9
“S o, where are we staying ?” she asked as they drove down the Strip.
“The Palms.”
“Next to Caesar’s Palace?”
“Is that okay?” he asked.
“Sure.” Annie cleared her throat. “One room or two?”
“Honeymoon suite,” he said.
Annie felt her stomach flip-flop. One room? One bed? With Fisher? Oh dear.
They parked and checked into the Palms. The inside was huge, full of towering palm trees under an enormous skylight and a fountain that shimmered like an oasis in the desert. Annie felt her jaw drop open in surprise. It was beautiful. The sound of bells ringing and phony change clanging echoed throughout the lobby and Annie felt as if she were at a fair. She walked closer to the archway that led into the casino.
It looked like a high stakes carnival. Lights flashed in all colors in all directions. People sat hunched over slot machines while more people roamed from one felt-covered table to the next. Annie could hear the shouts of the winners over the clang of bells and she was irresistibly drawn toward the commotion.
“I’ve got our key.” Fisher appeared at her elbow. “Let’s go on up.”
Annie glanced at him and then at the plastic card key in his hand. For all intents and purposes, this man was legally her husband. Yikes!
“Let’s gamble first,” she said and strode into the casino.
“Annie!” Fisher followed on her heels. “I don’t gamble. I’m a Fed.”
“Oh, well I’m not.” She flashed some teeth and marched toward the roulette wheel. “I have a feeling about number twenty-seven.”
“Annie...” Fisher’s voice carried a note of warning. She ignored it.
She found an empty stool between an older man sporting a ten gallon Stetson hat and a tiny woman covered in purple sequins who was lighting a fresh cigarette from the burning remains of another one. They each had a pile of chips in front of them.
“Number twenty-seven.” Annie plunked a dollar on the table. The dealer glanced at her with one eyebrow raised. “It’s a five dollar minimum, ma’am.”
“Oh.” Annie dug into her purse and pulled out a five. “Here you go.”
The dealer handed Annie a five dollar chip, dragged her bill across the table and using a clear plastic handle deposited the money into a slot in the table.
“You sound pretty sure about that twenty-seven,” the old cowboy said.
“I just have a feeling,” she said and placed the chip on twenty-seven. She heard Fisher heave an exasperated sigh behind her.
The dealer tossed the ball into the spinning wheel and waved his hand over the table to indicate no more bets were to be placed. Annie watched as the wheel slowed and the ball stuttered to a stop.
“Well, I’ll be,” the cowboy said. “Twenty-seven!”
Annie felt a rush of excitement rip through her. She’d had a feeling, but she hadn’t really expected it to come up. The dealer began to count out her winnings and she turned to Fisher and hugged him.
“Can you believe it?” she asked.
“Only you,” Fisher said, laughing. “Terrible odds and you won.”
A waitress, wearing a grass skirt and a coconut-shell bra, came by and Annie ordered champagne for the entire table. The chain-smoking woman grudgingly accepted hers while the cowboy thumped her on the back and slurped his down like it was a shot of whiskey.
“Are you ready to cash out?” Fisher asked.
“You can’t leave now,” the cowboy protested. “What else do you have a feeling about, little lady?”
“Six,” Annie said decisively.
“Six it is,” the cowboy declared and placed a hefty wager on the number.
Annie placed a ten dollar bet on the number and held her breath. The ball spun and bounced and landed on five.
Annie deflated in one long breath.
Fisher put his hand on her shoulder and whispered, “That’s why they call it gambling.”
“But I was so sure,” she said. “I’m still sure. Six is going to come up.”
“Let’s play it again,” the cowboy said. The woman on her other side patted Annie’s arm while she stubbed out her cigarette. Annie watched as the cowboy and the smoker put their chips on, around and beside number six. Feeling obligated, Annie put another ten dollars down on six.
This time it came up! Cheers went up and Annie watched as the dealer pushed a huge stack of blue chips in her direction. This was fun. They ordered more champagne and took turns predicting what the next number would be.
Having won and lost three chances at the wheel, Annie took a second to savor her surroundings. The tables were full to bursting with gamblers and the surrounding slot machines clanged and rang in a never-ending cacophony of success and failure. She felt as if she were in a James Bond flick. All she needed was a handsome, older man asking her to blow on his dice and the scene would be complete.
