The Dead Don't Speak (22 page)

"You see, I'm in a complicated position here. Out of the blue this guy's agent contacts me and says his client would like to perform at Versailles. He's a performer that I've been after for a while. I don't mean it as a slight to you, but I have to do what's right for the hotel. I believe this guy will draw more people than you because he's a Name. He's already an established entertainer."

"How do I get established then?"

"You ever consider releasing an album? Even just a single? That's all it takes really. Do one song well and people will flock to you. Do you write at all?"

"I've tried. I'm not very good at it."

Tovak slid a little closer, putting an arm loosely around Cayte's shoulders, "I bet you're better than you think. People tend to be their own harshest critics."

She didn't like him sitting so close or touching her, but what he was saying made sense. She let Tovak stay where he was.

"It's hard, you know? Writing a song," Cayte said.

Now Tovak's fingers were sliding up and down Cayte's upper arm, "You can hire someone for that. Get a song writer. That might be the way for you. If you're not into the writing aspect of music; if you're more of a performer."

Tovak took his hand from around Cayte's shoulders, which she was thankful for, but then he put it on her thigh. She froze up. Cayte didn't want to offend him. He may be an asshole but he was an asshole in a position to help her.

His hand crept higher up Cayte's thigh, reaching the frayed strings of her cut-offs.

"Are you a performer?" Tovak asked.

Cayte nodded.

"Are you sure?"

Cayte closed her eyes in an effort to keep the tears in. She nodded again.

Tovak's hand moved up the leg of Cayte's cut-offs.

Daphne Carter knocked on the door to room 1658. Zach answered and showed her into the room, glancing quickly at the closed bathroom door.

"Julian stopped by my house. He said you wanted to speak with me about something?"

"Yeah," Zach said, "I need your help getting out from under Mr. Tovak's thumb."

"What can I do to help?"

Zach spoke quietly. "Cayte is going to emancipate herself and she thinks we're using my income from Versailles to prove we can support ourselves. Fact is, I may not have an income with Versailles. That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Dylan Tovak is the reason my dad finally went crazy. I know it. Tovak was sleeping with Margaret and my dad found out and... you know."

"I'm listening," Daphne said.

"Mr. Tovak has to go."

"I wouldn't be sorry to see that happen," Daphne said.

"Good. What I need from you is a place for us to live, Cayte and I. At least until I know if I still have a show."

"How are you getting rid of Tovak?"

"Don't worry about it." Zach fought back the saline just behind his eyes. He had a good idea of how Tovak would be leaving. Cayte, in her fit of rage, had taken care of that.

"What if he isn't gone? What if your plan doesn't work?"

"It'll work."
And it wasn't my plan
, Zach didn't say.

"Fine. You're a bright boy, smarter than anyone realizes, I think. I can help you out with a place to live and I will do everything within my power to keep your show alive. I do have one condition..."

"Which is?" Zach asked.

"I need you to have a word with your father in prison."

"A word about what?"

"Chris Wright, Simon Simmons' manager, is the other one who ran my daughter down and left her to die. He is in prison with your father. I think I know someone who can get them in the same cell together."

Zach connected the pieces quickly, "And with my father's violent streak..."

"Exactly."

"He'll want something."

"What?"

"I don't know. He's in prison. What do people in prison want?" Zach asked.

"To not be in prison. I know some good lawyers."

"No. He belongs in prison."

"Maybe protection. There are a lot of gangs in prisons. I know a guy who used to be a warden before he went into hotel security. He’s my connection to the prison."

"I like that idea," Zach said.

"So you'll talk to him?" Daphne asked.

"If you'll give me a ride, we can go now."

Daphne rose and walked to the door. Zach followed.

"Give me a minute with Cayte," Zach said, pointing at the bathroom door.

Once Daphne had left the room and door shut, Zach knocked lightly on the bathroom door.

"Cayte? Are you all right?"

She had come back to the room just before Daphne had arrived. Zach had immediately apologized for what he'd said, but Cayte didn't blink. She looked very pale, sickly. She had walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Cayte didn't answer. Zach knocked again.

