by Carolina Mac
Blaine joined Doctor Simon, the medical examiner, and had a quick look at the corpses as they were being bundled into the body bags.
Innocents. People asleep in their beds. Deaths of innocents bothered him the most.
Farrell returned from the corner with Mary Polito and Raj Singh, the photographer on staff she used most often. Raj was a polite guy and appreciated getting the inside track on newsworthy shots whenever Blaine sent them his way.
“Thanks for the wake-up, Blaine,” said Mary. “We appreciate it.”
Raj shook Blaine’s hand, thanked him for the exclusive, then began getting shots of the blaze.
“Let’s talk in the truck, Mary,” said Blaine. “Easier for you to take notes if you’re sitting down.”
JESSE was at breakfast with his brothers in the dining room at Quantrall when he got Blacky’s call. Charity pointed at the cell phone, something she did without fail every time it rang, and Jesse smiled at her every single time. He couldn’t help it.
“Yeah, Blacky.”
“Thompson’s running wild and I can’t interview Ward Ingram and Celia Stone this morning like I wanted to.” He filled Jesse in on what Misty thought. “Maybe you can shake something loose.”
“Do they know I’m coming?”
“They think I’m coming at ten, so they’ll be semi-prepared if they’re covering something up.”
“Does Mr. Ingram know about the affair?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” said Blaine. “You handle it however you want to.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ve got a couple hours to think about it.”
“Call me when you’re finished, and we’ll meet somewhere and run through everything.”
BACK at the Agency, exhausted and reeking of smoke, Blaine and Farrell grabbed a bite of breakfast while they waited for the crew to arrive for work. Lane, Pablo and Fletcher arrived at eight sharp and Farrell updated them while Blaine made calls.
“Chief, I need a warrant for Lou Thompson’s house. I’m gonna come down hard on the brother and try to make him give something up.”
“Yep, I’ll have Ranger Ruskin find a judge and pick it up for you.”
“Thanks Chief. Did the morgue get the fire victims?”
“Just arrived. They’ll have to wait in line.”
“That’s okay,” said Blaine. “I’m sending Jesse to interview the Churchill’s neighbors. See what he can find out.”
“Will I see him later?”
“I told him to call when he finished, and we’d get together.”
“Yep, we need to see where we are on both cases.”
Next, Blaine touched base with Travis. “All calm at the DA’s office?”
“Absolutely,” said Travis, “I think Mr. Leighton is beginning to think he was worrying for nothing.”
Blaine filled him in on what happened overnight. “Thompson is out there and until he’s behind bars again, the threat is real.”
“I’ll tell the DA. Call me later. I hate not being with the team.”
Blaine ended the call and waved an arm towards the door. “Let’s get started. Two vehicles. Fletch and Farrell go straight to Lou Thompson’s house. I’ll take Lane and Pablo, pick up the warrant and meet y’all there.”
FARRELL parked in Lou Thompson’s driveway. He’d passed one of the junkers down the block on surveillance, so brother Ewing was definitely not here. He knocked on the front door and waited. “Lou plays late every night at the T n T, so he probably doesn’t get up until noon,” said Farrell to Fletcher.
He knocked again and a dark-haired girl in a short housecoat opened the door. She stood and stared, not very wide awake.
“I need to speak to Lou Thompson,” said Farrell holding his creds in front of her face.
“He’s asleep.”
“We need to come in and wake him up.” Farrell pointed inside, and the girl backed up a little.
“Why, what happened?”
“Wake him up and tell him his brother killed four people overnight and I need to ask him some questions.”
The girl shook her head. “Ewing wouldn’t do that. He’s not like he was.”
“And you know that how?”
“I used to be his girlfriend a long time ago.”
“What’s your name, Miss?” asked Farrell.
“Mattie Larch.”
“Well, Miss Mattie, we’re coming in to talk to Lou. Appreciate it if you’d get him out of bed.”
“What if I don’t want you to come in?”
