DEAD MAN HOLDIN'

**Immediately follows "A Houston Christmas"**

"The gambling known as business looks with austere

disfavor upon the business known as gambling."

Ambrose Bierce

CHAPTER 1

As he drove through traffic on the way home from the office, private investigator Matt Houston stole a glance at his wife CJ who was in the passenger seat of his truck. It was Thursday, January 9th and they had been back at work since Monday. The holidays had been an eventful time. Although they had planned to spend Christmas in Hawaii with the Novelli family, the Houstons – along with their daughter Catey Rose and her nanny Sheila Wentworth – had instead ended up at the ranch in Texas. Rosita Ortiz, the daughter of the long-time housekeeper of the Houston area ranch, had been carjacked along with her four month old daughter. Matt had been called for help in finding the pair and had ended up being made a Detective Sergeant with the Harris County Sheriff's Department. Unbeknownst to him, CJ had arranged to fly in the Novelli family as well as the Hoyts and Uncle Roy just in time for Christmas. And then of course there was New Year's.

Smiling, he thought back to the early morning hours of New Year's Day when he and CJ had made love trying for another baby. They were both pretty certain that she was pregnant but it was a little too soon to know for sure.

Looking over at his wife once again he couldn't help but smile. She had dozed off; that was something that had happened quite often when she was pregnant with their daughter. Deep in his heart Matt was sure she was expecting. As he turned off on the road headed toward the ranch nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains his phone rang. He was surprised when he saw the name on his caller ID. "Hey, Myron. How's it goin'?"

Myron Chase was the younger brother of Murray Chase, Houston's former accountant and now CEO of Houston Industries, as well as the husband of Houston's secretary Chris. "Not good. We've had a death at the casino and it looks suspicious. Do you think you could come take a look?"

Although Matt had strictly been working on cases for the LAPD and Fire Marshal's Office due to making more time for his Fire Investigation classes, he agreed. "What about the police?"

"I mentioned calling you and the detective said to tell you hello – her name is Marsha Hites?" Myron sounded somewhat puzzled.

"Sure, I met her a few weeks ago. Good. Hang on a second for me." He told CJ what was going on.

"I never did get to stay in Vegas." She smiled at him, referring to a case they had helped Michael Hoyt with a while back.

"The boss says okay. She's looking forward to a trip to Vegas."

"Great. I've got a suite reserved for you.'

"Alright. We're almost home. Give us time to pack a bag and we'll be there quick as we can."

"Thanks a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing you." Myron breathed a sigh of relief as he disconnected the call. The death was bound to cause a lot of media attention and the quicker it was dealt with the better. Bad press wouldn't help them to fill hotel rooms and the casino. As he walked back toward the conference room where he and the other owners of the Golden Stallion had been talking about how to best handle the situation Myron took a deep breath. When he had quit his job as a financial advisor and invested his savings in the casino Myron thought that it would be a piece of cake. Little did he know that owning the property would be a gamble. It seemed to him that the biggest bets weren't being made in the casinos; they were being made by the casinos themselves, betting their own success against their competition. Not only did they have to compete with the other casinos in Las Vegas, they had to compete with other tourist destinations worldwide. His brother Murray had been shocked when Myron had announced his plans and had tried to change his mind. He was beginning to think he should have listened.

Opening the conference room door, Myron put a nonchalant look on his face. The other owners were having a lively discussion. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please…" And so another battle among the owners started.