The Logan Files - Pain Center: The Logan Files

by Marshall Huffman

  “I’m just trying to figure out how they know so much about what we are doing.”

  “She could explain it to me all night long if she wanted,” Miles replied.

  “Look, I have some things to take care of. We need to get this over with.”

  “Is that the thing?” Miles asked, pointing to McGuire. Logan ignored him and continued on.

  “Did anyone find anything that could help us get off square one?”

  “I went through the liquor receipts but nothing unusual turned up,” Sorenson said.

  “I found a receipt book. It looked okay to me but I gave it to CIS to process.”

  “I found these,” Miles said, holding up a stack of papers.

  Some were colored and others just white.

  “What are they?” Sorenson asked.

  “Flyers. Messages. That sort of thing,” he said tossing them on the table. There were flyers announcing other BDSM events in the area. Messages from one member to another, always using their aliases. Some had phone numbers on them others had a row of numbers at the bottom of the page so they could be torn off. They passed them around the table.

  “This will certainly complicate things, not clear it up,” Carson complained.

  “Maybe I should have left them there,” Miles replied.

  “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I know. I found them on a pin up board at the front where you come in,” Miles explained.

  “Why use these?” Logan said holding them up.

  “Maybe they don’t trust the computer. They might be worried that someone would see it online.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter much does it? We still don’t know any more about the victims than we did,” Hanson pointed out.

  “I found one other thing,” Miles said.

  “Don’t keep us in suspense,” Sorenson said.

  “This,” he said, tossing a business card on the table. Logan picked it up and looked at Miles.

  “Where was this?”

  “Under the phone up front.”

  “Whoa. What the hell does this mean?” Logan said, bending the card back and forth in his hands.

  “It means we need to tread carefully,” Miles said.

  “Who is it?” Carson asked.

  “George Riley Wilshire,” Logan said.

  “Who is that?”

  “That is the son-in-law of Mayor Burch,” Logan said.

  “Oh shit,” Sorenson muttered.

  “Indeed,” Miles added.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  They all hung around after the debriefing until Logan could stall no longer.

  “I’m ready,” he finally said to Lisa.

  She stood up and smoothed her skirt down. She was aware that all the other men were watching.

  She took Logan by the arm and then leaned over and whispered in his ear, “You are in for a grilling tomorrow.”

  “Thank you ever so much,” Logan replied.

  They were all staring at them when they disappeared down the stairs. The sergeant at the front desk even gave Logan the once over. This was going to be the topic of conversation for many days, Logan thought. He was exactly right.

  She drove them to El Charro’s Restaurant in her bright red Corvette. Logan was surprised by her car and that it was a six-speed manual transmission. Her skirt had ridden up even higher than when they were in his office and he tried to remain looking out the window, even when talking to her.

  “Have you ever eaten big slabs of beef on large skewers cooked over a wood fire? Swords actually,” she said.

  “Never.”

  “You are going to love it,” she replied, rocketing away from a stoplight.

  She shifted through the first three gears smoothly.

  “Are you afraid of me John?” she asked.

  “No. Why?”

  “You won’t look at me when I talk. All you have done is look out that window,” she said, catching another gear.

  “Well hell Lisa, I can practically see your crotch.”

  “Big deal. I’ve got underpants on. It’s no different than a swimsuit,” she said, smiling at him.

  “Well it’s different to me,” he said.

  “Sexier?” she asked.

  “Good lord woman.”

  “Oh relax. I’m just having some fun. You are so straight laced. You need to get out and enjoy life while you can,” she said.

  “I do enjoy my life, thank you very much.”

  “Sure you do. What was your wildest vacation?”

  “What?”

  “Your wildest adventure on vacation? What was it?”

  “I guess scuba diving in the Cayman Islands. I have a friend that lives there and he got me certified in scuba. I enjoy it immensely,” he said.

  “That’s cool. Better than I expected. You ever been to Europe or outside of the country?”

  “If you call Viet Nam a visit outside the country, yes. Mostly saw the jungle and dead bodies,” he said, trying some shock tactics on her.

  “That’s not exactly what I had in mind. Did you go to Saigon, Thailand, or any place like that while you were over there?”

  “Yeah. I made it to those places but I didn’t much care for it. They were just places caught up in a whirlwind of war. Everyone was scared most of the time. They tried to hide it but every time a car would backfire, they would duck for cover.”

  “I can’t imagine what that war was like. Did you get wounded?”

  “A little.”

  “How do you get wounded a little?” she asked.

  “A piece of tree went through my side and a few other things,” he said.

  She was easier to talk to than he had expected. She seemed to really care about what he was saying and that wasn’t what he was prepared for. He thought she would be superficial at best.

  “I would have liked to cover that era,” she said.

  “No you wouldn’t. It was not a nice time” Logan replied.

  “I mean back in the US, free love and all that,” she said and giggled.

  “Oh. I thought you meant the war.”

  “I’m not brave enough for that,” she said whipping the Vette into the parking lot of the restaurant.

