Heads up, p.2
Heads Up, page 2
“Call me Bonnie,” she said. “I wonder if Andor knew we both worked alone?”
Cavanaugh sort of chuckled and shook his head. “Call me Cavanaugh. I try to hide my first name. And nothing escapes Andor and Lott and Julia. That’s why when he told us, he ran and hid.”
She glanced around. Cavanaugh was right, Andor had vanished in a basement room full of detectives.
“Neat trick,” she said. “Think he’s hiding under a table?”
“He didn’t go behind the bar,” Cavanaugh said, “so my guess is I think you might be right.”
They both laughed, looking around the room and finding no sign of the stocky retired detective.
Bonnie realized she liked Cavanaugh’s laugh. Not grating, just full of fun and clearly he laughed easily.
“So what case did he apologize for sticking us with our first time out?”
Cavanaugh handed her the file and she opened it while he sipped on a bottle of water.
Myra Stemple, single, missing since 2009, last seen walking out of a Strip hotel. Clothes found at the old Hotel Nevada years later. Case cold since 2012, totally forgotten except for the poor girl’s brother who went to the original detectives twice a year.
Bonnie did what she called her first look at the case, just like she always did when handed a file. A combination of scan and quick read and a look at all the pictures. It took almost no time.
“Nothing much here at all,” she said, closing the file.
“Yeah, thinking the same thing,” Cavanaugh said. “Makes sense it went cold.”
“So any ideas where we go from here?”
He shrugged and looked at her. “Got a hunch we better get to know each other a little better if we’re going to be partners in this second life.”
“Dinner?” she asked. “I’m just not having much luck with all the chips and M&Ms.”
Cavanaugh laughed. “The KFC smell has been killing me. Got to learn to eat every week before coming here.”
“Got that right,” she said. “You got any favorite places in mind?”
He glanced at his watch, which she noted was expensive and fairly new. “How about the buffet at the Main Street Station Casino? Only about ten blocks from here and it’s cheap and will be open for a few more hours at least.”
“Wow, Detective, how did you know that was my favorite buffet?”
“A good detective never tells his secrets,” he said, smiling.
“You saw me in there, didn’t you?” she asked, laughing as they headed to say thank you to Julia before leaving.
“Damn,” he said, “You’re good.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” she said, giving him a wink as she got to Julia.
Maybe, just maybe this having a partner might be fun after all.
CHAPTER THREE
January 17th, 2019
Main Street Station Buffet
Las Vegas, Nevada
They each drove and each paid for their own buffet before being shown to a table near a back wall. No one was around them.
The buffet was decorated in marble and tall polished wooden pillars to make it look like it was part of an old train station. There were lots of plants and massive chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling. The colors were browns and tans and everything felt welcoming. And the tables were spread out through two huge areas, one of the main reasons he liked it.
Plus there was a massive selection of food, mostly old-style Las Vegas buffet food, so any time of the day or night he could find something to eat.
The Main Street Station Casino itself actually had been pieced together with collectables from famous mansions, woodwork from Pullman cars, stained glass from museums, and even part of the Berlin Wall covered one wall in the men’s bathroom. It was a very strange place even by Las Vegas standards and Cavanaugh loved it.
A second reason was the food was good and prices were old Las Vegas buffet prices. He could get breakfast for less than ten bucks and dinner under fifteen. Right now the Main Street Station Casino was a few blocks off of Fremont Street which accounted for the cheap prices, but in another year a new massive and modern casino would fill a couple of those blocks and Cavanaugh had no doubt the price would go up, as well as the crowds.
Cavanaugh loved sitting in the back of the large dining room so he could see the entire place and seldom did anyone sit around him. That was the case this evening. Neither one of them took off their light jackets, since both of them still had on their guns in under-arm carry and badges hidden under their jackets.
For some reason, now that he was retired, Cavanaugh felt even prouder to wear the badge and gun. When working, he just did it. Now he realized what a privilege it was to still be able to wear both.
Without a word other than both ordering iced teas from a waiter, they headed to the food lines. Cavanaugh filled his plate with some shrimp, a piece of prime rib, two chicken legs, and a few ribs. All protein. It was that kind of night. This place lost money on him every time he ate like this, he was sure.
He made it back to the table before Bonnie and when she joined him she had a plate stacked high with a salad, a bunch of Asian dishes, and a slice of turkey. Numbers of times his plate looked exactly like the one she had just built, usually at lunch.
She pointed to his plate. “I do that as well, but tonight I seemed to crave a salad.”
“How can anyone crave a salad?”
She shrugged. “Maybe the rabbit hasn’t died.”
Thank god he didn’t have food in his mouth. He might have choked on it and then she would have had to save his life and that wouldn’t be a great way to start a partnership.
She just sat there eating as if she hadn’t said anything as he laughed.
After a moment, when he finally caught his breath, he said, “This partner thing might actually be fun after all.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she said. “Something different after all the years of going it alone.”