Feeling someone watching her, Annie glanced to her right and saw a man at a blackjack table looking at her. He was wearing a white suit over a black silk shirt that was unbuttoned to his navel. Amidst the gray chest hair on display was a huge gold medallion. His hair was slicked back into a stubby gray ponytail at the nape of his neck, and he wore yellow tinted glasses that covered the upper half of his face. As their gazes met, Annie was startled by a sudden sense of recognition, but she couldn’t place him. Who was he? A customer? A friend of her parents? Who?
“Are you all right?” Fisher asked from behind her, and Annie turned to him.
“Oh, fine,” she said. “I just thought I saw someone I recognized.”
She glanced back at the blackjack table, but the man was gone. Curious.
An hour later, Annie was woozy from the champagne and down to her original five dollars. She glanced around the casino and found Fisher leaning against a slot machine behind her.
“Well, we gave it a hell of a run,” the cowboy said and the small woman nodded. They both had piles of chips in front of them so Annie didn’t feel too bad about their abrupt turn of luck.
“We sure did,” she said. She tipped the dealer with her last five dollar chip and wobbled over to Fisher. “That was a hoot. What should I play next? Poker? Craps? Blackjack?”
“How about ‘Now I lay me down to sleep,’?” he asked.
“Oh, very funny.” She snorted. “Are you telling me it’s bedtime?”
“Yes, I am,” he said and took her elbow to lead her out of the casino.
“Just because we’re married don’t think you’re the boss of me,” she teased.
“If I were the boss of you, we wouldn’t have spent the past hour in the casino,” he said.
“We wouldn’t?”
“Well, let’s see, given a choice between losing my shirt on games designed for just that purpose or losing my shirt in the process of making love to you, I think I would definitely choose the latter.”
“Oh.” Annie felt her knees wobble.
Fisher flashed their room card at the security guard and the man pressed the elevator button for them. Annie weaved into the elevator as soon as the doors opened.
She didn’t know what to expect tonight. They’d become lovers the night before last, but with all that had happened were they still? To go from the role of would-be girlfriend to wife in less than two days left her floundering. Now that they were married, she wasn’t sure making love to Fisher was such a good idea. It might confuse things. Confuse things? Ha!
Fisher used the card key to open their door. It was a big suite with a sitting room and a hot tub, set in a wide tiled ledge beside the windows. One mammoth king-size bed filled the main room. Wow!
Annie glanced away. The couch in the sitting room looked comfortable enough. She could sleep just fine in there.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“No, thank you,” she lied, plopping herself down on the plush arm chair. She heard Fisher pick up the phone to order room service. Her stomach growled but her pride refused to let her change her mind and order anything. She picked up the remote control and began to flip through the TV channels. A docu-advertisement told her all about the Palms.
She heard Fisher finish his order and then place another call. Curious, she turned down the volume. Fisher was on the phone with Brian and she shamelessly eavesdropped, wanting to hear if anything had happened with their perp. Fisher hung up before she could glean any information. She surfed through a few more channels, looking for a good movie.
Fisher came to stand beside her just as she flipped to an adult entertainment channel. A long-haired, big-busted, sweaty woman wearing nothing but a hot pink thong and a smile was moaning in full Technicolor glory. Horrified, Annie pressed her thumb on the remote trying to change the channel. She inadvertently hit the volume and the woman’s moans filled the small suite. Frantic, Annie hit the power button and the screen went black.
She could feel a mortified blush heat her face and she muttered, “There’s nothing on TV.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” he said, muffling what sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
There was a knock on the door and a man wearing khaki shorts and a Hawaiian shirt wheeled in a cart loaded with food. Fisher tipped him and the man disappeared.
“Let’s eat,” he said. “And don’t give me that ‘I’m not hungry’ business. I can hear your stomach growling in the next room.”
Annie narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re awfully pushy.”
“Only because I care,” he said. Annie tried to see his face, but he had his head down examining the contents of the cart.
Annie wandered over to where he stood. Steak and potatoes, salad, rolls with whipped butter and strawberries with whipped cream loaded the cart. Her stomach growled and Fisher smiled as he handed her a plate.
They sat on the tile ledge that surrounded the hot tub and gazed at the lights of Las Vegas spread out before them. Annie felt Fisher studying her, but she refused to wonder what he was thinking about. She couldn’t help thinking that if they weren’t married, this would be a terribly romantic trip.
