter, buried in the sand. I’m pretty short. I wouldn’t last very long.”
“It wasn’t quicksand, you goof,” Stella pointed out.
“What was he doing upright, then?” Zahra demanded. “It seems it would be a really difficult way to put him in sand, feetfirst. It isn’t like the sand in the desert would be wet. Think about the mechanics.”
“You have a point,” Harlow said. “It wouldn’t be my first choice if I were murdering someone or even burying their body. In the meantime, Raine, did you find anything on the actual bet made between Liam and Daniel?”
“That’s a really good question and might be pertinent,” Vienna said. “Especially if you can find out who was backing Daniel at the time. He had to have had someone backing him. He wasn’t a billionaire then. And he was young. If the Mafia still had a stranglehold on Vegas casinos, more than likely it was them. They wouldn’t take kindly to anyone messing with their golden goose.”
“I’ve got a program working on it. Nothing came up in a quick search for me, but if there was ever a record of it, the program will find it. There’s no doubt the Mafia was still in business during those years.”
Stella sank down onto the couch in the large open living room of the Airbnb they’d rented. “I don’t know a lot about the Mafia families, only the little Sam passed on to me, but if Daniel was in bed with them to get his casino built and somehow Liam’s winning threatened their business in some way, they might have killed him. Daniel had a reputation, and—Vienna, correct me if I’m wrong—the casino was built around the mystique of his ability at cards.”
“That’s true. He was young, handsome and very charming. In those early days he supposedly greeted the patrons of his hotel and walked through the casinos talking to players on the floor, encouraging them.” Vienna now knew he used his voice to encourage high rollers to bet even more.
“Enough people won to keep coming back,” Raine said, once again frowning at the data coming across her screen at a rapid rate. “The northern lights would play above machines during a big win, and at night there would be beautiful displays in the fountains and inside around the sculptures. The sculptures looked so real, as if they were made of ice, and when the lights played through them, no one had seen such beautiful sights before.”
“They’re still amazing and look real,” Vienna confirmed.
“In spite of the fact that the FBI supposedly drove the Mafia out of Vegas,” Stella continued, “it’s very possible that Daniel’s backers retained their share in his casino. My understanding is that many of the families are still very active but low-key, staying under the radar now. Not necessarily in Vegas, but for certain everywhere else. They could still be owners and keeping Daniel in line.”
“It would be awful if Daniel had fallen in love with Miriam and didn’t live with her because he was protecting her in some way from those people,” Zahra ventured.
“You’re such a romantic,” Stella said and blew her a kiss. “But you might actually have a point. I know Sam said the men he works with were always careful not to get involved with anyone because they made so many enemies. If they fell in love with someone, that woman would always be at risk.”
Harlow began to pace. She had long legs and could easily stride across the hardwood floor with its multitude of throw rugs. “Okay. For a minute, let’s suppose Daniel actually fell in love with Miriam and they had a son together. Everything was fine until his backers felt threatened. Or maybe not threatened, but Daniel did something to make them really angry with him. What could have happened to make them feel that way?”
There was silence while they exchanged long looks, each trying to puzzle out the solution. Vienna loved being with the other women in situations such as this one. They were all different and brought distinctive opinions and thoughts to the discussion. All of them were intelligent and willing to listen to the others. They respected one another. She felt very lucky to have found them.
Raine, as usual, turned to her laptop. “The only thing I can find is a rumor that the Northern Lights Hotel and Casino was considering building a second casino.”
Vienna sat up very straight. “That’s odd. I know for a fact that a proposal was made at a business meeting recently for that very thing and Daniel was opposed to the idea.”
“If he was opposed to the idea of a second casino back then, his partners could have retaliated and murdered Miriam,” Shabina pointed out. “He immediately took his son under his care and surrounded him with security, but he lost the woman he loved.”
“If that’s what happened.” Raine was the voice of caution. “Keep in mind this is just theory. Nothing else.”
“Yes, but if that same thing came up, the building of another casino, and Daniel refused to consider the idea, his partners maybe did order a hit on him,” Vienna said. “There have been two attempts on his life. They may think his son, who would inherit Daniel’s shares, would be much easier to manipulate.”
“Then Daniel would really have been warning you, not threatening you,” Shabina said.