The Morelville Mysteries Collection

by Anne Hagan

  “I get it but what I don’t get is what this has to do with the trouble you’re in and why you think I can help you. You’re wasting my time here.”

  “Please, hear me out. I’m getting to that.”

  “Make it fast. I’m tired of listing to this garbage.”

  Terri slapped her hands down on the picnic table, “Aggie conned me, okay? She started chatting me up in the lounge. She said she had a guy but she really dug women. She wanted a fuck buddy but no commitments. I was okay with that. We started seeing each other but, at first, she would only meet with me there. Sometimes we’d go into a room, sometimes we’d hang out, drink and talk about nothing.”

  “Usually, I’d go in there with my buds from work and, if it was a slow night, they’d hang out in the lounge too. Aggie and I would hook up and do our thing and then we’d join them or one or both of them would do their thing and then join us if we weren’t... Well, anyway, one night when we were doing more drinking than anything we all got to talking about the casino and what we did there.”

  She said she was conned. I can just see where this is going...

  “The next time we came in, Aggie and I went off to do our thing. When we came out, my friends were hanging out in the lounge. Aggie got us all a table in the back corner and said she had a proposition for the four of us to pick up a little extra cash. We were surprised but we all listened.”

  “She wanted us to steal players club cards from the casino and put small amounts of cash on them for comps or for free play and give them to her. She said she had connections to turn the cards into real cash and we’d each get a cut according to our contributions.”

  “Did she say how all of that was going to work?”

  “No. Not then. At first, none of us wanted anything to do with her little scheme and we said so.”

  “Obviously something changed...”

  “Well, yeah, for the three of us. Oh, Aggie was cool with it...it was just an idea she said. Anyway, she got a call that night and she had to leave. The three of us, we just sat there talking and...and drinking again, like the time before, and we started thinking about ways we could steal new loaded cards and get away with it and, well, we ended up coming up with a plan. All three of us shook on it. Later we pulled a fourth person in – a queen who worked in the cash cage.”

  “So the four of you started stealing cards and giving them to Aggie at the club?”

  “Kind off; me and the cash cage guy had more access to them in our jobs. He issued them out to all new slots players all of the time. They were preloaded with $10 in free play already. He just had to associate a name and address to each one. As a pit boss, I could issue them to comp a table games player. The only way the two dealers could get their hands on them was to steal them from actual players and, really, most table games players don’t have them.”

  The queen and I would get cards and I would take them to Aggie at the club or wherever else we agreed to meet on days that we set. The queen never went to the club to begin with and the other two stopped going into the city with me at all once our little scheme started. Aggie would pay me for the cards we’d stolen previously and I’d go back and split the cash with the other three.”

  “Equally?”

  “No, since only two of us were taking risks, I was just giving the other two a small cut each.”

  “How did that go over?”

  “It didn’t, at least, not with one of them. She threatened to turn me in if she didn’t get a bigger cut.”

  “Wouldn’t she be exposing herself?”

  “No. She had that all figured out. I’m competitive, everyone knows that.” She eyed me. When I didn’t respond, she continued, “She knew I would cave in to her demand and I did. The problem was, we were only netting a few hundred a week or so for our efforts. Casino security is tight. It was no easy task to get away with the cards. We worked hard to get them.”

  She actually sounds like she’s proud about stealing from her employer!

  “Giving her a bigger cut meant I took from the 4th person or from the two of us who were doing the heavy lifting. To keep the peace, I started giving her a little of my own cut and I tried to step up my game and take a few more cards each time. It was security that was my downfall though.”

  “They caught you stealing cards?”

  “No, that’s just it. They caught the two of us on camera arguing about cuts of the money. We were out in the lot where I always paid everybody off. I knew there were cameras there. I didn’t realize there was sound.”

  At the ‘You’re an idiot!’ look I shot her, she bristled.

  “Neither one of us said where the money was coming from! At least, I don’t recall us saying it. Anyway, after seeing that, they started watching both of us on camera anytime we were on site at the casino. They saw me making more payoffs and that led them to watching the queen and the other woman as well. Eventually, they caught two of us on camera taking cards and they put it all together.”

  “So they nailed all of you?” As I said that, I heard a car pull into the lot behind me. Terri’s eyes grew wide. She leaned in closer.

  “No. They quietly fired the other three and blackballed them all from casino jobs. They looked at me as the ringleader. They pulled me in and set up a sting.”

  “To get Aggie?”

  “Yeah. See, the cards weren’t being used at Harrah’s Joliet. They weren’t able to track the payback across Harrah properties so they wanted to know who I was fronting for.”

  “And so you went ahead and led them right to Aggie? You fucked your fuck buddy to save your own damn skin didn’t you?” My voice had risen but I didn’t care.

  She didn’t even have the good grace to hang her head. “What was I supposed to do? I was looking at embezzling and grand theft charges. If I did what they wanted, I got a plea bargain deal. I ended up with a six month suspended sentence.”

  “Yep, there’s the Terri I know!”

