A Murder State of Mind Boxed Set

by Jude Pittman

  “Possible. So what’s next on your agenda?”

  “As soon as you set Ajax loose I’m going to hook up with him for a little heart to heart. If this Enforcer character is our link to Sam, then somebody in that brotherhood is bound to know something and I need Ajax to find out who and what.”

  “Okay. I’ll turn him loose as soon as he gives his statement. Where you headed?”

  “Back to the ranch. I’ll check in with Gillian. When you spring Ajax tell him to give me a call on my cell. I’ll be waiting.”

  * * *

  At the ranch, Kelly stopped on the porch to spend a few minutes with Jake, who had dashed in from the stables when Old Blue pulled into the drive.

  “Miss me boy?” Kelly wrapped his arms around the big shepherd and rubbed his ears in welcome.

  Jake replied with a couple of sharp barks and after a few quick licks of Kelly’s hands, he bounded down the stairs and back out to the stables.

  So much for who’s missing who, Kelly chuckled.

  Inside he tossed his jacket on the rack and stood his boots in the corner, then padded, sock feet, into the sitting room Gillian used for her office.

  Bent over her laptop, she typed with concentration.

  Kelly approached, stood behind her for a moment, and then touched her shoulder.

  “What—?” she jumped back, positioning her feet for flight or fight.

  “Whoa.” Kelly threw up his hands and laughed. “Good thing you’re not packing a weapon.”

  Laughter crinkled Gillian’s eyes, and she reached out to draw him into a hug. “Sorry, I was concentrating so hard on remembering everything I’d heard today I forgot where I was.”

  “So that’s your report?” Kelly indicated the page open on her screen.

  “Yep. I know how meticulous you are about recording every detail, and I thought it would be a lot easier for you to follow if I put everything down while it was still fresh so you could read it yourself.”

  Kelly tilted her chin and bent his lips to hers. “You are one smart woman,” he murmured against her lips. “Once we’re done with all this we need to focus on what a guy does when he’s got the smartest woman in Texas wrapped up in his arms.”

  Gillian’s sharp intake of breath and sparkling eyes hinted at an emotion she quickly tamped down. “I like the sounds of that,” she whispered.

  “Now let’s see what you’ve got here.” Kelly took her place at the desk, and Gillian stood behind with her arms resting on his shoulders.

  He read for several minutes and then turned to face Gillian. “So Angelina didn’t know anything about that locker, which is just what you said and both Gus and I suspected."

  “I’d have been devastated if she did.” Gillian brushed her hand across her eyes. “Lately I’ve been second-guessing everything, including my relationship with all of my staff, but I don’t know if I could have stood to find out I was wrong about Angelina.”

  “You were exactly right. Everything you’ve written here rings true to the type of person you’ve conveyed Angelina to be, and I’m sure Gus will agree that she is not suspected of any kind of involvement in whatever scheme this turns out to be.”

  “Thanks.” Gillian rested her forehead against his. “That means a lot.”

  Turning back to the screen, Kelly read the notes on her conversation with Dr. Morgan and his version of events in the stable.

  “I have to say the doctor sounds a lot more credible than either of those kids.”

  “I know. He didn’t seem evasive to me—more annoyed at those boys for trying to pull the wool over his eyes about the drugs.”

  “The only person I know who might know something about the nightclub that Angelina overheard the boys talking about is Mike.”

  “Mike. But he wasn’t even working that day.”

  “I know that, but as you’re probably aware Mike fancies himself a bit of a detective. He seems to know an awful lot about what goes on around here, and I’m thinking that might not be just from casual observation. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that he spent a portion of his spare time spying on his employer and his coworkers.”

  “His employer. Me. Are you saying Mike’s been spying on me?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. But don’t get all upset. I’m sure there’s nothing sinister in his intentions. He’s majoring in criminology, right?”

  “Yes. But he’s supposed to be focusing on forensics.”

