As the Pig Turns - By M.C. Beaton Page 0,54

how long had passed since she had left Chelsea. Perhaps just over an hour. She pleaded to look at film of the slot machines around that time.

The film ran. Then she cried, ‘Stop! That’s her!’ Chelsea could be seen avidly pulling the handle of a slot machine. They ran the film forward. Chelsea rose. She was talking to someone, looking surprised and then anxious. She said something and took out her phone. Then she shook her head. Her companion said something else. Chelsea looked startled. With her new companion, she moved towards the entrance. Chelsea kept looking wildly round as if seeking help. They disappeared outside the casino.

‘Are there cameras outside?’ asked Toni. The operator switched over to the outside. Chelsea was thrust into the driver’s seat of a Lexus and then scrambled over to the passenger side. The car drove off.

‘Looks bad,’ said the operator heavily. ‘Stay where you are, little lady, and we’ll get the cops.’

‘Can’t you get a clear picture of that man?’ cried Toni.

‘He’s got a baseball cap pulled right down. Could be anyone.’

At first, the police tried to tell Toni that her friend had probably gone off with some man for a quickie and would soon be back. ‘She’s not like that,’ howled Toni. ‘Well, maybe. But she would have found me and told me. I’m telling you, she was frightened.’

‘We’ve got the number of the car,’ said a sergeant wearily. ‘Go back to your hotel and wait for her.’

So Toni did just that. Once in her room, she phoned Agatha. ‘Who is this Chelsea?’ demanded Agatha.

‘Just someone I was at school with,’ said Toni. ‘It was a last-minute decision to go with her.’

‘What does she look like?’

‘Well, blonde, slim – in fact, she did herself up to look a bit like me. Said we’d look like sisters.’

‘Give me the number of your hotel. I’ll go straight to police headquarters. I want still shots of that man from the casino. And the minute I’ve got that over with, I’m coming out to join you. What’s your hotel like?’

‘Horrible. It’s called the Old Prairie Ranch.’

‘Sit tight in case she turns up.’

Toni changed into a T-shirt and jeans, stretched out on the lumpy bed and waited. She thought the police would contact her again, but it seemed the case of a young girl going off with a man was hardly top priority.

She fell into an uneasy sleep and woke late in the morning. She asked the clerk in reception to contact the Las Vegas Police Department for her and waited anxiously. She was passed from one voice to another. When she finally got someone who knew about Chelsea’s disappearance, he tried to reassure her that her friend had probably gone off on a one-night stand and would soon turn up. She was urged to give it more time. When the sergeant was interrupted, she was just being told not to be impatient. He barked, ‘Hold the line.’ When he came back on again, he said, ‘Two of our detectives are coming out to talk with you, miss.’

Movement at last, thought Toni. She went downstairs to the reception area. Traffic going into Las Vegas roared past on the road outside, which shimmered in the heat.

Then a black car drove up and two men got out. ‘Miss Gilmour?’ they demanded as Toni rushed out to meet them.

‘May I see your identification?’ demanded Toni.

She studied their badges and said, ‘Let’s go inside.’

One detective was as thin as the other was fat. The thin one introduced himself as Wight Bergen and the other as Parry Hyer. They explained they had received a call from England, and there was a suspicion that Chelsea had been abducted in mistake for Toni. Search and Rescue were out over the desert, looking for any sign of her.

They were efficient and courteous. Toni found it something of a relief to tell the two attentive detectives the story of the murders and the abduction of Roy from the beginning.

She had just finished when a taxi screeched to a halt outside the hotel. ‘Snakes and bastards!’ came a familiar voice. ‘Was that as fast as this clapped-up wreck could go?’

‘Look, lady, pay up and shut up.’

‘My boss,’ said Toni, running out to meet Agatha. Never before had she been so glad to see Agatha’s abrasive presence.

Agatha paid the driver, adding, ‘And no tip to you for being so damned cheeky, and I bet you went the long way round.’

‘There are two detectives here,’ said Toni as the driver