Chapter 39
“Okay,” Max said, “What’d you find out?”
Bates reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out a tiny black box with a wire coming out of it. He set it on the table.
Kate looked at the object then glanced toward Max who sat between her and Bates at the end of the conference room table.
The morning after the funeral Kate had been summoned to a staff meeting. So far, only the three of them were in the room.
“Well?” Max asked sharply.
Bates’s gray-blue eyes were expressionless. “Not much to report on this, I’m afraid. It’s good high-tech gear but not unique. Fairly expensive, about $500.”
Max reached over and picked up the device. “Well? Did you get a finger print or find out where it came from?”
“It was clean. No prints. And they could’ve bought it anywhere. I’ve even seen it on the Internet.”
“Dammit.” Max hit the table with his fist.
“My Washington contacts will--”
“Screw your Washington contacts. What are you doing?”
“What’s going on?” Kate interrupted. “What is that thing?”
Max glared at Bates, who spoke. “It’s a wireless transmitter. Some people call it a bug. One of my men found it on the floor in the Deming residence.”
“Deming? That’s Lyle and his father. You found a bug in their condo?”
“On the floor, next to a chair. Not far from the body. We think it’s the reason someone broke into the house.”
Kate frowned. “But the sheriff said it was a burglary. If they broke in to plant a bug--The sheriff doesn’t know about this, does he?”
Bates shook his head.
“You kept this from the sheriff? It might have meant the murder was tied to Nostalgia City and you didn’t want the sheriff to know.”
“Did I know this for sure?” Bates said. “Of course not. Everybody in the park knows Deming has been asking questions about the accidents. He talked to the chief at the reservation and then he went to Boston. I’m not sure why.”
“Clyde told me about it,” Max said, “and we thought it best to hang on to it temporarily. See what we could find out. Apparently we didn’t find out anything.” He looked at Clyde through narrowed eyes.
“We’re working on all the evidence. I hope to have something soon.”
“You’d better be more than hopeful. One more disaster, one more accident, and we’re outta business.”
“Here’s what we know,” Bates said. “The device is battery powered, so it would only be good for a limited time. Whoever was going to plant it wanted to find out something soon.”
“But what?” Max slid his chair back and got up. He walked slowly to the end of the room with his hands behind him, one on either hip. He didn’t turn around.
Kate reached over and picked up the bug. It didn’t look sinister. She waved it at Bates. “Are you saying that whoever is responsible for the sabotage tried to bug Lyle’s condo and then killed his father?”
“It’s a good possibility, unless it’s related to a case that Deming worked on when he was a cop.”
“They murdered Lyle’s father,” Kate said.
“It was a mistake. They probably didn’t know anyone was home during the day. The whole point of bugging a house is secrecy.”
“So you withheld this from the sheriff’s department to keep it out of the media. That’s against the law, isn’t it? Withholding evidence? Anyone who knows about this could be guilty of obstruction of justice. But after we covered up one murder, the next one was easier.”
“We didn’t know for sure about the car crash,” Max said without conviction.
Kate barely heard him. She leaned back and stared at her note pad. If the sheriff had said the murderer tried to bug Lyle’s condo, that could have linked it to the park. In his own devious way, Clyde had saved Kate and NC more dreadful publicity. But what about Lyle? Did he know why his father was killed? Did this mean he wasn’t just imagining the FedPat conspiracy? Conspiracy is right, she thought. No matter who was doing it.
She slid the bug back across the table to Clyde. “These people are murderers and we’re covering it up.”
“Maybe,” Max said, turning around and leaning on the table. “But we’re using this information to find out who’s wrecking the park.” He looked at Bates. “Time’s running out. Maybe I’ll call an investigations company I know in Vegas. They’re ex-federal agents, too. Or maybe we should just give up and call the FBI.”
“My Washington contacts will come though, Max. I know it. They’re checking out the FedPat Corporation and several other leads.”
“I still don’t see how FedPat could be behind all this,” Max said. “But I guess we have to cover all the bases.”
