It had been five years since her last visit, and she was happy to see that everything about this city still got under her skin in the best kind of way. Where most people saw absurdity and flash, she saw art and life and possibility. There was the Venetian, lit up like a white angel. The MGM Grand the color of money or the guy at the Blackjack table losing his shirt while everyone around him wins. She loved the universal hustle. The bellboys, the strippers, the hookers, the dealers, the doormen, the bartenders. Everyone angling. She could live here. # # # Isaiah had checked her into a Prestige suite at the Palazzo. After a week of Motel 6's and worse, this elevation into luxury made her exuberant. She ordered up room service, then headed downstairs to find an outfit for the evening with the envelope of hundos that Isaiah had provided as a starting expense account.
