Caddo Cold (The Bill Travis Mysteries Book 7)

by George Wier

  “That’s where he is,” the old doctor said.

  “Thank you, Dr. Carr,” I told him.

  “Let’s go,” Willett said.

  “Yeah,” Dane echoed quickly.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Jessica said, her eyes wide and her mouth twisted in a wry grin.

  We left Dr. Carr there holding his stomach in the dust-laden seat in the defunct Karnack theater.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “The Army or General Todd or whoever, knows about Molly Sue,” I said when we reached our vehicles.

  “Yeah,” Willett said. “Wait a minute, Bill, Dane. I want to give these two vehicles the once-over.”

  “Fine,” I agreed.

  Dane opened the toolbox behind the cab of his pickup and brought out a flashlight and passed it to Willett. “You might need this,” he said.

  Willett took the flashlight and shined it inside my car.

  “Don’t see any signs of tampering,” he said. He walked around front and popped the hood and lifted it. “Here either,” he said after a minute of poking the bright light into the entrails of my Mercedes. He closed the hood and got down on the ground and started looking behind the wheels. “Nothing here.”

  Willett began the same process with Dane’s pickup, but once he got down on the concrete to shine the flashlight underneath, the story was different.

  “I’ll be damned,” he said after another minute. “I’ve heard of this stuff but I’ve never seen it. Bill, there’s a black package labeled ‘C-4’ under here.”

  “Damn,” I said. “How big is it?”

  “Big enough,” Willett said. “It would take out everything within fifty feet and it would blow out windows in most of the town. Needless to say, whoever planted this would have gotten all of us once Dane put his truck into gear.”

  “Jessica,” I said. “You’re going home.”

  I got no argument.

  *****

  “We’re lucky you’ve got a touch of paranoia, Willett.” Dane said.

  “Yep,” Willett agreed, and got up from the ground and dusted himself off.

  “As far as I’m concerned,” I said, “we’re leaving both vehicles here. Willett, I’m sure you made a pretty thorough search of my car, but I’m not betting our lives on it. Especially not Jessica’s.”

  “Yeah,” Willett said. “You’re probably right.”

  “Hmm,” Dane began. “I’ve got an idea. I need to make a phone call.”

  “Fine,” I said. “I need to as well. Tell you what, let’s get a long way from these vehicles. Then we can use my cell phone.”

  We walked four blocks away to Karnack’s lone service station. It was as good a place as any to both be in public and around other people and away from the vehicles. Also, as far as Karnack was concerned, aside from the theater where we had left Dr. Carr and the pharmacy next door, the service station was the only place.

  The night was beginning to get cold, and we could see our breaths. My hands were starting to tingle, so I stuffed them in my pockets. I noticed that Jessica had done likewise. Willett saw me, put his hands in his jacket pockets, furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and then came out with two dull brown lumps.

  “Damn,” Dane said. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Plastique,” Willett admitted.

  “You’ve been carrying that shit around with you?”

  “Yeah,” Willett replied.

  “That stuff’s set off by electricity, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Dane said. “Willett, what if you built up a static charge? You know, like from walking on carpet and touching the doorknob?”

  “Oh,” Willett said.

  “Static electricity like that can reach ten thousand volts,” Dane said.

  “Oh,” Willett said. “I better not walk on any carpet then.”

  *****

  I loaned Dane my cell phone. He opened up his wallet, took out a piece of paper and examined it under the service station lights, and dialed. A moment later we heard the name ’Linda.’ Willett rolled his eyes.

  Dane took a few steps away and spoke in hushed, almost wooing tones.

  After a moment he hung up the phone and brought it back to me.

  “We’ve got a ride,” he said. “She’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay,” I said. “My turn.”

  I called home and Julie answered on the first ring.

  “Where have you been?” she asked. I didn’t like the sound of her voice. Something was wrong.

  “Why?” I asked. “Is everything all right?”

