"That's right, Mr. Peterson." replied Sergeant Lou Sanchez. "Now suppose you tell me what this is all about."
"At this point, I'm not sure, but," Ben added, grimly, "I have a hunch."
"Which is ... ?" prodded the policeman.
Ben shook his head. "I'm not prepared to say ... it's too fantastic."
"Does this tie into the dead hooker?"
"That, I don't know."
"Look, Peterson, as far as I know none of these girls are my problem, but the dead one is, if you have any information ..."
"Sorry, Sergeant. But I'll let you know if I turn up something."
"Good, the department would appreciate it."
"No problem. Thanks for your help." Ben turned to leave, then stopped. "Say, you know of a former colleague named Jack Hogan?"
"Yeah, sad case. He quit the force about a year ago. Had a gambling problem, I heard he was in pretty deep. Rumor had it that he swiped some coke from the evidence room. There was never any investigation since he quit the force anyway. Why do you ask?"
"Well, it seems as though he's cleaned up his act. He's the acting manager at the Golden Sands."
"Oh, really, that's interesting."
"Why is that?"
"I heard it was the Golden Sands that he was into the big bucks."
Later, in his hotel room, Ben placed a call to Vermont. It was time to talk to his client.
"I don't know how long it will take for them to realize the files are missing, as far as I know that Abdulah guy is still out of the country, and though we know Hogan knows about the files, he might not think to check them. I have a feeling he wasn't supposed to be going through the boss's private files."
David sat, numbly silent, as Ben recited all he had learned and what he thought was going on. It was all too fantastic to believe.
"Jack Hogan is the key. I'm sure he's the same man described to me by Brenda and Ned at the Saxon Inn. He's the one who kidnapped your girl, but I'm also afraid he might not know what actually became of her. I'm guessing Abdulah had Hogan do it in exchange for gambling debts, then hired him, either to keep an eye on him or get him in deeper, or both."
"Filthy bastard!" spat David.
"Which one?"
"Both."