Heads up, p.3
Heads Up, page 3
Cavanaugh knew exactly where the restaurant was, even though he said he had never tried it, and agreed to meet them at 11:30. She managed to get there at a quarter after eleven to get them a secluded table in the back where they could talk. She had ordered herself a glass of iced tea, and hot chips and salsa arrived less than thirty seconds after she sat down.
Cavanaugh found her five minutes later. She liked that he was the type to be early. They fit in that way.
He had on a slightly different seventies sports coat, just as wrinkled, just as out of style. Not a soul would give him a second look in that disguise, except that this morning, after the surprise of having a partner had worn off, she could really see him behind the disguise.
And actually, he was a very handsome man. Clearly in shape. He kept his head completely shaved, which gave him a distinguished look, and under the jacket he wore an expensive dress shirt, new jeans, and new and expensive tennis shoes.
If he took off the sports coat disguise, he would be a completely different person.
This morning she had put on a light green blazer over a white blouse and jeans and tennis shoes.
As Cavanaugh approached, he smiled, then looked around before taking off his jacket and hanging it on the back of the chair. She watched him move smoothly, like someone used to using his body. And with the wrinkled jacket off she could see his broad shoulders.
With those shoulders, the old-style sports coat made him look more square than in shape. But he clearly worked out. Maybe as much as she did.
She decided to take off her jacket as well. Both of them left on their underarm holsters and made sure their detective’s badges were clear to be seen. Hopefully the waitress wouldn’t be bothered by the guns.
“How are you doing this morning?” Cavanaugh asked as he sat down with his back against the wall looking outward.
“Actually a little excited about the case we’re going to take a run at,” she said.
“Yeah, me too,” Cavanaugh said.
At that moment a waitress came by to ask for Cavanaugh’s drink order and then as she turned away, Jacob showed up, so she got his iced tea order as well.
Jacob had a backpack over one shoulder and a Golden Knights sweatshirt on. His jeans looked like he needed a new pair, but his shoes were expensive Nike, the latest running shoes.
He seemed to always wear basically the same thing and the backpack over his shoulder was like Cavanaugh’s jacket, a form of disguise so that no one would pay him much attention.
She stood and hugged Jacob as they always did, then she turned and said, “Jacob, I would like you to meet my new partner, Retired Detective Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh, this is my son, Jacob.”
Cavanaugh stood, smiling, and shook Jacob’s hand.
“Great meeting you,” Cavanaugh said. “In the twelve hours I have known your mother, she has told me so much about you.”
Jacob laughed and put his bag down and sat at the table. “No, she hasn’t. She’s not even sure what I do.”
“But she’s proud of whatever it is,” Cavanaugh said. He smiled at Bonnie. “I’m sure.”
“I am proud of him,” Bonnie said.
Jacob turned to his mother and said, “I like this guy. Where did you find him?”
“At the Cold Poker Gang task force meeting last night,” she said, smiling.
“Andor assigned you two to be partners, huh?”
Bonnie just sort of nodded, looking surprised, and Cavanaugh laughed softly.
Jacob looked at Cavanaugh. “You work alone, right, and Mom works alone. This could get real interesting real quick.”
“So far no bloodshed,” Cavanaugh said, laughing. “And how do you know so much about me?”
Jacob shrugged. “You were the active detective who worked with Robin and her partners on that crazy bomb and theft and ancient storage unit with a sniper case, right? That was some fine work.”
Bonnie noticed that Cavanaugh looked a little surprised and a little pleased at the same time as he nodded.
“Don’t worry, Jacob does that to everyone,” Bonnie said. “So Andor tells me you have full clearance to help us on cases?”
Jacob nodded and took a number of the chips. “I was hoping you would join the task force. Those old cases are fun to try to crack.”
“Well, we have an almost impossible one, if you got the time?” Cavanaugh asked.
“I would love to help,” Jacob said.
“Thank you,” Bonnie said.
She had a hunch she was really going to like working with her brilliant son.
So now it seemed that suddenly she had two partners.
CHAPTER SEVEN
January 18th, 2019
Mandalay Bay Shoppes
Las Vegas, Nevada
Cavanaugh really liked Bonnie’s son, Jacob. Smart didn’t begin to describe this kid. Scary smart would be a better way of describing it.
And hidden. The type of guy that unless you looked right at him, you would never see him.
Medium build, standard clothes for his age, standard student backpack, baseball cap, and a Golden Knights sweatshirt. He had a nondescript face, no beard or moustache, and his brown hair was just medium length and not styled in any fashion Cavanaugh could tell.
The backpack was the clue he was hiding. Jacob could walk past ten people and if those ten people were asked to describe him, they would just say, “A kid with a dark-colored backpack.”
And nothing else.
Cavanaugh really liked that Jacob had worked with Robin already on a few Cold Poker Gang cases. Having Jacob and his computer skills as part of this team would give them a reasonable chance in this modern world.
Not that good old-fashioned detective work didn’t usually do the trick. But with good computer access helping out, they could cut a lot of corners and find roads to investigate that they never would find otherwise.
