Roberts out in Vegas needs to be kept in the loop.

There is no doubt that there is a Vegas component to this; because of Shawn, we have known about this connection from day one. Roberts is smart, he knows what’s going on, and he can be a valuable asset out there.

“I was just going to call you,” he says, when he gets on the phone.

“Why?”

“You go first,” he says, so I do just that. I update him on everything that has happened with Lewinsky, including the apparent importance of William Simmons. He, of course, knows nothing about Simmons, and therefore has no insight into the matter.

I also tell him about the references to something happening on the sixteenth, as well as the Feds coming to us about the death of the terrorist and possible supplier of explosives, who had made ominous stops in both Jersey and Vegas. He knows all about it, both because the car accident in which the supplier died was near Vegas, and because the Feds came to Vegas PD as well.

“They’re scared that something is going to happen,” Roberts says. “So am I. But it seems separate from our drug case, so I’m going to let them deal with that piece.”

“Same here,” I say. “How are you doing on checking into Harriman?” Roberts was investigating whether there were possible drug thefts going on there.

He tells me that they haven’t found anything so far, nor have they made progress in reinvestigating the apparent accidental death of Janine Seraphin, Rita Carlisle’s counterpart at Harriman.

It’s disappointing, but not terribly surprising. He doesn’t have probable cause to get a warrant to look at the drug records out there; we only had it because of Galvis’s coming forward. And the Seraphin death is a cold case; if she was actually murdered, it was probably done by professionals and covered up well.

“We have some information that hospital records here show drugs dispensed in quantity to a patient who never existed,” I say. “You could check that angle.”

“Okay. Interesting idea.”

“Your turn,” I say. “What were you going to call me about?”

“Tartaro seems to be among the missing.”

“What does that mean?”

“He left the hotel yesterday; we have two hotel workers who saw him head out with Dominic Romano and two soldiers. He never came back, either to the hotel or his home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Who do you think you’re dealing with?”

“Fair point,” I say. “So where do you think he might have gone? And why?”

“On the ‘where’ question, I have no idea,” he says. “On the ‘why’ question, I have absolutely no idea.”

“Well, now we’re getting somewhere. Has he ever gone off like this before?”

“I’m sure he has,” he says. “But with all that’s going on, lately we’ve been paying a bit more attention to Tartaro’s travel habits.”

“Maybe his severed head will turn up.”

He laughs. “If it does, I’m going to stuff it and put it over my fireplace.”

Roberts and I hang up, promising to keep each other informed of developments. Nate, who has been listening in on the conversation, says, “We need to squeeze Lewinsky.”

“We tried that.”

“I know, but he’s having second thoughts. And now we have more facts to throw at him.”

“The problem is he’s more afraid of Silva than he is of us, and I can’t say I blame him,” I say. “What about talking to Ranes? Maybe get him to talk sense to his client?”

Nate shrugs. “It’s worth a try. If nothing happens, we can always go to Lewinsky direct.”

I can remember one time I dealt directly with Ranes on a case, and it went well; there may have been other times, but they’re not part of my conscious recollections. He’s a stand-up guy, for a defense attorney.

Ordinarily, a prosecutor would be contacting him, but since there was no prosecutor in our interview, it would take too long to get someone up to speed. It’s not a violation of any rule or protocol for a cop to go to the attorney directly, so that’s what I’m going to do.

I place a call to him, and I’m told he’ll call me back, which he does ten minutes later. “I assume you’re calling to apologize for harassing Mr. Lewinsky? I’ll convey your regrets.”

“You do that,” I say. “And I have some other information you can convey to him.”

“I’m having trouble understanding what your issue is with Mr. Lewinsky, Lieutenant; he’s a well-respected executive who has never gotten a speeding ticket, and you spoke to him like he was Don Corleone, or Joey Silva, as the case may be.”

“Good, now that we’ve got that out of the way, here’s where we stand,” I say. “I know things that you don’t know, but your client does. And I’m about to tell you those things, so for now, please just listen.”

“That’s a little dramatic, Lieutenant.”

“Yes it is. And I’ll double down on that by telling you this may be the most important conversation you will ever have, with the exception of the next one you have with your client.”

“I’m listening,” he says.

“We have more information since I spoke to you last. I am not going to tell you how we got it, but it’s real. Your client has been stealing drugs from the hospital by manipulating the books. He must have an accomplice internally to pull it off, but we don’t know who that is yet. We will find out. We believe that Rita Carlisle somehow learned what was going on, and she was silenced.”

“This is about Rita Carlisle?” he asks, and I can hear the surprise in his voice.

“And much, much more. Mr. Lewinsky has been participating in a conspiracy with Joey Silva to sell the drugs on the open market. There is a Vegas connection to it as well, which I won’t go into now.”

“Lieutenant…”

“Let me finish. There is a terrorism component to this investigation, an action is planned, perhaps more than one. The FBI is well aware of it, and they are very concerned. We do not know where, or exactly what is going to happen, but there is a concern that high-intensity explosives will be involved.” I still don’t believe that the terrorism investigation connects to ours, but I’m not about to tell Ranes that. I want Lewinsky scared that he’s in over his head.

“You’re not making sense, Lieutenant. Even if my client were involved in a drug trafficking conspiracy, which we categorically deny, what would such an operation gain by a mass killing?”

“That’s a question we cannot answer yet, and I emphasize ‘yet.’ But I am telling you that all of this is something we know; this is not speculation.”

“Yet you can’t prove it.”

“Correct, but we’re getting close.” I’m not telling him that we have his client on tape, because I don’t want Lewinsky to be more careful in the future. “And I am not asking you to believe it or me. That doesn’t matter at all. But here’s the thing; your client knows that all of it is real. He knows that what I have told you is true, and he is scared. So I am simply asking you to tell all of this to him.”

“For what purpose?”

“If any part of this happens the way I am saying, he will be taking the fall. He needs to think about that, because the alternative is that if he decides to make a deal, and helps us prevent this, you can do very well by him.”

“I will convey your views to my client.”

“Thank you. There is a lot riding on it.”