by Bob Moats
“Not really, but around 1 a.m. I thought I heard a car drive up. I assumed it was her. Then about a half hour later, it drove away. I didn’t look out. I’m not a nosey person.” She smiled. I doubted that.
“Do you know of anyone she may have been involved with, say a boyfriend or lover?”
She stepped a little closer and talked a bit lower to me. “Well, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but she was having an affair with one of the strip entertainers.” She nodded her head as if we knew who.
I said finally, “I have no idea, who was it?”
“Nick North, of course.” She smiled as if she was exposing a dark secret.
I was a bit shocked when she said his name. It was the person I had come out to Vegas years ago to work for and quit months later.
“How do you know this?”
“She told me. She was bragging one day, after we had a good amount of wine out back, that she was banging a strip headliner, and he was going to marry her when he got rid of his present girlfriend. I, of course, knew he wouldn’t, but she was so wide-eyed about it, I didn’t want to rain on her parade. I’ll bet he murdered her.” She brightened as though she had solved the case.
“Hmm…you should talk to the officer in charge about that.” I saw detective Carter and Deacon standing out front, Carter dangerously close to him. I called to Carter, and she came over, followed by her lapdog. I told her, this nice neighbor lady has a theory about the crime. I left them to talk and, grabbing Deacon by the arm, pulled him away.
“When’s the wedding date set for?” I asked.
He looked at me blankly, then grinned. “Oh, she is something, isn’t she? So strong and forceful. I have to admit, I’m taken by her.”
“Yeah, I think everyone can see that. Be careful, she seems to know what she wants, and she carries a gun.” I grinned widely.
“Yep, and a big gun,” he replied. I sort of wondered about that statement.
I told Deacon what the neighbor had said about Nick North and how he was involved with Lori. Deacon recognized the name since I had told him about my days here while we were killing time on the plane. He had heard the name before when Comedy Central ran a special on comics from Vegas, so he knew who North was.
“It would be so funny if Nicky was involved in this.” I smirked. “He was such an annoying person, but I don’t think he had homicidal tendencies. But then again, most killers all come out looking like the nice boy next door.”
“If North is involved with this, we have to nail him. He could have killed my sister with that poison stunt.” He spoke through gritted teeth.
“If he did it, I’ll be happy to nail him.”
Carter came over to us, took Deacon by the arm, and took him aside. I could hear her asking him if he knew anything about Nick North. Carter looked back to me after Deacon told her about my connection. She came over to me.
“You worked for North?” I said I had. “Did he seem like a person who would murder someone?”
“Neighbors said Jeffrey Dahmer seemed like a nice person, so who’s to say what a nasty person like North would be capable of doing?” I replied.
She nodded, was quiet for a bit, then said, “I may need you and Deacon to come in and give official statements in regard to this case.”
I handed her one of my new P.I. cards and told her I could be reached at the number. She asked if Deacon had a card. He smiled and gave her one. She put my card in the folder she carried and put Deacon’s card in her shirt pocket. I could see where that was going.
Just about then a news van from KLAS TV pulled up, and out piled the circus clowns. I didn’t like the media much for the way they treat people to get the breaking news story just so they can annoy TV viewers by interrupting their favorite shows. Carter said she had to take control of the situation, looked to Deacon saying she’d be in touch, and stormed off.
“She’ll be touching you all right.” I grinned. Deacon said to shut up, and we headed to our vehicle. Maria scolded Deacon for the way he acted around “that hussy.” Deacon defended himself saying she was coming on to him. Maria went silent, which I assume Deacon didn’t like. He kept defending himself. I said he should give it up.
We sat in the SUV, and I asked Deacon what he found out at the crime scene. He said, “The vic, Lori, was stabbed up through the throat to the brain with a large pair of scissors. Then the scissors were pulled, and she was also stabbed through the heart. She died quite quickly according to the coroner. They’ll need to check for fingerprints on the shears, and there were a couple of glasses of wine on a table. There was no sign of a struggle, and her nails were clean, so she didn’t scratch the killer. CSI is doing a sweep of the place, but in real life they won’t have answers in an hour.”
“Was there anything else in the room to point to North?” I wondered.
“Nothing they found, but then they weren’t looking at North as the killer till the neighbor brought it up.”
I said grimly, “I’m not crazy about personally contacting North. I think we’ll just sneak around the back for a bit. I still know a few people in this town who may be able to fill us in on him.”
I looked at my watch. It was 3:20 p.m. I started up the SUV and drove out of the drive, nearly knocking over the reporter who was heading in our direction. He yelled, asking if we had a word to say since we found the body. I gave him a one-finger salute and drove away.
“I guess you don’t like reporters.” Deacon grinned.
“Nope, can’t stand them. They think they’re the answer to all our ills. The world would crumble without them telling us what is exploding, burning, falling down or murdering at the very minute it happens,” I spat. Maria cheered me on, said she didn’t like them either.
