Sin City

Catherine ignored that. 'Who is this Ray Lipton?'

'Jenna's boyfriend. He hated her workin' here.' He shrugged. 'Old story.'

Very old story, Catherine knew. Half the guys dating dancers hated what their women did for a living; the other half only dated the women because they danced. Sometimes the first group had started out in the second. 'Ray and Jenna, they fight?'

Kapelos snorted a laugh. 'Cats and dogs. It got so bad I had to get a damn restraining order against the guy.'

Catherine frowned. 'Did he hit her?'

'Well…not exactly-he would kinda man-handle her, sometimes. Anyway, he kept coming in here, making scenes, causin' trouble. Hell, Lipton practically choked one of my regulars here, once.'

The image of the strangled woman leapt into Catherine's mind. 'You call the police on him?'

'Naw. You remember how it is, Cath-like I said, the guy Lipton got into it with, he was a regular. Didn't want no trouble, either. After that, I got the restraining order to keep Lipton out.'

'Could we talk to this regular?'

Kapelos found a glass to dry with a dirty towel and considered that. 'You ain't gonna make no trouble for him, Cath, right? I mean, he's a right guy.'

In other words, married.

'No trouble, Ty,' Catherine said. 'The detectives'll just want to ask a couple questions.'

Kapelos shrugged again and said, 'Guy's name is Marty Fleming.'

'Know where we can find him?'

The bar owner thought about that and dried two more glasses. 'He ain't been in for a while. Last I heard, he was dealing over at Circus Circus.'

'When did this run-in with Jenna's boyfriend happen?'

'Oh, three…maybe four months ago.'

She patted the man's hand, where it rested on the counter. 'Thanks, Ty. By the way, restraining order or not-you didn't happen to see Lipton in here tonight?'

Kapelos shook his head. 'Nope; but I was in the back, in the office, most of the time. Ask the girls, or maybe Worm.'

'The DJ?'

'Yeah. He knows Lipton. Anyway, I've seen 'em sit and chew the fat, before.'

'Thanks for the coffee,' Catherine said, and had a final sip.

The CSI was starting away when Kapelos said, 'She was a nice girl, Cath-like you. Might a got out a the business one day…. Do me a favor?'

'Try to.'

'Catch the son of a bitch?'

She grinned at him. 'That's why they pay me the medium-sized bucks.'

Catherine crossed the room to the opposite corner where the DJ was just pulling on his jacket. 'You speak to a detective yet?'

He shook his head. Worm was maybe twenty-five, his black satin jacket bearing a Gibson guitar logo on the left breast. He wore black jeans, Reeboks, and a black T-shirt with a Music Go Round logo stenciled across the front. 'That lady cop, she told me to wait around for her.'

Catherine nodded. 'Detective Conroy. Shouldn't be long. As soon as she's done in the dressing room, she'll be out here.'

'It's all right,' he said, with a good-natured shrug. 'I've got nothin' better to do anyway. Still on the clock.'

'So they call you Worm?'

He flashed an easy smile. 'Name's Chris Ermey. Why they call me Worm's a long story-let's just say it involves a tequila bottle.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Catherine said, with a little smile. 'Ty mentioned you know a guy named Ray Lipton.'

'Yeah, sure, I know Ray.'

'See him in here tonight?'

Worm thought about that for a long moment. 'I might have.'

Catherine cocked an eyebrow. 'Might have?'

'Gets pretty smoky in here, but I thought I saw him, across the room-see, Ray usually wears that one jacket of his.'

She nodded, letting him tell it in his own way, his own time.

'It's kinda like a letter jacket, 'cept it's denim with, like, tan cotton sleeves. Has the name of his company- Lipton Construction? On the back.'

'And you saw him tonight.'

'I saw a jacket like that, across the bar tonight-near the private dancer rooms? Guy had a cap on and dark glasses, coulda been Ray-only I think he had a beard.'

'Does Ray have a beard?'

'When I first met him he did. Then he didn't. And I haven't seen him for a while, so he coulda grown it back. Hell, come to think of it, it probably was Ray. He hated Jenna working here, y'know.'

'Thanks, Mr. Ermey,' Catherine said.

'Am I done now?'

'No-I was just getting a little background. The detective will be with you soon, and go over all of this again.'

The DJ nodded, said, 'Fine with me, still on the clock,' plopped on a chair, fished a pack of cigarettes out of somewhere and lit up.

Catherine went back down the hall, where she found Sara packing up the last of their gear. Conroy, moving briskly, came down the hall from the dressing room end.

'Get anything?' Catherine asked.

'Her boyfriend seems prime.' She glanced at her notepad. 'One Ray Lipton-lot of the girls mentioned him. Said he had an attitude about Jenna dancing here.'

'Yeah, I heard that story too,' Catherine said, and quickly filled the detective in on what Ty had told her.

'Doin' my job again, Catherine?' Conroy asked, kidding.

'I figured Ty might open up to me,' Catherine said, lifting her shoulders and putting them down again. 'For old time's sake.'

'Well, evidently the Patrick woman lived with another dancer, a…' Conroy checked her notes.

'…Tera Jameson. They say Jameson used to work here, too, but took a job at another club, Showgirl World, about three months ago.'

'Movin' on up,' Catherine said.

'I'm going to talk to the DJ,' Conroy said, 'then follow up with Kapelos-half an hour, I'll be done here.'

'We're wrapping up now,' Sara said.

'If I can find Ray Lipton tonight,' Conroy said, moving off, 'I'll be bringing him in for questioning-you two want a piece?'

Sara and Catherine traded looks, then both gave Conroy nods.

Catherine said, 'Let us know when you get back to HQ. In the meantime, we'll run our findings over to the lab and get the DNA tests started.'

The two CSIs had the SUV loaded up when Sara remembered the videotapes; Catherine went back inside to talk to Ty Kapelos one last time.

'Ty,' Catherine said, 'we're going to need tonight's security tapes.'

Kapelos was seated on a bar stool now, on the customer side of the counter; he was smoking the stubby remains of a foul cigar. 'No problem, Cath. Got 'em in back.'

Five minutes later he handed her a grocery bag brimming with videotapes.