  “What do you mean by that?” She half rose from her seat and braced her hands on the site of the table.

  “It means that you’ll never change! It’s always all about you!”

  “Hey, Aggie was committing the actual crime here. I was a victim!” She was standing up straight and yelling at me now.

  “That’s really, really rich! You’re not the victim; you’re a thief and a very bad one at that.” I leaned back away from her. “I don’t want to hear any more of this. Get out of my sight! Go back home to Chicago!”

  “But Dana, Aggie has people out there that are trying to kill me. You have to help me.”

  “I don’t have a clue why you think I can help you and, honestly, if I could, at this point, I don’t know that I would. Just beat it! I’m done with you!”

  She started to say something else and stopped short.

  Mel spoke from behind me in that strong, command voice I’d come to know well, “The lady said to leave her alone. Move along.”

  Terri glared at Mel but then did as asked. She looped her legs over the table bench and started to leave. Looking back over her shoulder she said again, “I really do need your help,” and then we both watched as she got into her car and left the lot.

  I caught a very fleeting glimpse of a silver car pulling out of the parks other lot, north of me as she passed out the only entry and exit road.

  Chapter 9 – Trouble

  Friday afternoon, June 13th, 2014

  “Why are you here?”

  “Why am I here? Let’s see: my girlfriend, who’s already managed to tick a few people off in the area in the few weeks she’s been around, calls me and leaves me a message that says she’s headed here and that she thinks she’s being followed. There’s no logical reason why she would be coming here and she doesn’t bother to say why so I get worried. Why do you think I’m here?” Mel drew a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

  I tried to look sheepish.

  “Who was that?” She tossed her head toward the now vacant slot in the parking lot.
>
  “That was Terri, my ex-girlfriend from a few years back and a lifetime ago in Chicago. She came all the way down here to talk to me because she thinks I can help her with her problem.”

  At Mel’s puzzled expression, I continued, “She’s gotten herself into some trouble for stealing from her employer and she thinks someone she was stealing for or whoever that woman was fronting for is out to kill her now for giving them up to save her own ass.”

  “And what is it that she thinks you can do for her that the authorities there can’t?”

  I spread my hands and shook my head. “I don’t have a clue and I really don’t want to know.”

  “Do you have any idea who you think was following you?”

  “No but I’m pretty sure now that I was being followed.” I pointed toward the north lot, “A silver car pulled out over there and followed Terri out of here.”

  An odd expression crossed Mel’s face, “Should I put deputies on it?”

  I shrugged, “I just don’t know. What’s puzzling is why they were following me if they’re after her. I haven’t seen or heard from her in a few years. I got the first indication she was even in Ohio less than two hours ago. I mean, do they have her phone tapped? How did they triangulate to me that fast?” I sighed. “Maybe I’m just imaging all of that because that’s the frame of mind she put me in!”

  Mel shrugged. “Okay. Let’s just leave this one alone for now but the next time you decide to go traipsing off after some halfcocked loser, how about cluing me in, okay?”

  “Didn’t you want me to go into the security and investigations business?”

  “Um, yeah, in a manner of speaking, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind...”

  I interrupted her, “Oh, sorry! I almost forgot; speaking of investigations, when I got here the girl you think is the missing Amish girl was sitting over there in that gazebo reading.” I pointed toward it. “About the same time we saw her passing through on Monday, she got up, walked by me and went out that way,” I pointed toward the trees.

  “Well now, there’s a little mystery you can work on!”

  “I suppose but I really don’t know if I should go stick my nose into all of that. I’ll have to think about it.”

  It was Mel’s turn to shrug, “I have a mystery too.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Where are your crutches?”

  I attempted my sheepish look again. “Um, they’re in the trunk. Don’t worry, I was very careful hobbling to the table and I’m never going to go without them again until Dr. Welle says I can.”

  “Let me just get them for you and then we both need to get home so we can have a chat about something in a place that’s a little more private than it is here.”

  ###

  Friday evening, June 13th, 2014

  I was sitting in the living room back at the house. Mel was pacing the floor in front of me.

  “I ran into the Mayor today. He told me that Noland Troutman made a speech to the City Club on Wednesday. Most of the big shots and the big money families in the area belong to the club. He said a lot of the city’s movers and shakers were in attendance.”

  “So?” I shrugged. “Why don’t you just go and speak to them too?”

  “It’s not about that, about making speeches. It’s about what Troutman said...what he alluded to in his speech and what he said to certain individuals afterwards.” Her expression was pained.

  I leaned forward and asked quietly, “Mel, what did he say?”

  She threw her hands up in the air, “You know, I said I didn’t care but that was before this. I didn’t expect it to be used against me like this!”

  “What Mel, what’s he said?”

  Whirling toward me she replied, “He basically said that I don’t represent family values in the area and then...then he told people that I moved my same sex girlfriend in with me and gave them the impression that we’re having sex in front of the kids...”

  I was shocked. “Mel...I, I...I’m so sorry.” I honestly didn’t know what to say. I sat back and thought for a minute. She went back to pacing a path on the floor.

