Dead Man's Hand (33 page)

Chapter 3
3

From his conversation with Whitney,
Calvin
had at least a rough description
of his follower
, unless he
’
d already changed his appearance,
and
he began to watch the video monitors around his fortress all the time.

Did this guy have his own reasons for wanting to kill Calvin or had he been hired to take Calvin out?

Calvin
knew the more networks he reached out to, the greater possibility of finding his opponent. So, with Rachel surfing the net, h
e decided to try
Gen
e
Lockhart
,
a forty-one
-
year
-
old bachelor with a g
ambling problem. Lockhart
was also a
pit boss at the
Golden Horseshoe
Casino
and
someone Calvin had grown to trust.
He
had collected from
him
years ago
and
could get him fired at any time
. But Lockhart somehow
had
convinced
him
that he would get over his addiction
and
he
had kept the secret.
True to his word, Lockhart had been clean since.
Lockhart
had introduced Calvin and Rachel, so each man was indebted to one another
, even though Calvin held all the real cards
.

Lockhart knew the street
s
and
had major contacts.

“
What?
”
a sleepy voice
barked into the phone.

“
Gen
o
, it
’
s me.
”

“
Cal? What do
you
need?
”

Calvin
knew the
sound of his voice
had
roused his friend
.
“
I need some answers.
”

“
Sure.
I
s this about your
situation
?
”

“
Afraid so
.
”

Both were silent a moment
.

“
I
’
ll tell
you
anything
you
need to know, if I can.
”

“
Great. I need some information on your boss.
”

“
He
’
s a popular guy lately.
”

“
What do you mean?
”

“
Well, just the other day
the police came by asking about
Ace
.
”

“
About the Grant murder
?
”
Calvin hadn
’
t seen Sanders
’
name in any
“
suspect
”
report.

“
Of course
.
”

“
What did you tell them?
”

“
Most of this crew is scared to death of Sanders
and
I know the execs and employees at
t
he Midas are too.
”

Calvin sat back in his chair.
Why had he thought he
’
d get information?

“
But for
you
, I
’
l
l talk.
I know
you
had
nothin
’
to do with this and I owe ya
.
”

He was back in business.
“
Thanks, Geno. I appreciate that. Now, talk to me. Tell me anything you
’
ve seen out of the ordinary or anything you might have overheard.
”

“
Sanders is a very private businessman. He shares almost nothing with anyone.
I know
he
was mixed up with Pitt. But you probably know that. Sanders was said to be sleeping around with Linda Grant, but that wouldn
’
t be the first marriage he
’
d broken up. I wish I co
uld help
you
more, Cal.
”

“
This isn
’
t
anything I don
’
t already know. I need to prove that someone else committed these murders, but so far, I can
’
t do that. I need something to take to the cops.
”

Lockhart
’
s
voice changed.
“
I might not have proof, but I can tell you this
. Sanders is evil
and capable of
kill
ing
.
”

“
How do you know
?
”

“
Nothing
you
can use. But remember I told you about that young couple we caught counting car
ds at the Black Jack table two
years ago?
”

“
I remember.
”

“
They
’
ll never cheat again.
”

At least Calvin had his thought confirmed by a reliable source. He remained silent.

“
Okay
, there is one
thing.
You can
’
t say who told you because I didn
’
t tell the police.
On the nights of Grant
’
s
and Pitt
’
s murders, Sanders wasn
’
t in his office. The first nig
ht
I saw
for myself that he was gone
. On the night tha
t Pitt was killed, same thing
. But I could
’
ve sworn tha
t I remember seeing
his Ferra
ri parked in his private
spot. I talked to my friend at
t
he Midas and he told me that
Sanders
wasn
’
t in his office there on either night
.
”

Now Calvin knew that
Sanders
could make the entire staff at the
Golden Horseshoe
and
t
he Midas lie to the cops.
Next,
he
gave
Lockhart
the description of the
hit man
.

“
Sorry, Cal, haven
’
t seen anyone
like that.
I
’
ll ask around and get back to ya.
”

“
Thanks, Geno. That would be great.
”

The two men said goodbye.

Sanders
could have done it
and
could have hushed everyone up.

Dale woke with red, swollen eyes, a rotten tast
e in his mouth
and
dried tobacco juice on his chin. He noticed juice stains on the collar of his dress shirt
and
change
d
into a new one.

As he tied his tie, the mirror showed him
pronounced lines around his mouth and eyes for the first time.

Cops
’
wives walked out all the time, but how could he have missed seeing it coming?

He knew that his marriage had serious problems that he had not prioritized
or
tried to resolve with Betty
.
He
had dedicated himself and almost all of his time to his job instead. Even so, he couldn
’
t believe that it had come to this. He had just assumed that Betty would give him more time to work things out.
He and his wife were now physically separated.
The two people who mattered the most to him were hundreds of miles away.

Dale checked his watch. He had
slept for almost two hours. Now Jim
my would wonder what kept him—
and ask.

He went through the rooms and remembered the clothes and the
other items they had taken. He
felt like he was emptied, not just the house.
But the nap had cleared his head a bit
…at least enough to push forward.
He
’
d feel better getting back to work.

His
cell rang.

“
Dayton.
”

“
Dale, it
’
s Jimmy. Where the hell are you, man?
”

“
At home.
”

“
Somethin
’
s come up. You better get your ass over here now.
I
’
m on my way
to pick you up.
”

Dale
shut the phone off
, finished tying his tie
and
hurried down the stairs.

It had been
four and a half
days since they
’
d left. That seemed to him
enough time for Betty to collect her thoughts. Maybe she would be ready to talk.

H
e dialed Betty
’
s cell
phone number
,
but it went straight to voice mail.
He
’
d try her sister
Catherine.

“
Hello.
”

“
Hi, Catherine, it
’
s Dale. Can I speak to Betty?
”

He
could hear his sister-in-law talking in the background before she came back on the line.
“
I
’
m sorry, Dale. Betty isn
’
t ready yet. Maybe in a couple of days.
”

He
appreciated the
apologetic tone.

“
Okay, thank you, Catherine. Please tell Betty I love and miss her. And give Sammie a big kiss and tell him the same.
”

“
Goodbye, Dale.
”

He
hung up and swiped away a tear.
Maybe in two days
, with a few lucky breaks,
he could tell her he
’
d cracked both cases. No…that was why she
’
d left him, or at least part of the reason. What would he be able to say to Betty that she would care about?

Cops had good instincts and as a homicide detective, Dale had to use his intuition and deep understanding of the human psyche to help solve his crimes. He saw his job as a mission and he was a third
-
generation police officer. Law enforcement was his grandfather
’
s calling, then his father
’
s
and now his.
He
’
d been raised
with those values.

He sat and thought. For the next few days, until it was time to try to reach Betty again, he would put his personal problems aside and focus solely on getting the job done. Later, he
’
d know what to do. He hoped.

He heard a honk and looked out the window to find Jimmy in the driveway. Dal
e checked
the gun in his shoulder holster. He rinsed out his mouth, tossed his jacket over his shoulder and walked outside. As he approached the car, Jimmy yelled through the open window.

“
You look like shit!
”

Dale jumped into the passenger seat and
did his best to tuck in his wrinkled shirt and straighten his uncombed hair.