Counting on Danger: Jaswinder Mystery Series, #3

By Cynthia Washburn

Third book in the Jaswinder Mystery Series. Jaswinder and Manisha embark on a much needed getaway vacation to Las Vegas. A lost suitcase causes them to run afoul of a nasty group of criminal gamblers. Manisha is kidnapped but Jaswinder struggles to interest local law enforcement who think Manisha is just living it up in Vegas.

 

A clean cozy mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cynthia Washburn
• Release date: Aug 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781497715813

Book preview

CYNTHIA WASHBURN 

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN-13:  978-1477558171

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ISBN-10:  1477558179

COPYRIGHT August 4,  2012

Books in this Series:

Operatory of Death

Death at Table 15

Counting on Danger

If Llamas Could Talk . . .

CHAPTER  1

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I keep telling myself not to feel guilty about spending five hundred dollars on a fun trip, Jas.  Like I should save the money for school.

I know what you mean, Manisha.  I felt guilty for about ten minutes but then I talked myself out of it.  After all, this was free money; we didn’t work for it.

Yeah, it was so nice of Mr. Umarov to give everyone a bonus when he decided to close down the restaurant.

Maybe he was grateful we helped find the murderer.  That was probably why he gave us that much even though we really only worked at the restaurant for a few months.

The friends were sitting in what they liked to call Jaswinder’s apartment.  Her parents had made the downstairs of their house into a basement suite, partly to encourage twenty-eight year old Jaswinder not to move away from home, not just yet, at least, and partly for future income for them in their retirement. 

I love the way you’ve decorated your place, Jas.  I think it was a good idea to stick to two main colours.  Manisha looked around at what had previously been a recreation room with the rest of the basement used for storage on a concrete floor.  After the renovations, it wasn’t possible to tell that it was the same space.  There was a small bedroom, done in lavender with yellow accents, a bathroom with a shower but no tub, a galley style kitchen with a dishwasher and a large open living room area.  The furniture was new, too; gone were the cast-offs from her parent’s early married life.

Jaswinder had spent a lot of time on-line and in home improvement stores choosing paint, wallpaper, blinds and curtains.  At least I know I wouldn’t want to do this for a job—too exhausting and too many choices.

I think that’s the exciting part, Jas.  If I hadn’t decided to work in fashion, I think interior design would be my second choice.  By the way, I was wondering . . . how would you feel about my Mom and Dad having a tour?  I know they’re interested but they don’t want to impose, as they put it.  They’ve talked for years about in a suite downstairs but because it’s just my parents and me, we’ve always had lots of room.  But not privacy.  They could wait until your next Open House at Christmas, I guess, it’s only eight months away.

Sure they can come but let’s wait until I’ve made it a bit messy; then it will be an incentive to clean up.

You, messy?  Hah!

Do you feel like a snack, Manisha?  I don’t have to go as far to get something now.

Sure, the usual, if you have it.  With Manisha that would be chips and pop.  Manisha said she was a vegetarian and insisted that included chips and pop.  ‘No animal products’ was how she put it.  When Jaswinder was in a bad mood she would wonder if the day would ever come when Manisha’s slim figure would show the effects  her eating habits but fortunately those thoughts didn’t happen very often.  Jaswinder went out to her new kitchen and made a plate of snacks for them to share.  Then the two women sat back down on the white leather sofa.

One thing about your new place, Jas, I have to remind myself not to put my feet up on your spiffy coffee table.

Yeah, it was okay with that old one, left over from the seventies, I think.  I even sat on it sometimes but now I keep reminding myself to be careful with everything.  Even Jovan has to take his shoes off before he comes in.

Speaking of Jovan, he’s definitely okay with you going to Vegas without him.  And for five days and four nights.

We talked about it, quite thoroughly.  After almost two years, he knows he’s with an independent woman.  I get really uptight if a guy tries to tell me what to do; I just can’t help it.  I mean, I’m not inconsiderate, at least I don’t think I am, but I don’t think I should have to ask his permission before I go on a four or five day holiday with my friend.  Anyway, he’s taking two make-up courses before he starts at the Institute of Technology in the fall.  Jaswinder felt herself getting indignant just recalling the conversation.

