The mood in the office was as it should be, each and every one of these men were used to meetings with strangers, with known criminals and especially with those they just met. It was casual and yet there was an air of stiffness, until the Sheriff broke the atmosphere with introducing Jake as the luckiest guy he ever met, and told the unbelievable story of Jake Fuller in Vegas. Of course Brian has heard this story repeatedly it was really a fairy tale story but backwards, they all laughed and congratulated him, especially Brian who was as gregarious as they come and always looking for a great story about Vegas, here was one right in this office. He must get more about Jake after the meeting. There are as many questions to Jake and as he answered them it sounded so surreal, come to Vegas and hit the jackpot, and with a beautiful woman added to that pot. Brian sized up this group and kept wondering why he was called to the meeting, what did the Sheriff mean in his message that it was so important, so vital was the way he put it, so far Brian did not hear anything vital or earth shattering, but he knew it will come very soon, now that they were all loosened up and seated around the office in the chairs provided by some business manufacturer who was in his own way thanking the Sheriff for some "favor." The "favors" given to the Sheriff for his office, for his home, all added to the prestige of the office, and he never looked upon them as any thing else but as a gift, even though it was frowned upon for others in the community.
The Sheriff cleared his throat, and said gentlemen I wanted to have the three of you here to discuss what seems to be an epidemic of crime and murders right here in our town. There seems to be an element that has come into our town that is intent on for whatever the reason, to disrupt the locals and to hold their own style of meetings and push the envelope regarding the law. What am I talking about? Last week after a very loud meeting held in a local cafe there was found dead a lovely woman, a "woman of the night," as they are called, but we know her as a hooker who works for the local Madame, who is well known and connected with all the big people in town. She was brutally murdered by one of the men I was telling you about, these unsavory characters from out of town, we think we have him in custody now. Jake looked up from the floor where he was deep in thought about Terry, where was she and why has she done this to him? When he heard the Sheriff mentioned that loud place he slipped back into the group and listened more intently than he was, remembering the time he was with Terry that very night and the great time they had. The Sheriff mentioned they have the man who he thinks that did it, it must have been one of those guys in the bar that night, along with Tony Razzano! He then heard his name being mentioned by the police captain sitting opposite from him, as one of the retired men from the New York department who gives credit to all police men, retired or not, they are truly citizens we need, well Jake has recognized one of the most sought after thugs in the department and he did it at that very bar where the girl we are talking about was found. Then the Sheriff spoke again and said we have two other murders, two men from Italy who were here in this country illegally, we believe they were sent here to kill someone else or possibly more than one. They were killed, by the looks of it by hired assassins, two hired killers, killed before they can do what they came to do in this country. Now I have just been informed before this meeting another woman has been found dead, outside of Vegas on a lonely dark road that leads to the desert, this is a famous spot for murders, as it goes no where. Jake reeled forward as if he has been struck by something, a young woman found, it might be Terry he said, as all three of them turned and said what did you say Jake? He looked at them and said my wife Terry is missing and I cannot find her anywhere, where is this woman's body so I can see for myself. They all said in unison no, no, Jake it must be someone else, but he got up from his chair and said directly to the Sheriff no I want to view the corpse, to see for myself, please let me do this. The Sheriff called down to the deputies who handled the morgue and told them to let Jake in and see the body for an identification, and he was out the door before he had finished his sentence. He dreaded the next half hour as much as he dreaded anything in his life.
After he left the men continued on with their business, they all agreed that since there seemed to be this mob like group in Vegas from all over the country, and they absolutely knew that this guy was a fugitive from there the Sheriff department will help the New York cops arrest him and put him in jail here in Vegas until such time that a judge in New York can issue the proper documents to have him brought to the Big Apple. Brian spoke up and asked why am I here Sheriff, and the Sheriff turned to face him and said very slowly, Brian you are going to be the catalyst to capture him and all the others, and Brian smiled and said you are joking of course, and he immediately saw that he was not and was very serious about this. He then said how am I going to do this Sheriff, and more to the point why? The Sheriff leaned back in his chair put his hands behind his head, and said okay guys let us have a small break, get some coffee and we can come back here after that and I can tell Brian how he is going to be the hero of the day, let's go now and relax. The meeting was over for now, they left for the coffee and probably donuts to return after that. They all went downstairs to the coffee shop in the lobby of the building where some man has shown some initiative, that seems to be the word here in Vegas, someone is always looking to make a buck, well he has put up a coffee shop with all the new ways of making coffee, Brian admired this man, who is making something of himself with a great idea. The talk in the coffee shop turned from the talk that was being discussed upstairs, now it was the usual batter of men about the local sports or the amount of money they may have won or lost in the casinos lately. Brian though was very quiet still going over the Sheriffs remarks how he is going to be involved with the capture of this Tony Razzano and perhaps more, what is the Sheriff up to he thought. Well, Brian in his most fitting way of handling things, he just decided to sit back and wait to see how things will come about, he knew that eventually it will all come out, and he will deal with it then. He knew when the time came he would be more than able to trip up these mobsters, and it will be his way to enter the mayors race in five months.