Bates nodded knowingly. “We’re not sure, either. We’ll see.”
“So while we’re checking this out,” Kate said, “they could be listening to us. Maybe they have bugs in other places, too.”
Bates grunted. “The grounds here are secure. We sweep the offices regularly.”
Max stared at Bates.
“Okay,” Bates said, “we’ll check the executive offices again this week.”
Kate suddenly thought about their tap on Kevin Waterman’s phone, then something else occurred to her. “What about other homes, like mine?” She pushed her chair back from the table.
“No one knows you’re working on this, do they?” Bates said. Before Max could say anything, Bates held up a hand. “We’ll do a sweep of your residence, too. Right away.”
“And these guys with guns?” Kate said, looking at Bates. “Are they going to kill anyone else?”
“I said it was a mistake, an accident. They didn’t know Deming’s father was there.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Kate lives in the Timeless Tower,” Max said. “Be sure we have a guard downstairs.”
“I’ll be okay. That’s not what I meant.”
“We have someone there occasionally at night,” Bates said. “It’ll be expensive to add a full shift.”
“Do it,” Max said.
Kate slumped in her chair.
“We’ll track down whoever’s doing this, Kate,” Max said. “You just have to drum up good publicity for us. Pump up our attendance.”
We’re in big trouble, Kate thought, if we have to wait for Clyde to solve anything. “I can handle the PR,” she said.
“Then do it. What do you have planned?”
She was about to ask if they were having a regular staff meeting that morning when Brent Pelham walked in. A minute later Drenda Adair and several others came in and took seats.
Looking at the faces of the others, Kate forced herself to relax and concentrate on her job. Her press blitz, she told everyone, was just over four weeks away. Soon, invitations to representatives of local and national media would be sent out. The media-day extravaganza, set for the July Fourth weekend, would combine the inaugural run of the train to the Indian casino and the opening of a new themed plaza.
“Obviously, this event has to be a huge hit,” she said.
No one in the room, not even Max or Clyde, she thought, really knew all the elements of the terror campaign going on against them. Kate was quickly realizing its scope and brutality. She didn’t say it, but her publicity program would be successful only if no fearful event intervened.
As the meeting broke up, Kate hurried to follow Bates out the door, but Max pulled her aside.
“Seen Deming since he got back? I want to know what he found out in Boston.”
“I saw him at the funeral. We didn’t talk about the trip.”
“Find out anything about his background? You know, with the cops?”
“It’s not exactly like Bates told you. Lyle left the police over a dispute about assignments. I don’t think Clyde knows all the details or maybe he only told you part of it.”
“Where’d you get this?”
“From Lyle.”
“You believe him?”
“Yes.” With that, Kate excused herself and hurried out.
She caught up with Clyde Bates in the elevator lobby and rode down to the ground floor with him. She made eye contact as they stepped out. “Why’d you wait until last week to tell Max that stuff about Lyle Deming’s record?”
She said it fast and it caught Clyde off guard. “Why? I just found out. Max said Deming was in Boston nosing around so I checked him out more thoroughly. I thought he was supposed to be a hotshot detective.”
Kate stood staring at him but said nothing, waiting for Clyde to fill the silence.
He obliged. “Before he was hired I’m sure his previous employment was checked, so I had no reason to doubt him.”
“You didn’t know he was discharged from the police department?”
“You know, I’m doing what I think is best for the park, just like you. We don’t have to be adversaries. I’m pushing my staff to keep Nostalgia City as safe as possible. We’re working ’round the clock on this. I know you’re busy too--and doing a good job. God, I hate the media.” He offered Kate a weak smile. “But then you know that.”
That’s not all I know, she thought.
“We can work together. We have to,” Bates said. “Too much at stake. What do you say?”
“What about Lyle Deming and his father’s murder?”
“Like I told Max, I’m going to investigate every possibility. I have resources. As for Deming, I’d be careful. He’s a loose cannon.”