Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

weeks ago. Her address is shown as apartment 11d, Walt Drive, Paradise, Las Vegas, living there for six years. She’s been brought in for soliciting by the South Vegas PD on several occasions, the last one was less than a year ago, never made it to court. She was also indicted for possession of cocaine when she was nineteen. Been a stripper for a while at various places, been working at the Mile High Club for about two years.’

She pushed a couple of photos across the table. One was a simple black and white mugshot showing a pale woman with greasy hair and dark rings around her eyes staring at the camera, and the other a creased colour photo of two people standing under a white painted wooden arch. Deanna was on the left, wearing a white minidress and a lot of makeup, but looking a million miles better than in the mugshot, her arm around the man on the right, who was bald, plump and pink and wearing a cheap suit. He was a good bit shorter than her, both had wide smiles on their faces.

‘Wedding photo. It was in Madeline’s bag.’

‘That Hayter?’ Keane asked.

Reed nodded. ‘Yep, that’s him.’

John looked closely at the two photos, trying to place the woman to the one he had stood close to on the platform but the truth was he hadn’t taken a lot of notice.

‘OK, so, where are we now?’ Warner asked looking around at everyone.

‘I think Deanna is the key, has to be something there,’ John replied.

Judy nodded.

‘I agree. Vegas PD have let us have what they got but it doesn’t tell us much about her. I mean why was she in LA on Sunday night anyway? Louisa said she wasn’t living with the major. Maybe he wasn’t expecting her, or maybe he just got back from Vegas and she followed him, I guess we’ll never know.’

‘That’s a good point, can we find out if they were together during the day?’ John asked.

Keane shrugged. ‘Could try I guess, ask around. We can maybe find out when she got into LA, if she drove or got the bus, or even flew. She was at the Metro station.’

‘Do we know the last time the major was in Vegas?’ Warner asked.

‘I can tell you exactly. He didn’t come back from Vegas on Sunday. He didn’t go anywhere. The last time he left the base was the weekend before last. Signed out at 4.11 Friday afternoon back in at 7.19 on Sunday evening,’ Gonzalez told them.

‘Assuming he had been to Vegas, we need to know where he stayed, and if Deanna was with him, and if they were together in LA this weekend,’ Judy said, making copious notes.

‘Like I said, he didn’t leave the base,’ repeated Gonzalez.

‘Any visitors?’ Keane asked.

‘I’ll find out.’

‘Vegas,’ Keane said thoughtfully. ‘We got a big question mark there.’

A mobile phone rang, and as usual everyone automatically checked theirs. Gonzalez produced a beaten-up chunky unit, and answered it. She listened for a while.

‘Shit,’ she said, and listened more.

‘OK, we’re coming back.’

She hung up, looked around at everyone then helplessly at Reed.

‘Er …’

‘What is it?’ he asked.

‘Well, I’m not sure if I should say in the present company. Sir,’ she replied primly.

‘Does it concern Major Hayter?’ Reed asked her carefully.

‘Yes sir.’

‘Then out with it.’

‘Right. Well, Major Hayter’s billet has been searched.’

‘I know that. It was done this morning. I was there.’

‘No sir, I mean as in turned over.’ She glanced around the table, as if worried about what she was saying. ‘As in by a third party. Like the captain says, we went through it first thing. This was done since.’

‘Wow,’ Reed said and looked at everyone.

‘OK, so how can that happen?’ asked Judy.

‘Has to be a soldier, or soldiers. Nobody can just walk into the base, even the cleaners are enlisted men. We need to go, I’ll get back to you as soon as I find out what’s what,’ Reed told them, standing up and squeezing out from the table.

They watched the two soldiers go.

‘What the fuck is going on?’ Warner wondered aloud.

Chapter Fourteen

Grand Marshal Yin was half listening to his assistant explaining why the operational costs on a new tank that was being trialled were spiralling out of control when there was a soulful beep from a cupboard in the corner of his office.

The assistant went quiet and looked at Yin, both men wondering where the noise was coming from.

Next a whirring sound was heard and Yin realised what it was. He sent the assistant from the room and walked across and opened the cupboard door. Inside was an old fax machine, a technology rarely used these days.

Yin had kept it because it was occasionally useful for receiving sensitive information, and that is what he was hoping for now.

Several sheets fed out from the machine and then it went quiet again.

Yin collected all the paper up, closed the cupboard door and went back to sit at his desk. The temptation was to fan out the sheets but he made himself tidy the stack and then turn them over, so the cover page was visible.

He read the text and smiled, then went through each sheet, his smile getting bigger and bigger. He read the last page and laughed, long and loud, getting tears in his eyes.

There was a knock on the door and the assistant opened it, head round the side enquiring if everything was OK.

‘Yes. Everything is very ok, very,’ Yin replied, still laughing.

The assistant withdrew and Yin read through the sheets again. At the bottom of the last page was the eagle wings, crown and crest of the Russian Army. He kissed it and laughed again.

He stretched and picked up his briefcase, and took out a slim folder from inside. He opened it and placed the sheets of paper reverentially on top of the pages that were already there, and then with equal reverence closed the folder.

He pressed a button on the desk and still grinning told his assistant to