August 14th, 2015
6:30 P.M.
Las Vegas
THEY HAD QUICKLY worked their way through Lott’s list, spotting nothing else that made sense. Before they could get back to the bus tragedy, the food started arriving. They were all almost finished with their salads and soup when Fleet got the reply from his people.
Julia had been working on a wonderful hazelnut-dressing dinner salad with extra tomatoes. Even though it tasted wonderful and she knew she was hungry, she was having to force herself to eat. She had no idea how long she would be awake tonight, and she knew she needed to eat and drink water to make sure she was fully recovered from the time in the sun and heat this afternoon.
“Karen West took a week of personal time this last week,” Fleet said after hanging up his phone. “She does that most every month it seems. I have my people trying to track down what sort of vehicle she is driving, but my sources tell me she talks to no one about what she does during that week every month.”
“That’s pretty damning,” Andor said, shaking his head.
Julia could only agree with that. Not proof by a long ways, but damning. And one thing detectives tended to know was when all arrows pointed in a certain direction, chances are that direction was the right way. And right now a lot of arrows were starting to turn and point to Karen West.
“She also went to the same Catholic girl’s school and was the same age as the girls on that bus,” Fleet said, his voice low against the sounds of the casino around them.
He again pulled up an image on his laptop and turned it for everyone to see.
It was clear to Julia it was a young version of Karen West, dressed in the same uniforms as all the women found dead in the mines.
The final arrow.
Julia had no doubt at all now who had killed all the women.
“I think she just moved from a person of interest to the major suspect,” the chief said. “I’ll get everyone looking for any of her registered cars, or her company’s registered cars, coming into town, see if we can spot her that way.”
“If we don’t catch her in the act, how do we prove she is the killer, assuming she is the killer?” Annie asked. “I’m betting anything these crime scenes in the mines are as clean as the first one Dad and Andor found.”
Julia had to agree.
Everyone sat silently, thinking. With a woman of that kind of power and money, that was going to be very difficult at best, unless she had made a major mistake and Julia doubted this Karen West had done that.
“So what the hell happened in that bus tragedy?” the chief asked, breaking the silence.
Julia and Lott quickly went over all the details of the tragedy for the chief as their main meals arrived. She was having a filet of cod, sautéed in butter. Asparagus spears filled the plate, also sautéed lightly in butter.
She worked at it slowly, letting herself savor the taste as everyone got on the same page with the bus tragedy, including their suspicions that it had not been a complete accident.
“So you think this Karen West was the ghost in the mine?” the chief asked. “And carried all those girls up to the mine herself?”
“Not possible,” Julia said, and beside her Lott nodded. “She had to have help.”
“I’m betting it went down like this,” Lott said. “Karen West and a friend somehow managed to give the driver bad directions as a prank, change the destination. I don’t think they ever figured the bus to break down. More than likely they were doing it to annoy the teacher.”
“I agree,” Julia said. “I think the driver and his son, Kirk, went to try to find help, but the father collapsed and died and Kirk turned back to the bus, where he passed out with the girls.”
“Then,” Andor said, “after the bus had been missing for a day or so, West and her friend decided that was enough and went to where they knew the bus had gone. There they found the teacher dead and most of the girls and Kirk almost dead. They got the girls up to the mine, took most of the panties off all the girls and stuffed them in Kirk’s pocket to focus the attention on him, and went to try to let someone know without revealing they were at fault.”
“They didn’t get the word out quick enough and the girls died,” Julia said.
“That had to mess them up something awful,” Andor said.
Julia agreed with that completely.
Fleet picked his phone back up, ignoring the half-eaten prime rib in front of him.
The table went silent, listening to his side of the conversation.
“Find out who was Karen West’s best friend in school the year of the bus tragedy,” Fleet said. “And see if she is still alive or not.”
He nodded and then hung up.
They all went back to eating and Julia forced herself to pay attention to the wonderful, light fish on her plate and enjoy the taste. She had a hunch things were going to get really stressed and harried before this was all over.
A moment later Fleet’s phone buzzed and he answered it. He listened and nodded as everyone at the table watched him. Then he said, “Thanks,” and hung up.
“Her girlfriend’s name was Bettie Lynch,” Fleet said. “She and Karen West were married a few months back in California.”
Suddenly Julia wished she hadn’t just eaten that dinner. Her chest and stomach had clamped up so tight, she could hardly breathe.
Around the table the rest of the group sat silent. Some had their forks over their meal, frozen in mid-air. Fleet was looking puzzled at that response.
Finally it was Doc who broke the silence. “Mind telling those of us from Idaho why that was so shocking?”
“Bettie Lynch is a well-known figure here in Las Vegas,” Lott said, calmly pushing his plate away.
Julia forced herself to take a deep breath and focus on being calm.
“Lynch has a chain of stores,” Andor said.
