TWO

 

 

April 12th, 2015

Las Vegas, Nevada

 

JULIA LOVED THE lunches with Lott and Andor. Especially when it came to discussing cases. But she had a hunch she wasn’t going to like today’s topic at all.

Lott set the bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken on his kitchen table while Julia pulled out three bottles of water from the fridge. Andor had just parked outside in the driveway and was going to join them for lunch.

The smell of the chicken filled Lott’s remodeled kitchen. In the remodel, he had put in the best counters, all new cabinets and flooring, all in tones of brown. And stainless steel new appliances. But he said the floor plan of the kitchen was exactly as it had been when he and his wife had lived here.

Julia loved what he had done with the kitchen. It felt comfortable.

And the wood-topped table sat in a sunny nook and looked out over the yard and desert plants outside of Lott’s home, giving anyone sitting at the table a sense of comfort and serenity.

Lott’s wife of thirty years had died of cancer almost four years ago. He told Julia that it wasn’t until she walked into his life that he could ever imagine enjoying the company of another woman. But now he did.

And she was enjoying being with him, the first real relationship she had had in a very long time.

She loved Annie, his daughter, and Annie really liked Julia as well. Annie was a professional poker player and the girlfriend and partner of Doc Hill, the best poker player in the world at the moment. They were a power couple if Julia had ever seen one.

And combine Annie and Doc with Doc’s best friend, Fleet, and there was nothing they couldn’t do. And they had the money to do it as well.

They also spent a lot of time working with law enforcement in various ways. Since Annie was a former detective and Doc and Fleet had the money and desire to help, it turned out to be a good match for many things.

Julia finished putting the bottles of water on the table as Andor slammed his car door outside. She and Lott and Andor, Lott’s former partner back on the force before they both had retired to take care of sick wives, formed a team in the Cold Poker Gang. They all just felt like they got more done with three of them working together.

And outside of the nights with the Cold Poker Gang playing cards, the three of them often met over KFC in Lott’s kitchen to talk over cases.

Today the topic was Becky Penn’s cold case and the other bodies in her grave. Julia had a hunch they would be off the case, but she hadn’t said that to Lott.

And he had said nothing either, although she could tell he was angry, very angry, that there were other bodies in that grave.

Lott spread around three paper plates and Julia got some forks for pulling the hot chicken apart and some spoons for the sides that came with the bucket. They didn’t often eat much of the sides. All three of them just loved the fresh chicken.

Andor came in the back door, his solid frame and balding head moving like a bull. He had a cold towel around his neck and was sweating. Andor was almost square with his wide shoulders seeming to always be slightly hunched. But he had a mind that didn’t miss much and she liked him a great deal.

Andor’s wife had died of cancer about the same time as Lott’s wife. They both had retired to take care of them, so the Cold Poker Gang allowed them to keep going with the job they both loved.

Julia handed Andor a fresh hand towel to wipe off his face and head and neck, then she sat next to Lott at the table.

Andor dropped some files at the back of the table and all three of them dug into the chicken.

Finally, after pretty much demolishing their first pieces and starting on seconds, Julia couldn’t take it any longer.

She looked at Andor. “Well, was one of them Becky Penn?”

When the other bodies were found in Becky’s grave, the case had reverted back to the regular younger detectives. By the end of the day, the techs doing the digging had found a total of four bodies in that grave, all stacked on one another with a very thin layer of dirt between them.

And all of them had been killed with a blow to the head that clearly caved in the skull bone.

From what Julia had heard, the techs were now doing ground radar sweeps around the grave to see if others were buried close by.

Paul Vaughan’s journal had led them to the location, but he had said nothing about killing and burying other women.

This entire case just was off.

Way off.

But Julia had no idea at all how to even find the next lead.

Andor nodded, wiping chicken grease off his mouth with a paper towel. “It was Becky on top,” Andor said. “Confirmed by remnants of what she was wearing, hair color, and the remains of her ID buried with her. They will run some DNA tests, but no one is doubting it is her.”

“And the other three?” Lott asked.

“They don’t have a clue,” Andor said. “But they are treating all four as live murder cases at the moment.”

Julia shook her head. All were very cold cases if they had been buried under Becky’s body.

Andor just looked at them. “We’re out of this one for now. You both know that, don’t you?”

Julia knew they were. As long as the younger detectives considered the bodies open and live murder cases, there was nothing anyone retired in the Cold Poker Gang could do.

And actually, by doing anything, they might jeopardize the entire existence of the Cold Poker Gang.

They worked cold cases.

Period.

That was the firm rule the Chief of Police had put on them.

Becky’s case was now officially a live murder case. Along with the other three.

The Cold Poker Gang was done with them.

Lott was nodding, and not looking happy.

Julia just sat there, not sure if she was even interested in another piece of chicken.

“This day just sucks,” Lott said.

“Yeah, it does,” Andor said. “But we have to give the hotshot young detectives a crack at this first. Remember, we were young once as well.”

“Speak for yourself,” Julia said. “I’m still young, thank you very much.”

She felt just as upset about this as they did, but she knew the rules, just as they did.

Lott and Andor both laughed.

Julia smiled. “Not sure how I should take that laughing.”

“Oh, oh,” Andor said, winking at Lott.

“So what are the files?” Julia asked, indicating the folding files that Andor had at the top of the table. She had a hunch they were the active files of the four cases. But she wanted Andor to tell her for sure.

“I brought them for storage here,” he said, starting into another piece of chicken.

Lott laughed at that and took a second piece of chicken. Then after a bite and wiping off his hands, he had Julia hand the files to him.

Without looking at their contents, he stood and put them in an empty cabinet above the fridge.

Storage.

“All four files for the bodies in the grave?” Julia asked, just wanting to make sure.

Andor nodded. “I’ll get more from downtown and update them as the young hotshots find information.”

Lott laughed again and sat down and took another bite of chicken.

“And if they solve the cases?” Julia asked, smiling as she also took another piece of the wonderful-smelling chicken.

“Wonderful,” Lott said. “But I’m betting anything Paul Vaughan didn’t do all four, or even Becky for that matter.”

“No bet,” Andor said, working at another piece of chicken.

“And if they don’t solve them, then we go to work on the cases,” Lott said. “But that’s going to be a year or more down the road I’m afraid.”

Julia agreed. She hated it, but she agreed.

Andor nodded. “So the day officially sucks. We are officially fired from these cases.”

“We move on,” Julia said, nodding and biting into another piece of chicken.

“We move on,” Andor said, wiping chicken juice from his face again.

“There are no shortages of cold cases for us to solve,” Julia said as she chewed.

“Amen to that,” Lott said.

Julia knew that was the truth. But she just hated failing, hated having a case taken from her, hated everything about this.

The Cold Poker Gang hadn’t really solved a cold case. They had just found more murders that, more than likely, would turn into cold cases in a year or two.

She knew that all three of them hated failing. They didn’t volunteer their time in their retirement to fail.

But sometimes it happened. Sometimes even the Cold Poker Gang failed.

Or, as they say in poker, you can’t win every hand, even on good nights.

But down the road, way down the road, they just might get to play this hand all over again.

And when that happened, they would be ready.