by BJ Bourg
“If that’s all true, he had to have found out about her lover in Mississippi and made up the story about the conference. Otherwise, it would be a hell of a coincidence that he mentions Dark Sands and she’s got a man in Dark Sands—and I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to murder investigations.”
Dawn nodded and pursed her lips. “I want more information on this Vaughn character.”
CHAPTER 24
Detective Bureau, Payneville, Louisiana
“Here’s everything from Kathleen Bertrand’s cell phone,” Melvin said when Dawn and I entered the detective bureau.
I took the thick stack of paper and followed Dawn into the conference room, where we sat to pour over it. We separated the call records from the text records and began searching for Vaughn Toussaint’s number. It wasn’t hard to find, because she talked to him often.
“They’re definitely having an affair,” Dawn said. “No one talks on the phone until four in the morning unless they’re ‘doing it’.”
“We’re ‘doing it’,” I said, “and we don’t talk on the phone until four in the morning.”
“That’s because you sleep next to me, goofball.”
“Sleep next to you? I can’t sleep with all that snoring you do—”
“I don’t snore!” Dawn’s head jerked up from her stack of records. Her face was red and her eyes were wide. “Please tell me I haven’t turned into my mom!”
I laughed and waved her off. “I can sleep through a hurricane, so it’s not a problem.”
She grunted and went back to scanning the documents.
I found a text message from Kathleen’s phone that was sent to Vaughn on Wednesday evening at eight-eleven. I showed it to Dawn. “I wish I knew what it said.”
She pointed to the GPS coordinates in the column to the far right. “Where was she when she sent it?”
I moved to the desk in the corner of the room and accessed one of the computers. I punched in the coordinates and clicked on the map that showed up. “It’s a block from her house.”
Dawn lifted the last page in her stack and let it fall to the table. “There’s no more activity after that text message.”
I drummed my fingers on the desk, lost in thought. I was going over everything we knew at that point when I remembered the poker chip. “I bet you a hundred-dollar poker chip that Kathleen and Vaughn have been going to the Dark Sands Casino together.”
“I’ll pass on the bet, but I’d like to see the surveillance footage from the casino.”
I nodded. “We would need a roundabout date and approximate hour or we’d just be shooting in the dark and wasting a lot of time.”
“I’ll take care of that.” Dawn pulled out her cell phone and punched in a number. When the person on the other side answered, Dawn’s eyes lit up. “Hey, Lily, I hate to involve you in this case again, but I just need to know when Kathleen took her four-day weekend last month.” There was a pause and then Dawn smiled. “Thank you so much, Lil!”
She lifted her notepad and turned it so I could see. It was the Fourth of July weekend, and her days off began on the second.
I turned back to the phone records and scanned the week of the Fourth. On July first at eight-fifteen, she had sent a text message to Vaughn. The coordinates were nearly identical to the coordinates from Wednesday.
“That must be her routine,” I said. “She sends him a text message when she leaves the church or her house.”
Dawn nodded and leaned against me to enter the next set of coordinates, which corresponded with a phone call to Vaughn two hours later. The coordinates were near the Dark Sands Resort and Casino. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” she said. “I think we should take a trip to the casino and then we need to find Mr. Vaughn Toussaint.”
I picked up the handset from the desk phone and called the sheriff to get his approval.
CHAPTER 25
12:30 p.m., Dark Sands, Mississippi
I had never been to a casino and I had to admit I was impressed when we stepped through the lobby doors. There was a restaurant to our immediate left, where a live band was performing for the many people eating lunch, and an expansive opening to the right served as the entrance to the gaming devices. A security booth was set up in the center of the aisle and they were carding people as they walked by.
Since we were going to be out of our jurisdiction, we had called Dark Sands Police Department and requested that a detective assist us in obtaining surveillance footage from the casino’s security team. During the drive to Mississippi, we received a call from Detective Richard McQuarie, who asked for the facts of our case.
“They’ll want a search warrant before showing the tapes, so I’ll type one up while waiting for you guys to get here,” he had told me.
I’d given him the information for the affidavit and he said he’d meet us at the casino at two o’clock with the signed warrant.
I glanced at the time on my phone. We were a little early, which explained why I didn’t see anyone in the immediate area who looked like a detective. The check-in counter was near the opening to the casino and McQuarie told me that’s where he’d be waiting. All I saw was a long line of impatient guests waiting to get into their rooms. I heard someone behind the counter tell an elderly woman she couldn’t check into her room until three, and the woman began cursing heatedly.
“What do you want to do while waiting?” I asked, side-stepping two young boys who were chasing each other with water pistols. The place was crowded with people of all ages. They were coming and going in every direction. There were lone individuals walking around, couples strolling hand-in-hand, and even families bustling about. Some of the people were dressed elegantly, while others wore casual attire, and a few were even running around in bikinis and swim shorts. Nearly everyone old enough to drink had some type of alcoholic beverage in their hands. I shot my thumb to the left. “The restaurant looks good, but there’re a lot of people waiting to be seated.”
