The Case

by Lee Cunningham

  But before he could respond, Lisa arrived, and Kate said, “Just get in your ride and give us a two-minute head start. We’ll set up in the parking lot, where you’ll have to pass us to meet Roberts. And one other thing…don’t play these silly games with me again!” She didn’t bother to give him a loving glance. In fact, she didn’t look at Shane at all, as she climbed into her SUV and drove away with Lisa.

  Lamenting there was no kiss or hug, and not even a smile this time, Shane realized he had screwed up, and made a note to himself, quietly whispering, “You are not a sole operative anymore…check with team before planning a lone wolf move of any kind. And P.S.: Think twice before speaking when Kate is in the room.”

  He repeated the phrase over and over, as he sat in the car, checking his watch after Kate and Lisa drove off. He thought he’d claim that the anesthetic Juanita used on his leg had affected his judgment, when he saw Kate again.

  Exactly two minutes later, Shane drove out of the garage and passed the gate, thinking, “She won’t buy the anesthetic story. I’d better just leave well enough alone and move on.”

  He flipped on the handheld radio, and advised Lisa he was leaving. He received a polite, but impersonal, “10-4,” acknowledgment. He had already reached Carson Street when his phone rang. The call came over the inside vehicle speaker, and he activated his radio mic, so Kate and Lisa could hear the conversation.

  Shane said, “This is Dan.”

  Roberts replied, “Grant just called me. He asked me where I was, and told me he needed to see me before I met with anyone else. He said all of our lives were in danger, but wouldn’t tell me anything else, until I met with him.”

  Shane queried quickly, “Did you tell him anything? Does he know where you are or where you’re going?”

  Roberts replied calmly, “No, I told him nothing, after what you told me, but he knows something’s up. I’ll need to come up with a plan to handle him, and soon.”

  Shane advised Roberts, “If there is anyone in your department you trust implicitly, I mean with your life, call them and ask them to meet you tonight, as soon as you and I finish our meet. Can you suspend Grant, and tell him it’s just routine, until the shooting investigation is finished?”

  Roberts replied quickly, “Yes and yes. My Assistant Sheriff over Detectives, Bill Rodgers. He and I go way back, and I was already planning an administrative suspension leave for Grant, when I vented about the shooting investigation in Douglas County he was involved in today.”

  “Good,” Shane replied. “Then that’s the plan. You and Rodgers can handle the suspension together, leaving Grant no way of getting you alone. You’ll have back-up and a witness. Make sure you aren’t followed. I’ll see you there in a few.”

  Shane ended the call and un-keyed the mic. He received a quick, “copy,” from Lisa, ensuring him that she and Kate had heard the conversation.

  Shane turned right onto E. William Street, also known as Hwy 50 East. “A road with multiple names…another Nevada thing,” he thought to himself. He then turned right onto Oxtoby Loop. He passed Kate and Lisa’s SUV, which was blacked out and stopped in the angled parking, facing south. He continued on to the end of the loop and stopped, leaving Roberts enough room to park north of him, where Kate and Lisa could monitor them both easily, from their position.

  There was no need to say anything on the air. Silence was golden. He, Lisa and Kate all knew what they had to do. Lisa would be in the back seat by now, where she could check all foot and vehicle traffic, unrestricted, using binoculars. Kate would have her rifle and back-up hand gun ready, and also be checking Roberts’s vehicle with binoculars, as soon as he arrived.

  Roberts turned right off E. William, within a few minutes of Shane’s arrival. Shane watched him with binoculars as he approached. He didn’t appear to be having a “hands free” conversation with anyone, like Shane suspected Grant had done, when he arrived at the last meet.

  Roberts pulled up next to Shane’s vehicle, and parked. Shane immediately exited his vehicle, and walked to the rear of Robert’s Jeep, checking the luggage area and back seats, while pretending to give the parking area and grounds a “once over.” Shane quickly entered the rear passenger side of Robert’s vehicle, and leaned over into the front seat. Roberts had to turn around to talk to Shane, leaving Shane in a position of advantage, should something be amiss.

