Gone at Zero Hundred 00:00 (19 page)

As I pulled away, I didn’t notice the black Hummer that
turned into the driveway, or the two men that stepped out of the vehicle and
marched into the house, and they had a key to get in.

THE MONOLITH building that
houses city hall and the courthouse, sits across the street from the Sutter
Beach police station. Metered parking spots line the sidewalk out front. I pulled
into a spot, dropped a quarter into the meter and walked inside. When it was my
turn, I gave the clerk the address for The Devil’s Door, and asked her for the
paperwork, including the floor plan. With exception to The Toscana Restaurant,
most of the pubs along the harbor are old clapboard buildings. The old brick
exterior of The Devil’s Door made the club all that more mysterious. The only
change to the exterior was the engraving on the door: The Devil’s Door. I was
guessing to keep it off law enforcement radar.

It was the interior that has
been updated and changed. I wanted to see if the construction company obtained
a permit for the new renovations, and if those changes were outlined in a new
blueprint. The clerk found what I was looking for, and made me a copy.

Back in the pickup, I reviewed
the document. It showed the original layout of the building; and the
renovations that were done. It used to be a one-story movie theatre, with a
lobby, film room and cinema area. Since I got a chance to look around, I knew
there were now two floors with a full kitchen and a basement. I compared the
old blueprint with the new one. The renovations on the first floor were shown,
but not a basement. That meant the owner didn’t want anyone to know it existed.

Why not? The document didn’t say
who the actual owner was, it only listed a corporation. That wasn’t unusual,
but with all the other circumstances, especially a hidden basement, you tend to
take notice.

When that was done, I walked
across the street to SBPD. Carter was busy, talking to a uniformed officer from
L.A.P.D. and two men in suits. I assumed they were detectives, as well. I stood
off to the side, so I wouldn’t interrupt. All of a sudden, the suits pointed in
my direction, and the conversation got heated. Two minutes later, Carter
excused himself and marched in my direction.

“Follow me,” he ordered, and he
didn’t look happy. He ushered me into an interrogation room. “Sit down!”

I did. Then, he stood directly
across from me with his arms folded across his chest, looking at me like he
would a suspect. Now, I was intimidated. In all the shenanigans I’ve pulled
through the years, Carter has never looked at me like he was right now, ever.

“Tell me more about your
involvement with David Klein.”

I could tell by the look in his
eyes, now would not be a good time to joke. “I told you. I was hired by his
sister. She said he was stealing from her and hanging out with nefarious
characters.”

“Why did she choose you?”

“I don’t know. She was a walk
in. Why?”

Carter’s eyes locked on mine.
“He’s dead.”

“Dead?” I gulped, and my eyes
went wide. I was in an immediate state of panic. My concern was that he somehow
died, confined to the chair. A heart attack? He lost too much blood, in that
short amount of time? “H - how?” I stammered.

“He was shot - a bullet right in
the center of the forehead. Sound familiar?”

I let out a huge sigh of relief.
“Whew!” I said, but regretted it the minute it came out of my mouth. I wasn’t
relieved that he was dead. Just relieved I didn’t do it.

Carter was stunned by my
reaction.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean…yes, it
does sound familiar. He was killed in the same manner Tamara was.”

“Funny thing though,” Carter
went on to say, after getting over the shock of my reaction. “When officers
arrived at the scene, they found Mr. Klein secured to a chair by a belt. And it
seems, whoever secured him to the chair, decided to keep him quiet by stuffing
one of his dirty socks in his mouth.”

I grimaced. It didn’t sound so
good now that I was hearing it relayed back to me. I was so embarrassed my face
was as red as a ripe tomato. Worse, I had him glaring at me, waiting for a
response. I was in a bit of a pickle. I was relieved I wasn’t responsible for
his death, but if I admitted to securing him to the chair, I’d be the number
one suspect, probably be brought up on a few charges. I knew they had me for
unlawful entry. But there could be other charges, as well. I don’t know what
kind of charge there would be for belting the scumbag to the chair. I weighed
the options around in my head. Bottom line, I couldn’t lie to Carter.

