Death in Nostalgia City

by Mark S. Bacon

  Lyle glanced at the table. “I see you took notes.”

  “I used the digital counter and took note of everything that sounded relevant. You won’t have to listen to eight hours--unless you want to. Most of this is just garbage. Kevin likes to talk. And gossip.”

  “What’s he say that’s incriminating?”

  “He doesn’t admit to killing the tourist from Houston or derailing the monorail if that’s what you mean. In fact, there’s nothing conclusive.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Interesting stuff here, all right. He even mentions you. But let me play it so you can hear for yourself. First I felt kind of funny listening to it, then it became boring. Kevin’s got a girlfriend back East. Her name’s Nicole. They talk a lot.”

  She sat at one end of the sofa. He took a chair. “There’s a lot of stuff to skip over,” she said. “When we’re done, maybe you could tell me what you found out in Boston.”

  Kate pushed a button and adjusted the volume. “This first part is him talking to his boss.”

  “Attendance is still dropping. Honestly. They haven’t given me any new figures, but I’ve heard people talking. You can tell by looking at the parking lot in the afternoon. People are just not coming here. I wasn’t working here then, but I’m sure it’s less than last summer.”

  “What about the hotels?” another voice said.

  “I tried to see the reservation records for the past week, like you asked, but they said they weren’t complete yet. It’s just a ruse. They don’t want us to know how bad it is.”

  Kate stopped the recording. “He doesn’t sound sympathetic, does he?”

  “He’s a rat.”

  Kate nodded for Lyle to pay attention to the next exchange.

  “So,” the other voice asked, “are they doing anything else about the accidents?”

  “They don’t know what’s going on,” Kevin’s voice said. “They keep talking about safety, but there’s been lots of bad news on TV. I saw a report the other day on one of those kids who was hurt. The publicity is so bad--one more crash and who knows? Most of the employees here are jumpy.”

  “All the more reason,” the other voice said, “why we should be getting attendance and income figures more frequently during the crisis.”

  “Crisis?” Lyle said, raising his voice.

  Kate stopped the machine. Trixie the cat looked up from the end of the sofa.

  “Yes, he called it a crisis,” Kate said.

  Lyle leaned forward. “They know we’re hurting and they call it a crisis.”

  “It is a crisis, Lyle.”

  “I know. FedPat’s winning.”

  “We are doing everything we can with publicity to boost--”

  “I--I didn’t mean that.” Lyle sputtered. “I mean we have to stop FedPat.”

  Kate focused on her notes. “Listen to this next part. See what you think. There’s politics going on.” She started and stopped the recording then found what she was looking for. “This time Kevin’s talking to his girlfriend.”

  She pushed Play and Kevin’s voice leaped out. “Mr. Bedrosian called me again a few days ago. It was the day after I sent you those flowers, remember? He reminded me how critical my work is here. He calls me FedPat’s ‘guardian,’ but that’s not really what I’ve been doing. He said I’ll have a pivotal place with the corporation when Nostalgia City defaults on its obligations.”

  “What does that mean?” his girlfriend asked.

  “It means, if we take over managing this place it will be a huge break for me. Honestly, I think Mr. Bedrosian likes me and, well, he’s going to be CEO pretty soon and then maybe I could get a vice presidency.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Look, honey, everybody knows that Shaw is going to retire. Remember? I heard from a friend in Boston that at least two of the FedPat board members are already supporting Bedrosian. Now he needs to show the directors he’ll do a good job and make lots of money for the corporation.”

  Lyle motioned for Kate to stop. “Thought you said you didn’t have anything conclusive? This is what we need. He’s talking about taking us over.”

  “I dunno. He’d be saying that regardless, wouldn’t he?”

  “He knows what’s going on. And what he says about Bedrosian is right. I read about it. The CEO’s retiring and the board’ll have to pick a replacement. This Bedrosian character is one of the people in the running. He’s FedPat’s chief operating officer.”

