“But you recognized my face.”
“Chet takes photo IDs for a reason, Doctor.”
“So the photos are scanned.”
“No. But he has a photographic memory. He makes sketches of recurrent guests and distributes them to the speakers. That way we can put a name to the face when we see a guest again.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So there’s a sketch of me floating around here somewhere?”
“Several copies.” He grins. “Though most are destroyed once we memorize the names. Anonymity and all. But I’m sure Rouge keeps the originals filed away.”
“That’s fucking weird.”
Mr. Night shrugs. “We bask in both the weird and the wonderful at Aces Underground, Doctor. Here we believe that turning the known upside down reveals the hidden.”
God, these people talk like fucking fortune cookies.
“Listen.” I lower my voice and lean toward Mr. Night. “If you memorize the faces of every person who has come to this club more than three times, then you must know who Alissa Maravilla is.”
Mr. Night furrows his brow slightly but otherwise doesn’t react. “Miss Maravilla, yes. A lovely young woman. Light-blond hair. Full, pink lips. The only person Maddox Hathaway has brought to this club besides you, Doctor.”
“So you also know who Maddox is.”
“Of course. He’s a member. Though most of us who work here knew who he was before he ever started coming to the club, due to his family’s history.”
“Did you see them when they came to the club?”
Mr. Night places his silver tray of cigarettes on a nearby table. “I saw them enter the club once or twice, yes. But my job is in the Clubs section, Dr. O’Rourke. And they didn’t seem much for smoking.”
“Okay, which section did they hang out in?”
He shifts his gaze across to the Spades section. “They seemed pretty partial to the bar, at least at first.”
“At first?”
“Maddox and Alissa made quite a splash in the Diamonds section a few weeks ago. Won big at the Blackjack tables. Rouge herself crowned them the King and Queen of Diamonds.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“The title is ceremonial,” Mr. Night says. “It doesn’t carry a whole lot of meaning beyond that.”
“So what you’re telling me is that I should ask the staff in the Spades and Diamonds sections if they saw them.”
“That is where I would start, Doctor. Though…” He gazes into the distance.
“What?”
“Nothing, Doctor. Nothing. But you’ve piqued my curiosity. Why are you asking about Miss Maravilla and Mr. Hathaway? Last I heard, they were on a romantic tour around the world.”
“With all due respect, Mr. Night, that is none of your damned business.”
I turn then and head to the Spades section. It’s bathed in teal lighting—my second-favorite color—and the bar is manned by two barrel-chested siblings, DeeDee and Dudley.
I approach the bar. Dudley approaches me and bows his head.
Shit. That’s right. They don’t speak.
This might be finished before it’s begun.