  “Still and all, there are other components to the curriculum. I know, I’ve taken it myself. Hands-on observation can be very valuable in developing a thesis. A place like this would be fertile ground for an active mind like Mike’s.”

  “Well he’ll be getting a very fertile piece of my mind when this is all said and done with.”

  “Steady Tiger.” Kelly reached around and pulled her into his lap. “Got a couple hours?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows and doing his best imitation of a lecher.

  “Funny you should mention that.” She twisted around to face him. “I was just thinking I needed to go upstairs and change the linens in the bedroom. Want to help?”

  “I’m your man.” Kelly lifted her off his lap and took her hand. “Lead on,” he said, at the very same moment as the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” rang out of his pocket.

  “Damn.” He pulled out his cell and flipped open the cover, silencing the melody. “Ajax. When did they turn you loose?” He listened while Ajax filled him in on the events at the bar following Kelly’s departure. “Okay,” Kelly said into the phone, “I’ll be there in fifteen.” Flipping it shut and turning to Gillian, he lifted both hands in a gesture of hopelessness.

  “I know.” She cupped his face with her hand. “That’s your biker contact and you have to meet him now. I’ll take a rain check.”

  Kelly pulled her into his arms and held her butt pressed against the front of his jeans until that familiar feeling had them both squirming for more.

  “I will be back.” He stepped away and pressed down the bulge in his pants. “And that’s a promise.”

  * * *

  Ajax had named a country western place on Belknap named Sandra Kay’s and Kelly mentally approved the choice. It was a neighborhood bar with a regular blue collar clientele where they were unlikely to come across anyone either of them knew.

  After standing inside the doorway scanning the few occupied tables, Kelly spotted Ajax in a booth back by the pool tables.

  A customer and a bar maid worked the sticks, fighting over their shots and laughing good-naturedly. When Kelly slid into the seat across from Ajax, the girl stopped playing to ask his pleasure then quickly returned with a longneck.

  “Thanks.” He handed over a bill, and motioned her to keep the change.

  “Good choice,” Kelly said, turning to Ajax. “You have any trouble back there?”

  “No, none. Kept forgetting you were Kelly and not Jake.”

  Kelly laughed. “Yeah. Life was a bit more complicated back then. So, down to business. What went down after I left?”

  “About what you’d expect. The place cleared out pretty damn fast, but a few of the boys stuck around. Street patrol burst in there like storm troopers. Lined us all up against the wall and played the bad boy bullshit.”

  “Rookies.” Kelly shook his head.

  “Snot-nosed kid practically took his badge out and spit shined it on the spot. We let him spout his shit, and stood back against the wall and kept our mouths shut.”

  “Productive.”

  “Yeah. But then Detective Graham showed up. Decent cop—if there is such a thing—he rousted the rookies back out to the street and took over. We told him what we knew, which wasn’t a hell of a lot.”

  “Anybody make a positive ID?”

  “Stan went to school with the guy. His name was Doug Gillespie. He’s one of the new breed of assholes they’ve been letting in the club the past couple of years.”

  “So he was a member of the Brothers?”

  “Not full
. He was a probie, and if he hadn’t ended up dead, he’d have been booted as soon as I got out and back in charge.”

  “Did you ask around about Sam?”

  “Not yet. Didn’t have time. We’re having a meeting tonight at midnight. Everyone’s been ordered to show. If there’s anything to find out I’ll get it then.”

  “Good. I sure hope you come up with something. I got another question. You ever hear of a nightclub, or bar, or an afterhours club of some kind, where someone with the right credentials can get access to girls who are not strictly legal?”

  “What the hell you take me for? I don’t mess around with babies.”

  “I know that Ajax. I just need some help here. You may be pure as the driven snow but seems to me there’s been more Brothers with horns than wings anytime I’ve been around.” Kelly grinned and Ajax scowled. “All I’m asking is that you put out some feelers. See if anyone knows of such a place. They’re a hell of a lot likelier to share that information with a biker dude like yourself than a suspicious stranger like I’ve become or worse yet, a cop like Gus.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out. Son of a bitch. I don’t like any of this shit at all. I just hope you nail that pervert’s ass, put him away for good and we can get back to doing our own kind of business.”

