Chapter All Bets Are Off
All Bets Are Off
By midnight, they were still waiting outside and he still hadn’t appeared. They’d made their very expensive drink last until the ice cubes had long since melted, Maggie’s feet were killing her and Flick was checking her watch for the millionth time.
‘Stake-outs always look fun in the movies.’ Maggie winced, wondering if anyone would notice if she took off her shoes.
‘We can’t have missed him, we’ve had our eyes glued.’
‘He could be in there until the early hours, if not longer. What if he’s on a winning streak?’
No, it would be terrible. Barefoot in the casino was not a good look.
‘I don’t know, but I definitely feel like we’re on a losing streak just standing around waiting out here,’ grumbled Flick.
Maggie sighed. Her earlier nervousness at seeing him had turned into a frustrated weariness. There’s only so long adrenaline can last, and exhaustion had now taken over. She just wanted to get it over with. The face-to-face meeting. The confrontation. Whatever.
Finally, she snapped. ‘This is ridiculous! I’m not waiting any longer.
He’s caused enough trouble as it is. He’s in there having a fun time with my money and we’re out here like a couple of lemons?
He’s put me through enough. There’s patience and there’s wanting to get these bloody high heels off.
’ Stirred into action, she slammed the watery dregs of the drink down on a table. ‘I’m going to go and talk to them!’
There is a moment in every woman’s life when she reaches a point.
When a mixture of tiredness, desperation, hormones, having seen it all and years spent pleasing everyone – together with the enormous amount of shit she’s had to put up with – causes the dam to break.
It’s a powerful moment. It’s also often fleeting, which is a shame because if women could hold on to it, they would truly rule the world.
Regardless, this was one of those moments for Maggie.
‘Talk to whom?’ Flick was taken aback.
‘Our friendly bouncers.’
Flick watched as she marched over to the doorway and spoke to the doormen. They appeared to be having a conversation. There was some gesticulating. Another member of staff appeared. Then Maggie’s face paled.
She came rushing back, limping. ‘He’s gone! He left hours ago!’
‘What?’ Flick was aghast. ‘But how?’
‘There’s another exit, apparently.’
‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ Flick clamped her hand to her forehead, stricken.
‘So I said not to worry, and I’d catch up with him at his hotel.’
‘Did you get the name of the hotel?’
‘That’s just it! He’s not staying at a hotel. I just spoke to the manager who organized a taxi for him to the port. He told me he’d left hours ago as his cruise ship, the Galaxy Goddess, was departing at 10 p.m.’
Cruise ship?
They stared at each other, both remembering their walk to the casino, past the harbour where the giant cruise ship was docked.
No. Surely not. It couldn’t be. But as they rushed to the outside terrace, with its view across the port to the rock of Monte Carlo and the jetty, they saw that where earlier was nineteen decks of floating hotel, now there was just an empty space.
The cruise ship had departed. It was gone.
And with it, so was he.