The Texas Ranger's Nanny

by Rebecca Winters

  If someone tried to call him on the phone and pretended to be Claire, they had to give him the password. The same held true if someone pretending to be Jeremy called her. The two of them laughed about it when Jeremy came up with the plan, but she wasn’t laughing now. If that dear boy wasn’t found soon...

  Too many negative thoughts ran through her mind as she called the last name on the list of Jeremy’s friends. Her heart sank to learn that his friend Nate had been home from school all day with a cold and had no idea where Jeremy could be.

  * * *

  VIC RACED TO his boss’s office. “Captain?”

  TJ Horton raised his gray head. “What is it, Vic? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “My son is missing. I don’t have a good feeling about this, and I’m headed over to Pinehurst Elementary on Wilson Drive right now. I’m going to treat it as a crime scene and I’ll need backup to meet me there. Put a surveillance crew on my house. Claire could be in danger as we speak.”

  The head of the Rangers nodded. “Kit’s in the building. I’ll send him over there, too, and I’ll tell Dino and Carlos to keep an eye on your nanny.”

  “Thanks.”

  Vic rushed out to his gray Chevy Tahoe in the parking area. On his way to the school, Claire phoned to tell him she was at the house, but Jeremy wasn’t there. She’d called the mothers of all the kids he played with, but no one had seen or heard from him.

  “Thanks. You stay put, Claire. I’ll be in touch soon. Just so you know, we’re putting some men outside the house to guard you. They’ll be in a surveillance van, so don’t be worried when you see an unfamiliar vehicle near the house.”

  “I won’t.”

  Vic’s cold sweat had seeped through his clothes by the time he reached the school. He ran into the main office, where he found the principal telling some other teachers about Jeremy. She turned to him. “Ranger Malone, we’re devastated this has happened.”

  “Me, too. I need a list of all personnel working inside and outside the building with addresses and phone numbers.”

  “Here’s a copy for you,” the secretary said and handed the sheet to him.

  “Thank you.” He turned to the principal again. “Who was on recess duty today? I need to know if there were any strangers on the playground or maintenance workers from the school district.”

  “I’ll get all that information for you right now.”

  Mrs. Rigby walked over to him. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “It’s not your fault. I just want to know if Jeremy was acting any different than usual today.”

  “No. He’s a good student and always well behaved. They were finishing their math when the bell rang. He’s almost always the first one out of his desk, and today was no exception. That’s all I can tell you.”

  “Did you have any visitors in your class? Anything different from the normal routine?”

  “No. Nothing.”

  “When he first got to school this morning, he didn’t seem upset? It didn’t seem as if there could be anything bothering him?”

  “No. Today was a very normal day from beginning to end.”

  Vic sucked in his breath. “Okay. Thank you.” He saw his close friend Kit out of the corner of his eye. The other Ranger made a beeline for him. “The crew is already setting up a place in the classroom next door to fingerprint everyone working in the building.”

  As they spoke, he could hear the principal over the loudspeaker asking all the teachers and staff to come to the office for a police matter.

  “Glad you’re here, Kit. Claire’s phoned all the parents of Jeremy’s friends. No one has seen him. Let’s scour the second grade pod area first. He was in his seat right up until the bell rang. Whatever happened took place immediately after dismissal.”

  Directly outside the classroom was a cloakroom where the kids kept their coats and backpacks on hooks and a shelf that ran the length of the wall. With the exception of a Windbreaker on one of the hooks and a baseball cap with a Texas Longhorns logo, neither of which belonged to Jeremy, the cloakroom was empty.

  Vic shook his head. “Jeremy wouldn’t have come in here after school since he keeps his backpack with him.”

  From the hallway outside the cloakroom there was a short walk past other classrooms to get to the main hallway. At that point, you could either go left to the office or right to an exit that led to the playground area. En route to the exit, they passed a door that said Custodial Staff.

  Vic glanced at Kit. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Yup. It’s a perfect place to hide or nab a kid walking down the hall.”

  Vic pulled a pair of plastic gloves from his back pocket and put them on before turning the knob. The door was locked. “I’ll call the office to send someone down to open it.”

  Kit said, “I’ll go outside the building to see where it leads. Be right back.”

  In a minute a custodian who looked to be in his fifties showed up. “I’m Oscar Fyans, the head custodian. How can I help?”

  Vic asked him how many custodians worked at the school.

  “There are three of us.”

  “Do you all have your own areas that you’re responsible for?”

  “Yes. I have the second floor.”

  “Who’s in charge of the first floor?”

  “Reba Cowan covers the auditorium, library, the gym, the cafeteria and the grounds. Leroy Bennett covers the first-floor classrooms and bathrooms, but he called in sick this morning, so Reba and I are covering for him.”

  “How many years have you worked here?”

  “Fifteen.”

  “What about Mrs. Cowan?”

  “She’s going on thirteen years.”

  “And Leroy Bennett?”

  “He’s only been here a couple of months.” For some reason that sent up a red flag. “The other custodian retired.”

