Bob Moats - Jim Richards 01-03- 3 for Murder Box Set

by Bob Moats

  He took her hand, walked her to the wide aisle and sang, “They Call it Puppy Love” to her. She about died on the spot. Buck leaned to me and said he couldn’t compete with that. I said he’d enjoy the after effects, though. He thought about that and smiled.

  The show ended with a big number, and they went off stage as the curtain closed. I gathered my troops and led them out the side entrance and up to the stage door. I knocked, and Wally opened it for us. We went in. He led us over to the side, and there stood Donnie and Marie. Wally introduced us, and we had a very nice conversation. Donnie had heard about Penny’s ordeal and asked her about it. We talked a bit more, then they said they had to go meet with some friends. We thanked them for being so nice. Donnie gave Maria a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, and they left. Maria was having heart failure. Buck had to hold her up. Wally got a laugh at it all, and I thanked him for everything he had arranged.

  We departed. Buck and Maria went off to her car, and I took Penny out to the street in front of the Flamingo. We walked around for a while, holding hands, taking in the warm night and all the lights. We went down one side of the strip and back up the other with stops at all the attractions on the way. We got back to the parking garage and drove the car back to the MGM Grand. Up in the room we relaxed in the whirlpool, looking out at the city and all its thousands of bright lights. It was a good night.

  *

  Chapter Fifteen

  The phone rang about 7 a.m. We were still in bed. I was closest to the phone so I answered. It was Lynn. I asked if Aaron was still alive. She said he was and that he was going into interrogation around 10 a.m. if I wanted to be there. I said I did, and she said she’d see me then and hung up. I turned over to Penny where she lay still resting from our night of rolling around in the sheets and whispered in her ear, “Why don’t we just stay in bed all day?” She said that sounded nice in an alternate universe, but in reality we had jobs to do. I said, “Spoil sport.” She got up and headed to the bathroom. I went slowly to the bedroom window and was still amazed by the sight.

  We were showered, shaved, groomed and dressed by 8:30 a.m. and heading to breakfast. I told Penny that Aaron was going under the hot white light at 10:00, and I wanted to be there to catch his act. She nodded and asked if I thought Nick was involved in drug running. I said I didn’t doubt it. If there was money to be made, he’d be in on it. We had a nice breakfast. Penny had a stack of pancakes, and I had eggs and sausage. I normally didn’t eat breakfast, not my most favorite time to eat, but being there, I just felt hungry in the morning. Might have had something to do with the marathon sex we had most nights. I didn’t care as long as my stomach was full and my libido was happy.

  We finished breakfast, got the car and headed to the convention center. I told Penny about the tiger. I hadn’t mentioned it yesterday, just that we caught Aaron and not many details. She listened to my story and said, “You’ve been thrown off the tallest building on the west coast, I was almost dumped in the desert, and now you tell me you were almost eaten by a tiger. This is some trip we’re on.” She looked out the window but I could tell she was smiling. “Never a dull moment,” she muttered.

  I laughed under my breath. “Well, when we get back to Michigan I can start my P.I. business following errant wives and cheating husbands. Not as exciting, but maybe I’ll see some good sex acts.”

  She looked at me. “Now I know why you wanted to become a P.I. It was just so you could peep. You’re a Peeping Investigator.”

  She kept mumbling about me being a peeper most the way to the center. Buck and Maria were at the door when we got there. I kissed my girl, and she warned me not to peep anywhere around women then went off. I waved to Buck and drove down to Metro. The officer on the front desk said I should just get a key to the side door and called Lynn. She came and got me and led me to her office where Deacon was resting in his corner chair looking worse than yesterday.

  “Lynn, you got to stop keeping Deacon up so late. You’ll kill him.” I laughed.

  “Keeping him up late, hell. I just about have to force sleeping pills down his throat to get him to leave me alone.” She smiled.