  “Bill, I had a weird phone call. He said his name was Pierce. He said he had to talk to you. That he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

  A shiver of fear shot down into my stomach. I did some quick math. It was a six hour drive to Austin from Karnack.

  “Was the call local, or long distance?”

  “Local,” she said.

  “Shit!” I said.

  “What? What?”

  “Julie,” I said. “Are all the doors locked?”

  “Uh. No.”

  “Lock ‘em. Do it now. Then go to my desk in the study and get my brown binder. It’s got my phone list. Then call Patrick Kinsey at the Sheriff’s Office. Tell Pat you want him and his wife to come and spend the night. Tell him to bring his gun.”

  “We’re in danger,” Julie said. She said it calmly, coolly. I’ve heard her talk like that before. She gets that way whenever she’s backed into a corner, and when she does she’s as dangerous as a rattlesnake.

  “Okay,” she said. “How’s your client?”

  I thought about it for no more than an instant. I’d be explaining for awhile if I told the whole story. “The last time I saw him he was doing a lot better,” I said. “He’s missing now. The U.S. Army took him, I think. Holt’s nephew, Pierce, wants Holt’s two million dollars. Baby, this guy knew about the two million before his uncle did.” My mind was going a mile a minute. The next item jumped right up. “There’s a good chance the office and home phones are bugged. We’re probably being recorded right now.”

  “Bill, I'm starting to get upset, here.”

  “Right now you being upset is a good thing. I’m so mad I could shoot somebody. But I don’t have my gun.”

  “Get one,” she said. “Quick.”

  “That’s the plan. Thought I’d run it by you.”

  “I love you, Bill,” she said. Suddenly her voice had become soft. I never figured out how she could do that. One minute she could flow venom, the next honey.

  “I love you too. Get yourself safe. Go lock those doors and call Patrick.”

  “I’ll call him and Hank Sterling,” she said.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll call back in awhile.”

  We said our goodbyes and hung up.

  “Mom’s pissed,” Jessica said.

  “Yes,” I admitted.

  “Sometimes when it hits the fan, it hits hard, don’t it?” Dane said.

  I nodded.

  “Willett? Dane?” I asked. “Do either of you have a supply of firearms?”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Half an hour later a Silver Chrysler Imperial pulled up next to us. It had tinted windows. The passenger window rolled down.

  “Oh hell,” the female voice said.

  “Hi Nurse Babette,” Jessica said.

  “Hi yourself,” she said. Nurse Babette exchanged a few words with Linda Wilkinson, the driver, got out and went into the convenience store, leaving the passenger door open.

  Dane stepped forward. “Hi,” he said to Nurse Wilkinson. “You didn’t think I’d be calling so soon, did you?”

  “No,” she said, and laughed. “But I’m glad you did. What happened to your car?”

  “Truck,” he said. “You don’t want to know. We need to go to my place on the lake.”

  “Hop on in,” Nurse Wilkinson said. There was a delighted lilt to her voice.

  “You old heartbreaker,” Willett whispered to D
ane’s back, but he caught it.

  “What about...” Dane began.

  “Nurse Parris? Her brother works at the store here. He’ll give her a ride home. Well, there are five of you. This old bucket of bolts may be able to seat five.”

  “Um, nope,” Willett said. He turned to me. “Bill, give me your car keys. I’ll go back and double and triple-check your car. If it’s okay, I’ll start it up and drive it back to Dane’s Place. I’m assuming that’s where we’re headed. Besides, I think I shouldn’t ride in a car with a bunch of people while I’ve got plastic explosives on me.”

  I fished for my keys and handed them to Willett.

  “Be...”

  “Careful?” he said. “You’re damned right I will.”

  “Nurse Wilkinson,” I said. “It looks like you’ll only have to seat four.”

  *****

  Dane sat up front with Nurse Wilkinson and Jessica and I took the back seat.