“I secured him to the chair…
and, I put the sock in his mouth.” To say I felt guilty, now, would be an
understatement. Would he be dead if I didn’t secure him to the chair?

Carter already knew I was
responsible for belting him to the chair. I don’t know how he knew, but he did.
He was relieved I came clean. At the same time, he was giving me one of those
looks - like he was majorly disappointed in me. I had seen that same look on my
mom’s face, before she died. “You know what girl; sometimes I think you’re just
plain crazy.”

“But he really pissed me off,
and it was either him, or me,” I said, as if they gave me the right to do what
I did.

He let out a heavy sigh. “I know
you didn’t shoot him, but what you did what still stupid. For crying out loud,
Syd, you can’t break into people’s homes. Just because you know how to pick a
lock, doesn’t mean you should.”

“How do you know he didn’t just
invite me in?”

Carter leveled me with a look.
“Really? You’re trying that one?”

“I’m sorry. Sometimes, I just
can’t help myself.”

“Well you’d better try, or one
of these days you’re going to push the buttons of a cop who doesn’t care about
you, and you’ll just wind up in a jail cell with all of the
real
scumbags. Thankfully, I was able to convince these guys that there are bigger
things at play here, so they were willing to let it go, for now. But, they
could decide to bring it up again, later.”

I grimaced. The thought of being
in jail with some of the scumbags that my mom warned me about, had me take
pause, but only for a moment. “Would I be pushing it if I asked to be notified
when you have info on the bullet?”

His eyes bugged out of his
sockets. I thought he was going to throttle me right then, and there. “Yes, you’d
be pushing it! But, obviously that doesn’t stop you? What was it your mom
called you when you were a kid?”

“Relentless,” I said, and now I
was annoyed. They say it like it’s a bad thing. I was the annoying child who
asked questions, over and over again.  Why is the sun yellow?  Why is
the sky blue?  Why do boys pee different than girls? Who is my father? Why
is my father’s identity a big secret? You know the type.

“Relentless. That’s right.”

We just looked at each other for
a few moments. “Since you’ve become accustomed to my so-called ‘character
flaw’; did you get any info on Jake Logan, yet?”

He shook his head. “Not yet!” he
said with a raised voice. Then, a few seconds later, he calmed down. “Don’t
worry, Syd. You’ll know the minute I hear anything.”

“Thanks, for following up on it
for me,” I said, and I attempted to smile. I really was grateful for all he’s
done for me through the years. I’m just not very good at the sentimental stuff.

“Well,” he said a moment later.
“I better get back to the boys in blue before they change their mind and decide
to lock you up just for being a pain in the ass.” He smiled, so at least I knew
he was just teasing me. They said they haven’t been able to locate his
step-sister, Summer Klein. Do you know where she is?”

Family members were always the
first suspects. “I haven’t been able to reach her either. I keep getting her
voicemail.”

“Do you think she’s involved?”

I knew whatever I said to him
would be confidential, so I didn’t hesitate to tell him what I thought. “I’m not
sure I’d peg her as the shooter, but I’m starting to think she’s not so
innocent.” I rose up from the seat.

He nodded like he already
suspected that.

“I’m sorry for being such a pain
in the ass.”

He grabbed me into a bear hug.
“You’re not too bad … just no more crazy stunts, okay. Dead bodies just keep
turning up around you, lately.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” I
said. There was no need to say that I believe whoever killed Tamara, could be
the same person who killed David Klein. And I was starting to think whoever was
behind all of this, might also be responsible for the death of my mom, which
was why I kept pulling all the crazy stunts. I wanted to get to the bottom of
it. I didn’t want to say that out loud, because I was afraid I’d be called a
nut job. And who was I to tell a seasoned detective what I believed to be the
truth. It was just that too many coincidences were popping up. I gave him
another glance before I walked out the door, and it occurred to me that he was
probably way ahead of me, but he just couldn’t say so. He had rules and
procedures to follow, and higher-ups to answer to.

