Luke Murphy - Dead Man's Hand

“I don’t know. But you know Pitt. Maybe an angry husband or an unpaid client. But I can’t think of any clients who hadn’t paid up.”

It had to connect with the Grant murder.

Three people benefitted from Grant’s death—Ace Sanders, Linda Grant and Shawn Grant.

Calvin could see that Sanders had what it took to be a killer, but not Pitt. He could have arranged for a hit man, however. And Linda’s affair with Sanders, if real, indirectly connected her with Pitt.

A bing from the newsfeed broke his thoughts.

Rachel saw it first. “Oh my God!” She brought her hand to her mouth. “It’s you! And that’s your apartment!”

Calvin felt a lump in his stomach. His pictures, a current one and an old one from college, appeared on the screen.

“Oh my God, Calvin. That’s your apartment! Is that a body bag? What’s going on?”

He didn’t have an answer. He read the caption: Cop killed inside his apartment and a bomb found underneath his car.

The newsfeed triggered by his name meant another frame for another murder. He had to evade the cops—and he now had to keep ahead of whoever was trying to kill him.

Calvin knew that going out to meet people was a risk no matter how careful he was. If he was spotted or didn’t detect that he was being tailed, then he was putting at risk not only himself but also the person he was visiting.

He knew he never had to worry about Mike. The man was like a ghost and had select friends who knew what he really did. No one would ever trace him and he never left a trail to follow.

But everyone else was exposed.

Calvin picked up his untraceable phone and punched in the number.

“Hello?” The voice was a raspy smoker’s.

“Dixie?”

“Calvin, is that you?” she whispered.

“Can you talk?” He couldn’t take any chances.

“For you, always.” Her voice regained a normal tone and volume.

“I’m sorry to call, Dixie, but I couldn’t think of anyone else. You’re the one who persuaded Pitt to take me on when no one else would. You’re the only one in the office I trust.”

“Thanks. Back then, I could talk Donnie into anything.” She grunted. “Boy, can I pick ‘em. I have a history of falling for the wrong man. Once Nathan was born, Donnie wanted no part of me.”

Dixie was a single mother and Calvin had added her to the long list of reasons he hated Pitt.

“What can I do?” she asked.

“I do need something. But I don’t want to put you at risk. If you don’t feel comfortable helping me, I understand.”

“Don’t be silly. I don’t believe for a second you’re capable of doing what they say.”

“Thanks. Listen, I don’t want to open up old wounds, but I know that when you were with Pitt, he trusted you with everything.”

“A lot changed since then.”

“I know, but you might know something and don’t realize it.”

“You want to know what Donnie was doing at his office that late?”

He knew what Pitt was doing at his office.

“That would have been me last year.” Her voice caught. “I can’t believe I thought he would leave his wife for me. That poor girl…”

“Did you notice anything peculiar or out of the ordinary at all at the office?”

“Donnie would never change.” She almost spit out the words. “He was always the same and even more so since our breakup. I can’t think of anything or anyone peculiar except Ace Sanders was in a lot more than usual. But that’s no surprise. He and Donnie were just right for each other.”

Calvin had never trusted Sanders and had told Pitt that many times. But Pitt only saw the money at the end of the tunnel.

Sanders without a doubt had an opportunity to kill Pitt.

“Did Pitt ever talk about Sanders?”

“Sure, lots of pillow talk. Donnie would open up afterwards.”

“So what was their partnership like?”

“Huh, I don’t think you could call it a partnership. Not according to Donnie. He didn’t trust him. In fact, he was terrified of the man. He had been hesitant about any business deals with him, but like usual, he let his greed win out. He said Ace was unpredictable and Donnie never knew what he was capable of.”

Calvin heard her lighting a cigarette. She had quit two years ago when she had learned she was pregnant, but the murder must have sent her spiraling back. “Are you sure you haven’t seen anything suspicious at all?”

He heard her take a drag from the cigarette.

“No.” She hesitated a moment. “Wait, now that you mention it and since we’re talking about Ace, I did hear something one morning last week.”

“Go on.” Calvin felt lucky.

“I happened to be passing by the office when Ace was inside and I overheard a discussion. He said something about when he took over the Greek, Donnie would be his silent partner. When Donnie saw me, he raced across the room and shut the door.”

“Are you sure that he said ‘when he took over the Greek’?”

Dixie thought about it for a moment. “Pretty sure. I never thought about it again until I heard about Mr. Grant’s death.”

“Can you think of anything else?”

“Nah. Not really.”

He knew she wanted to talk. Dixie was always either raising her kid or at work with no time for friends. Her life hadn’t exactly been a fairy tale.

“So, has that boyfriend of yours proposed yet?”

She spit out a laugh through the phone. “That’s done. Once he saw Nathan, he was gone.”

Calvin regretted bringing it up. “You know, if I was single…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. All you men are alike.” She chuckled. “Calvin, you take care of yourself. And if you need anything, promise you won’t hesitate to call.”

“I promise. Thanks, Dixie.”

He hung up. When this was all over, if it ended the way he hoped, then he would have to do something for Dixie and Nathan.

Chapter 26

Ace lay on his Golden Horseshoe Casino office sofa. His arm dangled over the side of the couch, his hand grasping a glass of expensive Scotch. He clinked the ice cubes in his drink and closed his eyes. A deck of cards was scattered across his 35K touch-screen, interactive multimedia coffee table.

Ace’s sources on the LVMPD had just told him his hit man had failed. Ace would tell the hit man he wasn’t the only shooter and it would be easy to hire one to take Watters out. Watters would join Grant and Pitt. The longer Watters was alive and free, the more of a threat he became.

But the setback had been evened out by his latest news. He had just bought a piece of the Greek.

Grant must be rolling over in his grave.

As a rule, a purchase as large as this one took days, sometimes weeks, to transpire. But Ace had the Nevada Gaming Commission expedite their review and give approval that afternoon. The contracts had been fast-tracked for signing and countersigning. He was now preparing for the press conference with Linda on the final sale.

Gaming corruption was so great it was beyond any local or state control, though the constant effort was there to keep it clean. But the Commission could at least make sure that the casinos themselves were being bought and sold with all the legal proprieties observed.

He had expected the Commission’s approval to be almost automatic. His purchase of part of the Greek was exactly what it appeared to be: legal, fair and not even close to monopolistic control over all the other Vegas casinos. The competition for gambling customers would be as free and fierce as before.

He had to purchase his portion of the Greek Casino at fair market value, $40 million. That was a Commission requirement. A lot of money, but compared to the $250 million that had been his last offer to Grant for the entire Greek, much more affordable. It all meant smaller mortgage loans on the Golden Horseshoe and Midas and a much smaller cut of his operating cash flow from both casinos to pay it off. Even though the annoying Shawn Grant would have majority control and ownership, Ace’s net worth with three casinos would be much higher.