The Black Chip

by Gary Land

  The forensics team did a cursory assessment on the body and then loaded it into a body bag and took it to the waiting coroners van. They would do a detail forensics examination back at the coroner’s lab. Johnson, wearing gloves, searched the car and removed two ladies purses. He brought them over to Collins and they each took a one and searched it.

  “Drivers License says Sarah Benson on this one,” Johnson said. “Doesn’t look like anything special in here. Checkbook, wallet, cell phone. Hmm--poker chips.”

  “Open the cell phone and check for last call out and last call in,” Noly said.

  Johnson looked at Collins first then flipped open the phone. He punched in some menu commands to find the incoming call history of all received calls. The phone listed the last six numbers. The two most recent ones Noly recognized as belonging to his cell.

  “Those top two are mine. I also left a couple of messages for her.”

  “What about outgoing calls?” Collins asked.

  Johnson punched in the right command and showed the display to Noly. He shook his head when he didn’t recognize any of the numbers. He wondered why Sarah didn’t try to call him. Maybe she tried from the apartment phone.

  “I’ll run all the numbers when we get back to the office,” Johnson told Noly. “We’ll let you know if we get any hits.”

  Noly nodded.

  Collins pulled a drivers license from the second purse and read the name.

  “Jennifer Thomas”

  He handed it to Johnson and told him to run it through the system and to get a squad car out to her home. Johnson left and Collins went through the rest of the purse. He pulled out a brushed chrome business card case embossed with her name in a flowery script. He opened it, took out a card and showed it to Noly.

  “She’s a banker. Jennifer Thomas, Assistant Vice President, Desert Oasis Bank.”

  Noly tried to imagine what set of events could have happened that led to this. Something had scared Sarah and she went into her protective mother role. Maybe she heard about Joey and decided to get out of the apartment. She left a note for him but then nothing. She never tried to call him-–at least not his cell. He silently cursed himself for not checking the answering machine in his office. He’d do it when it he was done here. And how did Sarah know this banker? How did she end up dead in Sarah’s car?

  “Noly, you have anything you want to tell me?” Collins asked.

  “Like what?”

  “You look like a man with something to say?”

  “No, that’s my what-the-hell-is-going-on look?” Noly said. “But now that you mention it, looks like you’re dying to tell me something.”

  “You know, we got a hit when we ran Sarah Benson,” Collins said.

  “That was a long time ago, Jim. Petty theft when she was a kid.”

  “She was nineteen.”

  Noly was getting mad. “You know what I mean. Look, she told me all about it. She married some jerk straight out of high school that can’t get a job and isn’t interested in trying. She stole some food and a couple of shirts from a convenience store. It’s old news. When she had Kacy about a year later she was already divorced and getting her life together.”

  “I’m just saying she’s not totally clean.”

  “And I’m telling you she is.”

  “Then why didn’t she call the police on this?” Collins asked. “When everything first went down. She doesn’t call you and she doesn’t call the cops.”

  “You already gave the answer. She had a record. She couldn’t risk anyone taking Kacy away from her. If she went to the police, you’d want to question her in the death of her brother and the theft from the casino. They’d send Kacy to Child Protective Services. She would never allow that to happen.”

  Collins thought about what Noly had said, and nodded his head. “Okay then, what about you? In spite of what you would have me believe, you seem pretty close to her and her daughter.”

  Noly hesitated a moment, and said, “She left me a note.”

  Collins threw the business case back into the purse and walked back towards his car. He got half way there and spun around on Noly who was following a couple steps behind.

  “It’s a two-way street Boots. You want info from me, you want my help, then you tell me everything. No secrets.”

  “It was nothing like that–-just a message to pick them up at Nellis. At least that’s how I interpreted it. But it looks like they got snatched before that. I don’t get how they hooked up with the banker, and someone’s got them now.”

  Noly took his sunglasses off and looked at Collins with a hard, blazing look. “But I’m going to get them back. They’re waiting for me to find them-–I’m not going to let them down.”

