Cap's Place: A Jack Nolan Novel (The Cap's Place Series Book 1)

by Robert Tarrant

  Suddenly my whirling mind was aware that there was a new sound in the house. Anytime you stay in an unfamiliar place you hear new sounds in the night, but this sound was not here five minutes ago. I opened my eyes and strained my ears. What was the sound? Was it a sound or just a feeling of something or someone moving? Then I heard something new, almost a whimper. Then a brittle whisper, “Jack. Jack.”

  I rolled out of bed, “Sissy, is that you?”

  There was a light rap on my closed bedroom door, “Jack, can I come in and stay with you?

  I’m scared.”

  I opened the door. There stood Sissy. Even in the faint light of the hallway I could see that tears stained her cheeks. I put my arms around her and pulled her to me, “Of course you can stay with me.”

  I took Sissy over to the bed and put her into one side and I got into the other. I laid on my back and drew her to me until she was laying on her side with her head resting on my shoulder and my arm around her. Her arm fell across my chest. I felt the air go out of her as she melted into me. “Thanks Jack,” and she was asleep. I closed my eyes, added a couple of more questions to my list, and fell asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  It was ten in the morning when PJ sat down at her desk. Tim looked up, “Hate to be the one to tell you this partner, but you look like hell today.”

  “No, the first person to tell me that was the one I saw this morning in the mirror.”

  Tim took a sip from his coffee, “Why did you come in? When did you get home anyway?”

  “I don’t know, about six I guess. After Jack took Sissy from the Pinnacle I stayed and went over things with Jeff Spencer. Trying to figure how they found Sissy there so fast. Doesn’t make sense.”

  Tim leaned back in his chair and looked toward the all-knowing ceiling, “Only thing I can figure is that they followed Jack and Sissy from her apartment.”

  “I know that’s certainly possible, but even if they did follow them to the hotel how did they find out what room she was in so fast? The room was registered under an alias. No, it must have been a contact inside the Pinnacle operation. Jeff is even contemplating that Muskof may have someone inside his security operations. We know that they had someone inside casino operations when they were running that racket following big winners home and rolling them. Jeff thought that we got everyone when we arrested those two cashiers, but now he’s thinking that possibly there was someone in Security too.”

  “Wow. That could be like looking for a needle in a hay stack. With all of those part timers they employ in their security and traffic direction operations.”

  It was PJ’s turn to lean back and look to the all-knowing ceiling, “Jeff and I talked about that. It would have to be someone a ways up the food chain. The guys in the traffic direction operations would not know anything about what was going on inside the main security operations. Jeff thinks it must be at least a supervisor inside hotel security operations. The field can be further narrowed to those working last night between the time I first contacted Jeff and the time Sissy was assaulted.”

  Tim inquired, “How does he plan to proceed? Does he want help?”

  PJ chuckled, “You know how those Escapade coppers are. Their noses would be out of joint if Jeff brought us in for something as straight forward as this. After all, it’s their jurisdiction.”

  “Yeah, but it was our witness that almost got whacked.”

  Almost got whacked, PJ recoiled at Tim’s directness but immediately caught herself. After all, it was just a typical comment exchanged between cops everyday, hell between the two of them everyday. Yet, there was something especially unsettling about a term like whacked when it was applied to a friend. “Regardless, Jeff has asked Escapade PD to assign one of their detectives. Jeff is going to personally work the case with them. He has access to a ton of electronic data around there that helps them determine who was where and when.”

  “Maybe so, but I wouldn’t take Sissy back there. Where did Jack take her anyway?”

  PJ rubbed her temples with both thumbs, “I don’t know yet. He said he had a spot but didn’t know the address. He’ll call me this morning and give me the address.”

  A look of mild concern clouded Tim’s face, “Somewhere here in Hollywood? Hope he knows what he’s doing. Muskof’s guys are obviously real pros.”

  PJ drew in a deep breath, “I really don’t know where it is. I had the sense that it was somewhere within a reasonable drive, but probably not here in Hollywood. My intuition tells me it has something to do with a woman.”

