Vegas or Bust: An Aggie Underhill Mystery Read Online Free Page A

behind bars by accident.  It was all a big mix up.  Jack frowned.  Even though he had a lot of animosity for his brother, especially since Brice would’ve been willing to let him be the fall guy and go to jail in his place, he still loved him.  And he really wished that his brother could be there to see him marry the woman of his dreams, but he knew that wasn’t about to happen.  At least his mother would be there.  And on the bright side, since Brice was locked up, this was his chance to finally be his mother’s favorite son.  Or at least he hoped to become his mother’s favorite.   After all, he was getting married to the most perfect woman in the world.  In her eyes, that had to be worth something.
    Walking down the hall on the way to the elevators, Jack had an idea.  His mother should be arriving shortly.  When she got there, he’d orchestrate a way of getting her and Miriam together.  They could have dinner together.  He was positive that they’d get along famously.  In fact, it would be wonderful if his mother could help Miriam get ready for the wedding tomorrow morning.  He knew Miriam would welcome having someone help fix her hair and makeup and whatever it was that a woman did to get ready for a wedding.  Since Miriam didn’t want him to see her before the wedding, there was no way he’d be able to help her.  But his Mama could.  And he could pretty much bet on his mother’s grave, if she were dead, but he was happy that she wasn’t, that Miriam would appreciate any kind of help she could get.  Pushing his long brown hair out of his eyes, Jack pressed the button for the elevator and waited.
    ***
    Aggie grimaced.  She had to go to the bathroom.  She was silently cursing herself for drinking the entire bottle of diet soda.  Now her bladder felt like it was about to burst and there wasn’t a restroom in sight.  Heck, there wasn’t anything in sight.  Not even people.  There were only sand, rocks, some cactus and lots of prickly desert brush.
    A snort and then a grumbling sort of noise escaped Betty’s lips as her head rolled to the side and her mouth opened.  Aggie hoped that Betty hadn’t been drooling on her leather headrest as she slept.  She then glanced in her rearview mirror to get a look at the backseat where Roger had fallen asleep too. 
    So much for him being in charge of driving directions, Aggie thought, bitterly.  She really wished she hadn’t let the two of them push her into a road trip.  What she should’ve done was bought herself a plane ticket and met them in Las Vegas.  That would’ve been the smart thing to do.  Oh well, there was no use in beating herself up over it now.  What was done was done.  Maybe she’d buy a plane ticket and fly back.  She could hand over the car keys to Roger.  She trusted Roger to drive her car home safely.  As long as Betty didn’t talk him into driving, everything would be fine.
    “Amboy.  Founded in 1858,” Aggie said out loud, reading a sign on the right side of the road.  She’d been driving on the historical Route 66 and thought that was pretty neat.  If only there’d been a few places to stop, she’d like Route 66 even more.  “Oh, good.  A town is coming up.  Finally.”  She thanked the heavens above for the town of Amboy.  Her silent prayers had been answered.  Now all she had to do was find a place with a restroom.  She told herself that anyplace would do.  At this moment in time, she wouldn’t be too picky.  Besides, if she didn’t find one soon, she’d have to pull over and go on the side of the road.  She really didn’t want to do that.  But she reasoned that her chances of being seen by anyone were slim to none since it was growing dark out.  Heck, it’s not like she’d seen very many people on the road since they left Twentynine Palms anyway.  There was no one around to see her if she did pull over.  Every now and then a car would zoom up out of nowhere, ride on her tail for