Dead Hand: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  Sarge watched her and Robin turned to face her as well.

  “Mac said this has something to do with marriage,” Pickett said. “He thinks that’s one of the keys.”

  Sarge sat back, shaking his head. “Mac was right. It does have to do with marriages. Every detail of it, actually. But not in a standard way.”

  “Not in a church, happily-ever-after way?” Robin asked.

  Sarge shook his head. “Not at all. Weddings in this city are a major attraction to draw all types from all over the country. Right?”

  Both other detectives nodded, so Sarge smiled and went on.

  “Porn is a major industry as well, including wedding night porn and voyeur porn, right?”

  Again both nodded.

  “So our creeps set up a way to get prospective, good-looking clients to come to them, to this city. That would be the August Tux Shop and the other wedding stores they own.”

  “And they know their clients are coming,” Robin said, “from the hacks in the marriage license data base, so they have each person’s personal information before they walk through the doors.”

  “So you are saying that this does have to do with marriage,” Pickett said, “but just as a way to find porn actors to work for free.”

  “Exactly,” Sarge said. He knew in his gut he was right on this. For the first time some of this was making a sick sort of sense.

  “So this is a sex trade problem,” Robin said. “But I’m betting not a one of these victims have ever left this country.”

  “You think they are in the tunnels?” Pickett asked.

  “I would bet most anything on it,” Sarge said. “The ones that are still alive.”

  “So now what do we do?” Robin asked. “Not a bit of this is strong enough to get a warrant.”

  “You and Will and your people keep digging,” Pickett said. “Carefully.”

  Then Pickett turned to Sarge and smiled. “We’re the field team. You up for getting some help and putting together an experienced expedition into those storm drains to see what we can see? Maybe interview some homeless people down there for what they have seen?”

  “I hate the idea,” Sarge said. And he did. Completely. But he also knew that Pickett was right.

  He smiled at her. “But I don’t think we have a choice at this point. We have to find out if this crazy idea is right or not.”

  “For the record,” Robin said, “I hate this idea as well. But I also see no choice.”

  “I’ll call Mike Dans tomorrow morning,” Sarge said. “See if we can hire him and his team to help us.”

  “With him along,” Robin said, “I hate the idea a little less.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Pickett said, smiling at her partner.

  Sarge just laughed. And considering the stupidity of the idea they were discussing, that felt good.

  “Now I could use a drink,” Robin said.

  “I’ve got what some people say is a really good white wine at my place,” Sarge said. “You two up for a glass of wine before we call it a night?”

  “How far do you live from here?” Robin asked.

  Pickett was looking puzzled as well.

  “Not far,” Sarge said smiling. He pointed to Pickett’s bare feet. “In fact, you won’t even have to put your shoes back on.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  October 19th, 2016

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  PICKETT WAS STUNNED as Sarge led them out her front door, made sure she had her key, then instead of going to the elevator, turned to the left and put a key into the door right next to hers.

  “We’re neighbors?” she asked, feeling completely stunned. He had said he was rich, but she had no idea he was as rich as she was.

  Maybe richer.

  “I didn’t know either until tonight,” he said. “You said you had a condo here, but I didn’t expect us to both be on the same floor.”

  “So you two have never run into each other in the elevators or lobby or anywhere?” Robin asked.

  “And never once thought to ask who my neighbors were,” Sarge said.

  “I didn’t either,” Pickett said, laughing as Sarge led them into his penthouse condo.

  “Two great detectives,” Robin said, shaking her head. “You might want to find out who is in that third condo on this floor just to make sure it isn’t our August Tux Shop owner.”

  “Oh, real good plan there,” Pickett said, laughing. “Wouldn’t that be funny if it was him?”

  Both Sarge and Robin said at the exact same time, “No.”

  Pickett was amazed at how comfortable she felt in Sarge’s condo. In fact, it felt a lot like her place. He had decorated everything in brown tones as well, and had one full wall of oak bookcases filled completely with hardbacks on the wall that separated his place from hers. His living room windows looked to the north and east and she could imagine the beauty of the sunrises.

  The ceilings over his living room were higher than hers and the windows taller, but the kitchen to the right of the main room seemed similar.

  “Wow, two stories?” Robin said.

  Pickett turned to see what Robin meant and saw the wide, almost grand-looking staircase leading up to a level above.

  “Always wondered who had that top floor in this place,” Pickett said.

  “Are you really this rich?” Robin asked, staring at the place and making Sarge look slightly uncomfortable.

  “Massive family inheritance the year after I quit the force,” Sarge said. “Dead broke like all detectives before that. Figured a really nice place to live would be a good way to spend a little of the inheritance money and this place was open because of the recession.”

  “Can we see the upstairs?” Pickett asked.

  Sarge smiled and said, “Be my guests.”

