Dark Carnival Murders (10 page)

"It’s a mystery, had to be
someone on the inside, no marks of forced entry. I’m sure Lusk
didn’t forget to turn on the alarm and lock the doors. You’ve got a
mystery."

"We know who did it, but
we can’t touch them yet, they are connected to a more serious case
of child abduction. We have to play this carefully," Lynn
replied.

"Well, good luck, I’ll
call if we can come up with something." He went off after calling
his people to the cars.

Lynn turned to me, "All we
can do now is wait for Buck to pull a rabbit out of his hat. I’ll
have robbery alerted to other jewelry stores in the area, in case
Dark tries it again."

My cell phone buzzed and I
excused myself, it was Penny. "Hey babe, what’s up? Why aren’t you
in bed, it’s after one in the morning."

"I didn’t know when you
were coming back, Angelo stopped by earlier to say his Mom and Gino
are in town, they arrived tonight. Angelo put them up in the
Tropicana Hotel and Francis told him to tell me we are having a spa
day tomorrow after I tape my show. I’m going to pick her up in the
morning to take her to my studio to watch, then off to beauty
land."

"I hope they can help you.
I’m about finished here, I’ll be home as soon as I can."

"Help me? Is there
something wrong with me, huh? Do you think I need help? You better
duck when you get home buddy." She hung up and I regretted trying
to joke with her, but I knew she loved it.

I went back to Earl and
said, "I’m done here, I’ll take you back to your car and then I’ll
go fight with my lovely wife."

"What dumb thing did you
say now?" he said with a laugh.

"Gino and Francis are in
town, and Penny is going with Francis tomorrow for spa
treatments."

"And you made a comment
about her needing treatments."

"Close enough. Do you know
any flower shops open this late?"

Earl looked back to the
jewelry store and said, "No, but I know where you can get a nice
necklace for her." He busted out laughing and we went to my
van.

*

Chapter 13

Finally arriving at my
home, Earl drove off without making any more smart-ass comments. I
went into the house and straight to the bedroom and found Penny
sound asleep, so I didn’t wake her. I felt bad that I hadn’t called
the Walkers earlier to let them know we were still on the
case.

I took a quick shower in
my bathroom and toweled off. Willy was standing in the doorway
watching me and looking half asleep. I picked him up and put him on
his Bates Motel chair and then I crawled into bed. I was asleep
quickly.

Morning came and I could
hear a commotion coming from the kitchen area and could smell
something good. I threw on a robe and went out to find Penny and
Angelo packing a picnic basket of food.

"I thought you were going
to the studio, then to a spa? What’s with the picnic basket?" I
asked.

"Angelo is whipping up
some snacks for us while we are at the studio. It’s sort of a
welcome to Vegas for Francis," Penny replied.

I looked in the basket and
they had a bunch of tasty looking homemade pastries and assorted
goodies.

"Angelo, you never cease
to amaze me, you are a pastry chef too?" I asked.

"All good Italian chefs
know how to make great cannoli’s and other pastries. It’s part of
the tradition."

I started to reach in for
one and Penny smacked my hand. I recoiled and went to the bread box
to get my slices for toast.

"Angelo, what’s Gino doing
today?" I asked.

"Gee Mr. R., you don’t
really want to know. It’s better that way."

"Gotcha, enough said." Ah,
the life of a mob capo. Probably going to be mixing up cement for
someone’s shoes. "What are you going to be doing today?"

"I’m going to keep my mom
company at the studio until they go to the spa, then I’ll go visit
a couple friends."

"Hey, did you find out
anything from your gypsy friends about Dark and Cole?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry I forgot,
my contacts don’t know either of them but they are still going to
check for me. I’ll let you know as soon as something
pops."

"Thanks Angelo." I turned
to Penny and said, "I’ll be with Lynn and Deacon today, call if you
need me."

"I’ll be relaxing and
being pampered by soothing hands today, so don’t bother me. Angelo
is going to drive us in the mini-limo." She kissed me and then said
to Angelo, "Shall we go?" They went out to the car, which Angelo
brought out earlier. I looked to Willy and said, "Guess it’s just
us two, big guy."

I drove by the office
building to drop off Willy for Lacey to watch and check my
messages, there were none. I didn’t know if that was good or bad,
but it was no fun being ignored.

"Jim, is Mac going to be
finished anytime soon?" Lacey asked as I came out to the
lobby.

"Why, are you getting
horny without him around?"

"Hey, that’s personal. I’m
just wanting to know so I can plan our lives. I want to make sure
that Jessie doesn’t go off to college before Mac gets
home."

"Jessie’s not old enough
for college and Mac will be home in plenty of time. You’ll be the
first to know when he’s finished." I left the lobby and went back
to my office to called the Walkers. I knew nothing I could say
would help them, but just my voice on the phone so that they knew I
hadn’t given up may give them a little comfort. They held up
well.

After I finished giving
the Walkers a bit of hope, my cell phone rang, it was Lynn. "Good
Morning," I said as I answered.

"It would be a better
morning if we had Dark in custody. I hate letting him skate for the
jewelry robbery but I accept the reason for letting it go for now.
It’s been two days since the boys have gone missing, this is not
good. Get on Buck to start the ball rolling again, we need to find
out where they take the women and hope the boys are
there."

"I’ll call him shortly.
Have you contacted robbery division about possible hits on other
jewelry stores?"

"I have and they
understand the situation. They will do what they can to prevent the
robberies, but not apprehend Dark and his crew. Just enough to
scare them off, and not arrest anyone for now. Hopefully today we
can get the women back into the hotel. Warren checked and said that
the Luxor room is being reserved for another day, so that may be
good."

