Special Agent

by Daniel Roland Banks

  “Momma, take it easy.” Diondro added.

  “Oh, no I won’t! Nobody comes into my house and threatens my son. I’ll tell you one thing.”

  “Mrs. Taylor, I’m Detective Escalante. You know me. We’ve talked on the telephone,” Tony stated.

  Mrs. Taylor looked at Diondro, who nodded his affirmative. She seemed to realize for the first time, Diondro was clinging to her wrist.

  “Oh, my baby!” She cried, wrapping Diondro in her embrace.

  For a moment he was lost to sight.

  When Diondro emerged from her embrace, he looked none the worse, for his near death by suffocation.

  Mrs. Taylor turned back on us.

  “I axed you, what you doin’ in my house?”

  “Mrs. Taylor, we were worried. When we got to the front door, we found it open. Your car is in the carport, but there was no sign of you,” Tony replied.

  I was keeping my distance.

  Another lady appeared, stepping out from the passenger seat of the Lincoln. She was of a similar age to Mrs. Taylor and similarly dressed. Her wig was grayish brown, with silver highlights and she had no hat.

  “Is everything alright, Sister Taylor?” She enquired.

  “I expect it is, Reverend Jefferson. I believe these are the police, who been takin’ care of my boy.”

  “Yes ma’am, that’s correct. I’m Lieutenant Escalante with the City of Tyler Police Department, and this is my friend John Wesley Tucker,” Tony said by way of introduction.

  “Well, praise the Lord. I’m Reverend Jefferson of the Glory to God Church of Heavenly Holiness. This is my husband, Brother Ed.”

  “Momma, where were you, and why was the front door open?”

  “I was at the church house, gettin’ my baptism on. I must’ve forgotten to lock up, when I left.”

  Diondro’s mouth dropped open.

  “Momma, you’ve never been religious.”

  “Could we go inside, Mrs. Taylor? There is something we need to talk to you about and it’s getting pretty hot out here,” Tony suggested.

  “Ummhmmm. Now that’s what I’m talking about. You can come into my house, when I invite you.”

  “Momma!” Diondro interjected.

  “Hush yo’ self. I’m fixin to invite um.”

  Chapter 28.

  We were all crowded into Mrs. Taylor’s living room. Because the front door had been open for so long and there were so many warm bodies, it was uncomfortably warm and humid in the room, but it was still better than standing outside.

  The Reverend Mrs. Jefferson was seated on the couch beside her husband Ed. Mrs. Taylor was seated in one of the two easy chairs and Tony was seated in the other. Diondro and I stood.

  I was standing where I could see out through the lace curtains, watching for approaching cars.

  Mrs. Taylor was fanning herself with her hat.

  I caught Tony’s eye, and tapped my watch, to remind him of the need to be moving on down the road.

  “Mrs. Taylor, I wish you would reconsider our offer. We think it would be best if you came on with us. The trial is just a few days away, and I’m concerned you will not be safe here.” Tony tried again.

  The Reverend Mrs. Jefferson, spoke up next.

  “That won’t be necessary, Bless God. The church will keep her safe, Amen. She is a member of my flock now, and I won’t let nobody mess with her, Hallelujah!

  “I know that’s right. Now don’t you worry, Sister Taylor, you in the family of God now. I’ll get some men together and we’ll watch out for you, right round the clock.” Ed Jefferson added.

  “You need to understand something. These are common street thugs. You won’t be able to reason with them. They may just drive up and shoot anybody in sight.” Tony indicated.

  “Umm hmmm, and we have a couple of local police in our congregation, Praise the Lord. I’ll call on them to step up, into the service of the Lord, Bless God.”

  It was my turn to speak up.

  “Actually, it’s an excellent idea, Mrs. Taylor. These folks here want to help you. They may not have the skills we have, but they love you and they want to keep you safe. I think they can do it, for just the few days until the trial. After the trial, I believe the threat will have ended.”

  Tony looked surprised at my comment.

