FIVE

 

 

September 16th, 2016

Las Vegas, Nevada

 

LOTT WAS HAPPY to see Annie, his daughter, standing off to one side of the poker room, her arms crossed across her chest just as her mother used to stand when focused on something. He always loved to watch Carol when she stood like that, and Annie was no exception.

Somehow he wondered how he and Carol had managed to bring up such a competent and wonderful daughter. Most of it had been Carol, since he had been working so much.

Even being in love with Julia didn’t stop his missing Carol almost every day.

Doc was nowhere to be seen, but Annie found the game in front of her clearly fascinating.

Annie wore what she always wore in a poker room. A white blouse tucked into jeans. She usually had her long hair pulled back and tied away from her face and she always wore tennis shoes. She sometimes had a sweatshirt tied around her waist like a runner, in case she got stuck in a tournament sitting under an air-conditioning vent.

She was tall and thin and always looked completely in shape.

She was also now considered one of the best tournament poker players on the planet and clearly the best woman playing the game. And she was so charming and friendly, it seemed others almost loved giving her their chips.

As he started toward her, she looked up and gave him a beaming smile and pointed out of the poker room.

He stopped and turned around and she followed him out into the noisier, but actually more private area of slot machines.

She gave him a hug as she always did, then got right to the point, something he loved about his daughter, and that he had loved about her mother as well.

“What are you doing down here?”

“Julia and Andor and I are having dinner in the café,” he said, smiling.

“Caught a good case, huh?” she asked, laughing.

She knew him and Julia and Andor far too well. And she loved the fact that he wasn’t “moping” around the house anymore, as she called what he did for years after Carol died. And she really liked Julia, which made him happy as well.

Lott knew Annie sometimes missed being a detective and loved to help them when she could. And Doc and Fleet never missed an opportunity to help as well. So when he nodded they had caught a good case, her eyes lit up.

“Remember the Becky Penn case we lost to the young detectives over a year ago?” he asked.

“The ones with more bodies in the grave?” she asked, her eyes getting wide.

“We got all of it back today. All four cases.”

“Oh, wow,” she said. “Mind if I join you for dinner?”

“We would love it,” Lott said. “But aren’t you playing in a tournament tonight?”

“Doc’s up in Boise helping out his grandfather and mother on something to do with family property,” Julia said. “I was thinking of playing, but my head really wasn’t in it. This sounds like a ton more fun.”

“Then join the party,” Lott said, taking his daughter by the shoulder and turning her toward the café.

“So you think Doc and my resources can help on this?” Annie asked as they walked.

Clearly she and Doc were a couple for life. They just hadn’t gotten married yet, that Lott knew about. But he wouldn’t have put it past them to have gotten married and not told anyone. They clearly worked as partners in just about everything.

“Becky Penn had a red Toyota that just vanished when she did,” Lott said. “We think that’s one place your computer people could help.”

“Any ID on the other three buried in the grave with her?”

“Nothing,” Lott said as they got close to the table. “And that’s another place I would love to have you help us. They were all women and young like Becky was. There were a lot of missing women during that time.”

“Glad to help,” she said. “If you buy me dinner.”

He laughed as Annie slid in beside Andor and Lott took his place back in front of his steak and fries.

“You help us solve this, dear daughter, and I’ll buy you dinner for six months.”

“Deal,” she said, laughing.

“I’ll chip in,” Julia said.

And with that, Lott knew their team had just gotten bigger. Annie and Doc and all their resources and computer people had just climbed on board.

And that gave them that much more chance of doing the impossible and tracking down this killer from thirty years ago.