Dead Man's Hand (28 page)

“
So, what do you think?
”

He yawned and
removed his glasses
to
rub the bridge of his
nose.
“
W
ell, the fact that plastic explosive was used does tell us that the suspect is an expert bomb maker. You can
’
t get this stuff over the counter. The setup was elaborate and
the bomb hidden so well that it couldn
’
t have been detected by the naked eye
, unless you actually squirmed underneath the car looking for it
. I
t would
’
ve taken a pro to design and dismantle the explosive weapon. This car was detonated to explode if someone either started or tampered with the vehicle.
”

There was nothing in his bio to indicate that Calvin Watters had any special training in the detonation of bombs. Also why would Watters set a bomb under his own car? Someone wanted W
atters out of the picture. W
hy?

“
Thanks,
”
Dale said.

“
No problem.
”

He was more convinced than ever that Watters was innocent, but he couldn
’
t prove that any
more than he could Sander
s
’
guilt.

Now, along with the three
“
perfect
”
murders, he had to deal with a
“
perfect
”
attempted
murder.

In
the basement
he
pulled out his
cell phone
. No signal. He began to climb the stairs and as the signal was restored,
he
called his partner.

“
I
t
’
s Dale.
”

“
Where have you been? I have been trying to reach you.
”

He hear
d
the tension in his partner
’
s voice.
“
I
’
ve been in the basement with
the lab tech.
I can
’
t get a signal down there.
”

“
So you haven
’
t heard?
”

“
What?
”

“
There was a press conference this evening outside
t
he Greek. Linda Grant just sold her shares of the casino to Sanders.
He
’
s
now part owner.
”

“
I
’
m
impressed
she
moved
without wasting time
.
T
omorrow morning
check that the deal was legit, but I bet it was.
”

He paused for a moment.
“
And
I need you to do one more thing before you settle down for
the night. Use your
network
to see if anyone will give up that an assassin has come to town who knows bombs.
”

“
Got it.
”

Too many questions and not enough answers.

Chapter 2
8

A tiny jingle gave Calvin a start. His head shot up
off
the desk, a piece of paper stuck to the side of his mouth from drool.

How long had he been out?

He
checked
the monitor and through fuzzy eyes saw Rachel at the back
door, letting herself in. He
jumped from his chair and hustled to meet her.

He spoke before she had closed the door.
“
Where have you been?
”
He strode to her and lightly grasped her arm.

Rachel shook it away.
“
I had to get out.
”

“
You know we can
’
t leave. Goddamn it, Rachel! Do you think this is a game? You could have been caught, followed
,
or even killed.
”

He peeked
out
the window.

“
Settle down, Calvin. I did what you told me—circl
ed
a bunch of times and retrac
ed
my steps.
”

“
Where did you go?
”

“
Relax. You haven
’
t slept for days, so I didn
’
t wake you. I had to see my friends.
”

“
Hookers?
”
Calvin
’
s eyes grew large.

“
My colleagues.
”
Rachel
’
s voice was stern.

“
Sorry.
”
He
shook his head.
“
What did you possibly need from them that you would risk leaving here?
”

“
I can
’
t just sit around and do nothing, Calvin, while, as you say,
‘
our lives are in danger
.
’
I want to help, but you refuse to let me. I can do stuff. I
’
ve been protecting myself for a long time.
”

He
knew t
hat
and
also realized that
Rachel was just being proactive, wanting to do all she could to help him, as well as her. But in his heart, he didn
’
t want anything to happen to her
and
would do anything to protect her. He respected and admired Rachel all the more now, but he would never tell her. He needed to make sure she knew the consequences of her actions.

“
It was Amber.
”

“
Who
’
s Amber?
”

Rachel swiped away a single tear
.
“
It was Amber in Pitt
’
s office. She was new
and
I
’
d only met her once. No one really knew much about her. But she was sweet.
”

He
wrapped his arms around
her.
“
I
’
m sorry.
”

She pushed him away.
“
That
’
s not all.
People are asking about us
.
”

“
I know. Once the cops found out about you, your colleagues would be the first ones they
’
d
question.
”

“
I
’
m not talking about the cops
.
”

Calvin
saw
f
ear in her eyes.
“
Who?
”

“
I don
’
t know. Wanda said he
’
s pretty creepy though. He asked about me and you. He didn
’
t show any
identification
and
they said he definitely wasn
’
t a cop.
”

“
What did he look like?
”

“
They all gave me a diffe
rent description—but all confirmed he was
tall and skinny
and
very strange.
”

He
shook his head. That helped very litt
le. The man could be anyone,
working for anyone.
“
Listen, Rachel. I
’
m not joking. You
’
re not to leave again.
”

“
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
”

He was about to say more when he heard the familiar
“
bing
”
from
his computer—another emergency message alert. He rushed to the computer room and clicked on the blinking icon. He saw two familiar faces on the computer monitor.

