Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

‘OK, thanks,’ John told him, and raised his bottle. Reed did too.

Johnson stood up, and the three men shook hands.

‘Good luck boys. If you need anything, I’ll be here. I meant it; I liked Deanna. And Maddie. And if someone got to pay for what happened, then I hope they get what they deserve.’

***

Sammy had felt like she was running on empty most of the day and after stifling yet another yawn she bailed out, reasoning that with an early night and a good night’s sleep she could be back working one hundred and ten percent in the morning.

After a nice Thai meal.

So she was home by six, and in the bath by six-thirty. Luxuriating with lots of bubbles and thinking about everything that was going on. Really, this could make her career, she just needed a little bit of luck. The nationals were showing an interest, and her name would definitely have come up, so she had to make sure she did everything she could to take advantage of it.

Her mobile phone chirped insistently, and she cursed. She ignored it, and it stopped. She sighed and sank back, whoever it was, they would call back.

Her phone rang again.

Shit.

She levered herself up, reached over the side and picked up the phone, then sat back looking at the display.

Jimmy Frost.

Instinctively she shrank back down under the water, making sure the bubbles covered herself and then answered.

‘Hi Jimmy.’

‘Hi babe.’ His voice was so thick she could smell the rancid beer and tobacco stink from his filthy teeth. She shuddered making the water splash.

‘Say you in the bath sweetheart?’ Frost was positively oozing down the phone, she felt very sick.

‘No Jimmy, somebody is washing their car,’ Sammy lied.

‘Shame, I would’ve scrubbed your back. And your front, hee hee.’

‘Yeah. So, have you got news?’

She heard Jimmy taking a drag on a cigarette, there was muted background noise, a bar, somewhere, probably the same one in MacArthur Park. She wanted to shiver but managed not too, instead climbed out slowly and silently then wrapped a towel around herself.

‘Yeah baby, and you owe me. Remember that. You need to be real nice to Jimmy. And that is real nice. I’m expecting breakfast after, if you can still think straight.’

She grimaced as she walked through to the living room. He would need to be put straight once this was done.

‘Yeah Jimmy, of course, so what news?’

‘Word is the British guy is in Santa Monica, with a couple of others. Sounds like they are hiding him away.’

Sammy drew a mental picture of LA in her mind, she believed she knew at least roughly where Santa Monica was.

‘OK Jimmy that’s great. Where in Santa Monica?’

‘Now that, sweetheart, I don’t know. But it’s a start. And because you’re so cute, I’ll keep digging.’

‘Thanks Jimmy.’

‘Well just remember. This ain’t free. You owe me.’

He hung up and Sammy stood still looking at the phone, she really didn’t want to be in debt to Jimmy Frost.

Chapter Twenty-Three

John and Reed were back in the bar in the MGM Grand. It had got a lot busier since the afternoon, but the barman they had chatted to earlier was still working. He gave them a nod as they walked over, and Reed asked where they could find Paul Faber. The barman told them the security office was near the concierge desk, he might be there, but he was normally out and about walking around the hotel. He was certain they would be able to track him down.

They headed off to the hotel reception, and found the concierge desk at the end. It was very busy around the area, queues of people checking in and bags piled up on trolleys everywhere. Reed collared one of the bellboys and he pointed to an unobtrusive door set into the wall next to the cashier office, so they walked over and Reed knocked loudly.

The door was opened by a young man in an ill-fitting suit, behind him the room had a bunch of desks in the centre but they could see there was nobody else there.

He looked at them balefully while they asked for Paul Faber, didn’t ask who they were or why they wanted him, petulantly picked up a walkie-talkie off a desk and spoke into it, then walked back to the doorway.

‘He’s in High Roller. He’ll wait for you,’ he told them, then closed the door in their faces.

John and Reed looked at each other, then made their way across into the casino. They passed through lines of slot machines, into the tables, looking up at the signs. The place was massive. The found the High Roller room eventually at the back, and walked over. There was an open doorway and discrete lighting inside, just a couple of men playing. A girl walked over and invited them in but John asked about Paul Faber and she stepped outside and pointed to a man in a dark blue blazer talking to a waitress so they moved and waited next to them.

Faber was a dapper man in his fifties, with neat hair and a tidy beard, he looked at them and finished with the waitress.

‘You the guys looking for me?’ he asked cheerfully.

‘Yeah,’ John replied, and dug out the photo of Madeline. ‘We’re trying to find out more about Madeline, it’s really about her partner Deanna but it seems like we would be better off trying to work it from her side.’

Faber looked at them both, considering.

‘Yeah, I know Maddie. I haven’t seen her for a spell. What’s this about?’

John glanced at Reed. Faber obviously didn’t know what had happened.

‘Can we sit down?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Faber guided them across to a table at the edge of the VIP bar, which was right next to the High Roller’s room.

‘So?’ Faber asked.

‘Madeline’s dead, she was at the Metro station shooting in Downtown LA,’ Reed told Faber gently. ‘I’m sorry.’

Faber looked shocked, and rubbed a hand over his face.

‘Shit, I didn’t know. Jesus. Poor Maddie. Fuck.’

‘I’m real