"What I think is you can take that big guy down just by batting your eyelashes. Good thing you smeared more of that stuff on back at the Silver Horseshoe. What's his name?"

"I can't believe you don't know his name with all that reading and researching you do. His name is Cosmo Cricket."

Cosmo Cricket. "You shitting me, Lizzie? No one would name a kid Cosmo Cricket."

Lizzie laughed again. "His parents did. Close friends and associates call him Kick."

The knots in Ted's stomach tightened as he climbed out of the Rover. "Just tell me one thing, Lizzie, do you know this guy?"

"No, never laid eyes on him before today. Never spoke to him. I know people who know him, if that's your next question."

Lizzie slid out of the Rover and looked at herself in the side-view mirror.

"You look great, Lizzie. Your lip gloss is shimmering." Maggie was absolutely going to love this. "I think you're good to go. Let's just get in there and fry that guy's ass, Lizzie Fox style. What the hell is he doing here, anyway?"

"That's a good question, Ted. I'll make sure I ask."

"Do you know anything about the NGC?" Ted asked.

"Probably as much as you do. It was founded in 1959 by the Nevada legislature. It's involved in the regulation of casinos throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. They're responsible for administering regulations, granting licenses, and ruling on disciplinary matters brought before them by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. It's made up of five members appointed by the governor. Commission members serve for four years in a part-time capacity.

"Their big gun is Cosmo Cricket. One has to wonder why the NGC would send someone like him to deal with little old Marble Rose Barnes. She must be more important than we originally thought. I think we can make our entrance now." Lizzie looked down at her watch. "Being fifteen minutes late is quite fashionable, even in police stations. You ready, Teddie?"

"Hell, no, but I'm game."

"Your recorder set? Camera ready? Flex your fingers, and let's take this show on the road."

"Yes, ma'am."

Chapter 12

With one exception, nothing much had changed since their exit almost two hours earlier. The walls hadn't been repainted, they were the same ugly shade of puke green, the smell was the same, Pinesol gagging. The slight difference was that the room appeared to be more crowded. Not with people but with one person, who seemed to be taking up all the space in the room. There were other people in the room, but at first glance they all seemed to be hugging the sickly looking walls, staying well out of the way of the big man who was chatting up a tall, lanky, bespectacled gent carrying a briefcase. Another lawyer.