CHAPTER
7
(Excerpt)
March 1974
The Las Vegas Strip
..........After an agreeable
drive through Nevada, Tony arrived in Las Vegas on Saturday,
March 23, and checked into the Caravan Travel Lodge on
the strip, next door to the Sands Hotel. Tony figured
he could gamble and socialize in a nice spot but sleep
in a less expensive room.
..........Always careful
to hide his identify, Tony signed the name Raymond Gaines
on the registration card, then made up a home address
in California so as to throw off any cops that might be
looking for him. He wasn’t about to give his correct
name as a federal warrant was out for him for violation
of parole. He handed the Master Charge he had stolen from
Mr. Gaines over to the front desk clerk to pay for the
room; then hauled his bags up to room 307 and unpacked.
..........Tony spent the
next week looking around Las Vegas, committing a few burglaries,
and generally enjoying himself. By the afternoon of Saturday,
March 30, he was feeling a little bored and thought he
would try an escort service. It was time for a woman.
Tony stared at the wall of his motel room, thinking briefly
about a cute chick, Sherry, he met over at the Tropicana
earlier in the week. He had called her hotel room a couple
of times and asked her for a date, but she gave him the
brush-off. Tony shrugged to himself, flipped through the
phone book in his room, and found a listing for Escorts
International. It was located just a few blocks away from
his motel room so he dialed the number.
..........A woman answered
and Tony bluntly asked, “Can you send a girl to
my room?”
..........The female manager
sighed as she rattled off her customary response, “No,
we only provide companions for dinner, dancing, shows,
gambling or sightseeing and our girls do not go to a man’s
room. The girls must stay in public at all times and we
have pictures of the ladies in the office, so if you want
to come over you can take a look at the album.”
..........“Fine,”
Tony answered, “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
..........Tony cleaned up
a little, running his hands through his thick yet short,
dark, wavy hair. Slipping on dark pants and a shirt, he
drove over to the escort agency around 5:30 p.m.
..........He was welcomed
by a couple of bleached blondes with deep tans and bubblegum
pink nails who introduced themselves as the manager and
assistant manager; the first sitting behind a desk and
the second relaxing on an avocado green sofa. As he cased
the room, Tony noticed a nice, wood veneer console that
contained a combination TV set and hi-fi. .A
water cooler and a couple of guest chairs occupied the
remainder of the space, but Tony could see there was another
room in the back.
..........The girls offered
photo albums to him to look over while making polite conversation
about what he was doing in Las Vegas.
..........Tony volunteered
that he was an accountant and was in Las Vegas on business
to sign a contract. “I’m here to keep the
man I’m doing business with from gambling away all
of my money,” Tony bragged.
..........The two girls noticed
he was flipping through the pages a little too fast, not
really looking at any one photo with any interest. Periodically
he would glance nervously around the room, touching his
face and scratching his head—generally acting jumpy.
..........“Have you
found a lady you would like to take out?” the manager
of the service asked courteously.
..........“Yes,”
said Tony, jabbing a finger at the first picture he came
to, a 6 foot tall blonde, someone sure to tower over his
5 foot 8 inch frame.
..........The manager took
the album from Tony and placed a call to the escort the
customer had chosen, but when the escort answered the
call, the manager made it sound as if the girl wasn’t
in. The manager didn’t want to book this man with
a date. She and her assistant were afraid of him.
..........Tony grabbed the
album back from the manager, looked up briefly at the
other girl in the office, and then down again at the book.
“I’ll try that one,” he said pointing
at a picture.
..........The manager gulped
as she leaned over to look. The man was pointing at a
picture of her assistant.
..........“She’s
off duty,” the manager said abruptly. “Well,
looks like the two girls you have chosen are not available
yet but why don’t you give us a call later and we
will see what we can do.”
..........“OK, I will
call later. Can you cash a check?” Tony asked.
..........“No, we don’t
cash checks,” the manager replied.
..........“OK, I’ll
go cash a check and come back later.”
..........After twenty long
minutes Tony finally left the establishment. The manager
turned to her assistant and said, “Let’s get
out of here!”
..........They were not about
to stick around, waiting for the man to return. The call
girls had developed a well-honed sixth sense about men
in the course of their profession, and this time they
sensed danger.
Copyright
© 2007 Paradise City™ Publishing
[SAN: 853-1315]
ISBN 978-0-9793247-0-3
Murder
By The Stars, a new book from Paradise City Publishing
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may
not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission
from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts
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