Cap's Place: A Jack Nolan Novel (The Cap's Place Series Book 1)

by Robert Tarrant

  I interjected, “You certainly knew Allison better than either of us so I would put stock in your opinion.”

  Sissy looked Justin in the eyes, “The way Allison was fawning over you a couple of weeks ago I’d have thought maybe you’d gotten to know her.”

  I had looked down to pick up my beer so I didn’t see his face, but it seemed that Justin hesitated just a heartbeat too long before responding, “Negative, not my type.” Just then the oven timer went off and Sissy said she was going in to get the pizza. Justin followed her saying he would get plates, forks, and a couple more beers.

  After we had all settled into the first few bites of pizza Justin said, “So, if Dockery is lying about the affair between Allison and Weston, the question is why?”

  Sissy said, “Well maybe he was hitting on Allison and got rejected. So he’s saying these things to be mean, or maybe he tells himself that must be the reason she rejected him.”

  I wiped pizza sauce from the corner of my mouth while I replayed that portion of my conversation with Dockery in my head. “That’s possible, but I just didn’t get the feeling he even knew Allison that well. He said he didn’t even remember her name. Said he only met her once. That part I did believe.”

  Justin leaned back in his chair and scratched the top of his head, “Maybe Dockery didn’t fabricate the story. Maybe Weston did.”

  Sissy cocked her head, “I don’t understand.”

  I jumped in, “You mean maybe Weston told Dockery that he was having an affair with Allison and Dockery is only repeating it. Maybe Weston was just puffing to make himself seem like a stud.”

  Justin replied slowly, “Yeah, something like that. Wouldn’t be the first time an older guy told people he was banging some good looking young babe to make himself look or feel more the man.”

  We all mulled these thoughts for a minute. I started to reach for another piece of pizza when a thought popped to the surface. “That’s certainly possible but I have to tell you that I felt that Dockery was making things up as he went along. I could be wrong but it just didn’t feel right as he was telling it.”

  Justin said, “Well, you were there and we weren’t, so let’s go with your gut feeling and see where that takes us. If Dockery concocted the whole affair story, why? What’s his motive?”

  I replied, “I don’t know. I’m not even sure why he would withhold the fact that Weston is dead unless, as you thought Justin, he was afraid it would complicate his opportunity to sell the project. Still, he would have to know that I would learn that Weston was dead sometime. Of course, maybe he feels that once we have a signed deal it won’t matter that I find out Weston is dead.” I continued to ask and answer my own questions, “So, if that explains withholding the death why create the story about an affair between Allison and Weston? Unless, as you suggested Justin, he is only repeating, maybe with embellishment, what Weston had told him.” I paused and no one interjected so I plowed ahead, “Yet, I really feel that he was making the affair story up. If that is so, why? If it was true it would be a potential motive for their murders fitting any number of people. Wife, boyfriend, lover, who knows. If not true, is it Dockery trying to plant a motive for their murders? I would think a more likely motive, from his perspective, would be something to do with the investigative project they were working on. Dockery says it involves, in his words, people in the highest government offices as well as a number of large defense contractors. Why wouldn’t he think they were responsible for the murders?”

  Justin said, “Go on Jack. I feel like you’re on a roll.”

  “Well, if Dockery is planting a motive what’s his motive for doing so? We can’t forget that he refused to talk to the police about Weston. They were asking about the project, and he hid behind freedom of the press. Maybe he has another reason not to want to talk to them.”

  Justin asked, “You think Dockery may have something to do with the murders?”

  “I don’t know. Just brainstorming here. Still, for sake of discussion, let’s say that he did have something to do with it. That would be a reason to refuse to talk to the police and a reason to throw out an alternative motive such as the affair story.”

  Justin leaned forward in his chair, “Okay, that works, but how does it connect to Sissy? We still can’t connect Allison’s death to the attack on Sissy. I don’t believe in coincidence but for the life of me I can’t see the connection.”

