Bob Moats - Jim Richards 01-03- 3 for Murder Box Set (40 page)

“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 her 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.

After what seemed like an hour, the car felt like it went off the road onto gravel. We drove for a while then the car stopped. The trunk opened, and I was pulled out and dumped on the ground. My sixty-year-old body doesn’t take abuse very well anymore, and I was already sore from the ride. They stood me up, pulled the bag off my head and cut my restraints. My eyes focused, and took in the bright light. I looked into a face I didn’t know then looked over to the other person standing next to him. It was Wallace.

“Well, Kris, you sure do get around,” I said.

“Screw you, Richards, you have fucked up my plans, and I don’t appreciate it. Sue called me from jail and told me you were in on it. I figured you knew too much from working for Nicky. I knew about the convention center from Aaron, so we waited for you. You stuck your nose in my business, and I’m going to rectify that.” He pointed a gun at me and smiled.

“Hey, don’t I get a last request?” I yelled. “I’d just like to know how you managed to pull off this little operation.”

“
Little
, hell. I engineered a
great
operation, at least till you stuck your nose in it,” he hissed.

“I was just trying to find out who killed Lori and Lisa. That’s all I cared about.”

“Yeah, about them, they both were thorns in my side. Nick was playing too loose with Lisa last year when I started this operation. She was starting to shoot her mouth off about being the big drug lord’s girl. I had to shut her up before she told anyone out of our group. We brought her out here and did to her the same thing I’m going to do to you but with a bullet instead of a nice quiet knife. Lori pulled the same shit, so I went to her house and did her in, too.”

“I was told that Fritz killed her,” I said, stalling for time.

“You idiot, I am Fritz! I made him up when I started gathering the last of the Sixth Street gang together. I told them I was sent by Fritz and created a back-story for him. That way if we got caught, I could get away with being just an underling in the organization, not tried as the leader.”

“Where’s Nicky fit into this? Isn’t he the leader?”

“That’s the nice thing about not admitting I’m Fritz. I could blame the fat fuck, and he’d take the heat.” He laughed evilly. “Nick knows what’s going on, and Sue started to get strung out on drugs while she was his mule for his drugs from Arizona. He was tired of her and tried to send her away. When she kept calling him, I found out she got involved with some nasty people in Kingman. That’s when I found the Arizona connection. Nick at first provided money to buy the drugs, but now he’s paid to look away while I run the operation. I’m using him as a front. Everyone loves a comedian.”

“You’re being awful loose with the info now, Wallace.” I was out of questions.

“Well, it’s only fair to know why you’re going to die.” He smiled, brought the gun back up and fired.

I died at that moment. I felt my body fall to the ground. Everything was going black. I could hear laughing and a car driving away. I’ve always heard about the bright light that near death people described. I never believed it, but I saw a light. Or maybe it was my brain’s electricity shorting out and causing fireworks in my head. I didn’t know. I do know that I saw myself floating above my body, looking down at myself on the desert sand. I floated up and over the desert back to Las Vegas, flew around all the tall hotel towers and then I came to a rest sitting on the point of the Luxor pyramid just as the beam of light shot up from its pinnacle and lifted me towards the heavens. That’s when I heard a scream. I heard it again, but the second time it was more like a cackling sound mixed with gobbles.

I opened my eyes and looked into the beak of a buzzard staring at me. I screamed. The bird backed away but didn’t leave. It just kept eyeing me like I was a Thanksgiving feast. I waved my arm. It hurt and the bird kept hopping around me. Then I saw a couple more of the foul beasts swooping down. I figured I better look lively or I’d be a one-course dinner. I tried to sit up and felt a horrendous pain in my chest.

I looked at my chest and didn’t see any blood. Wallace shot from about five feet away; I didn’t see how he could have missed. The throbbing in my chest started again. I reached up to rub it and found a big lump. I looked at my pocket and took out my poor little Palm Treo cell phone. The screen and circuit boards had been crushed by a bullet. I must have tried to turn when he shot, and the bullet caught my phone.

Luckily, Wallace was vain enough to think he could kill with just one bullet, lucky for me. I kept waving at the vultures, but they just stood their ground and waited for me to die. I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction.

It was starting to get a little darker out now. I managed to get to my feet, my chest hurting less now. I looked around and had no idea where I was or how long I was unconscious. Wallace mentioned bringing me to the same desert he brought Lisa, but I didn’t know where that was. I listened for any car or traffic sounds but heard none.

I looked down and realized there were still tire tracks in the sand from his car, so I started to follow them back the way they went. The buzzards followed me, waiting for me to give in. I walked for what seemed like hours. It was getting so dark I could hardly see the tracks. I stopped and looked around and saw it, the lights of Las Vegas brightening up the sky. I started heading in that direction, hoping I could hold out.

Back at the convention center, Penny was starting to fret about my being away so long. She tried to call my cell but got the voice mail. She asked Maria if she would call Deacon and find out if I was still with him. Maria dialed, got Deacon and asked if I was with them. He said I left over two hours ago. Penny was in a panic by that time and asked Deacon if he could do something. Deacon told Lynn what was going on, and Lynn feared the worst. She put out a BOLO for me and said they should go to the convention center and wait with the others.

I was still walking, thinking the whole time about being with Penny in the whirlpool spa then rolling around cool satin bed sheets with her, wanting so badly to find the damn road. It’s dark in the desert, but the sky was full of millions of stars, all trying to tell me the way to go. I found the North Star but had no idea how to use it. After a bit, I stumbled on the edge of something firm. I reached down and felt smooth roughness. It was concrete! I was on a road.

I sat down to rest my aching body, and I think I may have fallen asleep sitting up. I suddenly was being awakened by a honking noise and looked up into car headlights. I was sitting in the middle of the lane. The driver stuck his head out the window and yelled, “Are you all right?”

“I am now. Can you help me?” I asked wearily. He got out of his car and came over to help me up. I was dusty and worn but thankful for his help. I asked if he had a cell phone. He said his batteries had died about noon, but he could take me to a phone. I thanked him and got in his car after he cleaned the seat of all the junk there. He apologized and said he was a salesman for fishing tackle and sporting equipment so he was in his car traveling a lot.

I told him my name was Jim and he said he was Ray. I shook his hand. He took me to the first party store we could find along I-15 heading into Vegas. I got out and thanked him. He asked if I would be all right. I said I would now. He handed me his card and drove off. I knew I had to send him a case of beer for picking me up. I got to the phone, dialed 911, and asked to be put in contact with Detective Sergeant Lynn Carter, Metro Homicide. I told them it was an emergency so they put me on hold. I had to laugh, thinking of the old joke about calling the suicide help line and being put on hold. Suddenly a voice was yelling in my ear, “Jim, is this you?”