Vegas Sin

Page

Vegas Sin

ISBN # 978-1-78430-952-7

©Copyright Jambrea Jo Jones 2015

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright December 2015

Edited by Faith Bicknell-Brown

Pride Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2015 by Pride Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

Totally Five Star: Las Vegas

VEGAS SIN

Jambrea Jo Jones

Watch the Video

Of VEGAS SIN

Sex, weddings and gambling hold a back seat to kidnapping and murder in the city of sin…

Owen Carpenter sets aside one night each month to relax at the Totally Five Star, but a case has just landed on his desk that has those nights disappearing for the foreseeable future. Someone is kidnapping women in Las Vegas and Owen needs to stop them before the women end up dead.

Harrison Boone is head of security at the Totally Five Star. He notices a man who comes in once a month and he wants to know more about him. When Owen introduces himself, there’s an instant attraction between Harrison and Owen, but they are interrupted by a kidnapping—at his hotel. After Harrison leaves the military, the hotel becomes his life, so Harrison will do anything to keep the hotel out of the news and protect its reputation.

Can Owen and Harrison find love in Sin City, or will the case of the disappearing women crush what might be the best bet the men have ever placed?

Dedication

I want to thank Karen Hatfield and Sarah Snider for the help in naming my story! Brainstorming with you guys was fun. Cinders, thank you for coming along to help too and Evil Will—your efforts were appreciated even if this isn’t a BDSM story.

Thank you JP Barnaby for an interesting conversation on Facebook! Because of that a fun scene was added to this story that otherwise might not be there.

To Totally Entwined for always giving me the chance to grow and believing in me and thank you for the opportunity of working with my very first editor, Faith.

And to Joy.

Trademarks Acknowledgment

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Starbucks: Starbucks Corporation

Disney Store: Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Disney Channel: Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Disney: Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Friends: Bright Kauffman Crane Productions; Warner Brothers Television

Hummer: General Motors

Hot Topic: Hot Topic, Inc.

The Graceland Wedding Chapel: Graceland Chapel

Meadows Mall, Las Vegas: General Growth Properties, Inc.

Centennial Hills Hospital: Universal Health Services

Michelin: SCA Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin

Prologue

Raymond Dean Moore sat by the entrance to the Totally Five Star Hotel, observing the people walk in and out of the building. It was a nice place to work—if you had to have a job. The entrance was gorgeous in an artistic way that he could enjoy, with its high ceiling with some sort of painting, like in a church, and a skylight that brought in wonderful streaks from the sun. Even on rainy days, it was nice to sit in the lobby and watch the water hit the glass dome, not that it rained a whole lot. In the middle of the lobby, a giant fountain caught all the change people liked to throw into it. A wishing well of sorts. Nothing too gaudy, but it did have a soft glow to it at night. The Totally Five Star was a classy place after all.

Not that he’d work anywhere else. He came from a wealthy background, and the only way he’d be in the workforce was if he worked some place that only had the best of everything. The friends he did have would laugh him out of their lives if he worked at some run-down casino off the strip. The Totally Five Star was posh compared to the other crappy places. It was known for its grand food and decedent rooms. Hell, if you paid the right price, they gave you a robe to take home. Massages could be ordered to the room and every inch of the place screamed ‘expensive’, from the leather chairs to the crystal chandlers. The Moores stayed only at places that had a Totally Five Star. Alaska, Marrakesh, Istanbul, Vancouver, Paris, Venice, Madrid, Monaco, London and St. Lucia—each one gave the feel of old money and luxury that was expected from a hotel that had Five Star in the name. It never disappointed his grandparents and they always waited for grand openings to make sure they had a room booked.

His grandparents had an ‘in’ with the general manager of the Vegas hotel and even knew the CEO and his family. They liked to stay at the hotel when they visited Vegas, which wasn’t often. He counted it as a small favor. The less he saw them, the better. Most would say he should be grateful that they raised him after his folks had died, but they didn’t have to live with all the rules his grandparents made him follow. He was a Moore! He shouldn’t have to follow any rules.

He was on his break so no one bothered him, not that many people would. He was always invisible, but he wouldn’t be for long. At least not to some—for them, he’d become their worst nightmares. They would know him intimately. Raymond wondered what the news would start calling him. All men and women of great worth were noted with a catchy name. Not that he would get caught, because going to jail wasn’t part of the plan. He was good at planning down to the last detail if needed. It was one of the reasons he’d waited so long to start his endeavor. Everything had to be checked and checked again.

