Dead Man's Hand (23 page)

Book Three: Circumstantial Evidence

Chapter 2
3

Mike Armstrong arrived
at
Calvin
’
s
hideout
almost on time. He
’
d meant to be there at
nine,
but
he
decided overnight to outdo himself with the best system he
’
d ever assembled.

Calvin wat
ched out the window as Mike
circled
the neighborhood
four times before coming in—caution on the edge of paranoia and overkill that might bring notice instead o
f safety. Not now, but Mike
needed a talking-to.
“
Did you get everything?
”

“
Not a problem
.
You are getting all the
extras.
”

With the aid of a ram
p and a trolley, they
rolled
in a
backup generator
and a backup for the backup.
Calvin did most of the heavy lifting. Mike assured him that the generator was not loud and would not attract attention to the house.
It was only for emergencies.

Once they had all of the equipme
nt inside, Mike
disappeared up the stairs for a couple of minutes and then returned.
“
Nothing I can
’
t handle.
”

He
set up monitors and cameras for every inch of the two-story house
and
motion detectors with camera feeds to multiple viewing screens.

No system had value un
less used expertly, so Mike
briefed
him
on how to take out any threat before it became serious. At least that was the plan.

They
’
d arrived at the bank later than they
’
d hoped, but Dale hadn
’
t anticipated that there
’
d be so much to do at the station first. He had obtained the legal authorization from the
sergeant
through a circuit of phone calls
and
Jimmy had already called his wife to confirm with her manager. With the key found at Grant
’
s office, Dale and Jimmy entered the Sun West Bank
at
5830 West Flamingo Road.

Tina met Dale and Jimmy just inside the door.
“
The manager said you can go ahead in.
”

“
Thanks, Tina.
”

Dale
had to act before lawyers or the Feds would demand access to Grant
’
s
safety deposit box and whatever it contained. He
prayed that Linda didn
’
t know anything about the box.

He
followed Tina into the back room, gave her the key and waited. He didn
’
t have access to a number
or password
,
so Tina
looked
it up on the computer,
brought the box back and set it on the table.

“
If you need anything
,
let me know.
”
She winked and left the room.

When the key slid in the lock
, Dale
’
s
heart began to race. He
l
ifted the lid and peeked inside at
a stack of black
-
and
-
whit
e
eight-by-ten-inch
p
hotographs. He
picked them out and spread the pictures across the
oak conference table. The photos were
pr
ofessional
and
showed
Sanders
and Linda doing what could only be referred to as the
“
nasty.
”

Busted!

As stupid as attempting to grab both things was, he could see why Sanders wanted Grant dead so that he could have both the girl and the casino. Then he remembered the financial motives. With Grant dead, Linda would get much more money than she would as an ex-wife.
Unfortunately motive wasn
’
t proof.

T
he photos alone did not tie them dire
ctly to the killing. But
now that
he
knew all the players a bit better, he could not be sure who was really playing whom. Did Linda fool Grant and Sanders?
Did
Sanders
fool Linda?

The detective put all the photos inside his coat pocket, cl
osed the empty box and left
.

Ace
got to his office after working the casino floors for hours. He was delayed by a bimbo he
’
d had sex with in a variety of interesting locations in the club. She seemed to need a little flattery to calm her down—every once in a while a girl threatened to sue him before he had one of his beefy security people talk to them in clear terms.

“
Excuse me, Mr. Sande
rs?
”
T
he pretty redhead
’
s voice
quavered
and
the glasses on the tray she held clinked
.

“
Yes
,
”
h
e said
,
in no mood to talk with this dimwit
.

“
I just thought you should know.
”
She
glanced
around
the casino
.

“
What is it…
”
he looked at her name tag,
“
Samantha.
”

“
The police were in here
yesterday
asking
about you.
”

“
Really?
”
Now she had his attention.
“
What kind of questions?
”

“
They said they were conducting an investigation on the Doug Grant murder.
”

He relaxed
.
“
Thank you, Samantha. Don
’
t worry, the police questions are routine procedure because Dou
g Grant wa
s a local casino owner. I
’
ll look into it further.
”

“
I
can
’
t lose this job, Mr. Sanders.
”

He smiled.
“
Don
’
t worry, nothing will happen. I promise.
”

He
double
-
timed it
to his office. He could
n
’
t
help being a little disturbed. Maybe the cops were not quite as stupid as he assumed.

He was sure that the police must have done the same questioning at
his other casino.
What bothered him more than
the questions was that he
’
d heard nothing about the cop visit from the Midas
and
Golden Horseshoe
sta
ff. Overpaid idiots!
Heads were going to roll!
Maybe the redhead wasn
’
t just a good lay. Maybe she had half a brain too.