Sanders and Linda
Grant
,
hand in hand on a podium set up outside
t
he Greek
.
He
read the writing that sc
rolled across the bottom
. Sanders had just purchased the right
s to own a small percentage of
the casino
.

Bingo!
Sanders
killed Grant.

Calvin had been sure that there was some connection between Sanders, Linda Grant and Pitt. But he hadn
’
t known exactly what it was.

Seeing
the news about the sale, he
made the final connection. Pitt, who
’
d done so much dirty work for Sanders, was involved somehow in making that sale possible. Pitt was probably an accomplice in Grant
’
s murder
too
.

He
closed the document and
focused on gat
hering intelligence that
connected Grant
’
s killer and his a
ccomplices.
He
was sure
Sanders
had
killed Pitt because he
had known
too much about Sanders
’
plans and actions
and
because Sanders, being Sanders, had never intended Pitt to be any kind of p
artner, silent or otherwise.
They
’
d used Pitt until the deal was done and then killed him. Now it was just Sanders and Linda
,
which Calvin suspected was their plan all along.

He
could have
hacked
into Pitt
’
s
database, but since the
cops would have wiped
out
everything useful by now, h
e picked up the phone and dialed out.
“
Please be right. Please be right.
”

“
Hello?
”

“
Dixie, it
’
s me
again. Please tell me that you still have the personal USB key
Pitt
gave you from his files?
”

“
No, I gave that to the officer who came to interview me.
”

“
Damn it!
”
He s
lammed his fist down on the desk.

“
But I saved it on my hard drive.
”

He
took a deep breath.
“
Thank y
ou, Dixie Miller. Send it to this secure address, please.
”

He
gave her his new email address and hung up.

The file arrived within minutes.

There was nothing obviou
s in the file folder. But he
found a
“
mislabeled
”
hidden file in which Pitt had recorded an agreement to work with Sanders to take ove
r
t
he Greek. Pitt had
been afraid of Sanders—and the trick with the filename and security opened a new question. Who was helping Pitt? As far as Calvin knew, no friend of Pitt was clever with computers.

Since Dixie had given the USB to the cops,
he
knew they had th
e
same
information
and
had to see Sanders as a suspect.

Why weren
’
t they acting on that?

Returnin
g to his desk, Dale
logged on
to
the KVVU FOX5 Vegas
website to
see t
he press
conference with Sanders,
stage
d
in the parking lot of
t
he Greek
.
Dale
turned up
the volume as Linda Grant, to
massive applause, approached a cluster of microphones set up on a podium.

“
It is my great pleasure to
announce a new member of
our team
.
”
She read from a prepared statement.
”’
Because of the passing of my husband
and
my lack of experience in casino
operations, I have decided it i
s in
everyone
’
s
best interest for me to sell my share of the casino to someone with experience, someone who can make a real contribution to running the great Greek Hotel and Casino. He is already the owner of two major casinos in our wonderful city
and
I have the utmost confidence in his future success. My husband
would be very proud
today. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present to you the new part
owner and team member
of
t
he Greek Hotel and Casino—
Mr. Ace Sanders.
’”

Dale watched as the camera focused on Sanders, who had been seated at a table next to Shawn Grant, the majority shareholder of the casino.
Grant
’
s face showed displeasure
and
a fake
smile.
Dale didn
’
t see Melanie or her mother.

Sanders approached the microphones
—
to what Dale considered mixed reviews from the
gallery
—
and
shook Linda
’
s hand.
Dale thought that Sanders had been born for the spotlight.
“
Now that
’
s motive,
”
Dale muttered.

“
Thank you, Mrs. Grant
,
”
Sanders said
.
“
Ladies and gentlemen, I am more than honored to be a new member of the team and I look forward to working with Shawn Grant. I think that together we can create an ever brighter future for
t
he Greek Hotel and Casino.
”

He
smiled, pausing for dramatic effect and waiting for the applause to die down.
“
I am thrilled that the Grant family has accepted my bid
and
welcomed me into their family.
I
hope to do even more for the community now that I
’
m involved with three casinos. I just
wish to
do the Grant family justice
and
make them proud.
”

Sanders and Linda
stood together, hands clasped
.
Shawn
seemed
in no hurry to join them, but
he finally
did
. The three members raised their hands in unison as the cameras flashed and reporters yelled questions.

Dale read the article that complemented the video.

There
was no public record about the deal,
but
“
informed sources
”
said
that Sanders purchased his share of the
c
asino for an estimated
$40 million
.