They slowly made their way back. Nick shone his small Halogen light swaying it back and forth, watching for movement behind bushes and trees. He’d lost track of where Blue and Chris were behind him, only hearing an occasional step against the brittle twigs and brush littering their path.
“Dry out here,” Blue said from behind him.
“Yeah,” Nick answered. “That’s why it was so scary when that fire started out on our land.”
“Found it,” Chris yelled in the distance.
Nick glanced back over his shoulder and saw Blue. “How did your friend get all the way over there without my knowing it?”
Blue chuckled. “He does that. Experience.”
As they curved around a small path, they saw Chris shining his light in front of a rundown shack of a building. Thing had to be under a thousand square feet. As Nick reached him and stepped on the stairs, splintered boards gave way.
“Best to go straight for the concrete porch,” Chris said. “Sorry the warning’s late.”
“It’s okay, foot didn’t go all the way through.” Nick jumped up on the porch, and Blue followed. They made their way through the door.
Nick shone his light into the corners. “Shit, it stinks in here.”
“Probably the dead rabbit,” Blue said.
“Doesn’t smell fresh,” Chris told them. “And Carlos told you it looked like it’d just been killed. Still warm. That wouldn’t stink yet. Where’s the blanket, anyway?”
“I don’t see one,” Nick kept the light circulating on the room. “It’s not a blanket, but I see something over there.” He walked toward the marks he’d seen on the floor. “Over here, guys.”
They followed him and stood where he was stooping, shining a beam. “Blood,” he said. “This had to be where the rabbit was.”
“Where did it go?” Blue asked. “It didn’t hop away.”
“Whoever planted it here must have removed it,” Chris told them. “What was on that note again?”
“It said, ‘Teddy can be bought by the highest bidder.’”
“Hmm.” Chris wandered restlessly around the room with his light.
“What the hell does that mean?” Blue asked.
“I don’t have a clue,” Nick said. “But it sounds ominous.”
“Hey, look at this,” Chris said.
Nick and Blue turned and saw him running his hands across the back wall. Nick got up and followed Blue over there. “Whatcha got?”
“This is cinderblock. Strange to be a back wall.” Chris turned around and stepped back heel to toe to the front door. “Hmm.”
“What are you thinking?” Blue asked, as he walked down the wall shining it as he went.
Chris rubbed his neck. “The house looks longer than this from the outside. I think this block has sealed off part of the house.”
“Why?” Nick asked.
Chris took a deep breath. “I don’t want to say without corroboration, but, as much as I hate to do it, I think we need to call the police.”
“Yep, thought I smelled pot.” Blue picked up a hand full of something from the floor and sniffed it, then looked over his head, shining the light up to the ceiling.
They stared up at the empty hole to the attic. “Oh, hell,” Nick said.
****
Just before ten, Nick closed the front door at Emily’s house. She rounded the corner from the family room, Grady right behind her. “Did you find anything?”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “No rabbit though. And, there was no sign of a blanket. Someone had obviously been there either when Carlos found the note or right after. There was a blood spot.”
“It took you all this time and all you guys found was a blood spot?” Emily asked.
“I never said that.” He paused. “Where’s Carlos?”
“In bed,” Emily said. “School tomorrow. What else did you find?”
“Let’s go back in the family room.” Grady beckoned them forward. “Then the kid can’t have a chance of overhearing anything.”
Nick followed them in and they all sat down. “Oh, shit,” he said. “We are in the middle of a bigger scare than we ever knew.”
“Why do you say that?” Grady leaned forward with his hands laced together, nervously fidgeting.
“Because that house’s attic at one time was stuffed with pot. Then Chris found a fake wall that had been cemented into the back. The cops got there and took our statements, and a state police officer asked us, not so politely, to leave with a warning that next time we call first before doing our own investigation.”
“Did you find out what’s behind the wall?” Emily asked.