"I have to go somewhere with Mrs. Carter. When I leave, lock the door from the inside. I shouldn't be gone long. I will knock three times and then three more times when I get back, so you know it's me."

Zach knew what had happened, exactly what he'd warned her about. He tried to console himself for letting her leave without talking her out of going to see Tovak, with the thought that everything happens for a reason.

*****

Lenny Murdock answered his phone, "Daphne, what's the good word?"

"Prison."

"Come again," Lenny said, tension growing in his voice.

Daphne laughed, "I need a few favors from the guards at Clark County Prison."

"Oh god, you gave me a fuckin' heart attack. I know the superintendent over there, shouldn't be a problem. What's the favor?"

"I need Walter Hepson released from the 72-hour hold and put in a cell with Chris Wright. I need Walter protected. Also, his son is on his way to see him right now. I need him available to see his boy."

"No problem. The superintendent owes me. I saved his ass back in my warden days. What's the early release from solitary about?"

"I’ll tell you later," Daphne said.

"Fair enough. I'll make the call."

"Appreciate it, Lenny."

"You bet."

When they arrived at Clark County Prison Walter Hepson sat alone in the meeting room. Zach walked up to his dad and gave him a hug; something he hadn't done for half his life.

"Didn't expect to see you," Walter said.

"You're my dad."

"How 'bout that. 'Least one of us has a sense of right and wrong."

"Don't say that. You know the difference. I know what Mr. Tovak was doing with Margaret; she deserved what she got." Zach's stomach roiled at saying the words, but he needed Walter.

"S'pose."

"I need to ask you for a favor. A really big one."

"Not sure I can do much for you from here."

"You can," Zach said. "You know your new cellmate, Chris?"

A twisted smile touched Walter’s lips. "Was it you that got me outta the hole?” When Zach didn’t reply he asked, “What 'bout him?"

Zach leaned forward and cupped his hands around his mouth to guard the view from the security cameras. He mouthed the words, "Kill him."

"Well, I'll be fucked! 'Kill 'im' he says, like it's so easy."

"Keep it down," Zach said.

"Please, these guys ain't hearin' nothin'." Walter cocked his head and peered down at his son. "You the one got me a favor called in? Guards say no one will mess with me here. You do that?"

"I'm the reason for it, yeah."

"What if I don't kill this Chris?"

"The protection goes away," Zach said with a blank expression on his face.

"I'll be dipped in dogshit if you ain't a chip off the ol' block."

You could never have arranged this.

Zach shrugged, "What can I say?"

Walter nodded, "I'll do it for ya. But you gotta promise me somethin', too."

"What?"

"Come see me every once in a while. It's good seein' you."

"I promise," Zach said.

Walter smiled, "Keep an eye out for the papers tomorrow."

*****

Daphne Carter arrived home in the middle of the afternoon with a rumbling belly. She'd had breakfast before going to meet Detective Pushkin and not a thing since. Tim was kind enough to fix her a sandwich while she sat at the bar in their kitchen and told him about her morning.

"Did you really offer to take in those kids? What if they run away? After all that's happened... I don't know... Is this a good idea?"

"Zach is for real. And he certainly is quite the little mastermind. To be honest, the height of his intelligence scares me a little. But how can we not help those kids out? It's obvious they want to be on their own. This will only be temporary."

"You're right." Tim said, "You want tomato on the sandwich?"

Daphne wrinkled her nose at the question, "No, thanks."

"So what happens if this Walter guy actually goes through with it? What if Chris Wright dies?" Tim asked, not wanting to use the word murder.

"Then it's over. Detective Pushkin will be angry but there's not much he can do with no evidence against me. If he really had something he would have taken me into custody this morning when we met. It'd have looked better in the papers that way."

"I still can't believe he laid all his cards on the table for you. In the parking lot of the State Police barracks, no less. Just put it all out there; it's like he doesn't care if people know he's a crook."

"Honestly," Daphne took a bite of the sandwich, "I think he's kind of proud of it. As if it makes him smarter than those straight arrow types who do their duty regardless of the consequences to their personal lives or aspirations. He's a dumb kind of smart."