  “Why’s he giving Kevin so much attention?” Kate asked. “Kevin’s a glorified bean counter. He wouldn’t report directly to the COO. But listen to this next bit. Bedrosian called Kevin last week. Here’s the main part.” Kate pushed play.

  A strong male voice Lyle had not heard before began: “According to these latest figures of yours, attendance has continued to slip. Any reaction from the brass?”

  “Pelham doesn’t talk to me, unless he has to,” Kevin said. “I talked to him about missing their loan payment. He just said they had an accounting problem and that we’d get the money. And as far as Maxwell is concerned--”

  “Never mind about him. Has anyone questioned you again? I mean about the accidents.”

  “No. I told you all about that guy Deming, but I haven’t seen him since.”

  “No one else from security talk to you either?”

  “No.”

  She stopped the player. “That’s about all that’s worth listening to.”

  “That’s enough, isn’t it? Sounds like Kevin’s in this up to his neck.”

  Kate wasn’t ready to agree. “They seem to know your name at FedPat, but that doesn’t mean Kevin’s involved in the violence. You interrogated him. It’s not surprising he’d report it.”

  “He knows more than my name. He and Bedrosian talked about the accidents. Kevin’s involved.”

  “They talked about it, but they didn’t say they did it.”

  “Maybe Kevin hires it done.”

  Kate shook her head. “He doesn’t seem the type. Besides--” She flipped through her notes. “--he never says anything about hiring people.”

  “He’s involved. FedPat’s pulling the strings.”

  “But if Kevin were involved in the sabotage, wouldn’t he report on it when he’s talking to them back East?”

  “Hell, I don’t know. You’ve got eight hours here. Isn’t there anything else?”

  “Not really. He uses a cell phone too, so we don’t hear everything.”

  “Must be something else.”

  Kate pushed the player toward Lyle. “Here. You can wade through this yourself.”

  “No. Keep it. We’ll get more on the next card.”

  Lyle sat back and looked at the floor for a minute. “Next time maybe we’ll hear him talk about my dad’s murder.”

  “Think so?”

  “We’re lucky there wasn’t much in the papers about my dad. I thought this might really destroy us.”

  “It looked bad at first, but we only got one routine media call. There’s no connection between your father and NC’s problems.”

  “No connection? What do you mean?” Lyle frowned. “Of course, there’s a connection.”

  “Everything’s not related to the sabotage.”

  “It’s not?”

  Kate heard an inflection in Lyle’s voice she didn’t like. “For the media, Lyle. For them it was just the death of a resident in the area. A burglary, that’s all. No real relation to the park, so we’re safe.”

  “Safe? What do you mean we’re safe? My dad wasn’t safe. Who knows what they’re going to do next? Is that all you’re thinking about, good publicity?”

  “Of course not. I just meant that it won’t hurt the park. You know I’m sorry your father was killed.”

  “And if we don’t find out who killed him,” Lyle said, his voice rising, “something else is going to happen.” He stood up. Trixie jumped off the couch and darted away. “Something much worse. This is the third murder, Kate.”


  “I know, Lyle. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to put things in the right context.” She patted his shoulder as he walked out of the apartment

  Even before Lyle closed the door, Kate knew she’d made a mistake. Lyle was agitated, overwrought. She should never have discussed this with him right after the funeral.

  She walked back to the living room looking for Trixie. Obviously she had to avoid any comments to the media that might link the murder to Nostalgia City. Obvious. Had nothing to do with how she felt. Couldn’t he see that? Even if she were completely persuaded--and she wasn’t--that FedPat killed Hank Deming and was trying to kill NC, she wouldn’t tell the press that.

  Lyle was really convinced that FedPat was behind everything--even his dad’s death. Kate sat down, flipped her notebook pages over, and set the voice player on top of it. She thought for a moment about what he’d told her after the funeral. He left the police department because he’d been persecuted by other police officers. Now FedPat. It was hard not to see a comparison. But how could she judge someone on the basis of his reactions the day he buried his father?