  Sissy wrinkled her brow in thought and said, “The only connection between me and Allison is Cap’s.”

  Justin and I sat there, frozen in thought. Sissy barked, “Hello, Earth to Jack. Earth to Justin. Are you still with me?”

  Justin took a slow deep breath as if he needed oxygen but was afraid he might lose a critical thought, “Let’s take a look at this from that perspective. Allison and Sissy and Cap’s. How long have you both worked there?”

  Sissy drew her legs up under her in the chair and leaned back crossing her arms, “I’ve been at Cap’s longer than Jack. Jack hired Allison, what, about a year ago? You remember Jack it was just BEFORE you instituted your rule about not sleeping with the help.”

  I shot back, “Whoa, let’s take it easy on old Jack here. Nothing ever went on between Allison and me. We had drinks one night after work, but that was all.”

  Sissy retorted, “Really, you had drinks upstairs and nothing more happened? Funny, that’s not how Allison told it.”

  I was startled, “What are you talking about?”

  Sissy rolled her eyes and said, “The next time she worked, after your little date, Allison told everybody who would listen that she’d slept with the boss. Ask Marge if you don’t believe me.”

  I locked stares with Sissy, “Sissy, I don’t care what Allison said, we had drinks and that was all. I sensed danger in the situation and limited it to drinks, and it wasn’t any kind of date.”

  Justin held up his hand, “Wait a minute here. Maybe this just proves what you said earlier Sissy. If Allison had any attraction to Weston she would have probably told you she was sleeping with him.”

  Sissy and I both ignored Justin. Sissy’s eyes were still boring into me. They softened a bit and she said quietly, “All this time I thought you’d slept with her.”

  We all let the emotion dissipate a minute and then Justin said, “Okay, let’s go on with the premise that there was no affair between Allison and Weston and that the connection with Sissy has to be through Cap’s. Allison worked there the past year. She was always waiting tables when I saw her there. Is that all she did?”

  Sissy twisted her mouth in disdain, “Mostly. Once in a great while, on a really busy weekend, she would help me tend bar. Not very often because she usually spent more time flirting with the customers than she did mixing drinks.”

  Justin looked to me. I just shrugged. Neither of us wanted to push the wrong button with Sissy at the moment. Finally Justin said, “Okay, so the overlap is that you both worked at Cap’s and sometimes you both tended bar.”

  A dark cloud came across Sissy’s face and in a near whisper she said, “You know, she was tending bar the night she disappeared. Ah, was killed.”

  We all sat still lost in reflection. Finally Justin spoke, “Maybe we’re on to something. Maybe the connection is as simple as that. Maybe somehow the killer thought he got you and Allison mixed up.”

  Sissy interrupted, “What do you mean, Allison was killed before I was attacked? I don’t understand.”

  Justin continued, “Exactly, the killer kills Allison but finds out that the girl tending bar isn’t the usual bartender and that Sissy is the usual bartender, so he goes after Sissy to correct his mistake. Only he hadn’t made a mistake in the first place.”

  I said, “I can’t see that. If the killer thought his target was the bartender, Sissy would have been his target in the first place.” Sissy gasped and I wished I hadn’t been that blunt.

  Justin scratched his head again, “Unless he was told that his target was the bartender because someone thought All
ison tended bar at Cap’s. Do you think she could have ever told anyone that she was a bartender, not a waitress?”

  Sissy scoffed, “I know she did. On more than one occasion people called looking for Allison and asked if she was tending bar that night.”

  Justin looks to Sissy and then to me, “I think we have something here. Let’s suppose that Allison has represented herself to the world as the bartender at Cap’s. Someone hires a guy to kill Weston and Allison. He uses Cap’s as a place to locate Allison and the night he strikes, low and behold, she is tending bar. After he’s killed Allison he learns that the person he killed is a waitress and not the bartender so he goes after the real bartender, Sissy.”

