“Five minutes once his race is under way. I haven’t even set eyes on LJ yet.”

Espinosa stood up, focused his camera, and moved about, trying to get the best angle to record the swim race so he could send it to Lizzie as promised. Cosmo was making such a rapid recovery, Lizzie said, that watching his son swim in the meet would put him over the top. That all meant that Cosmo Cricket was definitely out of the woods and on his way to a full recovery. Regardless, Lizzie still refused to leave his side.

Charles looked up from the long incoming text he was receiving. He smiled from ear to ear as he motioned for the group to gather close. He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. “As we all know, the rule here is that ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,’ and since we’re no longer in Vegas, we can talk about it. Annie’s casino manager took it upon himself to go to the owners of the casinos and explain what happened to Cosmo Cricket’s home and the condition it was in when the Scorpions, Zack Meadows, and Javier Vincente Rodriguez were incapacitated from an attack by an unnamed vigilante group. Just the mention of Zack Meadows and what he’d done brought all the owners front and center and willing to do anything that would help the Cricket family.

“Twenty-four hours after being informed, a magnificent house owned by a high roller who went belly up became available in the desert only two miles from where the Crickets lived. It only took an hour to complete the paperwork and another hour to take pictures of Cosmo’s oversized furniture to complete the deal. Four hours after that, every single item in the house was gone, all donated to several different charities. Assurances that all the new furniture would be custom-made and delivered in thirty days sealed the deal.”

Charles continued to read from the overlong text. “It’s unclear who will tell the Crickets at this point, but it’s done, and the Crickets will not be homeless. Vegas takes care of its own, as we’ve come to find out.”