“I guess you’re saying he didn’t get back to you,” Dennis said.

“Not yet,” Charles agreed, taking his place at the table. “I’ll put in another call to him when we finish here. If he doesn’t take my call, then we might have to ask Lizzie to pave the way for a meeting.”

“We should have heard something on Cosmo’s condition by now,” Jack said. “Lizzie swears Dr. Wylie is some kind of magical surgeon. Has anyone called him?”

“He told us not to call him. He said he was staying with Cosmo. He meant that literally. He was in the recovery room after surgery and planned to stay there until they moved him into ICU, and he promised he would stay there to monitor him no matter how long it took,” Charles said as he crunched down on a piece of toast.

“Do the police have any kind of theory?” Harry asked.

“If they do, they sure didn’t share it with us. We’re outsiders, and this is Vegas. The police do not share or confide. You know what they say—‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.’ As I said, we’re outsiders, so that means we’re on our own. Even our press credentials didn’t help. If anything, they clammed up even more when we showed them,” Ted said.

“What’s your feeling about the gangs, Ted?” Jack asked.

“Did you get a feel one way or the other in that regard?” Harry asked.

“I couldn’t read it, sorry to say. Dennis found out through his research that there are two gangs. Seems there are always two at war with each other. Everyone wants to be top dog. It’s the same way back home. One gang is called the Cavaliers. The other one is called the Scorpions. When the renovations started, they had to relocate to another area, but before they did, the Scorpions raised all kinds of holy hell. They tried to burn down the senior complex. Then they blew up some cars. They messed with the city’s earthmoving equipment to delay the renovation. The skinny is that the Scorpions did it. The Cavaliers simply relocated and didn’t cause any problems. No arrests were made. It was rumored that the Cavaliers are the guardian angels and protectors of the seniors. The Scorpions don’t like that. In other words, the Scorpions are the bad guys, and the Cavaliers are the good guys, if there is such a thing when two gangs are at war,” Ted said.

“That’s crazy,” Jack interjected.

“Not if you really think about it, Jack,” Charles said. “Cosmo and his partner purchased that property years and years ago. They renovated three city blocks of dwellings to provide homes for senior citizens. Who better to protect the seniors and their investment from a gang than another gang? Cosmo is no fool, we know that. This is Vegas. He would have hedged his bets all the way around. I’m sure he’s funding the gang in some way. His own father resided in one of the buildings for a while before he passed away. I’m thinking Mr. Meadows might have had a parent there, too, at some point, and that might explain why Cosmo and he went into that venture together.