“Enter!” a booming voice called from inside.
As Brad and Massey came in, Pierce stood and rushed to greet them, wearing an expression Winter had seen car salesmen put on as they came out from their showrooms to welcome potential customers.
“An unexpected pleasure,” Mulvane said jovially. “I am so sorry I can only give you a few minutes. Any moment now I have a VIP arriving that I have to welcome personally. Sheriff Barnett, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“This is Deputy Winter Massey,” Brad said.
“Please have a seat.” After they sat, Mulvane went around the desk and made a show of gathering the papers and files into one stack, which he dropped into a desk drawer. Winter suspected the papers had been placed there in the minutes before they arrived.
“The work is never done,” Mulvane said, shrugging. “What can I do for you?”
“It seems clear,” Brad said, “that Jack Beals killed Sherry Adams.”
“That was the young girl’s name?” Pierce said, looking at Albert White.
“Yes,” White said.
“Tragic,” Pierce said, losing the smile and furrowing his brow sympathetically. “Such a terrible waste of life.”
Brad said, “What we can’t figure out is why Beals did it. What could possibly have put him on the Gardner plantation, and what was his motive for killing a young girl?”
“You don’t presume to imagine I could know what was in a killer’s mind. I’m not a psychiatrist…or a psychic,” Mulvane said.
“Are you familiar with the Gardners, Mr. Mulvane?” Winter asked. “Jacob. Leigh is his ex-wife who owns Six Oaks.”
“I’m not a local,” Mulvane said. “We have hundreds of locals who gamble in our establishment. The name does seem familiar. Do you know them, Albert?”
“I am familiar with Jacob Gardner. He is here on occasion. You may have met him. He is very friendly. Outgoing, I’d say.”
“Does he ever win?” Brad asked.
“I’m not sure,” Albert said, shrugging. “You’d have to ask him.”
“Naturally, Sheriff, we do not discuss our customers or their personal affairs,” Mulvane said. “Our clients expect a level of discretion.”
“Mr. Mulvane, you’re obviously a very busy man who doesn’t seem to have any idea what is going on. Maybe we should go back and talk to Jacob Gardner,” Winter said. “He told us that he knows you.”
Mulvane shrugged.
“I’m sure Gardner can clear it up for us,” Winter said.
Pierce’s smile was eroding. “Maybe that would be your best course,” he said weakly.
“See, we’ve been wondering if the death of Sherry Adams could possibly have something to do with a piece of land that Leigh Gardner owns. We had the impression that you are interested in acquiring her acreage,” Winter said.
Mulvane said, “Why would I know anything about her land?”
“Because it’s surrounded by land that your parent corporation RRI has been buying over the past few months to build a major resort. Jacob told Leigh you made her an offer through him,” Winter said.
When Winter said the word
“We’re not saying the two things are connected,” Brad said. “We’re just looking at everything that comes to our attention as we investigate.”
“You can see where the timing of the killing, Beals’s connection to your casino, his own death, and the land you need so desperately…” Winter let the last word hang in the air between them.
A ringing phone saved Mulvane for the moment. He grabbed his cell out of his pocket and answered it, raising a finger to put Winter on hold. “Yes, Tug? Seven minutes.” He closed the phone. “Gentlemen,” he said. “My guest is arriving. If we need to continue this, it will have to be at a later time. Look, I can’t discuss RRI business in progress with anyone outside the organization. The land you mentioned…well, it’s a delicate negotiation, and since you know about it, fine.” He opened his hands as he stood. “We have been trying to acquire it from Mr. Gardner for a long while. We discovered that Mr. Gardner does not in fact own it, so we asked him to tender a very, very generous offer to his ex-wife. As far as I know, this has no connection to anything else that has happened. Our project will bring hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax monies into the state. The project represents an operation unparalleled in this county. Which I hope will stay between us until it is announced.”
“Leigh Gardner may or may not sell her land to you,” Winter said. “She is upset that she received your offer from her ex-husband along with what may have been an implied threat that something bad could happen if she didn’t take the offer. Something along the lines of what happened to Sherry Adams.”
“I resent your insinuations,” Mulvane said. “When we discovered that Jacob Gardner didn’t own or in any way control the land in question, which he told us he did, it put us in an awkward position. He assured us he could make the deal happen and would represent Ms. Gardner. That is why we have been going through Gardner. If we can’t reach an agreement on the land from Mrs. Gardner, we can have it condemned by the state and buy it anyway- probably for much less than our offer. But the idea that we would resort to threats or violence is preposterous.”
“Jacob led his ex-wife to believe that she or one of her children could suffer a similar fate as Sherry Adams,” Brad said. “This is a very serious accusation. And one of your employees did kill Sherry.”
“I never said any such thing to Jacob Gardner!” Mulvane stammered. “The man is a liar and a fool.”
“By the way,” Brad said, “I understand you believe Beals stole the money we found at his place from your casino? Any idea how much?”
“Ballpark,” Albert White said, “we’re compiling the exact figure, but it looks to be two hundred thousand dollars and change. How much did you find?”
“Albert, you know that’s confidential,” Brad said. “I’ll be looking forward to seeing your figures.”
Winter said, “We have evidence that Jack Beals was robbing, maybe even killing, winning customers, and we think he was picking them carefully so he wouldn’t get caught. We believe he may have had a partner here in the casino with access to information on the victims. We were sure the money we found hidden in Beals’s house was from that enterprise. But you say it was stolen from this casino, so we’ll be interested in your evidence, since it contradicts ours.”
Mulvane’s face had lost any semblance of its former cheeriness. White seemed at a loss for words as well.
“Maybe we should be talking to the director of RRI,” Winter said. “We have his name and address. Thank you for your time, Mr. Mulvane. We know the way out.”
The men stood to leave, and Pierce took a deep breath and followed them to the elevator. “I’ll ride down with you,” he said.
Winter and Brad stared at Mulvane in total silence after the door closed. Albert White had to take the stairs down since the elevator was too small for the four of them.
“Has it ever been brought to your attention that people who win here sometimes don’t always get to keep their winnings?” Winter asked.
“Of course not,” Pierce said, punching the button for the first floor three times even though the cab was moving.
“Well, Beals told David Scotoni that the casino sent him to retrieve the money he’d won at your tables. Scotoni is the guy who was being drowned by Beals just before Beals was killed. You know, Mr. Mulvane, you strike me as a man who’s living in a world filled with unfortunate coincidences. I know this place is a fantasy world without clocks or invasions of reality from outside, but beyond these walls, actual consequences await everyone.”
When the elevator stopped and the door opened, Brad stepped out and walked off a few paces. Massey blocked Mulvane’s exit, smiling at him.
Mulvane straightened and looked Winter in the eyes. “Are you threatening me?”
“Yes,” Massey said in a low voice. “That is exactly what I am doing. You may have some other people fooled, but I have you pegged. And I know that some others in here have dirty hands too.”