“Then you both can answer questions at headquarters. Your choice. Either we come in or we take you to DPS for an interview.”
“Shit. Wait in the living room. I’ll wake Lou up.”
“Thanks.” Farrell and Fletcher sat in the small living room and waited. The room was simply furnished in neutral tones but surprisingly neat and clean.
A few minutes ticked by before a groggy looking Lou Thompson shuffled into the living room wearing only a pair of faded, torn jeans. He slumped down in a recliner and blew out a breath. “Okay, what did my brother do?”
“He set fire to his former residence and four people are dead. He also left a dozen people homeless.”
“Why in hell would he do that? Doesn’t make sense.”
“When was the last time you saw Ewing?”
“Last night. He came to the roadhouse. I was on the stage, so I didn’t talk to him. Just saw him with another guy, then they were gone.”
“Was he with Bud Palatka?”
Lou shrugged. “I don’t know who that is.”
“Friend of Ewing’s. An arsonist on probation. He set the fire for your brother and Ewing killed him for his trouble.”
Lou shook his head. “That ain’t fuckin true. Ew ain’t a murderer.”
Farrell smiled. “Course he is. One of the worst. Kills random innocents. Anybody gets in his way. Bang. You’re dead”
“Shut up.” Lou pointed an angry finger.
There was a knock on the door, then it opened wide, and Blaine walked in holding up the warrant. “Lou Thompson, we have a warrant to search your premises for anything relating to your brother, Ewing Thompson. I’d appreciate it if you’d let my team do their job and we’ll be out of here as soon as possible.”
Lou was on his feet hollering, “Y’all can’t walk in here and tear my house apart. Ew was only here a couple days. This is my house and Mattie’s. You won’t find a bloody thing here that belongs to my brother.”
EWING stepped out of the shower and ordered breakfast from room service. He checked the time on the new burner phone he’d bought, and he had an hour before his appointment. “Hope they don’t take all fuckin day with the food. I’ve got shit to do.”
JESSE KNOCKED on the door of Ward Ingram’s condo five minutes early and Ward opened the door immediately.
Ward stared at Jesse for a minute, then said, “I was expecting Ranger Blackmore.”
Jesse stuck out his hand. “I’m Ranger Quantrall. Ranger Blackmore is detained on another case and asked me to fill in. I’m his partner.”
“Come in,” said Ward. He ushered Jesse into an open living area furnished in chrome, glass and white leather. The floor to ceiling windows were curtainless and sunlight flooded the room. “Please have a seat. Celia has a pot of coffee on.”
“Coffee would be fantastic,” said Jesse. He sat on the loveseat with his back to the bright sunlight.
Ward sat down in a red wing chair, the only color in the room, and waited for Jesse to begin the conversation.
“How long have y’all lived next door to the Churchills?”
“We bought our condo before they did. They moved in about a month later, and that was three years ago. Time flies.”
“Sure does,” said Celia as she set the tray down on the low glass table. “Help yourself, Ranger Quantrall.”
“Thanks.” Jesse filled a cup and added a splash of cream.
Celia sat down on the sofa and asked in a pleasant voice. “This is our third int
erview, Ranger Quantrall. Is that normal?”
“Uh huh, usual for a person of interest in a murder investigation.”
“Why is Ward a person of interest?” Celia asked.
Jesse smiled. “Actually, you are the person of interest, Ms. Stone. Perhaps we should speak privately.”
Celia’s eyes flashed fear for a nanosecond and it took her a moment to recover.
“That won’t be necessary, Ranger.” Ward reached over and patted Celia’s leg. “Celia and I have no secrets.”
I’m going for it.
“Then you knew about her affair with Bartley Churchill?”
Ward didn’t even flinch. “What? That’s absurd,” he turned his head and stared but managed to keep his voice even. “Celia didn’t even like Bart that well. Did you, honey?”
“Friends only. I was closer to Sienna.” She managed a sniffle and crossed the room for a tissue.
