Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  But she was all of those things and he was going to have to relax and just go with it.

  Far, far easier said than done.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  October, 2014

  Downtown

  Boise, Idaho

  LOTT EXPLAINED to his daughter, Annie, what had happened with the brother and then at the Governor’s Mansion. Annie had been flat stunned that they had had the courage to just go investigate the governor’s wife.

  Lott mentioned that if Annie had people doing research, it would be helpful to see if there were any articles on the governor’s wife’s first marriage when he was running for office.

  And articles about the two kids.

  Annie said she was excited to be involved and said she would get people on that, on the mining output, and permits and everything. So far they had found no further trace of what happened to who controlled the corporation after Rocha was killed.

  Rogers finished her conversation with Andor just slightly before Lott hung up with his daughter.

  “He thinks we were nuts,” she said, smiling as she took out another roll.

  “Annie thought the same thing. But I have her investigating the governor’s wife’s story. And her kids.”

  “Good,” Rogers said. “And you have her going on the mineral sales from a mine like the Breyfogle.”

  “I do,” Lott said.

  “Andor’s still searching for the Impala,” Rogers said. “Trying to figure out who owned it. He checked if Rocha had registered it in Idaho, but he hadn’t. Andor will look into the chance that the governor’s wife had owned it.”

  “Oh, great thinking,” he said as the waitress came with her order pad and another basket of hot butter rolls that seemed to melt in his mouth.

  They both ordered steaks and baked potatoes. He ordered a rib-eye and she ordered a top sirloin, both medium rare.

  Then as the waitress left, they both grabbed a hot roll. The food was helping him, and from what he could tell, Rogers was feeling better as well.

  “So what’s next on our plan?” he asked.

  She opened her notebook and looked at her notes. “We’ve talked to the brother and he didn’t even know his brother was ever in town or about his first wife.”

  “And the first wife was shocked by the news of the corporation and possible mine,” Lott said.

  “She was,” Rogers said, nodding and staring at her notebook.

  Lott watched her, trying to figure out what was bothering him. Something pretty major, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

  “We need to investigate the two friends the governor’s wife mentioned,” Rogers said after a moment.

  Rogers nodded and then what had been bothering him suddenly snapped into place. “Who would have the power to hide a corporation and even help Stan set it up?”

  “Someone with money,” Rogers said, frowning.

  “Exactly,” Lott said. “We need to have a look at the governor’s early days. Did he have money? Was he the backer behind his friend’s crazy searches?”

  “Love triangle,” Rogers said, nodding. “I’ll bet he was in love with Kate and helped Stan leave to search for treasure to try to work his way into Kate’s life.”

  “It makes as much sense as anything we’ve come up with so far,” Lott said. “I’ll call Annie and get her researching into McDonald’s past as well.”

  Rogers nodded and looked at her notes again. “We’re still missing one major thing we came looking for. Where did he keep his extra stuff, his driver’s licenses, corporate records, things like that?”

  Lott finished off the last of the roll as he thought about that. She was right. Rocha’s mother didn’t have any of it. The governor’s wife clearly didn’t have it since, if she had, she would have known about the corporation.

  “So we have a missing corporation and a missing stash of personal papers,” Lott said. “Wouldn’t surprise me that McDonald had it all.”

  “It would make sense,” Rogers said. “But it made sense his mother had it all.”

  “True,” Lott said. So far this case was just one crazy twist and turn and dead-end road after another.

  “We’re also missing a car,” Rogers said.

  “Seems that while everyone is digging into the past, we need to talk to the other two wives. Maybe he confided in one of them.”

  Rogers nodded and put her notebook away as the waitress brought their food. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “You want me to go?” Lott asked, studying her.

  She shook her head. “I’ve met two of them. I can manage the other two. And we’re making a great team talking with them.”

  He smiled. “That we are.”

  Then, before he dug into his wonderful-smelling steak and baked potato, he called Annie back.

  After he quickly told her what they thought might have happened with the love triangle and the governor, all she said was, “What a hornet’s nest.”

  “Just have your investigator be very careful,” Lott said.

  Annie actually laughed at that. “Oh, trust me, no trace. Our people are that good. Just you two don’t kick the thing anymore.”

  “I promise,” he said.

  His daughter just laughed at him, knowing that he was just joking.

  He hung up and dug into his steak. Across the table Rogers was already halfway done with hers.

  And smiling with every bite.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  October, 2014

  Boise Airport

  Boise, Idaho

  JULIA STOOD JUST INSIDE the air-conditioned private building that served as the office and waiting room for Doc Hill’s private jet. The room was carpeted and had three expensive couches and a couple of magazines on a coffee table. Against one wall was a coffee and tea bar and some fresh doughnuts filled a plate there as well.

  If she hadn’t been so full from the wonderful steak dinner, she would have taken one.

  The ground crew had just finished up a flight check and now they were all waiting for a copilot to arrive. Then she and Lott would be headed out.

  She couldn’t believe, and never would have believed, that on any case as a detective, she would be flying in such comfort and style.