H
e brushed past his secretary.
“
Hold my calls, Sylvia.
”

The more he thought about it
,
the madder he got. He had been buying off cops since he was a teenager. What had gotten into them now?

The truth was that
he
had anticipated such questioning, but he didn
’
t like it and would have stopped the police at both casinos if he
’
d known. Now, it was time for damage control.

Rather than using his secretary,
he
dialed
a
number and
a cal
m female voice answered.

“
Mayor Casey
’
s office.
”

“
Yes, I would like to speak with Mayor Casey
,
please. Tell Paul that it
’
s Ace.
”

“
One moment, Mr. Sanders, while I put you on hold.
”

The
m
ayor came on the line without making
him
wait for more than a minute.

“
Ace, it
’
s been a long time.
”

“
Hi, Paul
.
Y
es
,
it has. Too long.
”

“
What can I do for you?
”

“
I need a favor.
”

“
Shoot.
”

“
Yesterday, the police interrogated all the employees at both
t
he
Golden Horseshoe
and
t
he Midas. I was away chairing a meeting with the board
of
directors
and
none of my miserable executives told me when the cops came in
.
I just found out this morning.
The cops
and
their questions
are making my people think that maybe I
’
m a murderer
and
it
’
s shaken them up. It
’
s an outrage and abuse of police authority.
”

“
I
’
m sorry, Ace. I had no idea. Why would they suspect you, anyway?
”

“
Oh, it
’
s no deep secret that I did not like Grant and wanted to buy
t
he Greek.
Listen,
I know you
’
re a very busy man
, but this hurts my business.
It
’
s a public humiliation.
”

“
I understa
nd,
”
the mayor
said.
“
I
’
ll call the chief of p
olice and
make sure that this does
n
’
t
happen again.
”

“
Thank you, m
ayor.
”

Ace
felt calmer
. But what if a gung-ho cop did
n
’
t know when to quit the investigation?

Chapter 2
4

T
he detectives hadn
’
t sat down
before the
sergeant
hollered at them.

“
Dayton! Get in here now!
”

Dale
hustled in
.

“
Shut the door and sit down
.
”

The sergeant sat on the edge of
his desk. Dale could smell his
coffee and
cigarette breath from
two feet away.
His
eyes were red
, as though he
’
d
gotten no sleep.

Dale opened his mouth
but the sergeant put out his arm.
“
Don
’
t speak! Just sit there and listen
.
”

Dale
sat still
. He hadn
’
t grabbed a spit
cup and had to swallow the tobacco juice, which was not going to sit well with his stomach.

“
Guess who I just got off the phone with?
”
The boss asked with a sarcastic sneer
.
“
I just had a one
-
on
-
one
with the lieutenant. He just g
ot off the phone with our dear m
ayor, not a personal call either. It seems that some members of our department, your team, Dayton, were harassing Ace Sanders
’
employees yesterday.
”

“
Sir
—
”

“
I
’
m not finished.
You know how much money Sanders contributes to the m
ayor
’
s campaign
?
Does that take detective work?
”

“
No, sir, it doesn
’
t.
I told you yesterd
ay
that we
’
d be investigating all the casino owners
and
what we had on Sanders.
I told my team to be particularly courteous when questioning Sanders
’
employees at
t
he
Golden Horseshoe
and
t
he Midas
and
I
’
m confident they were
.
I hope you have that same confidence in them because you assigned them to me.
”

The sergeant opened and closed his mouth, then picked up his already
-
lit cigarette and smok
ed in silence for a few moments.

“
Dayton.
”
The sergeant sat back.
He pressed his hands together in a triangular position and brought them close to his face.
“
I
’
m going to say this one time.
You are to leave Sanders alone. Do you
u
nderstand the phrase
‘
leave alone
’
?
If I hear
about surveillance, indirect questioning, or a whisper in the squad room, you are done. Get that?
”

“
Yes, sir
.
But I found something under warrant.
”

“
What? Where?
”

“
Jimmy has them.
”
Dale opened the sergeant
’
s door, yelled for Jimmy
and
signaled him to bring the photos.

Dale and Jimmy watched in silence as the sergeant went through the photos one by o
ne, his face
reddening
by the second
.
“
Jesus H. Christ. What a fuckin
’
mess,
”
he finally said
.
“
This case is going to kill me. Does anyone else know about these photos?
”

“
Not yet, sir,
”
Dale said
.

“
Well, keep it that way for now until I figure out what to do. And Dayton, if this case blows up
, I am not the one who will get caught.
You
’
re on a very short leash.
”

Da
le and Jimmy
weren
’
t surpr
ised that Sanders had used the m
ayor to take the heat off
nor
that he had moved so quickly. But he was bound to have made a mistake somewhere.