These two are slick.
Jesse finished his coffee and thanked them. “Appreciate you both talking to me.”
“Are we finished now with the police?” asked Ward. “This has been a trying time for us and we’d like to put it behind us.”
“We’ll try to wrap things up as quickly as possible,” said Jesse.
He took the elevator down to the lobby and sat in his Range Rover to make the call. “All set in Ingram’s condo, Blacky. We should be in for some interesting conversation.”
“Thanks, Jesse. I’ll put a couple of the boys on it tonight.”
THE SEARCH of Lou Thompson’s house proved fruitless. Nothing turned up giving a single clue to where Ewing had gone off to, and if Lou knew, he wasn’t saying. Mattie cried throughout the whole process watching the house she kept so neat and clean being turned upside down.
Blaine searched in particular for the items Ewing had purchased at Home Depot on his way home from Huntsville, but there was no sign of any of it. No new padlock on anything, either. Nothing in the back shed but the lawnmower and Lou’s tools. Nothing.
ON THE WAY back to the agency, Farrell stopped to grab an evening paper from the box on the corner. He jumped back into the truck and tossed the paper across the console. “There he is on the front page, Fletch. We’ll get thousands of phone calls and none of them will be worth the time it takes to answer.”
“Maybe the junkers have picked up his trail,” said Fletch.
Farrell shook his head. “Don’t think so. They would’ve called the boss.”
“We working tonight?”
“I am,” said Farrell. “I’ve been trying to reach Kamps all day to set something up, but he must be out there busting his butt selling drugs to twelve-year-olds.”
“Got any other good informants?” asked Fletch.
“One hooker that’s given me a few good tips. She’s a user and always needs cash for her habit.”
“Maybe she knows something.”
“Might be worth a shot,” said Farrell. “I’ll see if I can find her tonight.”
“What’s her name?”
“Taffy. Don’t know her last name.”
BLAINE FOLLOWED Farrell’s red truck through the gate and they went in the house for a beer to recap the day and chew over both cases. Blaine believed in talking things through with all the boys. A lot of good suggestions had come from it in the past. He was standing in front of the Sub-Zero when the Governor called.
“Cat, is there a problem?”
“Bart called, and he’s upset.”
“Why? We haven’t hassled him today. Pursuing other avenues.”
“I guess one of the ‘other avenues’ cried on his shoulder. He’s asking that the police stop questioning Celia Stone.”
Blaine chuckled. “Not gonna happen, Cat. She’s the other woman and our best lead.”
“There is no other woman, sweetie. I told you that.”
“Jesse did the interview this morning and he got a different impression.”
“He did?” asked Cat. “I trust his judgement. He’s a fine man.”
“You trust his judgement more than mine, I take it?”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
Blaine’s voice had an edge that could cut diamonds. “You did.” He pressed end and grabbed for a Corona.
He chugged half down and stepped out of the way, so Farrell could reach cans of Lone Star for the boys. “Have a scrap with your BFF?”
“Don’t fuckin call her that.” Blaine stomped to the table. “And bring me another Corona.”
Carm called to him from the center island where she was peeling vegetables for dinner, “Quieres lima?”
He shook his head and waved the boys to the table. “Let’s get started.”
EWING ate dinner alone in his suite. Best food he’d had in years. He placed the tray in the hallway when he was finished and went back inside to work on his project. When everything was ready and packed neatly into two genuine leather briefcases he smiled, pleased with himself, then retreated to the bedroom to sleep until it was time.
WITH TRAVIS tied up guarding the DA, Jesse and Fletcher were the next team up for surveillance. Jesse was familiar with the equipment and the dark green camper perched on the back of a matching Ford pickup belonged to him. He generously left the unit parked at the agency for Blacky to use any time he needed to.
Fletcher also possessed electronic smarts and had worked with Travis before on several cases.