  I rolled Justin’s premise over and over in my head. Finally, another piece clicked into place. “That would explain why the cops said the threat was against Sissy. The informant had said it was against some good looking babe who was the bartender at Cap’s and they knew that was Sissy. What they didn’t know is that Allison had been representing herself as the bartender.”

  Sissy sighed, “Maybe if they’d gotten it right they could’ve protected Allison.”

  Justin said, “Let’s not speculate on that now. Let’s focus on what we have so far.”

  We continued to kick Justin’s theories back and forth for another hour. The more we talked about it the more sense it made. Allison was the target because of her work with Weston. As if that wasn’t bad enough, after she was killed someone thought the wrong person had been killed because she was a waitress and not the bartender as Allison had been representing herself. That’s when he went after Sissy. Whoever the informant was that was telling the cops that a hit was out on Sissy had it partially correct, the hit was on Allison but she was representing herself as a bartender at Cap’s. Sissy still seemed skeptical, “I don’t understand. Allison’s body wasn’t found until Thursday but I was attacked at the Pinnacle on Wednesday night. How did the killer come to think he had the wrong person before the body was even found?”

  Justin leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin, deep in thought. He leaned forward again and said, “Remember that her computer and cell phone are missing. Who knows what information, leading the killer to realize she was not a bartender, may be on those. Maybe email or text messages that refer to her job as a waitress. We’ll probably never know how he found out that she was really a waitress, but he obviously did. That’s why he came after Sissy.”

  Sissy still looked skeptical, “How could he find me so fast at the Pinnacle?”

  Justin hesitated but then responded, “People in that line of work have many contacts. It’s hard to know how he found you, I doubt that we’ll ever know that either, but now we know why he found you. Now we know that the threat wasn’t against you at all, but against Allison and that you were just a case of mistaken identity.”

  Sissy squirmed in her chair, “How do we know that he won’t keep trying? How do we make certain he knows it’s a mistake? That he doesn’t need to come after me anymore?” Fear was again washing across Sissy’s face as she spoke.

  I reached out and took Sissy’s hand in mine, “You’re safe Sissy. We’ll watch over you. Don’t worry.”

  Justin replied in a low but commanding tone, “The first thing we’re going to do is give this whole theory to the cops. We want to see the idea that the target was Allison and that you were a mistake out there on the street. If this guy has as many sources of information as I imagine he does, he’ll know soon enough. In all honesty Sissy, my guts tell me that he already knows he made a mistake and won’t be back.” I couldn’t help but think that the guy had made a mistake, and wouldn’t be back, but it was not quite as Justin was portraying to Sissy.

  Sissy asked, “How will we know for sure when I’m safe? How will we know when I can have my normal life back?”

  I took both of her hands in mine, now looking directly into those pleading eyes, and said with as much conviction as I could muster, “Sissy, there are a whole bunch of cops working on the two murders and your attack. Now we’ve developed a very good theory tying everything together. That may be exactly what they need to find whoever is behind this. They crack the double murder and they find the threat against you.”

  Sissy still looked skeptical, “I don’t see how knowing that the attack on me is related to the murders is going to help solve them.”

  I replied, “Well, for one thing, everything they know about your attacker now applies to the murders. There’s some video of the guy from the Pinnacle. We know that the rental car Moe found on the camera recording was also at the Pinnacle. Now they can see if they can place that vehicle anywhere else associated with the murders. Hard to tell what it could lead to right now but it gives the cops a lot more to work with.”

  Justin rubbed his chin again, “Maybe we should see what else we can come up with for them.”

  Sissy, looking directly into my eyes, smiled ever so slightly, but pulled her hands free and turned toward Justin, “For who?”

  “The cops. Maybe we can come up with a motive for the murders that’ll help point the cops in the right direction,” Justin replied. “What do we know that could point to a motive?”

  I said, “Based on my meeting with Dockery, you could look to those who would be harmed by the project that Weston and Allison were working on, or to listen to him you could look to someone aggrieved by an affair between them. Wife or boyfriend.”