Over the next thirty minutes they chatted and ate and Cavanaugh found out more about his new partner and how much she and Jacob really cared for each other. And respected each other. That was wonderful to see.
Cavanaugh wished his daughter Kathy was closer so they could spend more time together. But no way was Kathy leaving Seattle and no chance in hell was he moving into that sponge bath of a city. So they had to settle for infrequent visits.
He missed her and her mother sometimes more than he ever wanted to think about. So most of the time he just kept that stuff locked away so he didn’t have to think about it.
“So what’s this first case you two are working on?” Jacob asked as he finished his lunch and handed his plate to a passing waitress. Both Cavanaugh and Bonnie were only half done and Cavanaugh was full and planned on taking the other half home for dinner, while Jacob had eaten his entire huge helping.
Cavanaugh remembered when he could eat like that. Not anymore.
Bonnie handed Jacob the file and gave him a minute to look through it.
“Looks impossible,” Jacob said when he finished.
“Thought the same thing at first,” Cavanaugh said. “But we think we might be able to find a couple cracks with your help.”
“DNA,” Bonnie said. “We’re going to go visit the brother and see if he’ll give us a DNA sample.”
Jacob nodded. “You want me to try to see if she’s in the system somewhere with a familial match. I can do that.”
“Exactly,” Bonnie said.
“Also wondering if you could do a search of Jane Doe bodies turned up in the western states in the years from the time she went missing until her clothes were found,” Cavanaugh said. “We’re assuming the original detectives on this were watching for local matches, but there is no record they tried anything outside the area.”
Jacob again nodded. “I’ll get started on that, build a program to do the search for the western third of the country while you talk to the brother. I’ll include the Vegas area as well just in case they missed something.”
“You can do all that?” Bonnie asked.
“Easy,” Jacob said. “Just will take me a little time to get into all the data bases I will need. And I’ve got a friend in a private lab in San Francisco who owes me a favor and could run the DNA of the brother quickly. Won’t be in a chain of evidence, but figure if something gets going on this, we could always rerun the DNA through proper channels.”
Both Cavanaugh and Bonnie just sat there staring at Jacob as he munched on a chip, clearly lost in thought.
All Cavanaugh could think was that this was going to be fantastic fun.
And no paperwork.
CHAPTER EIGHT
January 18th, 2019
Downtown Area
Las Vegas, Nevada
Bonnie had no doubt at all that she was going to love working with Jacob and with Cavanaugh. After they left the Mexican restaurant, she had dropped her car off in her spot in the parking garage at the Newport Lofts condominiums and Cavanaugh had picked her up in front of the building. They had decided that there was no point in both of them driving everywhere and he liked to drive more than she did.
When they had been talking about it, Jacob had laughed and said, “If Mom never had to drive again, she would be happy.”
He had been right, but she pretended to defend herself. The fact that Cavanaugh actually enjoyed driving was a relief. If she was going to have a partner, she might as well get some advantages out of it.
Besides the fact that she got to hang around with a handsome man who was funny and smart at the same time.
Cavanaugh told her that while he had been waiting for her to park, he had called Myra Stemple’s brother Danny to tell him they were on the way.
Danny was a practicing attorney with an office in the downtown area near the Supreme Court building. She even knew the look of the office since she went past it many mornings on her run. The building was an old single-family home that had been remodeled into legal offices like every other home on the street. A sign in front announced the name of the law office.
As she climbed into the large black sedan and settled in, Cavanaugh said, “Brother’s excited to see us. I told him we had no leads, but were starting a focused look at the case and he’s willing to help in any way he can.”
“Always nice to have family on board,” she said.
She settled in as he got them through the city streets and headed toward the office. Cavanaugh drove with an assured manner, clearly relaxed, but very aware of traffic around him. She was comfortable instantly, which surprised her.
On a big screen on the dashboard were the directions to Stemple’s office. But no voice said anything, just an arrow warned Cavanaugh when he needed to turn. He didn’t seem to be paying it any attention.
“What kind of car is this?” she asked, glancing around at the comfortable dark-cloth interior and the massive array of electronics on the front dashboard.
“Cadillac CTS with all the markings taken off. Looks a little like an undercover cop car on the outside, especially with the dark color, doesn’t it?”
“Why in the world would you want that?”
He laughed. “On one case a decade or so back I learned the hard way that if the person I was talking to saw a cop car pull up, I got more respect. Used to drive a big white SUV. Family looking thing. Caused all kinds of problems not counting the thing was a gas hog. Besides, I love Cadillacs, but didn’t want to pull up in one of those either, so the guy at the Cadillac dealership customized this car for me a couple years back. I love it.”
“I can see why,” she said. “Comfortable.”
“And it’s got some special bells and whistles,” he said, pointing to the electronic control panel. “Some of which I haven’t even figured out how to use yet. Think Jacob could help me with that?”
She just laughed and shook her head as they pulled up and stopped in front of Danny Stemple’s office. She had a hunch she was going to be finding out more and more interesting things about Cavanaugh with every day.
