Diva Las Vegas (Book 1 in Raven McShane Series) Read Free

private investigator, though? It seems a little mismatched for your, uh, talents.”
    I shrugged.  It was none of his business what I did, but he was a good tipper so I decided to play along.  “I didn’t spend four years in college to get naked for a living.  This job pays the bills, but I want to have a more normal life at some point.  When I started college I thought I might want to become a cop, but the cops aren’t going to hire someone with my work history.  So I thought I’d go out on my own.”
    He nodded approvingly. “Makes sense.   I didn’t know you had a degree,” he added.
    “Yeah.   I didn’t plan it this way.   I started doing this to help pay my tuition, and before I knew it I was pulling in five hundred a night.   And that was ten years ago.   Kind of hard to walk away from.”
    “Especially since you get to meet people like me.”
    “Um, yeah, that makes it all worthwhile.”   My sarcasm drew an injured look from Jeff.   “Anyway, Rachel is in trouble.  She says you’re going to help her sue Cody, but you need someone to dig up some new dirt.  Something the cops didn’t have the first time around during the murder trial.  Is that about the gist of it?”
    “You hit the high points, yeah.”
    “So is there anything you haven’t told Rachel about this?” I asked. 
    He frowned.  “Like what?”
    “Well, you and I both get paid by the hour.  Sometimes we tell people only the things they want to hear.  It’s only natural.”
    Jeff’s eyes had found my chest again, but he did his best to answer my question.  “You probably know that nobody’s ever done well for themselves by taking on an old line casino family like those people.”
    I shrugged.  I remembered that Cody Masterson was Rachel’s brother-in-law for a short time.  Like Rachel, he had married into the Hannity clan, owners of an outdated Strip casino called The Outpost. 
    “I’m not too worried about that,” I said.  “If things don’t work out, I have a pretty lucrative gig to fall back on.”
    Jeff gestured to my bikini, which was still clinging to my chest.  “Speaking of which . . .”
    I held up one finger.  “So you think she can win?”
    “Anything can happen,” he said.  “Look, if you’re asking if I’m just stringing her along to get some billable hours, it’s not like that.  She hasn’t even paid me yet, now that I think about it.  With some new evidence, we can convince a jury that the guy did it, and that he owes your friend about fifty million bucks for killing her husband.”
    That was good enough for me.  I leaned in to whisper in Jeff’s ear.  “Enough talk.”  I  wriggled out of my thong and undid the Velcro on my bikini top.  As usual, he watched me as though he’d never seen a naked woman before.  I enjoyed that about Jeff, at least: his lust was unconditional. 

Chapter 3
     
     
     The next day I slept in until one and made myself a tuna melt, which was about the most complicated meal I ever allowed myself to prepare.  My magazines were always prattling on about the need to add more fish to my diet, and I tried hard to ignore a nagging doubt that the combination of mayonnaise and cheddar cheese would counteract any health benefits coming from the tuna.  I decided I didn’t care.  
    With the morning officially shot, I decided to spend the afternoon enjoying the cool recirculated air in my condo and diving into the details of how the Cody Masterson murder case had played out in court.  Apart from what Rachel and Jeff had told me, which was almost nothing, I remembered exactly two things about the case: Masterson was guilty as hell, and he was better looking than any man should be allowed to be.  I had recently discovered that for twenty dollars a year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal lets you search and browse through old stories on its website, and I figured that would provide a good start.  Too good, it turned out – my initial search for the name