Free Vegas, Baby by Sandra Edwards Page B

given up.” The compartment doors slid open. “I’ll figure it out. I’ll find a way.”
    Blake Switzer moved inside Eddie’s peripheral vision and looked at him with one of those cold stares that said he’d heard part of the conversation and thought he’d stumbled onto something.
    Eddie laughed inside. Switzer could never hope to decipher the meaning of what he’d just heard. He wasn’t that smart.
    They passed each other. Switzer entered the elevator as Eddie left it. “I’m watching you, LaCall,” he said with a leer that turned out to be more comical than scary.
    Likewise. Eddie pivoted around and showed him what a real glare looked like. “What exactly are you doing to determine the validity of the threat to Laraquette’s life, and discover the identity of the culprit?”
    “Last time I checked...” Switzer smirked. “I don’t answer to you.”
    “Maybe you’d better check with your boss and find out just who has clearance to review your findings.”
    “You, like everyone else, can wait for the report.”
    The elevator doors closed between Eddie and the man who was quickly becoming his nemesis. The guy was worthless, not only as a cop but Eddie could tell he had high aspirations of winning Rio Laraquette’s heart.
    Eddie didn’t know which bothered him more, the fact that Switzer thought he could, or that he, Eddie, wanted him to fail.

CHAPTER 8
    EDDIE made himself comfortable on Rio’s couch while she leaned against the kitchen counter, talking on the phone to what she’d deemed her favorite Italian restaurant.
    She’d pinned her wild red tresses back into a ponytail, but some of the defiant locks had sprang free and laid against her face with eloquent grace.
    Damn, the girl was sexy. Even in her cutoff tee and sweats.
    She hung up the phone and cut her eyes at him. “Pizza in forty-five.” She moved to the refrigerator. “You want a beer, tea...milk?”
    “A beer would be great.” He studied the Overnight Envelope Larry had given him downstairs. His mother, wanting to cheer him up, had dropped replacement copies of the photographs he’d lost in the fire into the mail as soon as she’d heard the news.
    He ripped the pull-tab on the envelope and peered inside. A note accompanied the photos and he plucked it out first.
    Dear Eddie,
    Here are the photographs you lost in the fire. I’m so glad to hear that you’re okay. If you need anything else, let me know and I’ll talk to Pastor Redman to see if the church can help out.
    I do hope you find what you’re looking for in Las Vegas.
Love Always,
Mom
    Rio watched him reading the letter, wondering, trying to imagine what a loving mother might say to her child who’d just lost everything in a fire. She couldn’t fathom a guess.
    Eddie folded the letter and stuck it back inside the envelope, trading it for a handful of photographs. A slight smile joined his saddened, faraway demeanor.
    “Ooh, pictures,” Rio flew to his side and offered him one of the two beers she’d brought with her as a trade-off. “Can I see?” she asked, dropping onto the couch beside him.
    The sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains to the west, casting a golden hue through her windows. By now, billions of lights were beginning to twinkle along the Strip in anticipation of the upcoming blanket of night that would soon descend upon the city.
    But tonight, she couldn’t care less about the wondrous scene unfolding beneath her. She was more interested in Eddie, even though she shouldn’t be. But she couldn’t help herself. He smelled of exotic spices. She recognized the scent but it had never intoxicated her the way it did now.
    “This is my dad and his most prized possession.” Eddie pointed to a faded and worn photograph of a man standing proudly beside his car. “His ‘67 Chevelle.”
    The picture, Rio figured, was taken sometime during the late seventies. His father, young at the time, and not much older than Eddie was now, stood beside an