Hour Game

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King remained impassive. "Let me be blunt with you, Rog: you came into your money roughly three years ago, soon after your wife died, in fact. That's when you bought this place. Before then you were an ordinary bean-counter making an ordinary income and doing okay because your wife was working too. Those sorts of people don't suddenly retireafter they lose their spouse's income, and buy a million-dollar property."

"She had life insurance."

"Fifty thousand dollars. I checked that too."

"What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm not interested in implications. I'd much prefer the truth."

"This interview is over. I believe you know the way out, since you've already searched my house."

King and Michelle rose. "Okay, we can do it the hard way."

"And you can do it with Giles Ki

King smiled. "Giles doesn't scare me. I kick his butt on the golf course at least once a week."

CHAPTER 61

KING AND MICHELLE MET TODD Williams and two of his deputies at the Aphrodisiac and were soon in Lulu's office questioning her about the occupant of the room and Kyle's visits there. At first she denied knowing anything about it but finally admitted that she'd recently seen Kyle at the club.

"But I don't know who the lady is," she said. "She doesn't work here. I know that for a fact."

"What, you're in the charity business now, letting rooms out for free to rich drug users?" said Williams sarcastically.

"I didn't know anything like that was going on. She paid for the room, in cash. I just thought she needed a place to stay."

"Was she here every night?"

"I didn't keep track really. Unless you're going into one of the performance areas to see the girls or the bars, you don't have to show ID. We have restaurants and lounges here too, and a business center. Anyone can come in and go to one of those places. We are open to the public," she added hotly.

King shook his head. "Come on, Lulu, are you saying that when the woman first came here, you never spoke to her? How the hell did you know what she even wanted?"

"She left cash and a note that said she wanted that room and that room only."

"And you did what? You just gave it to her without question?"

"It's just a room, Sean! And cash is cash. It's not like she was ru

"Did you see her come and go?"

"Sometimes. But she always wore a scarf, long coat and glasses."

"And that didn't make you suspicious? Didn't you ever try to find out who she was? Wait and watch her leave, trace her somehow?"

"Of course I was suspicious, but I'm not one to pry into other people's business either. Live and let live is my motto. If she wanted a private room and didn't want anyone to know who she was, at least she was willing to pay well for the privilege. And so there you are. I'm not into scaring off customers," she added defiantly.

"Well, Kyle Montgomery is dead, possibly murdered, so that puts a different spin on things," said Williams.

Lulu looked at him nervously. "I don't know anything about that. He sure wasn't killed here, so I don't see what this place has to do with it."

"Well, let me enlighten you, then," said the police chief. "We have a witness who says a very heated altercation took place here between Kyle and this woman. We know he was bringing her prescription drugs that he'd stolen from the doctor's office where he worked."

"I don't know anything about that."

Williams continued. "So they had an argument recently, and last night, Kyle dies."

"Well, I didn't kill him, and I don't know who the lady is."

"Did she come here last night?"

"Not that I know of. At least I didn't see her."

"When was the last time you did see her?"

Lulu thought. "I can't be sure. I've had other things on my mind, including a husband to bury," she said, bristling.

"We're going to need to question anyone here who might have seen her."

"Some of those people aren't due into work until later."

"Then right now I want to see the room, and I want to question whoeveris here who might have seen her."

Lulu looked at him nervously. "Right now?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No, it's just that some of the night-shift dancers are still sleeping."

"Sleeping. It's two-thirty in the afternoon!"

"They dance until dawn!"

"All right, let's start with the nondancers, but in the meantime you get those gals up and ready to talk to us. You understand, Lulu?"

"I understand," she said quickly.

As they were leaving, Michelle glanced back and saw Lulu's hand disappear inside a drawer of her desk, just as it had the other time she and King were here.

Once they were outside, Michelle said, "Todd, why don't you collect the people and start the questioning? Sean and I'll poke around a bit."

"Good idea. We'll compare notes later."

"What's up?" said King after the police chief and his men had left them.

"Come on, quick."

Michelle led him outside and to the back of the building where she spotted a staircase leading from the second floor. They stayed concealed behind a Dumpster and waited. Within a minute or so their patience was rewarded. A number of men, some carrying coats over their arms, others with their shirts unbuttoned and untucked and hair sticking up, emerged from a second-floor door and made their way down the outside stairs, climbed into cars parked there and sped off.

King and Michelle looked at each other.

"Appears the Aphrodisiac is living up to its name. Nice catch, Michelle," said King.

"And prostitution is one way to enhance the old revenue stream," added Michelle. "So what do we do about it?"

"I think another talk with Lulu is in order."

"Husband dead and three kids. I know it's a crime, Sean, but I'm not real excited about helping to send her to prison."

"Perhaps we can show her the error of her ways."

When Lulu returned to her office later, King was sitting behind her desk and Michelle was standing beside him.

"What are you doing in here?" Lulu barked.

In answer King reached inside the drawer and pressed the buzzer they'd found there earlier.

"I hope this second warning doesn't confuse the girls, but at least all the johns have already left the joint."

Lulu's mouth dropped open but she quickly recovered. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sit down, Lulu," King said very firmly. "We're here to help you. But if you try to bullshit us even a little bit, we'll just tell Todd to come in here and take over. And then it'll be out of our hands."

Lulu stared fiercely at them but finally sat down, her hands fidgeting in her lap.

"If you want to light up, feel free; we might be here awhile."

Lulu did so, sucking in the smoke and then purging it out her nostrils.

King sat back in his chair. "Okay, explain the setup."

"It's not what you think," Lulu said.

"You're far too smart to do it the old-fashioned way, so I'm sure you have something very creative. I'm anxious to hear what it is."

Lulu looked nervously at them. "I've worked hard for years to build up this place. Long hours, ignoring my kids at times, and Junior too. I've got ulcers and a two-pack-a-day habit. Sure, I'm the minority owner but I really run the place. My partners spend most of their time in Florida. But they're always on me to keep pushing up the profits so they can buy bigger boats and better-looking wives. More, more, more-that's all I hear."