Luke Murphy - Dead Man's Hand

His final purchase of his share of the Greek had not happened as he and Linda had planned, but they’d made it work anyway. With Linda selling him the shares that she already owned, which even Shawn couldn’t stop, he was in. No one would be able to stop him from a full takeover. He’d already worked out how to sabotage the other stockholders, gradually forcing them to sell him their shares. Shawn would be the hardest to take down, but Ace had no doubts about the outcome. He’d do whatever it took.

So far, his plan had been flawless. There were only two remaining matters to deal with—Watters and another vulnerability that would need to be eliminated soon. Ace wasn’t going to risk what was turning into a fiasco. His top assassin was not able to find and kill Watters, after a day and a half. Killing a Vegas cop and the failed car bomb had only brought more police attention to the search for Calvin and made the hit man’s job more difficult. The cops would start a new massive investigation into the murder of one of their own, in addition to looking for Calvin and all other suspects. That meant that the LVMPD was now probably at its highest state of alert, investigative effort and more motivated than they’d ever been, perhaps in decades.

They all assumed that Watters was still in the city. By now, he could be in Europe. Ace’s only hope was that Watters would be too proud to let anyone push him out of Vegas. He thought that fit the most successful and terrifying collector that Pitt had ever employed. Watters was hiding, but not outside the city.

Right now, killing Watters was Ace’s number one priority

He had hoped the cop killing would make Watters a multiple-murder suspect, but the whole situation enraged him. He was not in control of too many things.

Ace would tell the killer to kill or be killed and if he failed, he’d take out the assassin himself.

Just then his untraceable phone rang. Only two people had the number.

“Hello.”

“It’s me.”

“I know.” The assassin was never late with his check-in call. “You failed.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“No, it won’t. You’ve already killed a cop.”

“The cop was collateral damage.”

“Convince me you’ll get this done.”

“I found out about Watters’ hooker. He’s bangin’ a local girl. I haven’t been able to locate her yet and other whores don’t seem to know where she is. I’m pretty sure she’s with Watters. If I find one, I find the other.”

“So what now?” Ace asked.

“I’m confident Watters is still in the city. I put the word out through my few trusted contacts who know about tracking. They’ve been working it and they haven’t received any data to indicate he’s gone. But I’m prepared to go on a long fugitive pursuit that could take me anywhere if it comes to that. Did you get the information I need?”

“I did. It wasn’t easy. I found what you need in Pitt’s files, but even Pitt didn’t know where Watters conducted his business.”

“I have my own methods of finding his location. Get it to me,” the assassin said.

“I may need one of Pitt’s employees eliminated. She had Pitt’s personal USB and I don’t know if she looked at it. I doubt it though. The files were well hidden. I’ll let you know if the situation escalates. Watters is your only priority.”

“Got it. It’ll be done very soon.”

Scott spoke so easily about taking a life that Ace felt a strange, excited chill.

“Mr. Scott, let me be clear. If you fail again, I will find out who you really are and I won’t just kill you, I’ll have everyone close to you tortured and terminated. You know I have the means to do it.”

He hung up, thinking his assassin had an incentive to deliver, and glanced at his watch. He had a conference to attend.

He got up from the couch and moved towards the windows. The soft, Italian leather of the new sofa exhaled as he stood. He opened the curtains and looked down over the Golden Horseshoe lobby to the main floor.

Security was tight at both casinos. He’d buckled down with troops at the Golden Horseshoe because it was larger and easier to defend and protect. He could deploy many more security guards. He was not about to let Watters come in and destroy the place, or the Midas. Ace had doubled the guards to walk the floors. He would keep his ships running tightly until Watters was dead.

As usual, the place was packed and the slot machines were being worn out by the hopeless losers looking to hit the jackpot. Didn’t they know the house always won?

As he reached for his suit jacket, he noticed that his right shirtsleeve had turned a dark red. He had treated the scratch marks on his wrist and had changed into fresh bandages, but it hadn’t worked. As he pulled up his sleeve and removed the stained wrap, he noticed how deep the gashes were. He knew he couldn’t go to the hospital for stitches and explain the wound. Tonight he would call a doctor friend and ask if he could be stitched up at the man’s house.

Had his skin flaked in a way that it could be found in Pitt’s office, on the floor or under the hooker’s nails?

He cursed the woman and even more so himself for being so careless. He had allowed a struggle, a flaw in his perfect plan. Ace was not accustomed to being sloppy.

Chapter 27

After coming back from the hardest part of a police investigation, talking to the family of the murdered victim, Dale sat at his desk reading reports. One by one his team members came to check in with almost nothing to show for the day. He had to have something to inspire his aggravated group.

Parker and Duncan had talked with Pitt’s wife.

“Mrs. Pitt was cold and distant. She knew he was a cheating dog, but she stayed with Pitt because of the children. Also she shows no signs of being employable herself. Anyway—no help from her. She seemed happy that a hooker died. No surprise.”

“So she has a motive?” Dale asked.

“She didn’t kill her husband,” Parker stated without delay. “She has a solid alibi and is too fragile to do it anyway.”

Dale agreed, but like everyone else who gained financially but didn’t have the strength for the killings, she could still have hired a killer. She was just playing the good wife and wanted her sleazy man dead.

Smith and Ramirez reported that Pitt’s employees all had been hired off the street. Most of them have a criminal record of some sort, but no one seemed to hate Pitt. No one was too sorry he died. They all had solid alibis.

They hadn’t seen unusual documents or visitors around the office. Sanders had made several appearances in the office to talk with Pitt, but that was routine.

Dale thought the $30,000 in the safe was enough for Pitt’s employees to kill the boss. The killer was definitely looking for something in Pitt’s office.

And again, Sanders’ name came up. The biggest problem: Sanders’ employees refused to talk while Pitt’s couldn’t stop.

Lucas and Sanchez reported that many of the prostitutes knew the girl who had been killed and had Pitt as a client themselves. But none had any reason to kill Pitt.

“They called her ‘Amber,’ but no one seems to know her real name. Just for fun, I flashed Watters’ picture around to see what kind of reaction I would get. One prostitute ID’d him. She said Watters has a soft spot for another whore. The streetwalker that I talked with said that he is more than just a client. The two are close. She goes by the name Chloe.”

“Any luck finding her?”

“No one had seen her all day, which is unusual.”

Dale just went through the motions. He was sure Watters was with Chloe somewhere. Any man would think of his woman first. So why hadn’t Dale?

Watters was such a good collector that there were few accounts outstanding—killers who wanted to erase a debt.