Ghosts

by Matt Rogers

  Violetta looked at the door. ‘Are Tony and Eric coming in?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Can we talk?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Cooperation,’ Violetta said. ‘There is no reason this has to be messy. We could do big things together.’

  ‘You killed four people to suggest we become friends?’

  ‘Four useless thugs,’ Violetta said. ‘Would you argue with that? And, yes, we can be friends. Better than the alternative.’

  Violetta didn’t need to elaborate. She knew Kerr would understand. Set an example early, start with an overwhelming display of force, and there’s no need for the war for power.

  ‘I won’t kill you here,’ Kerr said. ‘I could if I wanted to. But clearly your forces are already here, so your death will make them leaderless, and I’m not a fan of messiness — it doesn’t help anyone. That doesn’t mean I’m going to roll over for you.’

  ‘I do not expect you to.’

  ‘I’m glad we’re on the same page.’ A pause. ‘How did you find Gates?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘His greed makes him short-sighted. He does not screen the people in his establishment. All he sees are dollar signs. He let my people in without a moment’s hesitation.’

  Kerr thought about it — thought about all she knew of Gates — then nodded. ‘I’ll need to shut down his operation.’

  Violetta shrugged. ‘There might be value in it. From what my people saw, it is profitable. But adjustments will need to be made.’

  Kerr didn’t say anything.

  Violetta said, ‘Do you have any establishments with similarly reckless owners?’

  Kerr shook her head. ‘I’m watertight. I have a holding facility on the outskirts of the city where I keep some of my product. It’s invisible. No one will ever find it. Not even you.’

  ‘You keep your product alive there?’

  ‘Of course. Usually it’s my girls that have too much heat on them. Might be easier to just kill them, but I’ve found they’re more useful to me alive than dead. They can be set up with new identities after everything dies down, and then I can put them back to work. I’m playing the long game here.’

  A spear of hope hit Violetta hard.

  She thought, Elsa.

  She didn’t let it show on her face.

  Kerr said, ‘I think I’m understanding how you want this to work.’

  Violetta raised an eyebrow.

  Kerr said, ‘All these questions about establishments.’

  Silence.

  Violetta waited for her to continue.

  Kerr said, ‘I know every corner of this city. I know where people can be hidden. I know the typical customer like the back of my hand — exactly how much they’re willing to pay, and what sort of lengths they’re willing to go to to get what they want. I know exactly how to maximise profit. You’re new to Las Vegas, but you have an army. I’ve been forced to rely on gangbangers for my security. Men exactly like the four you killed. I think you’ve exposed the flaws in that approach.’

  Silence.

  Kerr said, ‘So this is a merger, right? You bring all your people in. That’ll allow me to expand what I’m doing, and I’ll have adequate protection to start the sort of city-wide operation I’ve always wanted to put into place.’

  Violetta saw Kerr sense weakness in what she’d said.

  So Kerr followed it up with, ‘But I have to warn you, if you’re even thinking about a hostile takeover, it’s not going to work. I’m the Clark County DA. That makes me vulnerable to public scrutiny. There’ll always be journalists and activists on the fringes, ready to pick up the scent of corruption. I’ve planned for that. I can make my whole operation disappear like that’ — she snapped her fingers — ‘which means I can do the same to you. If you think you can slip in here and force me out, I’ll snap my fingers. Everything will be gone. I have enough money for ten lifetimes. If I need to, I’ll get out and vanish and you’ll be left sitting in the ruins wondering why you wasted such a good opportunity.’

  Violetta said, ‘I understand.’

  ‘Then let’s meet again. Somewhere more private next time. Now that we’ve reached an understanding.’

  Violetta nodded. ‘Name a time and place, my dear. I’ll be there.’

  She realised she’d slipped up.

  “I’ll” instead of “I will.”

  Kerr didn’t seem to notice.

  The DA leant forward. ‘I assume until then you won’t do anything stupid to try and intimidate me?’

  Violetta cocked her head.

