Las Vegas Savior

Her dryer cut off and she began taking out her clothes, one at a time, folding them as she went. She took extra care to fold things nice and neat as she waited for his dryer to cut off. The only thing she didn’t take time to fold were her underwear and made sure to leave them in the dryer until she was done with everything else and then quickly grabbed them up as a bundle and stuffed them into the bottom of the stack she had been making on the table.

She folded her sheets and then rolled them up in the sleeping bag and tied it like a bedroll. “Well, I guess I’ll go and put this stuff away. What time were you thinking about getting something to eat?”

“Well, it’s 1 o’clock now. Have you had lunch yet?” John asked.

“Uh, no. I haven’t even had breakfast yet.” Emily admitted.

“Well, then, say in about half an hour, we meet in the lobby?” John said and started pulling his clothes out of the dryer that had just shut off.

“Okay. I’ll see you there.” Emily said as she picked up her small stack of clothes and walked or rather floated back to her room. She couldn’t explain it if she tried but for some reason, she felt really good about this until it suddenly occurred to her that she had met Derrick at the laundromat too! “Good lord, Emily. Talk about history repeating itself. How much more of a coincidence do I need?” She thought to herself.

“But this guy is not only a cop, he’s FBI!” Her little voice of reason argued on John’s behalf.

“Yeah but he’s still a man. Do I dare trust another one? So far, cops have not been terribly reliable men.” Emily argued back.

“This one seems to be cut from a different cloth, girl. Give the man a chance.” That irritating little voice advised.

Emily pulled out her nicest T-shirt and stripped off the kitten one. She had on the newer pair of the two pairs of jeans she owned so they would just have to do. She looked down at her feet and thought about all the pretty shoes she had in storage right now and felt like crying.

Hell, she had finally met a nice guy, who wasn’t a crook, that had practically begged her for a date and the best she could do was the sneakers she had been wearing almost constantly for over three years now. At least they were black so they didn’t show the stains the way white ones would have.

She was definitely going to have to find a thrift store and get some new stuff soon. She might have to leave some things in her trunk but she would definitely be packing the newer things in her pack. She sat down on the bed and packed her meager belongings back in her backpack and tried to brush off the depression that was trying its best to consume her.

She finally told herself. “You are going to have lunch with a very handsome man in less than 10 minutes. You had better brush your hair, put your pack in the car. Stop being a coward and go!” So she did just that.

They met in the lobby just as they had planned, in fact, John had been there waiting for her and stood up as she came in. They walked over to the restaurant and since the lunch rush was already over, they got a table right away. The hostess handed them menus and said “Sally will be your waitress and she’ll be over in a moment to take your lunch order. Can I get you anything to drink?” It didn’t escape her attention that the hostess seemed to be speaking more to John than to both of them but she had to give John credit that he didn’t even acknowledge her attention.

They both ordered iced tea and then sat looking over the menu. The waitress brought their drinks and Emily asked “What’s good here?”

“The Ruben is pretty good but then so are the pork chops. Depends on how hungry you are.” Sally said. Shelly she was not!

“I think I’ll do the pork chops. What about you?” John asked.

“I think I’ll stick to a Cobb Salad with Ranch dressing please.” Emily said as she read the ingredients.

“Okay. Be back in a few.” Sally said as she collected the menus and went to place their order.

“So, do you work out of the office here in Vegas?” Emily asked.

“No, I work out of the Sacramento office, normally. Just here to visit my folks for the holidays.” John replied.

“How come you didn’t stay with them? Why stay in a cheap hotel?”

“Well, my folks’ condo is in a retirement community and it’s only one bedroom and I’m too tall for their sofa. Actually today is the only time I’ve stayed here all day but I was out late last night. Normally I get out and do things around town. I am on vacation after all and Vegas is a fun city.”

“I thought Vegas was known as Sin city?” Emily said with a sly grin. She saw a light blush stain his cheeks and it surprised her but no more so than when he came back with “Depends on what you are doing. Is that why you came to Vegas?” He teased.

“Hahaha! So you are not as straight laced as I thought. No, actually Vegas just happened to be where I landed at 1 am this morning. I was dead tired from driving for 12 hours and since I was almost out of gas, it just seemed like the place to stop. I prefer to be in the big city. Easier to blend in and get lost in the crowds.”

“Great reason to let me take you down to the strip tonight. We can go watch the overhead shows and maybe even hit a couple of the casinos, if you want?” John asked.

“Oooh. Money to waste in the slot machines. Now there is something I haven’t had in a long time. Is there some place on the strip where I could buy some cheap t-shirts?” Emily asked.

“Oh yeah. Lots of the shops have 3 or more for about ten bucks.” John said. “There are even a few places that, if you play it right, you can make money at but you have to know how to say no.” John told her.

Sally brought their meals and Emily was so glad she had ordered the salad. It was really good. John said his pork chops were good too and they made small talk while they ate. It was a very pleasant meal and both of them seemed to take their time eating, not wanting the meal to end too quickly.

