Callie’s Last Dance

36.

A COUPLE MONTHS ago, a rough character named Bobby Mitchell died while being treated for an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. Before that, he and Willow lived together in her apartment on Dillingham Drive, in Cincinnati.

Bobby used to boost cars by day, drive them to his uncle’s chop shop on Carey Street, then snort the profits away while Willow lap-danced all night at the Firefly Lounge. Since Bobby was drunk half the time and high the rest, Willow refused to let him touch her car keys. Despite her best intentions, Bobby’s proficiency at hotwiring cars left Willow without transportation on more occasions than she could count. Deciding this was a skill that could come in handy someday, Willow made him demonstrate his technique on her Toyota Corolla.

“Any idiot can hotwire a car,” Bobby had said, “but if you don’t know how to disconnect the fuel shut-off and steering wheel lock, you’re not going to get far.”

The skill didn’t come easy to Willow, but she persevered, and eventually became an expert at hotwiring Toyota Corollas. She sold hers before moving to Vegas, but it’s her car of choice. Since Willow hasn’t had time to finagle a new car out of Carmine yet, she’s still driving the Toyota she leased from Lyndon Car Rentals at McCarran International Airport.

Her plan for killing Roy is complex and relies heavily on Gwen’s participation. It also requires her to hotwire her rental car in advance, so she can “steal” it from the valet parking lot at the Fashion Show Mall. In preparation, Willow disconnects the fuel shutoff and steering wheel lock, and creates a field between the terminals that allows her to crank the engine by simply passing a screwdriver through the field.

She drives to the Fashion Show Mall at ten o’clock, turns her keys over to the valet parking guy, and pretends to go shopping. In reality, she enters the notoriously slow Ruggles Department Store elevator, presses the express button for the Raintree Café, and performs a quick change, knowing two things. One, the Raintree Café isn’t open till eleven, and two, the Ruggles elevator has no camera, a fact Gwen discovered three weeks ago when trying to report a speckle-dicked flasher.

When the elevator door opens on the third floor, Willow gets off wearing a black wig and hands Gwen the top she just removed, and the ball cap, and giant sunglasses. Gwen gets on the elevator, removes her black wig and puts on Willow’s top, ball cap, and sunglasses while descending.

Meanwhile, Willow makes her way to the down escalator, heads to the valet parking area, finds her car, uses the screwdriver to crank the engine, and heads to the Top Six.

For the benefit of mall witnesses and security cameras, Gwen, dressed as Willow, will use Willow’s credit card to do some light shopping.

Twenty minutes later, gun in purse, Willow drives to the Top Six, jumps out, and jams a large potato into the exhaust pipe of Roy’s car. Then she drives two blocks, turns into an abandoned strip club parking lot, and backs her car against a telephone pole next to a junked bus. She puts the car in park, and waits. The good thing about Carmine’s strip club, it’s miles from the nearest residential area, which means it won’t be hard to spot Roy’s car when it passes by.

Moments later-much sooner than expected-she sees him coming. She ducks down to wait for him to pass, the idea being to follow him from a distance. When his car shuts down in a block or two, she’ll be able to pull over, roll the passenger window down, and initiate a drive-by shooting.

But what she hears-and feels-is Roy’s car crashing head first into hers. He’s yelling her name. Something about seeing her sabotaging his car. She looks up and sees him pulling a baseball bat out of the back seat. Luckily for her, he’s angrier than he is coordinated, thanks to the giant cast on his right hand. She grabs the gun, jumps out of the car, and carefully places two bullets into the center of his chest. Then she checks his tailpipe, but finds no potato. She puts Roy’s car in neutral, then climbs back into her Toyota, puts it in gear, and pushes Roy’s car out of her way. Then she goes back to Roy’s car and puts it in park.

She notices the potato on the passenger side, grabs it, puts it in her purse, and drives to long-term parking at McCarran International airport. Once there, she waits in the car until she sees a family pulling their luggage across the parking lot. She files in close behind them and follows them to the drop off zone, where Gwen has been making circles waiting for her.

When she climbs into Gwen’s car she says, “You’ve been at the mall the whole time?”

“Until twenty minutes ago.”

“What did we buy?”

“You had a grande hot chocolate with skim milk at Starbucks, then walked around, spent some time in Vicky Secrets, where they’re holding some cute undies for you. You also bought some soaps and bath salts at a store called Sea’s Harvest. They’re holding a green and blue bag for you, with a whale emblem on it.”

“And the clothes, ball cap, and sunglasses you wore while shopping?”

“In the white bag in the back.”

“You kept the sunglasses on at all times?”

“Yes.”

“Even while signing the credit card receipt?”

“Especially then.”

“Where did you change clothes?”

“Same place. Ruggles elevator.”

“And you wore the black wig when you left?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thanks. Maybe we’ll pull this off after all.”

“You actually did it? You killed Roy?”

Willow doesn’t think Gwen would tape her conversation, but you never know. To be on the safe side, she simply winks. Then she reaches into the back seat for the bag, and changes clothes before getting dropped off a half-block from the mall. She walks back to the mall, retrieves the shopping bags from Victoria Secret and Sea’s Harvest, then goes to valet parking and spends the next thirty minutes learning her car might have been stolen.

After the valet parking attendants have exhausted their search, Willow gets directory assistance on the phone, and has them dial Lyndon Rental Cars. When the Lyndon rep answers, the parking attendants hear her say, “Yes. I hope you can help me. It appears someone may have stolen my car…Willow Breeland…No, I don’t have the paperwork. I left it in the glove box…I’m staying at the Fairway Inn, here in town, but that’s not where the car was stolen. Assuming it’s been stolen…This morning at ten I drove it to the Fashion Show Mall…No, I used their valet service…No, I’m still here…Yes, of course they’ve been searching. You want to talk to the parking guy?”

She hands him the phone.

He talks a few minutes, then hands it back.

“Yes, I’d very much like another rental car…What? No, I’ll just take a cab…Okay, thanks.”

She hails a cab, catches a ride to the airport, repeats her story at the car counter, then gets her new rental, swings by her room at the Fairway Inn, takes a shower, and changes clothes.

Then she drives to the Venetian, to meet Carmine.