They returned their empty plates to the cart and poured two cups of coffee. They placed the strawberries and whipped cream between them on the ledge and munched. Neither of them spoke and Annie was surprised to discover that it was a comfortable silence. She felt as if she’d known Fisher for years. That must be one more downside to getting married. Instant frumpdom.
“It’s spectacular,” Fisher said consideringly.
“The city of sin? It sure is.” She turned to face him and their gazes met.
“You have some whipped cream here,” he said and pointed to his upper lip. Embarrassed, she licked her lip.
“No, the other...oh, hell.” He cupped the back of her neck and pulled her close. His tongue licked at the spot of cream on her lip before deepening the kiss into one of wicked, knee-wilting passion. So much for frumpdom, Annie thought as she buried her fingers in his hair.
The kiss was long and hot and sweet, tasting of strawberries and cream. Annie felt as if she could never get enough of him. She pressed against him until they shifted, and she found herself on her back against the tile and Fisher lying on top of her.
“I’ve wanted to do this all day,” he confessed between kisses.
They kissed and kissed and kissed some more until Annie began to feel whisker burn sting her chin. She didn’t care. She wanted to feel marked by their time together.
They weren’t civil about taking off their clothes. Her cream-colored dress was launched across the room to tangle with his suit coat on the floor. Buttons popped and zippers were drawn until she was wearing nothing but her high heels. He took about three seconds to appreciate the look and then those, too, joined the puddle of clothing on the floor.
Pressed skin to skin, there was no question of their belonging together. It was right. Absolutely. Annie loved Fisher McCoy with all her heart. She knew he was the one, the one man she would always love.
“Annie-girl,” Fisher growled in her ear and Annie shivered. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”
Hot and hazy with desire, Annie did as she was told. Fisher sat up and pulled her onto his lap. She gazed at him through a stray lock of red curly hair. The lines of his face looked taut with barely checked desire. He was breathing hard and Annie could feel his heart racing beneath her fingertips.
He cupped her bottom and held her in place. The feel of his fingers against her skin made her arch with need. He was so close. It was torture to be so close and not be joined. Annie rocked forward and Fisher gasped.
“My wife,” Fisher said through gritted teeth. “You are my wife.”
“Yes,” Annie whispered. “Yes.”
Wrapping her arms about him, she surrendered to the passion between them. The feel of his mouth on her skin, the feel of his hands as he pulled her hips close and pushed them away in a steady rhythm left her breathless.
Time ceased. There was nothing but the two of them and the power of their union as the passion between them exploded with harsh cries of pleasure and silent whispers of love.
The sound of running water broke through her sleepy haze and Annie pushed off Fisher to glance around the room. Fisher had reached over and turned on the tap and hot, steamy water was filling the hot tub. She glanced at him in surprise.
“I want to see you all wet and soapy,’ he said with a leer. “Besides I think I hurt myself on this tile.”
Annie laughed and then winced. “Ouch. I think I did, too.”
“In you go,” he said and nudged her toward the water.
It was hot and she hissed as she sank into the bubbles. Fisher slid in beside her. He ducked under the water and came back up with a pile of suds on his head. Annie burst out laughing.
“What?” he asked.
“You have...” She pointed to the top of his head and giggled. Fisher scooped off the bubbles with one hand and blew them at her. She smacked them away with a splash. Fisher stuck his chin in the water and came up with a big beard of bubbles.
He looked ridiculous and she couldn’t hold in her laughter. Had she really thought he was too rigid? It was so much fun to play with him. She felt as if she were three years old as she rediscovered the joys of bath time. She stuck her chin in the bubbles and came up with a beard of her own. Fisher howled.
“I always wanted to make love to a bearded woman,” he said with a wicked wink. And then he reached for her. The steam rose and the water sloshed over the side as they kissed and splashed, enjoying the feel of one another and the powerful feelings between them.
Fisher reached for the big fluffy towels sitting beside the tub. Pulling Annie to her feet, he wrapped a towel around her and took one for himself.
“The room is freezing,” she said as she shivered into her towel.
Fisher lifted her out of the tub and pulled her close. “I’ll warm you up.”
“How?” she purred, trying to sound seductive.
“Well,” he said, stepping closer and reducing Annie to a state of breathless excitement. “I could order some hot chocolate from room service.”
“Oh, you,” she growled and leaned into him. She began to kiss his neck and his laughter turned into a hiss.
“Fisher?” she whispered against his ear.
“Uh-huh.”