"A dumb kind of smart?"

"I don't know," Daphne shrugged, "it sounded good in my head."

"Maybe it should have stayed there?" Tim smiled at his wife.

"Maybe..."

"So, if everything goes as planned, that's it? I get my wife back?"

"And then some. I've decided to step down as CFO of Versailles. It eats up too much of my time and I want to be here with you. It took Sarah's accident to make me realize, every minute I spend in that office is a minute I'm flushing down the toilet. And you can't get minutes back, you know? Once they're gone, they're gone forever."

"So what will you do? Retire?"

"Retirement would drive me crazy. Actually, I was thinking of taking a lower level position with the casino. Something I could do without having to live at the office."

'What position?"

"Director of Entertainment."

After Daphne dropped Zach off at Versailles, he called 911 from a phone in the lobby. He told the operator he wasn't sure what the problem was but his sister was acting funny since her meeting with Dylan Tovak earlier that day. Cayte hadn't come out of the bathroom for a long time. She hadn't even locked the door from inside when he had gone to see Walter. When she finally came out she didn't speak. She just lay down on her bed and closed her eyes.

Zach went on to explain how he and his sister were forced to live at a hotel by Tovak. How he was the boy who'd embarrassed Simon Simmons on stage, and could they please send a police officer to pick him and his sister up. He was worried something bad had happened. After all they'd been through, enough was enough.

The operator was very understanding and dispatched a Las Vegas Metro black and white to Versailles.

When the officer arrived Zach met her in the lobby. He thanked his blind luck that they sent a woman. It made everything easier. She would know how to talk to Cayte. Zach took her to room 1658 where Cayte was asleep.

"Honey," the officer said nudging Cayte. "Wake up, honey." The officer's name was Elizabeth.

"What?" Cayte said.

"Wake up, honey. I am a police officer. You can call me Beth."

It didn't take Officer Beth long to get Cayte talking. She relayed the whole sleazy scenario. In turn, Beth went straight to Dylan Tovak's office and put him under arrest. She marched him out past his pretty new secretary and through the hotel lobby. As a bonus from fate, Beth had parked her black and white by a casino entrance, so Tovak was led through the casino in handcuffs.

Beth called for another officer to bring Zach and Cayte to a nearby hospital so Cayte could get an exam. After that they were brought to the Las Vegas Metro Police Station. The Metro PD had a very nice facility and their "soft room" was actually soft. Cayte went to sleep, humiliated by the experience, but Zach stayed awake, watching over her.

His mind was in overdrive. This would never have happened to Cayte if he hadn’t gotten greedy that night at the Simon Simmons show. How many people were harmed because of his actions? Sarah Carter, Cassandra Hernandez, Chris Wright, Simon Simmons, Margaret, and now Cayte. For the first time in two months, Zach let out the emotion he had bottled up inside. He lay down on the bed and sobbed into his pillow. Would the wave of carnage ever end?

*****

Walter lay awake on the top bunk after lights-out.

Is it worth it?

The constant protection of the guards would be nice, not having to watch his ass in the shower or out in the rec area. Not having to worry about being shanked by some burly nigger or spic, pissed off at the white guy for being better than they were since birth.

So what if the machine called Chris Wright quit working? Big fucking deal!

Chris Wright, with his little weasely glasses. Slinking around on the fringe of any room he was in. Not wanting to bother anybody. Telling everyone who would listen that he wasn't even the guy the police were looking for. Telling everyone his name was really Daniel Cooper, like a broken record.

Walter had had a broken record player once when he was younger. He'd tossed it out and bought a cassette deck instead. That's what he'd do tonight to Daniel Cooper, Chris Wright, or whatever he wanted to call himself. Toss the little scumbag out of this world. Throw away the machine and in a couple days the folks at the prison would bring him another to replace it.

The snoring came about twenty minutes later. Walter slid off the top bunk with a feline grace. The only noise was two quiet clicks when his prison issued footwear hit the concrete floor. He stared down at Chris. How should he do it? Walter looked around the cell for something to smash his face. There wasn't anything too useful in that respect. The guards knew their business.