Dale took some small comfort in knowing that at least all of Sander
s
’
employees had been questioned without direct interference from Sanders himself. Ace was smart enough to know that Dale and his team would still be watching him, even from a distance.

“
What do we do now?
”
Jimmy asked.

“
Now,
”
Dale said
, leaning back in his chair.
“
W
e
have to get around Sanders and get around our bosses too.
”

He
went down the team list
.

“
Has anyone heard from Craig?
”

He
got a head
shake from everyone i
n the room, even though
Craig was late in reporting in.
Even Jimmy shrugged.

Dale dialed Craig and got his voicemail. He shot out the door with Jimmy.

They
reached Watter
s
’
apartment
and saw no signs of forced entry.

Dale
picked the
door
lock
, careful not to make any noise or alert anyone who might be inside
. He
unholstered his weapon and
popped his head inside. He searched
the room
and
saw nothing.

“
Kid?
”
He
called out.

The detectives
went in and
started
a room-by-room check
. T
hey found the officer stuffed into the closet.

“
Fuck! Man down.
”
Dale whispered to Jimmy.

He
knelt next to the body, trembling, as Jimmy confirmed
that
the rest of the apartment was empty. Tears blurred his vision. Craig
’
s skull had been half blown away.

This was the fourth time he
’
d had to kneel beside a dead body in a little over
twenty-four
hours. Four murders in a day and a half
,
and
now there was either a new killer, or the same killer had completely changed his M.O.

Oh,
g
od
d
amnit!

Jimmy came back and knelt beside Dale.
“
Rooms are cleared. No sign of anyone.
”

“
Okay. Call it in, Jimmy.
”
The bitterness and anger in Dale
’
s voice was obvious.

Jimmy grabbed his phone
and
made his man
-
down report. He looked at th
e bloody corpse.

Dale knew every murder investigation was given top priority,
but a cop
-
killer made a police force go crazy.

“
Good God, Calvin Watters, what have you done?
”
Jimmy said.

“
We don
’
t know Watters did this,
”
Dale said quietly.
“
Sure, it
’
s his apartment, but it
’
s the last place I
’
d expect him to return
to
.
We don
’
t even know if he
’
s still in Vegas.
Do you think he would kill a cop here? That
’
s the on
ly reason I sent Craig
. I thought there
’
d be no risk at all and he would feel important, but not get into any trouble
.
”
He
stopped and closed his eyes.
“
I was wrong. I fucked up.
”

“
Bullshit! It
’
s not your fault, Dale.
”
Jimmy put his hand on Dale
’
s shoulder.

Dale stood up and angrily shook Jimmy
’
s hand away.
“
Of course it is! It was too dangerous
.
I should have known that.
”

“
Dale, you gave Craig direct orders to use extreme caution and not make a move without backup. I heard you say it.
”

“
I know I did, Jimmy, but come on, we both know Craig. He was looking for advancement and making his own bust would be the move to put him over the edge. That kid had never even drawn his gun in the line of duty before. He wasn
’
t prepared.
”

“
That
’
s not your call. We need to refocu
s while the trail is still hot.
So, if Calvin Watters didn
’
t do this, then who did?
”

Dale nodded.
“
You
’
re right, sorry.
All I know is that we have four
mu
rders and no forensics or leads.
”

Jimmy
continued.
“
We know the killer
’
s strong enough to control victims with one arm and slash their throats with the other
.
”

“
Watters could do that
and
he
’
s got the
IQ.
But that means he wouldn
’
t be stupid enough to kill a cop and stuff him in his own closet.
He knows the police code of honor. His brother
’
s a cop.
”
Dale shook his head.
“
If he did the first three, this one is not his.
”

“
Sanders and Shawn Grant are strong enough, but too smart for it too. And I never liked Watters for the others: he
’
s an intimidator and maybe a bit of a sadist, but not a killer.
”

Dale continued in the same breath.
“
Also
,
Craig was shot in the back of the head. Anyone who can hold a gun could have done that, including Linda Grant.
”

“
I think
someone came here to take out Watters and stumbled on Craig.
Maybe Watters knows too much.
And except for the gun blast
,
the scene
’
s
clean
.
Where
’
s the God damn blood and chunks of tissue? Gotta be
the work of a pro.
That means the investigation has just widened.
”

Jimmy put his hand on Dale
’
s shoulder again and this time squeezed.

Dale walked outside. He
stood at the railing,
popped some chew in his mouth and
looked
out over the city.

He
felt
guilty
about
Craig, but something else too. Watters was now a target, a fugitive
and
maybe
innocent
.

That someone wanted Watters dead made it even less likely that he
’
d killed Grant or the others. Dale thought again about how much he wished he could talk to Watters, get his alibis, confirm them, clear his name
and
now perhaps even try to protect him
…
if he ever found the man.