Sin City Homicide by Victor Methos Page B

as well.” He held up his water in a toast. “To not finding another wife who’ll leave us.”
    Marty tapped his Coke against Stanton’s water bottle and smiled. He turned back to his popcorn with zeal, and he seemed to be in a better mood.
    “I gotta use the bathroom,” Stanton said . “I’ll be right back.”
    He walked outside and down the hallway toward the restroom , where he heard someone shouting again. He walked out to the main lobby and saw the same older man yelling at another man, who was much older than the man Stanton had seen him shouting at before. This man was dressed impeccably, with his balding hair slicked back and a thick mustache.
    Suddenly, the mustachioed man looked around then belted the shouting man in the face. Then he kicked him in the groin and struck him again. Stanton ran over. The two uniformed officers who were standing by immediately blocked his way.
    “Back off,” one of them said.
    “That guy just hit that old man.”
    “I said back off. I’m not gonna ask you again,” he said, pulling out his Taser.
    Stanton watched as the old man was dragged from the building. The two men he had seen speaking to him were talking now , and the younger one was taking notes.
    The older one ran his hand through his hair and adjusted his suit. He glanced at Stanton then looked away before walking out of the building.
    “Nice to meet you, officers ,” Stanton said. “Keep us safe tonight.” He turned and walked back to the show.
     

11
     
     
     
     
    Stanton dressed and showered before seven in the morning then ate a quick meal of eggs and fruit at the buffet in his hotel. He watched the families and the couples who were there, but he was mostly interested in the individuals who sat quietly at their tables with bloodshot eyes, barely eating their meals. He knew their minds were still in the casinos.
    When he had finished, he got his car from the valet and drove to the Metro PD headquarters to pick up Marty. Mindi was waiting for him outside, wearing slacks and a leather jacket.
    “Mind if I hitch a ride?” she asked.
    “Where’s Marty?”
    “He had some work to catch up on.”
    “I thought he was only assigned to me?”
    “Look, I know you want to go see the Steeds’ house. Marty can’t get you in there.” She pulled out a key and held it up. “But I can. Do you want to go or not?”
    “Fine . Get in. But tell me where Marty is.”
    “I wasn’t lying. He had a bunch of paperwork from old traffic tickets that are going to court , and he had to catch up on it. I told him I would cover this.”
    Stanton typed the address into his GPS and pulled away from the curb. He rolled down the window to get some fresh air, but there was none to be had. Exhaust fumes and the pungent odors of sweat and burning neon tainted the air.
    “You know, you really should be nicer to me. I can help you a lot.”
    “I saw you got Jay and Javier’s notes in the file. How’d you do that?”
    “Do you really want to know , or are you just asking to make small talk?”
    “No, I probably don’t want to know.”
    They drove in silence for a few minutes before Mindi said, “Your partner almost killed you once. I read that about you.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Eli Sherman, right?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Do you not want to talk about it?”
    “Not really.”
    “My partner, my first real partner, was a guy named Lawrence Zira. He was from Bosnia. He… he was married, but we had an affair. Well, he had an affair. I was twenty-one and an idiot. He didn’t tell me he was married. No one in the precinct told me—not my bosses, not the other uniforms. No one. I was in the dark until a receptionist finally pulled me aside and told me about it. When I confronted him, he laughed at me.”
    “I’m sorry .” Stanton glanced at her then back at the road. “Where is he now?”
    “He transferred to SWAT, so I don’t see him much. He was a dirtbag, but I’ve never forgotten that no one told me.”
    Stanton turned right