The Scorpion's Tale (15 page)

Nick and Giovanna parked on West
13
^th
Street and walked down 9
^th
Avenue toward
Washington. The front door and windows were barred and the gate was
padlocked. The building was plastered with police notices
prohibiting entry. Nick checked the chains that barred their entry.
Satisfied that the front door could not be breached, Nick motioned
for Giovanna to follow him.

“Nick, it’s obvious that the authorities
don’t want anybody snooping around, and by the looks of those
chains, I don’t think anyone is getting in without an
invitation.”

Nick chuckled. “Invitation. That’s
funny!”

“I wasn’t kidding. I’m serious.”

“You’re very cute, that’s all. Let’s see
what’s behind the building, and if it doesn’t look good, we’ll
leave.”

“Don’t patronize me Nick, I’m not trying to
be cute!”

Nick ignored her and made a quick turn down a
deserted alley behind the building, which led to a back entrance; a
metal door bolted from the inside. The rest of the façade was a
brick wall with no windows at street level.

“Well Nick, it looks sufficiently
impenetrable. Do you have any more bright ideas or should we just
speak with the police? If they’ve searched the records, they might
have some information we could use.”

Nick smiled. Damn, she’s beautiful. “Gia,
you’ve got a lot to learn about the way things work. I don’t know
how they do things in Italy, but in New York, we’re not going to
get help from the police. The last thing we want is for the police
to realize we’re interested in JTS.”

The building had two floors. Nick knew the
top floor was used to store inventory and was accessible by an
inside lift. There was a line of windows that aerated the
warehouse. Nick’s eyes moved slowly across the wall to the fire
escape. He and Steven had scaled many similar fire escapes when
they were younger. Nick cautiously glanced up and down the
alley.

“Gia, you’ll need to keep a look out, and if
any cops show up, walk slowly back to the car. Otherwise, give me
five minutes and I’ll be at the back door. If you don’t knock in
five minutes, I’ll know not to open the door.”

Giovanna looked at the ancient fire escape
and then the roof. “Are you crazy? You could get hurt.”

“Wait here,” Nick said, as he jumped up and
pulled down the fire escape ladder.

“I’m coming with you,” she protested.

“Stay right where you are,” Nick commanded,
as he reached the top of the building and climbed over a wall,
disappearing onto the roof.

Giovanna scanned the alley. Nobody appeared.
She checked her watch several times until five minutes had passed.
Then she walked to the rear door and knocked. Within seconds the
door opened wide enough for Nick to wave her inside.

“We’re not staying long. There are just two
places I’m going to look. Walk directly behind me, and stay close,”
Nick ordered.

In the dark, Nick led the way into the main
area that was slightly lit from the second floor windows. Giovanna
could make out a staircase leading up to the second floor. Nick
rolled a chair over to her.

“Sit here, wait for me, and keep quiet.”

“I don’t know what kind of women you hang
around with, but I don’t take orders. I’m coming with you. Do we
understand each other?”

“Suit yourself.” It was too dark for her to
see the astonished expression on his face. She followed him up the
staircase and waited as he moved some file cabinets away from the
wall. She heard banging and scraping sounds.

“Find anything?”

“Yes, I’m bringing it over.” He approached
carrying a small metal box. “Tony kept two safe deposit boxes in
strategically located hiding places. Let’s go downstairs to find
the other one.”

Giovanna followed Nick downstairs into a
small office next to the main work area where Nick moved the
flashlight slowly around the lower parts of the wall, focusing on a
small area. Like a paintbrush, he carefully panned the flashlight
up and down, moving it slowly from one side to another. The light
passed over a small exhaust vent covered by a painted metal grate.
Nick sat on the floor and removed a set of tiny screwdrivers from
his jacket. He then removed his jacket and laid it on the dirty
floor for Gia.

“Gia, please hold the flashlight on the vent
while I remove the screws.”

Gia complied, sitting next to him on his
jacket and holding the flashlight close to each screw Nick removed.
Nick finally removed the vent and reached inside.

