Smoke and Mirrors

113

Winter got the casino’s main number from information and asked the hotel operator to ring suite 825 for him.

After several rings, Kurt Klein’s voice came on. “Yes,” he answered pleasantly. He had no idea who was calling, because there was no caller ID on hotel phones.

“It’s Winter Massey.”

There was a short pause before Klein said, “Yes, what can I do for you?”

“There was the flash of an explosion when we were there. You and I were chatting, remember?”

“Yes? And…?”

“At the time I thought it was lightning, a transformer blowing or something, but it was actually dynamite and a lot of it. It came from an equipment storage building of yours across the Tunica County line, near the river. The place is crawling with cops, fire trucks, and EMS. Albert White’s SUV was there, along with what’s left of a limousine you own.”

“Okay, Mr. Massey, and I’m wondering why this is of interest to me?”

Winter knew by his voice that it was very much of interest to him, and he was sure Klein knew who had been out there and why.

“I just called to tell you that the sheriff of that county is going to call you very soon, as will the FBI and ATF. At least one of the people out there had a machine gun, an MP5SD, which if you look it up on the Internet under Heckler amp; Koch, you will understand the significance of. I do not want to know who was carrying that particular military-use-only weapon. Whoever it was out there is now scattered all over the landscape. I kind of thought you might want to make some inquiries of your own.”

Winter snapped the phone closed.

“You think he knew anything about it?” Brad asked.

“I doubt the old bastard is going to get any sleep tonight.”

“Did you notice that there were none of Klein’s security men at the meeting tonight?” Brad asked.

“Why would Mr. Klein need security people?” Leigh asked.

“He might need to hire some new ones,” Winter said.

“Well, it’s too late to eat,” Leigh said.

“You have to be tired,” Brad said.

“Not too tired to cook you fellows a nice thick steak. Let’s stop at the grocery and pick up a few, and we’ll go to the house. I bet your deputies could eat a hot meal about now.”