Chapter One

Daniel lit up a cigarette as we watched the final touches being put on the boxing ring in the Aces Theatre. "Boxing is so violent," Daniel mused. I laughed.

"It is the sport of the Wasteland. It also shows how crazy we are. Experiencing violence everyday out in the world, just to watch organized violence here," I said philosophically. I pulled out my flask and took a swing of my whiskey.

"Too bad Benny couldn't see this for himself. Your big brother was always hip and was a bit of a philosopher himself," Daniel said mournfully. Benny had been strangled to death about a week earlier.

"May he rest in peace!" I declared, raising my flask. Daniel bumped the whiskey flask with his hand. "Who do you think did it?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. What do you think?" he asked.

"I don't know either," I responded. "It sucks though. I really want revenge. No evidence to prove who did it though."

"We could check his room. People miss stuff all the time," Daniel said. He stood up and marched to the door. I quickly joined him as he walked towards the elevator.

"We probably won't find anything," I reminded him. He rolled my eyes.

"Well, let us go see for ourselves," He said. We rode the elevator in silence. Finally we got to the 13th floor. We walked out and into Benny's suite. The bed still had an indent of him and another body. It was no secret that he was sleeping with someone when they killed him. We snooped around the bed, until Daniel found something. He held it up. I squinted. He was holding a long, brown hair.

"Check it out," he said. I scowled.

"Yeah, great job. Benny was sleeping with a girl. We already figured that!" I exclaimed.

"No, we know she has long brown hair," Daniel countered. I still rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, long, brown hair. Not like that describes half the prostitutes on the Strip or anything like that," I said sarcastically. Daniel glared at me but said nothing. Then his face changed to one of discovery.

"But think about this: what did we not find? We didn't find Maria or his suit. Which means all we have to do is find whoever stole those, then we can find who killed Benny!" Daniel exclaimed. I nodded.

"Better start searching then. We only have-" I checked the clock on the watch on my wrist- "10 hours before the boxing matches start tomorrow.

We took the elevator down to the main floor. As we walked out, I could have sworn tht Swank gave us a weird look from his position behind the front desk.

As we began to search the strip, we started talking to people. Luka, who sells holdout weapons to tourists claimed he had seen a few people leaving around that time, but would have to get a picture identification. After searching the half of the Strip that the tops was on, we began on the other side. That's when we decided to adapt a new strategy. And as I lay next to the prostitute in the bed located on Gomorrah's courtyard after a few rounds of banging, I decided that this way of questioning had been a great idea. I turned to her. She sleepily smiled.

"Verona, do you mind if I ask you a question?" I asked cautiously.

"Sure, Will," she replied.

"Have you ever been with another girl," I inquired. She didn't even open her eyes.

"Baby, if you pay me enough, I'll do whatever you want. So yes, I have," Verona said.

"Recently?"

"Yeah."

"Did she had long, brown hair?"

She sat up. "Yeah, why?" she asked now seeming very curious.

"I think she might have had something to do with the death of my brother," I said.

"Tragic what happened to him," she said, rubbing my chest soothingly. I sighed.

"Do you remember anything about her?" I asked.

"Her name was Theresa Lawsell. She did some job that required her to travel a lot. I'm not sure what it was exactly. She hired me a little over a week ago as a stress reliever. Honestly, I think she just wanted a free bed," Verona added bitterly.

"Thanks," I said as I rose. "Sorry, I have to go. Gotta get some rest before the boxing tournament tomorrow."

"Come back any time," she said as she also got up, tired, but knowing her break wasn't for a few hours. I walked back to the Tops alone, Danny having already left his company. As I walked past the reception desk, I could feel eyes watching me. I ignored them and took the elevator to the 7th floor. I slouched to the room I shared with Daniel. My cousin was sitting wide awake on his bed when I walked in.

"I've got nothing. Kay hadn't seen anybody like that in a while," Daniel said. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. Verona serviced a woman similar to the one we are looking for about a week and a half ago. Her name is Theresa Lawsell. Tomorrow, after the match, we can call up some contacts. For now let's get some sleep."

A/N: To clarify, the reason why they spoke so nonchalantly about Benny's death is because they are not mourning him anymore. They are more focused on possibly avenging him.