Las Vegas’ Kerth Ceremonies, part 5
Strong cigar smell met Casey’s nose as he eased himself into the poker game. He came into the outer sitting room of the suite and was met by one of the beautiful hostesses hired just to pamper these high rollers playing in this game. Each of these girls was dressed in a very short, strapless, sequined dress in either gold or silver. All of them wore smiles on their faces and very high heels on their feet. They were walking around carrying trays with glasses or sandwiches to the poker table. A beautiful blonde with a name tag reading “Jana” asked if she could help him. He assured her that he was only there to peek in and make sure things were being handled.
Casey entered the large, lavishly furnished main room of the suite and was greeted by the sight of six high rollers sitting around the green felt table in the center of the room. He immediately recognized J.R.Ewing, the oil baron and a business associate. They had crossed paths just last week at a meeting. Next to J.R. was Jonathan Hart, a California private eye and all-around nice guy. Jonathan made a mock salute in Casey’s direction to acknowledge his presence. Next to Jonathan was James Rockford. He was not a millionaire like the rest, but had financial backing because of his poker skills. He also was a private eye, but seemed to attract a different sort of customers. In the next chair was George Jefferson, the owner of a chain of dry cleaners in New York City and all over New Jersey. He was such a regular guest of the casino that suite number three (or the Jasper Hall Suite) was lovingly nicknamed the Jefferson. Dr. Frasier Crane occupied the next seat. He was a psychologist and a well-known radio personality. Casey did not recognize the next lady with the huge cigar in her mouth, but he assumed it was Roseanne Conner. She was the winner of $108 million dollar Illinois Lottery, and scheduled to her first high roller tournament. There was a chair to her left that was vacant and waiting for the arrival of the seventh player.
Casey stood just in the shadows as he watched the game and the young ladies milling around the penthouse. It looked to him like everything was under control. He spotted Delinda on the edge of the game, and moved quickly over to her.
“Delinda, you having any problems here?”
“Oh, hi, Casey. No, it seems to be under control. You here now, or just checking in for a visit?”
“I’ll be back in a while. I have a few other things I need to check on before I come back to stay. By the way, I noticed when I came in the door that there is a very heavy cigar smell. You know where there are any of the candles or oil deodorizers that we can put in the room?”
Delinda thought for a moment. She had been inventorying in the penthouse and hadn’t seen anything they could use. Then she remembered that there were some down in the Crystal Suite.
“Just go back down to the Crystal Suite and ask them to go to the locked closet under the bookcase and get a deodorizer out. I’ll make sure it gets put where it will mute the smell as soon as I get it.”
“Thanks, Delinda. I’ll be back later.” He moved out of the room immediately.
Casey took the private elevator back down to the Crystal Suite, the companion suite of the owner’s penthouse. He observed more beautiful girls milling around also dressed very scantily in sequins with their midriffs showing. He stopped next to a young lady with the nametag reading “Sophie” and asked her to get into the locked cabinet in the bookcase and take a room deodorizer upstairs and give it to Delinda. Sophie said she would take care of it and disappeared immediately to complete the task.
Casey was very happy with all he had seen. High rollers did not have these $100,000 buy-in games very often, but a casino must keep up all the perks to make sure that they felt welcomed and pampered. Most of these players were very wealthy with well-honed poker skills. He hoped that all of them had a wonderful time and the Monticeto would be thought of next time one of these games was organized. He knew that his presence was not required, but would make the players feel safer when he occupied the edges of the game. So, he would spend his night up there watching the game, talking to the occupants, and making it an experience to remember.
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Into the lobby dragged a street-person looking young lady. She had been caught in the rain repeatedly that morning and her hair reflected that fact. She had a very wrinkled windbreaker jacket over a dark blue, but very faded, t-shirt. Her blue jeans were baggy and creased to the point that they looked like they had many pleats down the front of the legs. Sitting for hours in the airport had not helped her appearance or her disposition. This mess stood in line waiting for her room assignment, while looking at the people behind the counter without a hair out of place, flawless make-up, and pressed suits on every employee. Susan was tired, hungry, upset about her lost bag, and all she wanted to do was get through the check-in process quickly.