  A valet opened the door for her and Logan watched as he tried to maintain his composure. Lisa’s long legs were all the valet could see. She put her arm in Logan’s as they walked to the door. Logan noticed the valet was still watching her. It was amusing in a way.

  “Reservation for two. Lisa McGuire,” she told the host.

  He looked up their name and led them to a semi-circle booth that was fairly isolated from the others. Waiters wearing gaucho pants, loose fitting shirts, and black large brimmed hats were roaming around with huge slabs of beef. They would stop at a table and carve off large chunks of beef onto dinner plates. It had a distinct Argentinean feel about it.

  “Some place,” Logan said, looking around.

  “Pretty neat, huh? Wait until you try to food. It is to die for,” she said, scooting over next to him.

  He could feel the heat from her leg next to his.

  “Why are we doing this?” Logan suddenly asked.

  “Eating?”

  “No. You know very well what I mean. Why are you teasing me? The beaver shots, low cut blouse and now up against me. What are you really doing?”

  She studied him for a moment before answering.

  “You are an interesting guy, John Logan. Most men would just enjoy it but you want to know why. Does it really matter?”

  “It does to me,” he said looking back at her intently.

  “I honestly don’t know. I can usually wrap a man around my finger and you don’t seem to bend. That is a real challenge to my ego. I feel like I’m not affecting you the same way I do other men and I can’t understand why,” she said.

  Logan laughed.

  “I thought it was just men who have egos like that. Do you do this all the time,” he asked.

  “Quite a bit. I get tons of i
nformation this way,” she said with that dazzling smile of hers.

  “But not from me.”

  “But not from you,” she agreed.

  “Well, I’m glad I’m not so predictable.”

  “How far would I have to go to break you down?” she asked.

  “Damn. You are direct; I’ll give you that.”

  “How far?”

  “No further. What do you want to know? If I can tell you, I will. You don’t have to rub my leg to get answers to questions I am willing to answer,” Logan said.

  “You are definitely different, detective.”

  He was just about to say something else when a waiter appeared and offered them drinks.

  “A bottle of Bull’s Blood,” Lisa said. The waiter nodded and hurried off.

  “Bull’s Blood?”

  “Red wine. You’ll like it. It’s easy to drink and goes marvelously with the food.”

  “You’ve been here before?”

  “I’ve been to several others. Believe it or not, they are a chain.”

  “I’ll be damned,” Logan said looking around the place.

  “Okay, why the search warrant for The Cave?”

  “We found a link between the three victims and The Cave. They have all been to that place at one time or another.”

  “So someone from there is killing them?”

  “That’s speculation. We are just trying to gather as much information as possible to see if we can substantiate that hypothesis.”

  “Ooooh, I love it when you use big words,” she said, wrapping herself with her arms.

  “Anyway, we have absolutely no suspects at this time. None,” he said.

  “What about the owner?”

  “What about him? As far as we can tell, he is just a business man who happens to be in a very sleazy business.”

  “There are a lot of those clubs. Did you know that?” she asked, tearing a piece of bread off and slathering butter on it.

  “I only know of two.”

  ”I mean around the US. There are hundreds, maybe thousands. Every major city and many smaller ones have clubs like The Cave and Shackles.”

  “Have you ever been in one?”

  “Sure, several times. It’s very erotic,” she said.

  “So you approve?”

  “I didn’t say that but there is something stimulating about watching it,” she said.

  “Well, from what I saw, it looked pretty weird to me. I don’t get it. Why would you want to do something like that in the first place?” Logan said, getting a piece of bread but without the butter.

  The waiter brought the wine and presented the bottle to Lisa. She gave her approval and he opened it.

  “I’ll be back to pour it after it breathes,” he said, placing the cork beside her plate.

  After he left she said, “I guess everyone is different. Even in those places you have three basic types. Those that like to dominate. Those that want to be dominated and the lurkers.”

  “Lurkers?”

  “People that just like to watch. The ones that don’t have enough courage to actually participate. Oh, and a fourth type I guess would be the switch hitters.”

  “They do what?”

  “They can dominate or be dominated depending on their mood at the time,” she said.

  “You seem to know a hell of a lot about this sort of thing,” Logan replied.

  “I did a story on it. Took me a year to do all the research.”

  “For the NPN?”

  “No. Actually it was for 20/20 but they decided it was too controversial at the time and scrapped it,” she told him.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” Logan said, “like how you find out so much inside information.”

  “After dinner I’ll tell you all about it,” she promised.

  * * *

  As she had predicted, the food was spectacular. Logan couldn’t remember the last time he ate so much that tasted so damn good. The wine was perfect for the meal and he felt the effects of it. A beer with the guys was about all he drank so the wine definitely hit him.

  “You want an after diner drink?” Lisa asked.

  “I had better not.”

  “Oh come on. It will help with the digestion and settle your stomach,” she said, flagging down their waiter.

  “Two Grand Mariners” she said.