  “Thank you, Ms. Wilkinson,” I said as she pulled the old Chrysler forward to face the road.

  “It’s Linda,” she said. “Where to?”

  “You know the marina?” Dane asked her.

  “Sure do, although I haven’t been there in ages.”

  “I live right next to it,” Dane said.

  “You’re the fellow who owns the bar there, aren’t you?” she asked Dane.

  Dane nodded.

  “Well then, everybody sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  *****

  We didn’t exactly enjoy the ride. Linda Wilkinson drove like a demon. For all of her conservative exterior, she was a lead-foot. She rolled California-style through the one stop sign north of town and took her half of the road out of the middle of the highway despite the solid yellow double-stripe.

  I heard the distant thrum of a helicopter passing in the night. Willett and I exchanged brief glances.

  Army, we both thought.

  It would have been a good moment to start pumping Nurse Wilkinson for information, but I quickly decided that it might affect Dane’s designs on her. Instead, I watched the night out my window and the waning moon.

  During that brief drive from Karnack to Uncertain and to the edge of Caddo Lake I also replayed images and sounds in my head.

  Daddy, I want to be a rap star. Jessica had said that at one point.

  And then Julie whispering to me in the night: Remember our deal? You take Jessica and I have The Talk with Michelle and Jennifer.

  My family.

  There had been a time in my life when I had spent long stretches living in my own company with not even the glimmer of a chance for a family in my future. Then one morning an auburn-haired beauty with delicate wrists and a soft mouth had cut me off in traffic. Within an hour she was sitting in my office spilling a sob story about her life, whiskey-runners and two million dollars. Out of that mis-adventure with Julie, Jessica had come into my life as well.

  Two million dollars, I thought. That time was just like this time. Why did that number keep coming up?

  I thought about Julie and hoped she was safe at home with my babies and in the company of friends with guns. When I had a moment to speak privately with her, I intended to call home and get the lay of the land.

  There, in the back seat of Linda Wilkinson’s Chrysler as we pulled up in front of the deserted marina in Uncertain, Texas, I made a vow. If Pierce Gatlin so much as came knocking on my front door in Austin with so much as a bouquet of flowers, I would find him and make him wish he had never been born.

  *****

  I preempted Dane Fitzbrough by leaning forward and asking Nurse Wilkinson if I could speak to her privately for a moment. I’d known that Dane couldn’t wait to have a moment alone with her, but what I needed to say came first, as far as I was concerned. She agreed.

  We climbed out of the car and into the night.

  Uncertain is a shaded, almost shrouded town, with ancient cottonwoods and cypress towering high above. Thus, the town has an isolated, almost timeless feel to it that very nearly defies description. This effect is somehow magnified by the night.

  Before our conference, I asked Jessica to call her mother and make sure she was alright. Jessica turned her phone on and walked a few feet away to make the call. Dane walked a few feet away, turned to watch us, and waited.

  Nurse Wilkinson stood by her car in the dim light from the marina and waited for me to begin. I didn’t know exactly how to ask her, but I knew I had to.

  “Ma’am,” I began, “I need to get my daughter to safety. If you’re going back to Marshall tonight, can I ask you to take her to a hotel for the night?”

  “I would be happy to,” she said. “But what’s the danger?”

  “I assure you, you don’t want to know.”

  “It involves Mr. Gatlin, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes ma’am,” I said. “It does. I’m not sure myself exactly what’s going on, but I feel as though my friend and client is in danger, and I mean to do something about it.”

  While we talked, I kept an eye on Jessica. She seemed deep in conversation with Julie, so I had to assume everything was alright.

  “Why, that’s quite admirable,” Nurse Wilkinson said. “Mr. Travis, let me assure you, I had no idea I was being lied to when I was told Mr. Gatlin was being transferred to Memorial Hospital. I’ve never encountered anything like this in all my years of nursing, and I must say that I don’t take kindly to it. So, anything that I can do to help you at this point, I feel obligated to do so.”

