Free A Denial of Death by Gin Jones Page A

not herself, but doing a little snooping sounded like a lot more fun than picking up her crochet hook again. Before she committed to going, though, she'd need to see whether Jack had time to drive her to the casino. His clay avatar business was growing daily, and he needed to put most of his energy into that work.
    Betty misread Helen's silence as reluctance. "I know it's a lot to ask, but would you consider actually going to the casino? Find Angie and talk to her? If she's hiding from Ralph, she might not be willing to return your calls, but if you went there in person, you'd be bound to run into her. She's not the type to stay in her room and hide. She'd be in the middle of things, drawing attention to herself as best she can in a place where she's not the only person covered in rhinestones, sequins, and glitter."
    Angie would have to be extraordinarily loud and sparkly to get more than a quick glance in a casino setting. Helen had been to several of them, not for her own entertainment, but as part of her work as the state's First Lady. Most of the visits had been a few years ago when her ex-husband had been lobbied to support the nascent gambling industry in Massachusetts, and she'd gone with him on a VIP tour of all the local competition. The casino in the picture Charlene had showed her was large enough and crowded enough that if Angie didn't want to be found, the odds were in her favor.
    Helen observed the yarn work going on beside her and considered the prospect of making yet another lumpy cap Josie would have to unravel. It would be better for everyone if she found something else to do with her time. The casino was only a couple hours' drive from Wharton, after all. Jack could get her there and back in a single day if he didn't have anything too critical happening in his pottery studio tomorrow.
    "Let me check my driver's schedule," Helen said. "I can't make any promises yet, but if he's available and we don't hear from Angie in the meantime, I'll go to the casino tomorrow."
    "It's so unfair we can't go with you," Josie said. "Would you at least bring us back some postcards or something for our poker night?"
    "That much I can promise." Souvenirs were guaranteed to be found in abundance at resort casinos. Missing persons, not so much.
     
    *  *  *
     
    When Helen emerged from the nursing home, the borrowed sports car was just pulling up to the curb. Jack's timing really was uncanny.
    He helped her down into the leather seat, and she couldn't help noticing he'd stopped trying to convince her how great the car was. He even looked relieved when she said she was ready to go home for the day.
    As Jack pulled out of the nursing home's tree-lined driveway, she realized she needed to talk to Tate again. He would know how to get information about Angie out of the hotel staff. He must have done that sort of thing before, to confirm a client's alibi or undermine an alternative suspect's alibi.
    Of course, it wouldn't be simple to get Tate to share his information. It was second-nature for him to discourage the taking of risks, and he tended to focus exclusively on the possible negative consequences, ignoring any possible benefits. She wasn't a fool, though, and she did trust his advice. If he said the task was impossible, then she'd have to let Betty and Josie know she was off the case. It had been one thing risking arrest for interfering with the police investigation when her nurse had been killed, and Helen had felt responsible for the woman's death, but quite another to risk criminal charges in order to look for some woman Helen had never even met and who might well just be playing childish matrimonial games. The local police already looked at Helen askance, and Hank Peterson wouldn't hesitate to file changes against her if she meddled in something that turned out to be no crime at all.
    She definitely needed Tate's advice, and she'd already used up a full month's worth of his goodwill yesterday. Fortunately, she knew exactly