  She glanced at the digital player again. Regardless of his up-and-down emotional state, she was committed to working with Lyle. She had to find a way. Or get help from someone else.

  Chapter 39

  “Okay,” Max said, “What’d you find out?”

  Bates reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out a tiny black box with a wire coming out of it. He set it on the table.

  Kate looked at the object then glanced toward Max who sat between her and Bates at the end of the conference room table.

  The morning after the funeral Kate had been summoned to a staff meeting. So far, only the three of them were in the room.

  “Well?” Max asked sharply.

  Bates’s gray-blue eyes were expressionless. “Not much to report on this, I’m afraid. It’s good high-tech gear but not unique. Fairly expensive, about $500.”

  Max reached over and picked up the device. “Well? Did you get a finger print or find out where it came from?”

  “It was clean. No prints. And they could’ve bought it anywhere. I’ve even seen it on the Internet.”

  “Dammit.” Max hit the table with his fist.

  “My Washington contacts will--”

  “Screw your Washington contacts. What are you doing?”

  “What’s going on?” Kate interrupted. “What is that thing?”

  Max glared at Bates, who spoke. “It’s a wireless transmitter. Some people call it a bug. One of my men found it on the floor in the Deming residence.”

  “Deming? That’s Lyle and his father. You found a bug in their condo?”

  “On the floor, next to a chair. Not far from the body. We think it’s the reason someone broke into the house.”

  Kate frowned. “But the sheriff said it was a burglary. If they broke in to plant a bug--The sheriff doesn’t know about this, does he?”

  Bates shook his head.

  “You kept this from the sheriff? It might have meant the murder was tied to Nostalgia City and you didn’t want the sheriff to know.”

  “Did I know this for sure?” Bates said. “Of course not. Everybody in the park knows Deming has been asking questions about the accidents. He talked to the chief at the reservation and then he went to Boston. I’m not sure why.”

  “Clyde told me about it,” Max said, “and we thought it best to hang on to it temporarily. See what we could find out. Apparently we didn’t find out anything.” He looked at Clyde through narrowed eyes.

  “We’re working on all the evidence. I hope to have something soon.”

  “You’d better be more than hopeful. One more disaster, one more accident, and we’re outta business.”

  “Here’s what we know,” Bates said. “The device is battery powered, so it would only be good for a limited time. Whoever was going to plant it wanted to find out something soon.”

  “But what?” Max slid his chair back and got up. He walked slowly to the end of the room with his hands behind him, one on either hip. He didn’t turn around.

  Kate reached over and picked up the bug. It didn’t look sinister. She waved it at Bates. “Are you saying that whoever is responsible for the sabotage tried to bug Lyle’s condo and then killed his father?”

  “It’s a good possibility, unless it’s related to a case that Deming worked on when he was a cop.”

  “They murdered Lyle’s father,” Kate said.

  “It was a mistake. They probably didn’t know anyone was home during the day. The whole point of bugging a house is secrecy.”

  “So you withheld this from the sheriff’s department to keep it out of the media. That’s against the law, isn’t it? Withholding evidence? Anyone who knows about this could be guilty of obstruction of justice. But after we covered up one murder, the next one was easier.”

  “We didn’t know for sure about the car crash,” Max said without conviction.

  Kate barely heard him. She leaned back and stared at her note pad. If the sheriff had said the murderer tried to bug Lyle’s condo, that could have linked it to the park. In his own devious way, Clyde had saved Kate and NC more dreadful publicity. But what about Lyle? Did he know why his father was killed? Did this mean he wasn’t just imagining the FedPat conspiracy? Conspiracy is right, she thought. No matter who was doing it.

  She slid the bug back across the table to Clyde. “These people are murderers and we’re covering it up.”

  “Maybe,” Max said, turning around and leaning on the table. “But we’re using this information to find out who’s wrecking the park.” He looked at Bates. “Time’s running out. Maybe I’ll call an investigations company I know in Vegas. They’re ex-federal agents, too. Or maybe we should just give up and call the FBI.”