  He led the way up the staircase to a massive room at the top that had most of a complete view of all of Las Vegas and the valley and mountains around the city. His view was the same as hers, and with everything else around the valley included as well, seen clearly through the tall windows.

  To Pickett it felt as if they had stepped up on the roof of the building, only the roof was covered and enclosed and had soft couches and furniture filling a central area. There were no other rooms blocking the view in any direction, so clearly all the bathrooms and bedrooms were on the main level below.

  It was clear that Sarge spent a lot of time up here, judging by the pile of books and papers on the large coffee table in the middle of the room.

  “Wow,” Robin said moving to the middle of the room and slowly turning to take in everything. “Just wow.”

  Pickett glanced at Sarge. “This is just amazing.”

  “Sold me on the place when I saw it,” he said. “And even in the summer in the day, the windows have a special tint that blocks the sun for the most part and the air conditioning can keep up with the rest. And on nice evenings such as this one, I can sit out on the deck.

  He went to the side facing the Strip and slid open a wide glass door and stepped outside.

  The cool night air felt wonderful to Pickett as she stepped out beside him, staring at the bright lights of the massive casinos. The deck seemed to run along the entire side of the upper floor and around to the right.

  “There can’t be many views like this in all of Las Vegas,” Robin said.

  “Costs a lot,” Sarge said. “Sometimes I’m actually embarrassed to spend even the condo fees and utilities each month, considering they are more than my entire mortgage payment used to be on my old home.”

  “But we can’t take it with us, can we?” Pickett said, laughing.

  “Exactly,” Sarge said, smiling. “I got my daughter set up so that if something happens to me, she is even richer than I ended up. So nothing else to do but spend some of this on a wonderful place to live. And a lot of good meals.”

  “Well,” Robin said, “if you two don’t mind, I’m going to head for home and talk with Will about maybe moving to a place with a
view. Maybe that third condo up here will come open.”

  Pickett laughed. “You can’t fool me, partner. You’re going home to work and see how the research is going.”

  Robin smiled as she headed down the stairs. “Well, that too.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  October 19th, 2016

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  SARGE WASN’T SURE what to do next, considering that he was now alone with a beautiful woman in his place, something that had never happened before. It made him feel young and completely stupid, something he remembered feeling all the time when he actually had been young.

  They both stared at the view from the balcony for a moment, then Sarge asked the question he needed to ask first. “Does it bother you that I am your neighbor?”

  Pickett laughed and shook her head, looking up at him. “Not in the slightest. I kind of like it, to be honest. Does it bother you I live right down there?”

  She pointed down at her deck under his.

  He laughed, realizing that he liked having her that close. “Not in the slightest either. So how about that glass of wine I offered. Clearly Robin wasn’t into drinking.”

  “She’s married,” Pickett said, smiling. “She’s forgotten how to have a good time.”

  “And we’ve remembered?” Sarge asked.

  “Planning to remember,” Pickett said. “And yes, I would love that glass of wine.”

  He liked the sounds of that a lot and all worry about them being neighbors just vanished. In fact, it looked like it might be a real advantage.

  “You want to wait here or take a peek into my wine cellar?” Sarge asked.

  “You have another level to this place?”

  “Well,” Sarge said, “from here we do have to go downstairs to get to the wine.”

  “This I’ve got to see,” Pickett said, laughing.

  Sarge let her lead off the patio and he slid the door closed and then followed her down the stairs as she just kept staring around.

  “This place is amazingly comfortable,” she said when she reached the bottom of the stairs, staring first at the kitchen, then around at the living room.

  He loved to hear her say that. Pleased him more than he wanted to admit and again he realized he was back being a kid, worried about how a girl would think of something he did.

  At his age, that actually felt nice, not at all like the panic he had felt when young.

  “So is your place,” he said. “I was surprised how similar our tastes were and I love that you had a lot of books scattered around.”

  “I liked the same thing about your place,” she said.

  He turned and led her down a wide hallway going away from the kitchen and toward the bedrooms. He had had the bookshelves along the wall of the hallway custom built just for fun. They were full completely of books he had read and others he planned on reading at some point.

  About halfway down the hallway he stopped and made sure she was watching, then pulled out a book from the second shelf from the top. There was a click and the wall moved inward revealing an oak table and beyond the table a glass wall showing a large room of wine on racks beyond.

  This had been a fourth bedroom when he bought the place, but it had just sat empty before he remodeled.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said, laughing and clapping her hands.

  Her laugh sounded like a kid in a candy store and that just made him smile more than he already was smiling.

  “Always wanted a secret room behind a bookcase,” he said, feeling very proud of his wine room as they stepped inside. “I needed to build a climate-controlled room for a decent wine collection anyway, so why not go all the way. Having too much money can create things like this.”

  She laughed. “I flat love it.”

  “There’s more,” he said.