Suddenly Doc’s very tanned face went completely white. “Are you talking about Lynch’s Jerky and Treats?”
“The same,” Lott nodded.
The chief of police sat there for a moment in the silence, then pulled out his cell phone and called his office. He ordered an emergency meeting in thirty minutes. “Everyone. Get them out of bed.”
Then he stood. “We may not have enough evidence to convict, but we’re going to get some court orders and search a house and close down some stores. What do I owe for dinner?”
Doc waved him off. “Just catch those two.”
“Oh, we will,” the chief said. “And first thing we are going to do is test some of the products in those shops.”
Julia watched the very angry chief of police storm off through the casino. Then she turned back to the silent group.
“So who thinks he’s going to get West and her partner?” Julia asked.
“I wouldn’t put money on it,” Doc said. “Even though he and other major agencies are going to do their best.”
Lott and Andor both nodded.
“So it’s up to us. What do we do first?” Julia asked.
“Tomorrow morning at sunrise,” Fleet said, “we check to see if that last mine was being watched.”
“Because if it was,” Doc said, nodding, “those two killers are going to be nowhere near Las Vegas.”
Julia agreed.
Now, somehow, after all this today, she needed to get a few hours sleep. She doubted that was going to be possible.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
August 15th, 2015
5:15 A.M.
Las Vegas
ANDOR HEADED TO the police headquarters while Julia, Annie, Doc, and Fleet came with Lott in his SUV to the last mine, the mine only half-full of bodies. The sun wasn’t up over the east hills yet and the air still felt warm, meaning the day would be another hot one.
Julia sat in the front seat beside him as he took the SUV up the narrow dirt road to the east of the city, working carefully along rocks. He loved having her beside him. It just felt right.
Annie, Doc, and Fleet were i
n the back seat, with Annie in the middle.
“Snakes will be out this time of the day,” Doc said.
Annie punched him with her elbow in the ribs.
“I do not plan on leaving the road,” Fleet said.
Julia glanced back. “Some snake issues?”
“No issue,” Fleet said, his voice very serious. “I hate them, fear them, and will not go near them, so there is no issue.”
Lott laughed, as did Doc.
Julia just shook her head, smiling.
Lott stopped the SUV in the middle of the narrow dirt road beside a mine entrance about a hundred paces to the right just slightly up a slight gully. The mine opening in the dark morning shadows looked old and abandoned and had a large sign on it warning no trespassing and danger.
If they had to move up that gulley to that mine, there was no doubt there would be snakes this time of the morning.
They all sat there staring at the boarded up mine, knowing there were women in there who had met a very sudden and horrid death. Lott didn’t want to think about it. All he could think about was stopping these two crazy killers and saving that last woman from Montana.
“Stay put for a moment, everyone,” Lott said.
He climbed out into the shadows and warm air of the early morning and held his badge up in the air for the cop watching the mine to see. He had no idea where the cop watching this mine was stationed, but he didn’t want to take a chance.
“Up here, Detective Lott,” a voice said. “I got the heads-up you were coming.”
Lott turned to look up through some rocks as a man in a light jacket stood and waved. He had to be a good hundred paces up through the rocks. No chance the guy could have been seen up there if West and her partner had come here.
Lott could only imagine how hot it got up there during the prime of the day.
“We’re here to see if this thing was bugged,” Lott said.
“Anything I can do, just shout,” the cop said.
“Thanks!” Lott said. “The way things are moving, I doubt you’ll be here much longer.”
“Good to hear,” the cop said.
Lott turned and nodded that the rest could get out.
Annie and Julia got out and waved to the cop on the hill.
Doc moved around and opened up the back of the SUV.
Fleet climbed out slowly, looking around before moving to the back of the SUV with Doc and opening up some equipment.
It didn’t take him long studying a hand-held device that looked more like an early version of a heavy cell phone before he nodded.
He turned slowly, nodding.
Then he handed another device just like it to Doc. “Go up the road about twenty paces and aim that at the hill above the mine. I’ll triangulate the location.”
“Is there something here?” Julia asked.
Fleet nodded as Doc headed back up the dirt road twenty paces, then turned and aimed the device at the rocks and dried brush above the mine.
“Twenty paces above the mine and to the right in those rocks,” Fleet said, pointing. “There’s a camera broadcasting a signal on two minute intervals.”
Lott could see exactly where he was pointing. From that spot, the camera could see both the road and the opening of the mine. Lynch and West had watched everything yesterday.
“Can the signal be traced?” Annie asked.
Fleet shook his head.
“So the two women know they have been found,” Annie said, her voice low and angry as Fleet motioned for Doc to come back down the road to join them.
“They know,” Lott said. “And more than likely they have a very good plan on what to do next.”
He was angry, more angry than he wanted to admit even to himself. And now he had no idea how they could ever save that woman from Montana, let alone even find the two women who had killed so many. The two killers had money, they were smart, and they had a head start.