  “You were going to tell me some secrets,” Logan reminder her.

  “We have so many ways. You know we have people we pay off in so many cities, especially the major ones. They’re usually in the ME’s office or hospital morgues. You can’t begin to imagine how many small cameras we have in police stations throughout the US,” she said.

  “What? You bug police stations?” Logan said, a little louder than he had intended.

  “We do. And fire stations, Sheriff Departments, and even a few military installations,” She informed him.

  “For Goodness sake, that is so illegal. You could go to jail and should for such things,” Logan said.

  “Not me. I don’t bug them. We have experts who do that. They just feed us the information and we go to work from there. We get as many facts as we can and fill in the rest. It’s simple.”

  “How did you know about the search warrant for The Cave?”

  “I can’t tell you but I will say that it was fairly easy and the cost was reasonable.”

  “You paid someone for that information? In the DA’s office?”

  She didn’t reply.

  “The Judge’s chambers?”

  She just smiled, “I can’t tell you. I may need some other information. John, everyone is willing to sell information in today’s world if you slip them a few bucks, tax free,” she said.

  The waiter brought the after dinner drinks and Logan sipped his, thinking about what she had just said.

  “Did you plant anything in our station?”

  “I did not,” she replied.

  “But someone did?”

  “I can’t answer for sure but it wouldn’t surprise me,” she said honestly.

  “Incredible.”

  “All’s fair in love and war,” she said, downing the rest of her drink, “Want another?”

  “No, I think this is quite enough for me. How about you? Are you okay to drive?” Logan asked.

  “I thinks so,” she replied, and giggled at her slip of the tongue.

  “You had a lot more of the wine than I did. I’m not so sure you should drive.”

  “Okay, you drive,” she said, sliding the keys over to him.

  Logan started to pay but she grabbed the bill.

  Compliments of the National People’s News,” she said and placed a charge card on the tray.

  After they paid, they went to get the car and the same valet was on duty. He flung the door open for Logan and rushed to open the door for Lisa. He was still smiling when they drove away.

  “I’ll drop you at your hotel and then take a cab back to the station.”

  She was leaning over toward him and put her head on his shoulder.

  “You could just stay at my place,” she said.

  “Believe me I am flattered and really appreciate the offer but I think I should pass.”

  “Cause I’m drunk?”

  “Well, that too,” he said.

  John left her at the elevators and took a cab back to the station. There was a message from Carrie waiting for him. He rubbed his forehead and thought about how complicated life could be. He looked at his watch. It was going on midnight. Should he call her or just go back to the hotel? No matter what he did he was sure she already knew about the night. He had nothing to be ashamed of but still, he wasn’t sure she would see it that way. He decided to go to the hotel and let it unfold. He walked like a condemned man to his car.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Logan opened the hotel door and saw that Carrie wasn’t there. Did that mean she was so mad she had gone home? There was nothing he could do about it so he took a shower, went to bed, and sle
pt like a log.

  The sun streamed into the room the next morning. Obviously Carrie had not come back. He dressed, put on his gun and jacket, and headed down to the restaurant. He had just finished breakfast when he saw Carrie come in the front door of the hotel. He stood up and walked to meet her.

  “Oh, you’re up. I thought you would still be asleep,” she said.

  Logan tried to figure out if there was anything between the lines but decided to wait.

  “We have a lot to do today. I was just grabbing something to eat,” he said, trying to see inside her head.

  “I can’t stay. I called last night but you were gone. Did you get the message?”

  “I did. I decided to come back to the hotel rather than calling,” he replied.

  When would the other shoe fall, he wondered.

  “That’s okay, it wasn’t anything all that important. I had a chance to see my brother last night and I wanted to know when you were coming back. We stayed up talking until very early this morning so I just stayed at mom’s place,” she said.

  Logan was relieved. She wasn’t mad.

  “That’s great. I’ll bet your mom was glad to have both of you there at the same time,” he said.

  “She was. She fussed over us all night. Poor mom, she is probably worn out today.”

  “I glad you got to see Ted. How is he doing?”

  “He is good. He is being sent back to Iraq but he doesn’t seem to mind.”

  “I sure the hell would,” Logan said.

  “He thinks it’s an adventure. Him against the bad guys. He would make a good cop someday,” she said.

  “What does your day look like?”

  “Just running down leads, like you,” she said.

  “You want to join me for breakfast?”

  “No, I really need to run. Are you eating alone?”

  Logan frowned, “Sure, why?”

  She shrugged. “Just asking.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be eating alone? You’re not here with me,” Logan said, still frowning.

  “Look, I gotta go. I’ll call you later,” she said and turned to walk off.

  “Carrie, what’s up?”

  “Nothing. I just need to get to work,” she said and waved as she headed toward the door.

  Logan watched her go with mixed emotions. Should he just tell her about last night? He didn’t do anything wrong. In fact he was proud of the way he had handled the situation with Lisa but that was from his perspective. Who knows what a woman would think.