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.He crossed the footbridge over the busy road and entered the Tropicana Casino.He found his way to a bathroom to change into the T-shirt and wash up.When he felt safe enough, Cuccia sat at a bar with several television screens above it.He ordered vodka rocks.His jaw was hurting, and he didn’t have painkillers.He used a straw to sip the booze.It wasn’t as strong as a painkiller, but it was better than nothing.As both detectives ran through the casino lobby, Iandolli looked for the federal agents he thought might already be there.When he didn’t spot any, he told Gold.“I think we’re alone, amigo.”Iandolli drew his weapon from an ankle holster as they entered a tower elevator.A young couple gasped at the sight of the gun.Gold flashed his badge to relieve them.“Go call security,” he told the couple.“Tell them to block this elevator bank off.”When the elevator doors closed, Iandolli winked at Gold.“Nice try.But I don’t think the Feds will listen to six-dollar-an-hour security guards.”“Six?” Gold joked.“Remind me to apply on our way out.”When they reached Anthony Rizzi’s floor, Iandolli tapped Gold on the shoulder.“I got lead,” he said.Gold pulled Iandolli back to step in front of him.“Bullshit,” he said.“You have a family.”Chapter 62Charlie managed to find a three-month-old male bichon frise at the pet store.After paying for a leash, a bowl, a bed, a carrying case, a bag of puppy food, grooming tools, a few teething toys, and vitamins, he asked the heavy-set black woman if she had a bow or a ribbon of some kind.“This puppy a present?” the woman asked.She had a deep throaty voice.It surprised Charlie.“Huh? Oh, yeah, he is,” he said.“For my wife.” Charlie didn’t know why he said “wife,” but he had.The woman handed him a folder with the dog’s papers.She asked him to fill in the information.The pedigree was listed on one of the papers in the folder.“What you gonna call him?” the woman asked just before Charlie filled the dog’s name in.“Rigoletto,” he said.“That’s a funny name.Where’d you get it?”“An opera,” Charlie said.“It’s an opera.”“Who?”“It’s an Italian name.From an opera I like.”“I hope your wife likes the same opera.”“My wife hates opera.”“Maybe you want to give her a call and run it by her once.”Telling the woman that his wife hated opera was a reflex response from being married to Lisa.Charlie thought about correcting himself, but the dog was crying inside the carrying case on the floor.“She’ll get used to it,” Charlie said.“The dog or its name?”From his seat at the bar, Cuccia quickly learned that an all-points-bulletin had been issued for him throughout the state of Nevada.He tugged down on the cap he was wearing and crouched low on his stool.His swollen facial wounds somewhat disguised the picture on the television.The bar wasn’t crowded yet, but the few people who were seated there glanced up at the television every so often.Cuccia hoped the television was nothing more than a distraction.Since they couldn’t really hear the audio over the sounds of the casino behind them, Cuccia figured the real danger had passed once his face was off the screen.When he looked up at the television again, he recognized Charlie Pellecchia turning his head away from a microphone.The camera followed Pellecchia a few steps before it turned toward a Las Vegas detective.Cuccia tried to hear what the reporter was saying, but the noise inside the casino was too loud.He asked the bartender to turn up the volume.When the bartender said he really wasn’t supposed to, Cuccia pushed a twenty-dollar bill across the bar and pleaded.“For two minutes,” he said.“I think that’s my cousin on the news there.”The bartender turned up the volume as he stuffed the twenty into his tip cup.Cuccia listened attentively as the news aired a previously recorded clip from earlier in the day describing a shooting that had occurred “in the quiet valley neighborhood the day before.”When the recorded clip finished, the newscaster said, “According to police, Mr.Pellecchia is not a suspect.He was dating Ms.Samantha Cole, a local bartender.Mr.Pellecchia brought Ms.Cole to the hospital.She’s expected to recover fully and was released earlier in the day.The police had no further comment but said.”Cuccia didn’t bother to wait for the rest of the story.He headed straight for a side exit to Tropicana Boulevard.He made his way across the footbridge to the Excalibur, where he found a bank of pay telephones.He used the phone books to try to find the name he heard on the local news program.Cole.Samantha Cole.As they entered the hotel room, Gold and Iandolli both heard the sound of running water.When Iandolli pushed the door open for Gold to enter with his weapon drawn, both men saw the steam coming from the bathroom.Gold was first inside the bathroom.“Jesus Christ!” he yelled as he pulled Joey Francone’s dead body off the woman lying face down in the hot water.Iandolli helped Gold pull the maid from the tub.Her face was scalded from the steaming water, but they couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead.Gold removed the gag to administer mouth-to-mouth [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]