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After a while, he looked at the clock, sat up and headed for the bathroos

They did, a little The banging in his skull eased He knew his attitude still needed work but a couple of gallons of coffee and a large glass of vitae juice would help The proble about the crowds and the noise of the casino he’d have to endure on his way to the open-for-breakfast restaurant made him shudder

Room service promised to deliver within fifteen ly cheerful, so eager to add pancakes or waffles or oarrote her Instead, to atone for the thought, he added a request for rye toast

“Thank you, Mr Baron,” she chirped

Gray dressed in a black polo shirt and chinos, decided that shaving erous to his health and collapsed in one of the ar s

His roo and handsome, done in shades of sand and taupe, and al ocher-silk canopy over the bed A tent, he’d thought with some amusement when he’d checked in the previous afternoon He assuh no stretch of arid land or oasis could ever have been this luxurious He was on the sixteenth floor and the rooardens

He’d spent a lot of tiht

A knock sounded at the door He opened it and a waiter bearing a silver tray greeted him pleasantly Gray did his best to be pleasant in return Maybe he could get some information God knew he hadn’t come up with any on his own

“Going to be hot today,” he said, and winced race

“Yessir,” he said as he arranged china and silver on a table near thein the step-down sitting area “Great weather for the pool”

“Or for the casino,” Gray said, and sreat weather for the casino”

“That it is” The waiter ne-colored rose displayed in a slender crystal vase “Would you like me to pour your coffee, sir?”

“No, that’s okay, thanks I’m not quite ready” Gray tucked his hands in his pockets “So,” he said, after a second or two, “I guess a place like this employs a lot of people”

“Oh, it does A sht say”

“Must be hard to know everybody”