  Kerr said, ‘I’m a public figure. I have a family. It won’t be hard for you to track them down if you wanted.’

  ‘Your family is perfectly safe.’

  Kerr nodded. ‘I’m glad.’

  For the first time Violetta noticed a couple of framed photographs on the cabinet close to the desk. Adding a touch of personalisation to the otherwise-cold office. She knew it was manufactured. Kerr didn’t give a shit about sentimentality. But people came into this room all the time. They had to see she was a human being. Which is why she’d brought it up in the first place, because her family were right there in full view. A good-looking husband, a beautiful daughter, and a cute little boy. Kerr was there in the pictures too, smiling warmly, a world away from the ice statue sitting across from Violetta.

  Violetta regarded the photos one by one. ‘You have a nice family, Ms. Kerr. Someday I might too.’

  Kerr nodded. ‘That’s my husband, Robert. My son, James, is four.’

  Violetta turned back to the photos, looked at the kids.

  She said, ‘And your daughter is, what, fifteen?’

  Kerr’s beady eyes bored into Violetta.

  She said, ‘Yes. Her name’s Melanie.’

  32

  Shit, Violetta thought.

  Kerr had laid the bait with the expertise of a practiced sociopath.

  Violetta couldn’t hide the hint of a reaction. She did everything in her power not to let it show, but something flickered in her eyes — she was sure of it. The tiniest flash of recognition. The intrusive thought — She’s pimping out her own goddamn daughter — couldn’t be masked in its entirety. Milliseconds later it was gone from her eyes, and with her heart rate slightly elevated she prayed Kerr hadn’t noticed.

  But Kerr had been manoeuvring her that way the whole time, ever since she’d unnecessarily brought up her family.

  Violetta adjusted herself in her seat. ‘Your children are beautiful.’

  Kerr stared at her.

  Half-smiled.

  She said, ‘Your accent slipped, darling.’

  It had.

  Not enough for most people to notice.

  Kerr wasn’t most people.

  Violetta knew she could lunge across the desk, send Kerr tumbling out of her chair, choke her unconscious before she could so much as make a sound.

  But what good would that do?

  The only option was to stonewall and counterattack.

  Inwardly, she thought, This woman loans her child out to pedophiles for profit. She herself admitted she has more money for ten lifetimes, and still that’s how far she’s willing to stoop. For what? Why?

  A million questions burned inside Violetta, but she couldn’t crack.

  Not yet.

  Outwardly, she said, ‘You’re hearing things.’

  ‘And you’re contracting words. You were not doing that before.’

  Violetta said, ‘I speak however I want to speak.’

  ‘I can see that,’ Kerr said. ‘Even if it means faking an accent.’

  Violetta scoffed.

  Kerr said, ‘I’m not easy to manipulate. If you wanted to try, you had to do a whole lot better. I’m afraid you failed.’

  Exit, a voice in Violetta’s head screamed. Now.

  ‘Do not forget what I said,’ she said. ‘I will be in touch.’


  Kerr smiled, and her eyes were perhaps the most wraith-like they’d been. ‘No you won’t.’

  Violetta rose from the chair.

  Kerr hissed, ‘Sit down.’

  Violetta thought about it.

  The door would be locked.

  The ex-spec ops ghosts would be outside.

  No hope of running.

  She had to comply.

  Tough it out.

  She sat back down.

  Kerr said, ‘What were you hoping to achieve here? You’re a journalist?’

  Violetta maintained the accent. She wasn’t sure why. ‘No.’

  ‘You’re not wired,’ Kerr said. ‘My men made sure of that. So it’s your word against mine.’

  Silence.

  Kerr said, ‘But, if I’m being honest, I’d rather it didn’t get to that in the first place.’

  Maximise confusion, Violetta thought.

  She slipped back to her natural American accent, succinct and fluid. ‘Listen, bitch — you kill me and you activate my contingencies.’

  Kerr shifted an inch back in her seat, thrown off by the abrupt change in personality.