  Roberts’ phone rang. He quickly explained he had left a message for Rodgers, and it was Rodgers returning the call. Shane nodded, and Roberts played the call over the “hands free” vehicle speaker.

  Roberts answered, “Bill, thanks for calling back…are you busy?”

  Rodgers replied, “No, what’s up boss?”

  Roberts said cryptically, “Bill, I need to see you in person and enlist your help with a touchy matter. And, I need you to avoid talking to Grant, if he attempts to contact you for any reason. That’s crucial, Bill, understand?”

  Rodgers answered quickly, “Yes, sir. Where and when?” Roberts looked at Shane. Shane flashed all ten fingers twice.

  Roberts answered, “Bill, let’s make it in 20 minutes at the Old Globe Saloon. It’ll be too loud there, on a Friday night, for anyone to hear our conversation. We’ll sit as far toward the back as possible. I want to be somewhere very visible.”

  Rodgers answer was now more of a friend talking to a friend, than employer to employee. He answered, “Okay, Mark, you have my interest peaked. Just like old times!” They both laughed and ended the call.

  Roberts turned around, and said, “Okay, Shane, it’s your show.”

  Shane gave Roberts as capsulized a version of the events of the last few months as he could, focusing especially on the last week’s developments. As Shane delivered the rapid-fire briefing, Roberts sat silent, first looking at Shane, and then looking down, as if trying to focus and process all the information.

  Shane left nothing out, covering the highlights of the intel he had obtained from the cameras and bugs inside the Magadinno compound, his injury the night of Big John’s murder, the note he had found on his car when he left the area, conversations he had with Grant appraising him of the cartels deals with Hector and Franky, and the charts outlining alliances between the cartels and Franky’s syndicate.

  Roberts listened intently, as if hearing the information for the first time, even though Shane had already given him some of the info. Shane went on to cover the warning and files he had received when the computer was delivered to his apartment. He then brought up Grant’s phone call in detail, claiming Roberts was unavailable due to some emergency…and the meet Grant had arranged, that ended up in a hit man being killed by an unknown assailant.

  Finally, Shane told Roberts that he had brought other trusted people into the investigation, as it had expanded beyond his ability to control it safely, but he did not identify his team.

  Roberts interrupted. “Shane, I don’t need or want to know any more about your team, at this time…for their safety and for your safety. Plus, if needed, then I could pass a polygraph or withstand a forced interrogation, if it comes to that, without giving up any information.”

  Shane nodded, and then told Roberts about his dad’s files. He assured him the files had been copied and delivered to multiple sources, in case anything happened to him. After planting the seed of information, he observed closely to measure Roberts’ reaction. There was none. Roberts finally nodded approvingly.

  Shane continued, explaining that Grant appeared to delay exiting his vehicle on today’s meet, and may have been communicating with the hit man, who mysteriously appeared just as Shane exited to talk to Grant.

  He watched Roberts’ reaction as he fed him different facts in the story. By the time he was finished, Roberts’ complexion had turned from pale to a bright red. He was visibly angry.

  He turned and met Shane’s eyes, and nearly shouted, “That son of a bitch! That lying bastard. That worthless, corrupt prick is going to be more than suspended, when I get through with his sorry ass. I’
ll have the District Attorney convene a grand jury and indict the little fucker. He can spend his last days on earth in a prison, hanging with his bros!”

  Roberts slammed his fist down on the dash, so hard, Shane thought it might crack. Roberts remained furious.

  Shane said calmly, “Sir, we need him for a little while longer. He’s our ace-in-the-hole.”

  Roberts looked at Shane in disbelief. “Explain to me why we need that lying little rat bastard for anything, other than to anchor a boat, offshore, in deep water. Shane, he not only jeopardized this entire case, working for those murderous, drug dealing cartels…he almost got you killed!”

