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A chill ran through me.
Kyle asked, “What’d they do at the Lux?”
“Nichols worked with the grounds crew. Donaldson was on the security team and Xander was the one to build the resort’s Web site.”
“All key positions for the mayhem Wayne created,” I said. “And that explains how he ended up being the self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades.”
With a nod, Amano continued. “I suspect he disposed of the three once he gleaned all of the information he needed from them to do his damage. Or they were on to him and he had to eliminate them.”
“His own brother?” I knew I shouldn’t be so shocked—not when it came to anything involving Wayne Horton. Still, the bile rose in my throat.
“The timing all fits, falls into place perfectly,” Amano explained. “If he killed these three, right around the time they left for undisclosed reasons, it was also the same period when the concrete was being poured at the Vegas hotel. He had access to that property as well.”
“Why the hell is that monster still on the streets?” I hissed out.
Kyle said, “He hasn’t been on the FBI’s radar—not at high alert, anyway. Like Strauss said. As far as they’ve been concerned, he’s small potatoes, the marionette. They’ve been going after the puppet masters.”
“He’s not some dummy in a ventriloquist sideshow,” I insisted. “He knows what he’s doing. And I’m willing to bet he really is acting on his own more so than taking direction. Power trip to the extreme.”
“He’s still slipping through the cracks,” Kyle said, “because nothing has firmly been connected to him.”
“That ought to change after the FBI gets all the facts,” Amano said. “Associating Horton with the Vegas hotel and his brother’s death will help to break this piece of the syndicate wide open.”
I shook my head. “He’s a total weasel. The FBI needs more than a brotherly connection. They need a confession. Wayne has to admit to everything he’s done since he started at 10,000 Lux. Because if you hired him, Amano, I’m sure he had impeccable credentials. And still does.”
“Clean as a whistle.”
“What if the Feds view him as above reproach, with the exception of his aliases? Can’t really find anything significant—significant enough—to pin on him?” I asked. “Won’t they just back-burner him as they’ve been doing?”
“This is serious stuff, Ari.” Amano gave me a sharp look. “They’re not going to discount all the intertwining variables.” He tore his gaze from me and gestured toward my wall of webbing. “You pieced it all together, but only because you’ve had up-close and personal experience with Horton. You’ve been caught in his traps.”
“Traps the Feds believe were set by Vale.” This from Kyle. “So we’re not really in danger in their minds when it comes to Horton—he’s just a nuisance who may or may not have aided Vale.”
“And since Vale’s dead,” I concluded, bringing it all back around to the inevitable, “Wayne’s not of concern at the moment.”
“Yeah, but what about his potential involvement with Tom Talbot?” Kyle countered.
I fumed. “We have to prove he’s a key player in this game.”
“He blew up the Lux,” Kyle contended. “Come on. We’re all sure of it. So it’d be a damn shame to let him get away with something evil of that magnitude.”
Amano glared at us both. No doubt, the conversation he’d walked in on at the estate, when Kyle and I had first plotted to get a confession from Wayne, flashed in his mind.
“We could get him to admit that he’s brilliant at setting people up,” I said, a thought forming in my head. “That he’s our Heisenberg—not Vale.”
Amano scowled at the fact that I’d all but OD’d on Breaking Bad. “Perhaps a little less Netflix in the future,” he muttered.
I grinned. That he was snarky with me was a good sign. “Sometimes we miss the tree for the forest, right? And let’s face it, Wayne Horton is one squirrely bastard. He’s operating in the shadows, with the exception of one weakness. We know some of the places he frequents.”
I wagged my brows. Amano continued to scowl.
Kyle chimed in. “Bubble burster: Horton hasn’t been at the casinos or in Sedona lately. He was in two poker tournaments in Reno that were moderately publicized. I caught the news online.”
“That’s perfect,” I said, perking up. “Good job keeping tabs on him. With the bodies being discovered there, he’s not going to stick around Nevada. He’s too wily for that kind of exposure. And where does he always return?”
“Here,” Kyle said.
“And where does he gamble when in town?” Excitement now swept through me, chasing away the chill.
