December 5th, 2016
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sarge had just finished showering and dressing and Pickett had made coffee and given the kittens their morning treats when Robin called.
Sarge sipped on his coffee as Pickett put the phone on speaker.
“Morning,” Robin said. “Will’s friends came through and we got a hit on the fake Heather Winston DNA preliminary findings when we ran them through some data bases this morning.”
Sarge was stunned. He hadn’t given that much hope at all.
“We found a family match with her mother who was in the local database for a number of theft and assault charges. The fake Heather’s real name is Connie Downs,” Robin said. “She was a classmate of Heather’s in high school. She went missing about the same time as Heather did and there is still a missing person’s case open on her.”
“How in the world did she pull that off?” Pickett asked.
“She was the same height, same hair color, same eye color,” Robin said. “And they looked like sisters in their school pictures. Kind of creepy actually.”
“Family differences?” Sarge asked.
“Completely different,” Robin said. “Heather was from a stable and fairly happy family. From what we can figure out quickly, Connie came from a poor home and no father, with an abusive alcoholic mother who ended up in jail more often than not.”
“Connie wasn’t liked at school I’ll bet,” Pickett said.
“No way of really knowing quickly,” Robin said, “but their yearbook had just Connie’s photo in the student listings while Heather was all over the yearbook with pictures in clubs and other activities.”
Sarge nodded. An unpopular girl taking the place of a popular one. No wonder the parents were figuring out something was wrong fairly quickly, even with the fake Heather in college.
“So we got a classic reason why the switch,” Pickett said. “But Connie didn’t do this alone and she didn’t kill the parents alone. So who knew about the tunnel into the hotel? And why do all this for Connie?”
“I’m betting it wasn’t for Connie,” Sarge said. “She was just a side benefit. I think someone was going after Heather on this all along. Connie ended up just an easy distraction in case everything fell apart.”
“Got a hunch you are right about that,” Robin said.
Pickett was also nodding.
“So the way I look at it, we have a mess,” Sarge said.
“You think?” Robin asked and they all laughed.
“We have a woman who has been leading a fake life now for twenty-five years,” Sarge said. “We don’t know who helped her set that up and possibly kill the parents, but we’re all fairly certain she couldn’t have done it alone or even come up with the idea. And we have no idea who knew about that old utility tunnel into the Landmark.”
“My problem,” Pickett said, “Is why the Landmark in the first place?”
“Wondering the same thing,” Robin said. “Why not just kill Heather instead of locking her in a room where she might have been discovered. And eventually was.”
“Told you we have a mess,” Sarge said. “Any ideas on what to even do next. We could expose Connie and pressure her to talk.”
“We’d need some active detectives involved with that,” Pickett said. “Let’s give us a few more days to dig up more before we go down that road.”
“I agree,” Pickett said.
“I do too,” Sarge said. He didn’t want to turn this mess over to the active detectives just yet. They wouldn’t have the time or the energy to push it like they could.
“So Heather must have had a pretty good enemy or two,” Pickett said. “I think we go that way, see what we can find without spooking the fake Heather any more than me might have already.”
“Agreed,” Robin said.
Sarge nodded, but he was still stuck on one aspect that seemed to be making no sense.
“I’m still thinking the Landmark being shuttered had something pretty major to do with this,” Sarge said. “Any luck on finding reports about things going on in shuttered hotels?”
“Actually, yes,” Robin said. “Twice over the years raids have been done on shuttered hotels.”
“Raids?” Pickett asked a half second before Sarge could.
“Why would anyone raid a shuttered hotel?”
“High school and college sex parties,” Robin said. “Abandoned and closed-down hotels full of rooms and beds.”
“Seriously?” Sarge asked. “I’m trying to wrap my mind around there being enough students in the local universities and high schools who would do that sort of thing.”
“The raids didn’t find local kids,” Robin said. “Or at least not many. Most of the kids arrested for trespassing in those raids were from the LA and central California schools.”
Sarge just leaned against the kitchen counter, shaking his head. It made such perfect sense now that he thought about it.
“Free rooms in Las Vegas for the weekend,” Pickett said.
“How far apart were these raids?” Sarge asked.
“One in 1993 at a shuttered motel on the old Boulder Highway and another in 2004 in a shuttered Strip hotel,” Robin said.
“So this is likely still going on,” Pickett said.
Sarge just nodded. He had no doubt at all.