“Could you ask them to put marshmallows in it?” she asked and stepped back, leaving him dazed and bewildered.
She took three steps before he scooped her up and carried her to the bed.
“Cute, very cute,” he said as he settled in beside her.
Annie wrapped her arms around his neck as he proceeded to kiss her senseless. Fisher was the most amazing man she had ever known. They were so different and yet there was a connection, an understanding of one another that neither could explain. They were like two halves of a whole. With different strengths and weaknesses, they balanced each other.
Annie felt a passion with Fisher that she had never before experienced. He was gentle and kind, but also determined and aggressive. It was a heady mix that left her weak in the knees every time he touched her.
When he kissed her like he was now, with such single-minded concentration, she was lost. Every caress of his mouth against hers left her dizzy and craving more. She wanted to feel more of him, be closer to him, and touch every bit of him. It was as if she would never get enough of him, of them, of this.
“Annie-girl,” he whispered into her ear. “I want this to be—”
Fisher’s cell phone rang.
“What?” she asked, sensing by his tone that it was important.
The phone rang again. Fisher’s dark brown gaze met hers and she could see a seriousness in his eyes that made everything inside of her pause.
The phone rang for a third time, and she said, “You’d better get that.”
Fisher grabbed the cell phone with a curse. He kept one arm wrapped about her, preventing any escape she might have made.
His side of the conversation was full of terse one word questions with a variety of colorful curses thrown in. It wasn’t good news. He ended the call and tossed the phone aside.
“We have to go,” he said.
“Perp on the move?” she guessed.
“Yeah,” he grunted. He rolled over, trapping her beneath him. “I have to say this guy is really getting on my nerves.”
Then he planted a long, bone wilter of a kiss on her. Annie felt the heat of it scar her all the way down to her toes.
“Let’s go,” he said and hopped off of her to retrieve his clothes from the floor.
“Oh sure, fine, get me all hot and bothered and drag me home. Lucky thing we’re not really married, because this would be some honeymoon,” she joked as she gathered up her things.
Fisher hugged her from behind, planting hot wet kisses on her neck as he whispered, “I could always give you a real honeymoon after we catch this guy.”
Annie froze. Real honeymoon? Wouldn’t that follow a real marriage? Okay, technically they were really married, but only to catch a bad guy and then it was annulment city here we come. Or was it? Oh dear!
“Think about it,” he whispered and squeezed her once more before he let her go and headed toward the bathroom.
Annie finished dressing with shaky fingers. Then she planted her head firmly between her knees in an attempt to dispel the light-hearted feeling she had.
“Are you all right?” He came back out of the bathroom and Annie jerked to an upright position.
“Oh yeah, I thought I lost an earring, but ...ha...I was wearing it the whole time.”
“Hmm,” he murmured. “You look a little green.”
“Must be the champagne,” she said.
Fisher turned on the television and using the remote control, he punched in some numbers and checked out of the room. Just like that it was over.
Fisher sped through the desert. At two in the morning, the highway was a lonely stretch of road. But the white crosses on the side of the road marking where others had driven too fast or dozed at the wheel kept him awake and alert as they left Nevada.
Annie was unconscious beside him. As soon as they’d left the lights of Las Vegas behind, she’d let out a big yawn and promptly fallen asleep. Her head was tipped back and her mouth hung slightly open as she emitted soft snores and the occasional muffled grunt. Her arm was thrown across the seat and her hand rested on his leg. He liked to think that even asleep she needed some sort of contact with him.
Too bad she didn’t want to make it permanent. He wasn’t an idiot. She’d hated getting married. Even when the wedding wasn’t real, she’d been made physically sick by the whole idea. Who could blame her? Her parents had made matrimony into a joke, a wrenching emotional joke, with their multiple marriages.
Maybe he could prove to her...yeah, right. He couldn’t change her mind. He couldn’t even get her to admit how she felt about him and he knew she felt something. Okay, more than something. He suspected that she was in love with him. He saw it in her big, blue eyes everytime she looked at him.
He knew she loved him as surely as he knew he loved her. She was the calm to his storm. She kept everything in perspective with her kindness and her sense of humor. She made everything fun. She made him laugh. Fisher had no doubt that he could spend the rest of his days loving and laughing with Annie Talbot. If he could just get her to see that. But how?
Fisher puzzled and puzzled but as they drew closer to Phoenix, he had no solution.
