Dead Man's Hand (24 page)

Now all Dale had to do was catch two kil
lers, win his family back
, outwit the mayor and the other cops
,
and
keep Watters from getting killed before he could find out what was really going on.

The crime scene unit arrived and cleared the scene. As the murders continued and the investigation kept getting much more complicated, seeming to go in all directions, with only suspicion to guide them, all of Dale
’
s veteran instincts after twelve years as a homicide investigator told him that somehow all the murders were connected.

He
immedi
ately had officers do a canvas, but the only interesting thing was a neighbor who saw someone try
ing
to boost Watters
’
car, then give up. How did that fit in?

To make matters worse, the sergeant
came by b
efore the lab guys had finished—a
nother chance to parade his authority and ask about Watters, again. He was obsessed with Watters. To Dale, that was tunnel vision. The sergeant
’
s obsession with Watters made him rule out all other suspects, no matter what Dale reported or showed him.

Supervision was bad enough, but the sergeant was basically controlling the investigation and all Dale could do was follow orders. The
sarge
had moved his way through the ranks from his success as head of the Vice Squad. That meant he had no direct homicide investigation experience of his own and it showed over and over again.

Dale was going to have to do what that lazy desk
jockey told him
,
but find enough time to really solve the case.
With the mayor, lieutenant and sergea
nt watching his every move, he
hoped that he
’
d successfully solve these cases and still be sane.

He
watched the sergeant cross the lot, stop at t
he bottom of the stairs, drop his cigarette and step on it
. Dale met him at the top.
“
The apartment is being processed.
”

“
Good. What do you think?
”

“
Looks like
—
”

“
Detective.
”
A
CSI stuck his head out the door.
“
You should come and
see
this. S
a
rge, if you
’
re coming, put on the paper boots.
”

“
Christ.
”
Dale heard h
is boss say as they headed
inside.

“
We found where the murder happened.
”

Dale followed the tech into the main room. The man turned and hollered,
“
Wally, hit the lights.
”

When the room went dark, the techie turned on a handheld ultraviolet light and waved it in front of the wall. Dale could see the trace of a large blood spatter.

“
We have the scene pretty well narrowed down.
”

“
Tell me.
”
Dale heard his boss
’
s footsteps enter the room behind him.

“
We think the k
iller was already in here when
Craig entered. He
might have
surprised Craig
and
g
ot his gun.
They moved over to this side of the room.
”
The CSI member moved as he spoke, following the direct line and imitating
as best he could
how the team discovered it had taken place.
“
Craig was in the lead with his back turned
and
the killer was behind him
with a weapon with a silencer.
”

So it was a pro.

“
The killer put one round through the back of the head.
He dragged Craig
’
s body to the closet and then had the presence of mind to come back, methodically take time to wipe away the blood and chunks of tissue with a disinfectant and
dig the slug out of the wall. The only thing he didn
’
t do was plaster over the hole.
”

“
Any chance of identification
from just the hole
?
”

The CSI tech
removed a tube of Mikrasil from his kit.
“
I
’
ll make a mold of the impression
and
take it back to the lab. Maybe size and internal characteristics will help. But I
’
m not optimistic.
”

“
What happened next?
”

“
T
he killer
stuffed the officer in the closet and came back to make
everything
clean
as a whistle.
”

“
Jesus, Jenkins,
enough already. Y
ou sound like a fuckin
’
fan
,
”
t
he sergeant chimed in.

Jimmy said,
“
What
’
s the point of cleaning it all up but leave behind the body?
”

“
He would never be able to sneak a body out of here in broad daylight. He was probably hoping to come back tonight when it was dark.
But we got here first.
”
Dale thought about something else and said,
“
So let me get this straight,
”
You have never seen an amateur work like that, have you?
”

“
No
.
”

“
This is a seasoned assassin, right?
”

“
Calvin Watters is no pro
. He
’
s a street thug on a mission,
”
the sergeant replied.

Dale ignored him.

“
Hey, S
a
rge!
”
Officer Simpson came into the apartment from outside.
“
The boys just found Watters
’
car in the parking lot. It
’
s been abandoned.
”

“
Impound it. Maybe we
’
ll be lucky and the guy who tried to jack it left something.
”

There was something at the edge of Dale
’
s mind. He
walked o
ut and had to squint even though he wore
sunglasses.

As he
crossed the lot to his car, he could hear his sergeant following him, wheezing like an asthmatic smoker. The sarge called after him.