  Noly walked away.

  Collins sighed and shook his head. “And heaven help the bastard that took them.”

  Chapter 9

  In the alley, Finnegan had opened the van, and Jennifer tried to run. Someone had fired a shot, then everything went dark. They had brought them to this place with bags over their heads. Sarah remembered climbing a set of stairs and then walking down a long hallway. Jennifer was still alive then. Finnegan shoved them into this room and removed the bags. That was when it happened. Jennifer made one last bad decision in a life that had probably seen many. She attacked Finnegan in another futile attempt to escape, but he quickly overpowered her. They struggled for a bit and then he hit her hard. She fell and struck her forehead against the wooden chest of drawers. Jennifer was dead before she hit the floor. Kacy screamed. She then surprised Sarah when she charged Finnegan and kicked him between the legs. He went down on his knees and yelped in pain.

  Sarah suspended her shock at what Kacy had done and quickly grabbed her by the hand and ran from the room. They only made it halfway down the hall when a man she later learned to be Grady Wagner came up the stairs.

  Sarah moved quickly to engage Wagner and give Kacy a chance to get away.

  “Kacy, run!” she yelled.

  Kacy ducked under Wagner’s hand as he tried to grab her shirt going by. Sarah pulled him away and pounded his chest with her fists. Kacy flew down the stairs two at a time. Wagner and Sarah fell to the floor where they rolled back and forth looking for an advantage.

  Wagner yelled, “Kacy--I’ll kill your mom--Kacy!”

  “No, baby--” Sarah started, but Wagner hit her in the stomach, and suddenly she had no breath left to speak. She let go of Wagner and lay moaning on the floor.

  Sarah heard Kacy stop, and pictured her daughter agonizing over whether to keep going or not. As Sarah lay on the floor, unable to move, she heard footsteps slowly climbing the stairs. When Kacy reached the landing, Sarah saw the look of fear on Kacy’s face, the tears rolling down her cheeks.

  Kacy ran to her mother.

  “Mom, are you okay?” Kacy cried.

  “I’m okay, honey,” Sarah whispered, as she hugged her daughter. “You should’ve kept going.”

  “I couldn’t...” Kacy said. “I couldn’t leave you.”

  Wagner marched them back to the room. He closed the door, and looked down at Jennifer’s body and then at Finnegan who had one hand on the floor and was taking deep breaths trying to numb the pain.

  “What the fuck happened?” Wagner yelled at Finnegan.

  Sarah wondered why a man like Finnegan, who was tall and muscular, would let a much smaller man like Wagner, who was flabby and soft, dominate him like that. Wagner reminded her of some actor, but she couldn’t think of the name. He had slicked back hair and a thin mustache.

  Finnegan didn’t answer, so Wagner slapped him and tried again. “What happened?”

  Sarah answered for him. “Jennifer tried to escape and he hit her. She fell and her head hit the dresser.”

  “Shit, this changes everything,” Wagner said to himself. “You stupid fuck,” he shouted, and he slapped Finnegan again.

  Sarah saw Finnegan’s eyes change on the last slap. Even though he was tanned, she could see his face turn red
with anger. His head was shaved so that it left only a small covering of black hair, except for a white, half-moon scar on the left side of his scalp. It looked like he had had surgery at some point in his life, but he liked displaying the scar. She wanted to tell him that he didn’t need it to scare people--he was already ugly and mean enough to accomplish the job. If Wagner slapped him again, she thought Finnegan would kill him. She thought that his loyalty to Wagner only went so far. Maybe she could stoke the fire and play them off against each other.

  Finnegan stood up, and Wagner shook his head to show how disgusted he was with the hired help. He turned to Sarah and asked, “What did you do to him?”

  Kacy looked up at Sarah to see what she would say.

  “Kacy kicked him in the balls,” she said defiantly. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of it first, but she just took a self-defense course last month.” Kacy smiled proudly at herself.