  He turned and pushed a button and another wall to the right of the door slid back revealing a major computer terminal and half-dozen large screens.

  He had a bunch of the research he had done on the desk beside the terminal and some printouts of the area and a large printout of the tunnels.

  “This functions as a security system for the condo as well as a major computer set-up for research,” he said. “Mike Dans’ people set this up for me when I first moved in here.”

  “Wow, just wow,” she said.

  She looked up at him, staring with those wonderful brown eyes of hers at him. Then she said, “Thank you for showing me this. Makes me feel like a kid again.”

  “Thanks for letting me show it to you,” he said. “I feel the same way.”

  With that, he turned and opened up the glass door into the climate-controlled part of the room and picked a special white wine, something he had been saving for a special moment.

  This sure seemed like a special moment to him.

  Very special.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  October 19th, 2016

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  PICKETT DID AS Sarge instructed and went into the living room near the kitchen while he opened the wine. She sat down on the couch facing the windows. She couldn’t believe how comfortable she felt with him and how wonderful his place was.

  She felt just as comfortable here as she did in her own condo. And being right next door was a wonderful benefit no matter what they decided to do with a relationship. She had a hunch that Sarge could be a very, very close friend.

  And she had to admit, she was hoping for more than friendship. A lot more, but she had to remind herself that she had only known Sarge for less than two days. It felt now like she had known him her entire life.

  Strange, very strange, but it didn’t scare her in the slightest. In fact, she was going to enjoy the feeling. And it seemed like he was as well.

  He had been like a young boy showing her his nifty hidden room. She had loved that look on his face of pride and happiness that she had liked it as well.

  And she hadn’t been making it up that she had liked the room and the computer set-up. She in fact loved it.

  And she really loved that upper floor with the most amazing view of all the lights of the Las Vegas valley. On a clear fall night like tonight, that had just been stunning.

  He came out of the kitchen and handed her a tall crystal wine glass.

  “Can I ask what you are thinking?”

  She smiled at him as he sat down beside her and put his feet up on the coffee table, clearly completely relaxed with her. She liked that more than she wanted to admit to herself.

  “Honestly,” she said, “thinking about how much I love your place and your nifty upstairs and even wilder secret room.”

  He smiled. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. You are the first person I have shown it to.”

  She frowned and turned to him. “Not even your daughter?”

  He shrugged. “Nope. She and her husband don’t drink and they stay in hotels when in town for more privacy, so the only time they are here is when they allow me to cook for them. Never occurred to me that they would even appreciate it.”

  “Thank you,” she said, holding up her wine glass to toast him. “For sharing with me.”

  He clinked his glass lightly against hers and then she took a sip, startled at how wonderful the wine was.

  “Wow, this is something,” she said.

  “It is, isn’t it?” Sarge said, taking a second sip and smiling. “Lott suggested I try it, so I bought a bottle for a special occasion. I think I might need to buy a few more bottles, don’t you?”

  “Without a doubt,” she said, taking another sip of the wonderful smooth wine.

  She couldn’t believe how pleased she was that he thought this was a special occasion. It felt that way to her, since this was the first time in memory that she had been in a man’s apartment, alone. A man she was interested in as well.

  “So what are you thinking?” she asked after a moment.

  “Honestly wondering where this is headed with us,” he said.

  She was surp
rised that he had been so direct, but not really. In the short time she had known him, that clearly was his way of dealing with things. Direct, honest, and straightforward.

  She set her glass down on the coffee table, then took his glass from his hands and set it beside hers.

  Then she turned to face him and look into his slightly worried eyes.

  “I think it should go this way,” she said.

  She leaned up and kissed him.

  It took him a moment to kiss her back, then he did, wrapping his wonderful arms around her and pulling her up close.

  She was lost in the kiss. Better than any kiss she had ever remembered.

  Better than her first kisses in high school.

  After a moment he broke the kiss and leaned back and looked into her eyes.

  He was smiling, more than likely as hard as she was.

  “That was really wonderful,” he said, his voice slightly husky.

  “I agree, detective,” she said. “But I think we need more research on this topic, don’t you.”

  He laughed and nodded and this time he kissed her, pulling her up and against him.

  And it felt heavenly to be against him.

  And right.

  Perfectly right.

  PART FIVE

  Under Las Vegas

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  October 20th, 2016

  Las Vegas, Nevada

  SARGE COULDN’T BELIEVE that the evening had ended up in his large bed and the morning had started off with the two of them taking a shower together and soaping each other’s backs.

  He felt young again and seeing Pickett’s beautiful naked body under the streaming water sure helped that feeling, so much so that they ended up taking a second shower after going back to bed.

  He had thought that part of his life long past, and she had said the same thing. But it had been great.

  Then in one of his bathrobes, carrying her clothes, she had gone back to her place to dress and he had knocked on her door fifteen minutes later.