  “How about you, Diondro, do you want to stay here with your mom, or would you rather come with us?”

  “You stay with us, son, we’ll look after you too, in Jesus’ name, Hallelujah!” Reverend Jefferson suggested.

  Mrs. Taylor looked at Diondro, hopefully.

  I could see Diondro struggling with the choice. He wanted to be sure his mother stayed safe, but he was also clearly put off by the Reverend Mrs. Jefferson.

  Tony saved the day.

  “I’ll tell you what, Diondro. Why don’t you stay here with your mom, while J.W. and I go take our meeting with Sherriff Andrews? It will give you some time to figure out what you want to do. We’ll stop by on our way back to Tyler. By then you’ll have a better understanding of what you want.”

  “Yes sir, thank you.”

  “Amen, Bless the Lord!” Reverend Jefferson pronounced.

  She was giving me a long, appraising look.

  I smiled back at her.

  “That was weird.” Tony stated, as we drove away.

  “Not exactly what we’re used to is it?”

  “Not by a long shot.”

  “It’s better.”

  “Better than what?”

  “Tony that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “People taking care of each other. Mrs. Taylor has become a member of a church family. Those folks didn’t hesitate, even though it involves possible danger and personal sacrifice, maybe even legal complications. She’s a member of their church and they are there for her.”

  “Yeah, I guess I can see that. But the preacher lady is weird, J.W.”

  “I’m former military, and you’ve been a cop, for a long time. The people we usually deal with every day tend to pepper their speech with vulgarities and foul language. Unfortunately it’s what we as a society are used to. It’ become virtually a cultural norm. That lady chooses to salt her speech with language which doesn’t use the name of the Lord in vain, and we call her ‘weird’.”

  “I see your point, but still…”

  “… Yeah, completely different from what we’re used to.”

  “Amen, brother. Hallelujah.”

  I laughed at his attempt.

  “I guess I’m just uncomfortable around people who don’t talk and act the way I think is normal.” Tony admitted.

  I nodded.

  “It reminds me of the way people tend to think about God. We want God to be more like us. We’re made in His image, so in some ways we are kind of like Him, in the same way a photo is kind of like us, but it is not even close to actually being us. We’re sort of like Him, made in His image, but He is not like us. He is holy, and utterly beyond our limited comprehension of what the term means. He’s completely different from what we’re used to. People tend to struggle with the concept. We want God to fit into our preconceived notions of what we think He should be like. We want him to be all loving and forgiving. We want to forget He is also just and righteous. That part scares us. We want him to give us what we want. He wants us to give Him what He deserves, but we definitely don’t want Him to give us what we deserve.”

  Tony nodded in agreement.

  “Right, we want mercy and forgiveness, not justice. We get hung up on the idea life should be fair. We want to be the ones who decide what fair is, and make God do things our way.”

  “We are no more capable of understanding the mind of God, than Christine’s cat is able to understand how this car’s engine works.” I suggested.

  “Sure, but Christine’s cat is content, without thinking about how the car’s engine works.”

  “That’s only one of several ways in which we are di
fferent from the animals.”

  We drove along in silence for a while, thinking our own thoughts.

  Chapter 29.

  “…We also have what was left of the clothing we found at the scene. The forensics people in Dallas sent all of it back to us. Maybe someone will be able to identify the clothing. It’s in terrible shape, all slashed and faded by exposure, but still recognizable.” Rusk County Sheriff, Tom Dempsey, concluded.

  “Did you find a ball cap?” I asked

  “We did, yes. The hair in it matched that of the victim. How did you know?”

  “It was just a guess. The ball cap is kind of standard with men who work outside. They are easy to come by and easy to replace.”

  “We have the work boots and his slashed gloves as well. What will they tell you?”

  I shrugged.

  “…After being out in the weather for weeks, probably nothing. The ball cap does tell me something though.”

  “You haven’t even seen it,” Tony pointed out.

  “If you killed someone and then had to haul the body off to dump it somewhere, would you bother to carry the ball cap along?”