Stemple met them at the door, smiling, and welcomed them in. He was a short guy, not much more than five-two or so, with dark eyes and close-cut brown hair. Both she and Cavanaugh towered over him, but Stemple didn’t seem to notice. He had taken off his suit jacket and wore a white shirt, expensive suit pants, and wide suspenders that looked slightly odd on such a short guy.
She and Cavanaugh made introductions and showed him their badges and he actually took a second to look at them.
His office was as she expected. What had been the living room of the older 50s home was now remodeled into a waiting room with expensive furniture and some lush plants in corners. A large desk filled one part of the room, more than likely for a receptionist or secretary, but no one was there now and it didn’t look like anyone had used the desk in a very long time.
The room felt light and airy and welcoming. She would call it “lived-in.”
Stemple led them into a side office that was clearly his and indicated they should take seats in front of his massive mahogany desk. On the walls he had numbers of degrees and citations from different organizations, but no family pictures at all, other than one near the window that Bonnie recognized from the file as being of his sister. Not even pictures of parents.
Even though Cavanaugh and Bonnie were taller, when Stemple sat down behind his desk he was at their height. Most clients he would have sat above slightly. Very smart power move.
“Nice place,” Cavanaugh said.
Stemple smiled and the smile actually hit his eyes. Bonnie could tell he was proud of his office. She wouldn’t even be surprised if he lived in the back of the place. Clearly enough room.
“So you are looking into Myra’s disappearance?” Stemple asked.
“We are members of a special task force,” Bonnie said, “that looks into cases like your sisters. We now have a team on it, but we can make no promises.”
Stemple nodded, but was still smiling. “Anything is better than doing nothing, so thank you. What can I do to help?”
“First off,” Cavanaugh said, “we could use as much information about your sister as you have. What were her likes, dislikes, friends at the time she vanished, and so on.”
“Got all that packed away in some boxes downstairs,” he said. “As new information came to light, I added it in.”
“You wouldn’t mind if we copy all that?” Bonnie asked.
“Not in the slightest. I’ll copy it for you, no problem. The original detectives on the case looked through it numbers of times, but didn’t seem to find anything that seemed to help them.”
“On our task force we’re trained to look at things differently,” Cavanaugh said.
Bonnie smiled. Cavanaugh knew exactly what to say to get the help they were needing.
“And one more thing after that,” Cavanaugh said. “Could we take a swab of your DNA?”
“Familial match?” Stemple asked, nodding. “Glad to. And if you can get DNA to run on this old a case, you do have some clout.”
With that Bonnie could only agree. The Cold Poker Gang did have some clout. But clearly her son had more.
CHAPTER NINE
January 18th, 2019
Downtown Area
Las Vegas, Nevada
Cavanaugh was impressed with Danny Stemple and how he had offered to copy all the material he had in a few hours and get it all to them later in the day. And he gave them a DNA sample easily, excited that they were actually going to try that route.
But now, as Cavanaugh climbed into his Caddy and Bonnie climbed in beside him, he realized they were dead in the water. Talking with the brother had been the only thing that needed to be done that he could think of.
And they had just had lunch. It didn’t happen often that he felt this sort of fish-out-of-water on a case. It happened, but he hated it every time.
“So any idea where to next?”
He started the car, but didn’t bother pulling away from the curb.
Bonnie nodded. “After we mail off the DNA sample to where Jacob tells us, I was thinking the Golden Nugget?”
It took him a moment to realize why. “You think we need to get into the old Hotel Nevada to take a look at where her clothes were found?”
She nodded. “That’s been bothering me since I read the file the first time.”
Cavanaugh nodded. “I’ve been wondering why the detectives didn’t track down who had checked into that room.”
“Good question,” Bonnie said. She glanced at the file, then said, “One of the lead detectives on this, Stan Carson, is a friend of mine. Let me ask him.”
Cavanaugh watched as she pulled out her cell phone, checked something quickly, then put the phone on speaker so he could hear.
“Hey, Bonnie,” Stan said when he answered. “How goes the life of leisure?”
“Actually back at work,” she said. “I have you on speaker phone with Retired Detective Cavanaugh.”
“Don’t tell me that Andor in the Cold Poker Gang put you two together as partners? Oh, Cavanaugh, I am so sorry.”
“Thanks,” Cavanaugh said, laughing. “But she hasn’t hurt me this first day yet.”
“Oh, give it time,” Stan said. “So Detectives, what can I do for you?”
“We got handed the Myra Stemple case,” Bonnie said.
“Andor really doesn’t like you two, does he?”
Both Bonnie and Cavanaugh laughed, then Bonnie said, “We’re trying to scratch at any breadcrumbs we can find. Wondering if there were records of who was checked into that room last where her clothes were found in the old Hotel Nevada?”
“Might be now,” Stan said. “Never checked. When the clothes were found, all the records of the rooms were tied up in the massive bankruptcy of those five casino properties downtown. We couldn’t access them without more court orders than we had the clout to get for a missing person’s case.”
Cavanaugh nodded. He remembered that bankruptcy and not being able to get records in the middle of it made sense.
“Took a couple years before all that got straightened out,” Stan said, “and to be honest we just never kept track on that. Good idea if you can get them.”