  “I understand,” I said. “But I wouldn’t stretch myself too far if I were you. Earlier, Mr. Fitzbrough’s truck was rigged with explosives, enough to flatten the town. Also, someone attempted to kill Mr. Mahoney and destroy Mr. Gatlin’s house at the same time. So, there’s danger, and then there’s danger. I want my daughter away from it.”

  Her eyes, what little of them I could see, grew wider with each snippet of information I gave her. By the time I was done, she appeared downright angry.

  “I’ll take her home with me, if she’ll agree to it. She has her things?”

  “Mr. Mahoney should be here any minute with my car. That is, if he hasn’t... if something hasn’t happened to him.”

  “Fine,” she said, forcing herself to sound calm and natural. “I’ll wait right here.”

  Jessica’s phone went dark and she wandered back to us.

  “Mom’s okay,” she said. “She’s got Patrick there and even Mr. Sterling has shown up. I wouldn’t worry about her or the kids.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “Listen, Jess, I want you to go home with Nurse Wilkinson and spend the night at her place when Willett gets back with our car, that way you can get your overnight bag.”

  “No way, dad!”

  “Yes way,” I said. “I know you want to go with us, but we’re going to have guns. I need you not to argue with me on this one.”

  Jessica’s shoulders sagged in defeat.

  “Alright,” she said.

  Car headlights approached. My car.

  Willett pulled up beside us.

  “I could always drive myself back to the hotel,” Jessica said.

  “Nope,” I said. “Forget it.”

  “Can’t blame me for trying.”

  Nurse Wilkinson laughed. “You’ll like my place,” she said. “I’ve got two granddaughters, one of them your age, and I have a pool table, a swimming pool, horses, and even video games.”

  “Uh. Dad, I’m going to stay at the nice lady’s house, okay?”

  “Sure,” I said. “Keep your phone charged. I’ll call you later tonight.”

  “Yeah. I know you will.”

  Willett got out and of my car and handed me the keys.

  “It was all clean,” he said.

  “Willett,” Dane Fitzbrough finally chimed in, “take Bill over to my trailer and wait for me. I want to have a word with Nurse Wilkinson.”

  Jessica looked at me, did a funny thing with her eyes, and smiled. She knew the score.

 
CHAPTER TWENTY

  Dane Fitzbrough lived in an Airstream travel trailer in the trees not far from the lakes edge, a stone’s throw from the marina where he ran his bar and grill.

  I turned to watch as Nurse Wilkinson backed up, turned her car back onto the main road, and left.

  “That was a smart thing you did there, Bill,” Dane said, “getting your girl out of danger. I don’t think you could have picked a better person to take care of her tonight.”

  “Aw,” Willett said, “shut up, already. You’re just saying that because you’re sweet on that lady.”

  “No I’m not,” Dane objected.

  “Fellahs,” I said. “Enough. Let us proceed unto the armory.”

  They laughed at that, and it was a good sound.

  “Alright,” Dane said, and unlocked his door. There was a split second right before he opened it when I inwardly winced. Would there be an explosion? Was this my last instant of life?

  The door opened to reveal darkness. Dane reached inside and turned the lights on.

  “I’ve got a bit of a collection,” Dane said. “Come choose your weapons, gentlemen. It may be that tonight we attack the U.S. Army.”

  *****

  The examination of the available arms began at Dane’s dining room table at one end of the small trailer. The space seemed cramped for such a big man, but he seemed well enough used to it that he didn’t collide with anything, which was somewhat of a feat.

  Dane opened a tiny broom closet and began loading the table with hardware.

  I was forced to admit, the man had a fairly complete small arms collection, including a few I recognized right off: a Ruger Redhawk .357, an old Mauser of unknown caliber, and a Smith & Wesson .38. There were also a few pump shotguns, a smattering of deer rifles, and some kind of strange thing I’d never seen before.