  “It’s hard to say, too many variables.”

  “Sheriff Dempsey has indicated they found everything the man had on him when he was killed, except one thing.”

  “What’s that?” Sheriff Dempsey asked.

  “His knife, I believe Eduardo Ruiz was probably killed with his own knife. You didn’t find it at the scene, even though you found everything else the corpse had on him, even the cash and change in his pants pocket, but not the knife.”

  “The murder weapon, sure, it could be. It’s one of the reasons we aren’t sure where the killing took place. We found no weapon. The remains were scattered. Time and the weather had washed away any blood or other indicators.”

  “You found everything but the knife and the killer.” I said.

  “It’s our turn now, Tom. Let me tell you what we know, so far.” Tony said.

  He laid out everything I’d told him. Tony even told Sheriff Dempsey about Watkins membership in the Righteous Army of God, hate group

  “Well, you boys have some pretty compelling information. I suggest we conduct a joint investigation. It’s entirely possible, perhaps even probable; the victim was killed here in Rusk County. Evidently the victim lived in Tyler, and you have a possible suspect who lives in the city of Tyler, in Smith County. We don’t have any confirmation the victim really was Eduardo Ruiz. So, we can’t definitively tie your guy to the victim, but we have some pretty useful things to work with,” Sheriff Dempsey said.

  Tony nodded.

  “Agreed, we’ll work on gathering evidence and information on our suspect from our end. Has the body been disposed of?”

  “It was buried. No one came forward to claim it, so it was buried by the county, in Potter’s Field. The forensics people in Dallas have preserved some evidence and they took a lot of very detailed photos, especially of the blade marks on the bones.”

  “They might not be good enough to stand up in court. If we find a weapon which might be the murder weapon, we may need to have the body exhumed.”

  “Not a problem.”

  “OK. We’ll stay in touch.”

  “Tony, can I speak to you privately for a moment?” Sheriff Dempsey asked.

  Tony looked at me.

  I took it as my cue to stand up.

  “I’ll meet you out in the hall, Tony. Sheriff Dempsey, it was a pleasure to meet you,” I said, as we shook hands.

  “No offense, son. It’s just a law enforcement matter.”

  “None taken, I understand. I hope we’ll have occasion to talk again some time.”

  “I’ll look forward to it, and I appreciate your help with this investigation.”

  I usually have to finagle information out of Tony. He is a stickler for P.P.P., or proper police procedure. He doesn’t like to deviate from the tried and true training, of which he’s a product.

  That was not the case this time. When he walked out of the sheriff’s office, I could see he had something on his mind. The minute Tony got the car started; he began telling me what he and Sheriff Dempsey had discussed.

  “You won’t believe this; Sheriff Dempsey told me the FBI has its eye on the RAGs. Apparently they have reason to believe the RAGs are getting more militant and may pose a threat to some local government officials, and others. This is very much under the radar, because the feds don’t know who to trust. Sheriff Dempsey says the FBI didn’t even contact him until they had investigated him thoroughly. This is an incredibly bad situation. Apparently there are members of the RAGs in positions of authority in several parts of East Texas and the feds believe law enforcement in this area is seriously compromised.”

  “Why would he trust you with this information?”

  Tony looked startled.

  “You got to that very quickly. It’s a very good question, and I’ve been asking myself the same thing.”

  “You probably should’ve asked him.”

  “It crossed my mind. I was so fascinated by what he was telling me, I let it go.”

  “It might be a test.”

  “It might be, but what kind of a test?”

  “I suspect the relationship between the Tyler PD and the FBI is not very cordial. I’m pretty sure there is no love lost between the two.”

  “Of course, even though the Federal building is only a few blocks from my office, I hardly ever see any of those people. We have a love hate relationship. Whenever the feds get involved in one of our cases, they pretty much just take over and freeze us out. Federal charges trump local charges, most of the time. We hate that. On the other hand, they have data bases and other resources which are pretty vital to us. We love that.”

