Jack was the first to speak. "We have no backup in Vegas. Law enforcement out there doesn't mess around. Everyone knows the casino boys run that town. One little infraction, and you get locked up. Those guys kick ass and take names later. Dicey from Harry's and my perspective. That's assuming we're invited to go along."

"It should be exciting. Ka-ching! I do love the sound of slot machines," Annie said. "The shows, the twenty-four-hour frenzy, and I understand there are no clocks in any of the casinos. Will we be high rollers? Everything is free if you're a high roller. Hotel suites, drinks, food, limousine service, the whole nine yards. I have a book on gambling I bought online. There's no way you can cheat—they have ceiling surveillance, and every casino has at least a thousand security guards," she said breathlessly. Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Count me in."

Kathryn snorted. "Annie, Annie, get real, it's only free on the surface. Even though they give all those perks to you, and if you add it up for, say, a two-day, even a three-day weekend, the tab might be three grand, tops. The chances of your only losing three grand is about nil. If you're a high roller, you're guaranteed to gamble a hundred times that amount. There are no free lunches, Annie."

To Annie's chagrin, Kathryn directed her next comment to Charles. "What's in Vegas, and why are our services needed? It seems like an odd place for the vigilantes to go. All that sharp-eyed security is going to make me very nervous."

The others nodded but waited patiently for Charles to spell it all out for them.

"A message came through to Nikki's law firm. It was pretty straightforward, a request for our help, but contact was needed for the details. Then a second request came through a few days later. It was the same party. There was a note of desperation in both pleas. Nikki had her old office manager call the sender for details, which I'm about to share with you. Before I do that, though, this person is someone Annie and Myra used to know when they were little girls, although the sender did not trade on that relationship. I came across it when I ran a check on the sender of both requests just to make certain it was the same person. Myra and Annie confirmed the childhood friendship. Neither Annie nor Myra has seen the woman in over fifty years. Nor have they had any contact.

"Then two other messages came in through the message boards. I can't be one hundred percent certain, but I think they came from Las Vegas and were not from Myra and Annie's old friend. I have people working on that end of it."

"What does she want?" Isabelle asked.