The ride down to the morgue in the elevator was slow, with the stop for almost every floor, with people coming and going it was like a nightmare to Jake, oh God he thought when will this get to the floor he needed. But he really did not need to go through all this, he already knew in his heart that it was the body of his wife, Terry lying in the morgue. He had to go see it and identify it there was no one else as far as he knew. No, Terry had mentioned at one time having a sister, but where she lived he did not remember now, he did not remember much at this time. The doors opened on the elevator and Jake stepped out into a long, darkly lit hallway, with a small sign printed on the wall before him pointing to the morgue. He looked down the hallway and could barely see a white door at the end of this hallway. He took a few steps toward the door when someone from the doorway opened it and a small man stepped into the hall and asked are you Mr Fuller? Jake sighed with relief, the Sheriff must have called down to the morgue to have someone be there when Jake arrived, how very nice of him he thought, and he answered to the man yes I am, I am here to see the body of the woman brought in recently. The small man stepped forward and said how do you do Mr. Fuller I am Jeremy Armstrong, the head honcho here in the morgue, the Sheriff told me you were coming, and I just wanted to make certain you found the place. He ushered Jake into the room, which was really very bare, a small two chairs set up against the wall and bright lights shining from overhead. Along the other wall were four rather large drawers, the pull out kind from the wall Jake knew what was inside of those drawers and sort of reflexively wavered in his standing there, and felt for the small chair and sat down on it.
Jeremy asked him was he ready to see the body at this time or did he wish to do it some other time. Jake nodded in the affirmative and stood up to show Jeremy he was ready, and walked over with him to the second set of drawers and it was pulled out of the wall on rollers, so quiet Jake thought, and there was a large white cloth covering a shape under it, no he knew it was not just a shape, it was a body, of someone who up until a few hours ago was a living breathing functioning human being and now was lying here under a sheet, dead, lifeless and of little importance to the world, except it must be catalogued, who it was, and embalmed and disposed of in as humanly possible as the society could find. Jeremy, without any emotion or warning pulled back the sheet to expose the head of the dead woman, Jake looked down at Terry, his wife of almost two months, with two gun shots holes in her lovely head. He nodded to Jeremy and said yes that was my wife, Jeremy would tell him how sorry he was for him, and if he would wait outside in the hall he will be with him in a minute. Jake did as he was told and found the chair in the hall and began to cry, cry for this woman, this girl he knew for a few minutes in time, out of a lifetime, she was only a blink of an eyelash really, but he did really like her and there was now a void in his life once again. Jake looked up from the chair and standing there before him was the deputy he was introduced to earlier in the Sheriffs office, he put out his hand and said Mr. Fuller the sheriff has asked me to escort you to his office and to offer his condolences, will you come with me now, or do you wish to wait a few more minutes? The hand was received by Jake and he stood up and said no I am okay let us got up to the office, he turned and saw Jeremy standing there and said to him thank you for you help, I really appreciate it. He left with the deputy to the elevator and they went up to the sixth floor to meet with the sheriff and see what has been found out about her death. Jake still had this empty hollow feeling inside of himself and turned to the deputy when they reached the floor and the doors opened, saying I think I had better sit down for a few minutes, I still do not feel well at this time. The deputy said he understood and guided him to another office, that was used for sick personnel and had a large sofa whereupon the deputy helped Jake lie down to rest. Jake all the while his detective experience and brain was working over time, why was she killed, why was Juan killed, it all had to do with those trips to Mexico, that was the connection, it has to be. The other killings were not related he thought. He decided then to speak to the Sheriff directly and to tell him what this theory about all these murders was.
The deputy came back in the room with a cup of hot coffee for Jake and he took it and thanked him very much and said I want to see the Sheriff when he is able to please, and the deputy said as soon as you feel you are able sir, just drink the coffee slowly and we will go see him, with that Jake sat back and relaxed, doing as the deputy suggested, and drank the coffee slowly and enjoying the aroma all the while he sat and just let the whole thing settle in. It wasn't too long before he felt much better, and indicated to the deputy he was ready to go and meet the Sheriff to discuss the case along with his friend from New York, the Captain from the headquarters from the Big Apple. They proceeded into the office and everyone was still there and obviously very solicitous to Jake on his loss of his recent wife, though before he showed up there were a few male jokes about that luck. The Sheriff spoke on behalf of all present on their feeling of his loss and then turned the story over to his deputy who began with the killings of the woman outside of the Italian cafe and bar, and mentioned that they have an excellent suspect in that case and they hope he will be indicted soon, next on the agenda was the mysterious disappearance of one of the staff from a local hotel, he is missing and presumed dead, he was involved heavily in the drug industry here in Vegas and was a chief suspect in drugs, the illegal transportation of men and women across the boarder from Mexico, two murders, so all in all he is one dude if he is dead no one will miss him. We suspect that he tried to double cross the local drug czar here in south Nevada and was taken care of swiftly and expertly, we will probably never find his body. it wasn't until later the next day came word to the office that the male body found in the desert was in fact Juan from the hotel, so there it goes another murder, like the wife of poor Jake, shot mob like with two shots in the head. He then said in a quiet tone of voice that there were two more deaths, mob like murders also, of two men from Italy, who came here under mysterious circumstances, probably to kill some one here as they were wanted in Italy and France for killings, but someone got to them first, and we believe they were killed by one of the mob that is now in town, those guys from out of town, who were involved in the killing of the woman from that Italian Cafe.