Yaritza was confused. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Nic had made a beeline from the Belgian to her apartment. Once arriving,
he told of his talk with the bartender Dean nonstop while Yaritza sipped at her
coffee wide-eyed, not catching more than two words.
“What part didn’t you catch?”
“Everything except Belgian, beer, and bartender.”
“All right. From what I gathered, the JB on that pay stub probably stood
for Jefferson-Brown, especially when the kid said it was a law firm.”
“We’ll check for other firms, but go on.”
“It’s coming together.”
“Uh, what’s coming together?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, that clears it all up, doesn’t it?”
“I do have an idea, though.”
“Good, because I don’t.”
“First thing I need to do is have an idea what Ted Clayton looks like.”
“Why?”
“I’m thinking about staking out the offices of Jefferson-Brown,
specifically Mr. Clayton.”
“You mean tail him?”
“Yeah, I want to become very familiar with his lifestyle.”
Yaritza looked at her coffee. “I thought you were going to help me track
down Nikea.”
“I am, don’t worry, but I think with these people we need to do some
multi-tasking.”
“With Nikea do you have any idea where to start?”
“A few ideas. I take it the bat computer at police headquarters was no
help.”
“None.”
Nic paced the room for a moment in silence, his mind obviously racing.
“Any other leads there?”
“Nothing really. Her parents haven’t even seen her.”
“Where are they?”
“Winnemucca.”
“And they’ve been instructed to call if they hear from her?”
“Right.”
“And no word.”
“Not one.”
“We’ll start with them. Have the number handy?”
“Uh…..I’m not sure I should give it to you.”
“Why?”
“You’re wired, Nic. You need to calm down.”
“I am calm, I just want to get moving on this.”
“Why the urgency?”
Nic finally sat down next to Yaritza and looked at her very solemnly. It
took her a minute to realize he wasn’t wired, he was alarmed by something.
“Nic, what is it?”
“I have the strange feeling other people are about to be killed.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“It was something that bartender told me about Hughes and JB, both of
them owning the casino.”
“Sounds like a strange investment for a law firm.”
“No shit. I’ve heard of Hughes before, too. I just don’t know where.”
“But it did connect something for you.”
“It did. It said that employees of that casino just might be paying for
assassins and they don’t know it.”
“Assassins to do what?”
“Yaritza, what do assassins do?”
“They kill.”
“Right.”
“Who would they be killing?”
“It’s the word deadbeat that keeps rattling in my brain. When Dean
mentioned it and I was looking at his pay stub, something clicked.”
“Obviously.”
“Yaritza, I think Jefferson-Brown is hiring assassins to kill deadbeat
dads.”
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