He’d done enough research on how to keep himself safe. He wouldn’t mess up by leaving evidence. Raymond was bored and he needed something to pass the time. It was all well and good to have a job, but he resented the fact that he had to have one. Starting his project would make him happy.

Raymond would need a type—that way the cops could link the cases together. He wouldn’t be too random because he wanted the attention. He hummed to himself as he noted a woman who walked in. She was tall and blonde, probably in her late twenties.

That’ll do.

Now that he had his type picked out, he could start his other plans. He had a warehouse out in the desert all set up. It had been purchased through a company owned by a distant relative and it couldn’t be traced to him in any way he could see. Most people didn’t even know they were related and he’d made sure his name was nowhere on the papers—the wonders of being able to hack into the company’s system. His grandfather really shouldn’t leave passcodes laying everywhere. As far as anyone knew, the company was expanding and had bought the building.

Raymond had a lab of sorts set up in the empty warehouse with a clean white suit and gloves ready to make sure no DNA was left behind. He wasn’t sure what he’d do with the women once he had them. That part didn’t matter. At least not yet. Everything else was planned out. All the tools he could possibly need were at his disposal. He had mapped out where the police would find the bodies. Those were the important factors.

He was getting hard just thinking about taking his first victim. He might be sinning, according to his grandmother, but that just made it all the better. The old bat needed to die already so he could get his inheritance and stop working. He was tired of the daily grind. He should be able to spend money and have fun, but no. His grandparents wanted him to learn to care for himself before they gave him the money. Wasn’t it enough that his parents were dead and the old geezers had raised him? That should be plenty of pain and suffering.

Raymond had tried the ‘poor me’ route with them, but he always got the ‘when I was your age’ speech. And how they’d worked for everything they had. It would be good for him to ‘earn his keep’.

It sucked not being able to afford all the things he wanted, especially when the money was right there for the taking. He could kill his grandparents, but he didn’t want to get caught. He watched enough crime shows to know they usually caught the family member when he or she did the killing. Raymond was afraid to hire someone to do the deed because of undercover cops. So to wait out his time, he’d play. He wouldn’t take people from the hotels on the strip, at least not right in front of them. There were too many cameras and he’d be connected to the crime if they found him in different hotels. He could take some from the Totally Five Star if he wanted. He knew all the blind spots. But for now, he’d keep his distance, at least for the first kidnapping

Of course, not everyone who came to the hotel stayed there. Raymond would follow them, but stay as hidden as possible. Keeping to the blind spots would help him stay one step ahead of the police—as long as he didn’t get caught.

He did have a contingency plan if they managed to catch him. He’d go the insane route. His grandparents would set him up in a nice little place. He’d get out in no time because they would cure him.

It really was foolproof. After work, he’d pick his first victim and see where his fun spree took him. It would depend on the girl.

Raymond got up and tossed his trash in the nearest can before heading back to the control room. His shift ended in four hours. He couldn’t wait.

Chapter One

Owen Carpenter strolled through the precinct like he hadn’t a care in the world. He whistled some song that was on the radio before he shut the car off. Now it would be stuck in his head all day. He might as well share it with others. What could he say, he was a giver.

It helped the façade he put on for others and it drove his partner nuts when he did it, which was a plus. He always had the outward appearance of being calm and that everything was right in the world. He had to or he’d go batshit crazy and he couldn’t have that. He was armed, after all, and it could be dangerous for a cop to go all mental. He needed to be focused, and if pushing his issues back helped, he’d do it all day. Owen tried to keep his private and work lives separate. That didn’t always happen, because his partner liked to give him a hard time, which was why Owen did his best to drive Jeff crazy. Of course they were more like brothers than partners. Most days that was a good thing, especially when Jeff’s wife sent in muffins for him. The best was when Sally came in and personally handed him some goody to make sure Owen got some. Jeff hated that and tried to steal his goodies, but Sally made sure Owen was taken care of.

This morning was one for the books, that was for sure. One of those days he wished he could do over. His sister and niece had been kicked out of their latest apartment the night before, so they were shacked up with him for the duration. He had to haul all their stuff to his place, and it was a mess. At least he had a garage to hold some of the stuff. Not that his sister was kicked out of her home every day, but Susan wasn’t the best with her money on a good day. He tried to help the best he could, but she didn’t always appreciate her big brother butting his nose into her business. At least Susan hadn’t gone back to the booze. That would add a whole other set of issues he really didn’t want to deal with. He’d helped get her dry once and hoped like hell it stuck because he didn’t know if he could go through that again.