We headed toward the strip, and I turned on Koval Road going to the back way of the Flamingo Hotel. I spun around the alley between Harrah’s and Imperial Palace, then up the service road between O’Shea’s casino and the Flamingo. I pulled into the opening to the parking structure and drove up a couple of stories. We got out and went across the tunnel over the road to the entrance of the back world of the Flamingo where I used to walk every day I worked there.
We got to the guard at his little booth. I had already told Deacon to bring out his badge as I pulled my I.D. and said we needed to see Wally Pine, head carpenter of the backstage crew. He asked if we knew the way, and I said I did.
We went down the corridor to the door leading to the dressing rooms. Donny and Marie Osmond were performing at the Flamingo in the evenings, and I said to my partners in crime, we may run into them. Maria just giggled and said she loved Donnie. Deacon rolled his eyes, and we went in. The hallway led to the dressing rooms, but my interest was down a long flight of stairs to the backstage area. We went down, and under the stairs was where Wally had his desk. The desk light was on, and he was sitting there doing his paperwork.
“The work never ends, does it?” I said from the dark of the backstage.
He looked up and tried to focus on the dark. I walked forward into the light. His eyes went big.
“James, what the hell you doing here, you old fart?” he yelled.
“I’m a big time P.I. now, hot on a case. I need to interrogate you.” I grinned. Then I introduced Deacon and Maria.
“A distinct pleasure to meet you. And what are you babbling about being a private dick?” He was a little, skinny man, with thin reddish hair and a mustache that took up most of his face. He spoke with a slight Boston accent that was a bit nasal.
I showed him my I.D., and he said, “Yep, I got one of those, too. Had it made up as a pussy inspector. Pardon me, ma’am,” he said, speaking the last comment to Maria.
Deacon brought out his badge and said with a big smile that he didn’t have one of these. Wally squinted at it, laughed and said no.
“Pull up some chairs and sit. I was just doing the weekly payroll. But you’d know that, working here as you pretended to do.”
We all sat. I pulled my chair
over to Wally’s and said, “Nick North.”
“Damn, that’s a name I didn’t want to hear again. Why did you have to spoil my appetite?”
“Wally, your ear is to the pipeline of all the backstage crews, so you may have heard any scuttlebutt about good old Nicky,” I said.
“Well, James, I may have a story or five to tell. What’cha need to know?”
“How about his love life?”
“Damn, Jim, you knew more about that than most of us. You were at his house every day to watch the women come and go.”
“I did back then. I mean now. Heard any juicy gossip?” I gave him my best P.I. look.
“Well, he is still stringing along that gal from California, the one he went out to see every other weekend. Of course, when he’s in town, he’s dicking a cute little blond. I think her name is Loni or something like that.” His brow furrowed as if he was trying to remember.
“Lori, you mean?”
“Yeah, that’s the name. I think she’s a showgirl at the Trop.”
Maria piped in, “Was a showgirl at the Trop.”
Wally looked at her and then me. “Was she fired?”
“Murdered,” I said. “This morning around 1 a.m. I’m wondering if good old Nicky may have been involved.”
“Damn it to hell. I wouldn’t say he did, but he was a rotten person.” Wally scrunched up his face. “OK, you didn’t get this from me.” He pulled his chair closer to us. “Word has it that she may have been pregnant. Not verified by any of us, but just some gossip going around.”
Maria looked stunned. “Lori never said anything to us girls about it.” She looked at Wally’s confused expression and said, “I’m a showgirl at the Trop. We had lockers next to each other.”
“Ma’am, it’s a pleasure to meet one of the famous Tropicana showgirls. I’m sure you would know whether she was pregnant or not, but us stage hands have a way of hearing things most others don’t hear, if you know what I mean.” He grinned.
“Some of my better work friends are stage hands. Do you know Mokey?” she asked.
“Hell, yeah. You must be that hot little Italian number he talks about.” He grinned.
Maria was blushing so bright she about glowed. “I’m going to have a long talk with Mokey about that.”
“Don’t take it personal, ma’am. He’s an admirer. Anyways, I’m glad you mentioned Mokey. He was one of the few who talked about Lori’s pregnancy.”
“How would he know?” I asked.
“Mokey had to clean the backstage johns. He was in the process of cleaning one day when she came running up and had to use it. He said she was getting sick and apologized for messing up the toilet. She said she had a bit of morning sickness. She confided that she was prego and Nicky was the father,” he related. “People talk to us like we’re confessors, or bartenders.”
My cell phone rang. The caller I.D. said it was Penny. I excused myself and walked off to the side of the backstage.
“Hey, everything all right?” I was worried before she even said anything.
“I’m fine. Buck is a little distressed, though. He met up with his idol, Hulk Hogan, and now he’s just a wreck. Some people react strangely towards meeting stars.” She laughed. “How’s the investigation going?”