Dale
waited to be caught and told himself not to fly off the handle.

“
So, where
’
s Watters?
”

“
Not here.
”
He
kept his answer short, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

“
H
e took out one of our own.
”
T
he sergeant
glanced at the body bag.

“
We don
’
t know Watters killed Craig.
”
He resisted saying anything more.

“
Listen, Dayton.
”
The sergeant
’
s voice grew louder.
“
You need to get on the same page with the rest of us. We all feel bad about Craig. He was a good kid. But we need to focus and do our jobs.
”

“
If I
’
m not conducting this case up to your standards
,
”
Dale
said, his voice
getting louder
,
“
t
hen t
ake me off, but if not, then
—
”
It clicked, mid
sentence. He
turned away from the
sergeant
and ran across the lot.

He
picked up his pace.
“
Hold o
n guys. Back away from the car.
”

The officers looked confused
, but
they
backed away
. Dale
knelt underneath the car and
spotted the casing and detonator.
“
This is great news.
If we have a demolitions expert, this is going to lead us somewhere.
”

Dale
didn
’
t bother to wait around for the bomb squad. They knew their job.

He
grabbed Jimmy and got in the car.
He ha
d not mouthed off.
H
e
had
found a bomb
and
had probably learned as much from the crime scene as they ever would.
For a moment he thought he was doing pretty well.

But he wa
s going to have to tell
Craig
’
s family before they heard it
on the news.
He could do little for them, but at least
he could
tell them in person.
He loved being a cop, but delivering the
death
notification
to a family always made him feel
like a failure.

Chapter 2
5

Outside the house, Mike had mounted hidden security cameras at each corner. He
positioned
motion sensors on the surrounding
grounds as well as tiny, potent
booby traps. Then he hooked up a remote
-
control joystick before handing the controls over to Calvin
, who
maneuvered the joystic
k back and forth. From his seat
he could control every mounted camera and motion sensor around the
“
fortress
.
”

Mike then installed three phones with an unbreakable code that scrambled all communications coming in or going out. He
’
d also brought two military satellite phones with the same scrambling functions. The phone batteries would provide power for a full year. They were more for backup and when he was o
n the move. When Calvin
was in the computer room, he was to use the landline phones—three instead of one, for double backup.

Also, for backup, M
ike had brought
military
wireless servers that
would receive Calvin
’
s signal, b
oost it
and
then provide him
with continuous internet access and untraceable e
-
mail
.

He performed all of the outside duties
while wearing a telephone lineman
’
s suit, to make it look like phone company work.

In four
hours
, the building and atti
c inside and outside had the finest defense
and
security system
Mike had ever installed. Calvin felt fully relaxed for the first time in
two
days.

“
That
’
s it,
”
Mike said with a smile.
“
You
’
re protected almost as well as Fort Knox
now
.
”

“
Thanks, Mike.
A strong defense beats a good offense every time.
”

Just ask the Nebraska Cornhuskers
.

They had a beer in the garage and broke for lunch. Rachel had left the men alone to sort out their details.

“
So, Calvin, hav
e you found out anything more about
your situation?
”

He
took a drink.
“
Yeah, I
’
ve been doing some digging.
”
He
b
rought Mike over to a terminal.
“
I
’
ve started updating and collecting everything I could find on Grant in my database, including all the articles I
’
ve collected and stored in my file. Check this out.
Grant i
s twenty-eight years older than Linda.
”

“
Yeah, I remember the wedding. That
’
s all the city could talk about.
”
It was M
ike
’
s turn to drink.

Calvin pointed
to a picture of
the bride and groom.
“
Anything unusual?
”

“
What about it?
”

“
Th
e background.
”

“
Is that Grant
’
s son?
”

“
Yeah. Shawn Grant.
”

“
He doesn
’
t look too happy.
”

“
He looks pretty pissed off to me.
”

“
Angry at dad robbing the cradle
?
”

“
It
’
s only a picture, but a good place to start.
”

“
What else you got?
”

“
I googled the words
‘
Las Vegas casino owners
’
and three names appeared frequently: Doug Grant, Shawn Grant and Ace Sanders.
”

Mike shrugged.
“
Sounds about right.
”

“
So I tried to find out as much as I could about the men.
”

“
What did you find?
”

“
Shawn
Grant is the youngest man in
Las Vegas to be a part owner of a casino
and
it
’
s said that he
’
s ready to take over for his father.
Sanders—
”