  “OK, stop talking about me like I’m not here,” he moaned. “And you don’t object so hard when we’re up late.” He looked at Lynn, and she gave him the finger.

  “So let’s change the subject,” I offered. They both agreed. “Think Aaron is going to rat out his gang or clam up?”

  “I was told he was real chatty in his cell this morning. He kept ranting about the mob being after him, and he was going to die. The guard almost wanted to shoot him to get him to shut up.” Lynn took a file from her desk and motioned to us to follow.

  We were back in observation room three. I said to Deacon that we should get a couch put in there. He agreed. Aaron was in the interrogation room, smiling at the mirror. I didn’t know if he was mimicking us or himself. I knew he couldn’t see us, but it was unnerving to see him waving at his reflection. Deacon said he looked a bit crazy. I said he was. Lynn entered the room and sat across from him. He smiled and said that she looked nice today. Lynn ignored his comment and opened the file.

  “Aaron, you don’t really have much of a police record, just a few minor infractions like shoplifting and disturbing the peace. What led you to become a mule for a drug gang?” she started.

  Aaron was silent, just smiling and staring at his reflection like he’d never seen himself before.

  “Hello, anyone home?” Lynn waved in front of his face. “Come on, Aaron, let’s hear your story.”

  He looked at her and said, “They’re going to finish killing me. They tried yesterday, and Fritz will finish it soon.”

  “Aaron, tell me about Fritz. I’d like to hear about him.”

  Aaron seemed to wake up then. “Fritz came from Miami. He was chased out of there by some Columbian drug lords who didn’t like his style. He went to Detroit, and the African-Americans didn’t welcome him there, either. So he came to Vegas when a friend of his from here mentioned the demise of the Sixth Street gang and that they needed a new leader. He had money and a few connections in California from former hook ups in Miami. He gathered the last troops left over from the old gang, made a few contacts with California, and they said they would send some guys down from Reno to arrange for a drug route through there to Sacramento then to San Francisco. Fritz needed a drug supplier here, and he found somebody who had connections in Arizona to a drug cartel there.”

  “Who was that person, Aaron? Who was the connection here?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” was all he said and then went silent, just staring.

  “Aaron, wake up. You telling me you don’t know who the local contact is for the drugs in Arizona?”

  “Nope. I wasn’t part of that. The agreement was no one would know the identity or the deal was off. So they never said who. Only Fritz knows, and he isn’t telling anyone.”

  “Aaron, we have you now for drug possession, delivery, attempted murder with a tiger, kidnapping, and I’ll throw in being stupid. If you don’t help us, I’ll go hard on you,” she threatened.

  He sat there, saying nothing and smiling at his reflection. Lynn went to the door and told the officer to take Aaron back to his cell and let him stew awhile. She came back to our room looking annoyed.

  I said, “I have a theory. Remember Nick’s appointment book entries that had Wallace going to Arizona? Then there were meetings with someone named Fritz. Could be the missing connection.”

  She agreed it was the best lead she had and said, “I think we need to bring Wallace in for a sit down talk again. We didn’t know the connection with Fritz when we had the book. Now we do so we can shake some trees and see what falls out.”

  She called Warren in and said she wanted an APB out on Kris Wallace, that they’d had him in the other day. Warren remembered, said he’d take the lead on it and went out.

  I said, “I’ve been wondering something. Back when Lisa was murdered, Nick’s girl from Californi
a, Sue, was still with him. I wonder if she may know something about him or could at least fill in a few holes.”

  “Anything is worth a shot at this point. Do you know where to find her?” Lynn asked.

  I took out my Palm TX and went to the contact list. I found I did still have a listing under her name. I told Lynn that I had her name, address, social security number and date of birth. She asked me why I had that info, and I explained that it was my job to book air flights from L.A. to Vegas for her, and I had to give the info to reservations. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number I had. It rang a few times, then a woman answered. I asked for Sue Barkley and was told I had the wrong number. I asked the person if she knew Sue, and she said she got a good number of calls for her but didn’t know anything more. I said thanks and hung up. “Well, it was worth a try,” I said.