“Agreed.”
For the next few minutes they just ate and Cavanaugh was stunned to notice the silence wasn’t uncomfortable at all.
Finally Bonnie looked up and said, “Okay, should we talk about ourselves first or about the case?”
“How about a couple personal details first?”
She nodded and pointed to him. “Fire away.”
He had no idea where to start, so he figured the basics would be as good as any, like a report of some sort.
“Sixty-two years old, I drive a three-year-old Cadillac, and I have a house I own free and clear just off Alta about a mile from here.”
Bonnie nodded. “Nice neighborhood.”
“Got it at a bad time, before the entire area started to rebuild.”
He really liked his house, but at five bedrooms and three bathrooms, it was far, far too big for him alone these days. Actually had been for years. He just didn’t know what to do, where to go, or even how, so momentum had kept him in the big place, living in just four rooms and closing off the rest.
“Married, kids, that sort of thing?” Bonnie asked when she saw he had drifted off slightly.
“Wife Karen died in a car wreck fourteen years ago,” he said. “Drunk driver blew a stoplight. I have one daughter, Kathy, who is married and living in the Seattle area and works as an RN. No grandkids yet, might never be any. They don’t seem interested.”
“I know that feeling,” Bonnie said. “Jacob, my only son, isn’t married and has no interest in starting a family either. He lives and breathes for his computers.”
“You married?” Cavanaugh asked.
“Divorced about eight years ago,” Bonnie said. “Then just over a year ago he was killed in a boating accident, drunk with his current girlfriend, and he left all his millions plus some property to me and Jacob in his will. Guess he forgot to take me off the will and the two million dollar life insurance policy as well.”
“Wow,” was all Cavanaugh could think to say.
“Why I could retire from being a regular detective after twenty years at the ripe old age of fifty-eight.”
Bonnie went back to eating as if she hadn’t said anything unusual at all.
“So clearly the two of us are like some of the other retired detectives in the Cold Poker Gang,” Cavanaugh said. “We don’t have money issues, which is nice, I must say, going into retirement.”
“Can’t agree more with that,” Bonnie said. “Where did your money come from? And don’t say twenty years of service.”
He laughed. “I got my pension. It covers most things. But actually my wife got a lot of money when her parents died. She had been an only child. We both kept working and invested most of it. Bought a house, that sort of thing.”
She nodded. “Smart, real smart.”
“Where are you living?” Cavanaugh asked as he finished the prime rib and started in on the shrimp.
“Got a condo in the Newport Lofts not far from here, actually. But it’s a small one-bedroom and I’m looking for something with a little more room.”
“My place is five bedrooms and three bathrooms and a game room, formal living room, formal dining room, and family room.”
“Just you there?” Julia asked, looking surprised.
“Yup. Too much space. And I have almost an acre of ground that costs me $300 a month to pay someone to keep up.”
She nodded. “That is too much space.”
With that they both went back to eating.
And Cavanaugh was feeling better and better by the moment about this new partnership.
CHAPTER FOUR
January 17th, 2019
Main Street Station Buffet
Las Vegas, Nevada
They both went for desserts and when she got back, Bonnie noticed that Cavanaugh had pulled out the case file and had it on the table between them and was working on a piece of sugar-free key-lime pie. That was one of her normal favorites, but tonight she had gone for some apple pie with a little ice cream on top.
She might have more, she hadn’t decided yet. She had had a good workout in the gym today and was craving more sweets.
She pulled the file over and opened it, focusing on the details this time instead of just a scan of the overall case. Cavanaugh gave her a few minutes until she slid the file back to him.
“Detectives originally did a good job with this one,” she said. “Not sure what Andor thinks we can do.”
“I’m not either,” Cavanaugh said. “Maybe get lucky. You have any computer skills?”
“I can handle Facebook, sort of, and get my email and that’s about it. But my son is a savant at computers and has offered many times to help me. And actually has at times over the last few years.”
“Great,” Cavanaugh said. “I talked with Lott and it seems the teams that have the most luck solving cold cases are the ones with great computer help. Pickett, Sarge, and Robin have Robin and her husband’s company. They are scary good with computers. Robin has offered to help us at times if we need her.”
“Former Detective Robin Sprague and her husband?” Bonnie asked, actually surprised. “Don’t they own that big security firm that guards all the bigwigs that come into town?”
“They do,” Cavanaugh said, then finished off his pie.
“They weren’t there tonight, were they?”
“Didn’t see them,” Cavanaugh said.
“Jacob freelances for the firm they own at times, when they need extra computer help. He helped with that ugly case in the tunnels they cracked last year.”
“Jacob is that good?” Cavanaugh asked, looking surprised, which made Bonnie feel damned proud of her son.
“That’s what he tells me.”
“Think Andor might give him special clearance into police files to help us?”
“Can’t imagine why not,” Bonnie says. “He says he has extremely high security clearance in general and works for different parts of the government at times. Why?”