  Tim scoffed, “That guy’s a real alley cat.”

  Rubbing her temples even harder PJ sighed, “Yeah, that’s what Sissy tells me.”

  Tim leaned forward, placed his elbows on his desk and rested his head on his hands, “How about we go from one bad situation to another. Want to hear about the meeting with LT and the feds yesterday after you left to go to the Pinnacle?”

  PJ sat back and crossed her arms across her chest, “Yeah, sure, lay the good news on me.”

  “Well, the most positive way to look at it is that our workload got lighter. The negative way is to say we got fucked.”

  “Save me the editorial characterization. Just the facts.”

  “Yes ma’am. Well, let’s see. The feds were, as always, their warm and personable selves. Oh, and forthcoming. They wanted to share everything they know with us but I told them ‘no, no, we would rather guess.’”

  “Come on Tim, I’m tired and I’m getting my period, don’t screw around. What happened?”

  Tim sat back and chuckled, “Fair enough. The feds took the case. Period. End of story.”

  “Did Hass fight for us?”

  “Only a token. He knew the outcome was inevitable. He had his marching orders from the Chief. We really don’t have anything. All we’ve got is the fact that the vic picked up an old man sometime before he got iced. Not likely that the old man popped him. So we got nothing. There wasn’t really any other way to spin it. Hass decided to live to fight another day. Guess I can’t blame him.”

  “Sorry you had to endure it alone. I just had to get to Sissy with what we had at the time.”

  “Damn good thing that you did get to her when you did. Otherwise, we’d probably be going to her funeral. Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get screwed by the feds.” Tim reddened, “I mean, figuratively of course.”

  Shaking her head PJ said, “I just don’t know why the feds are so hot on a street crime like the murder and robbery of a cab driver. Must have something to do with his life style. That apartment sure didn’t fit a cab driver. Wonder if that guy was on some terrorist watch list?”

  Tim scoffed, “Isn’t every person of Middle Eastern origin? No sense in us worrying about it. It’s water under the bridge now. Might as well get on with our own problems.”

  PJ returned to rubbing her temples, “Yeah, you’re right. How do you think we should proceed with this Allison Reynolds’s disappearance? Do you think it’s related to the threat against Sissy?”

  Tim flipped open a file folder on his desk, took out two photographs and tossed them across the desktops to PJ, “I guess I’m not convinced that her disappearance, if that’s what it is, is connected to Sissy’s problems. The picture you sent from the security cameras at Pinnacle doesn’t look anything like the guy that was talking to Allison at Cap’s the other night.”

  “That doesn’t mean much. Not like Muskof only has access to one thug. What makes you think that Allison isn’t really missing?”

  “I don’t know. Call it gut instinct. She’s damn good looking and sounds like quite the flirt. My money says she’s somewhere shacked up with some Romeo getting her brains screwed out.”

  PJ moved from rubbing her temples to working the muscles in the back of her neck, “I know she isn’t scheduled to work for a couple of days, so maybe she did just take off. Funny though, why didn’t she let her roommate know? Sounds like they always let each other know if one wasn�
�t coming home. It’s a couple of days now. Just doesn’t fit.”

  Tim looked across the desk and frowned, “Okay then, based on the circumstances surrounding the threat to Sissy and the theory that it may have been a case of mistaken identity, don’t you think that we better contact her family before we put Allison in the system? If she turns up dead the family is going to be pissed that we had enough concern to enter her as missing, but didn’t bother to contact them.”

  PJ let out a sigh, “Yeah, I know. I thought of that. I was just hoping that when I got in this morning you would tell me that you had already completed that unpleasant task.”

  Tim let out a sigh of his own, “Tell you what partner, you take your little butt home and get some rest so that you’re fit to live with and I’ll contact the family.”

  “You’re such a smooth talker.”

  “Call ‘em like I see ‘em. You’re miserable and you’re bound to take it out on me. You go home and get some rest and I’ll hold down the fort.”

  “Partner, you got a deal.”