  “Amen.” Kelly held out his hand, received a shake in return, and both men left the bar.

  There wasn’t much point in going back to the ranch this early. Gillian would be busy with chores and his presence would just serve as a reminder to all the kids of Larry and Toby. Right now they needed some space. Gillian needed to settle everyone into their new routines and they all needed to get their jobs done. Kelly sat in the truck for a while, thinking about the case, and wondering where he might find his next lead, when he remembered Buddy Thorpe.

  Now why in hell didn’t I think of Buddy right off? Kelly spoke his thoughts. There isn’t a topless club in Fort Worth where he doesn’t own a piece of the action, or know who does.

  With that, Kelly pulled out of Sandra Kay’s parking lot and merged into traffic on Belknap. This seems like the perfect time to collect on that chip Buddy told me would be good any time I ever needed a favor. Kelly headed back towards downtown Fort Worth.

  * * *

  Pulling into the nearly empty parking lot of a long square building, Kelly found a spot around the side and parked Old Blue. The exterior of ‘Tickle Me Pink’ had been painted black with a wide pink ribbon wrapped around the bottom and tied into a bow at the doorway. It was clever in a gaudy sex club kind of way.

  A flashing neon sign on the roof spelled out ‘Tickle Me Pink’ in pink neon with Buddy’s logo ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ flashing on and off in neon white. The bold neon against the flat black made quite an impact, and just to make sure nobody missed the nature of the club, covering the walls on either side of the entrance were half a dozen life-sized posters of nearly nude girls wearing pink pasties and G-strings.

  The dark interior of the club kept patrons’ eyes focused on the stage in the center of the room. At the moment a skinny black girl in a red halter and shorts was sliding up and down a pole while two old guys nursed mugs of beer and watched the girl with avaricious eyes.

  Across the room, behind a small leather padded circular bar, a bored looking bartender leaned on the counter.

  “What’ll you have?” she asked when Kelly approached.

  “I’m looking for Buddy. You want to tell him Kelly McWinter would like a word.”

  The girl raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. “I’ll see if he’s here.”

  “Unless the evangelicals have converted him, and I don’t see no signs of that in here, Buddy’s never anywhere else until at least noon.”

  That got a giggle and a toss of her bleached blonde head. “You wait here. I’ll be right back.” She pulled a key out of her pocket, locked the till and passed through a curtain behind the bar.

  Kelly pulled out a chair at one of the tables beside the bar and turned to watch as the music escalated in volume and the girl on stage twisted and gyrated her body into a series of uncomfortable looking contortions. Finally, on a clashing of cymbals, she reached behind and pulled away the halter while simultaneously bending forward to allow an extra-large pair of silicone enhanced breasts fall forward almost into the faces of the two old men who simultaneously smacked their lips and reached forward with dollar bills clasped in their hands.

  “Nice jugs.” The three hundred pound club owner squeezed himself into a chair on the other side of the table. Kelly turned to Buddy and watched while he set a wine glass on the table and grinned at Kelly. “Something tells me you’re here for more than the scenery.”

  “You always did have good taste.” Kelly smiled and stuck out his hand. “Nothing at all wrong with the scenery, but you’re right, it’s not what brought me around today.”

  The big man wearing a white shirt with rolled up sleeves produced a hand sparkling with gold and diamond rings and returned Kelly’s shake. “What’s it been, 6 or 7 years? I heard you left the force.”

  Kelly nodded. “Yes, I’ve been doing private work for a few years now.”

  “Good to know. Got a card?”

  “Of course.” Kelly smiled and produced one of his PI cards. “I’m helping Gus on a matter and I’ve come across something that crosses into your area of expertise.”