Nick shook his head. “I told you they wouldn’t let us stay. They’re working on breaking through it right now.”
“I think Cal is still on duty right now,” Emily said. “I’ll get him to check on it for me. Might cost me a prime rib roast, but what the hell.” She pulled her cell out of her pocket and pushed a button. “Hey, Cal, got a mission for you.” She filled him in and popped the phone shut. She glanced over at Nick. “He said he’d call me back when he found out something.”
“Did Blue or Chris have any idea about the note?” Grady asked.
Nick nodded. “Chris had a suspicion, and somehow I think his suspicions are all backed up by previous similar circumstances. He thinks some of the smugglers were using the house and are sending a warning that if we get too nosy they’ll take the boy.”
“For ransom?” Emily asked.
He shook his head. “To sell.”
She gasped. “Child smuggling?”
He nodded. “His parents disappeared. Why? Now this. There’s something really big out there, and we stumbled on it.”
Emily’s phone rang. She popped it open. “What did you find out?” She gasped for the second time. This time her face blanched. “Cal, you’re kidding. Yeah, I’ll tell them. Don’t tell me what kind of food you want right now. I may throw up.” She closed her phone.
“Well?” Nick asked.
“They found Carlos’s parents,” she said and then began to sob.
****
“The social services department had to take him there for a few days,” Millie told Nick. “We didn’t have any choice. They have to search for next of kin.”
Nick took a sip of lukewarm coffee and looked up at Millie on the other side of the pharmacy counter. “He’s going to be miserable. I couldn’t even look him in the eye when they took him out of here.”
“Don’t worry,” Emily said, putting her arm around his shoulder. “Aunt Millie’ll get him out of there as soon as they process him.”
“You bet your sweet patootie.” Millie winked “I’ve already said I’ll foster him.”
“You’ll foster him?” Nick focused his eyes on her.
“Don’t get your briefs in a wad,” she said, with a mother-like stern voice. “I’m already registered, and to get you through the system not having permanent residence here and being single would be a nightmare. This way he can stay with you, and I’ll just come back over until everything shakes down.”
“What if everything shakes down the wrong way?” Emily asked. “What if they find grandparents or aunts and uncles in Mexico?”
Millie shook her head. “I’m not sure. I don’t think they can extradite him since he’s an American citizen, born here. But his parents were illegal. No visa.”
“What about the bodies?” Nick asked. “Will they be sent back?”
Millie played with the napkin holder and the salt and pepper shaker on the counter. “They’ll be cremated, I’m sure. I’ll try to see if I can get them to release them back here so we can have a service. Not sure what I have to do.”
“If I ever get my hands on those butchers.” Nick flexed his knuckles. “I’ll personally tear their hearts out.”
Emily rubbed his back. “Like Blue always says, you’ll have to stand in line.’”
“Enough of this moping.” Millie slapped her hands down o the counter. “You
’re going to eat a hearty breakfast on the house, ham and eggs and toast with juice, and then you’re going to do business as close to usual as you can. It’s the only way you keep on living.”
“I guess you’re right.” He stared blankly into space, only seeing Carlos’s face swimming before his eyes.
“Hell, yes, I am,” Millie said. “Can’t remember the last time someone proved I was wrong.” She grinned at him, her eyes twinkling. “So how you want your eggs?”
“Fried, I guess.” Nick took another sip of coffee. “I feel like I’m already fried. I sent Grady out there to make sure that damned surveyor redoes our measurements. Hopefully nothing else will explode today.” His phone vibrated on the table. “Or not.” He picked it up. “Yeah, Grady? Oh shit. Just wonderful. I’ll be there in about five minutes.”
“What’s the matter now?” Emily asked.
“Now I have to speak to somebody from the Mexican consulate.”
****
“Hey, Em.” Cal walked up to her desk as she entered. “Sorry about the bad news last night, but I still get some food, right?”
“Yeah, sure,” she said. “What do you want, Cal? Maybe cooking will take my mind off everything else.”