  Lynn said to come with her, and Deacon and I followed her to her office, to the computer there. She asked for the social security number, and I gave it to her. She typed the number in an online form and hit enter. We waited a minute then a file popped up with a picture attached. It was Sue. Lynn read from the form, saying Sue was now living in Kingman, Arizona, and had been arrested a couple of times for drug possession. “Bingo,” Lynn exclaimed. No phone number, though. Lynn made a couple calls and tried to track down a number, but no luck.

  I knew Kingman was just across the Nevada/Arizona border, and it was about a four to five hour ride. I said we could make a road trip out of it. Lynn said she had a better idea. She made a call, led us out to her car, and we went over to McCarran Airport to the commercial hangers. We found the police spotter plane waiting and ready. Lynn explained the plane was used to fly around the desert looking for stupid people who ventured too far out. Today it was our transportation to Kingman.

  She made another call, got the Kingman police and talked to a Lieutenant friend she had there, explaining what we were doing. He agreed to meet us, and we were soon in the air. I always love seeing the Vegas strip getting smaller and smaller as we ascended from the runway. It took us about an hour before we landed on a runway in Kingman airport. The plane taxied up to a police hanger, and we were met by her friend. He was a ruggedly handsome man about Deacon’s height and built well, like he worked out a lot. I thought I could see Deacon’s green-eyed monster showing. We were introduced to Lieutenant David Kline, an old friend from her police academy days.

  “I got the promotions, she got the crooks.” He laughed.

  “Hey, I’m a homicide sergeant now. Give me time to catch up. After this drug bust I may make captain.” She laughed.

  “Well, I may be able to help with that. I checked on this Barkley woman, and she’s one bad cookie. It turns out we’ve been watching her but haven’t moved in yet, waiting for more evidence to do anything. You guys may be able to provide that.” He smiled. It was a good smile, all teeth straight and pearly white.

  “We’re not intruding on your case, are we?” Lynn asked.

  “No, you’re good to go as long as I get the residuals.” He laughed.

  He took us to his car, and we headed out.

  We drove through Kingman to the edge of town, pulled into a small side street and stopped just short of another road. Kline pointed to our right to a house on the next street. He said that was Barkley’s house. There was a small mini-van in the drive. The front door opened, and a woman came out. Lynn was using the binoculars she found on the seat to watch the woman. She said it looked like Sue.

  Then a man came out carrying a large package, covering his face from our side. He went to the van, dumped the package inside, and then turned to Sue. I heard Lynn say, “Son of a bitch.” I didn’t have binoculars but could see the man clearly. It was Wallace. Lynn looked to Kline and said, “Let roll!” He kicked on the flashers and siren and roared down to the house. Wallace saw us coming and ran to the back of the house. We all piled out of the car, and Lynn yelled to Deacon to detain Sue. Kline, Lynn and I ran to the back and came to a low fence that separated the yard from a gully.

  There was a small stream running through it and on the other side of the gully was flat land for miles. We looked both ways up and down the gully and couldn’t see Wallace. We stood listening for any movement and heard none.

  “That son of a bitch is slick,” Lynn groused.

  “Well, if that’s his van out front, he has a long walk home,” I said.

  “I’ll get an APB out on him. He can’t get far in the desert,” Kline said and went to radio the APB.

  “Well, this explains a few things now. Wallace is the mule to the drug network in Arizona. Explains the trips in the appointment book. Sue must be the pickup point here,” I said.

  We walked back. Sue was spitting mad. She saw me, and her eyes went wide. “What are you doing back here. I thought you got out of Vegas!” she yelled.

  “I came back for a vacation and decided to get into a drug bust,” I joked.