  Violetta heaped it on. ‘You think wires in this day and age are actually wires? They’re microscopic. There’s one in my collar, and it’s been streaming a live feed of this conversation to a certain political columnist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I think you’ll know his name if I told you. If I don’t walk out of here in one piece he’ll publish everything before you and your “considerable influence” can shut it down. He’s listening right now.’

  Kerr soaked all this in.

  She put her elbows on the desk and leant forward on them, inching closer to Violetta’s face, staring her in the eyes.

  Her gaze could melt steel.

  Violetta didn’t flinch.

  Didn’t matter.

  Kerr smiled again, the same sickly leer. ‘No he isn’t. You’re lying through your teeth.’

  Violetta said, ‘Try me.’

  ‘I will,’ Kerr said. ‘Because there’s something you and your self-righteousness didn’t take into consideration.’

  ‘And what’s that?’

  Kerr said, ‘I can smell your fear.’

  Violetta said nothing.

  Kerr said, ‘Have you forgotten what world I live in? Have you forgotten what I do? How many people do you think I’ve seen beg for their lives in front of me? How many do you think threw out a Hail Mary to try and save their skin when they knew all hope was lost?’

  Violetta said nothing.

  Kerr lowered her voice. ‘You’re one of those people.’

  She hit an intercom button built into the surface of the desk, inches away from her hand. ‘Gentlemen. Come in here, please. I have a job for you.’

  A pause.

  Kerr added, ‘Bring a suppressor.’

  Violetta launched out of her chair.

  She only made it a few inches off the leather. There was a Beretta M9 in Kerr’s spindly hand, drawn from underneath the desk at warp speed. Violetta hadn’t even seen it materialise. But she made sure to throw herself back into the seat as urgently as she’d come out of it. She recognised the barrel aimed at her temple and sunk into total compliance.

  It was the only way to temporarily stay alive.

  Kerr said, ‘I could have done that whenever I wanted. I could shoot you right here.’

  Violetta slumped her shoulders.

  Kerr said, ‘But then what’s the point of paying people for? Delegation is important.’

  The door opened quietly, off to the side of the room.

  Violetta didn’t dare look.

  She had no choice — she had to try something. She hunched forward and let out a massive breath of air, like the pressure in her core had reached boiling point and burst forth from her lips. Kerr seemed to buy it. It helped Violetta slump her shoulders and enshroud her mid-section in shadow as she gently slipped a hand into the low pocket of her suit jacket. If Kerr thought she was going for a gun, she was dead.

  But Kerr missed it.

  Somehow, some way, fate had aligned to mask it from view.

  It was a game of inches.

  Millimetres, even.

  But Violetta was able to touch a finger to the fake key fob and depress the button.

  33

  Alexis’ phone screamed in her pocket.

  Her heart leapt.

  She thought, Did I somehow press my own panic button?

  Ward looked over. ‘What the hell is that?’

  ‘My phone,’ Alexis said.

  ‘Is that your ringtone?’ he said. ‘Are you deaf?’

  They were cruising down Blue Diamond Road to the southwest of Vegas, having already left the congested epicentre of the city in the rear view mirror. The road was like an artery cutting through barren swathes of empty sand lots, with the occasional collection of houses or lone industrial buildings punctuating the view. She knew they would only get further away from civilisation, and with it her chances of being saved by a Good Samaritan.

  Yeah, right, she thought. Fat chance of that. I’m handcuffed in a fucking cop car.

  Ward drove with one hand, reached over and shoved his other hand into her pocket to get to her phone. That alone was violating. She flashed back to a dark night in New York City, in the midst of a power blackout, when two stockbrokers who lived down the hall forced their way into her apartment and threw themselves on her. It made her sick to her stomach.

  And this is just the beginning.

  She hadn’t even met Ray yet.

  Ward retrieved the phone and glanced down at the screen before returning his eyes to the road. ‘Who’s Violetta?’

  Oh, God, Alexis thought.

  She stonewalled.

  He said, ‘Not going to answer that?’