"I’ll put a bug in Buck’s
ear to get it going. I’ll call when I have something for you." We
finished and I hung up, and then dialed Buck. It was still early
enough for him to be in the camper. He came on after two rings.
"Hey Buck, can you talk?"

"Sure can Jimmy, what’s
the word?" he said with a pleasant response.

"Dark got away with the
robbery last night, Lynn is holding off pulling him in for
questioning, she doesn’t want to give your cover away. You need to
prod Dark into going again with the women, we need to get to the
boys, time is running out. The longer we take the worse it could
be. Dark isn’t going to murder them, they are more valuable to him
alive. We just need to stop this before they are taken somewhere
and we’ll never find them."

"I’ll get on Dark first
thing this morning. I was just waiting to hear from
you."

"Good, so go to it and let
me know what’s going on."

"Will do," he said and
hung up. It was now up to him.

~~*~~

Buck and Mac went flying
out of the camper, headed right to Dark’s trailer and the old woman
behind the cage waved them through to Dark’s office. He was sitting
at his desk with Skeeter standing by as they were checking the
jewelry they snatched.

"Ah Buck, my sincere
apologies to you for the abrupt cancellation of our little
kidnapping last night. Things came up quickly, and we had to take
the priority of obtaining quick funds. I’ve arranged for the
nabbing to go again tonight. Did you and the ladies have a good
time last night?" Dark spoke with his evil grin never
wavering.

"No, they were a bit put
off that the party was canceled, they left shortly
after."

"Well, we’ll do better
tonight, I have a client who is in need of women for his palace in
Dubai. Pick some really stacked females, he likes busty
women."

"We’ll do our best. I have
a question."

"Ask away my
friend."

"The cops were asking
around yesterday, about some missing kids, are we into grabbing
children too?"

"Why, do you object, do
you have some morals about it?" Dark’s grin faded a
little.

"Hell no, I just like to
know what’s going down before I make a fool of myself to the
cops."

Dark smiled a little more
now, "Yes, good point, we do provide younger ones at a good price.
We have three now that we will be auctioning off shortly. If you’d
like to watch how we do this, you are more than welcome to join
us."

"An auction, I like that.
Ever been to a slave auction Mac?" Buck said to his
partner.

"Nope, just seen some in
the movies, sounds interesting. Like cattle to the slaughter," Mac
replied holding back his hate for Dark.

"Count us in, when is this
taking place?" Buck said turning back to Dark.

"Tomorrow night after we
close down, I have a number of clients coming in, I may need your
help to keep them happy."

"You got it. Well, we have
work to do," Buck said, and he motioned to Mac to leave. He stopped
and turned back, "Let me know about the party tonight, that all is
going to go as planned."

"You got it Buck," Dark
replied and the big men left the trailer.

Dark turned to Skeeter,
"It was a little strange that the cops arrived so quickly after our
break-in last night, like they knew. I think we need to watch our
two new friends a little closer."

*

Chapter 14

My cell phone buzzed and I
checked the ID, it was Buck. "Speak to me," I said as I
answered.

"I’ll talk quick, I’m in
my phone booth."

"Port-a-potty?"

"You got it. The nabbing
is back on for tonight, send the women out or four different ones.
I don’t think Louie paid much attention to the last group, but may
as well be safe. Now the bonus! The boys are still alive and in the
city. Dark is going to auction them off in a special showing
tomorrow night. Mac and I have been invited but I don’t know where
yet."

I took a big sigh hearing
that they were all right. "Okay buddy, do what you have to do and
I’ll get Lynn set up again. Same deal I presume?"

"As far as I know, Dark
wasn’t very talkative. I’ll call again when I get more, later," he
said and hung up.

I put my cell phone back
in my pocket and grabbed the desk phone to call Lynn. She came on
quickly.

"Good news, the boys are
still alive and nearby, but Buck doesn’t know where. The nabbing is
set to go again tonight, so have your girls ready."

I could hear Lynn let out
a little whoop and then she said, "Best news I’ve had in the last
two days. Know anything more about them?"

"Buck said they are going
to be auctioned off tomorrow night, I presume to lecherous, creepy
men who need little boys but don’t want to grab the kids
themselves."

"Bastards, I’m going to
love busting that sale. Call me as soon as you find out something.
Now shall I send out the same women?"

"Buck suggested four new
ones, he doesn’t think the weasel who was there really got a good
look at the women but to be on the safe side."

"Got it, I’ll get back to
you if we have anything on this side." She hung up and I sat back
thinking about calling the Walkers and the Feltons, but I decided
to wait. Nothing worse for the parents to get hope, then have this
all blow up. I’ll call as soon as all three boys are in our
custody.

I stood from my desk and
went out to the lobby, Lacey was busy typing and caught me out of
the corner of her eye. She jumped but didn’t scream.

"What," I said. "I’m not
announcing my arrival in the lobby every time I come
out."

"You noticed I didn’t
scream, so I’m getting used to you now. So what do you
want?"

"I’m going to take a ride
and get something to eat. Just so you know we may have this sewn up
by tomorrow night."

"About time, I was getting
Jessie ready to go off to Harvard," she said with a
smile.

"Harvard, how much do I
pay you?"

"Well with the raise you
gave me, not enough."

"I doubled your salary,
and you still aren’t making enough?"

"Chill Jim, I’m kidding.
I’m happy with the raise and I’m going to send Jessie to UNLV so
she is still close by."

"She has a good number of
years before she can even go there."