Gia heard a scraping sound and watched Nick
remove a metal box.

“Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll open the door and
go first. If nobody is in the alley, I’ll signal for you to follow.
Walk back to the car and meet me there. I have to go back inside,
lock the door, and come out through the second floor window and
down the fire escape.”

“What if somebody is out there?”

“Then you stay put until I tell you it’s okay
to come out.”

Giovanna nodded and silently followed him to
the door, holding onto his dusty jacket.

Nick carefully opened the rear door and stuck
his head out. He motioned for Giovanna to exit. She walked by him
and playfully kissed him on the cheek, suddenly feeling alive with
excitement. “See you back at the car,” she breathed into his
ear.

----------------

Detective Johnston and Dillon walked down the
hallway to a cleaning cart stationed in front of an open suite. A
woman with her back to them was busily dusting the windows. Her
earphones, plugged into the iPod she carried in her back pocket,
drowned out the rest of the world. She was dancing to the music
while she cleaned, which made Detective Johnston smile. The young
woman filled out her uniform nicely and he was admiring the way her
hips undulated. Dillon, on the other hand, was frowning because she
hadn’t snapped to attention.

“Hard to find good help these days,” he
grumbled.

He walked over to the young woman and touched
her lightly on the shoulder. She had been oblivious to their
presence and practically jumped out of her shoes as she turned
around and saw them. She instantly cowered, with a terrified
expression on her face, like a dog awaiting a beating.

“Oh, Mr. Anders, I didn’t hear you. I’m so
sorry,” she said, as she removed the headphones and turned off her
iPod.

Dillon forced a superficial smile in her
direction. “Sheila, this is Detective Johnston. He has a few
questions regarding one of our guests.”

Again, the young woman looked terrified. Her
large, black eyes flashed with fear. Johnston noted that her eyes
were framed by jet-black hair and that she was quite attractive.
The maid’s outfit and feather duster added to his fleeting
fantasy.

“Have I done something wrong?” she asked. “Am
I in trouble?”

Johnston stepped toward her reassuringly and
motioned toward the couch. “No Sheila, you’re not in trouble. I
want to ask you some questions about a guest named Steven Capresi.
He was staying in one of the Palazzo Suites. I have a photograph of
him. Come sit down and take a look.”

The detective handed the photograph to
Sheila. Sitting on the opposite end of the couch, she tentatively
took the picture, her eyes darting nervously from the detective to
the photograph to the assistant manager. She focused on the
photograph and a faint smile appeared on her face.

“Do you remember Mr. Capresi?” the detective
asked, noting the smile.

“Yes. I remember him. He was very nice.”

“How so?”

She smiled shyly. “Well, he spoke to me very
nicely when I was cleaning his room. He did not treat me like a
maid.”

Detective Johnston nodded. “Yes, he’s a very
good man. Is there anything else you can tell me about him?”

“He asked many questions about Red Rock
Canyon. He was going to hike there and wanted to know if I had ever
hiked in the park.”

“What did you tell him?” the detective asked
with heightened interest.

“I told him I’d been there once. He was
hiking a trail called Turtlehead, but I’d never visited that
trail.”

“Do you remember if he was with anyone?”

Sheila looked uncertain, as if she didn’t
understand the question.

Detective Johnston bit his lip as he
rephrased his question. “Did you see any other guests in the room,
or any indication that somebody else may have been staying with
him?”

Sheila blushed and lowered her eyes. She
shook her head. “I have no idea. I mind my own business when it
comes to our guests.”

Detective Johnston glanced at the assistant
manager and then back to the chambermaid. “Sheila, I’m certain that
you don’t snoop while you’re cleaning. I just thought there might
have been something obvious, like lots of opened liquor bottles,
half-eaten pizzas, or stacks of casino chips–you know, items in
plain view.”

Sheila narrowed her eyes, trying to remember
more, but merely shook her head. “No, sir. Nothing besides the
Canyon.” She hesitated a moment and looked questioningly at the
assistant manager. “Mr. Anders, do you think our guest had
something to do with the murders?”

