Michael Connelly - Void Moon

"You see what you did, Vincent? You brought this on yourself."

"The fuck you talking about?"

"You gave the guy money and he turned it into more money. And he was showing it to the world. This town, that was like putting blood in the water, Vincent. It drew a shark to your fat man."

"What are you saying, that whoever did this did it for the hundred, not the two and a half million?"

"I'm saying that whoever did this came in for the hundred and then found the rest. Luckiest fucking day of his life."

"That can't be, Jack. That – "

"Who knew about the money? I mean, that it was here and who had it. Who knew?"

"Only me."

"What about Miami? Could there have been a leak from there?"

"No, only one person knew."

"Maybe the courier told somebody."

"It's unlikely, Jack. He worked directly for the source. If the money was taken he knew they'd look at him."

"Unless he ended up dead. What about the guy getting the drop?"

"He knew it was here somewhere but he didn't know who had it or where exactly it was. Besides, why steal what we're givin' him?"

"Exactly. So if nobody knew it was here, it goes to prove my point. This was a hot prowler, Vincent. Somebody who picked up on this guy winning a hundred grand and went after it. And he hit the fucking jackpot."

From his crouched position Karch looked up at the closet. He studied Hidalgo 's clothes, all pushed to the side so that the thief could work around the safe. His eyes caught on something on the wall behind the safe. It looked like peeling paint. He moved forward onto his knees and looked behind the safe. He looked closer and saw it was not paint that was peeling, but painted tape. He reached down and grabbed the tab and pulled it up. The tape went along the baseboard of the closet, up alongside the door, over the door frame to the wall over the closet and then out and along the alcove ceiling. It finally ended on the wall above the alcove entrance.

"What the fuck is that?" Grimaldi asked.

"Conducting tape. This was a pro who did this, Vincent. He was watching this guy."

"You mean cameras?"

Karch nodded and returned to the closet. He scanned the ceiling again and then the walls. He saw the small drill hole on the right-hand wall and found more tape. He pulled it off the wall and it led to the rear of the safe.

"Two cameras. One in the room to watch the mark. The other right here to pick up the combo. This was good."

"I haven't heard about anybody using cameras since… since that last time. Max Freeling."

Karch looked at Grimaldi.

"I haven't either. But we know that Max didn't do this, don't we?"

"You're right about that."

Karch left the closet and went back through the suite, his eyes scanning the ceiling and upper walls. He came to the front door and opened it. He squatted down again and studied the locking mechanism.

"What about prints?" Grimaldi said from behind.

"There won't be any."

He turned the deadbolt and saw the bolt come only halfway out. He closed the door with the bolt extended. He nodded. He admired a job well done. He stood up, closed the door and looked at Grimaldi. Karch couldn't help but smile.

"What's so fucking funny?" Grimaldi demanded.

"Nothing," Karch said, his smile broadening. "I just get a rise out of a worthy opponent, that's all. I'm really glad you called me in on this, Vincent. I'm going to enjoy it."

"Listen, this isn't about you getting a rise. It's about me getting the money back."

Karch let Grimaldi have the rebuke. It didn't bother him. He could already see how he was going to use this job to his advantage, to get what he had always wanted.

"Vincent, you have a problem."

"I know that! Why do you think I reached out for you?"

"I mean a problem within a problem. Look at this."

Karch stepped back so he could show Grimaldi the door's locking mechanism.

"He gaffed the lock. The fat man thought he was locked up tight in here but the deadbolt and the flip-lock were gaffed. So was this Radio Shack piece of shit he added himself. "

Karch jerked the electronic door alarm off the doorknob and tossed it onto the floor.

"But, see, all of this only worked on the in-room protections. The main lock wasn't gaffed. That means – "

"He had a key."

Karch nodded.

"You're real good, Vincent," he said in a tone that implied the opposite. "He had a key. That means he had somebody who got it for him. An insider."

Grimaldi looked down at the floor and Karch watched as the older man's color deepened again. Karch didn't wait for the wave of anger to subside.

"My guess is our guy also had a key to one of these empty rooms around here so he could set up and watch his cameras and make his move when the time was right."

"You want to take a look?"

"Oh, yeah."

The first room they checked was directly across the hall, Suite 2015, and Karch immediately said upon entering that they had found the spot where the thief had waited for the mark to go to sleep.

"How do you know?" Grimaldi asked.

Karch pointed to the table. The magazines, the room service menu and hotel information binder were stacked and pushed to the side along with the bottle of welcome wine.

"This is where he waited."

Karch looked around the suite but wasn't expecting much. This guy was good and the chances of a mistake were almost nothing. The bedroom looked undisturbed. He poked his head into the bathroom and saw nothing unusual. If the perpetrator had used the toilet he had even put the seat back down when he was finished.

He walked back into the living room, where Grimaldi was standing in the middle of the room with his arms folded. Karch was trying to think of something to say that would twist the knife a little bit but then noticed something beneath the table by the curtains. He stepped over and got down on his knees to crawl under the table.

"What've you got, Jack?"

"I don't know."

He reached under the curtain and lifted it up. On the floor was a playing card. The ace of hearts. Karch looked at it a moment, considering it. He noticed that two opposite corners had been clipped – an indication it was from a casino souvenir pack. After use in the casino the cards were clipped and then sold in the casino gift shop. The clipping was done to make sure nobody tried to slip one back into play at a casino table.

"What is it?" Grimaldi asked from behind him.

"A card. The ace of hearts."

Karch suddenly thought of his old man and what he used to say about the ace of hearts. The money card, he called it. Follow the money card, he would say.

"The ace of hearts?" Grimaldi said. "What do you think it means?"

Karch didn't answer. He reached to the card and picked it up, his thumb and forefinger holding it by the edges. He crawled out from under the table, holding the card out. When he was standing again, he turned his wrist so he could see the top of the card. It had a design of two pink flamingos with their necks entwined and forming the outline of a heart.

"From the Flamingo," he said.

Grimaldi stared at the card.

"What does it mean?"

Karch shook his shoulders.

"Maybe nothing. But our guy had to have been in here watching the cameras for a while. Maybe he was playing a little solitaire to pass the time."

"Well, if he dropped the ace of hearts, then he never fucking won."

"Very perceptive, Vincent."

Grimaldi exploded.

"Look, Jack, are you going to help me out here or are you going to spend your time playing word games and trying to make me look stupid? Because if that's what you're about, then I'll reach out for somebody else who can do the job without giving me the grief. "

Karch waited a long moment before responding in a calm tone.

"Vincent, you reached out for me because you know there isn't anybody else who can handle this like I can."