It was just after nine when he pulled up in front of the bank. Annie was still asleep beside him. Fisher hated to wake her up.
“Hey sleepyhead,” he said as he nudged her. She rolled away from him. “Come on. Rise and shine.”
She tucked deeper into her seat and let out an unladylike snore. Fisher sighed. This was obviously going to require drastic measures.
He cleared his throat and launched into Henry’s song. She didn’t move. He increased the volume.
“Henry?” she muttered. “Henry? What are you doing in Las Vegas?”
“We’re not in Lss Vegas anymore,” Fisher said and reached across the seat to hug her close.
“Huh?” She blinked awake.
“We’re at the First Arizona Credit Union,” he said.
“The bank? In Phoenix? You mean you drove all that way without a break? Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You were sound asleep, besides I was fine.”
She struggled to sit upright. “Well, I feel terrible. Next time you have to promise to wake me.”
“I promise,” he said solemnly, trying not to take too much heart in the words next time. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
Fisher grabbed their marriage license and together they made their way into the bank. After a couple of short forms, several signatures and a show of identification, Fisher owned the majority interest in The Coffee Break. Annie felt herself break out into a very unladylike sweat.
“Are you okay?” Fisher asked as they headed to the Jeep.
“Oh, yeah, fine,” she said, dabbing at her forehead with a tissue.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “This will be over in a matter of days and your business will be yours again. I promise.”
“Thank you,” she smiled. Even if he was just giving her lip service, it was nice to hear.
Then they went to the Arizona Savings and Loan, where after an official meeting with the bank president, Fisher signed a packet of papers changing the ownership of the bogus account from A. Talbot to Fisher and Annie McCoy. When the bank officer showed Annie the balance of the bogus account, she saw spots and everything began to turn gray.
“Five hundred thousand dollars?” she squeaked at Fisher as they walked away.
“I believe it was more like four hundred ninety-five thousand,” he said. “And after my first withdrawal goes through, it will read four hundred eighty thousand.”
“I’ve never seen that many zeroes attached to my name before,” she said as she climbed into the Jeep. “What do you think the perp will do when he finds out you’ve put your name on the account and you’ve begun to withdraw funds?”
“He probably won’t know until the bank informs him that he needs my signature to access his account. Then the bank security will seize him and call me.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” Fisher turned to look at her. “You look tired. Let’s go home. I have a feeling Brian will be waiting for us.”
Brian wasn’t so much waiting as he was pacing a hole in the floor. It was a little after ten and the shop was in full swing. They could hear the clang and rattle of pans in the kitchen, and Annie headed in that direction. Fisher stopped her by putting a hand on her elbow.
“Don’t you want to hear what Brian has to say?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, biting her lip with a wistful glance at the kitchen.
“Hey partner,” he greeted his friend with a handshake. “So what’s happened since we left?”
Brian’s thin hair stood on end like he’d been caught unaware by a firecracker. He motioned them to a secluded corner table. “What hasn’t happened?” he asked in return. “Do you have any idea how many people have absolutely flipped over Annie’s marriage?”
Annie finally turned her head from the kitchen to the two men. “Really?” She pursed her lips as if to keep from saying, I told you so.
“Let’s see...” Brian ticked off the people on his fingers. “We can start with your sister Mary. She didn’t believe it and wanted to call the Phoenix police and file a missing persons report. Then there was your mother. She seemed more furious that you would elope. Apparently, that’s not the Talbot way. Then there was your father. You’d think someone had kidnapped his baby. Fortunately, Fisher’s mother was able to calm them down with some herbal tea and sunflower seed scones.”
“That must have been interesting,” Annie said. She and Fisher exchanged amused glances.
“Then there was your former beau Stewart Anderson. He almost blew a gasket when he heard the news. He stomped out of here like someone had made off with his wife! Then there was your rival Martin Delgado. When he heard the news, he just laughed. He seems to think he’ll be able to talk your husband into selling. So what do you make of those reactions?”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Annie said. “Everyone knows I never planned to marry. It stands to reason that they wouldn’t believe it.”
“I think I’m beginning to feel offended.” Fisher frowned. “Why is it so inconceivable that you would marry me? I’m not that bad of a catch.”
“Maybe you’re just not the stud you thought you were,” Brian mocked him.
“Hardly,” Annie said. “You’re wonderful. It’s just that I made no secret that I would never marry. People are bound to be shocked.”