  Shane laughed, and explained, “And I do take that very seriously, sir. But Grant is now supplying the Magadinnos, and whoever else he really works for, information he gets from me, through a mole in our group. I can feed Grant misinformation through our mole, they will all believe. In addition to that, once we get the files my dad put together completely collated, read and understood, we can use that information, to figure out a plan, that will lead to discovering who the Grant rat bastard works for. Then we can use Grant to identify and help us capture all the other rats. So, right now, sir, we need to think of Grant as the key rat bastard!”

  With that explanation on board and understood, Roberts’ mood changed, and he released a smile to his lips. “Shane, you don’t know how much pleasure I’m going to get placing the cuffs on our key rat bastard someday!”

  With that, the mood was lightened, and they both laughed.

  Roberts said, suddenly, “Shane, I don’t want to know any of the details on the people you are working with, or where you go, or what you do, until you are ready…for your own safety, keep it close to the vest. Just keep me briefed in face-to-face meetings from now on. You can fill me in with the results of the investigation, and feed our rat just what you want him to chew on…the dirty, little prick!”

  “The one thing I do need to know, from time to time, is that you’re safe. No more than that, until you’re ready to give me the whole case. And even then, if this thing is as big as we both think it is, we need to bring in more people to present it to, when we’re ready. Agreed?”

  Shane nodded and agreed. “I left the apartment when we learned it was compromised. I’ll be gone for some days or weeks, while we work this all out. I’ll try to contact you at least once each week, to let you know we’re making progress, and I’m okay. If I don’t contact you for more than ten days, assume something happened to me. If that happens, you’ll receive a case file at your home, by special delivery of some type.”

  Roberts sighed. “Okay, then you’ll go dark for a while.”

  “What more can I do right now, boss?” Shane reached over the seat and touched Roberts’ shoulder.

  Roberts looked back intently at Shane. “They’ve killed so many people, Shane…my wife didn’t leave of her own accord. There’s no knowing what happened to her. But I want to know someday, to have some closure on it. Your mom and dad, my wife, and so many more people…all for money, power and greed. Just get the evidence on all the other rat bastards, Shane. Please solve this! And please be careful! I got you into this, and I don’t want you, or your friends, on my conscience!”

  Roberts turned all the way around and extended his hand over the seat. Shane grabbed it firmly and nodded as they shook hands.

  As Roberts drove away to meet his Assistant Sheriff, and Shane re-entered his SUV, both men realized they had been right all along about the magnitude of the corruption in this case. And both men were filled with more resolve than ever, to put an end to it, once and for all.

  Shane drove past Kate and Lisa, and, after waiting a minute, they followed, bringing up the rear. They tailed him back to the estate. He wasn’t followed. At the garage, Shane waited for his tail.

  As Kate and Lisa met him, he said smiling his boyish grin, “See? No worries.”

  Lisa then gave him the look. He pleaded, “Oh, god, no…not you, too.”

  Kate grabbed Shane by the hand and spun him around. “Shane, Roberts was followed. We had another surveillance team behind us. A vehicle drove slowly down E. William behind Roberts as he arrived, and then sped off, turning south on North Roop and east on East Robinson. The other team followed him.”

  “What!?” Shane leaned back against his SUV, and slumped his shoulders, in thought.

  “A few minutes later, they radioed us, as the subject began approaching you both on foot. He came in fast and quietly, dressed in black, half running up Mills Park Lane, from the area of Palo Verde Drive. He was only watching with binoculars, from cover provided by a tree. It looked like he had the same backpack as our friendly shooter today. If he would have taken his rifle out, we would have had to take him out.”

  Shane looked down, as he said, “Sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood for a moment. Who the hell is this guy?”

  Lisa said, “I don’t know, but I shot video of him through our spotting scope. We can look at it later. Right now, I need to go get cleaned up. We have our meeting in 40 minutes.”

  Shane looked over toward Lisa and realized she was covered in mud from the waist down. He didn’t ask why. He looked at his watch, realized how late it was, and took Kate by the hand. They walked toward the house. On the way he asked, “Do you think it would be possible to get another lemon drop martini? Or a pitcher?”

