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“She’s already in San Francisco. It’s a shame we had to dispose of her friend. It complicates things,” said the man with the European accent. I couldn’t tell which country.

“Yes, what he did was pure stupidity. I’ll deal with him once this is over, but we need him to watch the merchandise in San Francisco,” the familiar voice said angrily. I heard him take a deep breath. “We need two more women to complete the deal. We’ll figure out how to get the blonde one replaced when we’re in San Francisco.”

What I was hearing was unbelievable. It seemed to be a coordinated effort to abduct beauty contestants, and Gretchen’s unfortunate murder had been part of it. But for what purpose, and why San Francisco? The Miss California pageant must be part of their plan. I didn’t know how far-reaching the scheme was, and I needed to let Jonesy know right away.

Hearing feet shift and the familiar voice of the unknown man draw closer, I was forced to pull back. The file room was three feet away, and I figured I could duck inside to avoid detection if they left.

“Just keep an eye on him. He doesn’t need to discover that I work here,” the familiar voice said. The door opened further, forcing me to back into the file room, where I hid behind the door. The men entered the hallway without further conversation. Once they had walked past the file room, I slipped out from behind the door to peek around the corner.

There were three of them with their backs to me. I knew Chet from his uniform and his shorter stature compared to the taller, thinner man walking next to him in a suit. The other man followed behind, wearing what looked like a maintenance uniform and a ball cap. He carried himself like an athlete.

As soon as they turned the corner, I heard a woman’s voice say “Hello” come from their direction. It was the same woman I’d passed earlier, and she carried what looked like large ledgers. Thinking she might head back to the file room I was in, I slipped out.

I hurried past her with a nod of my head. When I got to the corner, I saw the three men leave through the double doors into the casino. Needing to get out of there, I got to the doors and pushed one open, hoping the men had disappeared through the throng of gamblers. I removed the name badge and tossed it.

Without wasting time, I made my way to my car, drove to my hotel, and luckily, my room was ready. After getting the room key, I got into the room and tossed my duffel onto the luggage rack. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I immediately called Jonesy at the precinct.

“Hey, Craig. I got your message that you made it. I didn’t expect to hear from you this soon, though. Do you have news already?” Jonesy asked.

“Do I fucking ever!” I exclaimed. “You’re not going to believe this, but our sheriff friend, Chet, is part of some organized plot to kidnap these women.”

“Wh…what the fuck?” he blurted out.

“Yeah. I called Chet to say I was in town and to ask if there were any more leads on what had happened or on the missing woman. He hesitated, and something didn’t sit right with me. I took a trip to Bally’s and spotted him across the room. I followed him and overheard a conversation between him and two others about what went down. He was told to distract me.”

“Wait…who told him to distract you?”

I slowed down so he could fully understand. “I couldn’t tell since I was outside the room, but the weird thing is, I knew that voice from somewhere. I just can’t place it. I recognized Chet’s voice right away. All I know is that at least four are involved. I watched three of them walk down the hallway as I hid in the adjacent room.”

“What all did they say?”

“Other than being told to distract me, they said the women will all end up in San Francisco. I don’t know how many, but they said the one still missing from here is now in the Bay Area. One guy said it was a shame they had to dispose of one. I’m sure he was referring to Gretchen. My hunch is that she fought back, and it got her killed. Now I wonder how this fits into the pageant next week.”

There was silence on the other end, and I knew Jonesy was thinking. “You have your laptop with you, right?” Jonesy finally asked. When I confirmed I did, he continued. “I need you to type a statement of what you did and what you heard, then email it to me. I’m taking this to the captain. I think it’s bigger than we expected.”

“No problem. I’ll type it out right now,” I replied, happy to have something to report. “I felt it was important to let you know right away. I’m going to meet Chet tomorrow morning at Bally’s and act like nothing is wrong. I want to get into those rooms, but I’m not sure how much he’ll be hovering. This is a multi-state investigation, and the FBI should get involved.”

“I’ll head that up with the captain. You stay safe and don’t take risks…you hear me?”

“Yes, Mom,” I replied teasingly. “If I find anything more, I’ll let you know right away.”

Jonesy huffed. “I’m hardly your mother. I just need you to be careful and stay safe.”

“I know. I love you, too.” I said, knowing he wouldn’t say it back, while at the precinct.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Get a good night’s sleep.”

I laughed. “That depends on the mattress in this hotel room. Talk to you soon.” I ended the call and dropped my hand holding my phone into my lap, thinking that with what I’d found out today, perhaps we had the upper hand.

I just wish I could figure out whose voice that was; it sounded so damn familiar.

25

JONESY

“Fucking A,” I said out loud as I dropped my cellphone on my desk, giving my partner a pointed glare. Sean returned it with a frown, still talking on his phone. That was damning information Craig had come across, and he had given us critical information for our investigation.

Pacing by my desk, deep in thought, I knew we needed to let the captain know right away and get the FBI involved. Sean finished his call and threw a paper clip at me.