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“Sure thing. What’s on your mind?”
“We have the Miss California pageant coming up next week, and considering what happened up in Lake Tahoe, I think it would be worth adding more security to the venue as a precaution. I don’t think we want anything like what happened up there to happen here.”
“Have you talked to Lieutenant Anderson about your concern?”
“I have, and he suggested I talk to you about it. We’re no closer to solving the murder of the beauty contestant from Nevada. Hopefully, we’ll find out more.” Davis remained quiet. “And on that note, my private investigator friend, Craig Bannon, would like to head up to Lake Tahoe to see if he can dig up any further information. I’m sure you’ve heard that a second woman has disappeared.”
“I’m aware.” He took his readers off. “Isn’t Craig your boyfriend, if I recall?”
“Uh, yes, sir,” I said, surprised he remembered, since I never talked about our relationship except to a few in the precinct.
“Should he find out anything useful, by legal means, he can pass that information on to you. He can’t be part of police business, but if he stumbles onto something, bring it to me, and we can work with it in an official capacity,” he replied.
“Great. Thank you, sir,” I said. “There is one more thing, and it involves Craig as well.”
“Okay.”
“The fatal car accident involving Raymond Chandler on Saturday occurred after Craig had presented his wife, Brooke, with photos proving Raymond had been cheating on her. You may want to have Craig talk to the investigator to see what he might share.”
“That hits close to home, and in a timely way. Hmm… I think it’s a wise idea to have Craig interviewed. I’ll look into it. Also, I’ll check in with Anderson about the pageant and decide on extra security.” I thanked him again and turned to leave when he said, “By the way, how’s that side gig you do working out?”
I felt my face heat, not knowing whether he knew I did drag or whether he just assumed it was singing engagements as myself. “I, uh, it’s going fine.”
“Good. It’s nice to have something to balance out this crazy job we have.” The smile he shot my way might have been knowing, but I didn’t want to analyze it.
“Yes, sir,” I said, feeling self-conscious. I nodded with a half-smile, not wanting to continue the conversation as I walked out.
As I headed back to the squad room, a thought came to mind that might help with the upcoming pageant and improve security. My idea was a good one and warranted a meeting with Lieutenant Anderson and the captain.
It might give us the upper hand should we need one.
18
CRAIG
The easiest thing was making a reservation at the Quality Inn, which was just a five-minute trip to and from Bally’s. I didn’t need to be trudging around Lake Tahoe just to chat with Chet, and I figured a night or two there would be fine, considering I’d only be using it for sleep.
The hardest thing was going to be calling Brooke Chandler tomorrow morning. I planned to offer my condolences and to act as if what happened to Raymond was an accident, with no involvement on her part. My gut still told me something wasn’t right.
“Chloe, can you come in here for a sec?” I said loudly enough for her to hear from the other room. I heard her chair push back.
“You rang, boss?”
“I wanted to let you know I’ll be leaving for Lake Tahoe on Wednesday morning and plan to be back sometime on Friday. So, you’ll need to hold down the fort for a couple of days.”
“Oh, okay. Is this trip related to a case?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the door jamb.
“Uh, not really, but it’s about a current case Jonesy is working on.”
“So, you’re working on something with your boyfriend? Does that mean we’re not getting paid for it?”
She could be so fucking practical, but I couldn’t fault her reasoning. She was right. “When you put it that way, it makes it seem like I do things for free all the time.”
“Not all the time, but whenever it involves Jonesy, you get drawn into helping. You’d think there’d be other detectives or investigators in the SFPD who are just as reliable.”
“Chloe…he is my boyfriend, and I want to help him out with this one. I’m just trying to dig a little deeper and find out things that could benefit his case.”
I could never get away with telling her what I’d planned to do and leaving it at that. Chloe always wanted to know more details. I appreciated that about her, but I also knew there were some things she didn’t need to know.