“
Sanders is a lowlife
.
”

Calvin smiled.
“
You and I know that, but from the public
’
s perspective
,
Sanders
is
popular and respected. He
’
s contributed a lot to the city and ha
s supported other businesses
. But we also know the rumors about the hatred between Doug Grant and Sanders
. Sanders made
consistent attempts to buy
t
he Greek.
He has
a mean, quick t
emper. He
’
s a ruthless leader
and
w
omanizer
—
rumor
is
he
’
s
banging
Linda Grant. I have first
-
hand knowledge that
he
employed Pitt for dirty work he didn
’
t want to be involved in. The work was perfect for Pitt. Dirty knows how to handle dirty.
”

“
What did you find out about Doug Grant?
”

“
Not much
yet. But
despite what
Pitt
told me yesterday, I had never heard Grant
’
s name mentioned for any job during the years I
’
ve been collecting.
Sanders
had been Pitt
’
s biggest and most important client. And anyone
who conducted business with
Pitt
is either crooked or greedy.
”

“
So
Sanders
has Grant
’
s wife and casino if he kills him?
”

“
I
’
m not so sure about the casino. Shawn Grant will be running things now and I doubt he
’
s in any hurry to sell to Sanders.
”

“
Do you think Sanders would
actually go that far?
Kill a man?
”

Calvin shook his head.
“
I
’
m not sure yet. I checked to see if the three men had co
nducted business together but
came up empty.
”

The two men sat
in silence for a while.
Calvin
got
up.
“
Want another beer?
”

“
No, not until the job is done. Sit down, I
’
ve been thinking about your
backup
e
mergency
plan. When I was outside, I
had an idea
.
”

Calvin sat back down as Mike continued.

“
I
scoped
the attic and
think my idea is plausibl
e. I
’
ll
cut a hole in your roof and set
a two
-
foot
-
wide board outside that leads across to the roof
of the neighboring building. I
’
ll build a secret trap door that covers the hole
.
T
he board will be short enough to store in the attic, ready to be used when needed.
”

Mike and Calvin
took a swig of the canned brew.

“
It
’
s perfect. Cops never look up when they
’
re surveying a house. We
’
ll se
t up a smoke screen for them
. They
’
ll be so busy with the explosions that they won
’
t see you escaping. I
’
ll plant tiny detonation devices underneath the floorboards. If there ever comes a time w
hen you need to evacuate in a hurry
and you don
’
t want the cops nosing around in your equipment, the failsafe will protect your investment
.
”

He paused for a moment and then continued.
“
When the time is right
—
and
you
’
ll know when that is
—
all you have to do is activate the program on your system and the timing device will give you an adequate countdown to escape before the massive explosion. Of course, because of the multiple
-
server backup system that I installed three years ago,
all of your data
will still be saved, but
on
a remote terminal where the cops won
’
t have access to it.
”

Calvin liked it.

“
There
’
s more. That
’
s the beaut
y of this system.
”
Mike said
.
“
Not only is your system protected by a password, a
n intruder must also get past a retina scanner and
fingerprint test.
A lot more than you really need, but it
’
s all part of the package
.
”

Mike put Calvin and Rachel through the procedure of having their eyes and fingers scanned.

It was early evening
by the time
they were finished and everything was set up. Mike packed his tools into the van and slid the side door shut. He shook Calvin
’
s hand, accepted the rest of Calvin
’
s payment and jumped into the
vehicle
.

Before pulling out, he rolled down his widow.
“
Oh
,
yeah, I almost forgot. Here.
”
Mike threw a package to Calvin.
“
Your new ID
s
.
”

Calvin caught the package.
“
Thanks for everything, Mike. I owe you one.
”

“
You owe me nothing, Calvin. You
’
re a good friend
and
you took care of Andy.
”
Then Mike
’
s face turned grim.
“
I heard this morning about your boss. I can
’
t believe that he was killed only hours after we were talking about him.
”

Crash!

Calvin turned to
find Rachel standing behind, the broken beer bottle
she
had
dropped
scattered around her feet. She turned and ran into the house.

Calvin turned back to Mike.
“
Thanks, Mike. Take care and give Andy my best.
”

“
Did I say something?
”

Calvin waved
a
s the bar owner
p
ulled out of the parking lot. He
checked the neighborhood and
pulled down the fortified
garage door. Then he
sprinted
into the house.