Chapter 15
***TAYLOR***
Taylor stood hands on his hips in his bedroom doorway, surveying the room, a frown on his face, but it wasn’t the mess he’d just made that was upsetting him.
His lucky jacket wasn’t in its usual place in his closet, and after a thorough search of his room, it appeared to be missing.
There was no doubt in his mind that he’d hung the jacket up the night before; it was the only thing he’d done before falling into bed in the early morning hours after the poker game.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair.
If he didn’t leave soon, he’d be late, but he wanted that jacket; it had always brought him luck, and he needed some tonight.
It was the third night of a poker tournament Dakota had invited him to join, and he was finally working his way up to the big tables.
If things went his way, he could walk out with a tidy little bundle of cash that night.
Looking up at the clock he realized he was going to have to leave without the jacket, but he did one more quick circuit of the room just to be sure he hadn’t missed it, then grabbed the keys for the van and shut the door behind him.
Traffic was on his side and he arrived at the poker tournament with a few minutes to spare, but he was frustrated and out of sorts, not the way he wanted to start the night.
On the drive, he’d turned it over and over in his mind and couldn’t come up with any reason someone in the house would have taken his jacket; they all knew how precious it was to him.
That left an outsider, a prospect that didn’t settle well in his gut.
His encounter with Sebastian was still fresh in his mind, but he still couldn’t imagine why his cousin or anyone would want it, which frustrated him even more.
Getting out of the car, he paused for a second to breathe in the cool night air, forcing thoughts of the jacket to the back of his mind, knowing he wouldn’t be able to play well if he didn’t.
He’d be fine without it. His skill was more important than a good luck charm, and he’d been playing better than he ever had.
He was confident that by the end of the night, there would be a fat roll of cash in his pocket.
Dakota was waiting for him just inside the front door, a worried look on his face. “Where have you been?” he demanded. “If you’re late they’ll kick you off the table.”
“I’ve got time, there’s still ten minutes left,” he said, heading for the back of the casino. “I thought you’d already be at your table.”
Dakota was silent for a second, a scowl on his face.
“Oh, yes, well, I’m afraid that lady luck and I had a bit of a disagreement last night,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Then he looked over at Taylor. “But that’s okay, this way, I can really give you my attention.
We haven’t had much time to work together yet.
By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be sitting in the winner’s circle. ”
“Oh, I don’t…that is…I’m doing okay on my own,” he stammered. “Not that I don’t appreciate the offer, I mean, I’m sure you have more important things to do…”
“Nonsense,” Dakota said, slapping him on the back. “I wouldn’t be much of a mentor if I didn’t; it’s my job to help you become the best player you can be. You’ll be my legacy; I can just see it now—our names linked together forever.”
A panicky feeling spread through him as they approached the woman behind a set of shiny gold bars so he could pay his buy-in fee for the tournament that night. “Oh, that sounds…well…” his words trailed away. “Maybe we could talk about this tomorrow, I think I’m okay on my own tonight.”
The warmth in Dakota’s eyes cooled. “I hope I don’t have to remind you that you wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me,” he hissed. “Take some advice from your elders, boy. We can teach you a thing or two, unless you want to go home.”
He wasn’t sure that Dakota had the power to get him kicked out of the tournament, but that was a chance he wasn’t willing to take. “Yes, sir,” he said, pulling out a bundle of twenties and sliding them over to the cashier. “I’ll do my best.”
Three hours later, he was two thousand down, Dakota was on his fourth drink, his advice getting worse with each hand, and he knew that it was time to shut him down. “I’m calling a break,” he said, throwing in the blue card he’d been given. “I need some fresh air.”
Ignoring the jeering from the other players, he got to his feet, grabbed Dakota by the arm, and pulled him out of his chair. “Let’s take a walk,” he said. “We need to have a talk.”
“Keep your hands off me, boy,” Dakota slurred. “I don’t want to go for a walk, I want to get another drink, and then we’ll take the rest of their money.”
He stared at the older man, both frustrated and annoyed, “I guess you haven’t been paying attention; I’m not taking their money, they’re taking mine, and all thanks to your so-called expert advice.
I’m done, Dakota. I appreciate the invitation to the tournament, but I can’t do this anymore. I don’t need or want your help.”
A stormy look spread across Dakota’s face.
“You ungrateful little…” he growled, then tried to punch Taylor.
He easily stepped away from the drunken man, which only infuriated him more.
“I’m going to have you banned. You’ll never play poker in this state again.
You have no idea who you’ve messed with… ”
A second later, a security guard walked up. “Do we have a problem here?” he asked. “I heard some shouting.”
Dakota gave him a dirty look but instantly calmed down. “We were just having a small disagreement,” he slurred, then started backing away. “This isn’t over, Taylor. You’re going to be sorry you disrespected me. You’ll see. I have power, and I’m going to use it to destroy you.”
When the older man turned and stomped away, swaying a little, Taylor let him go, already humiliated by the exchange.
He then turned back to the table, not sure what kind of reaction to expect.
He was met only with knowing looks, and he let out the breath he’d been holding.