Dawn pointed up ahead, where a row of shops were situated along a long corridor that led to one of the two residential towers of the luxury hotel. “If that’s an ice cream shop, I want two of everything while we wait.”
I looked where she pointed and saw a flashing sign displaying a large ice cream cone. There was also a picture of a pizza, and the sight alone made my stomach growl.
We slipped our way through the crowd and stood in a short line. We didn’t have to wait long to order, and a short time later they called our number. Once we were seated at a small table near the counter—the large supreme pizza and two chocolate milk shakes taking up most of the tabletop—we tore into our meal. We didn’t talk much, but my mind was working nonstop and I knew Dawn’s was, too. I didn’t know what Vaughn Toussaint would give us, but I hoped it would be a big break in the case. With every minute that passed, our chances of solving the murder grew more and more slim, and this was not a case that could go unsolved.
As I glanced around the elegant building, I tried to image Kathleen Bertrand walking around with her fisherman lover. According to his driver’s license, he was a little shorter than she was, standing only five-six, and he must’ve had a paunchy belly, because he weighed one-eighty-five. I stared idly at some of the couples walking by, wondering if they were also cheaters. It was so busy in the resort that it would be easy to get lost in the sea of people and activities. But how did Kathleen find this fisherman, who lived so far from her—
“Do you think they ate at this pizza place?” Dawn asked, breaking through my thoughts. She had finished her pizza and was sucking on her straw. After swallowing a mouthful of milkshake, she pointed to the girl behind the counter. “Let’s show her their pictures. She might remember them.”
“Good idea,” I said.
I had finished my own food, so I emptied the tray into a nearby trashcan and joined Dawn at the counter. She had identified herself and was pulling up a picture of Vaughn when I approached them. “This is my partner, London Carter.”
“Your partner?” The young girl’s face flushed. “I thought he was your husband.”
It was Dawn’s turn to flush. “Really? What gave you that idea?”
The girl shrugged. “I don’t know. You guys just look cute together.”
I smiled. “We’ll take that under advisement.”
“Okay, Mrs. Cupid,” Dawn said, turning the screen so the girl could see Vaughn’s picture. “Do you recognize him?”
“Yeah, that’s Vaughn.”
“You know him?”
“I don’t know him, but I’ve seen him a number of times. He comes in here with this tall woman every few weeks.” She leaned across the counter. “The only reason I remember him is because he gives me the creeps. And the only reason I know his name is because he tells it to me every time.”
Dawn showed her Kathleen’s picture and she nodded. “That’s the lady.”
“What is it about Vaughn that gives you the creeps?” Dawn asked.
“First off, the lady always pays for their food. I’ve never seen him take a single dollar out of his wallet and I’ve never heard him thank her for buying. But the main thing that makes me uncomfortable is the way he looks at me.”
“How does he look at you?”
“Like a hungry dog that’s about to bite.”
“Why does he tell you his name?” Dawn asked. “Do you think he’s flirting with you?”
“Oh, absolutely.” The girl nodded her head for emphasis. “The lady always has to use the bathroom when they walk up, and I get the impression she drove a long way to get here. Anyway, since we’re the only shop outside of the casino that has a bathroom, they stop here and she goes in the bathroom while he looks at the menu. He’s been here so many times he knows exactly what we have, but he stares up and asks me a bunch of questions about the pizza. And he always finds a way to fit in the conversation that his name is Vaughn and he always invites me to go for a ride in his boat.”
“What do you tell him?”
“I tell him I have a boyfriend, but then he tells me he has a girlfriend and that it doesn’t matter.”
Dawn’s brow furrowed. “Does he talk that way in front of the lady?”
“No, ma’am. He always shuts up when she walks out the bathroom. He doesn’t say a word to me while she’s around.”
“Does he ever come in here alone?”
She shook her head. “Not that I’ve ever seen.”
Dawn thanked her and we turned to walk back to the check-in counter. We were standing there for a few minutes when my phone rang. It was Melvin.
“Hey, London, I heard back from Kathleen’s bank,” Melvin said. “She’s spent thousands of dollars at the Dark Sands Resort and Casino over the course of the year. She’s been there at least six times since January, with the last time being the Fourth of July week.”
No surprises there. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, she wrote a five thousand dollar check to a divorce attorney from New Orleans. The memo section of the check calls it a retainer fee.”
“Damn.” I was thoughtful. “When did she write the check?”
“Last week.”
CHAPTER 26
One hour later
I was watching the entrance to the casino when Detective Richard McQuarie ambled lazily through the door. He was tall and lanky, except for his lower abdomen. It sloped outward and hung over his beltline like molten lava frozen in time. He gave a slight nod of the head when he noticed us and headed in our direction, his shoulders pulled back as he walked.
He handed me a search warrant and, in a slow tone, said, “The judge signed the warrant, so we’re good to go.”