  “I see. Have you been in this closet at any time today?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Where’s Mrs. Cowan right now?”

  “She’s in the office with the rest of the staff.”

  “Will you get her on the phone so I can speak to her?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Oscar punched in some numbers and after getting Reba on the line, he passed the phone to Vic. “Mrs. Cowan? This is Ranger Malone. As you know, my son Jeremy has been missing since school let out. Have you been over in the second grade pod or the main hallway at any time since school started today?”

  “No. I heard Leroy called in sick, so I was going to get to that area after I finished my regular rounds.”

  “Thank you.” He handed the phone back to Oscar. “Is it the rule to keep these storage closets locked?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “So if Leroy didn’t show up today, then to your knowledge this closet hasn’t been opened since it was locked last evening.”

  “That’s right. Leroy would have ensured it was locked before leaving the school.”

  “Will you please put on this glove and unlock the door for me?” Vic pulled another glove from his pocket.

  After the custodian put it on, he pulled up his chain of keys from his belt and found the right key. When it clicked, Vic turned the knob and opened the door. He discovered a person could lock the door from the inside.

  “Take your time looking around in here, Mr. Fyans. Do you see anything missing?”

  The man scratched his head. “Yeah. There should be the big garbage can set on wheels that we roll to the classrooms, but it’s not here.”

  “That’s all I need to know. Thank you. Please go to the office and get fingerprinted. I’ll take your glove.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Kit rejoined him and Vic told him about the missing garbage c
an. “You didn’t by any chance see a garbage can with wheels while you were outside, did you?”

  Kit shook his head. “But there are a couple of maintenance vehicles parked right outside on the playground. I talked to two men who were doing some repair work on the roof. If Jeremy was taken out this exit, another vehicle could have been waiting there for him and no one would have questioned it. I checked for tire marks on the asphalt outside the door and didn’t see any. I’ve put in a call to the school district to find out if a truck is missing.”

  “Good. Let’s search this closet thoroughly.”

  Kit pulled on his own pair of gloves and started dusting for prints.

  * * *

  “ARE YOU THINKING there could be some connection to the big arrest you made three months ago?”

  Vic grimaced because Kit had been reading his mind. Two months ago Vic had been appointed to the NIGC known as the Indian Gaming Working Group because of that arrest. The group consisted of representatives in the economic crimes unit of graft and corruption. Their work was to identify resources to address the most pressing criminal violations in the area of Indian illegal gambling interests.

  After tracking down violations from one of the Indian casinos near Luckenbach, Vic had arrested lobbyist Edgar “Lefty” Quarls for committing conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion. He and his slippery gang of thugs had grossly overbilled their clients and secretly split the multimillion-dollar profits. In one case they orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.

  At the last report, the tribes were being bilked out of $85 million, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. As one of the key people spearheading the scandal and then being appointed to the NIGC, Vic had no doubts Jeremy had been kidnapped as a personal warning to him to lay off.

  This wasn’t the case of someone wanting a ransom. Vic didn’t have that kind of money. Like Kit, the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced this had to do with his new assignment to the gaming group dedicated to making more arrests.

  To take Vic’s child from the school in broad daylight smacked of revenge in its most evil form. Lefty had to be involved with someone very high up politically who knew the particulars about Vic’s life and hated him enough to hire someone to help pull this off. Why not bribe a janitor?

  At the thought of anyone harming Jeremy, searing pain reached his gut, almost cutting off his breathing.

  “Your son is tough. We’re going to find him, Vic.”

  He nodded and brushed the tears from his eyes with his shirtsleeve. They checked every inch of the closet for clues that Jeremy had been held there. As far as Vic could tell, there was no sign of a struggle.

  After they’d taken half a dozen fingerprints and put them in bags to send to forensics, Vic looked at the yellow bucket wringer in the corner. He walked over and lifted the mop. In the bottom of the bucket he saw a round two-inch button.

  He leaned over and picked it up. The second he saw the picture, his heart leaped. “This looks like one of the action hero magnets Jeremy got for Christmas!”

  “If that’s his, he’s left you a clue, Vic. He’s not your son for nothing.”

  “Dear Lord, I hope that’s true. It means he was dragged in here and able to get it out of his pocket or backpack before he was taken away.” Vic slid the magnet into another baggie.

  Kit said, “You drive to the lab quick while I round up the crew. We’ll meet you at headquarters. Do you have Jeremy’s prints on file?”

  “Yes. Last year he wanted to know what it was like when we made an arrest, so I had him fingerprinted at the office to experience the process. I made a copy for him to take home, but his prints are on my computer.”

  “Then before long you should know if you have a match.”

  Vic made sure the closet was locked and then hurried outside to his car while Kit took off in the other direction. On the drive to headquarters, he phoned Claire.

  “Any news?” she cried. Her question meant his precious son hadn’t come home. His heart almost failed him, but he had to focus. Every minute Jeremy was gone, the chances of getting him back alive diminished.