When it was her turn, she was greeted by a cheery, young lady with a name tag identifying her as “Renee.” Susan handed her the paperwork about her reservation, and Renee told her she’d be right back. She took the paperwork with her over to a glassed-off partition, and soon she came back with another woman trailing her. As the second woman got back to the counter, her cell phone rang. She immediately stopped coming towards Susan, and turned around as she took the call. Then she turned around when it was finished, and put a smile on her face and came to the counter to where Susan was waiting, not patiently one might add.
“Good evening, Ms. Mayer. I’m Mary. It seems we have a slight problem with your reservation. When you didn’t arrive by midnight or call us to hold your reservation over for a few more hours, we canceled it. The problem is that we have a capacity crowd right now. All of our rooms are spoken for and I do not have another room I can assign you. The only things I have left are two suites, but they would cost you to go into them. Oh, I also have a penthouse suite.”
Susan looked at the smiling woman. “No, no, no, No, NO, NO! This cannot be happening to me. My publisher booked me on an hour flight that took me fourteen hours to catch. My overnight bag was sent to Seattle, and I am tired, hungry, and not in a good mood. So don’t tell me that something that was prepaid is no longer available.” With that Susan just collapsed into a sobbing mess on the floor in front of the counter. Her consistently louder “NOs” had gotten the attention of the security guards, and two of them appeared on either side of her and took her to a small, elegantly furnished room just off the lobby. She was put down in a shell pink high backed chair next to a table where there was a fresh arrangement of colorful flowers. Mary took a seat beside her in a matching chair and she pushed a box of Kleenex toward the sobbing woman. Mary took her cell phone out and made a call. All Susan could hear was ’missed planes, late arrival, penthouse.’ Mary turned to Susan and told her that someone who would figure how to fix the problem would be there in just a few minutes.
Susan looked over at Mary Connell. Her badge said her name and that she was a “Special Event Coordinator.” Maybe she did not know about rooms in the hotel. The next person would have all the answers. She would have a room with a comfortable bed in just a few moments. She would be okay. So, Susan wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
The door opened and in stepped a man. Mary immediately went to the door to meet the man. “Delinda called me and said that you have a problem. She’s tied up right now, so let’s see if I can help you. Please explain this to me.” Mary led him back to the chairs. He sat down and looked over at Susan as Mary began.
“This is Ms. Susan Mayer. She had a few missed planes today, and lost a bag, and now she has arrived here after midnight without renewing her reservation, so we have canceled it. As you know, we are having an especially busy weekend. Ms. Mayer is a nominee for a Kerth Award and her publisher pre-paid her reservation. But we have nowhere to put her.”
Casey looked again at this pathetic heap of a woman sitting there all rumpled and red eyed. She was nominated as the best in her field? She must have had a horrible day.
“Mary, what do we have available? Is there a suite available?”
Mary looked down at her notepad. “Yes, sir, we have the Paris-House Suite that goes for $250 a night, or the Mirror Hall Suite that goes for $750 a night. We also have the remaining penthouse suite available. But all the single rooms are spoken for.”
Casey stood up. He looked over at Mary and Susan. “Put her in the Paris-House Suite for both nights,” he said. “Our mistake is her gain.” He turned and walked quickly out the door.
“Who was that?” asked Susan.
“That is Casey Manning. He is the owner of the Monticeto. He is most likely the only person who could give you a suite and not have it questioned by anyone. He usually does not get involved in front desk problems, so your luck has changed. If you will gather up your things, we’ll show you to your room.“ Susan sat with her mouth open. They were giving her a suite worth $250 a night without asking her for any extra money? What was the catch?
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There was a knock at the hotel room door. Clark put on his glasses and tightened up the thick terry cloth robe he had just put on. He opened the door to see two other Kerth nominees on the other side of the door. Jim Powers and his lovely wife and writing partner, Tara, were standing at the door. Jim announced that he had seen Lois and Clark check in and that they were neighbors on the same floor. He asked if they would like to join him and his wife down at Mystiques for breakfast? Clark called across the room to Lois who was finishing her dressing in the bathroom. She came into the room putting her earrings on. Jim repeated his question, and both the Kents agreed to meet them downstairs. Clark told Jim and Tara to go ahead downstairs and they would join them in just a few minutes. The door closed, and instead of hurrying to finish dressing, Clark pushed Lois up against the door and gave her a very deep kiss.