Chill out, Jas.  You’ll get no argument from me on that.  I can’t stand these girls who do almost anything to keep a guy happy.  Never works in the long run, I say.

Jovan’s going to drive us to the airport in Bellingham tomorrow, Manisha, but you know we can never tell how long the border line-ups are going to be.  Last time I went down for gas I waited for forty-five minutes.  I would have turned back if there had been some way to do that.  Bellingham was a smallish city maybe thirty kilometers south of the Canada-United States border.  After the dribble of Canadian travelers looking to save government taxes on airfares became a flood, Bellingham decided to make the necessary improvements to become a city with an International Airport.

My Dad used to go down to Blaine for gas but he complained so much about the line-ups as well before he gave up.  He says his time is worth too much to spend an hour getting gas.  But it’s almost a hundred dollars he was saying to fill up his truck so maybe he’ll reconsider one of these days.

So you’ll be ready at 6:30 in the morning, right?

So early?

Our flight’s at 10:20 but we have to be there, maybe an hour and a half ahead of time.  I know it’s only a twenty minute drive to the border crossing but we just don’t know how long it will take us to go through.  We might look suspicious and the guards will decide to do a secondary screening.

I hope that doesn’t mean a strip search, Jas.

Don’t worry; we’re not the type of people they’re looking for.  At least I don’t think so.  They have dogs that handlers walk up and down the line-up trying to smell drugs or something else that’s not allowed.

As long as it won’t be Herbie.  Herbie was a precocious Yorkshire Terrier that belonged to an eccentric patient at the dental clinic where Jaswinder worked during the week as a receptionist.

Can you imagine Herbie, if he caught some drug dealer.  His high pitched bark would be enough to make them surrender.  They both laughed.  Herbie was a small dog that somehow thought he was large and ferocious.

I’ll wear my fancy underwear, just in case.

Herbie will appreciate it.

Manisha got up to go.  I have to finish packing and I can’t decide whether to bring my purple suede boots.

Well . . . maybe check the temperature in Las Vegas, Manisha, it might be a little on the warm side.  What about your gladiator sandals, instead?

Those?  They’re so last season.  But that’s a good idea about checking the temperature, Jas.  Manisha walked over the door that led outside.  One of the things Jaswinder had definitely wanted when her parents first started to talk about building a basement suite that she could live in for a modest charge, was a separate entrance at the side of the house.  Privacy was important to her.  But fortunately, it was never an issue.  The contractor was on her side and told her parents than any tenant would need a separate entrance and as well it was a City of Surrey requirement for rented suites.  Jaswinder knew that lots of young women her age lived on their own and she and Manisha had talked about getting an apartment together.  But Manisha as starting at Douglas College in the fall in a retail management program, hopefully eventually leading to her owning her own fashion boutique.  She has habitually broke.  Jaswinder could afford her share of an apartment but she was trying to save for the future, her future with Jovan, hopefully.

Remember, if you don’t go carry-on, you’ll have to pay a fee to check your luggage.  I think it’s forty dollars.  I’m borrowing a suitcase from my Mom.  Basic black but it fits the airlines carry-on requirement.

No, I don’t want to  pay that  but I don’t see how I can fit everything into a small suitcase.

If you skip the boots . . .

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After Manisha left Jaswinder decided to spend a little time with her younger sister, Ashneet, now almost thirteen years old.  That’s a terrible age, she remembered.  You feel like you should be acting like a teenager but you’d rather be a kid sometimes.  And then you’re not sure what a teenager should be acting like.  Meanwhile, your parents don’t realize you have advanced to a new stage in your life.

Jaswinder had recently taken out a membership in a nearby gym, ‘I’m so Fit’.  Working at the restaurant as a server had definitely made her more fit and even though that job was finished she wanted to maintain the improved physical fitness level.  Unfortunately, her full time job as a dental receptionist at Summerland dental meant she was mostly sitting down.  Her gym allowed her to bring a guest once a month for free, so she asked Ashneet if she was interested in being her guest there.  Not