In The Company of Deceit

Chapter 12 - Getting To Know You

Virginia was already in the hotel dining room, her laptop open on the table beside her while food grew cold on her plate. Kate walked over and greeted her, asking if she could sit down.

"Sure, I'd like some company." She shut the computer and set it on the floor beside her chair.

"Is the food any good?" Kate asked on purpose, indicating Virginia's plate.

"Aah... I do that all the time. Guess I deserve it what with my face buried in that thing." Her eyes dropped to the computer.

A waiter appeared at the table, frowned at the uneaten food and asked Kate what she would like.

"The same as my friend and a fresh order for her plus a pot of coffee." There was a moment of objection that Kate overrode, and the waiter swept away the unfinished food and left swiftly.

"That wasn't necessary."

"Yeah, it was. I know what it's like feeling the way you do right now. Nothing going right and your life looking like the inside of a toilet bowl."

"That's rather graphic."

"But true, right?"

Virginia sagged in her chair and brushed the back of her hand across the cloth. Kate gave her a sympathetic look. Benjamin Hagen wandered into the dining room, gave them both a shy smile and took a small table across the room. The waiter slid up to their table and placed two identical orders in front of them, refilled their water glasses and nodded his departure, still annoyed over the waste of the first order.

"Everybody has issues, eh?" Kate smiled, digging into her breakfast.

"Here comes Belinda, still pulling that bag." Virginia indicated with a nod. "I wonder how her daughter is."

Kate eyed the bag and wet her lips. "I read in the paper this morning that she was in bad shape in the hospital." She stood and waved. "Belinda. Would you like company?"

The woman squared her shoulders and set her mouth as she corrected her course and joined them at their table, slipping off her customary white gloves.

"We were wondering how Muriel was doing." Kate said as Belinda sat and fussed with a napkin.

"Aside from her cancer the doctor said she was critical and he was waiting the surgeon's report." She sniffled unconvincingly and dug in her purse for a tissue.

"She has cancer?"

"That was our reason for coming here. Now... well I don't know."

"Did you get to see her?" Virginia asked.

"Only through a window; she looked dreadful." The sniffling grew and the tissue busier.

There wasn't much else to say and Kate and Virginia toyed with their food. The waiter came over and looked at the trio with mild distaste, accepting Belinda's order in silence.

"I wonder how long the police will want us to stay around here." Virginia said.

"I imagine once they get the driver's story it will be a question of whether they charge him. Depending on how that turns out we may have to hang around to testify." Kate noted.

"I can't stay here, I've got- I've..." Virginia's eyes teared up and she covered her face with her napkin.

"My goodness, what happened?" Belinda stared in confusion.

"Career problems." Kate said, and reached a comforting hand across the table.

Belinda made a disparaging noise. "At least you have your health, my dear; one of the Mexican passengers died, the other is in jail awaiting deportation and my baby..." Virginia excused herself from the table, grabbed her laptop and left the dining room. The waiter returned and just stood staring at the empty chair... and the uneaten food.

"Everybody carries their load differently." Kate said, digging into her breakfast.

"I think one day you may find that a mother's burden trumps a lot of what some consider important."

Kate stopped chewing and had to be careful not to choke before responding.

"I read in the paper about Muriel's condition. I'm very sorry. So was she here for an operation? That can really burn a hole in a person's finances... even with insurance. Hundreds of thousands I've read." Belinda flinched, and her eyes dropped to the bag beside her chair.

"Like I said, Miss Semple, a mother's burden." Kate felt her sides shake and she fought to keep a blank face.

Breakfast continued as did the thrust and parry of their conversation. When Belinda rose to leave, Kate was almost positive that this mother's burden was about to be unloaded and that opportunity was beating down her door. The woman thanked her for the company and left, Kate followed and headed to the cash to pay for Virginia's extra breakfast.

The TV behind the bar was carrying a news program and something caught her attention.

"Could you turn that up please?" The picture changed and she made a disappointed sound.

"It's on a loop it'll be back on in a sec."

"It was something about a casino robbery?"

"Oh yeah, somebody walked off with half a million dollars from the Silver Ace in Vegas."

"Half a million..." Kate blew out her cheeks.

"The owner is really mad that the papers found out, it screws him big time with the backers and the gaming commission too 'cause now he has to account for all the taxes on the revenues."

"Don't they anyway?" The cashier gave Kate a pitying look. "You don't live in this part of the country do you?"

The question wasn't posed to receive an answer, and Kate didn't give one. She hurried off to her room to get her purse and jacket; her smoky theory was beginning to clear... in her mind.

******

Mickey got up around four in the morning, gathered all his things together and stole down the exit stairs to the garage and out to the street. He walked quickly for several blocks and then found a street with some traffic and hailed a cab. He took the cab to half a dozen blocks from his destination, waited for it to get out of sight and then headed for the address on his map.