  Nothing.

  Over the shrieking, Ward said, ‘How the hell do I stop this?’

  ‘How dumb are you?’

  Ward stared at her.

  She sighed. ‘Just turn the phone off.’

  He did.

  It cut the wailing off abruptly and blackened the screen. The car returned to resigned silence. He dropped the dead phone in the drink holder.

  He said, ‘Probably should have searched you before, huh?’

  He looked her up and down, probably wondering whether she had a hidden firearm.

  Then he seemed to note her arms wrenched hard behind her back, and settled back into the drive.

  Thinking, It can wait.

  ‘You didn’t think about it,’ Alexis said. ‘Because it wasn’t a routine arrest. You’ve never abducted someone before, let alone handed them over to a rapist.’

  Ward sat still as stone.

  Ward said, ‘How am I supposed to know if he’s a rapist or not?’

  She stared at him with fury. ‘You didn’t just say that.’

  ‘What do you want me to do?!’ he yelled, so loud it made Alexis shrink in her seat. He smashed an open palm against the top of the wheel. ‘You think I enjoy this? You think this gets my rocks off? I’d rather be anywhere else.’

  ‘You could be anywhere else.’

  ‘And then they’d murder the woman who raised me.’

  Alexis paused. ‘Your grandmother raised you?’

  Ward opened his mouth, then cut himself off before he could speak. He shook his head emphatically, side to side. ‘No. No. Don’t do that. I’m not talking to you about my goddamn family. I’m not talking to you about anything.’

  ‘Sounds a lot like you are.’

  ‘Shut up,’ he said. ‘Please shut up.’

  ‘Oh, because you’d feel better?’ Alexis said. ‘How awfully noble of me. To just sit here and make sure you’re feeling real good about yourself as you hand me over to human filth.’

  ‘Why did you lie to me?’ Ward said. ‘Why? None of this would have happened if you hadn’t pretended to know him.’

  ‘I was tracking him,’ Alexis said. ‘Looking for him, or information about him
. Because he’s a piece of shit who needs to be dealt with and you know it.’

  ‘Just you?’

  ‘No.’

  Silence.

  He said, ‘I should have done this ten minutes ago.’

  He buzzed the window down and hurled the phone out.

  Alexis’ stomach lurched, like she was in an elevator that had abruptly slowed.

  She tried to save face. ‘That was a mistake.’

  He sighed. ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into?’

  ‘You made this choice,’ she said. ‘Own it. Don’t pretend you’re a victim of circumstance.’

  He lowered his voice, as if he were talking to himself, and said, ‘I’m going to be there. I’m going to be there the whole time. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. I swear.’

  ‘How exactly is that going to work?’

  She put every ounce of scorn she could into her voice, because she knew she was arguing for her life.

  He said, ‘I’m on the back foot. I need to do this. It’s all happening too fast. If I hand you over, I can work on getting my grandma out of the house, and then I can come back for you.’

  ‘You won’t,’ she said. ‘Because you’re weak enough to hand me over in the first place. You don’t have the guts.’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Then prove it,’ she said. ‘Let me out of these cuffs, and let me out of this car. Don’t let me die.’

  He gripped the wheel but didn’t say anything.

  ‘Alan,’ she said. ‘Don’t let me die.’

  He gripped it tighter.

  She said, ‘Drop me off, go home, get your grandma, and get out of this city.’

  That seemed to sway him.

  In the wrong direction.

  He went pale and shook his head. ‘They’ll be watching the house. I can’t get her out. I have no choice.’

  He pulled off the artery of Blue Diamond Road into the unincorporated community of Arden. He let the squad car collect sand and dust as it trawled through the desert heat, passing more sparse clusters of houses. Finally he took a side path and entered an industrial zone. He beelined for a smaller warehouse resting in the shadows between two colossal structures — a huge truck repair centre and a welder’s.

  There was no passing traffic.

  But there were a couple of workers way in the distance on their lunch breaks, devouring cigarettes and coffee and pies.