Chapter 1

Margo Hughes was not exactly sulking, but she was not exactly happy either. She sat in her office contemplating her last phone conversation. You see, the phone call was from her husband, Tom, who had called to say that he was going to be a bit late to pick her up, which wasn't unusual, nor was it unexpected. In fact, through no fault of their own the two had managed to screw up date plans for one reason or another on each or their last seven attempts to spend some quality alone time together. Some plans were thwarted because of cases that Margo was working on at the time, others were cut short due to clients that Tom was working for who needed his immediate attention, while still others were abandoned all together as a result of emotional exhaustion they so often felt after dealing with the shenanigans of their college aged son Casey.

Tonight was supposed to be different, though. Tonight was Margo's birthday and they had promised each other they would not let work or family interrupt their plans. But, as if on cue, as Margo readied herself in her new black dress with the open backed, halter style top that she bought expressly because she knew Tom would love her in it, the phone rang. Her mood broke instantly as Tom announced that his client wanted to work out a deal and that right now was the only time the D.A. could fit into her schedule. He apologized with each breath, but what else was he to do? And who was Margo to say he shouldn't help his client?

So, there she sat, all dressed up and waiting to see if Tom would get done in time to find a restaurant still serving dinner. Margo thought to herself that if their circumstances weren't so pathetically dim at the moment they would really almost be funny. That is why when the phone rang again and it was Lily Snyder asking specifically for her help in a delicate matter at the Lakeview Hotel involving a family member all Margo could do at that particular moment was laugh.

According to Lily there were some expensive audio equipment items missing from the ballroom at the Lakeview. Margo knew exactly what was implied with Lily's use of the term "family member," as it was just last week that her mother-in-law, Lisa, offered to give Casey a second chance (or in his case more like a fourth or fifth chance) and asked him to help her with weekend entertainment planning at her hotel.

Naturally, Margo found it necessary to head straight over to the Lakeview to learn all about the incident. Even though Margo was livid at the thought of Casey being involved in yet another illegal matter she couldn't help but want to be the one to find evidence that might prove him innocent. So, off she went to meet Lily. As she left the station she was dismissed with well wishes of "happy birthday" and "have a nice evening," none knowing the real reason for her departure and she wasn't in any mood to correct them. She simply smiled, thanked them, and exited gracefully.

Lily met Margo in the hotel lobby as she came in. She too was dressed in a lovely evening dress, which caused Margo at once to feel bad.

"I'm sorry Lily," began Margo, "This is obviously interrupting your plans for the evening."

"No, Margo, I'm the one who's sorry here. Gosh, look at you! I must be totally interrupting your evening."

"Well, really not all that much, sadly," returned Margo. "I guess I should be used to it by now, but as is now par for the course, Tom and I have managed to botch dinner plans yet again. I don't know… maybe we should just give up trying."

"Oh Margo, you don't mean that."

"Yeah, maybe I do," Margo went on. "I mean, do you realize that we haven't even eaten more than one meal together in each of the last six weeks. This is ridiculous!"

"We all go through spurts like that," said Lily. "Things will get better. I know they will. You and Tom just need to give yourselves a break."

"Yeah, well, maybe," said Margo, "but you didn't call me here to help bring Tom and I together. We'd better get on with the real matter at hand."

As Margo reached into her handbag for her notepad and pen Lily allowed a thoughtful look to spread across her face, which quickly disappeared as soon as Margo looked back up. Lily then suggested that they head to the ballroom to discuss the matter so she could show her what all had been disturbed.

Lily opened the main doors to the dark ballroom. As they entered Lily offered for Margo to wait while she went to turn on the lights. Margo didn't argue, since she didn't really know her way around and it truly was too dark to see much of anything at all. At the moment Margo was trying to remain level-headed and objective, but she couldn't help but be angered at the possibility of Casey being involved in another theft incident, especially one of property once again belonging to his grandmother. Needless to say she was getting more upset by the minute.

Feeling as she did she never noticed how long it seemed to take for Lily to find the lights. In fact, she was quite startled when she felt a presence suddenly at her back. A sense of panic fell over her as she realized that she had come to meet Lily without back-up or even her own side-arm. This was supposed to be a discrete meeting between mothers, but suddenly something wasn't right.

Just then an unexpected male voice whispered, "Don't move!"