Dead Man's Hand (31 page)

Chapter 3
1

Calvin knew that it was risky
,
but he had to make the call. He needed an ally.

“
Mr. Grant
’
s office.
”

“
Shawn Grant, please.
”

“
Who
m
may I ask is calling?
”

To convince that he was legit, he had to use his real name. Because of his special phone, he knew that it was safe.

“
Tell Mr. Grant that Calvin Watters would like to speak with him.
”

Shawn Grant had just sat down at his desk when his secretary rang.
As t
he new president and chairman of the board for
t
he Greek
, he
had not wanted to be disturbed. He pressed the intercom button.

“
Yes, Maureen?
”

“
Sir, a Mr. Watters is on line one.
”

Shawn froze, goose bumps spr
inging
on his arms. He only kne
w of one Mr. Watters
—the man at the top of LVMPD
’
s list of murder suspects
for his father
’
s investigation
.

“
Thank you, Maureen, patch him through.
”
Shawn picked up the receiver.
“
This is Shawn Grant.
”

“
Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Grant. This is Calvin Watters.
”

“
How do I know you are really who you say you are?
”

The caller gave a
list of the collections he had made for Pitt and said,
“
I know you can
’
t check them out right away
, but you
’
ll have to agree that only Pitt, who is dead, would also know them
.
If I were
an imposter
,
I
would know
you wouldn
’
t
trust
me
after you discovered a mistake.
”

Shawn decided to hear him out. What did he have to lose?
“
That is
a good start
, Mr. Watters.
Okay
, you have me interested. Why call me?
”

“
First,
I had nothing to do with your father
’
s murder, or any of the other three murders.
”

“
So you say.
”

“
You have to trust me
.
I have a solid alibi for the night he was murdered, but I
don
’
t want to involve that person if I don
’
t need to
. I
’
d rather prove it by finding your father
’
s real killer.
”

“
And why should I trust the man who allegedly killed my father?
”

“
The same reason I
’
m trusting you
right now
. We both want to know the truth behind your father
’
s
murder
and the rest of the unsolved
ones
. I have already started to investigate and I have some leads. If we work together, maybe we can uncover the truth.
”

Now Shawn was very interested.
“
So what do you want from me?
”

“
The way I
see
it, we both want something out of this arrangement. We both want to find your father
’
s killer
and
I want to prove my innocence.
Let
’
s share information.
”

Shawn hesitated, contemplating the pros and cons of
the
proposal. He didn
’
t know Calvin Watters
and
wasn
’
t sure how far he could trust
him
.
The man was accused of killing Shawn
’
s father.
He would have to tread in slow motion
. But he knew he needed help in
nailing
Sanders. His father had always told Shawn that he was a natural
-
born deal maker.

“
Fine. L
et
’
s
trade information. If that
goes well, then we can continue
,
but if not, then we stop immediately.
”

“
Fair enough.
”

“
What do you want to know about my dad?
”

“
What was your relationship like?
”

He thought about his answer.
“
I loved him and he was my best friend. That is why we worked together for so long. He
’
d been showing me the ropes for the last fifteen years and preparing me my whole life to take over the family business. Nothing would have made my father prouder. It was perfect, until she came along.
”

“
Who?
”

“
His wife.
”
Again
Shawn
calculated his every word.
“
She
’
s a greedy, money
-
hungry whore. The only reason she married my father was for his money.
”

“
I kne
w that you a
nd your father were close
and
I
’
m sor
ry for your loss. What I don
’
t see is why your father married
Linda?
”

Shawn snorted.
“
Look at her. After being divorced for almost fifteen years from my mom, dad
met Linda when we upgraded the casino e
ntertainment. Linda was one of the dancers in the night show. He should have known
and
I tried to tell him. He told me that he had fallen in love the moment he saw her and
they married right after that
.
”

“
Okay
, but she
’
s not the first beautiful woman who went after your dad
,
I expect. Did he want children with her?
”

“
Please. Linda would never do that to her body. It
’
s her most prized possession. And my dad was too old
to raise another child. But i
t was his choice to get married again
and
we never let her co
me between us. At least he finally saw through her
.
”

“
How is that?
”

Shawn smiled.
“
He made her sign a prenup
.
In case of a divor
ce, she was only entitled to
six
percent of my fa
ther
’
s estate
and
was
automatically cut out of the will
. She wasn
’
t happy
about that.
”

Money was always a motive in Vegas.

“
As for
my father
’
s
other enemies,
”
Shawn added
, without being asked
,
“
a
s a collector, I know you understand
who I mean
.
”
Shawn considered how much to say. How much could he trust Watters?

“
Ace Sanders?
”
Watters
asked.

Shawn
’
s voice grew cold.
“
The hatred between them is well known.
It
’
s not often that Casino owners
get along, but the heated feelings between those two were extreme. It was more than just business
. It
was personal. And now the bitch just made him my partner. I detest the man! I despis
e Linda
,
but I hate Sanders
more.
I
’
m going to try to get more information on him.
”

“
Wait a minute, you said other enemies. Do you consider Linda an enemy?
”

“
What do you think, Mr. Watters? First she cheats on my dad with Sanders
and
then she sells him his casino.
”

“
You knew about the affair?
”

“
I had my suspicions. Now I
’
m sure of it!
”

“
How are you so sure?
”

“
My dad told me.
”

“
He knew too?
”

“
He had h
eard the rumors, so he hired a private i
nvestigator to follow Linda
.
The PI confirmed the affair
and
had the photos and documentation to prov
e it
.
”
Shawn knew the cops already had the pictures.

“
What did your dad
do?
”

“
He confronted Linda. Of course, she denied everything and claimed the photos were manufactured composites. What an idiot. My dad had expected the denial, but
when
Linda
lied
, despite all the evidence,
he was
amazed
.
Did she think he was a total fool? She used sex even at that point, but
she
must have been stupid not to see that he did
n
’
t buy the repentant loving wife.
”

“
Why didn
’
t your father just divorce her?
”

“
He tried.
”
Shawn told Watters about his father
’
s plans to file for divorce
the morning after the night he was killed
.
He was also going to change his will but never had the chance to do it. Linda would
have go
t
ten
nothing.

“
Okay
, so
what do you have fo
r me?
”
Shawn asked
.

Watters
explained the Pitt-Sanders business deals
and
gave his version of what he found at
Pitt
’
s
murder scene.
This interested Shawn and he wanted to find this so
-
called evidence.

If anything was discovered by either
man
, they would talk on a
secure
line. Otherwise, they
each
had plans
about
getting Sanders. They
’
d just have to try not to duplicate their efforts.

Calvin hung up
,
satisfied
that t
he primary murder suspect
had called the victim
’
s son
and offered and received
help. He
sensed that Sh
awn was thinking the same thing. Why had Grant
agreed to join him
without so much as a concerned argument
?
Calvin
couldn
’
t really relax his guard.
Was Shawn laying a trap to get him out in the open for the cops?