“I have a lot to tell you, but now is not the time. I’m in the middle of beating info out of a snitch.” I grinned.
“I’m not going to ask. Tell me later. I just wanted to hear your voice. I miss you. Things are busy here. I hope you aren’t going to sleep in the chair again tonight. That’s all I wanted to say. Go back to your beatings and don’t bruise your knuckles.” I heard her laugh, and she hung up before I could say anything. She was a crazy woman.
I went back to the group and apologized for the interruption.
“Deacon tells me you guys were in on those psycho killings back in Michigan, and you’re now having great sex with that TV talk show host.” He snickered.
“How’d you cover all that in the short time I was gone?”
“We talked fast. Wally needed something to pass on to his buddies about you.” Deacon laughed.
I asked Wally how was the gang from the crew here. He mentioned names, what they were up to, and said he would fill them all in when they came in tonight. I said I’d try to get back one night with my TV talk show host and say hi. Maria spoke up and asked Wally what Donnie Osmond was like. Wally gave glowing praise for the man and said Marie wasn’t bad, either, easy on the eyes. I gave Wally one of my cards and said if he heard anything new on Nicky, to call. Then I said to call anytime, that I missed all the guys. We got up and shook hands. Maria gave him a big hug and said she’d tell Mokey that she had a crush on Wally now. He beamed and said he’d like that just fine.
We headed up the stairs and out, returning to the parking structure where we finally found the SUV and sat for a while.
“A pregnant girlfriend while he’s cheating on another is good cause for a crime,” I suggested. “I don’t really know his present situation with the California girlfriend. Maybe she’s still the one he was hooked up with back when I was here, but that’s got to be a stretch. He jumped many ships when things got touchy with his romances. He hung onto her the longest, though. Probably because she was over in California. That gave him the legroom to indulge his lust here. I remember all the Viagra bottles he had around his bedroom, and he’d be in a panic when he ran out.”
I smiled, remembering the way he looked when he did run out. “He had one local girlfriend, Lisa, and she just hung all over him. I never talked to her about the situation, but she would disappear when his California squeeze came to town. So she knew what the boundaries were. Lisa was totally into him. She even took a plane to Arizona to bring back his supply of drugs to him when his regular mule wasn’t available. I was pissed, knowing she could have been found out and end up in jail. She was a sweet girl.”
Deacon said, “The guy sounds like a real scumsucker.”
I said, “Please, don’t insult scumsuckers.”
We headed out and went over to the convention center to rescue Buck.
*
Chapter Six
I called Penny, said we were on our way there, and asked if she wanted us to come in or wait for her out front. She said she had another hour before it ended so we should come in. I drove around back to where the exhibitors parked, went to the entrance, flashed my exhibitor pass, and we went in.
We went to Penny’s booth and Buck saw us. He started babbling about Hulk Hogan like some star struck kid. Deacon wanted to wander around looking at all the technology. We said for everyone to meet there in an hour. Deacon and Maria wandered off. Buck said he was volunteering to come back tomorrow and do it again. I said that was fine with me. Penny just gave me a Mona Lisa smile and then greeted some new visitors.
I pulled Buck aside and said, “Do I have to smack you?”
“No, I’m fine now. It was just so great to meet Hulk Hogan. He shook my hand. I’ll never wash it again.”
“You mean you do actually wash?” I kidded.
He scrunched up his face and said that was cruel. I offered an apology and thanked him for watching Penny. He said it was his pleasure and he looked forward to tomorrow. Then I filled him in on everything that happened today and told him I had some great stories about Trapper I wanted to tell him when we had more time.
An hour later Deacon and Maria wandered up, Deacon carrying a bag of literature and pamphlets from the show.
“Man, what a rush! We saw all kinds of TV stars and even Hulk Hogan!” He grinned, looking toward Buck. “There’s some great electronics coming out to make watching TV an interactive thing.”
I didn’t realize Deacon was so into that stuff. One day I’d have to bring them back to explore more. Maria just yawned and said she had to be dropped off at the Trop to get ready for her show tonight, that she was already running late. We left, swung by the Tropicana and dropped her off saying we’d pick her up later, to call us when she
was ready. Deacon told us to hold on. He decided to follow his sister and stay with her, just in case.
I said we’d be back and left them at the curb. I asked Buck why he didn’t go with them to watch the boobies. He said he wanted to hear all the stories I had about Trapper. I remembered I had mentioned it to him. We went across the road to the MGM Grand and up to the room.
Buck roared with delight as I related the stories that Weber had told me about Trapper’s early days on Vegas Metro. Penny sat with rapt attention to our conversation. She already knew the punch lines as she was there when Weber told us his tales, but she listened as though it was all new. She laughed and smiled during the good parts as if she was hearing it for the first time. I loved that woman.