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

The man looked at her, then at Warner, then finally at Reed, who was completely filling the doorway. He dismissed John completely and looked at the photo again.

‘Yeah, so what? We ain’t friends. I never knew he was a soldier.’

‘That’s got nothing to do with it. When was the last time he was here?’

The man didn’t produce a register, a legal requirement in the USA for any hotel. Instead, he looked around again, then back at the computer.

‘I dunno. Couple of weeks maybe?’

‘OK, so was he on his own?’

‘Always. And always in the same crappy car.’

‘You never saw him with anyone else?’

‘Nope. Never.’

‘Not even this woman?’ Judy showed him the picture of Deanna.

The man looked and shrugged again.

‘No, I don’t know her.’

‘So, what did he do when he came here, all those times?’ Warner asked.

‘He played the tables. The Stratosphere. Always. Every night he was here.’

‘OK, did you talk to him much?’

The man sighed and reluctantly gave them his full attention.

‘OK, so what the fuck has he done I got the feds breathing down my neck? Like I ain’t got enough shit to do.’

‘Done? He got murdered,’ Warner told him, staring hard.

At this, the man’s head flicked up and he looked back, alarmed.

‘Murdered? Murdered when? Look, he weren’t murdered here, I ain’t seem him, I swear. It’s the truth.’

‘No, he wasn’t murdered here. I imagine you’d have noticed that, or I hope to hell you would. But we’re trying to work out who did kill him, and all we got is he spent a whole load of time up here and he just got married. His wife is dead too, and she lived here in the city. So now you can see why we’re talking to you right?’ Judy explained patiently.

‘Fuck. Yeah, OK. Fuck. I don’t know nothing about any of this shit. Jesus. OK, so I did talk to him sometimes. Look, he stayed here a lot, always paid cash. I asked him once why the hell he didn’t stay at The Stratosphere, it would’ve been easier on him. It was the money, but I knew that. Sometimes he had a bundle, others he just about made it. Hell, I let him off ten bucks here and there. But he never said nothing about getting married, and he was never with anyone. But listen, there’s a pit boss at The Stratosphere, guy called Aidan Connelly. He’s always around, he uses this place sometimes. If he got … business. Anyways, I saw them together a couple of times. He might know more.’

John new exactly the business this Aidan Connelly would be doing at the motel.

Judy took the photos back, and looked around at the others.

‘OK, so what’s your name?’

‘Gary.’

‘OK Gary, that was kinda helpful. Will Mr Connelly be there now?

Gary shook his head.

‘No way. The real pit bosses don’t start till maybe nine, ten? Just be some jerkoff part-timer now most likely.’

‘What time did Major Hayter usually get back here from the casino?’ John asked.

Gary looked at him, surprised by the accent.

‘I don’t do a lot of nights if I can help it, but when I was here, I’d say about one, one-thirty. Sometimes earlier, I guess it depends how he was doing, right?’

‘Did he walk?’

‘Yeah, always.’

They grouped around the minivan outside, Judy fretting and fiddling with her mobile phone.

‘So, it’s gonna be a night in Vegas.’ Warner surmised.

‘Looks like it,’ John agreed.

‘Hell, I got to buy me some underwear,’ Warner grumbled.

John said nothing, he had bought a few clothes and toiletries in a small rucksack, and noticed Reed had too.

‘Shit, I better had too. So, what now?’ Judy asked.

They had a couple of hours before they could meet with Officer Casiano, then another couple before they could go to the Mile High Club, and even longer again before they could do anything at The Stratosphere, But the gaps in between all depended on anything that could be discovered from the meetings they had, they hoped that these could lead onto more.

John looked at Judy.

‘There’s an FBI office here. Why don’t you just go there and work? You could get a lot more done, right? All we will be doing is hanging around. Sort yourself a hotel, I’m sure they’ll have a pet one for you.’

She looked at him gratefully.

‘For real? Yeah, that is an idea. But where will you stay?’

‘Don’t worry about us. I’m sure Kyle will be the same as you, CIA will look after him alright. Me and Tom will be able to find somewhere. This place is nothing but hotels.’

Reed watched John carefully, conscious of their earlier conversation and realising what he was doing.

‘That’s a good idea,’ he said.

‘OK, well I’ll get a cab. The office is up north from here,’ Judy said. She looked around, not a cab anywhere.

‘Shit! Jeez, I thought I’d step straight into one in this town.’

Warner grinned.

‘No biggie, I’ll drop you at The Stratosphere, there’ll be a line there.’

They climbed in.

‘One more thing, keep it very quiet about where you’re staying OK?’ John said as they moved off.

Judy looked at him, questioningly.

‘I just think right now we probably need to be discreet, we’re going to be asking a lot of questions,’ John told her, trying to sound reassuring.

They pulled into The Stratosphere and Judy got out the car, leaning in through the open door.

‘Thanks for this,’ she said to John warmly.

‘That’s fine, we’ll see you at the police station about half two, that will give Office Casiano time to get settled.’

Judy nodded and disappeared.

Warner had been talking on his mobile, he hung up then turned around in his seat and looked directly at John.

‘You sure about this?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, definitely.’

‘Well OK, I need to go to The Mirage.’

‘Fine, drop us there, we’ll go find a hotel.’

Chapter Twenty

Ryan Gallagher was a day short of his twenty-eighth birthday. He had just woken up, having been asleep on the floor of junkie prostitute and his occasional girlfriend Angie’s room in the apartment she shared with three other similar ladies. Angie was still sleeping,