  Kate smiled, and they walked hand in hand to the kitchen. Juanita was sitting, finishing her dinner at a table. Jesse was coming in with racks of ribs, from the outside barbeque. They were handed off to one of the staff, who was covering mounds of ribs with tin foil, and placing them in a warming oven. The aromas were wonderful.

  Kate asked Juanita if, when she was finished with her dinner, she could make them a pitcher of lemon drop martinis, and bring it, and three salt and sugar rimmed glasses, to their room. She said, “Please join us, I have a favor to ask of you.” Juanita smiled and nodded.

  As soon as they arrived at their room, Kate kissed Shane passionately, and then pulled away. She pushed him toward the shower, and said, “Honey, please relax and take a hot shower. Get dressed for dinner. When you’re done, I’ll take mine. I have some things to ask of Juanita.”

  Shane nodded, kissed Kate again, and held her tightly for a moment. He walked toward the shower, lost in thought about the mystery sniper he would never have known about, if not for Kate and Lisa, and the second team. He had just undressed and turned on the water, when he heard a knock at the door and Juanita’s voice. He turned the shower volume up, and closed the bathroom door, to give the ladies more privacy.

  Juanita walked in with the tray, as requested. She poured two glasses, took one, and handed one to Kate. She sat in an overstuffed chair in the large room, while Kate sat in a matching chair that faced her across the small antique table. Kate thanked Juanita for the drinks and toasted her by clinking glasses.

  Kate asked, “Juanita, you have worked for my grandfather since before I can remember. How did that come to happen?”

  Juanita looked at Kate fondly, as if granting approval to a daughter. She said, “I came to work for your grandparents when your grandmother was sick. I had been with your family for about a year, mostly cooking and shopping. I had never married, and my family was scattered around the country. It was a good opportunity for me. It gave me a home and a happy purpose.”

  “When your grandmother died, your grandfather still needed help, and I just stayed on. He was always so good to me. He sent me to a culinary school one summer, while you were away at camp. Walter encouraged me to take some college classes, and, over the years, I got my degree in business, but my heart was always in culinary arts. He sent me to the Marco Barista School and bought all the equipment I needed. He encouraged me to pursue whatever I was interested in accomplishing. Walter is such a sweet man...a true gentleman. I love him dearly.”

  Juanita suddenly stopped and blushed slightly, realizing her thoughts had taken her a little too far.

  Kate sei
zed the opportunity. “Exactly my point,” Kate said. She smiled, as she leaned across the little table, and took one of Juanita’s hands in her own hand. I’ve watched you two for years. Walter dotes on you and follows you with his eyes, like Shane does me. The man is in love with you, and I know you have the same feelings for him. He’s just a few years older…so what?”

  Juanita added, “He’s seventeen years older, to be exact, not that it matters to me. But I don’t think he feels what I feel, exactly. He’s just nice to me, like a trusted old friend.”

  Kate stood up, releasing Juanita’s hand, and smiled knowingly at her. “Funny you should say that, because he used almost exactly those same words, a few weeks ago, when I asked him about you…and he admitted he was in love with you.” Juanita’s eyes widened, as a brilliant smile crept over her lips.

  “I just want you to know, that I waited and pined away for Shane, from the time I was a teenager, until now. I could have acted on it, and insisted I be allowed to get to know him, years ago, but I just went along with life as it was. Finally, we got to meet and be together, and I have never been so happy. So, how long has it been since my grandmother died?”

  Juanita sighed. “19 years and 7 months…and thirteen days,” she said thoughtfully. “She was a nice lady. I could never take her place, even if Walter wanted me to.” Juanita blushed, as the smile fled her face.

  “Exactly my point again,” Kate said firmly. “You don’t need to take her place. You need to take your place…your real place in our family. I could have lost Shane today to a sniper’s bullet. We came close. None of us have time to waste…and you and Walter have waited almost twenty years to act on your feelings. Maybe this is the time to go all in! It’s already gone on too long. No one is in mourning anymore.”

  Juanita’s facing was glowing, with a blend of excitement and embarrassment, at Kate’s suggestion. She managed to ask, “What is the favor you want to ask of me?”