“No pasta for you at breakfast,” murmured Lois. “You are already primed without help from any outside sources.” She grinned at him and gave him back the same intensity kiss as he had given her. He reluctantly pulled away and went to the bathroom to finish dressing.
When they arrived at Mystiques and were seated, they realized that they recognized a lot of patrons of the establishment. The hotel was filling up with the nominees of the Kerths. These were the best and brightest, as evidenced by the nominations from their peers. Win or lose, they still did outstanding work that was worthy of adulation. These same people were all here to weed the best from the almost-best. Lois and Clark hoped that their five nominations would be the “best” and the other nominees would be the “almost-best.” But they were impressed with the caliber of people seated around them.
Soon Jim and Tara joined Lois and Clark in a conversation of the happenings of the year and how some of the scandals broken by investigative newspaper journalists rivaled the skills of the police. On television, the arrests were shown as police work having solved the crimes, but in the journalistic field it was true that just as many were solved by long hours of pouring over documents to see the breaches in the flow of information. Sometimes a crime is solved without any of the razzle-dazzle of labs, finding hidden clues, or scientific breakthroughs. Sometimes, a journalist had solved a crime by being at the right place at the right time or overhearing something that could lead to the unraveling of a crime. Both couples agreed that they were in the best profession in the world. It wasn’t as flashy as the portrayal on television, but it was just as successful.
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The cell phone rang again. Casey took it out of his pocket and noticed that it was Mary Connell. Hoping that there weren’t any more problems with Little Miss Bo Peep, he answered his phone.
“Manning.”
“Casey, this is Mary. We have a very delicate situation right now that needs your gentle touch. Please come back down to the hospitality suite on the main floor.”
“Can I have a few more details? I’m on my way back down to your floor as we speak, but what should I be prepared to do when I get there?” Casey listened to answer on his phone.
“Our seventh and last guest for the game has arrived in less than satisfactory condition. He needs a coffee transfusion but I’m not even sure that will correct the situation. Because you are known to this person, I’m asking for you to make a judgment call whether we should try to dry him out or send him to his suite to sleep it off?” Casey could tell Mary was being very careful with how she was describing the situation.
“I’ll be there in a minute, Mary. Thank you for handling these difficult situations personally.” Casey was in the elevator on his way back down to the lobby when he signed off the call. He walked quickly across the marble lobby and entered the hospitality suite. There he found Rocky Balboa slumped across the pale pink sofa. His eyes were open, but looked glazed over like he could not see anything.
“Chassy, my broder. How’s the hotel buziness? “ asked the man who seconds earlier looked unconscious. “I met the goodest lookn peeze of femle and I thik I’m druk with her booty. You’s has the best looging galz in dee whorl. Hey, am I gonna play cards wiz you?”
“Mary, please call someone to help escort Mr. Balboa up to his suite. We’ll start his game tomorrow around noon.” Casey turned to face Rocky. “Rocky, buddy, you are not in any shape to play poker right now, so I want you to go to the room we have for you, and I want you to drink some water, take some aspirin, and go right to sleep. After the break in the morning we will take you up to the suite to join the game when it resumes.”
Two uniformed security men came into the room and helped Rocky Balboa onto his feet. Rocky looked over at Casey and gave him a huge smile. He looked over in Mary’s direction and waved bye-bye. His eyes drooped shut and he went limp. A security guard grabbed a wheel chair in the room next to the hospitality suite and put Rocky in it. The bellman picked up his suitcase, took a keycard from Mary, and followed them up to the suites on the twenty-fifth floor that had been reserved for the participants of this game.
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NOTE: My apologies to Susan for my treatment of her. She was just too easy, and I just couldn’t resist.
Well, I now have all four under the same roof. I’ll leave Susan alone for a while and pick on the rest of them with her getting thrown in for good measure. The fun is about to begin!