  Finally I asked her, “Are you going to try and rebut it?”

  “How? What the hell would I say in response to that?” She ran her hands through her hair in a gesture of frustration. “I knew I shouldn’t have run!”

  “Don’t say that!” I held my hands up, “You and I both know that you’re a much better option for the Sheriff of this county than Noland Troutman III is!”

  “Maybe so, but with stuff like this out there now, that’s all the voters are going to hear about.”

  “What if I move out?”

  “That would just be stupid Dana. You’re in no physical condition to do that.”

  “Well you have to counter his crap somehow.”

  “I don’t want to get into a mudslinging contest with him.”

  “So, don’t sling mud. Get a hold of your campaign manager and have him start doing damage control. That’s what he gets paid for.”

  She looked at me with her own expression of shock, “I’m so new to all of this, I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  Ideas started running through my head, “You should ask him to set up a series of speeches for you at places like the Rotary Club and community meetings and anywhere else he can and alert the media about them. You can get out there and put the word out about your experience and your real values.” I shuddered, “Don’t let a snot nosed kid have the last word, Mel!”

  “I know that you’re right but honestly, I’ve never been much of a speech person...I don’t know how it would work. I’m not good at that sort of stuff.”

  “Mel, just get in front of people and be you. Be upfront and honest with them and talk to them like you’re talking person to person. People are tired of dirty campaigns and a law enforcement campaign shouldn’t even come close to being dirty. They’ll be happy that you’re open and candid with them and that you have their best interests at heart.”

  “I hear what you’re saying and I agree with it on principal but, in a conservative place like Muskingum County, there are still a lot of folks who will side with Troutman just because I’m gay, no matter what I have to say in my own defense or what my level of experience is.”

  “That may be a little true, granted, but there are also more people out there than you think whose hearts and minds are open.”

  Chapter 10 – PI Dana?

  Saturday, June 14th, 2014

  I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of a graphics company located across the street from Muddy Misers Cafe. I was at loose ends for the day because Mel works every other Saturday and Kris was out at the family farm spending a little time with her kids since they were camped out there for the summer. Her boyfriend was away doing his last long haul job, they both hoped, forever.

  The lot I was sitting in wasn’t very full on a Saturday but I managed to park in between two other cars so my own car didn’t stand out. I knew it was a long shot but I was parked so I could watch across the street for Hannah Yoder to emerge from the trees along the east side of Putnam Hill Park. If she was coming this way each day to go to work somewhere, she might work Saturdays and she might not. Since I didn’t have anything better to do given my injuries and lack of companionship for the day, I figured I might as well give the whole PI thing a shot.

  I’d made a conscious decision not to go into the park and look for Hannah first. If she was there hanging out like she had been on Friday, I didn’t want to spook her if she recognized me. The last thing I wanted was to appear to be more obtrusive than I already do right now.

  I leaned back a little and slid low in my seat. My cell phone buzzed incessantly at my side. Terri continued to call and text me. She just wouldn’t give up. It didn’t appear that I was followed today and, since she was still being a pest to me, I figured it was my imagination after all that she’d been followed out of the park yesterday.

  I’d gotten here a little earlier th
an I’d been in the area the two previous times. It was just now 10:20. I figured on waiting around until 1:00 or so and then moving on if I didn’t see Hannah.

  Idly, I glanced through the texts on my phone. Terri’s please were getting longer and longer. She was attempting to tell me the rest of her story through text. As I was skimming through most of the drivel, the word ‘security’ caught my eye. I scrolled back up and read the full text.

  Terri: I’m seriously asking for your help Dana. You know people that can give me the information I need to figure out who’s after me. When you worked in security here, you consulted a lot with Harrah’s. I know that you know people there who can tell me what or who they found when they traced the cards.

  So there it was. Terri wanted me to talk to my former contacts at her former employer about a criminal investigation they conducted – or were still conducting – against her and her accomplices. She’s out of her mind!

  I tossed my phone down in disgust and shook my head. If things were that bad for her, she needed a plea deal that included the witness protection program. Even if I was inclined to help, there wasn’t anything anyone would be authorized to tell me that could help her.

  Movement from the tree line to the west of me caught my eye. I watched intently and was rewarded for my effort to be here by the site of the girl Mel and I presumed to be Hannah Yoder coming through the trees from the direction of the park.

  She crossed some rail tracks and then stepped into the other half of the parking lot I was hanging out in but she never even glanced my way as she moved straight ahead. She crossed Muskingum Avenue and went right on into Muddy Misers with a key. The restaurant and bar didn’t open until 11:00.

  She must work there!

  It occurred to me moments later that maybe this girl wasn’t Hannah Yoder after all. Any place with a bar would not be a place an Old Order Amish girl would be likely to be working even if she’d left the order. My hopes fell.

  I was torn about what I should do. If the girl was Hannah and she really was working there legitimately, she was at least 18 and legally considered an adult regardless of her standing in the Amish community. After mulling it for several minutes, my stomach made a decision for me.