  Wagner laughed just as Finnegan started for Kacy. Kacy’s smile turned into a scream as she scrambled back with Sarah into the far corner of the room. Finnegan caught up to them and slapped Kacy hard across the cheek. She stumbled and fell from the force of the blow. That’s when Sarah launched herself at the bastard. She tackled him and they bounced onto the bed and continued rolling until they landed on the floor. Sarah scratched him across his face yelling obscenities at him the whole time.

  “Finn!” Wagner yelled. “Stop it! Not now--you’ll get your chance later.”

  Finnegan had obeyed the command, stood up, and shoved Sarah back towards her daughter. Sarah wasn’t sure whether Wagner had said what he did just to appease Finnegan or there really would be a later time when Finnegan got his chance.

  Wagner walked over to Sarah and Kacy who stayed huddled in the corner, Sarah holding Kacy close.

  In a whisper, Wagner said, “You’re making a mistake antagonizing him.” He looked down and smiled at Kacy, and ran his hand down her hair. “You got guts kid.”

  Kacy shrank back, and Sarah said in a defiant tone, “Don’t touch my daughter.”

  Wagner stepped closer and said, “It’s not me you have to worry about. It’s Finnegan who likes little girls--unless they kick him in the balls.”

  The fear in Sarah’s eyes grew more pronounced as she looked over at Finnegan. He showed her a half-smile as he wiped the blood from the scratches on his face. She silently cursed Jennifer for getting her involved in this nightmare.

  “Finnegan, call Doser and tell him we need maid service,” Wagner said.

  Finnegan walked out of the room and Wagner turned to Sarah and told her, “Doser cleans up messes like this. I’ll be back--I have to think this through. If you try to get clever again, I’ll separate the two of you. Maybe I’ll give Finnegan the kid as a present.”

  Wagner left the room and she heard the key click in the door.

  “Mom?” Kacy said, fear in her voice.

  “I won’t let anyone take you, baby.”

  Sarah and Kacy sat on the bed so they didn’t have to see Jennifer’s body. Kacy looked into her mother’s eyes and asked, “What are we going to do?”

  “It’ll be okay, honey,” Sarah reassured Kacy. “Everything will work out.”

  “Mom, are you scared?” Kacy asked.

  “Yeah, I guess I am,” Sarah replied. “Are you?”

  Kacy paused. “Yeah, but mostly I’m mad.”

  Chapter 10

  Like so many others before him, Joey Trainor never intended to visit the Clark County Coroner’s office, let alone occupy a refrigerated piece of real estate in the basement.

  Joey did escape the ignominy of being both dead and unidentified, a fate that affects several dozen poor souls every year. The advertising slogan, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas,” certainly applied to Joey--he would not be going anywhere ever again. Although not quite the way the architects of that slogan intended its use.

  Collins flashed his badge to the attendant on duty, and with Noly in tow, made his way down to the place where Vegas hid its worst secrets.

  “What are we doing here, Noly?”

  “Looking for clues.”

  “Johnson’s already been here--he knows how to do his job.”

  “He’s a rookie,” Noly said.

  “Man, you sure do take advantage of a friendship. I don’t have time to retrace all our steps, you know. And I can’t have you running around on your own.”

  “I’m here for Sarah and Kacy.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Noly gave him a look, and Collins quickly said, “I mean, I know you’re here for them, but you miss it too, don’t you? The chase--the puzzle. Why did you give it up, Noly?”

  “Just got tired of it. I got an opportunity to get out and I took it.”

  Collins looked at Noly to see how much he believed that. He couldn’t be sure--Noly was unreadable, as usual.

  Noly walked down the long corridor. The smells brought back unpleasant memories of previous trips to this ninth level of hell. The cold, artificial air added to the depressive atmosphere. There were no employees that worked down here. Doctors, attendants, lab personnel only came down here long enough to complete whatever task it was that sent them into this vacuum of hopelessness in the first place. He noticed the lights overhead seemed abnormally bright as if the staff wanted to chase away every shadow. These people, who lived with death everyday, were every bit as afraid of the boogeyman as the rest of us.

