TWENTY-FOUR

 

 

September 19th, 2016

Outside of Las Vegas, Nevada

 

TURNED OUT LORRAINE and Ray were very happy to help over an early dinner at a nearby buffet. Lott wasn’t hungry yet and knew there was KFC in his future in a few hours, but he offered to buy and he and Julia both just sampled a few things off the buffet to be polite.

The buffet and the entire building was decorated in wood and western décor, with saddles and spurs and chaps hanging from the walls and old-looking saloon doors leading into the kitchen area.

The tables were large and made of heavy wood that was polished and covered in a layer of epoxy to stop any stains or glass marks. And everything had western made-up names. Like beef stew was called “Ranch Stew” and so on.

Lott figured every place had to have a gimmick, but this place didn’t make him feel comfortable at all, it was so fake.

This early in the afternoon, the restaurant only had about thirty people spread over what looked like ten rooms and an acre of tables. So finding a private corner hadn’t been a problem.

“So how is the investigation going?” Ray asked after everyone got seated. “Whatever you are investigating.”

Lorraine waved a hand at her husband and Lott laughed. He liked Ray.

“Fine so far,” Julia said, taking the lead, something Lott was thankful for. “We are now looking at what might be a friend of the Vaughn family, maybe a friend of Paul.”

Lorraine sampled her green Jell-O with some sort of fruit. “What’s the name?”

“Maxwell,” Lott said.

Lorraine laughed and Ray snorted at that.

“So you knew them?” Lott asked. His heart was racing at the idea that there could be a real link between Maxwell and the Vaughan family.

“Sure,” Lorraine said. “They were the neighbors on the other side of the Vaughan house from us. They often joined the Vaughan clan in the back yard.”

“No clothes,” Ray said, shaking his head. “And the older Maxwell woman should have kept them on, let me tell you.”

Lorraine waved her hand at Ray again to indicate Lott and Julia should just ignore his rude comment.

“The son took turns with Paul on the sister right out there in public,” Ray said. “A couple times when both families were together, all nude around their pool. Nothing hidden. Just wasn’t right.”

Lott sort of sat back with that statement.

So the Maxwell that owned the car dealership in Reno had been close to the Vaughan family. He was looking better and better as the killer.

Or least Maxwell was in this up to his eyebrows.

“Do you know what Mr. Maxwell did for a living?” Julia asked.

Lott was impressed. She was staying on topic while he was swirling around the excitement of having the connection between Paul Vaughan and Maxwell.

“Parents owned car dealerships here and in Reno,” Lorraine said.

“Parents were killed on the way to some nudist event,” Ray said. “Kid inherited the car lots and sold the one here and moved to Reno.”

“Was this before or after the Vaughan car wreck?”

Lorraine shrugged. “If I remember right, close to the same time. Within months of each other, actually. Tragic. Just tragic.”

Ray nodded. “Yeah, both the houses were for sale at the same time and instead of naked people in the back yard, we ended up with yappy dogs. The dogs were easier on the eye.”

Lorraine waved her hand again at Ray and both Julia and Lott laughed.

They talked with Lorraine and Ray for another fifteen minutes and found out nothing more. So Julia and Lott thanked them and headed back out into the heat toward the car.

Neither of them said a word until they were in the car and the air-conditioning was running.

Then Lott looked at Julia, smiling.

And she was smiling as well. They were finally making progress.

“Think Maxwell killed the women?”

Lott shook his head. “I don’t think so, but my bet is that he knows who did and exactly where that person is.”

Julia nodded. “I agree. And Maxwell tipped off the killer that we were looking for him before we even got back to Vegas.”

“Think the killer is Paul Vaughan, still alive?” Lott asked. “I do.”

“I do as well,” she said. “No proof, but all arrows point to him. And he has Mary May somewhere, staying on his sick schedule.”

“So we need to find where a dead man is living and under what name,” Lott said.

“And get that poor woman out of there before it’s too late,” Julia said.

Lott could only nod in agreement to that.

Not a damn thing he could say.