  “Who knows, maybe we get lucky and Allison’s parents know where she is and all is well. By the way, you want me to call Jack Nolan and find out where he has Sissy stashed?”

  PJ replied, punctuated by a deep yawn, “Yeah . . . that would be great.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I awoke with that disoriented feeling that is usually precipitated by the consumption of excess alcohol. When you’re not sure where you are, what day it is, and worse yet--who you’re in bed with. The first realization was where, the “guest house.” Yet, something was wrong. The female body next to me was not the one associated with this house! This body was firm, but soft and curvaceous in all the right spots. I had awoken with my arm around her, my hand resting on a very ample breast. No, this is not the tight, over exercised, underfed, former runway model body of the “lady of the manor.” The scent is different too. This is a very familiar scent. This is the scent of Sissy!

  It all started flooding back into my mind in non-sequential waves. It was as if my subconscious took the events of the past day and threw them out on the table like so many letter tiles for me to assemble into something meaningful. Just like my infrequent efforts at Scrabble I was struggling and having limited success.

  I knew that I needed to get up and find some coffee to clear the cobwebs. Yet, I couldn’t move, I was just too damn comfortable. The room was dark, the conditioned air was cool, and I felt strangely peaceful laying here. A feeling I had not felt since . . . since I don’t recall when. Maybe never. I wanted to just lay here and enjoy the moment, but knew that was not possible. I needed to get up, clear the cobwebs, and plan the next steps to keep Sissy safe.

  I slowly withdrew my arm from around Sissy and slipped out of bed. Her rhythmic breathing faltered for a couple of seconds, but soon retuned to its slow, smooth cadence. I pulled a pair of cargo shorts on over my boxers and stealthy closed the bedroom door behind me. Finding the coffee in the kitchen was the easy part. Figuring out the European coffee maker was a bit more challenging. What happened to the good old Mr. Coffee I grew up with? The clock in the kitchen told me that it was almost noon. My best guess was that we had gone to bed around 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. The dishes and empty beer bottles in the kitchen helped to assemble some of the memory tiles. Finally, the coffee maker made some type of musical beeping noise and I took that as a sign that the brewing was finished. I took the carafe and two mugs and went out to the patio.

  The heat and humidity had started to build, but there was a decent breeze. I sipped the steaming coffee and tried to hasten the assembly of the tiles. A picture started to emerge from the fog and I felt the peace I had felt earlier while laying next to Sissy being replaced by intense focus and accompanying stress. Why is it that the peaceful moments are so short and fleeting? Is it that way for everyone, or are there people who live peaceful tranquil lives? Maybe, some Buddhist monk on a mountaintop monastery somewhere in Tibet. Well, maybe not Tibet. There you go Jack, it doesn’t exist anywhere.

  “Hey there big boy, you going to share that coffee?”

  I turned to see Sissy standing in the doorway wearing the pink oversized tee-shirt. Her face, with telltale streaks of last nights makeup and tears, still radiated in the warm sunlight. “Hi there sleepyhead. That’s the reason I brought two cups.”

  Sissy settled into another chair at the patio table and drew her folded legs up under her. “Have you been up long? I didn’t hear you leave. Any idea what time it is?”

  “It’s a little after noon. Only been up a few minutes myself. Still on the first cup.”

  Sissy took a long slow sip of her coffee and looked up at me with concern in those sparkling blue gray eyes, “We’re in serious trouble aren’t we Jack?”

  “We’re not in trouble. We’re the good guys. I won’t lie to you. We are in some danger, but we’re not in trouble. Trouble is when everyone is against you. Everybody is on our side in this. All we need to do is avoid the danger until PJ and Tim eliminate it. We’re going to be fine. No one knows where we are. We’re safe here.”

  “That’s what we thought at the Pinnacle. That didn’t work out too well.”

  Something about the tone of her voice struck me as humorous. I knew she didn’t intend it as a joke, but I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Can’t argue with you on that.”

  “Yeah, with everybody on our side I was nearly raped and murdered. I think maybe we should try to make a go of it alone for a while. How long will your girlfriend let us stay here?”

