Dead Man's Hand (41 page)

“
But will t
hey pick up their affair?
We
’
re still not allowed to touch Sanders and the order is stronger than ever
,
”
Jimmy
said
.

They continued walking, this time in silence. Each detective
crad
led an arm to help
Calvin
move with less discomfort
.

They were almost back at Calvin
’
s room when Dale
said,
“
Our only hope is that Sanders
’
rush to action will force him to make a mistake. We
’
re still not allowed to touch Sanders, but I have an idea.
”
Dale
looked Calvin in the eye.
“
Do you think you feel ready to leave?
”

He
didn
’
t need to think about it.
“
Hell, yeah.
”

“
We
’
ll talk with the doctor and make sure it
’
s okay.
”

They entered the room
and Jimmy
said.
“
I
’
ll go see the doc
.
I
f we get the green light, I
’
ll sign the release forms.
”

Calvin saw his blood-stained shirt hanging from the back of a chair
.
A
new, clean one was folded
and piled on a pair of pants
on the seat.

“
Rachel picked them out
,
”
Dale
said.

The nurse came in to change Calvin
’
s bandages
.
With
his
arm in a sling, a
ll movement was awkward
,
so
Dale
had to help him get his shirt over his head and pulled down.

Calv
in said,
“
I want to stay on this case.
”

“
What do you mean?
”

“
Since the
‘
Baxter
’
problem has been eliminated,
I assumed I would be expendable.
”

“
Calvin
,
y
ou
’
ve already been
an essential part of this case. You
’
re the r
eason we have Baxter and we have confirmation that
Sander
s is behind these murders
. I realize your vested interest in this case.
”

Calvin just smiled.

Jimmy
returned with the forms.
“
Everything is taken care of.
”
He handed Calvin a piece of paper.
“
This is your prescription. They said they also added Tylenol 3, a brief, self-limited course of Tylenol and codeine. We
’
re good to go.
”

“
Good, because I know exactly what we
’
re going to do,
”
Dale
said.

Chapter 4
0

Ace
sat at his desk, staring down at the hand
he had
dealt himself
. He surveyed
the other three hands
and
then turned back to
his own, the five cards that lay in front of him, face up.

He poured a generous portion of
Evan Williams
twenty-three-
year-old
b
ourbon
and drank it in one swallow. Then he poured himself another.

He knew what it meant. Two
pair
s
,
black
aces and
black
eigh
ts—
the
dead man
’
s hand.

His pulse quickened and his breathing slowed.
A twitching vein behind his ear pulsated. A deep
-
seated fear crept into his soul.

Legend ha
d
it that on August 2, 1876
,
in Saloon Number Ten at Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill Hickok had this exac
t same hand when he was gunned down
—
murdered in cold blood
. Although there
were
no confirmed accounts of what Hickok
’
s fifth card was, Ace dreaded the hand
. I
t was cursed.

Four days ago everything had been under
control. After hiring
S
cott
,
Ace
t
hought the Watters situation was
handled. But as one
attempt after another fa
iled, he
was only exposed to more risk
.

From his informant on the Las Vegas police
,
he
learn
ed early this morning that Scott
had been arrested. The cops
would
be questioning
him
and that made
Ace
sweat.

He had spent the day pondering his next move, making sure that the time was right. He had no choice now.
With the dark of night, he decided to make his move.

The situation couldn
’
t be worse. Watters was still alive and
his
hit man
was in police custody. Now
Ace
had to clean up this mess too.
He was working hard to get another top
hit man
to Vegas
but that would take time he didn
’
t have
.

Even though he never used his name,
paid with cash transfers and had left no paper trail,
he knew that someone as experienced as Scott would find it out anyway. The assassin was supposed to be the best and had come from a reliable source. That
’
s why Ace agreed to pay part of his outrageous fee upfront.

He picked up his secure line.

“
Hello?
”

“
It
’
s me.
I need to see you now
.
”

“
Okay
,
”
t
he voice answered back.

“
Are the cops still outside your house?
”

There was a momenta
ry silence.
Then the caller came back on the line.
“
Yes
.
”

“
Okay.
Don
’
t say a word. Just listen.
”

He
made his plan very clear, going into fine detail. He wasn
’
t sure
the line was truly secure
, so he had to make the conversation as
unrevealing
as possible.

“
Don
’
t be late.
”

He
hung up and
stared a
t the cards on the desk. He swallowed, closed his eyes, shook his head
and
got up.

He left his office lights on and turned up the stereo. He
radioed down and told his
p
it and
s
lot
m
anagers that
he
had serious work to take care of and
didn
’
t want to be interrupted for the remainder of the night. He then slipped out the back way of his office
and
snuck down the ba
ck stairs to the employee staff
room.

The minute he walked in, the three employees who had been ta
king their break jumped
u
p from the table and walked out
without making eye contact.

Once they were gone,
he
lifted a set o
f keys from an employee
’
s jacket
and left the
casino through a back entrance, avoiding the cameras.

He
marche
d through the back alley,
putting on
strong
skin-colored surgical gloves. His fingerprints would never be found in the car he
’
d be driving…or later.

Standing in the employee parking lot, he pushed the disarm button on the key chain until he saw a car in the far corner o
f the lot light up. After securing
the lot
, he climbed behind the wheel and sped away.
He wasn
’
t worried,
just being car
eful as always. Ace
knew his call to the mayor had abolished any ideas the cops might h
ave about following him.

He
gripped the steering wheel. It maddened him all over again that Watters was still a problem when he should have been dead days ago.

Having already sold her share of her l
ate husband
’
s casino to Ace, Linda
just had to wait a few more days while the bank
’
s substantial check cleared and
was
deposit
ed
in
to her account.

But she had been promised more than just money.
Even if she couldn
’
t trust her lover, she was going to give it a brief try.
She ha
d been promised love too. E
ven if he
had
experienced
a change of heart, Linda had enough money to escape Vegas b
y herself and start over
in another part of the world.

She took the stairs
, stumbling,
to the mansion
’
s wine cellar to return a
n empty
bottle and choose another. She
had also been
told to use the wine cellar
to m
ake all of her
“
private
”
calls.

She shut the door
and
us
ed
the phone he
’
d given her, dialing
the familiar number.

“
What is it?
”

Just the sound of his voice gave
her
chills.
“
Ace just called. He wants to meet me.
”

“
Good, that means he
’
s worried.
”

“
I don
’
t think I should go. You know Ace, he
’
s capable of anything.
”

“
Linda, you have to go. This is the plan we
’
ve been working on. We
’
re so close, baby. It
’
s almost over and then we can be together forever.
”

“
Are you sure?
”

“
Linda, listen to me. This is it. You need to go meet Ace. This is important to me…to us. Keep him happy. Give him what he wants.
”

She smi
led
.
“
I
’
ll be thinking of you like always. I miss you.
”

“
I miss you to
o
. But we ca
n
’
t be seen together
. S
oon.
”

“
Okay, I
’
ll do it.
”

“
That
’
s my girl.
”