“I was thinking about one of them cherry cheesecakes. You know, one of them ones you bake from scratch and use your aunt’s homemade canned cherries on top?”
Emily slapped her hand down. “Come on, Cal, that takes almost an entire evening. Couldn’t it be simple like a roast or a casserole? Something I can just pop in the oven?”
“Em, I’m on split duty right now,” he said. “Twelve hours shifts. I get off in another couple of hours and I need some calories soon, or the little I have on my bones will waste away to nothing. I won’t even pass my P.E. next year.”
“Okay,” she groaned. “Cheesecake it is.”
“You know,” he said, “Quent wasn’t too happy about my snooping last night. I think he believes I don’t take my job too seriously.”
“Yeah. Well, Quent isn’t from here, so he’s a little more stilted and by the book. Can’t fault him. He’s been a good deputy.” She grabbed a scrawled letter from the sheriff. “I’ve got to get on with the typing. I’ll have your cheesecake for you tomorrow.”
“Good deal.” He winked. “I’m off at ten, but I’ll check on things this evening and see if forensics found anything on those people. I’m always on the job.”
He strode away like a bantam rooster.
“Have food, will snoop.” Emily shook her head and popped open a blank Word doc.
****
“Blue Moon,” Millie cackled. “What the hell got you over here instead of the Good Ole Boys? Thought you ate lunch over there all the time.”
Blue slid into a booth. “No offense, Millie, but I like their burgers better, and I don’t have to hear you yelling at all the guys.”
“So, what’s the honor now?”
He patted the top of the other side of the table. “Sit down on the other side of the booth and take a break.”
She eyed him curiously and slipped in. “Hey, Flo! Take over. I’m conferencing.” She turned back to him. “Must be something big.”
He nodded. “Maybe. I had Chris check with some friends of his from a long time ago. Wanted him to find out if they knew if any illegal activity was going on around here.”
She sank back against the booth seat. “These friends are from where?”
He exhaled. “Come on, Mil, you broadcast better than the evening news. Do you honestly think I want to go into detail?”
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. “Blue Moon, if this has to do with Emily and Nick, trying to pry information outta me would be like somebody trying to remove my heart while I was awake and with my permission. Family doesn’t rat on kin.”
He nodded. “’Nuff said. Let’s just say these guys are professionals, and they don’t work for the government.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said, her voice trailing off. “I always believed Chris had a much richer past than he let on.”
“Don’t go there,” he said, his voice gruff. “He’s my friend, and I’m not interested on his going anywhere. And I don’t think Cindy wants him to either.”
“Got it,” she said. “I remember about you and the tar balls incident. Don’t want any tar on me. Continue.”
“Okay. Anyway, according to Chris, there’s definitely a drug ring right here just outside Climax with informants in town somewhere. But, what we didn’t know, until now, is this same ring has expanded its control. Let’s say, diversified.”
“Diversified how?” she asked.
He cleared his voice. “They knew what but not how. That wasn’t clear.” He leaned forward. “It appears,” he said, dropping his voice, “that even all the drug people aren’t aware of these particular businesses the main guy is running.”
“Spit it out,” Millie said. “What’s going on and why are you telling me instead of Emily?”
“Because, Millie, sweetheart,” he said, “I think Emily is not only head-over-heels in love with Nick Troy, but I think she’s taken to Carlos like a mama dog adopting orphaned kittens. It’s too close to her world.”
“It’s my world too, Blue Moon.” She glared at him.
His face was somber, sagging jaw, eyes dark, as he stared at her. “You have an outer shell made of pure titanium, I think that’s what Emily told me. Nothing’s getting through that sucker if you have to take the hard knocks, just like me, except my outer shell may be stainless steel, but I won’t quibble. If something happens to the ones you love, you have to be ready to cover them. And I think you can figure out the best way to break it to them instead of me. That’s why I’m telling you.”
“So?”