Dillon glanced nervously at the detective and
shot back a dirty look at Sheila. “No, Sheila, this has nothing to
do with anything that happened in the park. The detective just
wanted to know whether you remembered anything about our guest, and
it’s obvious you do not. Thank you for your time.” He stood to
leave and turned to the detective. “Detective, Sheila’s got a tight
schedule. You’ve had your five minutes, now let’s go.”

Detective Johnston stood slowly, looking
first at the assistant manager and then back at the chambermaid.
“What murders are you referring to, Sheila?”

This time Sheila said nothing, looking
wide-eyed at Dillon for permission to speak. Dillon was already
halfway to the door.

“Detective, you can read about it in the
newspaper,” he said. “I think I have a copy in my office. Neither
Sheila nor I know anything about what happened at Red Rock. It
seems some people were killed, but Mr. Capresi wasn’t one of
them.”

Detective Johnston slowly walked toward the
door and turned to look back at Sheila, who was nervously fingering
her feather duster. “Sheila, are you telling me some people were
killed at Red Rock the same day Mr. Capresi went for a hike?”

The detective knew the answer to his question
before it was given.

Detective Johnston found himself on the wrong
side of the locked door to Anders’ office, with a copy of the Las
Vegas Sun and the phone records to Capresi’s suite. He stumbled
upon the Grand Luxe Café, sat at a remote table, and ordered a
Margarita pizza and a Coke. Then he settled in to read the article
entitled “Massacre at Red Rock.”

The newspaper had a map with markers
indicating where the bodies were discovered. On one side of the
ridge, three young women were found. There was little information
about them. The detective assumed they hadn’t yet been identified,
or that their identities were being withheld pending notification
of their families. They had each been shot twice in the head prior
to being dumped over the summit’s edge. The article focused mainly
on a local man named Billy Veeksburn, whose body was discovered on
the other side of the ridge from where the women were found. He’d
been shot five times in the face and once in the kneecap. The
coroner estimated the times of death at between four and six
o’clock in the afternoon. The article was both a criminal homicide
investigatory piece and an obituary.

Billy Veeksburn had been a local celebrity
who had open ties with the Mob. He had been arrested on numerous
occasions, but never convicted. The article mentioned a car
accident in which Billy had lost most of his ear, which wasn’t a
significant fact for the detective. For the last few years, Billy
and his partner, Harry Chesney, owned a private investigation firm
as well as a local cab company. Detective Johnston sat back in his
chair and wondered if Steven was involved. What bothered him most
was the execution of three women. It was one thing if Steven killed
Veeksburn for revenge, but killing women who were in the wrong
place at the wrong time, much like his own family, was something
else. The detective thought it a good idea to introduce himself to
Veeksburn’s partner.

-----------------

Nick followed Giovanna into her hotel room.
The door opened into a small room with a queen-sized bed in the
center. Giovanna disappeared into the bathroom while Nick removed
the two metal boxes from a shopping bag. He opened the mini-bar and
poured himself a glass of vodka.

“Gia, can I make you a drink?”

“No thank you, but make yourself at
home.”

He sat on the bed and emptied both boxes. The
first items to catch his attention were several passports and
photographs mixed with numerous documents and printouts. Nick
picked up a passport-sized photograph of a handsome young man just
as Giovanna emerged.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“A picture of somebody I don’t know. Here,
take a look,” he said, handing her the photograph.

Giovanna froze, mouth agape. Nick looked up
to see tears streaming down her cheeks.

Nick stood, placing his hands upon her
shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

She smiled sadly as the tears flowed freely.
“This is my brother, Roberto.”

Nick handed her a passport for Roberto
Milani.

“Why would they have Roberto’s passport?”

Nick shook his head as he inspected the other
passports. “I really don’t know. Tony’s got two passports here, and
so do Sal and Joey. So at least one is a fake.”

Giovanna looked puzzled. “Nick, are there any
passports for a man named Giorgio? He’s my cousin, and he worked
with my brother. ”