“Oh! Annie and Fisher. You’re back.” Fisher’s mother came bustling out of the kitchen. “Annie, where do you keep your wheat germ?”
“Wheat germ?” she asked.
“Yes. I wanted to make a nice yogurt spread to go on my sprout and curry muffins.”
“Sprout and curry?” Annie lifted a censoring eyebrow in Fisher’s direction.
“Did I forget to mention that my parents are very organic?” he asked.
“Aren’t we all?” Annie glared at him and followed his mother into the kitchen, greeting her regulars along the way.
“If I’m not mistaken, you are in deep doo-doo,” Brian said. “I’ve been on the receiving end of that look quite a few times over the past five years. Allow me to translate. It means, ‘Just wait until we’re alone, dear.’”
“I don’t suppose they mean that in the...uh...romantic sense?”
“That’s a definite no.”
Fisher sighed, then changed the subject. “So, what’s our perp been up to?”
“Juggling accounts like there is no tomorrow,” Brian said. “I was just waiting for the last batch of electronic information to come in.”
“Let’s go take a look,” Fisher said, happy to escape to the office. After all, who knew what else his parents had done in their absence.
“Fisher!”
Too late. A door slammed and Annie’s heels clicked across the wooden floor back into the main room.
“What happened to my office?” she snapped. “I don’t even recognize it.”
“I think I can explain,” Brian offered, raising his hand like a kid in school.
“What happened?” she asked through gritted teeth.
Brian took a step backward. Fisher couldn’t blame him. Annie looked furious. She also looked pretty damn sexy. Her sundress was the worse for her long nap in the car. Deep creases had formed in the skirt and matching jacket. Her hair had come loose and fell down around her shoulders in long twisting curls, which smelled like the roses she’d worn in her hair for their wedding. Desire slammed him harder than a fist.
“You see I had to commandeer the office to make it easier to keep tabs on the files and to monitor who came and went into the store. I promise it will all be restored as soon as we catch the perp.”
Brian was giving her his best Boy Scout routine and Annie was falling for it. Grudgingly. The color slowly faded from her cheeks and she looked resigned to the chaotic disarray her life had become. Fisher felt bad for her.
He walked toward her intending to give her a quick hug of comfort, but her scent enveloped him as soon as he wrapped his arms around her. The mingled scent of crushed rose petals and Annie would forever be married in his mind.
Before he had time to check the impulse, he found himself planting a long, slow, deep kiss on her very soft and pliant lips. A bawdy chorus of whoops and cheers surrounded them.
“Well, it must be love,” he heard his mother say. He glanced up to see his parents standing in the doorway of the kitchen with their arms around one another.
“I still don’t see why they had to buy into that societal nonsense called matrimony, but if it makes them happy,” his father sighed and planted a quick kiss on his mother’s head.
Annie took a step back from him, looking both dazed and bewildered. “I’m going to go take a shower.” Fisher wiggled his eyebrows at her and she giggled but then frowned. “A cold one.”
“Oh, Fish, you’ve got it bad,” Brian said as they made their way toward Annie’s office.
“Got what bad?” he asked, trying to sound innocent.
“It.”
“What is ‘it’?”
“The love bug,” Brian said. “You have the sorriest case I’ve ever seen. You’re pitiful, just pitiful.”
“What makes you say that?” he asked.
“I saw your face when she walked into the room,” he said. “You lit up. You beam at the sight of her. You’re in love with her. Deep-fried, flambéed, roasted on a spit in love.”
“I am not...okay, maybe a little,” he confessed. “So what?”
“You want to stay married to her, don’t you?”
Fisher was silent.
“Don’t you?” Brian persisted.
“I can think of worse ways to spend my life.”
“Oh, boy, you’ve got it bad!”
“Let’s just get to work,” he suggested.
“Fine, but—” Brian began.
“Work!” Fisher interrupted him.
“Okay,” Brian agreed and began to tap on the keyboard. “This will tell us all of the transactions made in the account over the past few hours.”
Brian was silent as he read the incoming report. His face looked grim.
“Hey, Fish, where did you and Annie stay when you were in Vegas?”
“The Palms,” he said. “Why?”
“Because our perp deposited a huge cashier’s check made out to A. Talbot from the Palms just after midnight.”
“What?”
“You know what that means,” Brian said.
“No. I don’t believe it.”
“It’s the only explanation.”
“No, there has to be another one.”
“Face it, Fish. Annie is our perp.”