There was one thing they couldn't take out of the room though; Walter tapped his toe making another
CLICK
. He smiled.

Walter was still smiling when he pounced onto the bottom bunk, both of his hands finding Chris's neck. Before he could do so much as squeak Walter's thumbs were pressing in on Chris's larynx. The only noise he made was a subdued hiss, like when you bleed the built up carbon dioxide pressure out of a soda bottle that's been dropped. Walter squeezed harder and the hissing stopped.

Chris's eyes were bulging now, Walter looked directly into them, fascinated by the process of death. There was a crunch beneath Walter's thumbs, he'd crushed Chris's voice box. Chris couldn't move under the heft of Walter Hepson. He tried to struggle but the short, burly man wouldn't be budged.

When the struggling stopped, Walter got off of Chris. He crawled back onto his bunk and fell into a deep sleep.

*****

Detective Pushkin couldn't drive his unmarked police vehicle fast enough. He was seething as he guided the vehicle to the Carter residence. Chris Wright was dead, less than twenty-four hours after he had spoken with Daphne about what would happen if that occurred. He didn't know how Daphne had gotten to Walter Hepson but Pushkin was sure she had. Using a man known for his psychotic mood swings and violence to do away with the only loose end in her daughter's death. It was smart. Pushkin couldn't deny that. It would be difficult to hold Daphne Carter for longer than twenty-four hours.

At the moment Pushkin didn't care if he could charge her or not. He just wanted to hurt the woman, disrupt her life. That was something he was quite capable of doing.

Pushkin arrived at his destination at 7:17AM, and he wasn't shy about knocking and shouting, "Police!"

Daphne Carter answered the door. "What's the matter?" she asked.

Pushkin spoke loudly, "Daphne Carter, you are wanted for questioning in the murders of Chris Wright and Simon Simmons. Please come with me."

Daphne shouted back into the house, "Tim, honey, I'm being brought in for questioning. Call the attorney, please."

Pushkin drove her to the Las Vegas Metro Police Station without a word. He'd opened up a little at the State Police barracks and was now kicking himself for it. Kicking himself for making it seem like he needed Daphne Carter; that she would get a “get out of jail free” card for going along. No more of that shit. Mrs. Carter wasn't under arrest but she was in hot water.

Yes, Daphne Carter was in hot water until about ten seconds after they entered the police station. Detective Pushkin's Captain was in the lobby to greet them.

The large Captain spoke through gritted teeth, "Leon, take those goddamned handcuffs off her right now." With his muscular jaw clenched the Captain's words had a low, vibrating sound to them.

"Captain, why?"

"Because the Deputy Chief of Police is on his way to have a word with Mrs. Carter, to apologize for your misconduct. The only reason the Chief himself isn't coming is because he's on vacation in Tahoe."

"How the fuck... what?" Pushkin said. He stared at his Captain.

"Don't look at me with your dead eyes, Pushkin. Un-cuff her."

Daphne raised her hands and Pushkin removed the cuffs.

"Mrs. Carter, you have free use of my office. If you would be so kind as to wait for the Deputy Chief."

"Whatever you want," Daphne said, enjoying the use of her trump card.

"Thank you, Mrs. Carter. Beth here will show you to it."

"Thank you, Captain," Daphne said and followed Beth.

Pushkin was promptly ushered into his own office and the door was closed.

"Do you know who that is?" the Captain asked.

"Daphne Carter, I have reason to beli-"

"Do you know who her husband is?" the Captain said, cutting Pushkin off.

"I know his name's Timothy Carter. He is a stay-at-home husband. A trophy wife type, in a manner of speaking."

"Do you know Tim Carter's family? His mother's maiden name?"

"I never had a need," Pushkin said.

"It's Andover. You may know his uncle, Eugene Franklin Andover."

"No fuckin' way..." Pushkin said.

"Yes fuckin' way," the Captain continued, "Attorney General Andover. But that's not the best part, not after what you said. Daphne Carter's trophy husband, as you called him, has a law degree from Columbia. He specialized in forensic law. If his wife isn't immediately released, we would have one of the best Forensic Lawyers in the country crawling up our ass. Do you want that?"