  “I’ll bet if the FBI investigated Sheriff Dempsey before they trusted him with any intel on the RAGs investigation, then they’re probably doing the same thing with Smith County and the Tyler PD.”

  “Yeah, it makes sense.” Tony agreed.

  “Maybe the feds are looking at you.”

  “Oh come on, they should know I can’t be a white supremacist.”

  “It doesn’t mean they trust you.” I said.

  “Well, that’s annoying. Obviously I can be trusted.”

  “Of course you can be trusted. It’s not as if you would tell anybody about this…”

  Tony rolled his eyes and then he gave me a dirty look.

  I laughed.

  “Hey, don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

  Chapter 30.

  As we made the turn onto the street where Diondro’s mother lived, we found a Chapel Hill police cruiser, facing us, about a half block from the house. The officer inside the car flashed his lights as we approached. Farther up the street, we could see there were pickup trucks parked in front of Mrs. Taylor’s house, and there were two men with shotguns sitting in chairs in the shade provided by the carport.

  Tony flashed his lights and rolled down his window, as he stopped his unmarked Crown Victoria beside the Chapel Hill P.D. cruiser.

  “Good afternoon, sir. May I ask who you gentlemen are and what business you have in this neighborhood?” The officer asked.

  I had to smile. Not long ago, it was a common practice for white police officers in white neighborhoods, to stop cars with black drivers and ask the same question. This was the exact reverse scenario.

  I was pretty sure the Chapel Hill cop was aware of the irony, and he found it just as amusing as I did.

  “I’m Lieutenant Escalante with Tyler P.D. and this is my associate, Mr. Tucker. We are friends of the Taylors, and they’re expecting us.”

  “Yes sir. Go right ahead.”

  Tony drove up to the house and parked behind one of the trucks. The men with the shotguns had shifted over in front of the house.

  Diondro came out the front door and waved us in, indicating to the armed men we were not a threat. He held the door for us as we went inside.

  Inside,
we found Mrs. Taylor and the Reverend Mrs. Jefferson in the kitchen, enjoying each other’s company, over coffee and some homemade cookies.

  “Mamma, Mr. Tucker and Tony are back,”Diondro announced.

  “Well, well, that’s just fine. Would you gentlemen enjoy a cup of coffee and some fresh cookies?”

  Tony started to shake his head, but I cut him off.

  “Yes ma’am, we surely would.”

  “Get you a cup. They’s hangin’ over there, under the cupboard.”

  I grabbed a coffee mug off a hook and headed for the coffee pot. My blue mug said Chapel Hill Bank & Trust in gold letters. I saw Tony had grabbed a green mug with East Texas Feed & Seed, in white letters.

  “Diondro say you went to see the Sheriff, over to Henderson.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Tony said.

  “Praise the Lord for law and order. The Lord instructs us to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly…Amen?” asked the Reverend Mrs. Jefferson.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Sit yo’selves down,” instructed Mrs. Taylor.

  Tony and I joined the women at the 1950’s vintage dining table, topped with harvest gold colored Formica.

  “It’s nice to see the police car down the street. How long do you think they will be able to provide that service?” I asked Mrs. Taylor.

  The Reverend Mrs. Jefferson replied for her. “Bless God. There are two police in our congregation, and the Chief of Police is my nephew. We’ll have a police sitting right there, until this trial is over. Hallelujah!”

  I tried to hide my smile.

  “Those men out side, with the shotguns…” Tony started.

  “Glory to God! Those brothers are members of my flock, and some men who live here in this neighborhood have volunteered as well, so someone will always be there, till this trial is over, umm hum. Praise the Lord!”

  “Reverend Jefferson, there’s an ordinance against…”

  “This is private property. Are you a Chapel Hill police?” the Reverend Mrs. Jefferson asked, holding her hand up and pointing at the ceiling.

  “No ma’am.” Tony answered.

  “Well then, you might want to mind your own business. Thank you, Jesus!”