I thanked him and the three of us proceeded to the security annex, where we presented the warrant to the head of security. He made a show of studying the warrant to be sure everything was in order, and then he directed one of his underlings to pull some tape that corresponded to the date and time range specified in the warrant.
Dawn and I sat back and allowed McQuarie to do all of the talking, but it was painful to watch. He was a nice enough fellow, but he wasn’t much on action and his words dragged. At long last, we were huddled around a bank of monitors watching the cameras that covered eight different entrances to the casino. It was Dawn who spotted Kathleen first.
Kathleen was seen walking through the main entrance a few minutes after ten o’clock on the evening of July first. Kathleen stopped momentarily in the doorway and looked around. Almost immediately, a man sprang from a bench near an indoor waterfall and rushed to her. They embraced and spoke excitedly before walking away hand-in-hand.
The security officer switched cameras and we picked them up walking toward the same pizza shop where Dawn and I had eaten. Just as the girl at the shop had described, Kathleen made her way to the bathroom and Vaughn sidled up to the counter. While we couldn’t hear what was being said, the girl’s body language told us all we needed to know about her feelings toward Vaughn. When Kathleen reappeared from the bathroom, Vaughn quickly straightened from the counter and put his arm around Kathleen.
We continued watching as they walked around for a while, returned to the parking garage for Kathleen’s luggage, and then disappeared into a room on the eleventh floor. After about an hour, they left the room and went to the restaurant on the ground floor before spending the rest of the night in the casino.
They left the resort for a few hours the next day and returned a little after lunchtime. For the next few hours, we played the tapes in maximum speed, watching them coming and going throughout the weekend until we finally reached Sunday.
“They lived like they were married,” Dawn said. “I don’t understand how she can go back home after all of this and her husband not suspect a thing.”
I nodded my agreement as we watched Vaughn rolling Kathleen’s luggage toward the parking garage exit. I was about to turn away from the camera when something caught my eye.
“Wait!” I grabbed the security officer by the shoulder. “Back it up a little.”
The officer jerked in his skin, and then cursed silently. “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” I said quickly, watching as he reversed the footage. When he reached the spot I wanted, I pointed. “There—look at the man standing in the doorway.”
Dawn leaned close to the camera and studied the man. He was tall and thin and wore faded jeans and a tight dress T-shirt. He wore dark sunglasses and a ball cap, so it was hard to make out any facial features. “What about him?” she asked.
“Go back to Wednesday night,” I told the officer, “right when Kathleen first arrived.”
When he did, I pointed out a man with a similar build sitting in the corner of the room reading a newspaper. He wore the same ball cap, and the same sunglasses were dangling from his neck.
“Whoa!” McQuarie whistled. “Good eye—that’s the same guy.”
I made a rolling motion with my right index finger. “Fast-forward to when they go to the casino.”
The security officer did as I asked and stopped when I pointed to a man sitting at a video poker machine three seats away from Kathleen. “Watch him,” I said. “He’s pressing buttons, but he hasn’t put a single coin in the machine and he’s not even watching what he’s doing.”
Dawn nodded, her mouth slightly open. “He looks familiar now that he’s not wearing a baseball cap.”
“He should,” I said. “That’s the same man who was scoping us out at the Second Temple Fellowship Church.”
“That’s right!” Dawn exclaimed. “The moustache man!”
I nodded, watching as the man got up from his chair and approached Vaughn during one of Kathleen’s trips to the bathroom. They spoke briefly—until a waitress walked by in a short skirt. Virgil immediately turned away from Moustache and stopped the waitress. Since Virgil’s back was now toward him, Moustache returned to his chair and resumed pretending to play the video poker machine.
“Why in the hell is he here following our victim around the casino?�
� Dawn asked to no one in particular.
“I don’t know, but when we get back home, he’s got some explaining to do.” I turned to Detective McQuarie. “But before we go, I’d like to have a word with Vaughn Toussaint.”
“Okay.” He nodded idly and tugged the police radio from his belt clip. “I’ll go ahead and run him for an address.”
Dawn handed him the driver’s license printout.
“Well,” he said. “That was easy. Since my radio is already in my hand, I’ll check him for local warrants.”
We knew not all local warrants made it into NCIC (National Crime Information Center, a computerized database of criminal justice information), so we waited while he radioed his headquarters. Within a minute the radio scratched to life and the dispatcher said there were contempt of court warrants for Vaughn because he failed to appear for his arraignment on the sexual battery charge.
McQuarie scowled and returned his radio to his belt. “He’s got warrants.”
“That’s great,” I said. “He’s got to come with us whether he wants to or not.”
“Yeah, that’s great,” he mumbled, turning to lead the way out of the casino. “You guys can ride with me.”
I got the sense there was someplace else he’d rather be, but I shrugged it off and followed him to the front of the casino, where he was parked in the fire zone.
CHAPTER 27
“Do you know anything about this fellow?” I asked McQuarie when we drove up to Vaughn’s front doorstep. I didn’t like how close he’d driven to the house, but I wasn’t about to tell him how to do his job.
