Chapter 3 - The Gym With No Windows
Dalton Combat Academy looked ordinary from the outside.
That made Jack distrust it more.
The building occupied a converted warehouse on the edge of an industrial district.
Large American flag above the entrance.
Posters advertising amateur fights.
Children's jiu-jitsu classes.
Women's self-defense seminars.
Everything respectable.
Jack sat across the street the next morning.
He had no intention of going inside.
Not yet.
He watched.
Dustin arrived at 7:03.
Rick Dalton at 7:18.
A third man entered at 7:31 carrying a silver case.
At 8:10, two young fighters arrived.
At 8:22, another vehicle appeared.
The same truck Jack had seen at the hospital.
Rick had been there personally.
Watching.
Why?
Laura Bennett parked behind Jack.
She climbed into his passenger seat.
"You know surveillance usually works better when police do it."
Jack handed her coffee.
"Then consider this emotional support."
She took it.
"How's Hannah?"
"Awake. Angry."
"Good sign."
"She's also scared."
Laura looked toward the gym.
"She give a statement?"
"Not yet."
"Jack."
"She's going to."
"You can't investigate this yourself."
"I'm sitting in a truck."
"You're Sergeant Miller sitting in a truck."
He looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I've known you twenty years."
He almost smiled.
Laura opened a folder.
"Rick Dalton. Forty-eight. Former regional fighter. Assault charge at twenty-six, dismissed. Tax problems. Two civil suits from former athletes."
"Women?"
"One."
"What happened?"
"Settled."
"Claim?"
"Negligent supervision after training injury."
Jack frowned.
"What injury?"
"Broken jaw."
"Training?"
"According to Dalton."
"And Dustin?"
Laura handed him another page.
"Two arrests."
Jack looked at her.
"Hannah doesn't know."
"Probably not."
"What for?"
"Assault at twenty-one. Charges dropped."
"Other?"
"Domestic disturbance three years ago."
Jack's eyes hardened.
"With a girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"Name?"
Laura hesitated.
"Melissa Grant."
"Where is she?"
"Don't know yet."
"Find her."
"I'm a detective, Jack. Not your employee."
He looked at her.
"Will you?"
Laura sighed.
"Already did."
He nodded.
She continued.
"Melissa moved to Virginia two years ago."
"Can we talk to her?"
"I called."
"And?"
"She hung up when I said Dustin's name."
Jack looked at the gym.
"That tells us plenty."
"No. It tells us she's afraid or doesn't want to talk."
Jack knew she was right.
Laura continued.
"There is something else."
"What?"
"Dalton leases another property."
"Where?"
"Outside Leland."
"What is it?"
"Officially storage."
"Unofficially?"
"No permit history."
Jack took the paper.
"Who owns it?"
"LLC."
"Which one?"
"Forge Athletics Development."
"Dalton?"
"Not directly."
"Then who?"
"Registered manager is Cole Mercer."
Jack frowned.
"Know him?"
"No."
Laura looked toward the gym.
"But he has a record."
"What kind?"
"Illegal gambling."
Jack understood.
Private fights.
Cash.
Injured women.
Names.
"Could Dalton be running unsanctioned bouts?"
Laura nodded.
"Possible."
"Why would Hannah's name be on a list?"
"No idea."
Jack watched Dustin through the glass.
He was laughing with several fighters.
No sign that his girlfriend was hospitalized.
No guilt.
No fear.
Just confidence.
Jack felt something inside him harden.
Laura noticed.
"Don't."
"What?"
"That look."
"I'm looking at a building."
"You're looking at Dustin."
"He broke my daughter's ribs."
"And if you break his jaw, his lawyer will make him the victim."
Jack looked away.
Laura softened.
"Let Hannah choose what happens next."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
He said it because he wanted it to be true.
His phone rang.
Hospital.
Jack answered.
"Mr. Miller?"
A nurse.
"Yes."
"Your daughter is asking for you."
"I'm coming."
Something in her tone bothered him.
"What happened?"
The nurse hesitated.
"Someone left something outside her room."
Jack's pulse quickened.
"What?"
"A gym bag."
"Don't touch it."
"Security already removed it."
"Was there a note?"
Silence.
"Yes."
"What did it say?"
The nurse lowered her voice.
"It said she should remember what happens to people who ruin careers."
Jack looked at Laura.
She had already understood from his face.
"Was Dustin at the gym all morning?" Jack asked.
Laura looked through the windshield.
"He still is."
May you like
Jack stared at Rick Dalton's office window.
"Then Dustin didn't deliver it."