  “My Washington contacts will come though, Max. I know it. They’re checking out the FedPat Corporation and several other leads.”

  “I still don’t see how FedPat could be behind all this,” Max said. “But I guess we have to cover all the bases.”

  Bates nodded knowingly. “We’re not sure, either. We’ll see.”

  “So while we’re checking this out,” Kate said, “they could be listening to us. Maybe they have bugs in other places, too.”

  Bates grunted. “The grounds here are secure. We sweep the offices regularly.”

  Max stared at Bates.

  “Okay,” Bates said, “we’ll check the executive offices again this week.”

  Kate suddenly thought about their tap on Kevin Waterman’s phone, then something else occurred to her. “What about other homes, like mine?” She pushed her chair back from the table.

  “No one knows you’re working on this, do they?” Bates said. Before Max could say anything, Bates held up a hand. “We’ll do a sweep of your residence, too. Right away.”

  “And these guys with guns?” Kate said, looking at Bates. “Are they going to kill anyone else?”

  “I said it was a mistake, an accident. They didn’t know Deming’s father was there.”

  “That’s reassuring.”

  “Kate lives in the Timeless Tower,” Max said. “Be sure we have a guard downstairs.”

  “I’ll be okay. That’s not what I meant.”

  “We have someone there occasionally at night,” Bates said. “It’ll be expensive to add a full shift.”

  “Do it,” Max said.

  Kate slumped in her chair.

  “We’ll track down whoever’s doing this, Kate,” Max said. “You just have to drum up good publicity for us. Pump up our attendance.”

  We’re in big trouble, Kate thought, if we have to wait for Clyde to solve anything. “I can handle the PR,” she said.

  “Then do it. What do you have planned?”

  She was about to ask if they were having a regular staff meeting that morning when Brent Pelham walked in. A minute later Drenda Adair and several others came in and took seats.

  Looking at the faces of the others, Kate forced
herself to relax and concentrate on her job. Her press blitz, she told everyone, was just over four weeks away. Soon, invitations to representatives of local and national media would be sent out. The media-day extravaganza, set for the July Fourth weekend, would combine the inaugural run of the train to the Indian casino and the opening of a new themed plaza.

  “Obviously, this event has to be a huge hit,” she said.

  No one in the room, not even Max or Clyde, she thought, really knew all the elements of the terror campaign going on against them. Kate was quickly realizing its scope and brutality. She didn’t say it, but her publicity program would be successful only if no fearful event intervened.

  As the meeting broke up, Kate hurried to follow Bates out the door, but Max pulled her aside.

  “Seen Deming since he got back? I want to know what he found out in Boston.”

  “I saw him at the funeral. We didn’t talk about the trip.”

  “Find out anything about his background? You know, with the cops?”

  “It’s not exactly like Bates told you. Lyle left the police over a dispute about assignments. I don’t think Clyde knows all the details or maybe he only told you part of it.”

  “Where’d you get this?”

  “From Lyle.”

  “You believe him?”

  “Yes.” With that, Kate excused herself and hurried out.

  She caught up with Clyde Bates in the elevator lobby and rode down to the ground floor with him. She made eye contact as they stepped out. “Why’d you wait until last week to tell Max that stuff about Lyle Deming’s record?”

  She said it fast and it caught Clyde off guard. “Why? I just found out. Max said Deming was in Boston nosing around so I checked him out more thoroughly. I thought he was supposed to be a hotshot detective.”

  Kate stood staring at him but said nothing, waiting for Clyde to fill the silence.

  He obliged. “Before he was hired I’m sure his previous employment was checked, so I had no reason to doubt him.”

  “You didn’t know he was discharged from the police department?”

  “You know, I’m doing what I think is best for the park, just like you. We don’t have to be adversaries. I’m pushing my staff to keep Nostalgia City as safe as possible. We’re working ’round the clock on this. I know you’re busy too--and doing a good job. God, I hate the media.” He offered Kate a weak smile. “But then you know that.”