  In the midst of this mess, with just a few hours of sleep to recharge, flashes of the old Sissy. “Think we can stay here as long as we would like. Certainly for a few days. I will have a better idea when I talk to Maria later today.”

  “Maria. So that’s her name. How long you been seeing her?”

  I found Sissy’s choice of words interesting, ‘Seeing her,’ I really don’t think of myself as seeing anyone. I have friendships with a number of women who are in the Miami area on occasion. They all have lives somewhere else with someone else. For one reason or another they enjoy spending time with me when they are “in town.” They all have much more to lose than I do. So, no strings. No expectations for the future.

  “Maria is the housekeeper. I told you last night, but certainly understand if you don’t remember. Not like you weren’t feeling considerable stress last night.”

  One of her little smirks, “As contrasted with today?”

  “What we’re both feeling today is the fallout from everything yesterday. We’re safe here. No one knows we’re here. At this point not even PJ knows where we are.”

  I was trying to sound as reassuring and confident as possible. I wasn’t sure if I was easing Sissy’s concern but I did know that I wasn’t convincing myself. I had that hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach that I just didn’t have things quite under control.

  Sissy set down her coffee cup and folded her hands on the table in front of her. Looking directly at me she said, “Jack, explain to me how they found me at the Pinnacle and how it is that they won’t be able to find me here.”

  I felt that honesty, at least partial honesty, was my best tact, “I don’t know how they found us. I am sure PJ will figure that out. Maybe someone at the Pinnacle is on Muskof’s payroll. I don’t know. Yet, no one can possibly know we’re here.”

  Sissy put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands, “How can you be sure. Maybe they’re tracking my cell phone. I heard that you can be tracked through your cell phone.”

  “I thought of that. It’s true you can subscribe to services that track cell phones, but the GPS tracking needs to be turned on in the phone. I also believe that cops can track cell phones even if the GPS tracking is not turned on. I don’t know if people like Muskof have access to that kind of technology, but I didn’t take any chances. While you were sleeping on the way up here I stopped at the airport and took the batteries out of both of our phones.”

  “Wh
y did you do it at the airport?”

  With a note of pride I answered, “If someone was tracking us through our phones they would think we left the area through the airport.”

  “Wow. I’m impressed. You a secret agent or something? Is that what you have been doing when I thought you were off in the arms of some horny heiress? You doing secret agent stuff?”

  I chuckled at Sissy’s characterization, “When you think I’m out running with the rich and famous I’m probably watching too much TV. That’s where I learn most of my secret agent stuff.” Maybe I’m a secret agent, not a Superhero. I don’t look that good in tights anyway.

  Sissy’s face darkened, “Maybe they were tracking my car? I know they can put things on your car that allows it to be tracked. I read about that in the paper in a story about the divorce of that big real estate guy in Palm Beach. It said you can buy all kinds of stuff on the internet that allows you to track people. People are even using it to keep track of their kids. How do we know they’re not tracking my car?”

  “Sissy, we left your car at Cap’s.”

  “How do we know they’re not tracking your car?”

  I could see that Sissy was scared to the core and I couldn’t blame her one bit. Muskof’s hired killer had found her somehow and we didn’t know how. Why couldn’t he do it again? Maybe he could. “I don’t think they’re tracking my car because from talking with Mrs. Feldman it sounds like they didn’t even know what you were driving until they talked to her. I think that they thought they could find you at your apartment or at Cap’s. I don’t think they were planning any sophisticated surveillance like tracking me to find you.”

  “All of your logic is great but that still doesn’t explain how they found me at the Pinnacle no more than an hour after I got into the room.”

  I stood and walked around the table to Sissy taking her hand in mine. She unfolded her legs and stood. I wrapped my arms around her and spoke softly into her ear, “Sissy, I don’t have all the answers. I’m not sure I even know the right questions. I do know one thing though, I’m not going to leave you. I’m going to protect you. We’ll get through this together. That I promise you. I promise you.”