Pushkin didn't say a word.

"Me either. I don't care what you think she did. Daphne Carter is free."

"Can I say something, Captain?"

"Go ahead."

"She may be responsible for the death of two men. I believe she participated in the murders of Simon Simmons and Chris Wright. But because she married well we're supposed to let her walk without even asking a question?"

"Didn't you interview her yesterday?"

"Yes but..."

"And do we have Simon Simmons' body? Do we even know he's dead?"

"No, sir..."

"And didn’t Chris Wright's cellmate already confess to killing him for snoring too loud?"

"Yes Capta-"

"I don't see the name Daphne Carter anywhere in that mess. The woman just lost her daughter because two pieces of shit killed a Mexican girl and panicked. I'm sorry you lost your big case, Leon, but it is what it is. You know I'm right. I can tell you're pissed. So am I. I don't like having to back off a suspect, but that's the reality of sitting in my chair. There's more in play here than guilty and not guilty. I suggest you let this one go; move on with your career. You're the man who caught the Fremont Slasher. People haven't forgotten that."

While Pushkin was having his ass handed to him by his Captain, Daphne was having an entirely different experience.

"You must be someone special," Beth said. "We usually don't see the Captain offering up his office or going easy on anyone. He's got a reputation for being a hard ass."

"I'm not that special. I am a casino executive, but we're a dime for eleven around here."

"Don't you mean a dime a dozen?"

Daphne smiled, "Maybe where you shop."

Beth sighed and said, "I need a little humor after my night."

"Not good?"

"Not at all. I got called out to Versailles by this kid. He was pretty sure his sister was raped by this total scumbag who works there."

Daphne didn't have to ask the details. That's why Cayte had locked herself in the bathroom when she went to see Zach. It seemed odd at the time, but having been a teenager once herself, Daphne hadn't thought much of it.

"We had the guy in interrogation for fifteen minutes and he gives it up. Yes, he took advantage of that girl. 'Took advantage,' like he was teasing a younger sibling. The poor girl, she was distraught the entire time. And the boy, he looked like he'd faint at any moment, no color in his face at all. Poor kids, they've had a rough time of it."

"Did something happen to the boy?" Daphne asked.

"Not that I know of. He was just terribly upset over what happened to his sister. Usually you see anger when family members find out about a rape. Not this kid, he looked heartbroken."

*****

Both Julian and Daphne were present at a hearing later that afternoon concerning the fates of Zach Hepson and Cayte Williamson. This was the first time either Julian or Daphne had learned the teenage girl’s last name. The judge asked if the youths' sponsor was present, the one who would help Cayte with her emancipation.

Julian leaned forward to stand but Daphne put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "Let me take this one."

Daphne stood, "I am here."

"Very good. State your name for the record."

"My name's Daphne Carter and I will be helping Zach and Cayte with whatever they need."

"And you have the means to do this?" the judge asked.

"I do. I am CFO at the Versailles Hotel and Casino, and my means are extensive."

"Are you sure you and your husband can take on this responsibility so soon after a family tragedy?"

"We are, your honor. I've spoken with my husband about the situation. We will provide housing for Zach and Cayte and all the financial support they need in the future, until they are of age or means to support themselves."

"Very well then, I hereby grant Daphne Carter temporary custody of Zach Hepson and Cayte Williamson."

Anyone who attended and was not initiated in the ways of custody hearings might have thought this was handled rather sloppily. Truth was Daphne and Judge Jennifer Day met in her chambers an hour prior and sorted out the details. Daphne provided pay stubs and her last W2; it was obvious the Carters could handle the financial burden. Judge Day liked to meet with all soon-to-be-guardians to get a sense of who they were and she liked what she'd seen in Daphne Carter.

*****

There was an emergency meeting called by the Versailles Board of Directors to address the recent arrest of Dylan Tovak. Daphne Carter was summoned for her input and she brought Zach along so he could get a sense of the company he would be working with.