A washed-denim bomber jacket and a kind of skimpy T-shirt underneath with lots of cleavage showing. A short skirt with strings hanging off the bottom. I mean short. I guess she's wearing panties. Do you want me to check? I think she went to a tanning bed somewhere during the night. She's bronzed. Looks like all over. Makes her hair sparkle like diamonds. No makeup that I can tell except lipstick.

The incoming message read:

Not necessary to check out panties. What's on her feet?

Ted's fingers tapped away.

Shiny black boots with heels that are at least four inches high. She looks like an Amazonian Aphrodite.

Maggie's response:

Any jewelry?

A set of headlights in her ears. I don't know much about diamonds. Hers are big.

Maggie's response was:

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Then she clicked off, and Ted was left staring at Lizzie, who looked like she was finished with her cell phone. His eyebrows rose in question.

"A small change of plans. It seems Marble Rose wants to go with us to the casino to accept her payoff. And, she wants one more crack at those slot machines. Since nothing has been signed, I see no problem with her coming along. I also think she has every right to take another crack at those machines for what she went through. We'll know soon enough if there's a problem when we get there.

"The vigilantes are on their way to somewhere. It seems they were temporarily located at an abandoned nursing home out in the desert, that one Little Fish said was infested with rattlesnake nests. It also seems that Rena Gold confided in Little Fish about the vigilantes. That does not make me happy. The flip side of that is, according to Rena, the man is not stupid and has his own agenda where the casinos are concerned. He might have secured the information on his own and just attributed it to Rena. I will check that out. Regardless, Little Fish, according to Annie and the others, is on our side."

"I'll check him out. He's the guy who has green grass, and his property is mined, right?"

Lizzie nodded. Ted immediately started hitting the keys to his BlackBerry. He knew that within the hour, Maggie and Joe would have the skinny on Little Fish.