  Yet here she stood, waiting a few minutes for people to service a private jet just for her and Lott to fly to Winnemucca and then on to Salt Lake so they could talk to her former husband’s other wives.

  Actually, she more than likely should stop thinking of Stan as her former husband. Their marriage had never been valid, since he had already been married before her to at least one other woman. It had been a sham from moment one.

  She still couldn’t believe that she had missed the signs that Stan wasn’t what he seemed. As a detective, she had always prided herself in catching the smallest details in a case. She had always figured that Stan might have a girlfriend somewhere, but since she didn’t really even know what he did when he left and couldn’t get him to talk about it at all, she clearly hadn’t cared that much.

  Something about that bothered her as well. Maybe she knew, deep down, that she was only a rest stop for Stan to drop by at times and have sex and eat and sleep. And the marriage had just made it seem right to her for a time.

  Looking back, she didn’t think she much cared at all until she got pregnant with Jane.

  Julia shook that thought away. Once they found Stan’s killer, she was going to search out a counselor and get some help putting all this in perspective. Just so she could safely trust herself with another relationship.

  She glanced back at the small waiting area. Lott was pacing in front of one couch, talking with his daughter. Maybe Annie and her research team had found something.

  She hoped so.

  It had been a very long day since she and Lott had climbed on that plane in Las Vegas a little before eight in the morning. Now it was going on six in the evening Boise time. Once they were in the air, they would be in Winnemucca in thirty minute
s. They hoped to talk with the wife there and be back in the air and on the way to Salt Lake in an hour.

  Through the big window, Julia could see a man dressed like a pilot walk toward the plane and climb on board. Looks like they were about ready.

  “Talk to you after we talk with the Winnemucca wife,” Lott said to his daughter and clicked off the phone.

  “Any luck,” Julia asked as he came over to stand beside her.

  “The Breyfogle Company and the sole stock owner were extremely rich,” Lott said. “Annie thinks they are getting closer to digging out who that person is.”

  “Mining money?” Julia asked.

  “Gold and silver,” Lott said. “Plus plowing the money into more land and water rights and mineral rights made them even richer very quickly. Annie and her people are finding that information out easily enough, just not who was running the place.”

  “How about employee names,” Julia asked.

  Lott nodded. “They’ve got about fifty higher level manager’s names, some of which were vice presidents. If we need to, we can interview them.”

  Julia knew that would be a lot of work, but if they hit solid dead-ends from here, they would do just that.

  “Governor was broke as a college student,” Lott said. “He had no real money until he married Kate. It seemed her family approved of him.”

  “Any chance Kate’s family might have a hand in Stan’s murder?” Julia asked.

  “A logical motive,” Lott said. “Annie and her people are digging into them all. Bound to be some ugly rat’s nests back in those lives somewhere.”

  “You mean more ugly than a governor’s wife being married to a bigamist before she married the governor?”

  Lott laughed. “Seems that detail never hit any papers.”

  “Yet,” Julia said.

  From the door of the jet, Julia saw the pilot wave for them to come out.

  “Well, you ready to go talk with one of your husband’s other wives?” Lott asked as they headed out the door and into the warm evening air and the rumbling noises of the airport around them.

  “You sure know how to make a trip sound exciting,” Julia said.

  “Better than Disneyland,” Lott said.

  “Wifeland?” Julia asked. “We find many more wives and it just might be enough for a theme park.”

  Lott laughed. “And all the kids could run it.”

  Julia really laughed. “Got that right. I’m not looking forward to telling Jane she has four half-brothers and sisters.”

  “Don’t blame you there at all,” Lott said, now suddenly serious as they neared the plane. “Might want to talk with Annie about that problem before you talk to Jane. Get a younger person’s perspective on how to approach it.”

  Lott stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading up into the jet and looked at her directly, those wonderful dark eyes of his clearly worried about her.

  “I will,” she said, smiling at him. “Thanks. And thanks for the great dinner.”

  And then she did something that surprised even herself.

  She kissed him lightly on the lips before starting up the stairs. Sort of a thank-you kiss and a promise of the future kiss.

  And it was nice. Really nice, especially the totally surprised look on his face as she turned away.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  October, 2014

  Winnemucca, Nevada

  FROM THE AIR, as the jet turned to make an approach to the runway, Winnemucca wasn’t much more than a wide area of buildings and some casino signs stretching along the old highway beside the freeway between Reno and Salt Lake. The town had been there long before the freeway, and parts of it showed, even from a couple thousand feet in the air.

  The town had spread out some with some classic subdivisions and mobile home parks on the road toward Boise. The desert around it was brown and there weren’t many patches of green showing at all. Very, very different from the city of Boise, where everything seemed green and covered by lush trees.

  Somehow, Annie had arranged for them to have a car waiting. Lott was pretty convinced that Doc had called in a favor from a local casino owner who had sent a minion to rent a car and wait at the airport.

  They weren’t going to have the car more than an hour if everything went as planned.