WHEN I got back to the
firehouse, Cody left the license plate information sitting on the desk in the
office. I copped a squat and read through it. First thing I noticed was; the
Camaro that was parked in front of The Devil’s Door on the day the Hummer
pulled up was listed as a private registration. It
was
an undercover cop
car. Carter said he wasn’t aware of any undercover operations going on in Sutter
Beach from outside agencies. There was only one reason an unmarked car would be
at the club, and a cop was in the photos: He was a bad cop.

The list also showed the Hummer
was registered to a man named Diego. No first and last name, just Diego. Cody and
I thought Diego and his two thugs were probably mob, or cartel. I did a quick
Google search on my Blackberry to see if anything came up. There was one
article with the name Diego attached. I clicked on the link:
Diego, the
leader of the infamous ‘Bodega Outlaws’ who were operating in San Diego in
2008, escaped another law enforcement shakedown when he crossed over the border
and set up a residence in Mexico
. So why was Diego here in Sutter Beach?
Funny how every time I went through the information, it continuously led me to
The Devil’s Door.

Summer Klein led me to David
Klein.

David Klein led me The Devil’s
Door.

Diego and his two thugs wound up
there.

And, there was a basement in the
facility that didn’t show up on a set of blueprints for the club, which was why
I was determined to go back inside. Could there be a basement room where
innocent victims were being confined?

Before I defied Carter once
again, and did another round of breaking and entering, I headed over to the
Sutter Beach ice rink to have a few moments of normal. Jaden’s AA hockey team
had a practice game underway, and I promised to go. When I got there, Cody was
surrounded by his cheerleader entourage, so I sat off by myself. For some
unknown reason, I had a strange feeling in the pit of my gut as I watched Cody
laugh it up with the girls. Could I be a little jealous, after all? I averted
my eyes and focused on Jaden out on the ice. After a few minutes, I was caught
up in the game and hootin’ and hollerin’. It felt good to focus on something other
than the case, at least for a little while. When the game was over, scouts and
agents were waiting to speak to Jaden, so I snuck out and headed home. I had a
few things to go over, and not much time.

***

When it was time to get ready, I
put on an old pair of Levi’s a long-sleeve dark shirt and a pair of Reebok
cross-trainers. I put a belt around my waist and hooked my cell phone to it,
but switched it to vibrate. If somebody decided to call while I was breaking
and entering nobody would hear it. It was odd that I was defying Carter just a
few hours after his lecture, but I couldn’t help myself. As he said, I was
relentless. I grabbed my gear. On the way out the door, I grabbed my Louisville
Slugger baseball bat from the front closet.

The criminal element tends to
hang out at the harbor at night, so I figured SBPD would take numerous drives
through the area. I pulled down a side street to keep my vehicle out of sight,
and waited. There was still a small crowd at The Devil’s Door.

About two hours later, when I
was sure all the party-goers were gone and the club was closed, I pulled my
hair into a pony-tail and put on a baseball cap. I slipped my hands into a pair
of gloves, grabbed my gear and crept through the alley toward the back door. I knelt
down eye-level with the lock and was ready to begin, when I noticed movement
out of the corner of my eye.

A dark figure appeared out of
the shadows and marched toward me. My heart started to pound. My adrenaline
kicked into high gear. I turned around and held the baseball bat in a defensive
stance, ready to swing like I used to in little league baseball.

“Don’t come any closer,” I
shouted. I swung the bat from side to side, confirming I knew how to use it.

“SYD, IT’S me.”

I squinted, trying to get a look
at the figure closing in on me. “Cody, what the heck, you scared me to death.”

He was dressed in dark clothing
with camouflage paint on his face and hands. He glanced at the baseball bat,
and his chin lifted into a crooked grin. “Yeah, I can see that.”

I dropped the bat to my side.
“What are you doing sneaking around?”

“Oh sure, I’m sneaking,” he
mocked. “And you’re going right up to the front door, knocking and asking to be
invited in. I thought you might need some help, okay.”