  “Claire? Do me a favor? Check on those little two-inch magnets he has in his room with the action figures on them.” This was a long shot, but it was imperative he investigate every possible lead. “I think there were eight of them. Let me know if any are missing.”

  “Just a second. He usually keeps them in the top drawer of his desk.”

  Thank heaven she knew his son so well. Every second while he waited, visions of what could be happening to Jeremy passed through his mind, torturing him.

  “Vic? I found six.”

  “Do you know which two are missing?”

  “Yes. His favorites—Wolverine and Sabretooth. Why do you ask?”

  He looked at the face of the magnet through the baggie. “Because I’m holding Wolverine in my hand. I believe he left me a clue in the janitor’s closet outside his classroom. I found it in the bottom of the bucket.”

  “Oh Vic—I know he did.”

  The conviction in her voice sent chills through him. “How do you know?”

  “Did I ever tell you about the password your son thought up while we were playing spy one day?”

  Vic drew in a deep breath. “No. What password?”

  In the next minute she explained about their secret code. “He knew exactly what he was doing when he left Wolverine there for you to find. That clever boy. I love him so much. I know you’re going to find him,” she said with tears in her voice. “I just know it!”

  She was a marvel. More than anything on earth he wanted to believe her. He couldn’t lose Jeremy. The thought was unfathomable. “You’ve given me hope, Claire. Thank you. I’m at headquarters now. I’ll call you later.”

  He hung up and, after haphazardly parking his vehicle, hurried through the building to the forensics lab. To Vic’s relief the head lab technician was still there. “Stan?”

  Before Vic said anything else, the other man rushed over to him with a concerned look on his face. “I heard about your son. What can I do to help?”

  His compassion was touching. “We’ve got more fingerprint samples coming from the staff at the school, but I’d like to find out if Jeremy’s fingerprints are on this.” He handed him the bag with the magnet. “We found it in the janitor’s closet outside Jeremy’s classroom. I’ll go upstairs and send my son’s set of fingerprints to you right now.”

  “I’ll get on it immediately.”

  Vic raced up the stairs two at a time. Little did he dream that one day those fingerprints he’d taken to satisfy his son’s curiosity would be needed.

  It didn’t take him long to get on his computer and send the vital information to the lab from his personal file. When Vic went back down, he found Kit had arrived with the other bags. “I’ve got Leroy Bennett’s address. When you’re ready, I’ll drive over to his place with you and we’ll find out if he was really sick today.”

  Vic’s teeth ground together. “Yup. Someone had a key to that closet who shouldn’t have.”

  They moved over to the table where Stan was working. He had images of Jeremy’s fingerprints up on the screen in front of him. He studied the print that had been taken off the magnet with his magnifying loop. Finally he turned to Vic. “They’re a match.”

  Until Stan gave him the verdict, Vic didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath. Kit clamped his hand on Vic’s shoulder. “Okay. Now we know where we’re going with this.”

  He nodded. “Let’s head upstairs and run Leroy Bennett’s name through the IAFIS database. If he has a criminal record, we’ll find out. Thanks, Stan.”

  “We’ll do whatever we can down here to help.”

  Vic hurried back upstairs to his office and typed in Bennet
t’s name on the computer in case he had a police record. Kit stood next to him while they waited to see if anything came up.

  “Here we go,” Vic muttered.

  William Leroy Bennett, 39, Austin, Texas

  Six feet

  180 pounds

  Green eye tattoo above inner wrist of left arm

  Two snake tattoos on his chest

  A half-moon shaped scar on side of his chin

  Dark blond hair short cropped

  Arrested in a park in Austin, Texas. He and several other individuals had a confrontation with another group of males. Both sides made derogatory comments. The altercation resulted in a fistfight. Bennett delivered the punch that knocked the victim unconscious. He eventually died. Bennett was determined to suffer from PTSD after a tour of duty in Iraq. After serving two months in prison on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, the charge was dropped and he was released.

  Kit frowned. “Look at the date.”

  “It’s close to the date when I made that arrest. He’s only been out of prison three months. No arrests since then, but it’s too light a sentence,” Vic muttered. “The district isn’t allowed to hire anyone who’s had a prison record, but since the charge was dropped, I guess the rule didn’t apply.”

  “The information on Leroy’s school file says he started working for the district a week after his release from prison. Someone higher up had the power to pull strings like that,” Kit theorized. “I’ll get the full police report on the other men involved in the assault. Maybe the ones causing the confrontation with Leroy work for someone who gives them orders when they want a hit made.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking.” Vic got to his feet. “Before the night is over I want to talk to the person at the district who hired him, and find out who put the pressure on him or her. It’s time to pay Leroy a visit to find out just how sick he is. Let’s go in my car.”

  “I’ll call headquarters right now to get that process started.”

  It was ten to six when they left the building and drove to the Walnut Creek area known as a hot spot for a large number of auto thefts and larceny. Bennett lived in an older three-story apartment building, in unit 22. Vic parked the car and they entered the main foyer. Several tenants had to have been just getting back from work. They were checking their mailboxes, which were located inside the building.