  Down here, right now with these sights and smells, Noly knew Collins was wrong--he didn’t miss it at all.

  A man in a white lab coat stood at the end of the corridor waiting for Noly and Collins. He looked irritated and unhappy.

  “I really don’t have time to do these twice, detective,” the doctor said to Collins.

  “I’m sorry, Doctor...Fleming,” Collins said, reading the doctor’s nametag. “This is Noel Butowski.”

  The doctor nodded his head, turned, and stepped through a set of double metal doors. He strolled briskly towards the far end of the room. “He’s in Tray twelve.”

  “I don’t need to see the body, doctor,” Noly said. “I’ve seen the report. I’m more interested in his personal effects.”

  Fleming blew out a big sigh, turned on his heels and headed across the room to a row of storage lockers. He pulled a key from his pocket, inserted it into locker twelve, and turned it until it clicked. He opened the door, pulled out two large see-through plastic bags, and brought them over to a metal table. He dramatically held them up for Noly to see, then unceremoniously dumped them on the table.

  “Well, if you don’t have any more medical questions for me,” Fleming said with a sneer on his face, “or any more lockers to open, perhaps I’ll just go do something more...important.”

  Noly grabbed both sides of Fleming’s lab coat and backed him into a wall. “You better wipe that sneer off your face...doctor...or I’ll stuff you into one of those lockers. This is the most important thing you’re going to do all day. My girlfriend and her daughter have been kidnapped, and that man in tray twelve is her brother...”

  “Noly, stop it--now!” Collins yelled. He tried pulling Noly’s arm away from Fleming’s coat, but it was like trying to knock a tree down.

  Noly released Fleming and took a step back. Collins smoothed out the lab coat, ushered the doctor to the door, and mumbled some thanks.

  Collins exchanged glares with Noly, but said nothing. Each man took a bag, opened it, and spread the contents out on the table. Both bags held an inventory list of the contents, so the first thing they did was to make sure that no items were missing since the attendant had compiled the list.

  Noly’s investigative technique differed from most others in that he first looked for what was missing and not what was there. It didn’t take long for him to ask, “Where’s the cell phone?”

  “Here’s a note on this list--no cell phone,” Collins said.

  “Joey knew his killer,” Noly said matter-of-factly.

  “And how the hell do you know that?”


  “Joey is into computers. That’s his job. His life. He definitely had a cell phone.”

  “You think the perp took it?”

  “Wouldn’t you? The cell phone is the greatest boon to detectives since fingerprinting. It’s got every important phone number, contact, text message.”

  Collins shook his head, and reluctantly said, “You’re right--no reason to take the phone otherwise. Let me call Johnson, see if he ordered a call list from the cell provider.”

  Noly went through the rest of Joey’s possessions focusing on a leather bi-fold wallet that held a debit card, a VISA card, a gas card, and his driver’s license. Noly pulled the license from the wallet and looked at Joey’s picture, noting the family resemblance to Sarah.

  He felt a wave of sadness come over him like a sudden gust of wind. “I’m coming, Sarah, Kacy--be strong,” Noly whispered.

  “What?” Collins said. Noly shook his head.

  Collins hung up his cell and slipped it into the clip-on holster attached to his belt. “Johnson talked to the cell provider. We should have a list of calls--in and out--later today.”

  Noly noted Joey’s address on his license before putting it back into the wallet. The license caught on a piece of paper folded into the ID window. Noly pulled the paper out, replaced the license, and slipped the wallet back into the bag.

  “What’s that?”

  Noly unfolded the paper and showed it to Collins. It was a receipt from the Enchanted Domain, where “magical mysteries are revealed.” The sale was for one “custom Scotch/Soda set.” It had cost Joey three hundred dollars.

  Noly reached into the bag that Collins had searched and pulled out a set of keys--Joey’s keys.

  “Geez, Noly, you’re not going to his apartment are you?” Collins asked.