Even with every federal, state, and local law enforcement officer in the western part of the United States looking for them, Lott had no doubt they wouldn’t be spotted.
Fleet put the two devices back in a silver case and shut it.
Silently, they all got back into the SUV.
Lott headed the big Cadillac back toward Las Vegas.
“Now what?” Annie said as Fleet dialed the chief of police’s number to tell him the bad news.
Not a one of them had an answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
August 15th, 2015
7:00 A.M.
Las Vegas
AS IF THEY all needed comfort food, they headed back to what was turning out to be their meeting headquarters, the café at the Bellagio. Julia rode in silence in the front seat, just doing her best to figure out what to do next.
Annie had called Andor and told him to meet them.
Then, until they reached the area near Las Vegas Boulevard, they continued to ride in silence. Julia could feel the pressure of the anger and the feelings in the car, compounded by the frustration. This group, including her, were not used to having someone beat them.
And at the moment, Lynch and West appeared to have beaten them.
“This is going to explode over every television station and news source in just an hour or so,” Annie said. “No point in Chief Beason trying to keep it under wraps now. They might be able to hold most information until later in the afternoon. But no doubt it will be a national firestorm that’s going to descend on this city.”
“The chief will keep us out of it,” Lott said.
“I got my people tracing all of the two women’s assets,” Fleet said. “Second homes and so on.”
“Not worried about us being involved in the media side,” Annie said. “I just have no idea how those two women could even think of going underground with this kind of press and manhunt that will happen.”
“Let alone with us, and every federal agency,” Lott said, “being able to track their every asset and move.”
Julia looked at Lott, who was pulling them into the valet parking area of the Bellagio near the café entrance. Around them dozens of cars sat waiting to either be put away or picked up by their owners. All were modern cars like Lott’s Cadillac. No telling how many of them were rentals.
A hint of an idea was forming and she let it.
Around her, all the people moved in their own worlds, some with luggage, some just going into the casino. All handing cash to the attendants as a tip to take care of their cars or a thank-you for helping with luggage.
Cash.
Massive numbers of people.
Julia suddenly knew exactly how these two women would escape notice and capture.
Exactly.
Lott put the SUV in park as Julia smiled. “I know how I would escape this in Lynch and West’s positions.”
Lott’s head snapped around to look at her, his wonderful green eyes looking intent.
“I need some real breakfast, though,” she said, smiling at him and climbing out of the car.
From the back, Annie laughed.
“Now that’s just mean,” Doc said, laughing.
They all headed through the warming air into the air conditioning of the Bellagio and to the café. As Julia watched, Lott slipped the attendant a five-dollar bill to take care of the car.
Julia nodded, letting the idea form even more.
Their regular booth was open in the back, so she waited until they were all seated and the hostess had left and then just smiled. “Lynch and West aren’t going anywhere.”
Lott just shook his head. “West was already out of town.”
“She’ll come back here,” Julia said, becoming more and more sure of her theory the more she thought about it.
“So what do you think West is going to do with the woman from Montana?” Annie asked.
Beside Annie, both Doc and Fleet were looking at Julia intently.
Julia just shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. My hope is that West will give the poor woman a little
extra drugs, park her in a hotel room, and be long gone before the poor woman wakes up.”
“I hope so as well,” Lott said. “But I’m not so sure.”
“It sounds logical,” Julia said, trying to sound more positive than she actually was.
Annie was nodding, but frowning.
“These women only kill inside one carefully arranged method,” Julia said, “that patterns what happened to them with their friends in school. We can hope they won’t hurt a woman outside of that pattern.”
“Let’s just hope like hell they don’t have the pattern set up somewhere else,” Lott said.
That caused silence and nods from everyone.
“So why do you think they would come back here?” Doc asked.
“This is their home,” Julia said.
“They have no other homes or property in this city or even close,” Fleet said. “Under any name or corporation cover that is linked to them.”
“They don’t need a home or anything else,” Julia said. She pointed around the casino and then up trying to indicate the massive hotel that rose above them. “They just need new looks, some basic fake id, and cash.”
Lott nodded, reaching over and taking Julia’s hand. “They’re here. You’re right.”
“I know I’m right,” Julia said. “But now how do we find them? And even if we can’t convict them, we can put them under wraps and stop more deaths.”
And with that, the sounds of the casino and the early morning restaurant washed back in over them, filling the silence at the table.
And outside the restaurant, a steady stream of tourists poured into the building.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
August 15th, 2015
7:00 A.M.
Las Vegas
LOTT SCOOTED OVER closer to Julia in the booth as Andor joined them a minute before the waitress came back to take their breakfast order.
“It’s a flat madhouse at headquarters right now,” Andor said. “FBI, state, and a dozen other police forces from around the area are meeting with the chief. So damn crowded, everyone is shouting to just have the person next to them hear what they are saying.”
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