Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

You want to hear what I got or not?”
    “What’s the matter with you, Terry—you off your meds again?”
    “No, but if you keep talking, you’re going to need your own meds, as in pain meds. Got it?”
    “Loud and clear. Fill me in.”
    “Here’s what I’ve learned so far. After asking around, I discovered an inmate by the name of Herbert Walker who probably qualifies as the closest thing to a friend Slick Watts had when he was inside. Walker described Watts as a private sort of guy; polite, but never very forthcoming. He said his contact with Watts occurred mostly in the prison culinary, where they both worked as cooks. Away from work, they spent time together gambling, poker usually. The most significant thing Walker shared concerned some things Slick said about what he was planning to do once released.”
    “Such as,” I said.
    “Don’t get too excited. Walker was clear that Watts never got real specific. The gist of it was that Slick intimated that once paroled, he had some kind of contact on the outside who intended to employ him at something very lucrative. When pressed for details, Watts refused to be specific. Walker believed that whatever Slick had in mind, it wasn’t flipping pancakes at the local IHOP. Walker felt certain the employment involved something illegal and highly profitable, and would allow Watts to operate solo,” Burnham said.
    “Shit, that could be anything from dealing dope to carrying out contract murders and everything in between,” I said. After a moment of silence, it hit me right between the eyes. “Ah, Christ, Burnham. I know where you’re going with this. You’re about to tell me that Slick Watts was working as a self-employed contract killer. Right?”
    “It’s not such a terribly big stretch, Sam. Think about it. Somebody hires Watts to kill Levi Vogue. Maybe Vogue isn’t even his first victim. And then that somebody kills Slick and tries to make it look like a suicide.
    “But there’s more. Yesterday, I tracked down Watts’ sister, one Vicki Gallego. She’s straight, no criminal history, married, two kids, and has worked for the past nine years at Utah Power. She’s the only member of the family that maintained any semblance of contact with Slick. The father is dead, Mom has remarried and, according to Vicki, is a serious alcoholic. The youngest sibling, another sister, resides in California and has nothing to do with anybody in the family.
    “Vicki told me when she received the call informing her that her brother had committed suicide, she didn’t believe it. When I asked her why, she described her brother as narcissistic, with much too large an ego to have killed himself. She said he always bragged about some big deal that was just around the corner and would make him big bucks. She said there was no way he’d have ever been content holding down a nine-to-five job like everybody else. When I asked her if she thought he might be capable of carrying out murders for hire, she didn’t hesitate for a second. She said if the price was right, he’d do it.”
    “Not a particularly flattering picture of her own brother. Anything else?”
    “That’s it. I do have the names of two more guys on parole who Walker maintained were also friends of Slick when he was inside. I’ll run them down in the next day or two.”
    “Thanks for the update. I don’t know exactly what to make of it, but you’ve sure given me something to chew on. Keep after it.”

Chapter Thirty-five
    When I returned to my office, I found nineteen voice mail messages waiting, one of them from Kate. I hadn’t spoken with her since the episode at her condo the previous day. She asked me to call her as soon as I could. She didn’t say what we needed to talk about, but I was afraid I had a pretty good idea. I still felt embarrassed. I decided not to call her back until later in the day.
    Not surprisingly, I also had a call from Jim Allen asking whether I’d been able to set up a meeting with Kate. He sounded anxious. This was a meeting we wanted to delay for as long as possible. I decided to take a chance. I dialed his number hoping he wouldn’t answer so I could leave him a voice message. He didn’t pick up. “Jim, Sam Kincaid. I still haven’t been able to reach Kate but I’ll keep trying. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have the meeting set.” I told Patti that Allen would probably be calling back and that she should tell him that I was tied up in management meetings all