  Justin responded, “Yes, but based on our earlier thoughts, it sounds doubtful that there was even an affair going on. You thought Dockery was making the affair up.”

  I nodded my head, “Yes, making it up or repeating a lie that Weston had told him.”

  Justin pursed his lips, “But you felt that Dockery was lying when he told you about the affair. If he was only repeating Weston’s lie he would have believed it.”

  It was my turn to scratch the top of my head. “Yeah, that’s right. I did really feel like he was making the whole affair thing up. So why?”

  Justin sat back in his chair. His face twisted into a quizzical look, “So, Dockery fails to tell you that Weston and Allison are dead but he does tell you about an affair that’s a lie.”

  Sissy said, “Maybe he doesn’t even know Allison is dead.”

  Justin’s face darkened, “He sure as hell knows Weston is dead. The cops talked to him. At least they tried to talk to him.”

  Another piece snapped into place. I said, “Maybe Dockery wasn’t asserting first amendment rights maybe it was the fifth amendment he was hiding behind.”

  A scowl clouded Sissy’s face, “What are you talking about Jack?”

  “Sorry, I mean maybe the reason Dockery didn’t want to talk to the cops wasn’t an issue of freedom of the press but rather freedom from self-incrimination.”

  Justin sat forward and asked, “You think Dockery is behind the murders of Weston and Allison?”

  I felt it all fit together, “Maybe. Let’s look at this. Weston and Dockery are working on a project that has potential to bring real attention. You said it yourself Justin, these journalists are motivated by the attention. So this project has the potential to be just that, a career maker. Another Watergate. Dockery doesn’t want to share the attention. He says it was his project in the beginning, but who knows if that’s true either. In any case, he doesn’t want to share the spotlight with Weston, or even Allison for that matter. He eliminates them and their work on the project becomes his.”

  Sissy interjected, “That would explain why no one found Allison’s computer.”

  I concluded, “So Dockery hires someone to kill Weston and Allison and by mistake Sissy gets swept up in the mess. It fits.”

  Justin looked first toward me and then toward Sissy but the expression on his face said that his mind was spinning. Finally, he said, “Jack, that makes sense. Damn good sense. Everything fits. It’s motive for Dockery and explains his refusal to talk with the cops even though his close associate had been murdered. That freedom of the press stuff di
dn’t seem right to me from the start. Maybe if they were asking for the names of informants, or even targets of the project, but refusing to even meet with them to talk about Weston’s murder. That just seems odd. Your theory explains that. He didn’t want to be too close to the cops for fear he would trip up somehow.”

  Sissy grinned, “Damn Sherlock, I think you’ve got it.”

  I reached for my beer, “WE got it. We all contributed to this riddle.” With that I raised my bottle and clinked each of theirs in turn.

  Justin grounded the moment with, “Hopefully the cops will think it’s as good a theory as we do.”

  I finished draining my beer and said, “I think they will. It makes sense and I don’t think they have any other working theories. At least none that they’ve told us about. Of course, they probably wouldn’t be telling us much at this stage. Still, I think Dockery looks good for this and I think PJ will at least pursue it.”

  Justin nodded in agreement, “I’d bet that if they dig much they’ll find more. Guy like Dockery is probably not very adept at procuring murder. No doubt he left tracks if they just look close enough.”

  I said, “I’ll call PJ and see when I can meet with her.”

  Sissy immediately said, “Not tonight. I mean don’t meet with her tonight. You can call her but stay here. Don’t go out. Justin has to go and I don’t want to be alone.”

  I looked to Justin in surprise, “Oh, I didn’t know you were going out. Any idea when you’ll be back?” Feeling a bit parental for asking I added, “Just so when the intrusion detection system goes off we know that it’s you.”

  Justin looked impassive, “I won’t be back tonight. Probably not until later in the day tomorrow. I’ll call before I come. You keep the phone I gave you. You can use it from here without worry.”