Caesars is everything a casino should be . . . noisy, smokey, gaudy, and bustling with people who can’t wait to throw their money away. And if that isn’t enough, it has a terrific shopping center. The waitresses servicing the game tables all wore little toga outfits. Some looked better in their togas than others. I suspected Lu would not look wowie kazowie in her toga. We did a casual walk around the room and didn’t spot Susan Lu.

“This isn’t gonna work,” Lula said. “It’s too big. There’s too many of the toga women. And there are cocktail lounges on the sides, too. And restaurants.”

“I don’t know how to break this to you,” Connie said, “but I think we’re being followed. You see the guy in black over by the statue of Caesar?”

Lula and I turned and looked.

“Don’t look!” Connie hissed.

Lula and I stopped looking.

“You have to be sneaky,” Connie said.

Lula and I did a sneaky look.

“I don’t recognize him,” I said.

Connie slid him a sideways glance. “He was in the lobby of the Luxor when we came through.”

“Probably just a coincidence,” I said.

He was about five feet, ten inches and average build. He wore a black suit, black shirt, and black silk tie. His hair was dark and slicked back behind his ears.

“I bet he’s got a purple car with a bobble-head doll on the dash,” Lula said. “I bet he’s a pimp. I guess I know a pimp when I see one. The question is, why would a pimp be following us?”

Connie and I looked at Lula.

“What?” Lula said.

Lula was wearing a skin-tight pink stretchy T-shirt with sexy written across her boobs in silver sequins. It had a low scoop neck showing an acre of cleavage and it was tucked into a matching spandex miniskirt.

“Hey, I’m not the one wearing a shirt asking if you got crabs,” Lula said.

I looked down at my shirt. “It’s for the baseball team in Lakewood. Joe bought it for me.”

“Hunh,” Lula said.

I didn’t think the guy in black looked like a pimp. I thought he looked like someone who bought GQ and took it seriously. Probably he was from L.A. and worked in the CAA mailroom.

“Let’s go across the room and find a blackjack table,” Connie said to me. “See if he follows you.”

“Fine, but I can’t play blackjack. I’ll just stand and watch.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Connie said. “Everyone can play blackjack. All you have to do is count to twenty-one.” Connie was pulling me along by my purse strap. “I’ll have Vinnie bankroll you.”

“You play blackjack.”

“That won’t work,” Connie said. “I want to see if he’s after you. Maybe he’s the carnation guy. This way, you sit down and Lula and I can sort of fade away, all the while keeping our eyes on you. Then we wait to see what he does.”

“Here he comes,” Lula said. “He’s coming along with us. He’s trying not to be noticed, but I’m onto him.”