But all good things have to come to an end sometime and after John had washed down the last bite of his pork chops, he asked “so are you going to walk the strip with me?”

“Will you help me keep an eye out for Derrick?” Emily asked.

“Do you have a picture of him?” John asked.

Emily pulled out her wallet and took out the photo of her and Derrick together. “We took these in one of those photo booths at the fair a lifetime ago.” She said as she passed it over for him to see.

“I’ve seen his picture before.” John said. “You look so happy here.”

“We had only been dating for a little while at that time and he was still being nice to me.” Emily said. She accepted the picture back and tucked it back into her wallet. “I only keep the picture so that I can show people what he looks like. When he’s finally caught and locked up, I’m going to get a bottle of tequila and have a burning ceremony!” Emily had never admitted that to anyone. Not even Shelly.

“Oh, man, the last time I drank tequila, my fiancé Sharon had just broken up with me and told me she had decided she was a lesbian.” John shared.

“Ouch! That must have been like a punch in the stomach to your male ego.” Emily said.

“Yeah. I stayed in the bottom of that bottle for 3 whole days. If it hadn’t been for my partner, I might still be there. The FBI frowns on showing up for duty so drunk you can barely stand up and even more so when you show up for work with your clothes on inside out.” John told her.

“Oh, no you didn’t?” Emily laughed and then laughed even more when he nodded his head. My partner, Chase, took my gun away from me, took me home, poured me into the shower, fully dressed and then spent the next two days pouring coffee, B12 and vitamin C into me. My boss read me the riot act when I got back and told me that another episode like that and he’d take my badge. I’ve not taken another drink since.”

“How long ago was that?” Emily asked.

“Five years ago. We were supposed to get married on Valentine’s Day and she told me the night before New Year’s Eve.” John said and Emily watched as a cloud passed over his face.

“Must make this time of year really hard for you.” Emily said and then thought, “No wonder he doesn’t show his feelings and is keeping this on a professional level.” That thought kind of stung a little.

Was he wanting to be around her because he was interested in her or because otherwise it meant he had to be alone during a dark time? Either way, apparently they were going to be ships that passed in the night since neither of them were going to be here for much longer.

He had to go back to work and she knew better than to stay in one place too long and would be getting back on the road to South Cali soon. But right now, she decided she was going to enjoy the company of this very handsome man even if it went no farther than friendship. She would be very disappointed if that’s all it turned out to be because if she was honest with herself, she was very attracted to John, but the way her luck with men seemed to run, maybe she would be better off.

“It was the first year but then two years later, she came back and said she had changed her mind and wanted to pick up where we had left off. Too little too late.” John said.

“I’m sorry. Some people only think of themselves when they make life changing decisions.” Emily sympathized. “Derrick was my first really serious relationship and I was just starting to have deep feelings for him when he started to change and started reminding me of my father. I was trying to break it off with him when I saw him and that other guy shoot that poor man.” Emily said.

“What did the other man look like?” John asked.

“I’m not really sure. He was kind of far away and I didn’t get much of a look at him before he took a shot at me. He was at least as tall as Derrick, maybe a little taller and he was heavier than Derrick. Bald head. Like I said, I didn’t get much of a look at him. All I know is that when he saw me, he pointed a gun at me and started shooting and I ran for my life. I’ve only seen him twice since then and always from a distance. If he walked right past me on the street, I probably wouldn’t even recognize him.”

“Hmmm. Guess you wouldn’t be able to ID him in a line up then?” John asked.

“No, not unless it was from a distance and he was wearing the same baggy, gray suit as he had on that night.” Emily said.

“See, that’s a detail that you never realized you had noticed before. Am I right?” John asked.

“You’re right.” Emily smiled at him.

“What hand did he use to hold his gun?” John asked.

Emily closed her eyes and tried to remember. “It was his left hand.”

“How tall do you think Derrick was? As tall as me?” John asked.

“No, not as tall as you but taller than me.” Emily said.

“How tall are you?” John asked.

“Five Seven.” Emily confirmed his earlier guess. “How tall are you?”

“6′3”. See you remember more than you realized. Most witnesses do.” John said.

“I’ve been reliving that nightmare almost every night for the past 3 years. I don’t think there’s much more that I’ve forgotten or don’t remember. I wish I could forget that it ever happened.” Emily said sadly.

“Well, we don’t have to dwell on it today. Come on, let’s go buy some T-shirts!” John said as he lifted his hand to call Sally over with their tab. He paid their bill and she followed him out of the restaurant. “Will you trust me to drive you there?”

“Can I?” Emily asked, more seriously than she had intended.

“Emily, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to spend some time with you and you look like you could use a friend. Can we please at least be friends?” John said. “Hopefully more than friends, sometime soon?” He thought to himself but wouldn’t push it, even a little.

He knew to even try to go too fast with her and she would be gone in a shot. She had been living off her wits and probably terrified more than half the time for the past 3 years and from what she had told him, she had every right to be man shy for a very good reason. For the past 3 years, her very life had depended on it!

Emily looked at him, took a big breath and nodded her head with a very weak smile.