Then he sat down again, hoping they could just pretend it had never happened.
“Don’t worry about Dakota, he does this every couple of years. You stood up to him sooner than most of them do,” a scruffy-looking man a couple of chairs away said. “I’m Stan, by the way. I’ve been taking your money all night; guess I should have introduced myself sooner.”
“Stan,” he said, nodding his head at the man. “Nice to meet you, hope you’ll forgive me for taking some of my money back now that Dakota is gone.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing you try,” he said, nodding back. “Good luck, kid, let’s play poker.”
***Emily***
Emily stood in front of the coffee maker, sucking in deep breaths of the fragrant air that was beginning to fill her tiny kitchen, wondering when she’d gotten too old to function on only a few hours sleep.
Between studying and hours of research on the internet, she’d been pushing herself to the limit, but she’d put several of the pieces of the puzzle in place, and a few things were beginning to make more sense.
Even more reassuring, it looked like they hadn’t stumbled onto a government operation, or anything illegal; in fact, it was a bit of a disappointment to discover that what they had was nothing more than a feud between two prominent families in the state.
When her phone rang ten minutes later, Emily picked up the call far more alert, thanks to a generous amount of caffeine pumping through her veins. “Good morning, Captain Strattler,” she said, pausing a second. “I’ve finally made some progress on the case.”
“It’s about time, you’ve been there for weeks,” he growled. “What have you got? Is there going to be more violence? What is everyone hiding?”
She knew that she had to be careful because she didn’t want to insult her boss.
“I don’t think there’s as much to this as we first thought,” she said.
“I’ve been doing a lot of digging, starting with Marcus Reynolds.
I tracked him back to a big operation headquartered in the northern part of the state called Barrington Industries.
Mining and logging were the backbone of their business until recently, when they were forced to diversify.
They own thousands of acres of pristine wilderness and assets in the billions of dollars. ”
“What does this have to do with a bunch of fraternity boys?” Captain Strattler demanded. “You’re losing me, Torres.”
“Hang in there, sir, I’m sending you my written report right now, that might help,” she said, opening her computer. “The reason that this matters is the same reason I don’t think we’ve got as big of a problem here as you think we do.”
Her boss grunted, and she heard him tapping on his computer keys. “Go on,” he finally said. “I’ve got it open.”
“Sir, I think what we have here is a feud of sorts between two old New York families,” she said, then paused to let that sink in. “Barrington Industries to the north and Marbury Coal and Lumber to the south.”
“Hmmm,” Captain Strattler hummed. “Still waiting…”
“Sir, they’ve both sponsored a fraternity, they both have men on the regent’s council who could have only gotten there through bribery,” she explained. “It’s all there in my report, all we’ve got here are two rival families, two fraternities trying to show each other up.”
Captain Strattler remained silent so long that she began to get nervous.
“I know you thought there was more to this, but I don’t…
” she trailed off, then took a deep breath and tried again.
“There hasn’t been any violence in weeks.
It’s pretty obvious that Diego really was responsible.
I think we can let our guard down, sir. Wherever he is, he won’t be coming back. ”
“That’s part of what bothers me, we haven’t picked up a trace of him anywhere, he couldn’t have just disappeared, it’s not possible these days,” Captain Strattler said, his voice full of doubt.
“My gut tells me that something happened to the boy, and I always listen to my gut. We keep on with the investigation, stay close to Taylor; those boys know what happened, and I want you to get the truth out of them.”
“It’s only been a few weeks, sir, Diego will show up soon,” she said, not wanting to think Taylor and his friends could be responsible for murder. “Taylor and his friends aren’t responsible, I’m sure of it. You’d agree with me if you knew them.”
“Then someone is, and I want to know who,” Captain Strattler said. “No one else may care that the boy has gone missing, but I’m not going to forget him.”
“Yes, sir, I understand, I’ll keep digging, I’ll try to get Taylor to talk about Diego,” she said, then hesitated. “But I just don’t think…”
“You’re not paid to think, Torres,” Captain Strattler snapped at her.
“That’s my job, so just let me do it. Stay on Taylor, get him to open up about Diego.
I don’t believe for a second that he ran away to avoid getting caught, it doesn’t follow the evidence.
Everyone we’ve talked to said that he’d gone after Jackson somewhere in the mountains right before he disappeared, but we can’t place him there.
Maybe you can trip Taylor up, get him to tell you the truth. ”
“I’ll do my best,” she said, trying to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach. “I hope that you’re wrong, I hope Diego turns up, I don’t like to think about what it means if he doesn’t.”
“I know, Torres, it’s hard when you let yourself get personally involved,” Captain Strattler said, the first hint of sympathy in his voice. “I want you to be careful, don’t let your emotions distract you, murder is serious business.”
When she hung up the phone, she stared at it for a long time, trying to picture Taylor or any of his friends killing another human being.
She just couldn’t make the leap, but she knew that appearances could be deceiving.
Captain Strattler had been a cop for a long time.
If he still thought that there was more going on than it looked like on the outside, she’d work a little harder to uncover the truth. She owed him that much.