Cavanaugh pointed to the file. “Thinking we might be able to cross-reference some other similar missing persons cases from that time period and maybe even cross-reference some Jane Doe bodies around the year she vanished and also when they found her belongings.”
“And maybe do a DNA match with the brother,” Bonnie said, realizing that no DNA records were in the file at all because there was no body.
Cavanaugh nodded. “We need to interview him anyway and tell him what we are doing. Might as well get the brother to give us a sample. If we can get your son into the system to do the cross-checking. If not, we’ll call Robin.”
“Damn,” Bonnie said, “that’s two more ideas than I had when I first read that file. You up for another dessert in celebration?”
He laughed. “Sounds perfect. And then we can swing back past the meeting on our way home and talk with Andor, get him going on the clearance for Jacob, if you are sure Jacob wants it.”
“Far as I know, he might already have clearance,” Bonnie said.
As she stood and headed for the desserts, she realized that for the first time in maybe years, she actually felt slightly excited about a case. An impossible-to-solve missing person’s case. But something worth trying to solve no matter what.
And maybe, just maybe, that excitement was because she got to share the case with a partner. She liked that.
CHAPTER FIVE
January 17th, 2019
Las Vegas, Nevada
Cavanaugh wasn’t surprised that the two poker games were still going strong by the time they got back. The house had lost its smell of KFC and now had a faint odor of beer.
The meeting had started at seven and it was nine-thirty now. However, almost everyone who hadn’t been seated in a game had left. Julia and Andor were the only two not playing left in the room and they were talking at the bar with a bowl of potato chips between them. Both of them looked up and smiled when Cavanaugh and Bonnie came down the stairs.
“How late does this normally go?” Bonnie asked, indicating the games.
“They are all old fuddies,” Andor said. “It will all fade by eleven down to one game and be done completely by one. Everyone needs their beauty rest, you know.”
Cavanaugh couldn’t argue with that. He seldom was up past midnight these days himself.
“Got a question,” Cavanaugh said. “How many members does this task force now have?”
“Twenty-four counting you two,” Julia said. “About sixteen were here tonight, which is a little high.”
“Wow, didn’t know there were that many,” Bonnie said.
“Still not enough to even begin to scratch some of these cold cases,” Andor said. “And we lose a member every few months for one reason or another. So the group is constantly getting new blood, which helps us.”
“Got a question of my own,” Bonnie said. “My son Jacob is a computer expert who lives and works here in the city, mostly freelancing for either Robin Sprague’s firm or for different government agencies. He tells me he has a very high security clearance. What would we have to do to get him access to department files so that he could help us?”
“Your son is Jacob State?” Andor asked, looking surprised.
Even Julia looked surprised.
Cavanaugh was pleased. Clearly they both knew Bonnie’s son.
“That’s his name, yes,” Bonnie said, looking worried. “You know him?”
Andor laughed. “He already has complete access to all department and city files and has helped out a number of teams solve different cases.”
Bonnie just shook her head and blushed a little, which Cavanaugh found to be nice.
“I just never thought to ask him if he knew about this task force,” Bonnie said after a moment.
“Did you tell him you were joining?” Julia asked.
“No,” Bonnie said, again looking embarrassed. “Guess me and the kid need to talk a little more, huh?”
All four of them laughed and Cavanaugh was very relieved. They now had the computer help and file access they were going to dearly need to solve cold cases in this modern world.
And that just made everything a ton easier.
Twenty minutes later Cavanaugh walked Bonnie out of the house and to her car. The night air had gotten colder and had a decent bite to it, and above them the stars were out clear and bright.
“Well, partner,” Cavanaugh said, kind of stunned he had used that partner word, “got any suggestions for tomorrow?”
“Would you like to get together with Jacob?” she asked. “Tell him what we are doing and ask him for his help?”
“That sounds perfect,” Cavanaugh said. “What’s he going to think when his mom comes walking in with another man, let alone a new partner?”
“If he doesn’t fall over in a dead faint,” she said, smiling, “we’ll be lucky.”
Cavanaugh laughed. “As long as he doesn’t ask me my intentions.”
“Oh, he won’t,” Bonnie said, opening her door. “But he will ask me mine.”
At that she grinned and said, “I’ll call you in the morning, tell you where and when we are meeting after I talk to Jacob.”
“Sounds perfect,” Cavanaugh said.
By the time he was in his car, she was headed toward Alta and her condominium.
He followed her for a short distance and then turned the other way at Alta toward his house, which was only a quarter mile away.
For the first time in a long time, his big house didn’t feel quite so empty as he unlocked the door.
And he didn’t feel quite so alone.
CHAPTER SIX
January 18th, 2019
Mandalay Bay Shoppes
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bonnie had called Jacob and offered to buy him an early lunch at a wonderful Mexican restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Shoppes. It was fairly close to his place and easy for her to self-park. Plus the food was good and the portions large, and she usually took half of it home for another meal.