  He and Julia had talked about the case on the way down, both puzzling about how Stan had managed to start the corporation and keep it secret from all his wives.

  Not a word was said about the kiss getting into the plane. Lott had been shocked. He had to admit that. But not upset. He hoped at some point to be kissing-close to Julia and it appeared she hoped the same thing about him.

  They had called ahead from Boise to the Winnemucca wife whose actual name was Stephanie Benz. She was a bookkeeper and her husband owned a small restaurant near one end of town that geared mostly to the locals instead of the tourists coming through.

  She had agreed to talk with them when she learned it was about Stan Rocha. She said her husband was at work and it would be better if they could meet her at her office in the back of a service station and repair shop.

  Lott had little doubt that the woman would add anything to the picture they were building, but they didn’t dare not talk with her and let her know what was happening. And that her daughter had grandparents in Boise that were very rich.

  Since Stan’s brother had known about the kids and done nothing to help in their support, Lott was hoping that some of the wives just might go after the family. He knew Rogers never would, and he knew Kate, the wife of the governor, didn’t need to. But the other three certainly could make Carl pay a little for his cold heartedness over the years in not helping out with his brother’s children.

  Stephanie turned out to be another thin, blonde, smoker, with a smoker’s cough and rough voice. She sort of reminded Lott of Denise Miller in Las Vegas.

  Stephanie’s office was stacked high with files and a full ashtray the size of a dinner plate dominated one corner of her desk.

  “Can we talk outside?” Lott asked, after they were introduced. He had no desire to smell like a dead ashtray all the way to Salt Lake.

  “Thank you,” Rogers whispered to him as she went past him back out into the fresh, desert air that smelled of hot sagebrush instead of a full ashtray.

  Stephanie didn’t seem to mind and as soon as they were outside on the parking area in the shade of the building, she lit up another Camel.

  “So what did you find out about Stan?” she asked after blowing the smoke up into the warm evening air.

  “He was killed in Las Vegas in 1992,” Lott said, letting Rogers just take notes.

  “Figured something like that happened to him,” she said. “He learned I was pregnant and just vanished into thin air. I got the marriage annulled three years later and married Burt. We had two more kids and he treated Stan’s kid like his own.”

  “Nice of him,” Rogers said, writing on her notepad while talking.

  “So why are you here after all these years?” Stephanie asked.

  “We’re trying to find out who killed him,” Rogers said. “You have any idea who might have wanted him dead?”

  Stephanie laughed and then coughed. “Stan was a mooch, but a nice guy. Can’t imagine why anyone would want him dead.”

  “You know what he did for a living?” Lott asked.

  “Some sort of traveling salesman I figured,” she said. “He never told me. Then she looked puzzled. “When did you say he was killed?”

  “May 1992,” Lott said, glancing at Rogers who had a puzzled look on her face.

  “Weird,” Stephanie said, blowing smoke out her nose as she said that. “He must have joined Elvis and his crew.”

  “What do you mean?” Rogers asked.

  “Oh, people around town said they spotted him at times over the next ten years, mostly out along the highway headed south. I just figured they were either imagining things, or Stan didn’t want to see me anymore because I had a kid. I was alw
ays pissed at him for not stopping and seeing his kid.”

  She laughed again. “Guess he couldn’t do that, being dead and all.”

  “Yeah, kind of tough,” Lott said, shaking his head.

  Rogers smiled at him and they asked Stephanie a few more basic questions, then gave her Carl’s address in Boise and headed back for the airport.

  “You doing okay?” Lott asked Rogers. He was really worried about her and this entire task of telling Stan’s other wives what had happened.

  “Actually doing fine,” Rogers said, smiling at him with that wonderful smile of hers. “And thanks for getting us out of that office.”

  “I think we lost some years off our lives just stepping in there,” Lott said.

  “I still think that once we are back at the plane I’m going to change clothes.”

  Lott nodded to that. They had both brought along overnight bags just in case they were forced to stay in Boise. But now it was possible they could talk to the Salt Lake wife and be home for a late meal at the Bellagio and then a regular night’s sleep. They might as well get out of the smoke residue for the next part of the trip.

  “So what did you think of that?” Lott asked her as they pulled in near the plane at the small airport runway. They had only been away from the plane for less than thirty minutes.

  “I liked that she thought Stan joined Elvis,” Rogers said, shaking her head.

  Lott laughed, but he suddenly had an idea that none of them had yet considered.

  As Rogers was in the back private area of the plane changing clothes, he called Annie.

  “Did Rocha’s company have any mining operations to the south of Winnemucca?”

  “Hang on,” she said and he could hear some rustling of papers.

  “Yeah, he did,” she said. “An old lost silver mine about thirty miles south. Company bought the land in 1993 and opened up a mine there in 1995. Why?”

  “Because the Winnemucca wife said there were sightings of Stan like Elvis years after he was killed. All south of town.”

  “Now that’s weird,” Annie said. “You sure that was Rocha’s body you found?”