He took a deep breath. “So, the illegal aliens, the ones getting up here to work the farms?”
She nodded.
“The ones who are women, and young, and the children who they brought with ’em.”
“Yeah?”
“They’re being kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped?” she asked.
He nodded. “Smuggled for labor and sex.”
“The Mafia’s doing that?” she asked, her voice rising.
“Shh, shh, shh,” he said. “This better not get out.”
She tapped her fists on the table as quietly as she could. “I don’t understand.”
Blue nodded. “Oh, it’s the Mafia. But not ours. Not the Cosa Nostra. The Mexican Mafia, La Em.”
****
“He’s messing up, I tell you.” Lieutenant looked at Kingpin, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and his arms crossed. “Monstruo is the one who lost the load of pot, and he’s messing with a Mexican kid, little shit who squatted in that house and is now staying with Emily Franklin. That’s big trouble, because if she turns the spotlight on him, we’ll get the glare.”
Kingpin puffed on a huge Cuban stogie and blew the smoke in his face. “Instead of worrying about what other people are doing, why don’t you take care of your assigned task?”
“Because I can’t get any of them by themselves.” Lieutenant coughed and pushed his chair out of the line of smoke. “They travel in packs like female lions. And when they do break up, which is mostly for sleeping and eating, they have family and friends with them. Even Millie Franklin’s been shacking up with one of the Dazzle guys.”
Kingpin blew smoke rings. “Then she should be the best target of all.”
“What do I do with the old dude?”
Kingpin snickered. “Haven’t you ever heard about creating a diversion?”
“Like what?”
Kingpin leaned forward. “When I worked for my old employers, we called it Deputy Decoy. It goes like this….”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Luke sat down next to Sam on a private dock overlooking Smith Mountain Lake. “Nice place. Since when do you have the money to rent something like this?” He chuckled.
“I do now, but this isn’t the spoils fr
om our recent coups. You see, my current job also has certain perks. The boss likes what I’m doing, so he’s letting me use it when I’m not working.” Sam jerked as his rod went down. “Look at that. Don’t even have to go out in a boat.”
“Shit,” Luke said, “I reel ’em without a hook every Sunday. Glassy-eyed and hungry. Starting this weekend I hope to have record numbers and record collections.” He rubbed his hands together.
Sam smirked as he took the perch off the hook and threw it back in the water. “Very funny, brother. Where’s Mark anyway?”
Luke shrugged. “Don’t have a clue. We don’t communicate any in Climax for obvious reasons. Why did you want us all to meet anyway?”
Sam shook his head. “Oh, no you don’t. I’ll wait until Big Brother gets here.” Looking behind him up toward the house, he pointed. “Here he comes now. Hell, he doesn’t look very happy.”
As Mark reached the dock, carrying a cooler, he let out a line of expletives. “There, that feels better.” He sat down on the other side of the dock from his two brothers and reached in removing a beer. Popping it, he glanced up at his siblings. “You guys have plush assignments compared to me. Thank me for your good fortune.”
“We do, Bro.” Luke laughed. “Would you like me to say a prayer over you to save your sanity?”
He shook his head. “Did you have to become a fake preacher just because Mom named us for chapters in the Bible? Not that it didn’t come in handy in this town.”
Luke leaned his arm back against the railing. “Nope. I did it for the adoration and the money.” He glanced at Mark. “You just make sure that whole drug infrastructure never finds out we’re all related. They would suspect a double-cross.”
“And they’d be right.” Mark laughed and hit his knee. “I’d like to see Kingpin’s reaction right now after discovering all the pot was gone. He must have been steamed since he’d already lost the load of coke.”
“Glad to see you can still laugh,” Sam said. “I was beginning to worry your face was broke.”
“Yours would be like that, too, if you had to work with the people I work with. A bunch of misfits with muscles and no brains.” Mark shook his head.
Unforgettable Heroes II Boxed Set Page 138