His niece, Gabbi, was a sweetheart, and he’d do anything for her. She was only nine and cute as a button with her long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Yeah, he might be wrapped around her little finger, but he didn’t know if he’d ever do kids, so she might be all he ever had. He planned to spoil her as much as possible. When the time came, he’d make sure she was treated right by whoever she wanted to date. If he let her date. She was an old soul who acted more like Susan’s mom on most occasions, which made him want to pamper Gabbi even more.

His own mom had trouble dealing with two new people in her space—when she remembered it was her space. The Alzheimer’s was getting worse. It was hard enough most days when she didn’t remember him, but now she kept asking who the two hussies were and why they were in her house. Gabbi didn’t fully understand why her grandma couldn’t remember her and called her names.

His mom was in the process of being moved to a new home this week because taking care of her was just too much. He hated the fact that she had to go, but it was past time. A nurse came by to sit with her while he worked. The only problem with that was that they didn’t always send the same person and it got confusing for his mom. If she was in a home, she could get used to the same people. It would give her a bit of the stability she’d lost the last few years. At least with his sister at the house, he could get some help with their mom—not that Mother would remember either of them—but Susan needed to help out. Breakfast had been a disaster with his mom dumping her food on the floor and stomping out of the room like a cranky two year old. Poor Gabbi had had to do some clean up, because Susan had decided to sleep in, and he’d been running late for work. He made a note to take Gabbi to a movie or shopping for the weekend. If she really wanted to go, he’d take her, even if he hated going to the mall.

Now he needed coffee—stat. He hated the slop they had in the office, but it was better than nothing. He’d forgotten to set his coffeemaker up to brew last night. Of course, he’d been dealing with a sobbing sister and a too-serious niece. He hoped that nothing big had been tossed on his desk, but he wasn’t sure he’d get that lucky. It had been a busy week—not that he should be surprised—since it was Vegas, after all. The lights and gambling attracted all kinds. It kept him busy most days. Owen had just wrapped up a case late yesterday. A domestic violence situation where the boyfriend had killed the girlfriend. It was pretty open and shut, but he’d still had to cross his T’s and dot his I’s so the guy didn’t get off on a technicality.

At least he wasn’t set to testify anytime soon. He hated going to court. He’d rather be solving cases. Some of the other guys looked at it like a day off, but not him. All those people staring at him while he did his best not to fidget in the seat.

His partner was out on leave so that left him picking up the slack. They had a few cases open that he’d have to take a look at and see what else he could do, as long as something new didn’t take priority.

The coffeepot was almost empty. There probably wasn’t even enough for a cup. It seemed the guys did that shit all the time. Owen poured the little bit into his cup. At least it would give him a jolt while he waited for a fresh batch to brew. He didn’t even think about how long the pot had been setting there. The others would pass it up in a heartbeat and wait until someone else made it, then they would all jump on it like vultures. Shit. He really should have brewed some at home.

Maybe he would swing by a Starbucks later. He hated to spend the extra money, but he couldn’t live without the nectar of the gods. The sludge in his cup wasn’t going to cut it. After one sip, he dumped it out. Nothing was going to save that coffee. Leaving the pot brewing, he made his way to his desk. It was pretty quiet. The shift change meeting wouldn’t happen for about an hour, so he had time to go through the files from yesterday.

Owen had just settled in when his captain threw a file on his desk. He knew he wouldn’t be lucky enough to skate through the day with the files he already had. He’d jinxed himself.

Kidnapping. This is the fifth one in as many weeks. They’re all tall, blonde, mid- to late twenties. That’s about the only thing they have in common. One is a local and the other four were all staying at different hotels. I want you and Polubinsky on this.

He’s on leave. Owen picked up the file.

"You can start on it. He’ll catch up. Take a look at the notes and do some legwork. This one takes top priority for now. I want them found. None of them have shown up dead yet, and I’d like to keep it that way. There have been no demands or ransom calls. The first couple were filed and looked at briefly, but nothing came of it. When the third was reported, we noted a pattern. Now that we have five, we have to consider that they might be connected. None of the vics look like the types who would just walk off, but you never can tell. You know how it is. Most of them can be chalked up to having too much fun, but it’s been weeks on the first two girls. The local lady has a kid and appears responsible. She has lived here in Vegas her whole life, so I don’t see her running off now." The captain shrugged and left.

Owen flipped through the file. There wasn’t much there, just a description of each girl and where they were from, the hotels where they had stayed. They were all over the place. One of the hotels caught his eye—Totally Five Star. He’d take a look at that one last. He had a friend who dealt cards there. Plus it was the place he loved to go once a