  Buddy opened his eyes wider and let out a bark of laughter. “My area of expertise, I like that. I wonder what it is the cops are wanting to know about the booby business?”

  “Unfortunately there isn’t anything funny about the stuff we’ve come across."

  “Not involving any of my clubs I hope.”

  “No nothing like that. It’s your knowledge I need. As a matter of fact, it’s something along the lines of that matter you and I got involved in way back when, but this one isn’t innocent like that was. This time we’re talking about deliberate child endangerment, and it may even be connected to murder.”

  Buddy started shaking his head when Kelly mentioned child endangerment and the look on his face had turned stony.

  “You won’t find one single girl in any of my clubs that hasn’t got 100% straight up over-21 identification. I owe you for that wakeup call because I damn well learned my lesson. If it hadn’t been for you I could have lost the whole damn works and ended up with a record that would have kept me out of the business for good. Nobody fools me with fake anymore.”

  “If I hadn’t believed you’d been conned at the time I wouldn’t have handled it like I did. This time, I’m simply needing to trade on your knowledge and experience in the business.”

  “What is it you want to know?”

  “The name of any club or clubs that you have any suspicion might be willing to bend the rules in regard to underage dancers. And more specifically, do you know of any clubs that might be offering more than dancing to their customers? The outfit I’m looking for would features foreign girls, particularly Asians. They’d have a legitimate club, of course, with legal age girls performing, to keep from arousing suspicion, but what I’m looking for is a club that has an afterhours, by invitation only, operation catering to specific clientele and offering an entirely different group of girls from the ones most of the members see when they come in to watch the performances.”

  “Damn Kelly. You’re putting me in a spot here. Like I said, I keep my nose clean and my girls cleaner. We’re not into anything even slightly on the shady side. But, that’s not to say some of my competitors aren’t, shall we say, a bit more liberal minded than Thorpe Enterprises. Sure, I hear stuff, but nobody’s going to appreciate me sending the cops around snooping into their business.”

  “I get that. And, unless there’s no choice in the matter, like the cops needing your testimony to bring a murderer to justice, nobody is going to know the source of my information.” Kelly tilted his head and locked eyes with Buddy. “I wouldn’t be spending a chip like the one I have from you if the favor wasn’t on the di
cey side, now would I?”

  Buddy sighed and spread his hands out on the table. “Guess you got me there. Okay, if I was a betting man—which is not something I’m sharing with any cops,” Buddy grinned, “I’d be 99% certain that you’ll find what you’re looking for if you check into a place named ‘The White Turtle Club’.”

  “That’s it? Nobody else comes to mind?”

  “You asked for my opinion, and that’s what you got. If I was you I wouldn’t waste time looking at any of the others.”

  “That’s good enough for me.” Kelly stood up but Buddy held up his hand. “Hang on a minute, you’re going to need a card. Ginger, bring me that box where I keep my passes.”

  The bartender took a square black box off the shelf and brought it over to Buddy, who reached into his pocket, took out a small silver key, inserted it into the lock and opened the lid. “Here you go,” he said, after sifting through a stack of cards and removing a pink plastic card covered with silver print.

  Kelly took the card and held it in front of the candle burning in the center of their table. “The White Turtle Club,” he read, “that’s out Highway 287.”

  “That’s right. It’s a private membership club. You’ll need the card to get you inside. Of course you understand that those cards are privately issued, so the owners are going to know where you got your invitation.”

  “I get it, and I’m grateful Buddy. I know this puts you on the spot. I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t about as sure of my conclusions as you are that this is the right club.”

  Buddy nodded. “There’s no use in your going over there until at least one in the morning. There won’t be any of the kind of action you’re looking for until the regular crowd has gone home for the night.”

  “Got you, and thanks.” He offered his hand again.

  “You’re welcome,” Buddy returned the handshake. “Once you’ve finished with this business I wouldn’t mind knowing what it’s all about. Maybe we can combine business with pleasure and take on a couple of platters of ribs over at Angelo’s.”