Jesse parked in the visitor’s lot at Congress Condos. He chose a spot farthest from the front entrance of the building and under cover of a couple of tall oaks.
“Ingram’s condo is on the twenty-fourth floor,” said Fletch. “Think we’ll be able to hear?”
“Oh, yeah. I think so. Hope they give us a confession.”
Fletcher laughed. “That would make the boss happy.”
Jesse smiled.
AFTER FARRELL left the house for one of his clandestine rendezvous in a lesser area of Austin, Blaine hunkered down in his office to see if he could find any property near Lady Bird Lake connected to Bartley Churchill. Just a guess on Misty’s part, but she was seldom wrong.
Twenty minutes of probing gave him an address. Bart, the cheater, had bought an end unit in a townhouse complex the previous October, probably shortly after the affair started to sizzle.
I’ll talk to him tomorrow and see if he admits it.
THURSDAY NIGHT was huge in the dance club area of the city. The crowd was young, vibrant and full of life. A lot of them were also full of alcohol and drugs. But they all had one thing in mind—they were all looking for a good time.
Kamps would follow the crowd and push his product until he was cleaned out, then he’d crawl back under his rock until the next night.
All I have to do is find him.
Farrell was dressed in his day to day clothes, torn jeans and a t-shirt, with a denim jacket over top to cover the harness. Cowboy boots and hat completed the look or non-look. Most of the young crowd in the city flaunted a more preppy look and Farrell didn’t blend in well.
For two hours, he walked the street searching club after club until his ears hurt from music he wasn’t fond of, and his feet hurt from too much slapping leather against concrete. His mood had darkened and thoughts of giving up were creeping into his head as he caught a glimpse of Kamps standing in an alleyway between buildings.
Dealing to a customer Kamps looked up, always searching the night for narcs, saw it was Farrell and gave a slight nod of his head.
Farrell waited. Gave Kamps space until he finished his business, then joined him in the alley as soon as Kamp’s customer disappeared into the club next door. “Buy you a beer?”
Kamps shrugged. “Guess I could take a break.”
Farrell stuck his head in the doorway of a couple of places before he saw a bar they could even get close to. “Let’s try this one.” He bought the beer and steered Kamps to a table in the corner. The tables were no bigger around than a manhole cover and none of the empty ones had been cleared or wiped off. Far
rell shoved the empty glasses out of the way and set the beer down.
“I ain’t heard nothing new, if that’s what you’re after. Nobody’s saying shit about Thompson because they don’t want to be fuckin dead. That’s why.”
“How’s he gonna know what the peeps are saying?”
Kamps’ eyes narrowed. “The fucker will know. That’s how.”
“Why did he leave Lou’s place?” asked Farrell.
“How should I know if it was a fight over pussy? Don’t ask me nothing.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Farrell took a long pull on his beer. “Where’s he at now?”
Kamps held up a hand. “You trying your best to demise me?”
“Nope. Gotta find him and kill the fucker, so you’ll be safe.” Farrell took an envelope out of his pocket and laid it on the table.
“Yeah? You gonna cap him?”
“First chance I get.”
“Found his stash and moving up,” said Kamps. “Always a fan of high living.”
“Want another beer?” asked Farrell.
“Nope. I want to get paid. Y’all wouldn’t go for the two K and look what that cost y’all. Poor stupid Palatka. Asshole trusted him.”
“You knew the plan?”
“I ain’t stupid.”
“What’s coming next?”
Kamps shrugged. “You ain’t got enough cash to find out. Never will have. I’m outta here.” He picked up his envelope and beat it.
JESSE flicked the switch and put the audio on speaker when Ward Ingram began yelling at Celia.
“When were you going to get around to telling me you were leaving?”
“Soon, Ward. As soon as possible. Another day with you filled with creditors calling and all our money going to the horses is one day too long. I’m not living like this anymore. You won’t go get help for your gambling, so I’m helping myself to a better life.”
“And that old fart Bart is gonna give you the life you want?”