  Deacon pointed to the package in the van. It looked like cocaine, all packaged nice and neat, about twenty pounds of it. Lynn told Kline he could have the bust alone as long as we got Wallace. He agreed and then said they might make him captain for this. Lynn stuck her tongue out just as a couple more Kingman patrol cars pulled up. We went into the house and found a meth lab in the basement along with piles of money, bags of cocaine and guns spread around. Kline said there were probably others involved, and he would put many men in the house to wait for them.

  A call came in on his two-way radio saying a tourist called in a carjacking by a man answering Wallace’s description. Lynn said he must have been heading back to Vegas. We got in Kline’s car after he gave orders to his men and headed back to the airport. We said our good-byes, and Kline thanked us for a delightful afternoon. He grinned wide and gave Lynn a hug. Deacon remained cool.

  We got back in the plane and were flying low along U.S. 93, the most direct route and the only route, towards Henderson, figuring Wallace would go to Nick’s place. Lynn called ahead and said to have men waiting out of sight at Nick’s for Wallace. We watched for the car based on a description Kline gave us. We had seen nothing by the time we got to the Nevada border. I said he could have pulled off for the night to hide out a while. Lynn called Kline again and told him we couldn’t find him and to keep an APB out for him. He said he would.

  We got back to Metro and into Lynn’s office. We had just sat down when Weber came flying in and wanted to be apprised of the situation. We told him, he thanked us, said good work and skittered off.

  “Does he do anything besides pop in, be apprised of the situation and leave?” I asked.

  Lynn smiled and said quietly, “I’m not answering that question. He has big ears.”

  Lynn’s cell phone rang. She answered, listened for a minute, said thanks then hung up.

  “That was Kline. Arizona Highway Patrol said a man answering to Wallace’s description car jacked another tourist at a rest stop along U.S. 93, about ten miles outside of Kingman, and sped off towards Nevada. That’s why we didn’t see him. He is shifty.”

  *

  Chapter Sixteen

  “OK, Sue was the pickup point for the drugs, Wallace would go down once a week and bring them back, he’d meet with Fritz to give him the drugs, and Fritz would have Aaron or someone deliver to the Reno boys who would then deliver to Sacramento and San Francisco. Long way round, but it covers a lot of tracks,” Lynn surmised.

  “So where do the murders of Lisa and Lori come into it?” I wondered. “Maybe they knew about the drug dealings and threatened Nick with telling to get him to love only them. So they were killed.”

  “That’s as good a guess as any. But from what Larry said, it sounds like Fritz did the killings,” Deacon offered.

  “So far I’m not hearing anything about Nick being in on the drug deal, other than his old girlfriend is the drug supplier in Arizona,” I said.

  Lynn’s cell phone rang. She answered, listened, then said, “Yes, that would be great. When could you have h
er here? OK, call when you’re leaving. Thanks.” She hung up and told us that Kline was done with Sue for now and wanted to know if we wanted her for questioning. They would have her here tomorrow. We might get some answers yet.”

  She picked up her desk phone and dialed, asked for Warren, then asked for a status on Wallace. She listened and thanked him then hung up.

  “They haven’t tracked down Wallace yet, and Nick hasn’t been out of his house since he got home last night after his show, alone.”

  I looked at my watch. It was 5:15 p.m. I said I was going to go to see Penny. Give her a little more time with me, and I would be back when they had Sue in. I said to call if something came up. We all said our good-byes, and I left the building. My mind was trying to put the whole thing together, but I couldn’t fit Nick in anywhere. Aaron said he was involved in it, but Aaron wasn’t very dependable at the moment.

  I got to the convention center and parked way back since the lot was fairly full, then as I was heading to the entrance I was stopped by a man asking if I knew a good place to eat. I was just starting to answer when someone put a bag over my head and I was carried away. I tried to kick and fight but they held me tight. I was thrown into what I assumed was a trunk, my hands were tied with wire fastener strapping, and they closed the hood. The car started up and we drove away.